Favorites on a Friday....

I'm in a rather reflective state on this Friday.

There's so much to be thankful for!

For starters, my amazing Dad

had his long-awaited move from the ICU

to a normal hospital room this week!

As you can see, the last 5 1/2 months

have not been kind to him.

He's so frail and bony, and he's

aged so much.

Although it's hard to see my once

tough-as-nails dad in such a delicate state,

it's oh, so evident to us all that while he may not

look the same on the outside, he's still

tough-as-nails on the inside!!!
Or, as my Aunt Brenda says (Dad's sister)

"Bud doesn't have 'I can't' in his vocabulary!"

That's so TRUE!
There's nothing my Dad can't do!
It never dawned on him that he
couldn't
do everything! =)


With every step we take on this journey to healing,
there are going to be new challenges.
And that's certainly the case right now.
While we're so overjoyed that he's well enough to be
out of the ICU, he's still so very sick.
In the ICU, the nurses have 2 patients each.
On a regular floor, the nurses
have more like 5 patients each!
So obviously he won't have someone at his beckon call.
Also, not being on dialysis 24 hours a day
is wonderful, and shows progress...
but there's a tweaking process that must take place.
Right now he's having dialysis 3-4 hours a day.
But, his lungs have been filling up
with fluid, making it difficult to breathe.
This is only a road bump...and we're going to
get past it,
but this transition is far from easy for him
(and my Mom! She's getting very little
rest these days!)
But, we'll take the bad with the good!
Thank you, Jesus, for your
provision!!!


And some other favorites
from this week?

I know many of you are not "Halloween" people.
The Romine's, on the other hand,
are very much
Halloween people!
I love the costumes!
I love the candy!
I love the Fall colors!
I love the trick-or-treating!
It must be because I'm living vicariously through my kids,
because we weren't allowed to celebrate Halloween
as kids! We were told that it was
 the Devil's birthday! (what?!) haha!

I LOVE me a good Halloween Party!!!!

This year for Tiegan's Birthday,
we decided to have a Halloween themed party for him!
He's turning 3, so he could pretty much be
talked into anything!
So, I did what I love to do, and decorated
on a budget!

I used cheese cloth for our curtains, and
just ripped them up nice and good!

For our sliding glass door,
I bought old sheets at thrift stores
and cut them to my liking.

We bought plastic spiders from
the Dollar Spot at Target, and put them on
every inanimate object in the house!

Bought felt garland from Target's
Halloween Section.

We put fake cobwebs on prety much
everything we could think of...

I got this adorable Harvest Blessings

board at a local Junk Sale.

And then it was time for the

REAL fun!

My friend, Jen, and two of her three boys--

(and 4th baby boy on the way!)

Liam is one of Tiegan's closest buddies!

Our nerdy friends,

Micah and Rachelle-- two of Tiegan's

favorite peope!

Rachelle, Me, Jen and my sweet friend, Jessie

Cowgirl and her counterpart,

More Cowbell Guy!

(I love this man!!!)

Chris affectionately refers to Matt
in this picture as, "Brokeback Mountain"
(pink cowboy hat with flannel shirt)

so, Matt found another hat to wear.

The Pepin family + Tiegan

Matt's wife wasn't able to make it,
so he got some love from the pup.


We had a great night, with
great friends,
celebrating our sweet boy's 3rd!


And my third fave this week--
trick-or-treating!

Cade (pizza), neighbor Luke (Vikings fan)
Carson (Jack Sparrow), and Tiegan (cowboy)

the boys with our favorite neighbor, Gail!
She had Halloween bags waiting just
for the boys!
She's like a grandmother to them, and
we're so thankful for her!

the cowboy was having a
rough day on the ranch!

the boys with their favorite
person-- Ms. Suzy!

It was such a great week!
My favorite thing!