Alot of things have happened since I last posted...Ted had his cast on until Nov 7 and is still out of work due to problems with his foot, my Dad had a severe stroke on Oct 31 and has been in Moss rehab for the last 4 weeks and I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. There is alot I could say about all of this but most of it is too private and emotional to share right now. The thing that stands out the most at this time is the love and support of family. Ted has been my rock and my physical and emotional support through all of this. My siblings and their spouses have teamed up, supported, prayed and cried together. I don't know what we would have done without each other. So, while we still have some obstacles to overcome, I'm grateful for the husband, children and family I have.

Our Freedom of the Seas Cruise

Ted, Bradd, Heather,Taytum and Kaelan.


Our little Adventure Ocean pirates.


The H2O Zone was sooo much fun. It also had a (donut shaped) whirlpool pool that was really fun.

Ted's feeling blue!

This week Ted found out that the pain he's been experiencing in his foot since March is due to a break in one of the heel bones. Today he acquired a "blue" cast and a pair of crutches. Ted has two weeks to adjust to walking with crutches before our vacation cruise. I guess we'll be doing some "old people" stuff like getting a ride to the gate at the airport.

Sadie Sitting!

Our newest love. Isn't she sweet!

Sadie

Isn't she beautiful!! Our newest granddaughter, born yesterday to Brett and Jenn. I (Shirley) was allowed the privilege of sharing the birth experience with them. What an amazing experience! And what an amazing job Jenn did bringing her daughter into the world. Thank you Brett and Jenn!

Niagara Falls and the Flower Girl

Here's some pictures of our visit to Niagara Falls and our grandaughter Taytum as the Flower Girl at Matt and Beth's wedding. For pictures of the Bride and Groom go to http://www.mattandbeth.org/.

Knoebels With the Grandchildren

Yesterday we took Jul's kids to Knoebels Amusement Park. We loved the park and had a great time. Both parking and entrance to the park are free. For the rides you can either buy an all day pass or tickets. There is a large picnic area and lots of good reasonably priced food choices. Alot of trees provide shade on a hot day. Check out http://www.knoebels.com/ for more info.

Freedom of the Seas

Here's a picture of Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. This is the ship we are cruising on in September. As we were tendering ashore and watching the "pirate ship" we were able to get this interesting shot. The Freedom of the Seas and it's sister ship Liberty of the Seas are currently the largest cruise ships ever (154k ton). Next year Royal Caribbean is launching another ship in this class called Independence of the Seas. The following year they launch a Genesis class ship that will be 41% larger (220K ton).

Shower and Pizza

Yesterday we hosted a baby shower for Brett and Jenn's baby with Brett's side of the family. We had a lot of fun and Jenn got some great gifts. Julianne came up with a fun game where everyone was given a common baby name and we had to refer to each other by that name. If you messed up and used the person's real name you had to put some change in a bank for the baby. Needless to say, the baby has a nice little bank started for her. For more pictures visit Brett and Jenn's blog at http://www.brettandjenn.blogspot.com/. This picture of Jenn and I is from a previous shower that we attended together.

The shower was also the occasion for my first and last foray into creativity - a diaper cake. While it was fun to put together, for me, being creative is more stressful than relaxing. My desire for order and preciseness gets in the way of the freedom of creativity. Here is a picture to commemorate this occasion.

The second thing we did Saturday was get pizza. Not just any pizza, but a Vince's Pizza. For the past few weeks Brett, Ted and I have been craving pizza from a pizzeria we used to go to when we lived in Philadelphia. So on Saturday, after we took Ted's mom home, we went and picked up pizza from Vince's on Grant Avenue in Philadelphia. Since we moved to Morgantown 6 years ago we've tried many different pizza's and have yet to find one that matches our favorite. Vince's Pizzeria is owned by a cousin of the family that ran Charlie's Pizza. Charlie's Pizza was a family treat on Sunday nights after church when we were growing up. We passed on the tradition and raised our kids on Vince's pizza. Saturday night Brett and Jenn joined us for pizza from Vince's and a few rounds of Sequence. Mmmm!

Cruising

We just returned from a cruise on the Carnival Liberty. It was a 6 night cruise to Bahama, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya. At Freeport, Bahama we took a taxi to a beach and practiced using our snorkel gear. At Grand Cayman we tendered ashore and did some shopping. The picture of the boat above is as the tender was leaving (we did not have to dive in and swim to shore as it seems in the picture!!). The scenic picture is of Grand Cayman as we arrived. It was so windy when we got to Costa Maya that they weren't able to dock the boat so we had an extra day at sea. We had a really smooth sailing except for the day and a half getting to and from Costa Maya.

At dinner we were assigned a table with 3 other "fifty-something" couples. All had been married a long time and had grown kids and grandkids, which gave us alot in common. We enjoyed the company each night. The pictures above are of our table mates. Our table was at the back of the dining room against the window with a great view of the ocean and sky. Our server, Adriana, was great and we had alot of fun with her. The food was very good and our previous experiences gave me the confidence to order 2 lobsters on formal night!! And for dessert...Warm Chocolate Melting Cake...need I say more?

Overall, we relaxed, had a good time and met some nice people.

Ted's new eyelids!

It's not the best but here's a picture of Ted's eyes post surgery. His lids do not fold over and press down on and into the eye like they did before. He also has a nice looking roundness to the lid shape that opens up the eye better. An interesting benefit to the surgery is that Ted's vision has changed now that the lid is not pressing on the eyeball. In another month he will be getting new lenses.

I couldn't find a good (bad) photo from pre-surgery to show the comparison. Of course, I don't save the bad ones!!

We finally did it...we bought a new car. We've been wanting a bigger vehicle for a while. We needed a car that had seating for 7 so that we could take any of our kid's families for an excursion in one vehicle. Our requirements were: an suv, not a van; but not a gas guzzler; room for luggage behind the third row; dual temperature control (one of us likes it warm, the other cold, you figure it out!);reverse sensing system; 6 cd player and of course, a reasonable price. We found what we were looking for in a Ford Freestyle. Here's a picture!

Ted's eye surgery

This weekend it was my turn to take care of my husband. On Friday morning Ted had surgery on his eyelids to remove the excess skin that was causing his lids to droop and interfere with his vision. Here are a few post surgery pictures. In a few weeks I'll post before and after pictures.

Bandaids

Let me begin this story by saying that we already own a box of 60 1"x3" bandaids. This is more than enough for two 50 year old adults.

Last week I went to the skin doctor and had a few "age induced" moles removed. (A sad but necessary occurrence) I was instructed to keep them covered with a bandaid and ointment for a week. A few days later I noticed that the bandaid was irritating the skin on my neck and it was beginning to hurt. As I went through the day and it became more and more uncomfortable I decided that I would have to stop using the bandaids even though a week had not passed. When I got home from work that night my husband Ted handed me two (yes, two) boxes of assorted bandaids. My dear husband bought me two boxes so that I would have enough of the small circle bandaids to last the rest of the week. The size of these bandaids covers the lesion but does not have a large area of glue to irritate my skin. He wasn't concerned with whether we needed bandaids, only with my comfort.

While this is a small thing, it demonstrates the many thoughtful things that Ted does to show his love and care for me. I am grateful for this man that God has given me and I love him more every day.