It's been a while

Well, it's been a while since I have posted anything here. I have been staying busy with Facebook and with Twitter. The summer is over and school has started (for the kids anyway).

This summer our family had several outings. We spent a week in Williamsburg, Va where we went to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, a water park, Washington D.C., and to Virginia Beach. Talk about a busy week. We had a great time as a family though.

We managed to get a long weekend at Tybee Island, Ga to see some family and hang on the beach for a couple of days. It wasn't long enough, but it was enough to be able to get a beach fix.

The kids and I got to spend almost a week with my dad and step-mom at their newly remodeled lake house in Spring City, Tn. We had a GREAT time. The kids swam in the lake, they went jet skiing, and we got to go out on the boat. The weather was a little overcast while we were there, but it didn't dampen our spirits or our time together. In fact, Jacob made $3 by helping PaPa Jim in the garage.

Jacob also got baptized this summer in the river. It was a cool experience.


I have managed to get several "fun" books read and am about ready to start my final semester of Nursing School at Chattanooga State.

I am so excited to be finishing and starting chapters in my life. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me next. I have had some glimpses and some feelings, but nothing definite yet and nothing my husband is ready to embark on either. I know that there is a "higher" reason for my finishing this degree program and entering this profession.

I am praying that God show me and my family the right way to proceed in our lives and that everyone have an open mind when the answers and blessing start pouring down. I know that there are no accidents and that NO is not even an option.

I pray that I have the strength and the will to follow God where ever he leads us.

I hope you all have a great night and keep looking for new posts!!

First Day of School

Well it's official...the kids have gone back to school and I AM FREE!!!! HA HA HA Just kidding. I am now free to clean house without it getting messed up in like 5 minutes, I am now free to wash laundry and have a totally silent house, I am now free to go grocery shopping without hearing "Mom, can I have...."

I really enjoyed today! I got several things accomplished and was so excited.

The morning started off really well with the kids getting up and not complaining about why they had to get up so early. HALLELUJAH!! As we were walking out the door, however, my son asks "Mom, how come kids only get summer for vacation and parents get the rest of the year"...(me answering) "well, because parents have jobs"...(Jacob)"but you don't have a job"....(me shooting a death look)"not one I get paid for"....(Cassie my 8 year old tomorrow)"OOOOOOOHHHHH Jacob...you talk to much"

Gotta love the kids. And then I wonder how/why being a mom is not seen as a job to our kids. Maybe I do too much for them. At what point is it a good idea to make them step up and see what a BIG job it is to raise a family, do the laundry, sweep the floor, pick up their clothes, go grocery shopping, take them places, worry over them, make them do homework, take them to sports practice, and whatever else it is they do?

Wow...what a very short list for what we mom's really do.

Have a great day.

Tomorrow is Cassie's 8th birthday and I can't believe it.

Whew...It's been a while

There isn't much to update from my Birthday update. We went to Williamsburg, Washington DC, and had a wonderful time. The kids got to ride the subway for the first time.














I got to see the new WWII memorial















and the Korean War memorial.








Those were absolutely awesome.




















The kids also got to watch the changing of the guard at Arlington and then we went up to Fort Myers and saw the Caisson Barn.




Cassie got her picture taken with Sgt. York (he is the horse that carried President Reagan's empty boots during his funeral). She loved it.




















We spent a day at Busch Gardens and a day at Water Country. Both were a lot of fun. There obviously aren't any pictures of us at the water park, but here is our family picture from Busch Gardens.



Well, that is the update for today. We had a great vacation and the kids can't wait to go back to DC. I can't wait to take them back to see the Capital and the White House.

Not Me Monday!!! (On Wednesday!!)

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As I can't remember what I did on Monday or Tuesday...I will let you know what I did not do Today...my Birthday...

I did not get up at 6:00 a.m. to tell my husband goodbye and then go right back to bed when he left leaving our children (who got up WAY too early) to watch TV while I tried to sleep a little longer.

