Okay, for the blog patrol, here is another post—only 17 days after our last one. Apparently some of you wake up in the morning, wipe the sleepy from your eyes, pour a hot cup of joe, sit down in front of your computer, check your email and PRAY that there is an update in your inbox from the exhilarating Graves family blog. And, with great anticipation, you open your inbox, only to see that it is filled with nothing more than: “How to lose weight AND eat what you want” or “Get out of debt for only $49.99 a month” junk mail followed by a random chain letter that requires you to forward to 10 people in order to solidify your place in heaven or risk losing your salvation. It’s at that moment that your heart rate begins to slow down and you begin to face the reality that you are once again going to have to go through the day without an update from the gravesreport. Your day begins with an ominous shadow hanging over your head; and you fight through the day as best you can so that you can get home, go right to bed and wake up the next morning with those little butterflies in your stomach. Now…SHUT UP.
WEEKEND GETAWAY
This post is coming to you from 240S, a 10x10 room in the corner of the pediatric wing in the South Tower of Christus St. Michael Health System. A hospital room. Drew woke up Friday morning about 2:00 crying of a stomach ache. Equipped with a 101 temperature and full doses of Zyrtec, Ibuprofen and an Ambien, Corey got up and tried to console him. He calmed down a little (enough for her to go back to bed). 30 minutes went by and I was startled by a swift kick in the middle of my back with my lovely and wonderful wife growling at me to get up and see if I can do something for Drew.
I go in to where he is sleeping and find him doubled over in pain and taking short choppy breaths. I inquire about what is wrong (because being doubled over and taking short choppy breaths isn’t enough evidence for a man, especially when he is half asleep) and he tells me his stomach hurts. He never complains about anything outside of his sisters aggravating him. Luckily I can think fast on my feet, even in a sleepy daze. So I rush to the kitchen, grab a cup out the cabinet and fix him a drink of water. DAD TO THE RESCUE!!
That just pissed him off more. So after about 15 minutes of unsuccessful consoling, a 2:45 WedMD search of chronic stomach pains, and another 5 minutes of deliberation, Corey and I brilliantly diagnosed Drew with Appendicitis. 8 years of college for a medical license, what a scam! Seeing how Drew had appendicitis, we thought it would be a good idea to take him to the emergency room. Contrary to most ER horror stories, we got right in. (The ER nurses must know who we are, either that or they sit around the computer and read our blog) Well after a blood test and some x-rays, the doctor came in and UN-confirmed what Corey and I knew. That Drew has pneumonia. Guess those 8 years have some merit. They admitted him and have pumped him full of antibiotics and steroids. That’s usually a good thing, except the first antibiotic they gave him was Rocefin. Seems harmless enough. One problem, he’s allergic to it. He broke out in hives and escalated an already volatile situation. They gave him some Benadryl and it finally kicked in an hour later and he fell asleep for about 4 hours. HALELUJAH! (I’ve got a great slogan for a Benadryl commercial: “Benadryl, keeping parents sane and children asleep for 45 years now”)
He is doing better today (Saturday) and the doctor is supposed to be here about 7 in the morning (Sunday morning…I won’t hold my breath). Whether his tests show it or not, he is back to his normal self and ready to go home. I was able to talk Corey into going home and letting me stay tonight so I thought it was the perfect time to get the blog police off my case. Plus, we are watching the same VHS copy of Dora the Explorer for the 37th time since we’ve been here. This may be a longer post than anticipated.
EARNING HER KEEP
Corey started her new job this past week. She is working for the orthodontist that she interviewed with. If you read about it on our other blog, you know what I am talking about. (If you haven’t, refer to the last paragraph of our last post). Everything is going really well. She is the new person so she is trying to figure out which way is right and which way is left. Of course, in dental terms it’s all backwards because they are looking in your mouth and have to speak in opposites from what their perspective is. So you can imagine how confusing it can all become. Anyway, on top of learning new responsibilities and office policies, she has the undesirable task of trying to fit in with an office full of women. And for good measure, my aunt is the office manager and rules with an iron fist, so they all almost certainly have a preconceived notion about Corey. Most of them probably don’t like her just for being Vickie’s niece. The other ones probably don’t like her because she is undoubtedly much hotter than anyone else in the office; and you know how silly women can be about stuff like that. Good luck with that baby.
