Memorial Day Weekend

Here's our weekend in pictures...






And I know I'm a day late, but I wanted to personally thank all of the veterans out there. This wonderful country wouldn't be what it is today if it weren't for you!

Happy weekend!

We have Gage today and tomorrow, so you know I will have pictures to post later. He's taking a nap right now and Jenna is dying to wake him up.

While I was catching up on my blog reading, I wanted to bring your attention to this blog. This particular post was absolutely wonderful, carrying with it a message that all can benefit from hearing. If you have a second, link over to it and read it.

More to come...

A Tragedy-Please Pray

Please pray today and in the coming days for the family of popular Christian recording artist, Steven Curtis Chapman. Last night, one of his teenage sons accidentally backed over and killed their 5 year old adopted daughter, Maria, who they had adopted from China.

I was already in bed last night when I heard the news. I was heartbroken to hear that such a tragedy had happened to such a good family. Rachel and I attended his concert in Nashville a few months back and both of his sons played in the band during a song or two and he brought all 3 of his adopted daughters up on stage.

If you think of it today, whisper a prayer for this family. I can't imagine the grief over losing a child not to mention the guilt the young teenage boy must feel.

Thank you all...

The Vacation Chain

A couple years ago when we went to Disney on vacation, a month or so before we left, I helped Jenna sit down and make a paper chain. Every night, she'd tear off a link in the chain. This was a visual to help her see how much longer until we left. It turned out to be a very fun experience and in the end, made a terrific cover page into our Disney scrapbook.

Well, this past weekend, Jenna decided she wanted to do a vacation chain for the cruise. If you've noticed on the ticker at the top of my blog, we still have several days before leaving on the cruise.

It didn't take as long as I thought, but it is a rather loooooongggggg chain. She really looks forward to tearing a link off each night though. If you have kids that continually ask, "How long until...", I'd highly recommend a vacation chain!



In other news, I am sick again. This is allergy attack number 5 since the fall. This time I was already on Claritin, so I don't know what's going on. All I know is that I'm ready for summer and less pollen. I'm seriously considering going to visit an allergist.

E. T.

So, last night, we got home after dinner and decided to watch our Netflix movies. Jenna had one and Steve had one. We popped in Jenna's in her DVD player in her room and settled down to watch Steve's. Well, as he went to put it in, he realized that the movie was cracked. It was already 9pm, and I didn't want to start my movie, so we were just toing to watch some of the stuff we DVRd.

At some point, Steve went in to see how Jenna was doing and I heard what I thought was laughter. I figured he'd gone in and started tickling her or whatever. Moments later, here comes Steve carrying Jenna who is absolutely SOBBING. And it's the kind of crying where you can't breathe etc. I had no idea what could be wrong. Well...

Apparently she thought the movie ET was sad. She thought it was sad that ET got left behind. She thought it was sad when Elliott took away the toy he was trying to eat. She thought it was sad when he felt into the bathtub of water because she thought he was going to drown. And this was just 20 minutes into the movie. For those of you that have seen it (who hasn't), you know it gets WAY worse before it gets better. She lightened up during the middle of the movie especially where he gets drunk and starts bumping into things. And then she sobbed all through the end of the movie where ET dies and those people take over the house. Of course, it was a happy ending and she was glad she watched it.

I told her she was getting worse than her mom about crying during movies. :)

Well, I better get up and get busy. We've got several things to do this weekend....

Happy weekend!

I haven't been blogging like I usually do and I'm sorry I haven't updated...

First, Tuesday's weigh in was very depressing. I've felt like a bottomless pit and after reaching my 10% goal last week, I promptly gained 2 lbs this week. I was very disappointed, although admittedly, not that surprised. Sometimes you just *know* you are going to gain.

My dad is doing very well. He sounds good and while his breathing isn't improving (and won't), everything else is good. He just sounds better and that's truly a load off.

Work is busy. I'm about to transition into my new role in about a week and so I'm trying hard to wrap up all the loose ends. They haven't even begun to interview for a replacement, so I'll be doing 2 jobs for a while it looks like.

Thanks to all my friends who ordered Premier Jewelry and Avon, I was able to send in $1600+ to Heaven Scent Paws! Our fundraising letters have almost all gone out. Many of you have probably received them. If not, then just hang on, you'll get one. :)

That's about all that's going on right now. Jenna has just a week of school left and then it's summer time! I can't believe the year has passed so quickly.

I'll update later this week when I have more to share.

Graduation pics

The diploma. Notice the M.A. Cool!
All of us. So proud! This is the first picture where I can actually see my weight loss!)
So happy it's done! She's an official college graduate!
Didn't I tell you she was a knockout?!?!?
The most beautiful baby boy in the world!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! I got a sweet card from my dear husband and then a gift certificate for a mani and pedi. Sweet! From Jenna, she made me (in school) a ceramic plate with "MOM" on it. It's those handmade things that mean the most to me. I have it prominently displayed on my console table in the foyer right now. I'm unsure...I might take it to work though.

We are waiting to hear whether we are on for lunch with Steve's mom and family today. Other than that, I just have laundry to finish and my Bible Study. The house is clean and I planted flowers yesterday in our beds outside. All that's left it to mulch and that's for another day.

I'm about to post pictures from graduation the other night...

Hope all of you have a great day!

ConGRADulations!

My brown-eyed girl graduated tonight. For those of you who don't know, I'm referring to my beautiful step-daughter, Micah. She graduated from Remington College tonight with her MA. Medical Assistant, that is. She is working for a pulmonologist in Lebanon already.

