thosewhowait

Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31

Sunday, December 31, 2006

our last blog entry of 2006

i am sitting here at my now dry but messy, dusty, dirty, smelly house thinking "what could i possibly write in this last blog of 2006"? the twins are at an all-nighter at church, meg is at a friends house, tim is at a friends house to sleep because of the mold issues and i am home...and it is still a "HAPPY NEW YEAR".

i was looking through some stuff and came upon a quote from hubert humphrey "it is not what they take away from you that counts. it's what you do with what you have left." and it came to me that this is so true in many aspects of our lives. tim and i talked tonight and spent some time looking back over 2006 and spent some time looking forward to 2007. in one years time our family has been through some very challenging times, but at no time were we ready to give up and quit. sure, we have had our frustrating times and our sad times and our scary times but we have been able to hold on to our faith and each other and get through one day at a time.

we have determined to continue tackling one day at a time and then go to bed and get up in the morning and tackle another day. (who knows, maybe some day we will even be sleeping in the same house). the year has been interesting.

as this year leaves and the next year arrives may you all know how important you have been to our family. have a great new year.

tim and tammy

"a sense of humor...is needed armor. joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life". hugh sidey

Thursday, December 28, 2006

update on the floating home...

the plumber has fixed the hose that "blew out". it was a very unusual line to go...everyone who looks at the line says that they have never seen anything like it-go figure!!

we called in a restoration company and within hours we had about 6-8 guys here ripping up carpet and hardwood floors and tearing down ceiling tiles and sucking up water and putting holes in walls to dry behind them...it was an amazing site. i never knew that there was such a thing as a moisture reading stick and that these guys measure the humidity and the moisture in the area to figure out how long it will take to dry out. (we are looking at tuesday-maybe). we now have about 7-9 industrial size fans plus two de-humidifiers about the size of my refrigerator (well, that might be a slight exaggeration). most of out wiring has been re-routed to allow for the fans to run off the power source without blowing. so we just take a lantern into the bathroom when we have to use it...the kids like that part.

due to the suggestion of the restoration company plus our own common sense, we have removed tim from the home. he has gone back to berwick for a few days to avoid the mold and mildew issues plus the fans just have the dust blowing everywhere. yes, i told the crew that if i had known they were coming i might have cleaned up a bit more before they got here. picture what your house looks like about 30 minutes after you have had three kids unwrap all the presents and that is what you had here. we had our christmas here in harrisburg sunday afternoon and packed and left...not exactly the scene i would have wished for...but life goes on without us sometimes.

today the restoration company is coming back and the insurance adjuster is coming in to evaluate the damage. i have already been to the laudramat to do a few loads of soaked towels...the night we got home we must have used 20-some towels to start soaking up the water.

well, that is the update for the day...hope you all are having a wonderful week going into this new year (which by the way i am SOOOO looking forward to). i have already practiced writing 2007!!!!!

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy
(from the wind tunnel)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

the day and the day after...

the day was wonderful. we had a great christmas. we were able to get to berwick and visit with family and friends and i think we got to see everyone except tims sister (who we will hopefully catch up with sometime later this week). it was relaxing and restful and very enjoyable.

i have been accused of occasionally sugar-coating these blog entries-maybe because i need the positive reinforcement myself, maybe because i look at things different than others, but i will admit that sometimes i leave out some "little stuff" that isn't always of a positive nature. so in keeping things as honest as they can get and being realistic...the day after "sucked". (vocabulary according to the three teenagers i live with).

we have a person close to us who prefers to be anonymous who is having some health issues involving biopsies and CAT scans and MRI's and to be honest it is giving us "flashback" memories that we don't really like.

my father is going in for hip-replacement surgery in a few weeks and we aren't thrilled about that either.

