HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2009

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

We had a great day today!

We started the day by going to church and I love my church. Then we came home and went over to Kim and Richard White's house (across the field) to have lunch. Will(and the rest of us) sat outside on their new and improved patio (I forgot my pictures,sorry) and ate a hot dog. Then we jumped on the boat and went fishing!!! The weather was perfect and hardly any wind-amazing for Idaho. It was everything I thought it would be and then some. Look at this perfect day.

ABOVE: Will is sitting at the back of the boat just waiting for the "big one" to bite (it never did).
Kim is back there helping Will fish. After almost hooking him in the eye (yes, his good one) she was fired. But we sure laughed. Aaron is fishing on the other side of the boat. He was the only one, of six who fished, who caught any fish (4).

ABOVE: Angel and fishing just don't get along. So she brings a book. My mom even got a fishing license but she didn't get a worm wet, maybe next time.

Above: Here is my mom's dog, Tinker. She has a yellow doggie life preserver on. So Will put his life preserver on so Tinker wouldn't feel so embarrassed.

ABOVE: Will is taking a break from fishing and is enjoying a rice krispie treat. He's got it rough, doesn't he? Hayley and Riley White are fishing in the front of the boat. I guess Will didn't share his treats with them.

ABOVE: Aaron is bragging to Will about the "big" one he just caught.

ABOVE: On the way back to the dock, the sun went down and it got cold, even for Will. Poor Will, he had to squeeze in between those two.


This is one of my favorite quotes about mothers:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

For all you mothers out there-you know what I'm talking about.

MOTHER'S DAY 2009, WILL GO DOWN IN MY HISTORY AS ONE OF THE BEST!
I hope your day was as great as mine and I thank God that I was able to have my mom and my two kids with me.

GOD BLESS

May 7, 2009

What a beautiful day we had today, well at least the afternoon was pretty. The morning was rainy but even that was beautiful because the wind wasn't blowing.

Will is feeling good and today he goes to dialysis. He won't feel like it tonight but I bet we get the boat out this weekend FINALLY. That's all I want for Mother's Day is a good time on our boat and a little fishing thrown in. I can't think of anything better.

So that was a gentle reminder for everyone to not forget their mothers on Mother's Day this Sunday. If they are still with you-celebrate, and if they are not, remember and celebrate. Mother's are great people and I happen to have my fabulous mom close to me and my wonderful step-mom not too far away in Boise. I feel very blessed.

We go back to Salt Lake in the first week of June. They will be so surprised. We were just talking about how much we miss all of our wonderful friends in the hospital. If you are reading this, we love you all and will see you soon.

Will has been spending a lot of time with the TV set watching the Boston Celtics kick some serious fanny. They are very, very good. If you haven't been watching the playoffs-you are missing out. It's great to have Will able to watch the game. He doesn't get it all, but I remember last year in ICU listening to the game on XM radio because he couldn't see the TV at all. Will has come a long way since then. Thank you God.

We will have some great pictures of Mother's Day on Sunday night. Have a great rest of the week.

GOD BLESS

Sunday, May 3, 2009

HERE ARE MY TWO DARLINGS HAMMING IT UP WITH THE "DUKE"
I know several of you are wondering---
yes, that is a life size cutout of John Wayne
in our family room (it's really called the John Wayne Room).
We have pictures of him on all the walls.

Here is a fun picture of them trying to teach the dog, Roxie, to sit and behave at the dinner table. No, she does not eat with us at the table. Roxie's not even allowed on the chairs.

I wanted a picture of Angel's little bump, which is now changing into a very big bump.
Angel is trying to make Will talk to his niece but he's not buying into it at all.

This is a great picture. Will is on the four wheeler and he took it for a drive down the lane to Brent's house. (all by himself) Angel is just trying to jump on but he left without her.

The pictures say it all. Will is feeling better and stronger than he ever has since surgery and Angel's get bigger and better.
Life is great!!
The weather was lousy all weekend again, on again off again rain and storm, so we couldn't take the boat out again. This is beginning to sound like a broken record. We are so ready.
Stay tuned, maybe we will be getting our boat out this week.

MAY IS OFFICIALLY CYSTIC FIBROSIS AWARENESS MONTH!

PLEASE GO OUT IN WILL'S NAME AND MAKE SOMEONE AWARE OF CYSTIC FIBROSIS AND THE NEED TO FIND A CURE. THANK YOU FROM OUR HEARTS-THE HARBISONS

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Someone sent this to me and I thought it was beautiful. What a way to describe our awesome God.

When I fall, He lifts me up!

When I fail, He forgives!

When I am weak, He is strong!

When I am lost, He is the way!

When I am afraid, He is my courage!

When I stumble, He steadies me!

When I am hurt, He heals me!

When I am broken, He mends me!

When I am blind, He leads me!

When I am hungry, He feeds me!

When I face trials, He is with me!

When I face persecution, He shields me!

When I face problems, He comforts me!

When I face loss, He provides for me!

HE IS OUR EVERYTHING!

GOD BLESS

April30, 2009

Everything is still going great. Not much has been happening here. Will is still trying to exercise as much as he can. The weather is still crummy and we want to go out in our boat so we are pouting right now. I hear the weather will be changing next week for the better though. So, watch out fish---here we come.

Nothing much has been happening here. Angel is getting bigger and bigger. She's not that happy with it, but I sure am. I will get an updated picture as soon as I can.

I hope your week is going well.

GOD BLESS

Monday April 27, 2009

Again, I didn't do the blog when I said I would. So here it is on Monday. We had a busy weekend with company but we didn't really do anything special. We played on the Wii on Wii fit most of the time. That is so good for Will. Some people might not know what it is but it's a "game" for the TV but it's an interactive game so you can't just sit and play. Well, my nephew, Danny, has found a way to do it but that's another story. The Wii fit is just for exercising and it has great exercises for Will to build up his core strength and it's really working. So we play it a lot and when company comes over we play it.

