DeLay Family Update

Since I have found a lot of friend in Traverse City on Facebook here is our update as to what we are doing. Dave work's full-time for Roger Automated Entrances. Installs and repairs automatic doors for hospitals, offices, stores, etc (not garage doors). The office he works out of is in Silvis, IL. Just across the Mississippi River , 30 minute drive depending on traffic. Crossing the 74 bridge from Iowa to Illinois can be hairy sometimes. He likes his job and travels a lot from here to Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern and southern Iowa, and all the way across to Chicago, 95% he is home at night. Once in a great while he stays overnight some where and comes home the next day. Me, Suzette, I work for Cardiovascular Medicine, P.C. in Moline, IL (just across the Mississippi River about 20-30 minute drive depending on bridge traffic). I have Dr. Acosta a Electrophysiologist that I take care of his office and patient care. We are very busy. My days are consumed with EKG's, pacemakers and defibrillators. I love it, stressful but okay. If you have an arrhythmia I'm your girl. I worked for this company before we first moved from Davenport to Traverse City. The Church that we belong to is Edgewood Baptist in Rock Island, IL. the same Church that we attended before we moved. Love it, love it, love it!!! Dave helps out in AWANA. I work in Women's Ministries (fabulous group of women), we have lots, and lots of fun and ministry opportunities for the women of our church. I love every minute of it. Dave and I helped in other things from time to time where needed. As a family we helped fill 6,500 eggs for the Easer Egg Hunts that went on for all three services on Easter. Dave and I were blessed to be able to participate in Cardboard Testimonies on Easter Sunday. It was very powerful to see what things the Lord has brought people through. So, I am in a Bible Study, Beth Moore studying the book of Daniel, excellent study. Love Beth Moore, love her, love her. I am also reading Tim Lahaye's "Edge of Darkness" book of the Babylon series, very compelling, make ya think. Riley is 8 3/4 yrs. old will be 9 yrs. 5/15 finishing up the 3rd grade at Harrison School just about a mile from the house. He is doing well and exceeds in math and reading. He has read 34 chapter books this year. He is in TNT at AWANA , Childrens Choir and Boy Scouts. He is very much into his play station, drawing, sports of all kinds. Getting taller and taller and of course more handsome everyday. Cheyenne is 4 yrs. old. In pre-school, she excels at talking, and talking, and talking, and talking and uh, oh yea... painting fingernails, and taking care of her 5 babies,
reading books, and coloring. She is finishing her first her in Cubbies and her first year in Pre-school. She is incredibly beautiful. Well I think that is my brag book for now. So now it is your turn to update me. Our e-mail is dsrcdelay95@yahoo.com

Home Internet Back

Today we had the internet turned back on at home. So I have been re-doing our blog today. The kids had physicals for school yesterday and we found out that Cheyenne has strep, so i am home from work and Cheyenne is upstairs sleeping. Dave actually got off early and is home snacking and watching a movie. the biggest downfall to day is that a plumbing company is here and working next door so there has been men drilling cement ALL DAY. I haven't lost my mind yet, but it does get to me. If it wasn't for Cheyenne being sick I would take her to the park to get away from all the noise. So now hopefully i will be able to e-mail, blog and facebook a little easier than using my phone.

Merry Christmas from Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Merry Christmas from the Lawrence / DeLay family. Mom, Dad, Dale, Lori (their dog Bandit), Dave, Suzette, Riley and Cheyenne are are snuggled away in a house in the woods on Mountain in Tennessee. We don't have any snow but we have some chilly temps, nothing like we have in Davenport, iowa but cool enough for a jacket. We all arrived Christmas Eve. We had our christmas dinner catered in from the local grocery store. we are sharing a three bedroom, three bathroom house. It is a good size house, about 2400 sq. foot. Hot tub and pool table, fire place, 2 living rooms/ family rooms. Yesterday our cousin Cheryl who lives in Abington, VA came to see us with her boyfriend Don. last night we drove around Gatlinburg site seeing and looking at lights, we tried to take pictures of the beautiful lights. We plan to go back to town today. Where we are has road that makes you think you are in Colorado 4 wheeling, very breath taking. We have had a wonderful Christmas. dale and Lori had not met cheyenne before, only seen her in pictures. dale and Riley have been playing pool and football with Riley's new football from Uncle Dale and Aunt Lori. I tried to download pictures but I couldn't get it to work. Lori has brought her laptop so that is how I am able to blog today. we still do not have a working computer and conitue to get e-mails from my phone. We wish you a merry christmas a happy New Year.

