June 15

It has been a good week!

 

I hope yours has been wonderful as well.

 

We had "typical" moments and "fabulous" moments! "Typical" is when little things hit you wrong and all you can think is "Humph! Typical!" Ours happened yesterday. Not fun! We both woke grumpy, left grumpy (made sure we said "I love you" even if it was an "I love you but am not happy right now." ...FYI - your mood isn't determined by your situation. It's determined by Who you are focusing on....you? or God?)

 

Anyhoot, we finished in typical us style and were all back to lovin & teasin before the day was out! I'll tell you! These days where my love is off of work and I am at work?

 

FOR THE BIRDS!!!!!!!!!!

 

But it was a good day at work, and things are always improving!

I'll see if the Boss will let me show you some of what we do. It's a pretty beautiful store, if I do say so myself. A coworker and I have been working very diligently to straighten, reorganize, and draw people in! I think we have done pretty well considering EVERYONE that came in complimented how beautiful everything looked despite the ginormous mess of reorganizing was all over the place!

 

So, we had 2 family members have a birthday this week!!!!

 

My oldest brother, Solomon! Yep! It was yesterday! He is a wonderful husband, a devoted father, and an amazing brother! I hope he had the most wonderful birthday yet!

 

ALSO!!!! My dear, sweet Aunt Helen turned a whopping 90 years young!

We are all so very blessed that she is an active part of our lives! We are thankful that she is still able to get around and hep keep her younger daughter & son-in-law in line!

 

(Love you TK & Bruce!!!)

 

My most exciting thing this week was that I was FINALLY after years!!!! (two to be precise) I have finally surprised the love of my life! Months ago he informed me I would not spend a lot of money on him for Father's Day. I had been talking up several ideas and that comment shot them all down. So...Father's Day will have to wait for pictures.

 

We will celebrate when the children return.

 

BUT!!! He didn't say a single WORD about our anniversary! After a few weeks of searching, I vented my frustration to a friend who told me she could help me out!

Yippee!

 

What did he get?

 

Tee hee!

 

Let me show you!!!!!

 

 

 

Yep! A smoker/BBQ thing....(technical female term for grill w/ a smoke box on the far end =)

 

This is dinner!!!!

Smoked red fish! Cajun sausage that I've no clue of how to spell!

We're adding in fresh fruit & veggies too!

SOOOOOOO excited!!!!

 

 

 

Forgive the work shirt! I literally came home, could smell the delicious scent of the above pictured food & got all excited again!

 

Stephen is pretty excited too!

 

 

Love ya'll! Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

 

 

June 6

It's a purpley-pink kind of post.

I wanted a soft pink, but this is pretty too!

 

I can't believe June is here and already almost through a full week.

What have we done?

Worked.

 

It is good though. Activity is vital to me. I need to keep my hands busy, keep my mind moving... It helps me relish these moments I have to sit.

 

Truth be told, I have rested quite a bit. Mostly because after working all day, I'm tired!

"But you work at a flower shop!? How is that tiring?!"

 

Well, because I clean, organize, lift 4" - 8" plants and move them any & everywhere throughout the store. Climb up & down ladders whenever my monkey arms won't reach, sweep floors, help deliver stuff for weddings, move items up & down from the basement - do that from 8am to 5ish pm and you'll be tired! I love it! It's so much  better than simply sitting & just answering the occasional phone call. Granted, the activity is from the wedding season -- but I'll take it!

 

Stephen is home and I am absolutely LOVING that!

I love coming home to him and snuggling up to him each night! I'm spoiled right now with it, but I'll take it! The puppies are adjusting to having 2 working grown ups. I think they are starting to forgive me. The first few days they barely had anything to do with me when I'd come home to let them out at lunch  time! Right now, they are both sleeping peacefully. I had my first day off this week and I kicked them out! The house got cleaned! Complete with floors mopped, leather furniture cleaned, washing machine cleaned, bathrooms cleaned laundry is just finishing drying - it was productive!

 

There are so many times I have little stories for you, my dear friends, and yet haven't the time to write them out! The time has come for an "idea journal" so I can jot notes to remind myself to tell you the stories!

 

Both children are doing well in AR. We have spoken to them twice, which is difficult. Difficult because you want to go hug them or play or tell a funny and nope - they are off visiting AR. Now don't get me wrong, we are VERY excited for them to be able to go because they get to visit family, swim in the river, stay up late, eat sugar, drink caffeine...and yet we don't have to help them off the sugar and caffeine high! haha! But seriously, they enjoy visiting and we are so thankful we live close enough that they get to do it!