I did not wait till the last minute to throw every swimsuit I own in the laundry so I would have a clean one to wear to the pool with Jeannette today.

I most certainly did not tell my children that the only thing I wanted from them today (as it was my Birthday) was for them to get along, not fight, and no WHINING!!!!

AND I DID NOT GO TO THE GYM AT 5:30 TO TAKE A FIGHT/AEROBICS CLASS WITH MY BFF and I am definitely not questioning that friendship right now as I am tired, sore, and feeling every one of my 33 years.

THANKS JEANNETTE!!!!! I OWE YOU ONE!!!!

Just wait...yours is coming!!!!!

Williamsburg Bound!!

Cassie is ready to go! She has the dress and everything!!

Our family vacation this year is not the beach...instead we have decided to expose the kids to some historical "culture". They are very excited about going. I haven't been to Williamsburg since a 5th grade field trip.We are also going to go to DC for a day to let them see the monuments and hopefully the Smithsonian museums. They are especially excited about the Museum of Natural History since "Night at the Museum 2" is out.











I will hopefully update and submit pictures from vacation. We aren't leaving for another week so there won't be any Williamsburg update till then.
Have a great day!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!!

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and remembered why we have it. Thank you to our troops who have fought to give us the right to have the freedoms we have.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom shopping the sales at Belk and Express. Well, Express got to see us but didn't see any money from us. The deals at Belk were too GOOD to shop anywhere else. THANKS MOM!!!

The kids stayed with Don while mom and I were out. They played Wii, board games, put a jigsaw puzzle together, and Lord only knows what else. They always have fun when mom isn't around (or so I have been told). In fact I was asked when they get to go fishing and swimming at Dad's Lake house.

They haven't even been out of school for a full two days and they are in full summer mindset already!!!They are wanting to stay up late and get up whenever. Honestly, that suits me just fine....well the getting up whenever.

We have 10 days until we leave for Williamsburg, Va. I can't wait. Cassie has her colonial dress ready to wear. Jacob said he refused to wear the (oh what was the word?) girly clothing of that era. HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Well, for today Luke has returned to work. I suppose for a whole day...I guess we will see. He is still complaining of head pain. He understands and I do too that he is going to hurt, but he is ready to wake up and not have a headache. I am praying that it is just normal pain and that there isn't anything wrong. I have asked that he go get another CT scan, but (being male and being medically knowledged) he hasn't managed to make it to or ask to be taken to a facility that can do that. I ask about every 4-6 hrs or whenever he says his head hurts and he either says..."No, I am gonna hurt, but I am ready for it to stop" or "I don't know."

I give up. I guess he'll go when he feels like it. Well, that's it for this morning. I am going to read my Bible and do the study I started, eat breakfast, check out the Wii Active (I got as early birthday from Mom), and then get ready to go to the gym with Jeannette for Attack.

Everyone have a GREAT DAY!!!! Hope it's Sunny

Only by the Grace of God

Needless to say my week last week was not one of the best. What most of you don't know is that after all the other crap that went on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday added not only the whipped cream, but the cherry to my week.

At night, to avoid repeated interruptions in my sleep and my husbands sleep I set my phone to ring only. That way I am not hearing beep, beep, beep when emails, text messages, and whatever else is sent to my blackberry arrives. That being said I didn't change anything about my routine Wednesday night prior to closing my eyes. Why would I?...I had just hung up the phone with my hubby who was out of town and headed back the next morning. Well....at 7:30 my phone rang...it was Luke...
"Did you not get my text?"
Me: "No"
Luke:" I was in a wreck this morning"
Me (interrupting): "Are you hurt?"
Luke: "Yes..I am at Crisp Co. Hospital"
Me: " I am on my way"
Luke: OK

OK now the kids are still at home, I have not had a shower, and I am starting to scream at them to go to Ms. Keisha's house.