Spiritual Refreshment

Last night I went to a Church in Moline with some ladies from Church to Beth Moore's Living Proof Simulcast from Louisville, KY. It was AWESOME. We had CHURCH! I bought tickets over a month ago all excited to go. Last night i actually had to talk myself into going. It had been a rough week, lots of overtime this week. So I met some friend for dinner and that really made me feel better. The music was incredible, the worship was incredible. Beth spoke God's word and WOW! WOW! It has been a long, long time since I have wept before the Lord. I had goose bumps and was hot all at the same time. My tears were hot and has they rolled down me face, neck and chest I felt like the Holy Spirit was cleansing me. I could actually feel like I was being made white as snow again. Pure, forgiven, and uplifted. It was like my own personal revival. I wanted to stay the night at the Church so I could be there first things this morning ready to recevive what God has for me today. So I just had to share with you before I took off this morning for todays refreshment.

Waking Up to Rock and Roll

This morning our houseold was awoken by(is that grammatically correct?). Rolling thunder adn rocking thunder. Winds were clocked at 94 miles an hour. We have two large branches down in the front yard. On the way to work I saw a semi turned over on the highway and drove through lots of tree debris. My office was closed and I had to come back to Davneport and work in the Davenport Office. There was an uprooted tree with the berries still on the tree laying in our parking lot, no body knows where it came from. I had to completely circle the Q.C area in order to finally get back to Davenport and saw large branches and trees floating down the Rock River. We have power, PRAISE GOD! we could both go to work. Although, I was told today I could work in Davenport or take a PTO day. Was not willing to give a vacation day out of my pocket so I chose to work. Many people did not. Tomorrow I will be in the Davenport office again. So we are safe and with power and phone service. We are very thankful for the Lord's protect. It truely was the loudest ground shaking storm I have been in in awhile. The Illinois side of the QCA was rocked much harder. A pt. told me that it was reported an F3 tornado touched down.

Hot and Humid

Summer has fully arrived with the heat and humidity. Upper 80's and 90 degree weather. Still can not down load pictures from the camera to the computer. Dave has a torn meniscus and ACL. He meets with the surgeon the 30th of July. We are planning surgery for him probably mid to late August. I've recovered from the diverticulitis episode that I had, which in turn the antibiotics gave me hives torso to toes, swollen lips and tongue. I itched incredibly bad for 3-4 days. Riley went to a Minor League Baseball game this week with the school age kids from daycare. Loved that! Bought a River Bandits baseball. Daily when I come home from work there is Riley and Dave playing Indiana Jones on the new Play Station 2 that we bought.. Yes, I have crossed over to the dark side (or some would say the 21 century) and we now have a video game system. Dave is in to it as much as Riley. I did buy my own game of PacMan, Asteroids, etc. I never get a chance to play much though. Riley has tried to teach me Indiana Jones, but how he can remember all he little tricks and stuff is beyond me. I am a simple game play. Let me eat dots and through fruit me on occasion and I am entertained. Cheyenne is growing up and changing so much. She's almost 3 1/2 yrs. old and sometimes too smart for her own good. Very beautiful and adorable though. Riley's blue eyes are stunningly gorgeous. Only in 3rd grade but I think come 6th grade he's going to be fighting off the girls. Cheyenne knows all her colors, alphabet, counts, and adds very basic addition, numbers less than 10. She is very much into shoes, purses and babies, and her pretend makeup (not play makeup , pretend, like it doesn't materially exist, just in her imagination). The kids and I had "Donut Day" we got up early on Friday and went to Hy-Vee (local grocery store). The kids picked out their donut and we bought juice and sat in the cafeteria and enjoyed a early morning donut and juice with all the old man drinking coffee before daycare and work. So that is what is going on around here. Dave and the kids are enjoying ice cream so I got to go get some. BYE!