The weather was lousy over the weekend so it was good that we just stayed in. Will is feeling so good lately except for right before dialysis and right after. Things are really coming along. We go back to Salt Lake City for appointments at the end of May and I bet Will will surprise all our "people" there.

I hope everyone has a great week.

GOD BLESS

Sorry I didn't post on Wednesday. It was just a slip up. Nothing is really happening this week. Will had dialysis and dialysis and dialysis. But he is feeling so much better and he is starting to eat sooooooooo well now. I think it's time to get rid of that feeding tube. We will see what our wonderful Dr. Cahill says about that when we go down next month. There were a few beautiful spring days and then then this morning I woke up to little bits of snow. Idaho weather????????
So we haven't been in the boat except for that first time. We will be going as soon as this latest storm goes by. I will post this weekend, I promise.

GOD BLESS

Monday

This is one of those priceless pictures.
Imagine where we were this time last year.

Here is us just cruisin' the river. We let Will drive(like we could have stopped him)
and he did pretty good. We just had to tell him which way to turn and things went so smoothly.

below:
This is a picture of Will and Riley. The Whites (our neighbors) went with us and showed us lots of things we need to know about. We don't know much about boating but we are very eager to find out. There is so much we need to learn but we love it already. It's everything we thought it would be and then some.

Below: This is Will just chillin' Doesn't he look great?
When I said chillin' I really meant it. It had to be 30 degrees out there after the sun went down but finally Will was able to be cool. He's always too warm.

We didn't get started until 7:30 Sunday evening and we knew we only had less than an hour of daylight left. We just wanted to try it out and see how the boat felt. Well, it felt great.
There was a little bit of excitement right away to start with though.
We were just learning how to unload the boat and we saw a little boat capsize with five people in it. Then a lady fishing on the bank came running over and said there was a baby on board. Tom and Richard White got the boat in very fast and went to help them. They were very lucky to have capsized over a sand bar. The baby was on the shoulders of her mom. Anyway they would have been fine without us there, very cold but they would have made it. I was very nervous that this maiden voyage would not be starting out well, but everything was fine after they all got back to shore and Tom and Richard were able to go get their things out of the river. Then we just got on our boat and took off. Needless to say, I was really angry at this mother that would put her three month old with five other people on a boat that holds 3 people and get this....without a life vest on. I really thank God that He sent an angel to watch over that little baby.
Anyway...after that bit of excitement, the boat ride was very relaxing. It was so fantastic to see Will's face because he was having a great time on the water. I'm sure we will be putting lots more pictures on here of the boat trips.

I can't put into words how blessed we feel right now. Lots and lots of good things happening to our family and we know to thank God and praise Him for them all.

GOD BLESS

April 20, 2009

SPRING IS HERE FINALLY

What a beautiful spring day today! We had a wonderful day with good food and good family. Will was feeling really, really good today and he sat on the patio for most of the afternoon. We had our Boise family down for dinner. My dad and step mom Cherie, Christi (Will's cousin), Ryan (Christi's fiancee) Noah and Elliott (Christi's boys), Billie (Will's cousin and Christi's sister), Matt, Billie's husband with their two children, Sadie Kaye and Coby. Arron and Megan (also Will's cousin and Christi and Billie's sister) with their cutie Rustin. We had a houseful and I loved it!

Above: Elliott holding little Coby for his first ride on our horse, Honey.




Above: Noah holding Sadie and Coby for a little ride. I'm not really sure that Coby is liking this horse ride too much.

Above: Here is Rustin on Honey also

Above: Rustin and Sadie eating Will's birthday cake

Above: Willhas his back to the camera but everyone is singing Happy Birthday.

Here is Will just helping Sadie dish up the ice cream.

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As you can tell we had a full day. Will had a great time and doesn't he look great. We were all commenting on how this time last year we weren't really celebrating his birthday too much. I have some more good pictures but I'm going to upload them to the blog tomorrow because I need to get to bed now. Don't miss them though, they are stupendous!

GOD BLESS

April 16th Will's birthday update

We had such a great day HOME with Will.
Here is Will with our neighbor, Hayley, who also has a birthday today.
She turned 13 today.

Here is another picture of the birthday gang.
Hayley, Will, and Coach (whose birthday is tomorrow)
I had the cake say all three names.

Now for the birthday present of all birthday presents...

Yup, we got a boat. It's not really Will's present. We just happened
to get it now. It's a 24 ft.Pontoon boat that seats 12 comfortably.
AWESOME
He got an Ipod and some games for his Wii.

This is the first time Will got into the boat. We had to help him down but he's
so psyched to get it into the water. I think he was out looking for fishing worms after he got off the boat. I know my pole is ready.

We are going to have to replace the carpeting(it's an older boat) and a few other touches but
I can see us on the water every chance we get.
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Will did have dialysis today and they still took a couple of liters of fluid off anyway. So we came home and had a nice dinner. Of course, artichokes (Will's favorite food) was served. Then we just had a few people over. My mom, the Whites, Coach and Donna Clark, Brent and Stacee, Sylvan, and our other neighbors, Victoria and Jax. Will really had a great time.