Ever lost your mind first thing in the morning? I did Thursday morning.

Well, I managed to get the kids out the door with lunches in hand, get a shower, call Mark (Luke's brother who used to work in South Georgia for FEMA), and get out the door in less than 30 minutes. New record for me!!!

I managed to get a cup of coffee and a muffin at Starbucks on Main Street too. And can you believe the guy at the counter...He asked if I wanted whipped cream....UH, YEAH!!! and Whole milk...Oh, and while your at it throw in an extra shot of Espresso...I have a LONG drive. Now, this may seem like an unnecessary stop to some of you, but I needed something to eat as I didn't get it on my way out the door and I thought the caffeine and sugar would help my nerves a little. No such luck.

Well, I managed to make it through rush hour traffic and head south to exit 102 (I live at 290 so that is like 188 miles, roughly 2.5-3 hrs with no traffic) I made it in the allotted time of no traffic. Yes, I did get stopped for speeding, but I think I have an out and the Supervisor of the officer that pulled me over is investigating the situation. (I will post on that tomorrow or Tuesday when I get my answer).

I arrived at Crisp Co. Hospital (no thanks to the officer that stopped me) to find my husband with a black eye, 8 stitches in the left side of his head, road rash on the left side of his face, shoulder, and blood everywhere. Talk about thankful. He looked bad, but he was alive, talking, and walking in his trauma room. The workman's comp/DOT compliance lady from his office arrived the same time I did, but that is another post too. I managed to get him settled, stitched some more (he had pulled a large piece of glass out of his cheek and that needed stitches too) 3 more to be exact on his left cheek. Ice packs applied to the face seemed to help with the pain. The hospital said that all of the x-rays, and CT scans were clear. They didn't see any broken bones, or a concussion.

We left the hospital grabbed a bite of lunch at Mickey D's and headed to see the vac truck and collect what we could of his personal belongings. When we arrived at the wrecker service to see the truck I almost lost my composure. The following is what I saw.



I don't know how my husband got out of that alive, but he did and I praise Jesus for it. Luke said that he had started to doubt that he was going to make it out as he was skidding across I-75 Northbound. I can't tell you how sobering it is to actually see the damage that is on that truck and to think that only 3 weeks ago I was in the passenger seat of that truck coming home from Houston.

Now to answer the BIGGER question you are asking....WHAT HAPPENED? Apparently, as Luke was coming up I-75 North around exit 82 there is a rest stop. A white Ford minivan was starting to come up the on ramp as Luke approached the on ramp. Luke was traveling approx 65 mph in the right hand lane and the minivan(traveling approx 30 mph) decided that they were going to just enter the interstate without using the acceleration lane. They just hung a left on the interstate in front of Luke. Luke said his first thought was OMG if I hit them they are dead and he made as smooth a transition as he could to the right to use the acceleration lane as his "out". Then the idiot driving the minivan, either 1) realized what they had done 2) was on the phone or 3) had a death wish, pulled back right and slammed on their brakes (right in front of Luke again). This caused Luke to have to make a HARD left hand swerve to miss hitting them for the second time. Luke was loaded with water from the EFR (don't know what this is) he was doing in Tifton, and weighed approx 60,000 lbs. The water due to the right hand turn and then the hard left hand turn surged, caused the back tires to blow out and the vac-truck to tip to the left thus causing the above picture.

The people in the minivan did NOT stop. They kept driving. If they only understood that by Luke's evasive maneuvers they are still alive.

Anyway, 2 other truck drivers stopped to help Luke and told him they had no idea how he managed not to hit/run over that minivan. (I know...it was by the Grace of God that he didn't kill those people or himself) They even stayed after the ambulance took Luke to the hospital to give their statements to GSP, local police, and motor vehicle compliance officers. Due to the generosity of those drivers my husband has no charges, no fault, and nothing on his record. Usually a roll over like this is faulted to the driver due to excessive speed, or careless driving. None of which Luke was doing. He was under the speed limit, under weight for the truck, and the only reason he had to move out of his lane of travel was the idiot in the minivan.