Since Corey has a new job, the kids have to have somewhere to go. We thought about letting them stay home by themselves but we figured CPS and most judges would not think it was as good an idea; regardless of how much money we could save. So off to preschool they go. Sonlight Learning Center. I know what you’re thinking…6 years of college and an English degree from the University of Arkansas will land you right in the middle of misspellville. Because “sunlight” is spelled with a U and not an O. (Plus this idiot is probably writing this post on Word to take advantage of spell check and the thesaurus before he copies and pastes it for the entire world to read) Well, as a matter of fact, it’s a catchy little name that references the Son of God and they have a Christian curriculum incorporated into their daily lessons. Now how stupid do you feel? The only problem is that it is in an area of town where the road has yet to be upgraded in order to accommodate the traffic; thus promoting road rage and causing one to participate in actions and language that completely go against the fundamental truths of the foundation of the school. They need to relocate, or widen the road.
IN SEARCH OF…
We have visited a few more churches since our last post. We talked to a few people and researched a couple of these places. Each Sunday morning we would wake up with a childlike optimism that this was going to be the one. Blue Hair First Baptist Church didn’t exactly have what we were looking for. The other was a bible church that had Casey Kasem preaching…uh “hosting” the sermon. We left the church and turned on our local top 40 station to try and find the real Kasem just to make sure. So back to the drawing board.
We have started a new feature on this blog called, FLASHBACK. We will insert random memories throughout our blog that may not necessarily have anything to do with anything that has been posted. But we are going to post them anyway because we haven’t written them down anywhere; and what better place than the gravesreport?
FLASHBACK
I was running some errands and Drew and Baylie were in the back of the 2004 Toyota Sienna Mini Van, in other words, the ladies magnet. Baylie was 6 and Drew was 3. Baylie turned to Drew and the ensuing conversation took place:
Baylie: Drew do you know what is in your heart?
Drew: Yeah.
Baylie: What?
Drew: Butterflies and Bumblebees.
Baylie: (serious) NO Drew! Do you know what is in your heart?
Drew: YES!
Baylie: Just say no. Do you know what is in your heart?
Drew: Uhhh, no.
Baylie: Jesus is in your heart, Drew.
Drew: Okay.
Baylie: Is Jesus in your heart, Drew?
Drew: Yes.
Baylie: (getting aggravated) Drew!! Just say no. Is Jesus in your heart?
Drew: Uhhh, no.
Baylie: Do you know what happens if Jesus is not in your heart?
Drew: Yes.
Baylie: (aggravation increasing) DREW!!! Say no. Do you know what happens if Jesus is not in your heart?
Drew: (beginning to lose interest in the conversation) No.
Baylie: You go to hell. Do you want to go to hell, Drew?
Drew: No.
Baylie: Do you know why not?
Drew: Because my friend Caleb isn’t there. (Caleb was/is a friend of Drew’s who is perfectly healthy and probably glad he doesn’t have a 6 year old sister to condemn him to hell)
Baylie: No, Drew, you don’t want to go to hell because Jesus isn’t there and you will burn in the fire.
Drew: Hey Baylie, look at this dinosaur I found.
*This conversation brought to you in part by the children’s ministry at Grace Bible Church in Nacogdoches. Andy Howell is the director and any discrepancies or complaints should be made directly to Andy.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Catchin Up
Sorry it's taken so long. Here's what's new with the Graves:
You may wanna grab a snack and go to the restroom before you start. Sorry it has taken so long. And that it is so long.
We closed on our house in Nacogdoches. It was a bittersweet day. We were excited and relieved to finalize it; but, at the same time, we were sad b/c it meant leaving a lot of great friends behind.