I didn't want to write a book today but I forgot that I haven't told everyone what happened in SLC. Will went into his normal appt. after doing his xray, PFT's (that's how well the lungs are functioning) and blood work. Well, some of the numbers were not looking good and the xrays showed that his lungs were really "wet" so Dr. Cahill put him in for a few more tests and three days of dialysis. It worked because his numbers were up and his lungs looked better. So we got to go home. She was afraid that it might be pneumonia again. She was being very protective and cautious but still Will was not happy to be in there. But he's home now and doing very well.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes to Will
GOD BLESS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WILL

YEA! We got him home just in time for his birthday. So happy birthday to Will and I think that was Dr. Cahill's present to Will. He got his wish and we will celebrate his day at his home his way with just a couple of friends over for cake and ice cream. We probably will have a family dinner/celebration on Sunday so it doesn't interfere with dialysis. Of course all the pictures will follow. We are so happy it wasn't a long stay and he is home.

It's been a long day/night so I will blog later today and fill you in with what all has been going on with the continuing soap opera, Days Of Will's Life, starring Will, Dr. Cahill and all the supporting staff with guest appearance by Tom Harbison AKA the best dad in the world. (you can tell I'm a little bit tired when I start writing this way)

By the way-Aaron (Angel's husband) felt the baby kick him tonight. It's really happening.

If you all want to leave a quick birthday message for Will-I will read them to him tonight.

Thanks for the prayers so we could get out of there and God Bless

Tuesday update

Will had to go in to the hospital yesterday after some testing. Some of his numbers from tests they did on Monday were not good, so Dr. Cahill wanted to err of the side of caution and put him in until she could run more tests. She said he has gone sour so many times and so quickly that she just doesn't want to take any chances and we understand that, even though the hospital was the last place we expected to be because Will is doing so great. He feels better than he has since surgery. You just never know. It was really hard to leave Tom and Will back there but I had to get back and get ready for the sub and pay the taxes. Uncle Sam doesn't take any excuses, ya know?

Most of the tests have come back so what needs to be done may be able to be done at home. It looks like I might be able to go back to Salt Lake after school tomorrow and pick my guys up and bring them home, just in time for Will's birthday. The last two years Will hasn't been able to spend his birthday at home and he was really looking forward to it this year. So when he got slammed in the "joint" (I'm using the word like our good friend Sumer) he was really, really, really upset (and that's putting the term nicely). So he must have paid off Dr. Cahill to let him go home in time for his birthday. I don't care how he did it, just that he did do it.

So this is good news, there is one hitch. There is one more test that we are waiting for the results. They will be back about 11:00 tomorrow morning. If those are okay, and I'm sure they will be, he will be home by midnight tomorrow night.

As always, I will keep all you wonderful friends and family informed of his doings. Please pray they his body is just fine and that Will can come home tomorrow.

GOD BLESS

April 14th Tuesday

Just got back from Salt Lake. I will blog later in the day with all the news from there. Right after school for sure.

Happy Easter 2009

MAY THE GLORY OF THE LORD'S MIRACLE STRENGTHEN
YOUR FAITH.

The Harbison Family wants to wish everyone a joyous Easter.

This is how we spent Easter morning. Our sweet niece, Brenda and her husband, Lance, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Easter morning at 1:30 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and his name is Cooper Ray Kolbet. Will, Tom and I were able to be at the hospital to visit with our newest member of the family. He is so sweet, I even got to change his diaper, yea!!!!

We were already in Pocatello because Tom was going to the Rodeo-Dodge Circuit. So everything worked out really well. We stayed at their house while they were doing all the work at the hospital. We couldn't have timed it any better.


The next picture was such a surprise. Will's birthday is Thursday and Will got a present from Lance and Brenda-well, mainly from Lance when we were up at the hospital. If you look at the picture up close, you will see what it is. Try, then I will tell you what it is.

IT'S A FOOTBALL SIGNED BY
TOM LANDRY HIMSELF BEFORE HE PASSED AWAY.

All of you know that Will is a huge Cowboy fan. This was so amazing. It's in its own case but I think we need to get a locked box or something. I do know we will now have to list it with our insurance company. Will was struck speechless. I think maybe he even had a tear or two.
I will try to put a better picture on the blog soon after we get home from Salt Lake.

Will is handling the trip well. We will spend the whole day tomorrow with the doctors and all the tests. I will share with you all when we get home tomorrow night. It will probably be late.

GOD BLESS

April 9, 2009 Thursday

I was looking back at the pictures that I put on the blog last time and I was just amazed how well Will is looking. He is doing so much better. Thank you all for coming in and just checking on him still after all this time. Will is very lucky to have all of you praying and thinking about him.

On Monday night Will went to Coach's to watch the championship NCAA playoffs. They weren't as exciting as some of the other games that led to this night, but Will sure enjoyed watching with Coach.
Tuesday was dialysis and nothing much goes on those days. They said his phosphorus is very high so that means Will is cheating a little tooooo much on his diet. We will have to make him start following orders better.
Will has been using his Wii fit for his exercises and it seems to be helping him a lot. Then he challenges his dad to some of the games. It's been well worth the money. I will try to get them on a video so you all can laugh.

We are planning a road trip for this weekend by going up to see family (Cousin Brenda and Lance who are expecting a baby yesterday) and a rodeo in Pocatello this Saturday night then going on to Salt Lake on Sunday, Easter Day, and have dinner with Danny and AnnMarie and kids. The we will go to Will's appt. on Monday where he will see all his doctors (well, not all, we would never get through them all) and then we will come home Monday night. I am just hoping that it won't be too hard on Will but he's looking forward to it.

I will have more news later, if I can I will blog over the weekend so you all know where we are at and what we are doing.
During this week I get more and more in awe of our sweet Lord (and it happens every year). What a price to pay for our sins. I think I will go and listen to my favorite song before I go to bed. 'Amazing Grace" has such great lyrics and it can pertain to most everybody. If you don't have a copy, just type it into youtube.com and it will bring it up.

GOD BLESS

Monday, April 6, 2009

Here are a couple of cute pictures of our newest member of the family.
Roxie has only been in our family for a couple of weeks but
we really love her already. She's made a conquest of Will too,
and Tom too, but he won't admit it.

