Still Wicked Excited.

Today I was still "defying gravity", walking

on clouds, and listening to my "Wicked"

music all.day.loooong.  The boys around our

home thought that they had heard enough, 

but seriously, I.am.in.love.with that

musical.  We had such a blast!  It was great

just thinking about it all.day.long.

MIKE UPDATE:  After only 3 1/2 hours

in slumberland, I stumbled jumped out of

the haystack and accompanied my 

dear husband at the cardiologist's office.

The docs are bound and determined to

get this blood pressure down.  We

loved our new cardiologist!!  At this

point, he is going to try patches in

combination with the medication in 

an attempt to lower the blood pressure.

I am saying the biggest prayer over

these patches!!!

Wicked.

 Wickedly amazing!!!  "Wicked"

is playing in Las Vegas.  They

held a lottery two hours before the

show.  One hundred and thirty four

people showed up to put their

names in to win tickets to see

Wicked. 

 Luke was one of the victims people

who was really excited to go down

and fill out a ticket for the big

drawing!!!

 There were people EVERYWHERE

waiting to get into the lottery!!!

 "Official" Lottery Entry Form!!!

 Yessiree, my peeps were REALLY

excited to go down in the heat

to win tickets to my most favorite

Broadway play . . . ever!!!

 Zach and Drea even came down to

fill out tickets to win!

After we filled out the tickets we

waited excitedly to see if we were winners!!

 They mixed up the tickets in a 

big witches' cauldron over and over

and over and over and over and over

again . . . 

 I was the FIRST name that they

called out . . . only TEN people

won tickets!!!  The people around

me lost their hearing  clapped excitedly

when my name was called!!!

Front row orchestra tickets . . .

Win! Win! Win!!!

Pretty exciting day for this chick!!!

Encouragement.

 Truthfully, I.do.not.know. just where we

would be without our fantabulous family

and friends . . . 

 . . . our cheerleaders . . . 

 . . . our support team . . .

 Seriously, our home is filled, filled, filled

with cards and notes of encouragement

from so many of our most treasured

people.

 God certainly surrounded us with 

a.m.a.z.i.n.g people and we are

so grateful!!!!

We all knock each other down to

go to the mailbox.  I think that our

mailman may be a wee bit jealous!!!

Love, love, love you all so very

much!!  You will NEVER know

how much your kindness towards

our family has meant!!!

This scripture melts my heart and

certainly holds true in this case:

"For I was hungry and you gave me

something to eat, I was thirsty and 

you gave me something to drink, I was

a stranger and you invited me in, I 

needed clothes and you clothed me, I

was sick and you looked after me, I was

in prison and you came to visit me. . . .

The King will reply, I tell you the 

truth, whatever you did for one

of the least of these brothers of mine,

you did for me."

Cozy as a Bed Bug.

And.THIS.is.why.I.make.quilts!!

Mike Update:  Today we visited

our fantabulous doc.  Mike's blood

pressure is most definitely a 

concern.  Today is was 191/108.

Unfortunately, that is a very serious

side effect of adrenal gland cancer.

The tumors drive that blood

pressure up, up, up, in spite of the

fact that he is on FIVE medications

to keep it down.  Our doc 

recommended that we see a 

cardiologist to see if he could

work on getting the blood pressure

down.  We are going to be seeing

him on Friday.  Meanwhile, we

are continuing our clinical trial,

PRAYING continuously, and 

working together each and every

moment of each and every day.

Withdrawls.

Yessiree!  Our crew loves a good old

fashioned birthday weekend!!  My, oh, my

it is d.i.f.f.i.c.u.l.t. to come down!!

Tonight we all looked at each other at 

the same time and screamed 

BROWNIES!  I quickly mixed up a

batch and when we were done eating

tons of the batter . . . we baked the

rest in the pan.

I say that this is the best possible

way to let ourselves down from

a birthday celebration weekend.

Happy Birthday Sam!

Happy, happy, happy birthday to my 

Sam.  I truly must have blinked or 

something.  I cannot believe that my

guy is 17 years old.  Where or where . . .

We have had a fantabulous weekend

celebrating the big 1.7.  Everyone

ate boneless chicken wings and

potato wedges and chocolate cake

until it was coming out of their

ears.  Today we spent time at one

of our fave spots . . . Red Rock 

Hotel.  We ate some yummy food 

and then we actually got our Dad

to stay for TWO movies.  It is HARD

to get him to sneak into a second

movie, but he took one for the

team in honor of the special 

occasion.

We are so grateful for our Sam.

He is my right arm and I am

so thankful that he is mine,

mine, mine.

Happy, happy . . . 

And the Celebrating Begins . . .

Birthday weekend began with a bang . . . 

Any celebration requires tons and tons

of yummy food.  Sam had been salivating

all.week.long over these wings.

One happy, happy birthday camper . . . 

. . . birthday camper #2 had a wonderful

day as well.

A pretty handsome crew was on the

scene to participate in the festivities.

It was so fun having everyone today!

Zach and Drea were excited to help

the guys celebrate . . .

. . . okay Zach REALLY got into

the celebrating!!!

My #4 is a lover of anything dipped

in ranch dressing!!!

All birthday celebrations include 

"Present Time"!  Sam was so full

after consuming a bazillion wings . . . 

He could barely move!!!

Happy, happy, happy birthday

Sam and Bobby!

And.many.many.more!