My Grandfather

I'm up tonight, unable to sleep because I am worried about my grandfather. All of you know that PawPaw has been fighting West Nile Virus for nearly 10 months now. Tonight, I got a phone call from home saying that there was a turn in things and PawPaw was now back in ICU and unconscious. Its so hard being this far away from my family. Had I been in the States when this call came, I would be able to just jump in a car and drive there. Its not that easy here. They have free flights out of a base near Tokyo every Friday but I would not be priority seating and if there was no room on the flight, I would not get to go. I'm not sure but I bet last minute international flight prices are not cheap. Its hard for me not to be there. I know there is nothing I could do to change or help the situation but I feel empty just not being there.
I am thankful to have a Houston phone number so that if anything changes, someone can call me but I just wish I could be there.
It just doesn't seem fair to have this turn right now. The family has been preparing things so that PawPaw could come home...and now this. When I spoke to my Grandmother just last night, we were talking about what I could do from here to help with that transition. I sew pretty well and I stamp so we decided I could best help by maybe making some PJ's that would be easy for PawPaw to get in and out of and make some Thank You cards. I was touched to hear the response that the community my Grandparents live in were doing so much to help prepare things for my grandfather's home coming. Contractors, Foundation Repairmen, Electricians, and workers of all other trades were volunteering their time, services, and even in some cases materials to help add an addition to the house that was adaptive to PawPaw's current needs. Its hard to remember sometimes in a cold world that there are those special people out there that do truly care about others.

Now that I think about it, some of you have joined reading my blog since I last spoke about my grandfather. PawPaw Metcalf is my Father's dad. He is a very special man who has served his country, community and church and rarely (if ever) has a complaint (at least that I have heard of). I love my Grandfather so very much and I just can't imagine what it would be like for him not to be here. I have some wonderful memories and special times I have shared with him. I am grateful for the example he is to us all. My Grandparents gave me the most amazing gift they could have given to any of their grandchildren. They gave me my father, an honest, caring, loving man. PawPaw is a strong man and has shown us through this battle that the Lord truly does answer prayers.
I am sorry for rambling on. It is hard to get my thoughts in order right now. I am so full of emotions and don't know where to put it all. I guess I am mainly blogging about this to ask you all to pray. Even that is hard to put into words. Its hard to know to pray for health and recovery, comfort and peace....I guess that leaves us with just God's Will. Please also pray for my grandmother, JuneBug, during this time. I'll try and update when I know what is going on but it seems the message we are getting from doctors right now is we just have to wait.

My New Stove

I have had an on going love hate relationship with my oven/stove since we arrived here in Misawa. Things didn't always cook evenly and the door would pop itself closed for no gosh darn good reason when you were trying to pull out the pan you have inside. That can cause some cute little burns. I have one that looks like a Christmas tree on my right arm now. Well, I heard that they got new stoves in so I called housing and when they arrived first thing this morning...they brought me this!! I am very happy. Not sure how to use it all but I'm happy. It has some neat features like being able to have the top rack and bottom rack of the oven at two different temps. The drawer under the oven, you know the one you keep the cookie sheets in normally...well, this one has a temperature knob so you can use it as a warmer. Also, you can separate the top rack in the oven and put a roasting pan in one part and the have the half rack above it. Hard to describe but oh too neat. Its pretty lame me getting all excited over a new stove but around here it is the little things that matter. Today a Friend came over and we reorganized my pantry. Tonight Joey has soccer practice and that just about it for us.

Will They Ever Go To Sleep?

Tonight Joey is having a sleep over with one of his good friends. They have had a full night of playing V-Smile, playing at the Weasels Den, and eating pizza. They have a soccer game tomorrow at noon so they really need to go to sleep. It just isn't happening. Its 10:30 and Brandon just got home from school. Usually we are going to bed about now but tonight we are going to have to stay up a bit longer until they go to sleep.
Not much else is going on around here. I am hoping that I will be able to spend some time making Christmas cards this weekend but who know. (Yes, I'm starting in May)