Coming Home!

I just got word from Mom that Dad is coming home! Sorry I haven't updated the blog this weekend. Brian and I have been so busy trying to get our house ready for them to move in. Good thing is, we finally cleaned out rooms and got rid of things that we have been meaning to for a while! God has been so amazing these past several days. Dad has made a lot of progress this weekend. They had him up and walking the day after his surgery and he was quickly back to eating 3 meals a day! He was pretty tired on Saturday, but they say that is normal the 2nd day after surgery. I don't know if I had more emotions before the surgery or more after. I love seeing my dad walk down the hall! You all are so faithful and I appreciate many of you taking time to call and check on us and your prayers have meant so much to our family! Blessings to you all!

God is Faithful!

That's right, God is so faithful! This past Tuesday morning my parents went to workout with their trainer at 6:00am, just like they do 4 days a week. They were 10 minutes into their workout and my dad was never able to catch his breath and broke out in cold sweats. They went home and he got ready for the day and ate breakfast before heading off to work. God was speaking to mom and she knew something wasn't right. She called his doctor and he told her that my dad needed to get to the ER heart hospital immediately, but my dad didn't think anything was too serious. So his doctor called him and told him he needed to go. Thankfully, my dad listened and he headed home to ride with my mom up to the hospital. They ran several tests and things came back ok, until they completed a stress test. We do have family history of heart disease on my dad's side, and because they knew this they knew something wasn't right. They wanted to schedule a angiogram Wednesday morning to look closer into the heart and arteries.
Needless to say, they did not like what they saw. There were 4 arteries that were blocked, including the main one to the heart. They scheduled him for immediate open heart surgery Thursday morning.
Word quickly spread and everyone was calling and letting us know they were praying and trust me...we felt the prayers. I know we could not have made it through with your prayers and God's strength. Dad was okay with the news, he was somewhat not surprised. The funny thing was he wanted to complete some tax returns before he had the surgery! We let him do a few, which kept his mind off things! Throughout the day and evening friends and family poured into the room knowing they were there for us and praying. Adam and Cassidy flew in, my dad's brother drove in from Tulsa, and mom's sister came in with the girls from McKinney!
Thursday morning our family was able to be with dad and share some funny memories! We got him to tell us a few childhood stories that made us laugh! We were able to pray with him before they took him in for surgery.
They updated us every hour and each hour the news was real encouraging. The waiting room was full of friends and family and helped the 3 hours go by fast! After the surgery, the surgeon met with our family and gave us a full report. He basically said that my dad was a ticking time bomb with a lit fuse! God is so good and we know he had his hands throughout the whole process. He is recovering very well and will be in the hospital until Tuesday.
I am sorry this is so long, but I know many of you were praying and I wanted to give you as many details as I could. Your prayers were felt and we felt peace throughout the day.

Tornado Update

Thank you for those who have been praying for our family. It has been an eventful week. We have been out at the house most of the weekend helping get things cleaned up. Adam and Cassidy were also able to come home and we all were at the house yesterday cleaning out rooms, closests, and the attic! When the engineer came out last week he was concerned about the structure of the roof. They will basically pack up most of everything upstairs and store it for us, while they tear our ceilings to get to the raftors, this was why we had to clean out rooms and attic. We are packrats! Adam and I both still had signes we saved from our 16th b-day's! How sad is that?! It was time to let go!

The adjuster finally came to the house this morning. We know our house isn't totaled, but were still a little worried as to what kind of report we would get. We know God has sent the right person out to look at the house. His mom was a graduate of Baylor and his uncle played football for Baylor in the 50's! He has agreed that we need to replace all carpets, hardwood floors and windows! This was an answer to prayer! I know the pictures just don't do it justice and some things you just can't see in pictures. After looking and finding new things this weekend, we all feel had the tornado spent anymore time over our house, the upstairs would be completely gone! Door frames are moved, walls are bulging, and the window in my room is pulled out completely from the wall.

I just wanted to share a few more pictures my mom had taken of the house before the clean up began. The last one is of the master bedroom. It was probably one of the hardest hit. The shiny thing next to the bed is one of the windows! Please continue to pray for my parents as they begin the reconstruction process.

Tornado Pictures- Outside

Front of house, just above front door. The rock and brick covered the front porch!



Backyard, looking towards driveway.

What use to be the hot tub and grill area!

Back of house: master bedroom on the right, family room on the left. Formal living room right in the center and not touched at all!

Can you see the stick jabbed in the roof?

Driving Range- those were huge pine trees that were lined up next to the net.

Next door neighbors house. Clipped back of our house, hit left side of their house, and crossed the street and destroyed that house.


This is the picture that was still standing outside of master bedroom.

Tornado 2009

I just wanted to give everyone an update of our weather here over the last 24 hours.
Yesterday about 2:15 the tornado sirens started going off in the metro area. We took shelter here at school with all 240 kiddos! I couldn't make calls out or receive calls or text messages. I was able to email Brian and at least communicate that way. My brother was able to reach me and he had talked to my parents, so I knew everyone was okay.
My dad was not home, but my mom and Shadow dog were able to get into the shelter and she closed the door as she felt the suction come through. My dad was trying to get home, but they wouldn't let him down the street because there was a gas leak, so he parked the car in another neighborhood and ran to the house. Brian and I were finally able to get in about 6:30.
There were so many signs that showed God was protecting her and the house. My mom has a snow village on the landing upstairs. The window was blown out that faced the front and as she walked around to the front of the house she saw the chapel lying in the front yard in one piece. Another example is she has a picture outside her bedroom that sais, "Be still and know I am God," This picture flew off and was facing straight up against the study doors that had been blown shut.
We think the structure of the house is fine, probably will know more today. Most of the windows downstairs are blown out and two windows upstairs. The backyard is a mangled mess and rock and brick fell off the front of the house.
Overall, both of my parents are in good spirits. They stayed with us last night. They were exhausted! I am trying to work 1/2 a day today and will head out there later this afternoon. I will try to get some pictures and post them a little later today. Thank you for all your prayers!

Tahoe and Golf

When the weather is cold outside and Brian can't get outside to play golf, golf becomes in indoor sport! Tahoe does not like the golf clubs, but he loves to catch the golf balls! On Saturday Brian was putting into a cup in the living room and Tahoe kept getting the ball before it went into the cup! I wish I took a video, b/c it was pretty funny, but hopefully some of these pictures will give you a glimpse into how golf balls disappear in our house!

Wait for it...wait for it...

I got it!