The Howerter Family Homepage

Friday night Ryan, Sara, Jay , Katherine, John and I went to the new Osaka Steak and Sushi restaurant in town to celebrate Ryan’s birthday.  I did not realize that it was such a nice place.  I thought it was just going to be another locally owned restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised.  You can either eat in the sushi bar or at the hibachi grill.  Sara made us reservations in the hibachi grill.  Each grill has 8 seats around the grill.  The chef puts on a little show while cooking everyone’s meal right in front of you. Most of you have proabably been to a place like this.  The food was wonderful and plentiful.  We got soup and salad before our meal and any appetizers or sushi that you ordered.  John ordered sushi, and Jay ordered calamari.  Then came the meal.  We got rice and noodles with each meal, and the noodles were fantastic.  I could have just eaten a pile of those and called it a night.  You also get veggies cooked on the grill plus your entree.  It was way more than you need, but, of course, I ate it all.  We will definitely be going back there.  If you do decide to go, I strongly suggest having reservations. 

John started back to work on Friday, but he only made it a couple of hours.  He was just too tired.  He went again yesterday, and he made it to 2:00.  Today he made it until 4:00, so he is getting stronger.  I am praying that he continues to get better and has no setbacks.  He goes next week for a follow up chest x-ray, so I will be happy to see the results for that.  Thanks everyone for your prayers while he has been sick.

We found out on Wednesday that John has pneumonia in both lungs.  He started feeling bad a week  ago Wednesday while he was out of town, and he felt bad for 2 days.  He felt fine Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning,  but Sunday afternoon, he started feeling achy.  He did not feel well all day Monday, and that evening he got a fever and felt awful.  Then, Tuesday night, he could not sleep at all due to serious back pain.  He thought he had pulled a muscle Monday night while coughing.  We went to the doctor and the chest x-ray showed pneumonia in both of his lungs.  They gave him 2 shots in the office which they don’t do very often.  He was pretty bad though, so the doctor thought it would be good to give him some strong antibiotics.  He continued to feel awful, and the pain in his back then spread throughout his chest.   Unfortunately, he could not find any comfortable position, so he was not able to sleep at all.  He continued to feel horrible and unable to sleep, and we went back to the doctor Friday morning.  The doctor told us that all that John was experiencing was normal for pneumonia, but he gave him 2 more shots and a shot to help with the pain.  He felt better that afternoon, and we were able to finally get ahead of the pain.  He was able to sleep more that night too, so that had to help.   Also, on Friday night, he had a slight allergic reaction to the antibiotic, which caused me a little concern/terror.  The doctor on call told us to stop taking the antibiotic (he had just taken one) and watch for trouble breathing or swelling throat.  I knew that if that happened, we were at least 30 minutes from the ER.  This caused me a “little” anxiety.  Of course, that did not happen, and he is now on a different antibiotic.  Saturday was a turning point, and the pain seemed to be almost gone.   He has felt much better, but he has now started coughing which is a little painful and tiring for him.  I believe that he is definitely on the road to recovery, but I think it is still a long road.  Thanks to all of our family and friends for praying for John and I.  It has been a long week. 

We went over to Ryan and Sara’s this evening for a bit because today is Ryan’s birthday.   John did not last too long because he was already tired from all the coughing he had done today.  Before we left, Ryan told the kids to come in and pray for Grandpa.  Lily came over to me and said, “pray for Papa.”  It was so sweet.  They all gathered around John with their hands on him, and Josiah prayed for Grandpa.  It was beautiful.  Thanks Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah and Lily for praying for Grandpa!

Today has been a very nice day.  The sun has been out all day, and I have been hanging out with John all day.  We went to Big R and did some shopping, and then we had lunch at Cheddar’s.  We came home, took a nap and watched the Olympics.  John, Jay and Mike are outside now shooting guns, so they are happy.  John made chili for dinner, and I am sure that we will watch the Olympics again this evening.  I am so thankful for having this time with John since I know he will be leaving for Europe next weekend.   Then I am on my own.  Yuck.

Brandt and Angel’s baby boys, Oliver Elijah and Weston Nathaniel, were born last night, and Mom and boys are doing  fine.  I went to visit them this afternoon, and Angel looks great.  (You do too Brandt.)  I got to hold Wes, and he slept the entire time.  Congratulations Brandt and Angel!

I think I am wrestling with God.  I am trying to worship Him with praise songs, but all I want to do is FEEL what these songs sing about.  I have been spending time with Him for over a year now, and I just don’t FEEL what I want to feel.  I know that He is changing me, but I am so impatient!

While singing this morning, I just broke down, knelt down and cried.  I don’t know why because it was a praise song, and I should have been happy.  I was going for praise here     I felt broken for all that He has done for me.   I asked Him, “What was that about?  I hope it just broke something apart in me!”  Then I got up to praise Him for all that, and I just got angry!  I was crying and yelling, “I just want to feel what this song sings about.  I can sing it, I know it, but I just don’t feel it!”  That sentiment has been with me for quite a while now.  Lord, I am praying that You just broke some wall down or at least took out a chunk.  Thanks for loving me.

Saturday night we went to Guzzardo’s in Lincoln for dinner with Don, Wendy, Randy and Dixie Merker and Greg and Janice Walbert.  The ride up was a blast with Don and Wendy.  We always have such a good time with them.  Don had brought over the recordings of a bunch of singing voicemails that John has left him over the years.  We put them on my MP3 player, and listened to them on the drive up.  They were hilarious, and we laughed a lot.  Those two are crazy.  Dinner was wonderful.  I had the crab-stuffed flounder, and John had the large prime rib which is the special on Saturday night.  ( I have included a picture of John’s prime rib for you viewing pleasure.)  It is always fun to see Randy and Dixie, and we definitely don’t get to see them enough.  It was a nice evening on a cold winter night.

John's prime rib at Guzzardo's

The sun came out today, finally!  It is almost 5:00 p.m., and it is still light and sunny!  Hooray!  This should boost everyone’s spirits for a while.  Hang in there everyone.  Spring will eventually get here.

John and I went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes last night.  Ever since I saw the first preview, I wanted to see this movie.  Since we don’t go to the movie very often, it took this long for me to talk John into going.  It was good, but not as good as I thought it would be.  It was a little slow for me.  The special effects were good, and, of course, Robert Downey, Jr. was good.  I don’t know why I was a little disappointed, but I was.  I really wanted it to be fantastic!  It is definitely worth seeing, though, especially since it is now a $5 movie.  Let me know what you think.

I decided today that I would get back on Facebook.  I did this a few years ago when Brandt went to Centrifuge near Yosemite because that was how he was going to stay in touch.  I really did not like Facebook because I just cannot seem to figure out how to navigate the silly thing.  I would get a message that someone “wrote on your wall” or “poked you”, but I could never find the place to see what they wrote.  I finally deactivated my account.  I decided today that I better get back on if I wanted to know when Brandt and Angel’s twins are born.  I signed up again about 2 hours ago.  I have gotten 2 messages since then, and I was able to find one quickly.  The other one took me a while.  I have been on it since then hoping to get more familiar with it, but I am not sure I am any more familiar now than a few years ago!   I guess I will have to have Ryan or Jay show me a few tricks the next time they come over.