I did manage to get him home after the review of what happened and it has been a long weekend.

Luke is bruised but not broken, in pain but not dead. It will be several days/weeks before he is back to remotely normal and I don't think I'll ever sleep well again when he is out of town on a job.

For those of you who knew and prayed...Thank you

For those who didn't and just said a word of praise...Thank you.

It is a good reminder that God has met us in our deepest need....just as we need him the most. God is always with us....his timing is always perfect. It is amazing the calm that I felt when I heard Luke's voice on the phone on my way to him. God was saying to me that even though he is hurt...he is alive...even though I am not right there....HE is. Thank you Jesus for being the steady rock on which I can lean and stand. Thank you for giving me peace in times of turmoil.

My weakness is your strength. My faith is small, but your are GREAT!!! I can do all things ( can go through anything) through Christ who strengthens me.

Have a great Memorial Day!!!

How do you become a bigger person?

I know I promised pictures and updates on our barn, but a situation brewing in my in-law family has me asking the title of this blog.

How am I supposed to be a bigger/better person? I am so angry right now and so sad at the same time. The pettiness of people is starting to rub off on me. I wished yesterday for someone to lose their job to teach them a lesson. What kind of person does that?

I asked my husband to keep equipment that we didn't pay for (it belongs to his brother) and use it for leverage to get keep something Matthew said we could have.

Luke is doing a great job of keeping a cool head and trying to figure out how to be a bigger person and I am not doing so well. I have absolutely lost my marbles on this one.

I am studying my Bible to try to figure out how to be a bigger person in the current situation, but not finding the right verse to calm my gut. I do remember my pastor saying this past Sunday that I shouldn't trust my heart cause it is evil and will deceive me. (Hopefully this applies to everyday life and not just choosing a life long mate).

My flesh is so weak right now and I want to be very UGLY!!! and trust me I can be UGLY. At times my ugliness is a lot more apparent than not, but I have also found it is the little things I do and say that cut deeper than the large things that are most obvious.

Yesterday Psalm 63:3 said "Because your steadfast love is greater than life, my lips will praise you"

I did a decent job of trying to praise God in the storm yesterday. Fell off the boat after dark last night, but I am trying to stay afloat today.

Proverbs 20:22 says "Do not say "I will repay evil"; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you"

Father God deliver me from this cause I don't know how to be a bigger and better person without you!!!

If you are reading this please pray for me and for my in-laws. There is a large canyon between everyone right now and I am not sure how the gap will be bridged on this one. It is going to take apologies and forgiveness from everyone involved and everyone (I mean everyone) is going to have to swallow a little crow on this.

Thanks

Hope to make a new post soon.

Hello All!! I have been so busy with the end of school for me and now for the kids. I have lots of new photos to post with stories and information on our whole family. Jacob and Cassie are doing great in school and I am finished for the summer. I passed the spring semester and will be returning in the fall for the FINAL SEMESTER!!!! YEA!!

Can't wait. It has been nice to have time off though. My house is slowly getting in order and I am back in the gym and exercising again. It is good to see the scale going back down instead of up. I am still below my initial goal of 150, but closer to that goal than I would like to be. Oh Well, we can't all stay at the weight we want all the time.

I will hopefully post a longer post with pictures this afternoon.

How would I deal with this?

As a mother I don't know how I would deal with a very sick child. The picture above shows a baby about 4 months old who was not expected to live one day outside his mother's womb...if he made it one extra day inside the womb. The very thing that almost took his life in utero is now threatening to take it now. I have been following a blog called My Charming Kids and this is the youngest child. You can check out all of the details on her blog. I have been praying for Stellan for 2 days every morning and every evening. I should probably say a little prayer every time I think of it or have just a second. The thought of losing one of my children absolutely breaks my heart and I don't know how in the world I would survive. The faith of this mother is amazing. I know that God is in control and I know that everything works to the Glory of the Father, but accepting that my child would not be here on earth with me would be a HUGE struggle.