we came home the "day after christmas" to a main water line burst...in our bathroom next to the bedrooms. we were wading through the water in the upstairs and the basement is flooded-it looked like the scene in jimanji when the flood rains came down inside the house. so right now i am waiting for the plumber to arrive and for the home-owners insurance agent to call us back. we may need an electrician to check out the wiring. our main water line had to be shut off, the twins took lots of pictures for the insurance company and then they went to stay at a neighbors. i had to call off work. tim and i started to clean up a bit but decided to call it a night and try to get some sleep-it is going to be a long day today.

my main concern is the mold-issues. there is nothing that was destroyed that can't be replaced or we can live without...but with tims immune system still growing we have been told to not even clean our carpets because of mold and mildew issues...

so...that is our prayer request. we need a clean-up that will be "mold and mildew-free".

i hope that you all had a better "day after" than we did. but...even with all this happening it is still so much better than the day after christmas last year. (i almost can't wait for next year).

God has blessed our family and will continue to bless our family. i guess the basement needed to be cleaned out anyway. we have learned to live one day at a time and take these "little things" in stride. well, i think i hear our plumber...take care.

thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy
(at the floating dewalt home)

Saturday, December 23, 2006

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

i didn't think christmas would ever get here this year...and we are going to have a GREAT ONE. we have so much to be thankful for as we remember how far we have come this year. we have made one complete circle through a year and so many of you have traveled right along with us-thank you for all your support and love and prayers-we are so blessed to have such great friends and family.

last year at this time tim was dragging...he wasn't even able to watch the kids open their gifts on christmas day and had started to turn yellow. he spent the whole day in bed and we took him to the ER in berwick on the day after christmas...and that was when the nightmare officially began.

this christmas is going to be a better one...a fantastic one...a relaxing one.

we remember the REASON FOR THE SEASON and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. we have such a greater appreciation for family and friends and thank God each day for giving our family another day together.

hope you enjoy the holidays as much as we are going to...

thanks for checking in and have a blessed holiday season.

tim and tammy and megan and ashley and kelsey

Thursday, December 21, 2006

another milestone...

a phone call. (another bizarre seemly non-significant event) but this call came from tim while he was at the pepsi plant-from his office. he spent the entire day at the plant while they had their office staff meeting and christmas party. then he went into his office for a while to sort some stuff i guess. they must have had a good time because he came home with lipstick on his collar...i am not sure what kind of reindeer games they were playing??...but it was so good to see him out and about!!!

this has been a rather eventful week and although it plays him out a bit it has been good for him. the other day he ordered a BLT with the L-very exciting. thanks to all who call him and chat and fill him in on all sorts of info...it really does him good to socialize with others, even if it is only a phone call. it gives us something different to talk about...i often wonder what retired couple talk about because when you spend so much time with another person you kinda run out of things to talk about.

well, thanks for checking in...i work on friday and will try to update one more time before we head home for the holidays.

take care and have a great day.

tim and tammy

Monday, December 18, 2006

a celebration tonight...

after approximately 11 months, tim was given the OK to eat lettuce!!!! that may not seem like a big deal to you, but he loves salads and celery and tomatoes and has been craving them for months. SO...we ate lettuce tonight!!!!! i know it seems silly, but this was such a milestone event for us. (it sometimes doesn't take much to excite us).

his bloodwork came back really good, except for a minor issue that his anti-rejection drug level was toxic-but that is an easy fix. his liver enzymes are still dropping (which is good) and his other counts are holding steady.

it was a good doctors appt and we are apppointment-free through the holidays. YEAH!!!

hope you are all having a great stress-free week and thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

Thursday, December 14, 2006

wow...it's thursday already

this is what happens when i work a few days in a row...i totally lose track of days. i am off today and tim and i will be making our very familiar trip to the med center this morning. today he sees the eye specialist. the eye weight that he had put in is doing fine and working well, but he seems to be having some minor issues with the tear duct in that one eye. it is either very very dry all the time or occasionally it just tears and tears...they can surgically repair it, but we are still looking for a non-surgical solution if we can. (i tell him it is so dry because he sits a few inches from the heater???)

this milder weather the past couple of days has been good for him. he wanted to go for a walk the other night so we drove to hersheypark and walked down there. not only was it some good exercise with the little hills and stairs but it was a very enjoyable trip going in and out of the shops and visiting chocolate world. i am holding off for snow before i let him drive me through the lights, but the ones you see from the road are great.

we have his blood work and oncology appt on monday...hopefully this appt will get us through christmas without having to go back. we are still having to work through some issues but a couple of weeks off wouldn't hurt.

