Attitude of Gratitude

We had a very meaningful sermon by Mark today titled, An Attitude of Gratitude. He referred to Luke 17:15 - "One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice." We are SO very thankful and praise God for His grace. Dawn asked me yesterday why I thought that Molly had to suffer through all this. All I can say is that Molly has been inspirational with her strength and positive attitude. I'm sure that she has come into contact with many people and her light has shone brightly. She didn't dwell on the negative or blame anybody for it. She only worried and cried over her children. Her last roommate was exactly the opposite.

While spending all that time in the recovery room she made jokes with doctors and nurses. I recently had a colonoscopy and was quite a baby about it - needless, to say, Molly was on my mind the entire time. How many tests she has endured, trips to the ER, a burst appendix because she is so used to abdominal pain, no veins for IVs, fatigue and many other painful complications from Crohn's disease.

Just want to share a photo from my last day at Molly's - and also a slideshow! Nic and Jason played their version of one-on-one tackle football. They play until one of them gets hurt so, it's fun until then! Funny, Nic looks like the tough one in this photo, doesn't he?



If you'd like to see more, see this slideshow.

She's Home - Molly's Home!

She finally got to come home on Friday afternoon, with all her family. How great is that!!? I came home on Thanksgiving morning with such mixed feelings. I wanted to be home, at least for a while, but I hated leaving not knowing what was happening for sure with Molly. Her infection seemed to be responding to the antibiotics and then, by Friday morning, they knew they were on the right track and that oral antibiotics were treating the infection. In some ways, I guess, it was a blessing in disguise. Molly had more time to get stronger (which helped her fight the infection) and, more times to work with the stoma nurses. Her last text message from the hospital about her last night were: I journaled, I read, and counted my blessings instead of sheep.

I know Jason and Nic are so happy to have their Mom and Dad back and their life! I'm sure it was the first time that I ever drove to MY house on Thanksgiving. I watched "The Witch is Dead" movie with Erin, Kelby and Paige and Molly and I agree with Dorothy: "there's no place like home."

We thank God for all of the great friends and family that prayed, studied her medical chart, kept the nurses on their toes, sat by her bed, fanned her when she was SO hot, brought food, sent cards and flowers, drove and picked up Dinna from the airport, prayed, kept the boys, and prayed some more.

More Fall Photos from My Walk

Last Rose

Last Rose
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

Seems like all I do is sit and wait to hear the latest news from Cleveland. I did go for a walk today, and took a bunch of images of the beautiful leaves that are left on the trees here.

This rose seems pretty melancholy - like me.

Update - Antibiotics not Working on Infection

Right after I heard from Molly yesterday (and she sounded SO good) she learned that her white blood cell count had increased. Of course, that's bad news for getting home by Thanksgiving. This is hard on the boys - but they had been doing really good and were very optimistic up until this setback. They went to see her briefly on Sunday and I think that was good for Molly and for them.

Gotta' go and cook some hot breakfast for these boys - keep praying!@

Molly Still Isn't Home - Recovering from Emergency Surgery

Last Wednesday, I was on my way back to Cleveland when I got a call from Mark saying Molly had been taken in for emergency surgery. This turned out to be a major setback due to the unknown cause for the blood clot and excessive bleeding. Also, everything seems to move glaciarally slow at the Cleveland Clinic. Post-surgery, she remained in the recovery room for over 24 hours and the in SICU for another 24 hours. She was finally moved back to the nursing unit at midnight on Saturday night (after they said they didn't move people to the floor at night). There have been so many frustrating inconsistencies and delays but she is, at last, improving and supposed to return home by Wednesday.



I haven't really been in Delaware as much as I thought I would as Mark and Dinna and I have gone back-and-forth between here and Cleveland, a two hour drive. I did take a few photos here, driving to Cleveland and in the clinic which you will find in the slideshow. This is one my favorites, though.

I Miss Molly

I Miss Molly
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

My daughter, Molly, had surgery last Friday and hopes to come home tomorrow. Her cat, Nellie, misses her SO much. She paces around, sits on the stairs and whines. Here she's looking out the front door.

Molly was doing quite well but today has a fever, is vomiting and experiencing some other complications ... she's become a bit depressed about these developments and that's sad because she was really upbeat and focused on her quick recovery.

As you can see, I'm in Ohio and will be until the end of the week to help care for my oldest grandsons, Nic and Jason. They have been so great and getting along with each better than usual.

I'll get back to photo editing and ordering when I return this weekend - thanks for being patient with me!

Heather's Studio Session

Here are a couple from our studio session last night - it's so much fun trying out some cool effects on these photos of Heather. We had a great time.

I Hate to Say "NO"

It is very difficult for me to turn people away when they call and ask for photo session appointments. However, since there really is SO little time left until Christmas, I cannot accept any new clients until 2008. I have several orders still to process and also have a few family obligations that will make this time go even quicker.

I have been stunned by the word-of-mouth response since I started in February of this year. It has been a bit over-whelming to me in the past couple of months and find that I'm glued to my glaring computer screen most of my waking hours! I will need to make some adjustments in 2008 as I continue to work my full-time job at Highland while learning to meet the demands of this part-time photography business.

I have truly been blessed to meet so many new familes and children this past year. I know this is a bit early for such a relective post, but I feel that I need to share with all of you out there. Thanks for supporting me in this new endeavor.

witchey-dawn

witchey-dawn
Originally uploaded by NmB Photography

This is Dawn in the witchey hat that Lars brought home for her to wear on the day of the party. I wore my Minnie Mouse hat, pink false eyelashes and my Minnie Crocs. Erin wore her MInnie Mouse costume - Jim called us Maxi and Mini. Not nice!!