PHAREWELL PHIL

I would like to take a moment and bid a fond farewell to Phil Fulmer. Thanks for going out on a win. UT 28 Kentucky 10.
Pharewell Phil ........it's been a wild ride !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving !!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving ! Be sure to count your blessings today and give God thanks.

Blessings,

Cecelia

We are Finally Home !

Praise the LORD we are finally home. George was finally released from the hospital on Wednesday. The Dr. told us that he wanted us to stop every hour so George could get out and walk around. This would help his circulation in his legs so there would be a worry of blood clots.
We picked up our girls from Joy and Tybee and got on the road about 4 PM Eastern. We had traveled about 30 minutes and George got sick. Lets just say he had eaten Strawberry Yogurt before we left the hospital and it was not pretty. I don't know what it is about Strawberries and Surgery Patients but......well this is my 2nd experience and it is not good. If you have surgery AVOID STRAWBERRIES at least for a week or 2. LOL You have to laugh or you would cry..trust me.
I was afraid George would be sick all the way home so I called in some prayer warriors and asked that they pray for him. So....he slept. Oh don't worry I had the clock police (our girls) reminding me when 1 hour had passed no matter if there was an interstate exit or not. I had a hard time convincing them that it could be a little longer than an hour and it would be fine. So we stopped 3 or 4 times so George could get out and stretch his legs and walk around a little. Long story short we got home around 9 PM. I brought him and 2 of our girls home. Abigail went back out to get his pain meds filled and pick up some yogurt and Gatorade for George. And NO we did not get strawberry yogurt !!! It was 11 by the time we got to bed but Oh did we sleep good.
Since we've been home we have been abundantly blessed by our church family with food. Our leaves and yard were taken care of by some of our deacons. I know !
In this season of Thanksgiving our family certainly has a lot to be thankful for.

Blessings,

God is Good All the Time and All the Time God is Good !

First of all let me tell you that George is doing well. He is well on his way to full recovery ! He has been up and walked several times around the little “block” on our floor. He has made the transition from Ice Chips to Clear Liquids to a Full Liquid Diet. Me on the other hand well the food in the cafeteria is Wonderful ! I mean it. Oh and the icing on the cake ……..Starbucks !! Woo-Hoo ! Yesterday afternoon I was starting to drag and I was cold so I went to get me some Hot Chocolate. I looked on the Starbucks menu and there was a Mocha Café Latte. In plain English that is a Hot Chocolate with 2 shots of espresso added. It was goooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddd.
On another note please continue to pray for George’s recovery as I know you will. He has developed some skin breakdown on his upper legs because of having to be in the bed so long. He is not complaining, he is a trooper ! Also the Doc said we would probably get to head home tomorrow, so keep that in your prayers as well. He said to stop every hour on the way and let George get out and walk. I’m trying to get him to let me do a Harley Secret Shop in Cookeville but he just looks at me and rolls his eyes ! LOL Don’t worry folks he will be the top priority on the trip home.

OK its time to post the miracle:
On Sunday after George’s surgery, Joy, Derrick, Tybee, Jeff H., the girls and I went down to the cafeteria for lunch. We had a great lunch of Pot Roast and Mashed Potatoes. Two of the girls had Bacon Cheeseburgers and Lydia had a BLT. We enjoyed our lunch and headed back upstairs.
About 4 to 5 hours later after everyone had left I decided I would go down and get supper. I was afraid the cafeteria might close early because it was Sunday. So I started looking for my purse and it was nowhere to be found ! YIKES ! I was freaking out, on the inside anyway. I went down to the cafeteria and looked at the table where we had been sitting and it was not there. I asked a cashier if anyone had turned in a backpack purse and she said not to her. She left her cash register with me to check with some of the other employees. No one had seen it. She asked me if I knew where security was and I said no. She said I will walk you part of the way; well she walked me all the way there. We go to security and no purse. I did not know what I was going to do. My wallet, George’s wallet and our checkbook were all in my purse. I had already called the girls to see if they had accidentally picked it up when they left with Joy and Derrick. They said no they did not have it.
I looked at the young lady who was walking with me and I said ….I am just going to pray that God either puts it back in our room or somewhere that I can find it. I explained to her that we lived 4 hours away and that it was not a good situation to be in. We walked back to the cafeteria. As soon as we got there another employee walked up to my helper and said, “ You know you can’t do that, you can’t just walk away from your register like that.” Call it the Holy Spirit or Mama Bear…..at this point it was both…. I looked at that man, held my hand up and said “ You just back up off her, she is being my angel right now !” She went on back to her register and I said I am going to check at the table one more time.
Guess What …..It was under the table ! Praise the LORD ! I grabbed my purse and went over to my sweet angel at the cash register and showed her that I had found it. I gave her a huge hug, yes I did ! I said girl that’s just Jesus right there ! He is taking care of me.
I’m telling you I had to walk around in the cafeteria for a few minutes just giving God the glory. Another employee saw me and said “You found it ! “ I told her where I found it and said, “Sister, it was like God just put His hand over it and kept it there for me.”
My purse, sitting in a busy cafeteria, in a downtown hospital, under a table. It did not get taken. Say what you want but I’m saying that has God written all over it ! Praise the LORD ! Thank you Jesus !
I could go on and on about how God has worked everything out down here for our good. Hmmmmm…….that reminds me of a verse in God’s Word: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Blessings,

Happy Anniversary Baby ....Got you on my Mind !!!

