Mason Bunch

I planted this Rhododendron several years ago in our flowerbed by the back yard fence. I was so surprised to find out that it is blooming for the first time along with our Indian Hawthorne Bush. Last year, I was beginning to think that I had the bushes planted in the wrong kind of soil and sun direction. I planted this bush in honor of my Grandpa Godfrey because he loved flowers. Grandma & Grandpa had quite a few of Rhododendron bushes all over their yard.

Mom's Condition
Sandy, Dad and I drove to the hospital to visit Mom at the 9:00 visitation. Sherry and Renee were already there visiting her. Mom was sitting up in bed and talking with them. She seemed a little stronger and hungry. We were kind of concerned about the breakfast the nurse gave her to eat - scrambled eggs, grits & toast. Sherry and Sandy fed her the eggs and grits. Mom got choked a few times, but kept the food down. Dr. Schaefers' assistant came by to check on Mom's condition while we were in there. She said she is improving every day and her kidneys are working normally now. The GI assistant seemed as concerned about Mom's diet as much as we were. She said that she would be checking in on it. By the time our visiting hour was over, you could tell she was getting tired. Sherry and Renee wanted to go shopping at a mall. So, I went with them to the Galleria, while Dad and Sandy stayed at the hospital. I wanted to look for a purse, but instead I found me a great pair of sandals. Have you ever heard of "Soft Walk?" Oh, they feel wonderful to my heels and ball of my feet. Sherry and Renee got a McDonalds, while I got a Strawberry Banana Smoothie for lunch. I'm not too much into smoothies, but that smoothie was so good. We were able to make it back to the hospital for the 1:00 visitation. Dad and Sandy were already in there visiting with Mom. She was agitated because according to her, she didn't get much rest. She said as soon as we left, her physical therapist came by and worked with her for about 30 minutes. Sandy said that they did wake her up when it was time to come visit. Sherry and Sandy tried to feed her her lunch, but she was so tired. We all felt that the 1-2 o'clock visitation is when she is the weakest. We ended up leaving her bed side a little earlier, so she could get her rest. Sherry and Renee planned to give Mom another massage during the 5:00 visitation. Sandy said that June and Sue were planning to visit Mom during the 8:00 visitation. Mom loves her visitors. She has been begging the nurses and doctors to let her get a room, so she can see her visitors whenever they want to visit her.

I spoke to Sandy this morning and she said at first Mom seemed to feel good. She was sitting up in bed with her glasses on watching TV. She ate a little of her breakfast - watered down pancakes & eggs. Then all of the sudden, she wasn't feeling good. The nurse laid her down in the bed and they didn't know what was wrong with her. Mom said she just didn't feel good. She wasn't hurting in any particular place. Oh me!

Renee flies back home tonight and Sherry is catching a ride with Maryann back home. I think Sherry is staying with either June and Pat or Dad and Sandy. I offered Sandy the blow up mattress at our house, in case it gets too crowded.

Sherry wants to go shopping with me, so I'm going to wait until Friday to get the final party supplies. Hopefully, that will give me enough time to run back to a store in case I forget something. By the way, I still need song selection suggestions. I'm waiting for you to pass them along to me.

Here's our mystery photo for the day. Can you name the people in this photo? Which one is Doug? I'll give you the answer tonight.

Prayer Request
Doug called me while I was on the road with Dad and Sandy yesterday. Peggy called him to find out if our neighbor, Mr. Phipps, had passed away. He didn't know and asked me if I noticed a lot of vehicles next door before I left to go to Dad's house. I didn't notice anything unusual this morning, but I told Doug that I was stopping by the house before I went to Peggy and Millard's house. So, I should find out something at that time. Sure enough, there were cars lined up on both sides of the street. My stomach sank down into my shoes. I had ice cream in the truck, so I had to unload it before I went over to Evelyn. Bless her heart, she saw me walk in her house and she started weeping. She was holding me so tight that all I could do was hug her tighter and tell her how much I was so sorry. I tried to hold back the tears for her, but with everything going on I let them roll. Poor thing, she said she had been watching for my vehicle. She said she noticed that I had left early this morning. She started asking about my Mom and I just told her that she had too much going on that she didn't need to worry about my Mom right now. That is typical Evelyn, her world may be falling apart, but she's always thinking about other people and their needs. Mr. Charles is a big outdoors person. He loves to hunt for practicely anything and fish. I remember, before he retired, how excited he was to retire so he could go fishing and hunting when ever he wanted. Evelyn told me that he was up in Indiana with his brother turkey hunting. He was in his tree stand and he radioed his brother telling him that he wasn't feeling very good. He told him to come over and pick him up. He went on to tell him that his chest had been hurting before he left home to go on his hunting trip. His brother asked him if he needed to call the ambulance and Charles agreed. By the time his brother got to him, he was slumped over on his stand. It took the ambulance 30 minutes to get to him. She said two people worked on him, but he was already gone. He died of complications from a heart attack. Evelyn said that their daughter, Angela, is really having a hard time. Angela's husband, Bill, was on his way to pick up their only son, Will. Will was still in school and didn't know about his Paw yet. Bill and Angela were going to break it to him last night. Will was Charles' only grandchild. Evelyn said that their family are on their way from Indiana to be with her today. Her family alone is as big as mine, so I know she'll get lots of of support. This family really needs your prayers. Evelyn is a heart attack survior and is in bad health herself. I figure Evelyn will probably move in with Angela and Bill because I don't think she'll be able to stay at her house by herself. If I was Angela, I would worry too much because Evelyn has bad knees (they will go out without any warning) and her having a weak heart.