I am still here!

I went into surgery around 8 AM Wednesday morning and woke up around 7:30 that night in my recovery room. I was able to come home on Sunday afternoon and was glad to be home! The hospital is not a fun place to stay for more than a few days. I am pretty confined to my room but make it down when I can to stretch and see my family. Today was pretty hard as my incisions were causing a lot of pain.

I want to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I ask that you continue to remember me in your prayers as I battle through the pain and begin to feel better. I have had a lot of friends pray with me, send cards, support my family in other ways and provide meals. I also want to thank my parents for staying with us and being their for all our needs.

I know that with God by my side and my friends and families support I will get through this.

Derek

Surgery tomorrow

I would be lying if I said I was not scared of my surgery. I am nervous, today, about what will happen. I have a peace knowing this is the right thing to do and fully trust that God will be watching over me and the doctors but, as a fallen human, I am nervous. Please pray for the doctors and my family. I hate having to have others wait on me and feeling as a burden to someone else. I have a lot of people praying and supporting me and I am very thankful for everyone. Grace and Peace to you!

500 Hits...

on my Blog site that is, ha. I am looking forward to a nice weekend for Father's Day. I am going to hang out with the kids at the pool on Saturday and then go up to Estes Park to be with my dad on Sunday. My brother and his family will also be up there and mom always cooks a big meal after church. This will be my last weekend before the surgery and want to make sure I take advantage of it.

I Love My Wife

I too often forget to take the time to tell Betsy how much I love her and how much I appreciate everything she does and how proud I am to have her as my wife. I try to tell her but I get too busy in the daily routine of life. I think the thoughts in my head and I know how lucky I am but I am not always good at communicating it out loud the way she needs to hear it. I believe in God's plan for marriage that if a husband would love and cherish his wife then he will be respected by her and that is what we need as men is to feel respected and wives want to feel loved, protected and cherished.

I notice what Betsy does in a day like running along side Lucy while she learns to ride her bike feeling exhausted but doing it not for herself but our daughter. Betsy has great patience for children. She will allow our oldest daughter, Morgan to help cook dinner in the kitchen and learn valuable skills for later in life. I would just get frustrated because of the mess it would make and get mad. Betsy is also a Godly Christian woman who tries (everyday) to do the right thing and be an example to those around her. Betsy is faithful to me and trustworthy. I am very lucky to have her as my best friend and wife.

This is what I want her to know; that you are beautiful, I love you and I am proud of you!

Derek

T-Ball

Time to rewind the clock and start again with Lucy. It seems like yesterday when I was teaching Morgan how to throw and catch and now she plays fast pitch softball. Here are a few pictures of Lucy's first season of T-ball. She wants to be just like her big sister.

Good catch!She also wants to be a cheerleader; hence the outfit.

You go girl! Show all those boys how to play.

You can do it Lucy!

Lucy learned to ride her bike last weekend without the training wheels. She has no fear! Lucy wanted to do it and was not going to to stop until she did.

Early Fathers Day for Grandpa Grogg

Since Jim is in town we thought it would be a good opportunity for Betsy and the kids to let him open presents early. Here are a few shots...

Morgan Softball 10U

Morgan loves three sports or activities; skiing, softball and basketball. Here is Morgan in one of her games this season for the 10U Erie Tigers... Don't watch me, watch the ball!...Morgan playing 3rd base.

Morgan is one of two pitchers for the team. This is her favorite position.

Great batting stance; just like her daddy, ha :)

Our spunky child

Cute picture of Lucy doing who knows what, ha.

After the storm

Here are a few pictures of a beautiful rainbow left after the storm and tornado; God's beautiful reminder to never flood the earth again. Look close and you can see a double rainbow.

Over the weekend; Tornado's, Golf Clubs and Grandpa

Over the weekend I had a chance to go with my dad to pick out some new golf clubs at a Titleist Demo Day. This will be my motivation after surgery to get back my strength and do my exercises. After returning Jim made it in from Cincinnati, Ohio. Jim is Betsy's father. He will stay for a few weeks. We had Skyline Chili dogs that night with ingredients he brought from Ohio (my favorite)! The following day, Sunday, we went to Village Inn after church and upon exiting saw a tornado right out from us. It was amazing! we never get tornado's on our side of the interstate (western side). It moved away from us but it was pretty scary at first. I captured a picture while driving back home in the hail (I was pulled over to the side:). This is when it started to weaken.