FLASHBACK...this time last year we had just switched tim to a second antibiotic because the first one didn't seem to be working on his "supposed" pneumonia. he was still trying to work 12-14 hours a day while those little cancer cells were attacking his liver and bone marrow and little lymph nodes all throughout his body. he was really wearing down the two weeks before christmas last year.

well, have to get the kids up for school.

thanks for checking in and have a great day.

tim and tammy

Sunday, December 10, 2006

rise and shine...its sunday morning

things are still good around here this weekend. i have been working third shift and sleeping so tim has been running the show. on saturday he took kelsey christmas shopping (for me-that is exciting).

so, we now have our tree up and some gifts under the tree and it is cold outside...now if we could just get some snow things would be good. (keep in mind that the views expressed on this blog may not be the views of management, just his wife).

monday morning i will be heading to berwick to finish up some shopping and have lunch with my mom. then i work on tuesday, wednesday and friday...if you are in the area during the day-give tim a call, he will be bored this week. he has a follow-up eye appt on thursday in hershey. his eye has been tearing an awful lot lately-i am glad he goes in this week.

we hope all have a great day and thanks for checking in...

tim and tammy

Thursday, December 07, 2006

thursday morning update...

just a quick update to say that all is well. tim was able to make it to church again last night and today he is thinking about shopping with me and his dad. every year, fred and i go out for a whole day and shop 'till (he) drops. then he bribes me to stop dragging him from store to store with lunch at red lobster (it works). we have been doing this for years...it is always an enjoyable day. this will be the first year that we will have tim join us...it should prove to be an interesting day. my guess is that they start talking about lunch by 10:30am!!!! however the day turns out will be fine-i am looking forward to it and i am sure that we can manage with whatever time they have the energy for (of course now that fred has had both his knees replaced i may be the one needing to rest today).

well, have to get the kids moving. thanks for checking in.

tim and tammy

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

the memories are still fresh...

...my parents came down last night to help us get the tree up and decorate our house inside. all the decorations were up in the attic and the tree we have weighs a ton, so we called in some extra hands. (it would be a scary sight for me to try to get up and down from that attic) while we were trimming the tree we were reminiscing about this time last year-at this point of the game we though tim just had a bad cold which seemed to be heading for pneumonia-he was all washed out and feeling pretty crappy this time last year. but this year he was in the attic and helping with the decorations and running around town with my dad.

...we have so much to be thankful for and as we reach some of these milestone dates that occurred before i started the blog i will send them out your way. i don't think it is a bad thing to remember where we have been, it helps on the really frustrating days now. even though things are not totally back to normal and we occasionally whine abit, we are so thankful that we are still a family of five!!!

thanks for checking in and find something to be thankful for today!!!

tim and tammy

Monday, December 04, 2006

monday morning...

it was a good weekend for tim...he was "headache-free" and was able to attend a church christmas party on saturday night and attend both sunday morning and sunday night services to hear a candidate for a new senior pastor of our church...who by the way was voted in last night.

he was actually feeling pretty good, eating pretty well, and i would imagine his biggest complaint all weekend would have to be that he is cold most of the time. we hope that his hair will come in nice and thick so that he gets some warmth there. (he actually does have quite a bit of hair already for those of you who haven't seen him for awhile) we did get a little christmas shopping done on friday and we hope to pick up a couple more things today. fred is coming down later this week to POWER-SHOP with me...it is always a fun day.

well, i must get the kids moving...back to school on monday mornings is sometimes a rough sale.

thanks for checking in and have a great day.

tim and tammy