July going by fast

Good morning! Can you believe July is about half over. I have great pictures from the 4th of July and our trip to Caves of the Mound in Wisconsin but I can't get my camera card to download for some reason. Otherwise we are doing pretty good. Dave's knee is acting up again and had to have a MRI, July 30th he meets with the surgeon to talk about arthroscopic surgery. His meniscus is torn laterally and his ACL is torn. He is suppose to be taking it easy but he refuses. Today I take Riley in to see what the Dentist is going to do about his broken tooth. So the waters have reseceeded (sp?) and cleanup is under way around about places. I had a bad allergic reaction to the medicinie I was taking for the diverticulitis and had a sever rash for three days. My lips and tongue are still recovering. Had a bad tooth pulled last week and that was a nightmare. So that's the wrap up in a nut shell. Be sure to scroll down to see Super Saturday pictures and park pictures if you haven't already.

Saturday Afternoon at the Park

It was a gorgeous sunny day with cool breezes.

June - Super Saturday

June 28th was our first Super Saturday this summer. Our theme is Son Harvest Farm Market. Harvesting the Fruits of the Spirit. So was have a farm theme. I am in charge of the craft pavillion. We have it set up like a 4H display with different arts and crafts on display. This year is Cheyenne's first year as a pre-school. She was very excited and Riley is now in 3rd grade and excited to be getting into more challenging stuff. We have lots of things going on. A canned food drive to help a local food pantry and the boys are challenging the girls in a pennie collection for the churches missions projects. They get one point for each penny and then the silver and paper money donate by the opposing team into them bucket is a point deducted from their point totals. Enjoy the pictures!

Downtown Davenport

Rising water still remains in Davenport.

Downtown Davenport

This is the enterance to the Baseball Stadium. There is a boardwalk going to the stadium but now the boardwalk entrance is now flooded. This is taken with zoom.








This is taken with out zoom so you can see how far away I was standing on the waters edge.











The builing that you see here is where we took a picture last Saturday in the parking lot where Dave tried to throw water on me by spinning the tires. Now you cannot even get there.






Last Saturday we were able to drive up to this building. All these pictures were taken Wednesday, four days later than the previous ones that I blogged on the 14th. The water has really risen.

June 14, 2008

Cheyenne looked so cute today and usually I take pictures of Cheyenne in jeans or her camo pants. Riley didn't like it that I asked him to stand against the tree to pose.

Here comes the rain again...

The first picture is of LeClaire Park in April and the second picture is LeClaire Park In June.
Obviously I couldn't get as close as I did in the first picture. The flood waters had receded in since April and now the flooding is much worse now. A lot of downtown is blocked off.



This picture of the Figge Museum.











Dave thought it was funny to back into to the flooded parking lot and try to peel out. He thought he was going to get me wet but it didn't work.
This is at the Visitors Center downtown. The Center was sandbagged with a sub pump pumping out water.

I think the slogan goes...Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow nor shine shall keep the postman from his rounds. Didn't say flood though.

Just three miles from our townhouse we saw people with all their belongings at the side of the road for the trash men to pickup. Cars covered in mud up over the roof. Roads caked with mud. I was trying really hard not to cry. It was just devastating. Did not take pictures, thought that that would be heartless. Several streets of houses with mud caked streets, sub pumps pumping and furniture, mattress, and boxes a ruined items curb side.

Dave called his mom who lives in Cedar Rapids where the levy broke to see if she had been evacuated. She was still in her nursing home but that at one end of the hall way there were a couple rooms with water coming up through the floor. Dave's nephew Phillip and his pregnant wife Amy had to evacuate because of lack of access to their house and went to Clinton Iowa at her parents house. Amy is due in September. Dave's other niece Laura and her husband live in Ames, Iowa and she too is pregnant and due in December is pumping water from their basement.

We are okay. We went to the basement for a tornado warning Thursday night. We heard really loud wind and then the tornado siren went off and to the basement we went. Dave got the kids out of bed and we stayed in the laundry room for awhile. We had some seriously bad thunderstorms. The worst I've heard in a while. It was hard to sleep, wondering what was going on outside in the dark and hearing clash after clash of lightening and booming thunder. We prayed and sang "Jesus songs" as Riley would say. The Lord was with us and calmed us.