Will has had a couple of really good days. It might be the weather or just the final days of March madness. We had friends over to play our new special game. We bought the Wii game and the Wii fit. It is so funny when we all get together and do the silly games. Will had to turn his oxygen up because he was laughing so hard. I had to take Will's oxygen away from him and use it because I was laughing so hard. The Wii fit is going to work really well for Will because it builds the core strength and that's what Will needs. He did the exercises tonight and it was a real workout.

Saturday was dialysis and then as soon as that was done Will went to Coach's house to watch the game. Coach had it all set up with Will's chair close to the TV and Will's favorite "little smokies" for a snack. He stayed all through both games and had a great time.

Sunday was a beautiful day except for a cold wind. When I got back from church, Will was on the front porch, in the shade of course because he can't be in the sun at all. It was neat to see. We had a lot of visitors and didn't take pictures of anyone- what's the matter with me anyway? Will didn't get as tired as he used to when he had so many visitors. That shows he's doing better and better. Angel and Aaron came over tonight and Will and Aaron played golf on the Wii. They enjoyed that a lot.

As we go into the most holiest of weeks, I remember where we were last year at this time and where we are now. What a miracle God has done for us. Our God is so awesome and as we celebrate the death and His resurrection, we need to humble ourselves and remember He sent his Son to die for all of us so that we may have everlasting life. WOW! It should humble us all.

GOD BLESS

April 2, 2009 Thursday

If you haven't read the previous blog entry, then please go do it now. It's got some pretty important news on there. The second piece of amazing news is that yesterday was April Fool's Day and Will did not play one prank on anybody. I waited all day and nothing... For all of you that know him well, you know that's just not him. Maybe he's saving it up for next year.

Will is doing okay. It seems that he's coughing more the last couple of days. Maybe he's getting the junk from the pneumonia out and that's good. Tom's been sick with a bad cold so he's staying away from Will as much as possible.

Today is dialysis and hopefully they will get more off than last time. Will started cramping so they had to stop pulling fluid off but they had more to get off. They said they will catch up today. This dialysis is crazy business and the diet is worse. He did walk on the treadmill yesterday and stayed out and visited with company for a long while.

There has been some crazy, crazy sicknesses going around-really different things. So please pray for our friends and family and let's get these bugs under control, with God's help of course. Tom's brother, Jack, is out of the hospital, Thank God. That pneumonia is hard on everybody.

We were going to go to the Jerome Lady Tiger's banquet tonight but Will just wasn't feeling well. He slept most of the afternoon. Today will be better, specially after dialysis.

Our good friends, The Whites, have been gone on vacation in Arizona for the last couple of weeks. Visit their blog (you can find it on our main page). They have been doing fun, fun stuff. Then they found a boyfriend already for our new little dog, Roxie. It's a must see. They will be home tomorrow. We miss them. It will be very hard for them to come back to the cold weather that we have been having here in Idaho.

God bless and keep you healthy.

P.S. this is not really Angel's stomach

Okay, the secret is out. Angel's going to have a little girl. We were told last night and I'm still skipping around my room. Seriously! Will is really excited but he said Angel can't dress her in pink all the time. He thinks mustard yellow is a good color. :)

March 30, 2009 Monday

We had a great Sunday visiting Billie, Matt, Sadie and Coby William in Boise. Friday was Coby's first birthday. Time is going by so fast, it seems like yesterday when we got the call that he was born. We were in Salt Lake and it seemed like forever before we got to meet our sweet Coby. We were able to see Christi and the her boys, Noah and Elliott also. They live very close to Billie's house. What a great family we have. The pictures aren't that great. But I share what I have. Angel and Aaron met us over there so everybody got to see Angel's little "bump."

Grandma and Grandpa Atwood came over and visited for a little while too. Good times.

Will has had some good, good days. He's feeling better than he has since he left the hospital on the 4th of January. He's acting more like his ol' self too. He's still a little wobbly but that will come back in time. It's only been a couple of weeks since his little set back.

Will has gone over to Coach's and to Brent's house to watch a lot of basketball the last few days. He does really well at their houses but I think they "force" him to eat what he's not suppose to be eating. It doesn't seem to be doing any harm though. Maybe he's gaining some of the weight back that he lost lately. We're very seriously looking for a pontoon boat to buy so we can do a lot of fishing this summer. The boat will be perfect for Will to fish off from and we can take our friends out on it too. You all are invited as soon as we find one, that is. But maybe not all at the same time.

The new pup is fitting in well with this crazy household. We are all in love with it and she likes us too. Tom seems to be her favorite though.

Hope everyone has a great week and we will blog again on Wednesday night.

GOD BLESS

March 27, 2009 Friday

whoopee, it's Friday again.

Will had dialysis today and did pretty good with it. Then he rested and went over to Coach's house to watch fifty ball games all at once (no, not really, it just seems like that many) Pam reminded me that I forgot to let you know who Will picked as his final four. They are:
Louisville, Memphis, Oklahoma, and Pittsburgh with Oklahoma winning it all. Mine are: Kansas, Connecticut, Duke and UNC with UNC winning it all.

So now you can see if I know more about the teams than Will. Ya, right.

Will has turned around so much that I will start blogging only twice a week, on Wednesday night and Sunday night. We will try that again. I want to start putting more pictures on the blog too. So everyone stay safe.

GOD BLESS

march 26, 2009 Thursday

Will had a good day today. He walked on the treadmill for ten minutes. That's double what he did on Monday. Tom and Will even came up to Bliss for dinner because I was working late in the classroom getting ready for conferences. We went to a little diner in town and I was just amazed that we were sitting there eating like "normal" people do. It was just a week ago that he wasn't in such good shape.