I am asking those of you who check this regularly to say a prayer for Stellan and his mom Jennifer. Pray for healing and that his heart slows down. He is in a rhythm that is called SupraVentricular Tachycardia. Which means that his atria are beating about 260-280 times a minute. He has been like this since Saturday or Sunday. I know with my atrial fibrillation it causes pressure and some shortness of breath that is very uncomfortable and I am an adult. This is a 4 month old baby who can't really tell anyone what he is feeling. The medications they are giving him are big medications for such a little boy.

As I see updates on Stellan I will add them here. I hope all is well with everyone and hope you enjoy the couple days worth of rain we are getting.

Talk to you all later.

Update/Catch Up!

Sorry that it has been so long since I have posted anything and I know that I am WAY behind on posting some pictures of everything that is going on here in our house. Here are some updates for ya though. The farm and horses are doing great. We have sprayed our hay fields with weed killer in preparation for fertilizer and growing. Luke says that we should be cutting in like 3 weeks. I really hope it is more like 4 or 5 weeks, but I think that is up to the Master Grower and the rain he sends. Pilgrim and I are still working together on finding our actual rhythm together. Hopefully we find it soon. I would love to be able to ride him whenever I want. I have been riding a lot recently though. Not my horses, but my friend Beverly's horses. She has a young mare named Tinkerbell and since she is a little unpredictable I have been riding one of her other horses out on trails just to be an extra person around. As with all young horses she just needs seat time and I am glad to help. I love to ride. I don't care whose horse it is.

The gym thing is really working great.~~~In case I didn't mention it before...I joined a gym about a month ago~~~I am there 5 days a week taking a class or doing cardio stuff. I am excited about going and am LOVING it!!!

School is going well too. Tonight was my last OB clinical. I really had a great time. I made fun of it for a while, but I really enjoyed myself tonight. My patient was fairly easy to deal with. I hope she took some of the teaching I did to heart and will make some changes in her life for the better of her baby girl. We will see...Maybe...Well it is late and I am tired. I will try to update as soon as possible.

Just a Quickie

For those of you who are checking in fairly regularly to see if I have updated I have, but this is a request of sorts. We are supposed to celebrate Jacob's birthday this Saturday with our family and a few friends. The weather is not supposed to cooperate for this. I am asking that you pray that it does. He has asked for this for several years and this is the first year I have caved and allowed him to have a party at the farm. He wants to be able to ride horses with his new saddle and to play with everyone. If it does rain we are going to go to McDonald's in Calhoun, but it won't have the effect for him. I believe that if we pray God will bless us with a break in the rain. I am asking God for no rain Saturday and that it dries out a little bit from the rain on Friday. Thank you for your help and your prayers.

New Car

It has been a little while since I posted and there is much to tell, but the BIG thing for today is.....I bought a new car. I no longer am driving a minivan. I loved my minivan because I was able to transport everyone and their brother where ever they needed to go, but with all of my travels to Chattanooga for school and the farm for the horses we made the decision to downsize a little. At least get a vehicle with better gas mileage.

I got a 2008 Ford Edge. I will take a picture when it is light outside and post it. I was up at 5 this morning and haven't really stopped since then. In fact, as soon as I am done posting here I am going to shut this thing down and go watch a little TV. Then I am going to bed.

Tomorrow is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. I have a class at the gym for butt, thighs, and abs. Haven't done that before so I will let you know how that goes. Bikini Isle here I come. (I HOPE) HA HA HA HA HA. I also have school tomorrow evening and I have to meet a couple different people in Chattanooga either before class or during dinner time. Man how time flies when you are having fun. WOOHOO!!!

Well I hope all is well with everyone.

