Calling all blog friends...remember me?

Hi all: Good grief -- has it really been over 10 months since I've last posted an entry? I'm sure some of you *still* remember me, right? ;)


We've had lots of goings on since my post way back in January, that's for sure! Some good, some tragic. I wanted to try to begin blogging again so that I could have a place to put my thoughts.


Firstly, in February, Zack went on his very first date!! As a matter of fact, nine months later they are still dating. Her name is Arrie (sounds like "sorry"); she goes to a rival school in town and is a whole year older than he (which also means she will be 18!! in December). They've known each other as friends from church for a couple of years; i.e., hung out with the same crowd. He finally got the nerve enough to ask her out and the rest is history. ;) She is such a sweet girl; very polite and well-mannered, and seems to have a good head on her shoulders. Dating Arrie has definitely helped Zack become grounded in a real way! He turned 16 in April, and is currently finishing up the newly 2007 mandated driver's education course. His goal is have his Class D license by Christmas. We need to log more supervised driving hours before he can actually go take the test.

Aaron played tackle football this year, and his team came in 3rd place overall. He loved every minute of the season, and is already looking forward to playing again next fall. He is still playing handbells at church, and has recently become a member of a 10-member children's choir ensemble at church. Never a dull moment for him!

In June, Michael celebrated his 40th birthday. Friends hosted a big swimming social with 20 of our friends and grilled out. We had a wonderful time together.


June also brought us some rather shocking news. Michael's sister was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. After undergoing a major reconstructive surgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, she is currently in her 6th round of chemotherapy, and seems to be doing fairly well. She has kept her hair, and her spirits are wonderful. She's kept busy with attending her son's football games - where he plays the first string running back as a senior.


It was two months after his birthday that our family began the hellish journey of helping Michael recover from what could have been a fatal motorcycle accident. He broke his left leg and foot in multiple places, which included two compound fractures. His foot required a skin graft, which was done just two weeks ago. Thirteen weeks after the accident, we are still more than a week away from beginning physical therapy. Needless to say, you can imagine the financial and emotional strain this has put on our family. Michael is doing fairly well, and is very anxious to be able to get back to work. He has just been changed from a short term disability employee to a long term disability one, which means that he currently is unofficially a terminated employee. What this boils down to is after he is back to or near 100% and is released medically, he will need to reapply for his old job, or other similar jobs. This may even require applying for a job that would cause us to move away from our home. His boss(es) has/have assured him that he won't have any problems getting back into their employment. We can only pray that this happens. Since the accident though, his boss has moved elsewhere. This means that he'll have a new one to discuss position(s) with once he is ready to go to work.


I hope this post makes sense. My plans are to begin blogging again at least on a weekly basis. And if I can post more frequently than that, it'll be . I have missed blogging dearly!


I appreciate all the prayers you can muster for our current situation. Until next time.