I cannot tell you how proud we are. Shortly after Gage was born, she up and decided on her own to go to school. She went down there, talked to admissions, lined up her own financial aid and went to school for like 4 hours a night Monday through Thursday. It was not easy, but she did it. And finished. And she did well.

I am just so, so, so proud. Did I mention that already???? I just can't say it enough. Just seeing her tonight walking across that stage and then later at the reception with Gage...I realized...she has turned into this...woman. Mom. Oh my gosh...that bob-haired little girl who used to say to me (before I was dating Steve), "I wish you could be my step-mom" has turned into a beautiful (seriously, it's not just me, she is...have you seen her lately!??!!) brown eyed, long (sometimes!) haired knockout. And she's all grown up now. She's almost 24...

What happened? Apparently I blinked and she grew up right before my eyes. But the good thing is...she turned out just fine. Despite all our mistakes and stumbles with our parenting. And now she is on the same journey...parenting and making a life for herself and her baby boy.

Micah-don't know if you read this, but if you do, we are so, SO proud of you. You will probably never understand just how proud we are until Gage walks across the graduation stage too and then you will realize...I love you baby girl. More than I ever knew I could love a child not of my blood. You are now, and forever...

My brown-eyed girl.

(pictures forthcoming)

Another milestone

Again, I forgot to update everyone on my weigh in from yesterday. As you know, last Tuesday, I was .6lbs away from my first goal. And then I gained a pound, putting me 1.6lbs away.

I *tried* to do better this week, watched what I ate etc. but I felt like a bottomless pit. Anyway, I didn't know what to expect yesterday (I think I say that every week) and when I weighed in, I lost...drumroll please............. 1.8 pounds! That put me over my goal by .2lbs! YEEHAW!!!!

Now, for a little confession time. I have been debating on whether to do this, but now is the time. I feel that the weight is only going to get harder to lose and I'll need your support, so I'm laying it all out there.

In Weight Watchers, your first mini-goal is 10% of your current weight. This is the milestone that I just reached. And the goal was 17 pounds. Well, if you passed 3rd grade math, you will know now how much I weighed when I started Weight Watchers in January. To put things into perspective, I weighed about 110 pounds when I graduated high school. Now, I know I can't get back to that and it wasn't healthy, blah, blah, blah, but that is mostly for those that knew me back then...when I started the IVF to have Jenna, I weighed 125. When I got pregnant, I weighed 127. And now you know how much I gained since then...

So, my next step is to pick a REAL goal weight between 109 (yeah right!) and 137 which are considered my "healthy weights" for my height. My goal is going to be 130. So, now, I begin the rest of my journey to get down another 27.4 pounds. If I lose all that, I will have lost a grand total of 44.6 pounds, so at this point, I'm not even 1/2 way.

I need your support....stick with me on this. For those of you that eat with me occasionally, remind me of my goal...and yes, that means you, my Bible Study ladies when I'm shoveling yummy dessert in my mouth on Tuesday nights!!!

Thanks for your support this far. I am so blessed to have friends like you!

Thanks for all of your concern about my Dad. I'm happy to report that he was released to go home late this afternoon. His breathing is still very labored and that is not going to get any better. However, he is well enough to go home. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks!

Quick update on us...

Steve's doing better...we might be able to settle back into our routine again soon.

My Dad seems to be doing better. Although, I thought he looked better yesterday and last night my stepmom said he was doing worse. I went to the hospital about noon and stayed until about 5pm to give my stepmom a break. He's really wanting and expecting to go home tomorrow, but they won't know for sure until the doctor comes in tomorrow morning.

I'll let you know more as soon as I know.

Just a quick post to get a couple prayer requests out there...

First of all, my cousin by marriage down in Florida, Anne, has recently found out she has breast cancer. This is a recurrence of breast cancer that she fortunately overcame some time ago. It is very serious and she's got a long road ahead of her including some pretty nasty surgery coming up. Please pray for her and her husband and family.

Also, please keep my Dad in your prayers. Many of you know that he has a serious case of COPD (lung disease) and emphysema. He's got about 20% use of his lungs and is on free flow oxygen most of the time. Friday afternoon, my stepmom called and reported that she'd carried him to the doctor because he had some congestion that they couldn't seem to clear up. The doctor immediately put him in the hospital. They were hoping they'd caught it before it turned into pneumonia. For anyone with lung disease, pneumonia can be deadly. Last time Daddy was in the hospital, they made it pretty clear that a bout with pneumonia would be very bad.

At this time, we are unsure whether this congestion has turned into pneumonia. Steve, Jenna and I went and spent some time at the hospital this afternoon and while he looked tired, he seemed to be doing better. But, tonight after we got back from dinner and more errands, my stepmom called to report that he was not doing well. Even walking the few steps to and from the bathroom in his room leaves him barely able to breathe. The doctor came by tonight and told him he should not expect to go home in the next day or so. Daddy is very down tonight and wanting to go home. He is threatening to check himself out tomorrow AMA which would most certainly be a fatal decision.

My stepmom told me that his condition is "quite serious". So, please, pray for healing and for Daddy to have peace in his mind about staying there. I'm going to the hospital as early as I can tomorrow to give my stepmom a break and to try and calm him a bit. And pray for strength for my stepmom. She's 18 years younger than my dad, which is good, but he is a handful to care for and live with and that is putting it mildly. Those of you who know the whole story, know what I mean.

I'll keep you posted...