Sniffle, Sniffle, Cough, Cough, AAAACCCHHHOOOO

Obviously if you happen to see the time on this you know that I am up in the wee hours of Saturday morning. For some reason I cannot sleep and here I am blogging to you.

The kids are on winter break until Tuesday when they return to school. I took them to the Tellus Planetarium and Weinman Mineral museum today. It was really cool. We got to see a show in the planetarium about all the different planets in the solar system. Now I get to explain to my kids how the "creation" theory that they used there was WRONG!!! I had to laugh a couple times during the show when the "ding dong" narrator kept saying that our sun "a relatively small star" was formed from clouds of dust particles...that it just formed on its own and appeared. HA HA HA HA And how new stars are formed from clouds of space dust and ice. People really believe that too... Well I believe in the Big Bang Theory...GOD SPOKE AND BANG THERE IT WAS. The mineral museum was really cool. We saw lots of quartz and some gold. There were several other things that were absolutely beautiful (but I can't remember the names of them). I also saw a periodic table and had cold chills down my spine. If you took science any time in high school you remember having to memorize that thing. Man...what a nightmare. Then we saw "Science in Motion". It had several replicas of old modes of transportation. The kids got to stand in an astronaut suit. I got pictures, but as usual I don't have my camera with me right now as I post. It will be up soon though. We panned for minerals and dug for fossils and then we played in the backyard (that was indoors). There was some type of magnet exhibit, an electrical current exhibit, a thing on sounds, and WOW so many things that I can't remember them all. The kids loved it and can't wait to go back.

We start our very busy Saturday in a few hours and I can't wait to go see my four legged baby. I have missed him. Maybe I will get something accomplished with him tomorrow. As it stands...I am starting to get sick. I am sneezing, my nose is running, and every now and then I cough. Sounds almost like a cold, but I think it is my allergies. It is only February...is stuff pollinating all ready???

Randomness

It has been a while since I posted anything. I don't really have anything specific to share with you, but I do have time to just share different things that are going on in our lives. I will start with Jacob and Cassie since most of you reading this always ask about them first.

Let's see:

The kids, Jacob and Cassie, are very busy these days. They are in school Monday thru Friday (of course) and are loving it. There are days that I hear..."Do I have to do today?", but who as a parent hasn't hear this or as a child said it? It is quite funny to hear it come out of their mouths followed by the grunt and whine when I say "Yes and Get out of bed." Tuesday's they take tumbling at DevilRays (which is a cheerleading gym here in Cartersville). This was their choice over Baseball and Softball this spring. I actually am excited about it because it is only one hour a week as opposed to 3-4 days a week with an hour or more of practice.

Is it bad that I am thinking of my schedule and time?

Anyway, they are learning so much. In a matter of three weeks they have learned how to almost do a complete backbend. They can walk backwards down the wall with their hands. Gotta love the handprints. I am sure I will treasure them later. We have managed to get a handle on keeping their rooms clean for more than 12 hours. Hopefully we can manage that for a week. Not quite there yet, but getting there. As far as our horses and the kids....Well, Jacob is riding by himself on Joy. He is doing a great job. He took a spill off of her a couple weeks ago, but got right back on. I am so proud of him. Cassie is....well...not quite there yet. She rides with me on Lady and will ride Pilgrim as long as I am leading and I have ridden him for at least an hour first so he is tired. HA HA HA. She will get more comfortable with it soon.

Jacob turns 9 next week. My baby has almost hit double digits. BOO HOO!! Actually, it is great. I am excited that they are getting big enough that we can do bigger things together. In fact, the kids started winter break today and we are going to the planetarium here in town tomorrow. I think they are going to LOVE IT!!! Luke and I went a couple weeks ago for a Leadership summit with our church. It was AWESOME!!! You sit in these chairs that recline and they turn off the lights and start showing you the stars, constellations, and planets. It was really cool when Luke and I were there because the band from church was set up and we listened to praise songs and choruses. It was neat to see all of God's creations and listen to praise and worship songs while looking at them. It was inspiring and really peaceful.