He goes to dialysis today and then he will come home and rest for a little bit. Then he's got a hot date with a television set, Coach, and March madness. There might even be a pizza involved somewhere. Things are looking so much better. Now I'm ready for the lousy weather to leave and spring to arrive.

I loved the comments about Roxie, thanks, and you're right Pam. Randy is a always a "different" story. You had me laughing pretty hard. I'm sure Lynette and Donna were too.

God Bless

Wed., March 25, 2009

Well, here is the newest addition to the Harbison's household.

She is so ugly that she's cute. The best thing in her favor is that she doesn't

shed and she adores Will. She sits on his lap all day and this is as big as she will get.

Her name is Roxie and she's one year old and very happy.

Let me know what you think of her, please. I will get better pictures later when she's smiling.

By the way, Will's cat just hates Roxie with a passion. Bella has already beat her up several times. But I'm sure she will get over it soon. Poor Roxie is scared to death of her, I don't think she has ever seen a cat before.
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Now back to Will, he had dialysis and they were surprised by how much weight Will has lost. They did manage to take off 2.7 liters. He's looking forward to Kevin, his physical therapist coming tomorrow and working him out. I hope it will start warming up tomorrow, maybe they can go outside. I will get pictures if they do that.

GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL SAFE

March 24, 2009, Tuesday

Will had a good day yesterday and he even walked on the treadmill a couple of times for five minutes each. Pretty darn good for just getting out of the hospital. His appetite is back and he needs to gain some more weight to get back to what it was before this hospitalization. Today is dialysis and we will get back into the routine again.

We were talking and we really miss the people from the hospital. We didn't get enough time with them all. Not that we wanted to stay any longer, just that we wanted them to know we miss them. Quite a few said they were going to come up our way and visit this summer. I better start cleaning now.

Will has gotten a new dog, maybe she's all of ours. She sure is cute and I will get a good picture of her and Will tomorrow. I didn't have time tonight after school because I had Bible study-which is so good, Angel went with me too.

It was so cold today and I had early recess duty. The kids were all huddled around me next to the side of the school. So I was telling them stories about when I was a kid--yup, the whole story of walking to school uphill in the snow, both ways LOL. They loved it but it doesn't take much to entertain a bunch of frozen "Popsicles." It should start warming up real soon.

Take care and GOD BLESS

Monday, March 23, 2009

Sunday was Will's first full day home. What did he do?? Well, most of you know Will's routine the day after he gets out of the hospital----he sleeps. He was just waking up when I got home from church at noon. I think he might have been a little sleepy.

Coach came over to see him. Grandma came over and made him a huge pot of potato soup and she had dinner with us. Angel and Aaron came over, they didn't stay long because Aaron is catching a cold so he couldn't even go into Will's room.

Will is itching like crazy from one of the meds, but he only has three more days to go on it so he's trying to get through it. He's also lost some weight in the hospital so we are going to have to get that back on him. He lost almost ten pounds (I think I found it). Today he is going to start exercising because yesterday was his day of rest. He earned it I think.

I will keep you updated and in a few more days I will go back to being just a couple times a week. Our good friends and neighbors, the Whites, are still in Arizona. They called a couple of days ago and they were on the lake water skiing-it was 102 degrees. Yesterday was a cold spell-only 86, poor babies, I just don't know how they can stand it. Brent and Stacee are still in Arizona too enjoying a prolonged spring break. We drove through snow night before last to get Will back home-something's not right here.

I'm back to work today and I did miss the kids, but I was thinking I might petition my boss to let me have another spring break. I think he will go for it LOL

God bless and have a great Monday.

March 22, 2009 Sunday

We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got home about 10 p.m. tonight and it was a long day. We just unloaded the car and dumped it in the front room. We'll unpack tomorrow. We are all so happy to be home. Will said next time that he's taking his new bed with him. I just told him not to have a "next" time.

It took a long time to get Will out of the hospital but that is to be expected when dealing with so many different doctors. We also were on a floor that has never heard of the famous Will Harbison. So they weren't that impressed when we told them we wanted to go home asap. We got out of there about three this afternoon and then we stopped by Danny's house and he and AnnMarie made us a delicious dinner. It was fun just to relax and laugh a lot (mostly at Danny's expense).

The good thing about this stay was that we got to catch up on a lot of people whom we love so much. They are Will's caregivers that brought him to this point in his life. I'm talking doctors, nurses, aides, RT's, and Pt's, even our sweet clerks on the floors. I think they were really glad to see the new and improved Will. I bet they will never know how much we owe them. Someday they will all get rewarded for the special care they gave Will and us, his family. Thank you again and again.

Now we are back home and we will start working Will out to get him back to where he was before the pneumonia got him down. It won't take long. I have one day before I have to go back to work and I need to spend some time in my classroom because when I left Friday I figured I would have all week to get ready for parent teacher's conferences which are this week. Yikes. But really Will was so accommodating getting sick on spring break so I didn't have to worry about my class. Thanks, Will.

We praise God for all the blessings He has given us this last week. Without Him where would any of us be???

I pray that God pours out his blessings on all of you reading this blog. You all deserve it.

GOD BLESS

March 21, 2009

Below is a couple of pictures of Will and Tanya. She's the one that had the transplant right after Will. She got to go home today and we know she's going to be just great. Her biopsies came back showing nothing so that's good news but they still don't know what the mass is.
Isn't she cute????

This is a good shot because a sweet housekeeper took the picture so we all could be in the picture. The sweet lady in green is Tanya's grandmother and she's a funny lady. I enjoy visiting with them when we can and it's very rare that Will and Tanya can visit face to face. So good times.
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Will is going to be going home tomorrow, Saturday, after dialysis. He has to have a few blood tests done in the early morning just to check a few things out. So we should be home tomorrow night some time and it will be so good. Will should be able to see a few games on his big screen and he is so ready.