Suzette's Eye Surgery

Tuesday, June 3rd I had the hydroadenoma on my right eye removed. It started growing about six months after I had Riley and gain momentum after I had Cheyenne and then practical doubled in size after my hysterectomy. So hydroadenoma is just a fancy word for a growth filled with water and sweat, are you glad that you know that? So, everyday it gets a better. I have five dissolvable stitches. My eye itchs a lot. The doctor said that what was seen on the out side was only 50% of it and the rest was inside. So before I go on and gross you out I will stop. I can just hear my brother saying stop, stop! Dale always hated my "medical" stories. So I will spare all of you the details, but here are the pictures if you want to see them, their not gross.

Day of surgery - Hydroadenoma 7 mm (the biggest Dr. Fries has ever seen was 11 mm)

1/2 hr. after surgery, with 5 stitches.

Today, June 7th. You missed the next morning when was eye was about swollen shut. I had to put ice on it for 5-10 min. every 1/2 hr. for the first 24 hrs. I have an antibiotic orientment that I put on three time a day. The doctor said in ten days the bruising, swelling will subside and within a month I won't be able to see much of a scar.

Boy Scouts Family Weekend Camping Trip

This past weekend we went camping with the Boy Scouts of Troop 43 at Scott County Park. It was pretty warm. We did have a severe thunder storm while we were there and was locked down in our tent. Praise the Lord the rain tarp worked well. The older Boys Scouts and Eagle Scouts did demonstrations such as, knot tieing, splitting and chomping wood properly, building things out of sticks, putting up a tent, first aid in the outdoors. We ate dinner together and after dinner Riley took off with some of the other biys and their father's to play and he quickly came back injured. He fell straddling a bar injuring man land and was screaming as he went down and hit his mouth and chipped off his front permanent tooth. He said man land hurt until he saw his tooth flying out of his mouth. He did find the piece. We called the ER adn they said that since he wasn't the whole tooth that there was nothing to be done. So we stayed and Riley was able to participate in the "Bridging Ceremony" He earned his Wolf Badge. He got to see what he looked like in the mirror and thinks he's cool. He shows it to everybody. We are going to the dentist much to his dismay. We all had a good time. The family next to us, LeAnn and Jody we found out were born and raised in Traverse City, Michigan and go back every year. They have a family cabin in Kalkaska County. They have been in Iowa for 11 yrs. We had lots to talk about in our old stomping grounds. Cheyenne really enjoyed the mud and dug her toes in and made a mess.

May 2008 DeLay Family Update

Tonight was a marathon blog night. I have added nine new posts so scroll all the way down to the River Bandits Baseball Game. You may have to click on "older blogs / posts" to see them all. Enjoy!

Our Busy Weekend

We started off the day in the District of Rock Island where the office I work for, Cardiovascular Medicine was one of the sponsors for the Heart Walk. I took Blood pressures for the hour before the walk started. Then Dave and I walked with the kids the 3 mile walk. We walked over the Centenial Bridge and the Arsenal Bridge. After the walk we came home long enough to drop me and Cheyenn off for our afternoon nap while Dave and Riley went to Jungle Bungle as a reward for Riley finishing his third book for AWANA. Then they picked Cheyenne and I up and went to Propect park in Moline.

Me at the end of the night: Sunburned, Tired, and hurting. Definitely not my most attractive picture.

Riley's 8th Birthday

Having lots of fun!

Happy 8th Birthday to Riley

For Riley's 8th birthday we blind folded the kids and drove to Chuck Cheese's as a surprise. Cheyenne wasn't to thrilled about the blind fold, kept saying, "Mommy, I can't see!" and I kept telling her, "you're not supose to see". She didn't like that answer.

Riley got a speed racer car that does flips and a Speed Racer Activity book.

Visiting Momma D.

Saturday before Mother's Day wewent to visit Momma D. (Dave's mom, she's in a nursing home in Cedar Rapids, IA) The kids usually get stuffed animals that grandma wins at bingo or whatever other contests that them give them away for. This day they were playing with grandma's necklaces. Eunice looked really good. We had a good visit aside from the room being 88 degrees.