Honestly, as far as the kids go that is about it. They are growing like weeds and are definitely showing their....dare I say...independent personalities. They love each other, but they do tend to square off quite a bit. It is amusing to see them conflict with each other.

Luke is staying really busy with Pangean. He has been out of town for 5 weeks in a row. He comes home for the weekends and is then gone Monday thru Thursday or Tuesday thru Thursday or Friday. It really stinks. I am trying to adjust, but I hate it when he is gone. I have really gotten used to him being home. I don't sleep as well when he isn't here. He seems to be liking what he is doing and he is really good at it. He is heavily relied upon by his boss and therefore he is called upon to do almost EVERYTHING. I am proud that he is an asset to his company, especially since the economy is steadily declining.

Luke has made plans to build a barn for the horses (and me). He has managed to find a way to have logs cut by his brother transformed into siding for the barn for 1/3 of the cost of purchasing it outright. I found a way to get telephone/power poles for free and Luke is going to make the stall fronts for the 7 stalls we are putting in it. The measurements, if I remember correctly, are going to be 34 feet wide by 60 feet long. I can't wait. I have wanted a barn of my own for sooooo long. We have really started putting our heart and soul into this farm/horse thing. It is important to us. We both love it. The kids love it too. I guess that is about all for Luke...Oh, wait, he has FINALLY ordered the parts to fix our tractor. It has been "in pieces" for about 3-4 months now. Matthew (Luke's brother) forgot to put oil in it and ran it. For those of you who know...that is a BAD thing. Well, it cost us a crank shaft (which is what makes the engine go). Gotta love it!!! I have actually tried to keep a positive outlook on this. Which is a lot for me to do. I could easily be a little UGLY about the whole thing.

Mentioning me....well, I am still in nursing school. I have a B average so far or at least I finished my last two semesters with a B as a final grade. I have managed to figure out that I don't want to work on a Medical-Surgical/general sickness floor as a job. As we have progressed so far I like the cardiac stuff, but I LOVE NICU. Which in a way doesn't make any sense to me. I love kids and NICU is full of very sick babies. Some of which die and that is sad. But I have had the opportunity to spend some hours in NICU for clinical and I really like it. I have also spent hours in Labor and Delivery. That was really cool too. Just the process of labor and delivery is a miracle in itself. I love watching the miracle of birth and helping mom's through it. I even stayed an extra hour and a half to help a mom deliver last week at clinical. Made for a really late night/morning since I didn't get home till 2 a.m. and Tuesday was....well....long to say the least. We aren't done with all of the different areas yet, but I know Psych isn't my thing. I am crazy enough without hanging out with psychologically challenged patients all day long. HA HA HA I just hope they don't want to keep me when we have clinical there. HA HA HA

My heart is doing OK these days. I haven't had any recurrences since last Wednesday (2/4/09). I am in the process of wearing an event monitor all day for 2 weeks. YEA!!! If I feel like I am in a-fib then I push a button and it is supposed to record the event along with a minute before and a minute after. We will see what the doc says when I am done. I have sent in a couple recordings due to a high heart rate and a weird feeling of sorts. It is hard to describe what the feeling is at times.

I am loving my horse and the farm more and more every time we are there. It is relaxing to me to be there. Pilgrim and I have hit new milestones and are working well together. We have some ground to recover and review, but I think we will get there soon.

Well, I think that is enough rambling for now. I hope you all have a great day and I hope to post pictures from this upcoming weekend later. Obviously, I don't have any taken yet. We will be at the farm and there will be good pictures to be taken.

