Catching Up

I finally finished the two posts I had in drafts. See below ("Are you ready for some football" and "El Paso Trip"). Sorry Ricky, I know you have been waiting patiently for the football post. I started writing them in October but hey I have a good excuse for not finishing them until now. One word S H I N G L E S. Yes, Shingles.

I do NOT want to go through what I have been through for the last 8 weeks EVER again! Shingles also called Herpes zoster, or zoster is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes varicella or chickenpox. After an individual has chickenpox, this virus lives in the nervous system and is never fully cleared from the body. Anyone who has ever had chickenpox is at risk for the development of shingles, although it occurs most commonly in people over the age of 60. My doctor informed me they can develop at any age. Mine started in my upper right back shoulder and ran down my entire right arm to my hand. The pain was deep down in the nerves. I was beyond crying, I was wailing. Gerald had to rush me to the ER in the middle of the night. I was unable to do anything with my right arm. Gerald had to do everything for me, he should be given a badge of honor for all he did! My sister JoAnne was a big help too. She had to take off from work to take me to my third visit to the doctor, pick up prescriptions and take me to the store. I couldn't of made it through without them. I was in excruiting pain for most of the 8 weeks. The pain began to taper off around week six. I weaned myself off of all the medications (I had seven at one point) except for the pain pills. I didn't know I should of not stopped those "cold turkey". I was taking a strong morphine based narcotic. Practically hours after stopping the drug, I went into withdrawals. I don't know which was worse, the actual shingles or going through withdrawals. At the time I didn't know what was wrong with me. Gerald looked up what I was on and told me "you are going through withdrawals, did you know that what you are going through is worse than a heroin addict going through withdrawals"? Really? Oh great! I now have empathy for a drug addict who has to go through rehab! Praise God that He got me through it and I am pretty much back to normal now, whatever "normal" is. If any of you have had the chickenpox, I encourage you to talk to your doctor about getting the shingles vaccine. Typically the vaccine is for people aged 60 and over but some doctors will give it to you sooner. I am so thankful my pain didn't last longer than it did because some people deal with the post pain for months sometimes even years! A BIG Thank You to sister's JoAnne and Jan and my good friend Anita for checking up on me daily during my ordeal.

Earnest came home for Thanksgiving. He had a whole week off and Gerald took the week off too. It was nice to have them both around because I was at the tail end of my ordeal and still needed help with some things. They were both a big help as we had The Junction boys over for a Thanksgiving luncheon on that Tuesday. Thanksgiving was quiet here, then we had a second Thanksgiving at my sister JoAnne's house on Saturday.

On Friday our nephew Ryan had to have emergency surgery to remove a kidney stone the size of a lima bean. Poor guy, he would of never passed it. Hopefully he is feeling better this week!

Happy Belated Birthday's and Upcoming Birthday's

November: Stephanie (our beautiful sweet niece)

December: Zachary (our very talented track star nephew)
Grandma Yolie (our beautiful step mom and grandma)
Little Miss Maylee-1st Birthday! (our precious little great-niece)

Hope you had and have wonderful birthday's!

Are you ready for some football?

On September 19th we took a nice drive up to Wimberely to watch our youngest nephew Ricky play football against a team from Dripping Springs. Ricky played quarterback this season. When Gerald and I got to the game we took one look at the players warming up on the field and thought we were at the wrong field because the opposing team looked like high school freshmen! Ricky's team mates were a little intimidated when they first saw these guys. For the first few plays the team was a little shaky but once they made some tackles they gained their confidence. As the game went on it was like watching David vs Goliath! Ricky's team kicked butt! They wore down the big guys and in the end they won! The game was tied at zero but in the last few seconds of the game Ricky saw an opening and ran the ball in for the winning touchdown! Yay Ricky! I was down on the sidelines taking pictures and when I realized what was happening I dropped the camera (it was on a strap around my neck so no I didn't break it) and cheered Ricky on to his touchdown. I was so bummed that in all the excitement I didn't get a picture of the touchdown...Yay Rangers!

Ricky #40 AFTER the winning touchdown!

Nephew Randy did awesome this season! He played for Smithson Valley Middle School as safety on defense and receiver on offense. I was at the last game which was for district and it was exciting to say the least! In the end they won...Yay Mustags District Champions! Randy ended his season with a total of 5 touchdowns, a forced fumble, scooped up a fumble by the opposing team and ran it in for a touchdown and had several tackles for the year! Way to go Randy!

Randy #11 on the end

Earnest finished up his first season at Sul Ross on November 14th. He had an awesome year! He started in every game as a defensive linebacker. He finished #3 defensive player for the team, he placed 10th out of over 50 in conference for tackles, he was one of four freshmen nominated by the coaches in his conference for freshman of the year (a kid from Mary Hardin-Baylor won), and he was one of five freshman named to the conference honorable mention list! Way to go Earnest!

