First thing, my nephew Jacob. Like I said in my last post, he was born 11 weeks early weighing 2 pounds 6 ounces. He is now 6 weeks old as I write this post! What a road he has traveled in these past 6 weeks! He is currently off of all oxygen and all he is hooked up to is a monitor. He has a feeding tube still, but has been transitioning to bottles and is mostly taking only bottles. This is a really big step! This is a major requirement for getting to go home, obviously. He passed the 4 pound mark last week and is currently gaining about a half a pound a week! It is weird that I look at this little 4 1/2 pound boy and think he is getting so big! He is filling out and starting to look like a real baby instead of a tiny little thing.
Hopefully he will be getting to come home soon!
We got to go home over the 4th of July weekend for a few exciting events! First of all, if you know me, you know that the 4th of July is my second favorite holiday (christmas is first of course) and I absolutely LOVE fireworks! Bella and I drove to OK and Justin met us there once he was done flying his trip. My dad had a heart catheter scheduled for the 1st, so I wanted to be there for that. This was going to be simply to check things out and fix any problems if they found them. Well, they found some. They ended up putting in 2 stents. One in a vessel that was 50% blocked and another in what they call the "widow maker" that was 90% blocked! I am so glad he went to the doctor! It's a long story how it came about, but lets just say he doesn't always go to the doctor and in this case he did! Thank God!
The weekend continued with another shower for baby Jacob on Saturday and I'm pretty sure he got everything he needs! I'm sure he will love all of his cute airplane things and decorations! He should be set for a while! I know he doesn't know how excited he should be, but he will enjoy using all of his cool new things some day!
Then on Sunday, the world changed. This became a day I will never forget. The phone rang with news that literally took my breath away and changed the lives of so many.
To give you some background, there was a girl named Kim Emmert that was born 7 days before me and since then, we have been best friends. We grew up together, going to the same church that our parents attended since they met in college. Needless to say, we spent countless nights at each others houses as we grew up and our families were very close. We never went to the same school, until hair school, and that was so much fun! Since college and married life, I haven't kept in touch with her as often as I would like, but there is still a bond that will never be broken. We make sure to get together every time I come to town for at least a really long lunch. Her dad and mine work together. My dad does paintless dent repair on cars and her dad makes the tools to use for that! I was so excited when Justin and I got married because although it was a distant relation, this made Kim and I relatives!
Back to the news. My dad was at our church and received the phone call. Kim's dad had died and his plane he was flying at the time had crashed. Sid Emmert was gone. Just like that. All I could think about were his two girls. The younger daughter had just gotten married 3 weeks earlier. I simply could not fathom losing a dad at this age. This man is one who was more than the average man. He was a creative business man who impacted the lives of so many people, it's nearly impossible to comprehend. Sid Emmert was a man that was in the position to give to many and support the church and it's mission. And he did just that. He was a big kid at heart who loved his church, family, and flying. He really loved flying. And since he was a pilot, you can only imagine the amount of conversations that were had about anything aviation between he and Justin. and Jason of course. He owned 3 small airplanes and died at the beginning of a trip around the country in his Stearman bi-plane. He was well known for his "twinkie bombings" as he would fly over any location, birthday party, or get together and drop them down on the on-lookers. The services celebrating the life of Sid Emmert were really nice and so many people came to say good-bye to a great man. There were near 1,000 people in attendance. The best quote I have seen has been this:
"There is a huge Sid shaped hole in this world that will never be filled." There are no better words to describe the loss, but my dad helped me remember this when he said "Sid is a man who worked hard for his reward in heaven. He earned it." So with that said, Sid Emmert, you will be greatly missed.
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| This is a view from his wing camera. Sid is the one in the back! |
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| What a beautiful plane! |
On a lighter note, the weekend concluded with an awesome day spent with my dad, which I had a new appreciation for. I also got to spend some one-on-one time with each of my family members, which hasn't happened in a long time. I even got some sun thanks to Kim and her wonderful pool! This was a great afternoon with my friend that let us catch up and spend some quality time that was way overdue. Sometimes you take for granted what you have and can forget that circumstances change in an instant. Many people reflect on these things when they experience a loss, but I hope to keep this fresh in my mind. It is so hard sometimes to live so far away from my family. And even though it was a trip with a purpose that was sad, I will say that it was one of the best trips home I've had in a long time.
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