Update on Caleb

Hello everybody,

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers! Caleb is doing well. He came home last night after his second surgery. It's good to have him home again! Here's some pictures and a short movie of him using the crutches in the hospital.

Mom and dad bringing him home from the hospital

 

Finally home!

 

Trying steps for the first time - with his faithful dog Daisy watching

 

Ethan and Lydia made up some welcome home signs and taped them to the doors and doorways

 

The shoe Caleb was wearing when the accident happened

 

Reading a get well letter

 

It was kind of funny because when the nurses would take Caleb walking in the hallway, the first few times they had to hold on to him to make sure he wouldn't fall, and one nurse came back to the room breathing heavily, and said, "He gave me my workout for the day!" You can't keep a 15 year old boy in a bed very long before he's itching to get out and move around! :-)

Caleb

I'm sure a lot of you know by now that Caleb cut his foot with the chainsaw yesterday. Thankfully he's doing well. Here's a brief account of what happened, and some pictures.

Yesterday dad had off work so he took the boys to a place down the road to cut wood. He and Daniel had been working on loading wood in the trailer (and Caleb was chainsawing) when they heard Caleb yell out. They ran over to him and saw that his foot had been cut. Dad tried calling 911 but it didn't go through so he called us. Mom drove over there and they decided to drive him themselves to the hospital, since the bleeding was under control (they used Daniel's shirt to stop the bleeding). Meanwhile Daniel came home where I was with Ethan and Lydia.

Well, it turns out that Caleb cut his tendon and chipped the bone. So last night he had surgery and, praise God, they were able to fix the tendon! They left the wound open (to let it drain and to watch for infection) and on Thursday they are going to close it. So right now he's sitting in the hospital, enjoying himself with nothing to do but read and watch movies!! :-) He's been very brave about the whole thing - even the nurses complimented him on that! He's not in much pain now, thankfully, and he's tired but overall feeling well.

As for the future, he'll come home either on Thursday or Friday, and he'll be on crutches for probably 6 weeks. Then he'll need another x-ray to see if the bone healed properly (please pray that it will!). If it doesn't heal, Caleb will need another surgery for a bone graft.

Thank you all for your prayers - they are much appreciated!!! I will post another update sometime this week.


Waiting for surgery

 

Enjoying a card from Lydia :-)

 

Recovering from surgery

 

Injured foot

 

A joyful heart is good medicine! :-)

 

Triple L Video #2

Triple L Video #1

Triple L Concert

Yesterday we had a lot of fun seeing one of our favorite bands in concert!! We met the Triple L Band at 3pm for lunch (we brought some food to their bus) and then drove over to the Cowboy Church. I got my video camera ready to go while they got their sound system set up and the instruments tuned. They started at 6pm, and went for about an hour and a half. The pastor of the church also gave a short inspirational message about us being God's instruments. We have to be willing to let Him tune us and fit us into His perfect plan for our lives. I thought that was encouraging!

This August the Triple L Band is making a new gospel CD in Nashville. I'm really looking forward to getting it! We just love their gospel songs - their harmony blends so well, and they do an excellent job on their instruments. It was fun visiting with them - they're very nice, friendly people! I hope to post a video or two this week of them playing a couple songs. For now, here's some pictures:

 

 

 

Do you see that white speck on Mr. Miller's hand? Guess what it is . . . yep, it's a mosquito (in between the camera and him)! They were terrible! We were very glad to get some good pictures of people holding still! :-)

 

 

Gardening and Girl's Day Out!

On Thursday morning we all went out to the garden to weed. Does anybody want to guess the temperature? (You readers in Texas will be so jealous!) :) It was around 52 DEGREES!! And on top of that it was windy (typical MN). So I came out but went straight back in to put on pants, a t-shirt, turtleneck, sweatshirt jacket and hat - in the middle of July!! I know, I know . . . if it was January and 52 degrees, we would have been out in short sleeves! :-) Oh, and I wore flip flops (I'm not ready to start wearing socks - my feet weren't that cold anyway). :-) So . . . here's a lovely picture of myself in the garden (when you're out weeding you can't really care about looks).

 

Here are Daniel's 95 cherry tomato plants. If anybody likes cherry tomatoes, you know where you can buy some later this summer!!!

 

Yesterday mom and dad surprised us with the first annual "make a memory day." :-) Mom took us girls around town, and dad took the boys. Here's some pictures of what we did . . .

Yes, I have my permit, so I drove for part of the day. Don't I look like I'm having a great time? :-)

 

We started out by going to a few garage sales, and the mall was having a big sale so we looked around there. I found a nice skirt and Lydia got a necklace. (We hardly ever buy things at the mall so it was fun!)

 

After the mall we went to the annual street fair. Mom and I each got this very unique hair piece that holds your hair up firmly. I love it!

 

 

Lydia got her face painted . . .

 

After the street fair we went to various stores looking at clothes and other things. Then for supper we went to IHOP. Yum!! We were so hungry, and the food was SO good!! (can you tell?) :-)

 

All in all we had a great day together. Thanks mom and dad!! I love you Lydia!!

 

A Band and a Bill

Can you guess which band this is? Yes, it's the Triple L Band, and they're coming to Detroit Lakes!! They're going to play at the Northwood Harvest Barn Cowboy Church, 5 miles east of DL on Highway 34, at 6pm on July 19th. You can go on their website to see a video of their music. We have their ALLLL Gospel CD, and we just love it!

As far as the bill goes, I strongly encourage you all to sign the petition for this Audit the Fed bill on the Campaign for Liberty website. Here's some info about it that I copied from there:

Audit the Federal Reserve!
Since its inception in 1913, the Federal Reserve has helped to devalue our dollar by 95%. During the recent economic crisis, it has poured trillions of dollars into the economy with no oversight, made secret agreements with foreign banks and governments, and has refused to tell Congress who is getting the money or to give it the details of what deals are being made.

HR 1207, Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed bill," and S 604, its Senate companion, will demand full transparency from the Federal Reserve for the first time in history by removing all restrictions from Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits of the Fed and mandating an audit by the end of 2010.

Help turn up the heat on Congress and convince them to pass Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill. Your petitions, e-mails, letters and phone calls have already made a huge impact, but more of your help is needed right away. Please take a few moments to tell your Congressman to support HR 1207, and urge your Senators to cosponsor S 604. Our tools below make it quick and easy to make a difference today!

There are already 245 Cosponsors for HR 1207, and 3 cosponsors for S 604! You can view the list here, or begin your efforts by signing our online petition. A treasure trove of information on Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill and stories from fellow Campaign for Liberty members can be found below.

So please click on the link and SIGN THE PETITION!!