We went outside for a little bit today (it was a gorgeous first day of spring) and then Will wanted to do a few stairs. (Well, I don't know if he wanted to do them but Dr. Cahill said he needed to do them. She does run the show, ya know). So Will went to the second floor and walked up to the fifth floor. That was so great. I don't know the last time he was able to do that many stairs. We know that he's ready to go home.

So I will blog from home tomorrow night. YEA! Thank you, thank you for every body's prayers for Will's recovery. They worked once again and God is so awesome for giving us all of you great people to help us through these times.

GOD BLESS

March 20, Friday

Will is looking so much better, it's amazing how much he has turned around. The prayers, oh yea and the meds, are working wonders. He walked twice around the unit today. He had dialysis and they took off 3 liters and no cramping. He took a long shower and sat in the chair for a while.

And he watched a little basketball.....no, not just a little, a whole lot. This is where he really misses his big screen TV and Coach. But it won't be long and we will be home watching March Madness. Dr Cahill came in and I think she was still a little steamed that Will got so sick. So she's probably making Will stay here until he says he's sorry. :)

Everybody has been treating Will so good here. Just like ol' home week. His 02 has gone down to what it is at home and he's eating again. So maybe soon..........

Angel went home today, she was missing her honey a lot, and I think Aaron was missing her too. It is suppose to be very warm back home. I hope the spring weather has everyone outside enjoying life.

Still prayers are needed for our friend, Tanya. She hasn't heard anything from the biopsies yet.

GOD BLESS

March 19, 2009

Streptococcus or strep pneumonia is what has grown out in Will's blood cultures so now we wait to see if the antibiotics are sensitive on this type of pneumonia. I think it is because it's working really well. Once we have a good handle on this, then we can probably go on pill form and get home soon.

Dr. Cahill came by for one minute but she made a lasting impression again. I'm still laughing. She said when Will starts feeling better, she's going to slap him and said she has to leave because she has to go and visit people who are actually sick. She said she would see him tomorrow.

Will is feeling better and we did get to move out of ICU and move to the IMCU unit. (One step down from the ICU but still not "floor" status) This is where we were before also but we didn't have the same room. We have several of the same nurses. That makes Will feel so much better, having people he knows around him.

Angel helped Will get his picks(for the NCAA championship) all ready for the bracket. I did my own this year so we will see who is going to be left standing. I think I've got it this year. I will let you all know our picks tomorrow.

Will walked in the hall again tonight on the new floor. I had pictures to put on the blog but I forgot that I can't upload from the hospital. I will try something else later. Just go back and look at some of the pictures from a few months ago of him walking the halls. He looks the same but he's not using a walker. The weather is wonderful here. Maybe tomorrow we can get Will outside, I have to ask first.

If you want to go see pictures of our friend Tanya who had her transplant shortly after Will's, her blog site is on our home page. She still doesn't know what's going on and everyone is waiting for the results of the tests. We will continue to keep her in our prayers, please. We will go visit her again tomorrow and hopefully have some good news to share. We are on the same floor as Tanya, but she's not in the unit.

Angel will go home tomorrow afternoon. She was up here in Will's room doing Will's picks and she asked Will which team he wanted. The baby kicked for the first time! So Will is all excited that the baby, either boy or girl, is going to be crazy for basketball. He/she kicked several more times tonight. I can't feel it but Angel sure can. You poor, poor blogging family. All of you will probably be so sick of this "Grandma" sharing everything about our little baby, but that's freedom of the press, right?

So that's all the update for now. I will write more tomorrow night. Prayers are being answered-Thank you all.
GOD BLESS

March 18, 2009

Here's another night in ICU. Things haven't changed a bit--every hour someone needs to be in here. But they are taking very, very good care of Will. God has answered our prayers and the antibiotics are doing the trick. He is so much better than he was last night. His fevers are gone and his 02 needs have gone done. He's already on 60 % whereas last night he was at 100% needs. Praise God

Angel got to Salt Lake early afternoon and stayed with him and then Danny, his cousin that lives here who, by the way, just made Major--way to go Major Dan, came to visit. That was a lot said in one sentence, but I'm tired. I just am very, very proud of our little Major Dan. He stayed quite a few hours with Will. too. That always picks him up.It's a wonder we didn't get kicked out. Danny can get very loud when he's telling stories, I kept telling him that this is ICU, but he forgets. I went over to the hotel and slept for a couple of hours when Tom got up to Will's room this morning and I will do it again this morning.

Later in the afternoon, Angel and I went to Will's old CF wing and they have pregnant women that are having trouble on that wing also. Anyway, Jenalynn, one of our old nurses asked Angel is she wanted to hear the heartbeat. I was with her so of course, I told Jenalynn that Angel really wants to hear the heartbeat. I called Tom up in Will's room and he ran down to second floor and listened also. All I can say is AMAZING!!! We have a little baby in there whose heartbeat is very, very strong. I think I got a little emotional. What a miracle. Thank you, God.

Will had dialysis early this morning and they took off 5 liters. That helped with his breathing also. He hasn't got out of bed since yesterday so in the morning they are going to get him up and walk him around a little. He needs to stay on top of that. Dr. Cahill came by this afternoon and Will was asleep but she's coming back in the morning. Tauna, Dr. Cahill's transplant coordinator has come by several time both days to visit with Will.

