Back From Visiting the Birthday Boy!

I'm back from Lutsen, MN. This is a picture of me (on the right), my SIL Jayne (center), and the Birthday Boy on the left. He looks a little rough around the edges in this shot. It was just after chapel service, of which he was late for because as he was running to chapel he smashed his toe on a rock. The camp nurse had to fix him up. Not a pretty site I guess. This is why he should be wearing tennis shoes instead of Teva's!

I have to say, I LOVE driving up the North Shore. It is one of those things you should do before you leave this lifetime. Driving right next to Lake Superior is breathtaking. The water was so calm this time is was stunning. The sun was out the whole weekend. I wish I could have gotten out of the car and taken a picture for you, but at this time of the year, the 2 lane road is packed with vacationers. It's risky to do so. You'll just have to take my word for it it's some of the prettiest stretches of highway in the country.

Since I was gone all weekend, I didn't get any stamping done. I did get this card made for the Birthday Boy before I drove up to see him. He's a rocker boy, so I wanted to use my A Muse guitar stamp for his card. The paper is from Carolee's Creations (Adorn It) and it's from their Rough and Tumble collection. It's got all sorts of "boy" stuff all over it and was the perfect paper for his card.

I used my beloved Thickers to let him know he rocked! I need to go online to find some more of these things cuz I love them! They are so fun to work with and you get alot of letters in each pack. The Happy Birthday sentiment is also from A Muse. I used my red Stickles on the guitar for a little bling!

On the Muriel front, nothing much to report. She is still so sick. We stopped at the hospital last night as we drove back into town. My own personal opinion is that she has never looked worse. The rest of the family thinks she's looking better. The four antibiotics that are coursing through her body have wrecked havock on her digestive system. She is totally intubated. Her kidneys are NOT working, still. She had dialysis Friday and Saturday. They took yesterday off. The kidneys failed to launch on their own. She did not produce any waste whatsoever. They plan on doing more dialysis today. This can go on for weeks. For now, they say she suffers from acute kidney failure (which means the kidneys could turn around and start functioning at any point) vs chronic kidney failure (which means the kidneys will never work again). It might be 4 or 5 weeks before they decide she's crossed that line from one to the other. When we talk to her she opens her eyes, but they have that glazed over look to them and she can't keep them open long she is so sedated. She squeezed my hand fairly well, so I was encouraged by that. But, I look at her and can't imagine her recovering from all of this. Everyone else sees it as highly possible she'll recover. I guess it's just my time to be down. It's been so long and she looked so bad yesterday. It seems impossible she can improve. But I know God is good and if her time isn't up yet, she'll recover. I have to leave that part of it to God. My job is to pray.

Well, that's about it for today. I hope to get a few cards made this afternoon with all my new SU stamps! I received them last Thursday and haven't had a chance to play yet! I also have to start getting ready to go to CHA on Wednesday!!!! Woo-hoo! I will be doing reports from the convention for Craft Critique, the blog for which I am a senior reporter. I'll have lots of updates and information on my blog later this week too! Don't miss it!