November Wrap Up

Sorry for the long post.... I wanted to start my post where I left off.  On November 12th, my cousin, Brigadier General Jeff Jones, spoke at our Veteran's Day luncheon at church.  I took a couple of these photos from Facebook, hence the reason there are boxes around their faces.  I can't figure out how to turn that feature off!  

My pastor, Jim Davidson, is on the left; Jeff is on the right.  My pastor is an Army Chaplain in the National Guard.  

Here is a candid photo of my family that Kevin took:

L to R:  Mom, Dad, Uncle John, Aunt Sara, Aunt Zell (standing)

What a special day.  Look how beautiful Aunt Sara looks!  I'm so glad that my parents were able to spend this time with her before she passed.

The funeral was hard but, very good.  All 3 of her boys spoke and told fun stories about how much they loved their mom.

Aunt Sara kept a "Christmas room" year round in her home.  Here are a couple of pictures.

For Christmas, I have ordered a custom bobblehead of my Dad.  Here are some pictures of the proofs that were sent to me:

I had them change his nose a little bit after the first picture.  I have the doll in hand now and it is amazing!  He is going to love it!

I decided to get it for him as I was watching TV with him in his bedroom.  He was telling me how much he loves the Caddyshack gopher that I got him for Christmas many years ago.  He keeps it near his bed.  I can't wait to show him his own personal bobblehead!

Scott is working on building a sideboard for me.  I've been wanting one for years.  Right now, we use a table that we bought at Target for $99 exactly 20 years ago.  My new sideboard will have drawers so I can store my china.  Blossom is our "shop dog".  

Blossom will stay with Scott in his shop for hours.  Balto only made a quick appearance here because he wondered where everyone was.  I don't usually go downstairs into the shop.  

Following with his recent tradition, Scott put the tree up on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  This year, he bought the lights that can either be all white or all colored.  It is actually a really nice feature.

Thanksgiving!  I love warm and sunny holidays.  We took advantage of the warm weather and left the porch open for the dogs to enjoy.

Balto is interested in watching Scott cut the turkey.  (We had to put carpet tiles in the kitchen to make it easier for Blossom to walk around.)

I may have been taking photos while Dad was blessing the food for us...

Since Rana works retail, she had to leave at 2:00 pm this year.  I really, really don't like this trend of stores opening on Thanksgiving.  She worked from 3:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.  on Thursday and hasn't had a day off in 4 days.

Daniel is showing Balto his impression of a dog panting.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving.  It was a typical "Helms" family holiday.  Everything went well but, we did have a little drama.  Laura flushed her underwear down my toilet.  So far, so good...no backups!  

On Friday, we visited Aunt Zell and her dog, Toto.

Brother and sister.

The cat likes to run in mom's door when I open it.  Here it is enjoying her sofa on Saturday.

Kevin put Mom's tree up and the kids decorated it.  Daniel told Laura where to put the ornaments and she followed his direction.  She usually does what Daniel tells her to do.  They have a special relationship.

I may have let the cat in again.

I don't want to admit it but, I'm already ready for Christmas to be over.  My December calendar is full of doctor appointments for Mom and Dad.  Mom is having cataract surgery on both of her eyes and that brings 3 appointments per eye.  Dad is busy being Dad.  He has some health issues going on and I am hoping that we make it through the month without any major problems.  Yesterday, he informed me that he had a blockage in his catheter (goes through his stomach into his bladder).  He said that he went to his shop, found some kind of syringe and cleaned it with soap and hot water.  He then said that he cleaned the blockage out himself.  Sigh.  I'm getting a lot of practice in giving my anxiety to God.  I. just. can't.  Oh well, life is hard but, God is good.

UPDATE:  I just got a text from my brother (Monday at 10:40 a.m.) that Rana had to take Dad to the urologist first thing this morning and they are still there.  It must have been bad for Dad to call the Dr. first thing without me making him.  Will keep you posted.  

2nd UPDATE:  They "washed" his bladder (mom's words) and showed him how to do it himself if he needs to. He felt better on Monday but, he was in bed all day Tuesday with chills.  He is on antibiotics for his catheter infection.  I have no idea what else is going on.  This is a weekly struggle for dad - feeling well.  He has good days and not as good days.