Will is looking so much better that he probably will be transferred out of ICU today sometime, I hope. I still haven't talked to anyone to find out how long we will be here. I don't know if anyone really knows because we didn't know if the antibiotics would do the trick. But they are--again because of God's great mercy. I think Will is needing out of here today because Coach and Will had this "date" to watch the first of the March madness games on Thursday. So maybe Will can hurry it up and we can be home :)

Thanks for every one who has left comments (Pam, you're great about that) and emails wishing Will the best. He's feeling better tonight so I read them to him. We just have wonderful friends and family. Our good friend Tanya, the sweetie that had a transplant shortly after Will, is in the hospital also. She's been in with some kind of infection since last Wednesday so please, please pray for her and her recovery. We went to see her today and she's just as sweet as always.
Thanks for her prayers and the prayers you all are sending for Will's recovery. God hears them all. I will write more tomorrow.

GOD BLESS

Tuesday St. Patrick's Day

WEAR GREEN AND THEN THINK OF THE CELTICS--no that's not right--think of St. Patricks.

We came up to Salt Lake today, well yesterday, Monday, after having spent a terrible night with Will. His 02 was dropping and he was having such a hard time getting enough air. So we called and they told us to go to the ER and then get an ambulance to bring him up to here. Well, Will doesn't like ambulances (I think this is because he doesn't get to run the siren, maybe) so he had Tom and I bring him in the van. We made it okay, but I was probably going faster than the ambulance would have for sure.

We got here to the ER and then they brought up right back. Dr. Cahill has pull even in the ER; that lady has pull everywhere. They did a bunch of tests and found out that Will has pneumonia in both lungs. He was pretty sick so they admitted him into ICU. They did a lot more tests. They started him on four different antibiotics and they hope that does the trick. He wasn't able to breathe without a lot of effort so the docs put him on a bi-pap machine to help him bring in his air. This has helped so much.

It's weird because we got the same room that we had for all those months. The nurses haven't changed and they were all glad to see us although they would have rather not have had him so sick. He's not feeling well enough to visit with them tonight though. The docs think that after a few doses of these massive antibiotics that he will turn around. Angel will be coming up in the morning.

I will write the blog every night until we get out of here so to keep our sweet people informed of his progress. Please pray that the meds will work and nothing more needs to be done. Thank you for all your concern and
GOD BLESS

Sunday March 15, 2009

We took Will to the all-star basketball game to watch two of his "girls" that he coached play.
They were really glad to see him and it was fun to watch.

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Here is the pictures of my little girl's little "bump"
It's so amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember, the due date is August 14th. It seems so long to wait.

Will hasn't been feeling at all well today. We don't know what's going on but if there is still a fever tomorrow then we will call down to Salt Lake and see what we can be doing for this. We will be going down for a regular appt. on Tuesday night and we see all the docs on Wednesday. Will will have all his normal tests done and we will see how he is progressing. The weather is suppose to be very nice this week so I am looking forward to the trip. Angel is going with us so she can see all our friends. This is Angel's spring break also.

Will is going in tomorrow for a "quickie" dialysis treatment. This is where they just take him in for two hours and take off fluid. We are hoping that it will make a difference.

Well, the brackets are in and we are ready for March Madness.

We have some good friends that are moving to California on Wednesday. Curt (Will coached him in high school) and Meagan Osborne are off for new frontiers. Curt has a great job opportunity and he's going to take it. It will be a fabulous move for them but we are all going to be sad to see them go. We had a going-away potluck at church for them today but I wasn't able to make it because Will wasn't feeling well. I hope if they are reading this, that they understand how much this whole town will be missing them and we want nothing but the best. Our prayers and our love go out to you both, and little Tyler of course. Angel and Meagan are expecting babies around the same time. So we will pray for new beginnings for all of us.

GOD BLESS

March 12, 2009 Thursday

Well, pretty uneventful days since Sunday. Tuesday was dialysis and it was the most painful of all the other days. We don't know why this was so we are going to keep an eye on dialysis on Thursday to see how that goes. It took him all night to get over it. He worked out today with Kevin and they even got to go outside for a little walk. I think Will will get out more once the weather changes and we have some nice days. The only problem there is that because of some of the meds Will is on, he won't be able to go out in the sunshine.

Will wants to go to the all-star game for the girls and boys after dialysis. It's played in Twin Falls at 6:00 pm and a few of the Jerome kids made it so he wants to watch the games. They usually are a lot of fun. Will even got to coach an all-star team before the transplant.

Another important item about today----Tom and I have been married 37 years. We went out to dinner and we bought a new bed. It will be delivered tomorrow morning. We are so excited. We got it at the same place Will and my mom got their new mattresses. They are very happy with their purchase so I know we will be too.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, TOM

So for all you youngsters out there that are just getting started, it can be done, it's not easy all the time, but it can be done. Especially when you find the "right" person.


Oh, I was going to put on a picture of Angel's little "bump" but I couldn't get it just right so I will try later. You know us Grandmas; we have to get the pictures perfect. (two days until spring break)

More on Wednesday night. GOD BLESS

Monday March 9, 2009

Spring break is just one more week. The kids are so ready and I think the teachers are too.

Will had a quiet weekend. He went to dialysis on Saturday and they took four liters off. Then he came home and just rested. He listened to the boys state basketball game and the Jerome boys brought home a third place trophy. Deja vu because our girls did the same. So it was a great year for the Jerome Tigers. Way to go, Jerome.

Now on to March madness. For all you that don't have to breathe basketball like this household seems to do, March madness is a time when all the college basketball teams play to win the NCAA Championship. It gets wild and crazy with all the brackets and everything. We love it!

Sunday Will went over to Brent's house to watch Duke play. I guess it was a good game. The weather was okay today. It was a cold wind but the sun was out. I think it's just mother nature telling us that spring is almost here. I forgot that this weekend was the weekend to set our clocks back so I missed church. But, God and I had a talk and I told Him I was sorry and He forgave me (again). God is so good at that forgiving part, I wish we all were better at that. How nice the world would be, right? Anyway, I hope most of you got to church on time.