That 80's flashback was brought to you by ....My 24th Wedding Anniversary !!! That's right 24 years. Actually we have been together 29 years all together. We started "going together" exactly 29 years ago today ! We were 14 ! LOL


Well this has been an adventurous Anniversary so to warn you this will be a long post but I will start off with our Anniversary picture.

If my beloved looks a little different it's because he had surgery today! That's right Gall Bladder surgery. It all started on Monday of last week........

Monday: My husband and I along with our girls and 2 other couples from our church traveled to Middle TN for the Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC). George woke up on Monday morning with what seemed like a stomach virus. But my husband the "trooper" took some medicine and pressed on. He drove the church van and we made the 4 hour trip to Middle TN. We got checked into our rooms and as soon as I handed him the key he disappeared. When the girls and I got to the room he was already in the bed ! He was not feeling well at all but he wanted us to go on to the TBC Mission Night and enjoy ourselves and he would have some much needed peace and quiet. The girls and I went with the 2 other couples from our church. We enjoyed a couple of hours and the headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a Kroger and got hubby some Ginger Ale, Gatorade and Saltine Crackers. Upon our return to the room he was feeling much better, was grateful for the crackers and Ginger Ale. He ate a few and drank some Ginger Ale.

Tuesday: He woke up feeling much better. We ate a continental breakfast together, went to the conference and had a great time. Just a side note about the TBC this year. Dr. Tom McCoy was the TBC president this year. He is Pastor of Thompson Station Baptist Church. This man is truly a man of God. The whole atmosphere of the TBC was different this year and I think it is because Pastor Tom and his church had poured out the prayers for the convention. He took time to talk to our girls and cut up with them a little. They loved him. My oldest daughter and I had gotten to hear him preach a little over a year ago and were truly blessed then.

Ok back to hubby, he ate lunch at the Carson Newman Luncheon on Tuesday and then we even went back on Tuesday Night to hear the Dr. McCoy preach. Afterwards we went and ate a light dinner. He had a great day.

Wednesday: At 3 am I heard a horrible noise. I quickly glanced around the room to check on the girls. I discovered that it was my beloved. He was in bathroom throwing up ! Let me just tell you, He does not throw up. That was only the 2nd time in 24 years, I promise. He was also having a lot of pain. I spoke with a good friend of ours who is a Dr. After talking with George; he suggested that we take George in to an ER to get the pain checked out. Once we got to the ER they did a couple of scans and said it was not his appendix and they did not see any gall stones in his gall bladder. The Dr. said he did not want to send George on a 4-hour trip home without knowing where the pain was coming from so he admitted George.
The 2 couples that had traveled to the convention with us took our girls, the church van and headed home. My friend Tabitha met my girls at 12:30 am at home and took them to her home until further notice. Thanks Tab !
Thursday and Friday: His had a temp and was still having pain although not as severe. His white blood count was dropping and his temp would go up and down. The Dr. said we could possibly go home on Saturday. We got in touch with the church secretary Sunny and she said her husband and another gentleman from church were on stand by to come get us on Saturday. I told her I would call after I heard from the Doc.
Saturday: The Dr. came in and said he was going to let us go home. Woo-hoo ! He also said George’s bilirubin was elevated so he wanted to do 1 more blood test. Ok so he did.
I called Sunny and got the guys headed down to get us. About 2 hours later the Dr. called and said the blood test had shown that his bilirubin was even more elevated and that maybe it was his gall bladder after all. He wanted to keep George and do another test.
George told me to go on home with the guys that were on their way to get us. I did NOT want to go! However submission kicked in and off I went. In retrospect I am glad I did.
I got home on Saturday evening and the girls were glad to see me. Molly (the dog) however was not happy that her Daddy was not home. She would not even look at me ! LOL That dog is George’s dog. She loves him like crazy !
George called me and said the last scan they did showed that it was indeed his gall bladder. He had talked to a surgeon and the surgeon wanted to do the surgery early Sunday morning. I was not happy again ! George told me to get a good nights rest and bring the girls and our van and come down Sunday Morning. I reluctantly agreed.
Sunday: The girls and I got up and hit the road around 8 am Eastern. We got into Knoxville and the surgeon called and said he was about to begin. He talked to me a few minutes and made sure that I had all my questions answered. He said they were going to do their best to do it laprascopically.
An hour and a half passed and the surgeon called back. The gall bladder was so bad that they had to make an incision and remove it that way. They also put a drain tube in. So recovery time in the hospital will be longer since we live 4 hours away.
Our girls are with our good friends Joy and Derrick who you might remember gave birth to a precious baby girl on Easter Sunday.
As of now all is going well, thanks to the pain pump ! LOL
I have HUGE God Stop to share but I am going to save that for a few days.
That’s the story in a Great Big Nutshell !
Blessings,

Cecelia