Wednesday, January 20, 2010

A Kid At Heart

I stayed up waaaaaay too late last night to play this new Wii game my children bought. I'm paying for it now in two ways. The first consequence is obvious - I'm tired!! The second one is not obvious at all, but I can seriously FEEL it! My arms are sooooo sore!!! "Why?" you ask. Well, after playing some of the Toy Story Mania games, in order to score extra points, one must shake the remote, spin it in a given direction, bounce it up and down, etc. I used muscles in my arms that I didn't even know existed!!! Well, they have now been located!!! Thankfully we've had some warmer weather here so I've not had to wear a jacket. I tried to put one on just to wear around the house, and I had to seek help just to put it on!!! SERIOUSLY!!!

I LOVED playing those games, and if the truth be told, I will play them again - with or without the children. And, yes, I will probably pay for it again, too, but that's okay. Maybe I'm just a kid at heart... :)

Monday, January 18, 2010

CONCERNS...

I met with the thyroid surgeon today, and I'm a little more nervous than what I was. I'm the type of person who doesn't like to know what a surgeon is going to do. I would rather be put to sleep and then wake up when it's all over with. :)

The surgeon was very nice. He said that there are some "concerns". One of the concerns is my voice box and vocal chords. During this kind of surgery, they COULD be damaged. Another concern is that this will change my voice either really bad (from previous concern) or just slightly to where just someone who listens closely to my voice would notice it. A third concern is the bleeding. I don't remember exactly what he said about this, unfortunately, because of being focused so on the last concern. The last concern is about how big my thyroid is. If it's extending into my chest, then he'll have to open up my breastbone to remove my thyroid. We know that it's already growing underneath both sides of my clavicle (collar bone). I go for a CT scan Friday to have that checked out. In talking to the insurance person at the surgeon's office, she said that insurance will sometimes not cover a CT scan even if it is necessary. So those are some concerns that are a matter of prayer. I am praying earnestly about all of this, and my Heavenly Father is holding my hand all the way...

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

WOW!!

Oh my! It has been such a long time since I have blogged, and there have been many events that I have missed celebrating on my blog. So, in order to get "caught up", I'll just hit some highlights, and maybe later I can go back and add a few pics! :)

We started back to school in August of 2009. S., started 2nd grade, and C., is in 1 1/2. :) He needed some repetiton with some math and phonics skills so rather than stressing, we're repeating! Isn't that what homeschooling is about? Being flexible - seeing a need and doing what helps your child the most? (Maybe not doing what is most convenient for you.) Anyway, both are doing great, and I'm seeing C. having much success, so I believe it was right for him. S., amazes me, and sometimes I wonder how she learned to read as well as she does. She has some struggles as well, but mostly it's just becoming frustrated with herself because she doesn't get the correct answer right off the bat.

We also took a trip to the beach in August. It had been years since we had been, so I was really looking forward to it. The kids were, too! My, how I love to sit in the ocean and just watch the tide roll in and out. It's so relaxing!! To top it all off, for the first time in my life, I saw dolphins!!!!! Now that was a great sight. There were at least 5-6 or more at one time. I can't tell you how many pictures I made just trying to capture the perfect shot!! Anyone who knows me, knows I love to snap and snap and snap!! :) This was probably the most relaxed trip we have ever had. We did NO shopping. We just swam and sat in the ocean and pool, but we did go out to eat some. One can't travel to the beach and NOT get fresh seafood, so we included that in our plans!!






In September, we celebrated some birthdays - C.'s, my dad's, and mine. One big thing that took us all by surprise was while we were out celebrating C.'s birthday a day ahead of time (because of hubby's work), we received a shocking phone call. We were told that my dad had gone for his stress test results, and received bad news. Now, of all people I know, I NEVER, EVER would have expected my dad to have heart problems. He exercised everyday, ate well, etc. - a picture of "health" you could say. So this news pulled the rug right out from under my feet. We were in a public place, laughing, playing games, and having a blast, but that all turned to fear, sadness, and devestation. Because the blockages were so bad Dad was going to be brought by ambulance to the hospital so he could undergo open heart surgery the next day (C.'s birthday). The doctors said if he had a heart attack it would have been massive and killed him. The next day, we tried to make C.'s birthday very special even though we had to celebrate in the hospital's waiting room. We had cupcakes and sang to him. He really didn't seem to mind, and I was so thankful. Well, Daddy is okay after having quadruple bypass surgery. I'm so thankful that God had been and still is watching over him!



On Wednesday, November 18, 2009, we awoke to a wonderful surprise. Santa had come and brought us Disney World tickets!!!! We had only a couple of weeks to get ready, but we were SOOOOO excited (including me)!!!!! Then, of course, we had Thanksgiving. Hubby had to work, so the kids and I went to my Mom's. It's always a delicious meal, and I even made an old dish in a new way this time. I made Green Bean Casserole, but I didn't use any cream of mushroom soup or fried onions. I'll try to put the recipe on my blog, but it was absolutely delicious!!





December is such a big month, full of celebrations and parties, but our biggest was when we went to Disney World. We left on Thursday, December 3 and came back on Friday, December 11. What a trip it was!! It was so much fun, mainly because we were able to take our time and not feel rushed since we had a full week to visit all 4 parks!! And, the place we stayed was AWESOME!!! The condo was lovely, and they had a Pizza Hut on sight as well as a deli. It was super clean, which is what I like when I am away from home.

We met some of the characters. One highlight of our trip was eating with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald at Chef Mickey's. I think this will be a trip that is treasured and remember by all of us for many years to come.




































Christmas seemed to arrive in no time at all since we were gone the first week of December. Hubby usually has vacation time that he has saved so that we can all be together even before and after Christmas. It's always a welcoming time!

Because Santa had told the kids he might bring them a few small surprises if they behaved, he came back on Christmas Eve. :)

Hubby and I celebrated 17 WONDERFUL years of marriage the day after Christmas!! I can honestly say that I married my best friend, and I truly appreciate God blessing me with him.


We took our usual trip to the mountains, but we left on a Sunday this year with the intent of "dropping in" on a church on the way. Since we arrived too early to a couple that we had in mind, we decided to go to another along the way. It was a blessing!!! All of the congregation sang the first verse of Amazing Grace in English and then they sang it in Cherokee. Since we do not know the Cherokee language, we just listened. What a blessing it was!!! It reminded me of what I've heard others talk about when they've been on a mission trip, and people are worship in a different language. It gave me glory bumps!!! :)

We really enjoyed our time at Dollywood, riding the rides and such. We didn't want to come back home.

We rang in the new year just being at home, and we drank our Welch's Sparkling grape juice! :)

We did something different on New Year's Day this year. Instead of heading to Mom's for collards and black eyed peas (yummo!!), we had our Christmas gathering with hubby's family. We had a good time, but I sure did miss those awesome collard greens my mom cooks!!

Well, I think that gets me caught up for a while now. Oh yeah, I do have an appointment coming up Monday with a surgeon. I found out in December that my thyroid is so large that it's already growing underneath both sides of my clavicle. My doctor said it was so large that when it is removed my voice would probably change. So, if you read my blog, please whisper a prayer for me. I don't know when the surgery will be, but I'm assuming we'll set all of that up on Monday. Thanks so much!!!