We have all of our stuff...er crap...in storage. Thankfully a few of the guys on the team helped us move everything into storage. So even though we have moved, we are by no means settled and basically have another move on the horizon when we move into our house. I'm glad I work with the football team and have eager and able helpers, well I don't know how eager they are; but they probably didn't feel like they could tell me no when I asked them this last time so I am gonna hit em up again. Give a few bucks, feed em a little food and they are happy.
Living with my parents (Corey's in-laws-in case you couldn't put it together quick enough) has been going...knock on wood...really well. Corey is doing a great job of trying to make it all work so she gets most of the credit. The only source of tension is our dog, Oskie. My parents aren't exactly "dog" people (I don't know why I used quotation marks, I hate it when people do the quotation mark sign with their hands when they talk and I think typing it is borderline just as ridiculous). Anyway, back to the dog at Mom and Dad's house. (You ever wonder why you refer to your parents house as mom and dad's instead of dad and mom's? Dad's are usually considered the primary provider for the household. I guess it's b/c mom's run the house!) Sorry, back to the dog again. Anyway, my folks house is not dog-proofed so there is stuff all around their backyard and Oskie has found a way to get into all of it, and destroy most of it. So we spend a lot of time cleaning up the backyard every few days. One particular day, Corey spent a good hour picking up six 200 count bags of craft beads that Oskie had scattered all over the yard. You know the ones...those little ones that Hobby Lobby sells in mass quantities to vacation bible school directors. When she was done and mentioned to my dad what she had done, he thought that was hilarious. He laughed and said, "You should have just dug a hole and raked them all into it and buried them instead of picking them all up." Typical man, but oddly enough, Corey wasn't laughing.
When we left SFA, our insurance ran out. I couldn't convince the administration to keep paying that for me. JERKS!!! We decided to not continue coverage through Cobra b/c we would have all had to break 3 limbs, contract the bird flu and break out in the mumps for us to justify paying what that racket costs to maintain our coverage. We got a supplemental plan that was half the cost but only covered major medical. You know, breaking limbs or contracting rare viruses. Well we did a pretty good job of staying healthy except for the last week of March (our new coverage kicked in April 1, no joking). Drew started running fever and coughing up pieces of lung. Actually, hacking would be a better description. It wouldn't go away with ibuprofen, tylenol and chocolate milk. So we bit the bullet and took him to the doctor. So we got to pay 100% of a new sick patient doctor's visit and THREE prescriptions. Of course, there wasn't one generic catch-all drug we could give him. I know it could have been worse, but I wanted to vent...
Baylie still loves her school. Her new best friend is Kennedy Preston, the daughter of our LB's coach and one of the second grade teachers (Mrs. Preston for any of our slow readers). Mrs. Preston told Corey--in front of Baylie--that whenever Corey started work that Baylie could hang out in her room with her until Corey got off work. Well Corey and Baylie were driving down the road, and out of nowhere, Baylie said, "Mom, when are you going to sign up for some work so I can go to Mrs. Amber's room?" If any of you know where she can "sign up" (I did it again) for some work please post it in the comment section. Or Call. Now. Right Now. Seriously.
Speaking of Baylie's school. Corey went to pick her up from school one day. The date is irrelevant, it was just one day. Anyway, she got there a little early and decided to turn the car off and leave the radio on. She ought to write commercials for Guiness Beer, b/c she is "Brilliant!" (there are those damn quotations again). Baylie came out, got in the van, all the kids were buckled and ready to go. Only one problem...do you really need me to tell you? With a line of cars backed up to the corner, she needed a little help. Well thankfully there was a dad there with jumper cables and a little compassion. He came over and helped her out. So Corey got jumped by one of the dads. Wait...she got a boost...hold on...you get the point.