 

Stephen's back is all better for now. Please pray with me that it continues to stay good! It just bites sometimes and he gets pretty uncomfortable. I am recovering nicely  from the pyoplasty. Saturday I passed a decent sized stone and INSTANTLY felt so much better! All week long I had been emotional and felt uncomfortable but didn't necessarily hurt. After the stone passed I felt like a million bucks! Sunday came and the discomfort was back. Because I have a clue of what is going on, I have a better handle on my emotions. Please pray I pass this whatever quickly. It's inhibiting my ability to clear my kidney/bladder. If this doesn't clear on it's own  by Monday, I'll be headed down there to have them figure something out.

 

Do you know what happens in 19 days??!?!?!?

Summer is here!

So many things to tell you about!

 

However, I'd rather show you what our new toy can do!

 

Enjoy!!!

 



 

 

 

 I will have to load some more later.

 

The blog is throwing fits at the size of some of the pics...

 

Hope you like these!

 

We sure do!

Last full week of April 2013

Hello my friends,

     Sitting has given me plenty of time to work up some stories for posts for you. Life hasn't slowed, for which I am grateful. My fear was that with surgery, life would slow. The only way wife for a mother of 2 (techinically 4 because these dogs are SO needy!) is if activities are cut out. I want my babies to be able to go to sports, Awanas where they can see friends and be around wonderful caring adults, play outside, play with their Poppa, and enjoy projects that they create. All of those have been able to continue.

     The Lord has also used this time to open my eyes. The LORD says to "Lift up your eyes to the heavens" & count the stars, not one is missing! "Lift up your eyes to the heavens & your children will be gathered to you! Lift up your eyes! Look at the earth. The heavens will disappear and the earth wear out like a garment." (All found in Isaiah) Did you notice what happens when we take our eyes off the heavens? Off of Christ? We see all of the sad, horrid things going on. I had my eyes focused on me, even worse than looking at the world. Friends needed a person to talk to & show they cared, I didn't notice. Family needed love, I didn't notice. Friends, God has opened my eyes to how selfish, self-centered, immature, and silly I have been lately. I am so thankful we serve the risen LORD who is willing to forgive so much more than we deserve!

     We have all been very busy this week!

HA! Ok, that's not true. It is so hard to write this blog a little at a time. I wrote the above section on Monday. Here it is Saturday! We all stayed busy with walks (bad idea for me!) grocery store runs, Dr appts, another grocery run, laundry, and naps. Kaden has been COMPLETELY spoiled. Sarah has run him  using the Chuck-It and taken him for loooooong walks. Each time she goes outside with Kaden a certain little puppy dog whines and pines (sp?) and cries and pouts until she returns! Frankie can't be walked right now because ... well, let's say he has an "it" now. He stayed at the kennel for the first few days post-op due to us being out of town. Between the excitement of the kennel and coming home, little man popped a couple stitches. We had to go back and get two staples. He took it like a champ and didn't even whimper! The cone of shame only goes on at night now. He hated it! Sarah is convinced she is stealing the truck, the recliner, and Frankie!

So...the doctor. We told him I'm still swelling quite a bit so he prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine. It helped my discomfort SO much that I no longer take anything other than the occasional Tylenol with it! As in 2 Tylenol in 2 days!!!!!! Stephen went fishing! He caught our dinner! It was delicious! He also made us some shrimp et-2-fay. I've no clue how to spell that word for real, so that is how you pronounce it! Tonight he made us some gumbo that was to die for! Sarah & I had ours with mashed potatoes and that was wonderful! Sarah made us stuffed peppers! Oh so delicious! The kids come home tomorrow evening. We are also half-way celebrating my birthday tomorrow! The other half of the celebration will be on my actual birthday WEDNESDAY!!!!! So excited!! This will be the first birthday since 2010 that I've had a family member with me on my birthday!!!

Some of you know about my momma. She has had a pretty tough fight with Lymes. I'm SUPER excited to tell ya'll that we have some encouraging news! Her Lymes specialist in CO has found some new treatments that seem to be helping Momma a lot! Her voice sounds SO much stronger on the phone! It's a strict regimen that requires a lot of monitoring because they have to adjust her supplements up to 3 times a day. She spent almost a week at her doctor's home with my daddy. They saw almost instanaeous results. That doesn't mean YOU would be able to see them. There are 3 steps to the treatment. Step 1 breaks down the defenses of the Lymes spores. Step 2 kills the spores. Step 3 detoxes her system and flushes the spores that were killed. The detox phase is the most difficult because her body gets as weak as a kitten. However, once the spores were flushed she feels a lot better! Just please please pray that she is able to beat this 5 yr battle. I've got pictures and captions waiting for you! Keep on scrolling!