It felt really weird not blogging last night, but Miss Wallace said it best that it really shows how well Will is getting when I don't have new news all the time about his progress. I will blog again on Wednesday night for Thursday.

Take care and God bless

March 7, 2009

Just a week until spring break starts. whoopee

Will had the therapist come and it wasn't Kevin. Kevin was in Boise at meetings. Anyway, she worked Will just as hard so his legs are really sore tonight.

We watched the Jerome Boys basketball game up at state from our living room. It was broadcast on the internet and it was very exciting. They lost in overtime though, but the game got our hearts pumping. They will play for third place trophy tomorrow morning. Good luck, Tigers.

Will thought that would be a good idea for me to just blog a couple times a week. My trouble is that I hope that I can remember to do that since it won't be on my daily list of things to do. So I will try to blog on Sundays and Wednesdays. If anything happens exciting in the meantime, I will blog then too. I have heard of so many people who starts their day off with Will's news. It just blows me away how many faithful followers (now I sound like an evangelist) Will has. I hope the routine won't throw you off from reading about Will and commenting. He really likes it when people comment and start discussion.

I pray every night to bless all you wonderful people. I know God has heard my prayers, He is so awesome that way. I still pray so.........
GOD BLESS and more on Sunday.

March 6, 2009 Friday

Will had dialysis and they took about 4 liters off again. His blood pressure is staying up so we will probably keep him on the same medicine level. He stayed home tonight and listened to the Jerome boys' game from state. Jerome won, they are trying to make it into the finals. Go Jerome Tiger, we hope they go all the way.

I don't know, but it might be time to start doing the blog a couple of times a week instead of every night. Will's life is settling down and maybe we won't be having much to say every day. I will do that after I let you all know first. I will ask Will what he wants me to do and get back to you.

March Madness is coming up and that's a crazy time in this house. I think that's all we watch for several weeks. Everybody get your picks ready.

GOD BLESS

March 5, 2009 Thursday

We went to the doctor today--just the regular doctor because she wants to see him a couple of more times so she can get to know him. She was very shocked that he was looking so well. She just saw him a month ago but that's how much he has improved.

Kevin came and exercised his legs mainly today. He even did squats, he didn't go down very far but he did 20 of them. Then a lot of other ones also. So Kevin worked Will very hard and his legs are hurting. No pain, no gain, right?

Tomorrow is dialysis day so he will be busy but everything is looking better. His breathing is so much better than a few days ago.

The week is almost over. Then one more week and it will be spring break. We will be going to Salt Lake for a clinic check up on the 18th and I won't have to take a day off. I hope the weather is going to be nice. Today was crazy weather. We had a little sunny day yesterday so today my students thought spring was here and they came in flip flops and no coat. At lunch we couldn't go out to recess because it was snowing and blowing too hard. CRAZY! Now for the next few days it's supposed to snow.

I hope the weather is great where all of you are. GOD BLESS

Wed. March 4, 2009

Aw......................dialysis day. That's what Will is saying, I'm sure. They took off over 4 liters today. When he walked in to the building, he was on 7 liters of o2 (that's a lot) and he weighed over 11 pounds more than his "dry weight." That's saying all the fluid was just sitting on his lungs making it very hard to breath. He really was having a terrible time just walking. Then he started itching like crazy so they plugged him in and taaa-daaaa no more itching.

So on Wednesday, Kevin his physical therapist is coming and if it's a nice day, they will go outside to walk. Will is looking forward to that. Will has a doctor appt. in the afternoon with his "regular" doctor just so she can get to know him more.

Everything else is going fine. I wish we had a better handle on his blood sugars but that will probably come after he can get off more medicines.

Have a great Wednesday and GOD BLESS

March 3, 2009 Tuesday

Boy, I'm getting to dislike Mondays a lot. Will just feels so crummy on Mondays because he's needing dialysis. So today wasn't that great of a day for him. Tomorrow will be so much better, I know. Angel came over tonight to visit while Aaron was a a Bible study. That was fun for him.
So more tomorrow.

GOD BLESS



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUNT GLORIA!!! AND MANY, MANY MORE YEARS TO COME ALSO.

March 2, 2009 Monday

Monday and I don't know what happened to the weekend. Let me confess now that I didn't get my boxes, and boxes, of Christmas decorations put away. I kept finding excuses because it's so cold in the garage and warm in my house. I will put them away, or maybe I will keep them out and then I will be early for next year.

Will didn't do too much today either. He did get another visit from his cousin, Shannon and his family when they came back through from visiting his mom. Tia, Tom's sister, had a birthday yesterday and Shannon went to help his mom celebrate. Happy Birthday, Sis.

Angel and Aaron had a good first anniversary. They went out to dinner and then watched movies. How fun is that? Candace and Aaron's mom and step dad went home this afternoon. It was a great visit and we enjoyed visiting with them.

GOD BLESS

March 1, 2009 Sunday

Will went to dialysis with Coach, I hope they will still let Will in the doors next time but you never know with those two. The sun was shining today but, by crackly, it was cold.

Tonight, we went over to Angel and Aaron's house to have dinner with Aaron's mom and Steve, Candace, and Angel and Aaron. It was very good and it's so nice that they are all settled in and ready for company.

ABOVE: CANDACE AND WILL ARE WATCHING THE CAT IN THE HAT.

I THINK WILL WAS PAYING CLOSER ATTENTION TO THE MOVIE THAN CANDACE.

HERE IS THE DINING ROOM. YOU CAN TELL CANDACE LIKES HAVING HER PICTURE TAKEN.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANGEL AND AARON

The first year is behind you.

We pray that your love just continues to grow and grow.

GOD BLESS TO ALL AND ESPECIALLY PEOPLE HAVING ANNIVERSARIES.