Earnest #11 Homecoming with team mates

El Paso Trip

In September we went to El Paso to visit dad and Yolanda and to watch Earnest play. Sul Ross had a non-conference game on the 12th. Sadly they lost, but played a great game. Earnest played pretty much the whole game with the exception of a much needed break after he ran approx. 60 yds. to tackle the receiver just before the goal line! We had a great time watching him play!

Gerald, Dad, Earnest, Yolanda

One of the things I miss about El Paso are the mountains. I forget how much I miss them until I see them again...

View from Dad and Yolanda's house

An unexpected surprise happened when Gerald and I rolled into town. We took a little drive through our old neighborhood before getting to dad and Yolanda's. We were driving down a street that some dear friends live on. We were looking for their old house. Now let me back up and explain that they had in recent years moved to another house on the same street but we did not know where it was. Anyways, right about the time we found their old house Gerald says "I wonder where their new house is?". I look over and about 2 houses down on the other side of the street there stood Len and Judy in their driveway! Now what were the odds of us driving down their street at just the time that they would be out in their driveway? Boy were we so glad to see them! They invited us in and we had a wonderful visit!

On our way home we stopped at Balmorhea State Park. Gerald hadn't been there in 40 years and I had never been. It was a nice relaxing trip!

July and August?

So what happened to July and August?

A teenager moved in for the summer. That should be a clue of where the time went! As many of you know, Gerald and I are respite foster parents. A young man we have known for 4 1/2 years through the foster program needed a place to stay until he started college. He stayed with us and we helped him get ready for college, got him to Freshman Orientation and moved him into his dorm. He is attending Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas and is a defensive linebacker for the football team. Go Lobos!

"Packed up and ready for college"

His name is Earnest Jones and he and his siblings came to the area via Hurricane Katrina. Earnest has a great story to share and has been featured in numerous local news stories. Among other things he rescued a nine month pregnant lady and her little one from drowning that he spotted from the top floor of an apartment building. Once he got her to safety, he made sure the helicopters saw that she needed to be airlifted out. He survived his time at the Superdome and hitchhiked all the way to Oklahoma searching for the family he'd been separated from. Finally after 3 months of searching, he was re-united with his mom and siblings in San Antonio. All of this at the age of 14!

He attended Boerne High School and was a star football player and was also on the track team. He was co-captain of the football team, a member of the national honor society, a special olympic coach, homecoming king, and on and on. Unfortunately during the third district game his senior year he was hit and tore his ACL. He was out for the rest of the season. He had surgery last fall and went through 9 months of rehab. He worked hard all summer to get ready to play. His wish is to be picked up by a Division I college. After attending his second freshman practice, Earnest was bumped up to practice with the upper classmen. They have played 2 non-conference games thus far and he played almost the entire game each time. Presently he is #3 defensive player on the team stats with 13 tackles for 2 games! He is 6ft. 230 pounds and can squat 700 pounds!

He is well liked in the community and I can't go anywhere without someone coming up to me and asking how Earnest is doing. He is one of the finest young men you could ever meet. We are very proud of him and he was such a joy to have around. We have no doubts he will go far! So don't forget the name, Earnest Jones!

A few of our summer highlights:

-Teri, nephew David and Rich came for a visit. David and Rich did the Six Flags and Schlitterbahn thing, it was great fun!

Rich, Earnest and David

Rich, David, Teri and Me

-We were invited to tour the new Dallas Cowboy stadium and watched the Paul McCartney concert from a private suite!

-I attended a rug hooking workshop in Fredericksburg.

-The Junction boys came over for a luncheon, which they planned, shopped and prepared themselves.

Happy Belated and Upcoming Birthdays!

July: Rebecca and Samantha-our cutie pie niece's

August: Clint-our talented nephew in-law

Gary-Gerald's "older" brother

September: Ruben-brother in-law

Jimmy-our very smart nephew
Teri-sister in-law
Ricky-our football star nephew
Katie-our beautiful niece
Amy- sister in-law

Hope you all had and have wonderful birthdays!

Gaston's White River Resort

Gerald just got back from a pre-bid meeting in Bull Shoals, Arkansas. They will be bidding on some work that needs to be done on the dam. While there he discovered the Visitors Center in Bull Shoals is named after a James A. Gaston...no relation...we think...well, you never know...we should research the family tree. James also known as Jim Gaston owns a top rated fishing resort on the White River. Gerald took a side trip to check it out and was impressed with the resort. He got a kick out of finding out the resort was established in 1958, the same year he was born so of course he had to buy a hat and t-shirt that said "Gaston's White River Resort Est. 1958". He can't wait to get back to the White River area to do some trout fishing even if they don't get this job! :O)

If you like trout fishing check out their website: http://www.gastons.com/