Two nights ago, we were lying in bed and the tornado sirens started sounding. Corey turned the television to local news and found out that there was a tornado warning or watch or alert or whatever is serious, really serious, for Texarkana. She woke me up just in time to hear Ron Young declare that there was a threat of a tornado hitting the downtown area of Texarkana. Well, dad and mom's (shout out to the dad's) house is just about 1 mile from downtown. So I jump up, look out the window and guess what I saw??? A light was on in the van. So I run outside to turn the light off...don't need my wife needing to get jumped from anymore dads. I ran back inside and within about 30 seconds, literally 30 seconds, lemon sized hail started falling. It broke out one of the windows in the bedroom Corey and I are sleeping in. We got Baylie and Drew up (Casey was in Ashdown with Corey's parents) and put them in the closet. They fell right back asleep and never knew what was going on. The next morning as I was leaving I noticed the back glass of the new (used) car we have (was Corey's PawPaw's car when he passed away) had a softball sized hole in it and the glass was shattered. Corey took it to her folks to park it in their garage until we can get it fixed. She had Drew in the car and every bump they hit, a little bit of the glass fell into the back hatch (no it's not a station wagon, it's a Mitsubishi Outlander and IT IS COOL). Once Drew realized what was going on, he was oohin and wowin and thought that was the coolest thing he has seen. It doesn't take much. He said, " I wish your Paw Paw was here to see this, he would be mad. But, he had to die so he could go to heaven." I don't really have anything smart to say about that. Pretty matter-of-fact.
Quick hits:
We have visited 3 churches and have liked something about all of them, but we are still visiting and looking for that "something" (Again? I am a tool).
Corey interviewed with a dentist today. Well, an orthodontist, and they typically don't have hygienists and I am not exactly sure why he is hiring one. Something about brackets and scraping sealant and patient education and David Cook is my vote for American Idol. Sorry, my mind wondered like it did when Corey was telling me what the job consisted of. I understand about half of what Corey says when she talks about what she does anyway. I'll let her tell you about it on our other blog, www.blahblahblah.boringblogs.com. I love you baby.
You may wanna grab a snack and go to the restroom before you start. Sorry it has taken so long. And that it is so long.
We closed on our house in Nacogdoches. It was a bittersweet day. We were excited and relieved to finalize it; but, at the same time, we were sad b/c it meant leaving a lot of great friends behind.
We have all of our stuff...er crap...in storage. Thankfully a few of the guys on the team helped us move everything into storage. So even though we have moved, we are by no means settled and basically have another move on the horizon when we move into our house. I'm glad I work with the football team and have eager and able helpers, well I don't know how eager they are; but they probably didn't feel like they could tell me no when I asked them this last time so I am gonna hit em up again. Give a few bucks, feed em a little food and they are happy.
Living with my parents (Corey's in-laws-in case you couldn't put it together quick enough) has been going...knock on wood...really well. Corey is doing a great job of trying to make it all work so she gets most of the credit. The only source of tension is our dog, Oskie. My parents aren't exactly "dog" people (I don't know why I used quotation marks, I hate it when people do the quotation mark sign with their hands when they talk and I think typing it is borderline just as ridiculous). Anyway, back to the dog at Mom and Dad's house. (You ever wonder why you refer to your parents house as mom and dad's instead of dad and mom's? Dad's are usually considered the primary provider for the household. I guess it's b/c mom's run the house!) Sorry, back to the dog again. Anyway, my folks house is not dog-proofed so there is stuff all around their backyard and Oskie has found a way to get into all of it, and destroy most of it. So we spend a lot of time cleaning up the backyard every few days. One particular day, Corey spent a good hour picking up six 200 count bags of craft beads that Oskie had scattered all over the yard. You know the ones...those little ones that Hobby Lobby sells in mass quantities to vacation bible school directors. When she was done and mentioned to my dad what she had done, he thought that was hilarious. He laughed and said, "You should have just dug a hole and raked them all into it and buried them instead of picking them all up." Typical man, but oddly enough, Corey wasn't laughing.
