Thanks to you all!!!

I just wanted to say thanks so much to all of you who sent out your prayers of love and support over the last few weeks. We are really blessed to have wonderful friends in our lives. Thanks to all of the family members who visited me and checked in to make sure I was ok. It has meant so much to me.

I am on the mend - I have the most wonderful husband who has taken such amazing care of me. Now his biggest job is keeping me down as most of you who really know me, knows that is not something I am good at doing. There always seems to be too many things to be done. I have learned my lesson at least somewhat though.

Maddy loves 5th grade! She is so happy to go everyday and when she gets in the car at the end of the day she is beaming. We'll see if she still feels the same way after this week though since today was the day they were supposed to officially start doing work. Last week was a get to know you week. She has lots of friends and seems to really enjoy learning and trying to do her best at everything - when she slows down - she does a pretty great job too!

I have decided I am going to start trying to get stuff in on this also. I am not as good at it as Mike and certainly not as creative but I will give it a try.

We hope you are all doing well and that your families are happy and healthy.

Who Needs What?

I saw this on our friends blog page and thought it would be fun to see what comes up...
Here is how it works... Take your first name and type "Needs" after it in Google Search. Then type the first three things that come up.

Michael Needs...Mum (Mom in America)
Michael Needs...A Tutor on Flickr
Michael Needs...Revenge (a prison break clip on Utube)

Debbie Needs...A Saddle
Debbie Needs...To Look Behind Her
Debbie Needs...Prayer

Maddy Needs...A Home
Maddy Needs...Some Privacy
Maddy Needs...Love

What A Week

These past nine days have been pretty rough on our family, but we finally have some peace now that things are slowly progressing back to normal.

Debbie is finallly home from the hospital. She spent nine days in the hospital and she is oh so excited to be back home. The hospital was a very nice place and all, but as Dorothy said to the Wizard, "There's No Place Like Home."

And Debbie's return home couldn't have been better timed. She got home Tuesday afternoon and today Maddy starts the 5th Grade. So Debbie was there to do Maddy's hair, get her ready and take her to school. I can't wait to hear how school goes for maddy. She has a very good teacher. We are all impressed with the teacher. Debbie is even going to try and volunteer once a month.

We Need Your Prayers

Well, for those keeping score... Deb is losing the medical battles 0-3. In May she had to have her appendix removed and stayed in the hospital for three days. In June, she tore the attachment on the underside of her heel. She had to wear a boot to help her heal. That makes the score 0-2.

But God has a very funny way of making people slow down to heal. Since Deb didn't wait the full five weeks after her appendix surgery before going back to work full-time and since she wouldn't wear the boot her foot doctor told her to wear, God had to take matters into His own hands.

Beginning Saturday night, July 26th, Deb was complaining her gut hurt. Not much could be done. She tried working through the pain, sang a solo in church, and taught her young women's lesson. Then Monday morning she woke up in a lot of pain. I told her to go to the Dr and see what the problem was.

Her doctor wasn't working Monday and he told her to go to Urgent Care. Well, Urgent Care does tests and finds she has a bad infection but they cannot tell where the infection is. They tell her to go to the Emergency Room.

I happened to take a vanpool into work on Monday. I get the phone call that Deb is in the ER and I need to get home. Well, I didn't drive so one of my employees had to drive me all the way from Florence to Gilbert.

Needless to say, Deb has been in the hospital since Monday morning and is still there as of this posting with no end date in sight. According to her doctors, she has Diverticulitis which is a severe infection in the colon. To make matters worse, she has a tear in the colon wall. The sharp pains are caused by air leaking into the abdomen from the colon. She has gone without food and water since Monday. I didn't quite realize how sick she was until her surgeon said she had a severe attack and that we all need to be patient in order for her to heal properly.

That being said, there is still the possibility the colon could abcess and then she will have to have surgery to remove the colon. So she is not out of the woods just yet.

Somewhat good news today though. She just called me and said they are allowing her to have liquids. This will be the test to see how well she's healing. If her fever returns and her white blood cell count rises after having food in her, then they will have to do the surgery. But if she tolerates it, then she'll be fine... for now.

So, God has made sure that Deb is resting from her appendix surgery and has time to allow her foot to heal... All because Deb wouldn't do it on her own. :o)

Anyway, she could reallly use your prayers. She is still pretty sick but there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Maddy Makes Honor Roll

Madyson has made huge improvements in her schooling since changing schools. When she first started at her new school she didn't do all that well. At times she was getting D's and F's but after some heart to heart talks and her feeling more comfortable with her teacher's teaching styles, she began to turn things around.

Finally when her last report card came out, she had all A's and one B. She made the honor roll!! She as well as her parents were so proud of her.

The Gilbert Public School system does an Academic Night for all 4th - 6th grades. Maddy got to participate and after the program. She was excited. Debbie and I, my mom and Maddy's mom, Cat were all there to support her.

After the program we all went to Outback Steakhouse where Maddy wanted to go. It was a fun evening and we are so very proud of Madyson and her good grades.

Mike's Big Award

I have been an instructor and provided training for the last seven years at judges conferences, new judge orientation, and judicial staff conferences. During that time, not once did I know you could win an award for being a good trainer.

Last October, another co-worker and I provided a DUI Processing class and apparently, someone nominated us for the award and we won.

It was a total surprise and not something I aspired too, but was kind of excited when I was informed I had won.

They had a big awards ceremony and people who won the award from all the different conferences received their awards at the same time. Then from all the awards that were given out, one was named the Trainer of the Year (not me).

Debbie attended the ceremony with me and we had a great time meeting some old friends and just being able to spend some time together.

Phoenix Zoo Field Trip

So Madyson comes home with a flyer from school inviting the children and parents to go on a field trip to the zoo. Not a during the school day type of field trip. An overnight stay inside the zoo. Mike wasn't too interested until Madyson's best friend, Madison's dad said he was going and kind of begged Mike to go too.

We showed up at the zoo on a Friday evening and went into a big room. The kids were all sorts of excited. We were given the rules and then the fun began. The first event was a night hike through the zoo. It probably would have been fun if you could see any animals. We did get to see a couple of animals that didn't mind flashlights being shown on them.

Here is how the tour went. On your left is Monkey Island. During the day you can see the monkeys swing from the trees and listen to them talking to each other (they talked for 15 minutes about something we couldn't even see).

We went back to the room and some of the keepers brought out some animals for the kids to see. That was fun because you actually got to see the animals. We went on another night hike and got to have a evening snack. The second night hike was just as entertaining as the first one. We weren't allowed to take pictures because it might scare the animals.

Then we were in bed by 11:00.

In the morning we were provided breakfast and then went on another hike. At least this one was during the day. However, it was also during the time the animals are locked up in their pens eating breakfast. We got to see some animals that had already eaten, but the tigers and lions were not out and that really bummed out the kids.

When you are at the place the keepers prepare the food for the animals, never volunteer when the guy says "I need five kids and one parent to volunteer." Of course, Maddy was at his feet and instantly raised her hand. None of the parents volunteered because we knew what he was about to do. However, Madyson told the guy to pick me. And he did.

He made us sample some of the food pellets they feed the monkeys and other animals. Madyson took a bite of a monkey pellet and instantly threw up in front of everyone. None of the kids actually took a bite. They just licked it. Me? Yeah, I took a big bite. It was the grossest thing I've ever done. The taste was tolerable, but it was how dry the food was that made me gag. But I at least swallowed it.

Overall, I would not recommend the zoo overnight, but it was fun spending the time with Madyson and she had a blast because her friends were there. Fortunately, I was not the only dad from our ward there. There were five of us there and we kept each other company during the boring tours.