Welcome back!

So, I really stink at this blogging thing!  Had a lot of stuff going on and didn't write about it.  Trying to decide if I should do one long post or several itemized posts to catch up.  Going with the one long post.

Oct. 7th Rachel and I took Bekah, Jake and Lilly to Iowa to watch the end of an Extreme Makeover build for the Gibbs family.  It was a lot of standing around and talking to people.  Fun to catch up with the crew that did our  build.  Josh was the director on this build rather than the assistant.  We came home on the 9th and Jake had a pamidronate treatment at St. Jude on the 10th.  While there we got him a flu shot.  While getting the shot, he tensed up and fractured his right humerus.  It was so bad that the nurse and I both heard it.  Very traumatic!  Dosed him with pain meds, splinted him and headed home.  Took him in for an xray on the 13th just to make sure he did not bend the rod.  Rod is in place but really bad fracture.  He is still splinted and in fact fractured at the top of the cast they put on him so that shoulder is broken now too!
On Oct. 24th Rachel and I drove to Joplin Mo. to help EMHE build 7 houses in 7 days. We stayed the first night in Rolla Mo. We stopped at a winery and a few souvineir shops.  Got to Joplin Sunday, checked into the LaQuinta, met up with a few designers and handed out lots of ice water because it was so hot.  Beyond amazing to see hundreds of volunteers in blue shirts all working towards the same goal. To bring safety and security to 7 families who were left homeless by a tornado 5 mo. ago.   The devastation that remains in this town is beyond comprehension. Rachel and I are aghast at what this town endured.  We sipped a bottle of wine with Kathie before turning in for bed.  The next day we worked in 'bin city'  Wind speed of 30mph + lots of dirt and no grass or trees = one dirty momma!    Everytime we drive through town, we see more destruction. It takes our breath away, the size of the area, the total destruction, the large number of people working together to rebuild. You have to experience it to actually wrap your brain around it. I have seen tornado swaths, a lot....I have lived through troubling times with my kids health, but then I think, I still have my kids. I have a hubby who loves me, I am one lucky woman!  We learned the stories of some of the families.  One man is a fireman who was working that day.  After the tornado hit, he could not phone his wife, he had no idea if the family was OK.  Later he was on the firetruck doing his job, in his neighborhood which was literally gone, and saw his family wandering down the street! That is how he knew his family survived.  Two women who lived around the corner from each other had taken cover in their homes and were laying over their children to try to protect them.  One woman lost one of 2 children, the other lost 2 of 3 children.  The kids were sucked out from under their mothers bodies and found among the rubble later.  I was so overwhelmed by this that I can not even remember the other 4 family stories.  On Tuesday night we worked in a house and hung curtains until 2am.  The reveal was scheduled for Wednesday and Rach and I decided we had done the job we came for, we helped. 

 We have no desire to be on TV and we can see the reveal when the show airs, so we headed home early.  Wed. we learned that we were 5 miles from the Oklahoma boarder so we decided to drive to Oklahoma and get Chad a shot glass from there.  Somehow we ended up in Kansas, so took a left turn and in 5 minutes we were in Oklahoma.  We laughed until we were sick, 3 states in 10 minutes, what are the odds?  Then we ended up on an unmarked toll road and had to pay 75 cents to get off of it.  We ventured on to Laura Ingalls Wilders home and took photos for the kids.  We are going to read a book, then cook a meal out of Laura's cookbook which I bought.  We spent the night in a Quality Inn in Rolla Mo.  The next day we took old Route 66 so it took a lot longer to travel.  We stopped at some of the tourist sites and another winery.  The next night we stayed in the holiday inn at 6 flags St Louis.  6flags was closed to the hotel was pretty quiet.  Had a nice dinner there since the room was free using my priority club points. LOL.  Continued the trip home stopping at one more winery, then surprised the kids because we were not supposed to get home until Sat. or Sun. 

We spent the weekend getting ready for Zach's halloween party.  They had a bonfire and cooked hotdogs and smo-ores.  We had pumpkin cake and pies, pecan pies, rice krispie squares and witch hat cookies, chips, hot mulled cider and cold cider.  The kids all went trick-or-treating.  I think my favorite part of the day was when Stephen Ray answered the door for trick or treaters in his batman costume complete with black spandex, cape and hooded mask.  All in all a great day.
 
Spent the 1st packing away halloween and decorating for Thanksgiving.  Went out to dinner at the new grill in the Bass Pro Shop.....nothing to brag about, won't go back, just expensive hamburgers.    Lilly had no school on the 3rd or 4th so she was home with me all day.  The evening of the 3rd, we went out to eat at the rib place in the mall in Peoria.  Steve bought new shoes and we walked the mall.  On the 4th I got my hair frosted and we made an appearance for Easter Seals at the Paradice Hotel for their appreciation dinner.  Abby, Bekah and Jake said the pledge with Representative Schock.