When we left SFA, our insurance ran out. I couldn't convince the administration to keep paying that for me. JERKS!!! We decided to not continue coverage through Cobra b/c we would have all had to break 3 limbs, contract the bird flu and break out in the mumps for us to justify paying what that racket costs to maintain our coverage. We got a supplemental plan that was half the cost but only covered major medical. You know, breaking limbs or contracting rare viruses. Well we did a pretty good job of staying healthy except for the last week of March (our new coverage kicked in April 1, no joking). Drew started running fever and coughing up pieces of lung. Actually, hacking would be a better description. It wouldn't go away with ibuprofen, tylenol and chocolate milk. So we bit the bullet and took him to the doctor. So we got to pay 100% of a new sick patient doctor's visit and THREE prescriptions. Of course, there wasn't one generic catch-all drug we could give him. I know it could have been worse, but I wanted to vent...
Baylie still loves her school. Her new best friend is Kennedy Preston, the daughter of our LB's coach and one of the second grade teachers (Mrs. Preston for any of our slow readers). Mrs. Preston told Corey--in front of Baylie--that whenever Corey started work that Baylie could hang out in her room with her until Corey got off work. Well Corey and Baylie were driving down the road, and out of nowhere, Baylie said, "Mom, when are you going to sign up for some work so I can go to Mrs. Amber's room?" If any of you know where she can "sign up" (I did it again) for some work please post it in the comment section. Or Call. Now. Right Now. Seriously.
Speaking of Baylie's school. Corey went to pick her up from school one day. The date is irrelevant, it was just one day. Anyway, she got there a little early and decided to turn the car off and leave the radio on. She ought to write commercials for Guiness Beer, b/c she is "Brilliant!" (there are those damn quotations again). Baylie came out, got in the van, all the kids were buckled and ready to go. Only one problem...do you really need me to tell you? With a line of cars backed up to the corner, she needed a little help. Well thankfully there was a dad there with jumper cables and a little compassion. He came over and helped her out. So Corey got jumped by one of the dads. Wait...she got a boost...hold on...you get the point.
Two nights ago, we were lying in bed and the tornado sirens started sounding. Corey turned the television to local news and found out that there was a tornado warning or watch or alert or whatever is serious, really serious, for Texarkana. She woke me up just in time to hear Ron Young declare that there was a threat of a tornado hitting the downtown area of Texarkana. Well, dad and mom's (shout out to the dad's) house is just about 1 mile from downtown. So I jump up, look out the window and guess what I saw??? A light was on in the van. So I run outside to turn the light off...don't need my wife needing to get jumped from anymore dads. I ran back inside and within about 30 seconds, literally 30 seconds, lemon sized hail started falling. It broke out one of the windows in the bedroom Corey and I are sleeping in. We got Baylie and Drew up (Casey was in Ashdown with Corey's parents) and put them in the closet. They fell right back asleep and never knew what was going on. The next morning as I was leaving I noticed the back glass of the new (used) car we have (was Corey's PawPaw's car when he passed away) had a softball sized hole in it and the glass was shattered. Corey took it to her folks to park it in their garage until we can get it fixed. She had Drew in the car and every bump they hit, a little bit of the glass fell into the back hatch (no it's not a station wagon, it's a Mitsubishi Outlander and IT IS COOL). Once Drew realized what was going on, he was oohin and wowin and thought that was the coolest thing he has seen. It doesn't take much. He said, " I wish your Paw Paw was here to see this, he would be mad. But, he had to die so he could go to heaven." I don't really have anything smart to say about that. Pretty matter-of-fact.
Quick hits:
We have visited 3 churches and have liked something about all of them, but we are still visiting and looking for that "something" (Again? I am a tool).
Corey interviewed with a dentist today. Well, an orthodontist, and they typically don't have hygienists and I am not exactly sure why he is hiring one. Something about brackets and scraping sealant and patient education and David Cook is my vote for American Idol. Sorry, my mind wondered like it did when Corey was telling me what the job consisted of. I understand about half of what Corey says when she talks about what she does anyway. I'll let her tell you about it on our other blog, www.blahblahblah.boringblogs.com. I love you baby.
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