Sarah took very good care of little Frankie.

She made sure he didn't run and play too much too soon.

 

 

"I do no like the cone of shame."

My Chief and Me in Memphis!

 

We just HAD to make homemade ice cream.

I caught someone eating it out of the mixer!

My beautiful surprise bouquet from the LOVE of my life!

It's so much more beautiful in real life!

 

A gorgeous dapple!

He would high step and lift up his tail whenever he trotted.

I tried to get a pic of that, but he is still beautiful!

 

My beautiful sister Sarah!

 

Some people love to spoil children.

This couple spoiled their dog!

 

 Stephen on our SO comfy bed!

A beautiful mirror in our room downtown Memphis.

Sarah chillin out on her bed!

 

My beautiful babies and me at the Chief's Inititation dinner!

They did WONDERFUL!

We are SO proud of them!

 

I love my family!

 

Abby got snuggled Friday after the dinner. =)

All four of us couldn't squeeze on one bed,

but my babies still needed snuggles before Spring Break.

These three are so precious to me!

The kids were SO excited Aunt Sarah came to the dinner!

Please ignore my crazy hair!

My sister and me all dressed up!

 

 My wonderful hubby and me!

I am wearing 2 1/2 inch heals, he's technically 1/2inch shorter.



April 13

Can you believe a whole week has passed?

 

I sure can't! It has been a very busy, crazy week! Of course, I've been mostly confined to a couch. Bless my FIL's heart because my frustration at being cooped up has tended to come out on him. Bless my hubby's heart because he has also been the recipient.

 

Anyhoot, we have some pictures for you.

There are lots of stories, however, I just can't think of any because I'm tired.

We have been showered with lots of love!

We have had meals dropped off (thank you sweet friends!) Those meals were such a stress reliever for these men! They've done a great job of taking care of me. However, balancing 2 children, 2 dogs, 2 sports schedules, 2 sets of homework, dinner, baths....you have all saved our sanity! Another friend dropped some books off for me to read b/c I've read all of the books we have in the house. (Thank you!!!!!)

 

Picture time!

 

These are pre-op! However, just too cute! We just HAD to go & take pictures (or at least that is what Abby says ;)

 

 

Stephen & me on Easter! =)

 

 

Stickin out our tongues while painting Easter eggs! 

 

Kyle lookin stellar in his shirt & tie!

 

 

At my first procedure (3/22/12) My fabulous Mother in law (MIL) bought me some beautiful daisies!

They are still  blooming! Hopefully one day, Frankie & Kaden will stop chomping on them!

 

 

I told the boys some funny jokes!

 

Ok, so maybe that isn't true. I was sitting outside for the first time post-op & Jim had just exercised the them. To me it looks like they are both laughing & sticking out their tongues!

 

Last but certainly not least, a precious one entered this world this past week!

 

My dear friend & her husband welcomed a very healthy baby and I can NOT wait until I get to see him & kiss his beautiful cheeks!

 

 

 

Forgive my grammatical errors.

I'm very tired.

Excited my sister comes soon!

Stephen has Chief's initiation coming soon!

Jim has to go back to FL soon. =(

Baseball/Softball going on.

Tired.

Sweet dreams friends.



Learning to breathe.

I don't know where to start this post, so I will just jump in.

All that work to password this dealio

and we took it off.

Family was having too much of a difficult time reading it.

I am supposed to be writing a 100 word letter for Stephen.

However, inspiration is failing me.

I can trim it to 122, but that is the best I have got.

So much is happening!

Mom was cleared of Lymes.

Now is has reared its ugly head again.

Her specific strain goes into a spore like state that throws a false negative on tests when it discovers antibiotics in the blood. Once it believes the antibiotics are gone, Lymes sends out "scout-like" spores and if everything is clear, it comes back.

If you believe I have been ignoring you, dear friends, I have been.

Don't take it personal.

I knew I was uncomfortable lately, but didn't know why.

My precious husband has felt the brunt of it.

Well, now we know that my problem is still my kidney.

Pray for that one.

I avoid & go loner when I feel myself getting grumpy.

In my typical, convaluted fashion, I was protecting you.

If I don't realize you are waving or smiling or coming to say hello, don't take it personally please!

I'm working to block out my discomfort until they get it taken care of.

There are lots of good things going on, we will focus on that right now!

Well, the discomfort has been taken care of.
November 28th we were able to laser out some scar tissue that had blocked my kidney a 2nd time. That was highly uncomfortable. My darling body decided to cramp on it every other second and I could always feel it as a dull ache in my back.

Christmas came with all of its hustle and bustle! The kids went with their mom, Stephen & I spent some time together and we all had a wonderful break. January flew by with basketball games, job searches, homework, etc. February 5th dawned bright and early! The day my stent was to be removed! Some fabulous friends took our babies for the night and delivered them to school the morning of the 5th. Stephen and I made it safely to McComb and back. May I just say one thing?
This getting stents business is for the birds!
However, we have fabulous friends/staff at the McComb hospital and all went well. Dr. D did say that there was some scar tissue and it wasn't as open in there as he had hoped for.

Are you sitting down?!?! One of the places I applied for and interviewed for called back! Yes! I started work on February 6th! The people were great and very accomodating considering I started the day after the stent removal. 2 weeks flew by. Stephen was home more, which was nice for me! Kyle was released from the ear doctor! No more procedures in the forseeable future! Abby was doing fabulously at basketball as well! Everything was wonderful! (still is!)

End of February I called Dr. D to report some tenderness and general discomfort. The next week we did a Lasix scan. Followed up with an appointment that I had to bring both kids to due to work schedules. Dr. D walked in & I greeted him with, "Please tell me I'm crazy and this is just normal." ....pause... (a tad too long of a pause if you ask me)..."Elizabeth, I'd love to. But your kidney is blocked & you lost 10% functionality."

Not what you want to hear, right? Doctors, they just don't seem to understand that they should be magical creatures that wink or blink or waive a wand and fix the wrong. Anyhoot, I asked if I were a relative of his, what would he recommend?

"I want to put a stint in next week. We will schedule the next procedure later."

"Next procedure?"

"Yes, I want to redo the original procedure with the DaVinci machine."

Can we say.....bombshell?

Indeed.

I called to do pre-op for my stint and went to have it inserted on 3/19/13.
Those fabulous friends I'm always telling you about once again saved the day and helped with our babies. I was emotional and anxious throughout the entire procedure. Seriously people, when the out patient WARD knows your voice? There's an issue.  They were all wonderful, kind, reassuring, and couldn't have been sweeter if we'd been friends all of our lives. I was called two days later with the date April 5, 2013 for my procedure. There was a flurry of phone calls and coordinating schedules in order to find people to help. Keep in mind military never know their schedule so we had to have a plan if Stephen was here and if he wasn't. PLUS that means coverage by family to help post op for approx 4 weeks total. I was an emotional mess because, come on, all of this past year and it still isn't fixed?!?! It's my own body's fault, but still! Stephen ended up being here. I am so incredibly grateful that God allowed that because it was a much tougher pre-op than before. Jim made it into town safely and had the kids well taken care of. We left home at 4:15am the day of the procedure. Everything went smoothly until time for IVs. Please understand that God orchestrated us getting the absolute sweetest people EVER to take care of us! ...and I don't pass out compliments like that just to pass them out. Suzanne did most of my pre-op prep & made us comfortable. My right IV went in easily. The left took 5 sticks. After the 3rd I was hurting so much I held Stephen's hand with my right. He was compassionate and helped me gently laugh and lickety-split, it went in! I couldn't have held still that last time without him. From what I am told the procedure took about 4+hrs. Brandi, Jennifer, Brenda, Lola, & Brittany kept us in good spirits & good comfort from Friday through Sunday afternoon. We laughed, I cried (laughing post op isn't comfortable, FYI,) we shared stories, and it was great!

Let me just say that medical staff are highly under-appreciated!
We had a couple of loud demanding people on our hall. We've no clue what was wrong, it could have been legit, it could not have been. We might never know. However, on our last morning there, we were jogging (ok, shuffling) a couple of laps around our wing when a young boy came flying out of one of the loud rooms.

"Ma'am! You've got to come quick!"

"What's the matter, honey?!" as nurse hurriedly collects her things...

"He's got the hiccups! You've got to give him something quick!!!!!"


Seriously?

Hiccups?

Stephen & I had to "dash" for our room as we burst out laughing!

Is there medicine for hiccups?

From Frankie

The one that we all call Mom is a little tired. 

PLUS she got this new job, and I'm not really sure I like it. I don't think she will give accurate details so while she is doing dishes, or laundry, or scratching that big oaf of a brother's belly (they call him Kaden and think he is just "so cute!), I will write the truth.

This family is absolutely awesome! I am SO glad that the one they all call "Dad" decided to pick me from among my brothers and sisters. He is so kind, loving, and loves to snuggle with me! "Dad" even protects me from Kaden! I have 2 beds and one of them is inside of a cave that has windows. They call it a crate. I call it heaven! When I am in there, I take all the best toys and hide them under my blanket! Kaden gets so aggravated! My favorite thing? When Kaden sleeps, I like to go nip his ears, neck, lip, anything I can! He gets upset and tries to get me but I dart back and forth so fast he can't get me!

I'm like LIGHTNING!

Anyway, this week...."Mom" worked 3 days. The day they call Monday we all stayed home together and played. It was SO rainy outside Kaden & I had to stay inside. Which was fine with me! I don't like to get wet! "Mom"took this picture because, "It's just cute!" That seems to be her reasoning with a lot of things.

It rained so much that "Dad's" garden and the yard got all flooded!

We all stayed inside and they (the kids and "Mom") did something called homework and something called "crafts" and then danced in front of the TV. 

WEIRD!!!!!

Do you see me on the bottom right? They gave me this tiny bed and Kaden has the HUGE bed!

Kaden hogged the WHOLE window and saw the only 30 seconds of sunshine we had one day.

I felt bad for Kaden on Tuesday.

He got really dirty and ended up getting a bath.

Poor Kaden even laid down and wouldn't climb in.

"Mom" is MUCH stronger than she looks. 

She picked him up and put him in the tub.

I helped him get warm by laying next to him and telling him I loved him like a brother!

"Mom" went to work Wednesday through Friday. It is at something called a "flower shop."

She seems a lot happier, but we (Kaden & I) aren't too sure about this arrangement. I get shut in a room with my bed, food & water, and a couple of toys. Kaden roams the rest of the house and she is gone as long as Kyle and Abby are! BUT the good thing is she plays with us for about an hour once everyone gets settled in the afternoon. 

"Dad" came home on Thursday!

It must have been a love day, because he and "Mom" sure were sharing a lot of kisses and smiles!

They kiss really weird.

I mean, I kiss by  licking their faces.

They kisses by putting their lips together.

Isn't that weird?!

Today (Saturday) the kids and "Mom" shut us out of the study and worked on tying knots.

Man this family is just odd!!!!!

Kyle is cool.

He always tells me I am his good boy and gives me lots of hugs!

Abby talks a lot. Hugs a lot. Tries to pick me up a lot.

but best of all is....SHE RUNS!!!!

Everywhere!

We have SO much fun!

Kyle says that is a piece of his heart with a K in it.

Abby says that A heart is hers too.

By the way, "Dad" had a birthday!

That cake is made of ice cream!

It must be really good because...

"Daddy" had a HUGE piece!

"Dad" & Abby also worked in that thing called a garden a while back.

He is a hard working man.

Oh! This is "Dad" reading the Valentine's card from Abby!

It was all pink! He loved it and she was really happy!

Do you see that smile on her face?

Kyle gave him a card with a monkey on it.

They both thought it was pretty cool!

They pulled out the big knotted thing and "Dad's" smile got even bigger!

He says he is going to use it on the boat.

I think that is where he goes when he is gone for a few days.

I love it when he comes home!

They also gave him a mouse pad (what is that?!) and two coasters with a bulldog picture. I think they should take my picture and put it on there! 

 Most importantly, I have something awful to tell you.

One of my big dog teeth came in so fast that my baby tooth didn't fall out first. 

It was hurting so much that I haven't been eating a lot lately.

Momma found it yesterday and started to mess with it.

Daddy did too.

It hurted  A LOT!

When I finally cried about it, they stopped.

Today I heard them talking about...ora..ora...orajel?

They put some of it on my gum and then started messing with my tooth.

It hurt!

But it came out!

I am not at all happy with Mom!

It hurt!

Daddy likes that I am snuggling with him and not Mom.
He says I am his dog.

He doesn't realize I chose him....humans!

Anyways, I don't think I'll give Mom love and snuggles or anything.

All in all, I love it here!

They play a game called "Go Fish."

I'll see if Mom will put it up here one day.

They give lots of snuggles, good food, go for walks. and give treats!

My mouth does feel better now that that tooth is out....

I'll think about forgiving Mom.