Fireproof

Well I finally rented and watched Fireproof tonight. WOW!!! is all I can say. With the struggles I have been going through over the past few months this really hit home. I learned something about myself and what I need to do in my marriage and my life. Those of you who know me should know that I am a firm believer in Christ. I don't always set the best example, but I do try. There are times that I get so tired of trying to be the bigger person and trying to be the one who always has to fight for what I want. I am tired of fighting for things. I have now been reminded that I don't have to fight alone. As long as I follow the motto of firefighters all over "Never leave your partner behind!!!" anything is possible. I have, at times, left my partner behind, but in the most recent times I have not and I can tell you that has been a blessing to me and to see the change that has happened. The credit isn't mine though...it belongs to Christ and Christ alone. I also thank our church "Oak Leaf Church" for being a church that appeals to those who have been wounded either by another church or by family. For showing that there is a place that you won't be judged for anything. A place where you can come as you are. A place where the only "agenda" is to get you from where you are to where God wants you to be. I can tell you, from first hand experience, that this church that started a little over 2 years ago in a movie theater with 25 people and is now having to run 4 services to accommodate the 1200 people coming every Sunday is an absolute God sent miracle to my family's life and to the city of Cartersville. I will learn to Fireproof my marriage and I will fight for what is mine. I have some things that I need to take care of in that matter and with that I leave you and say if you haven't seen the movie...you should. God Bless and I will update soon.

P.S. Please pray for me as Monday I start clinical rotations in Labor and Delivery. I am excited and cannot wait. Giving birth to a baby is another miracle of God. I pray for all healthy mom's and babies and if not then I pray for the strength and compassion to help patient's through it.

Update

Some of you who either know me or read my blog have heard me mention my friend Ashley who adopted a little girl from India. They arrived home today with her from India. They have been there since the 18th. Everything seems to have gone well. It was absolutely awesome to see them ride up the elevator from the tram and have this little girl with them. She was absolutely precious. I am going to include a picture for you at the end of the new Ware family.

Just a little history for those of you who don't know. Ashley and I have been friends since I was in the 7th grade. That is approximately 20 years. She graduated a year ahead of me from High School. She moved to Georgia and I followed suit not too much after she did. I didn't move to Lawrenceville or to Jefferson, but at least I got us in the same state again. Ashley has 2 children (prior to the new addition) that are one year behind Cassie in age. Mason is 7 as of the 29th and Mallory is 6 as of the 16th.

I forgot how much our children like to play together until today at the airport. The girls were amazing and just started talking. They shared pizza and just loved on each other. The boys...well they were boys and preceded to run around and complain about how long they were having to wait on the "Guests of Honor". It was really funny.

Well, I am excited to say that Maddie Ambika Ware is FINALLY home and appears to be in good spirits. She is beautiful. I think she was overwhelmed at the number of people there to see her come home, but she really just sort of fell in to rhythm with all of the little girls that were there. The highlight was while waiting for baggage the girls took my phone and looked up Hannah Montana on Sprint TV and started watching. It was funny to see about 6 little girls crowded around a small little phone trying to see and/or listen.

Ashley...if you are reading this...know I love you and I am so happy for you and your family.

I made a mistake!

If this posts correctly then I am on my way home from the farm. We had a great day! We managed to clean up more of the barn that we tore down last weekend. We had placed most of it on a burn pile and we burned it with a ton of old brush. Well, in the process of burning the kids were playing near the creek and of couse I (as a good mother) had said "DO NOT GET IN THE WATER!!!" And what did my daughter do? She "slipped" into the water, tried to hide it by zipping up her jacket because she was wet from middle of belly to toes. Well we marched to the house, stripped, and got a dry shirt on till her clothed could be washed and dried. Well since there is nothing sweet at the farm I decided to make a Chocolate pound cake. Nice and easy and not to toot my own horn, but I am a pretty darn good cook. Anyway, I started out great and it looked great. Well the recipe called for 1/2 cup of cocoa. There was this container on the table that had a "chocolate" substance in it. I smelled it and it smelled chocolatey, must be the cocoa that was used last weekend to make same recipe!!! Right? Wrong. The substance on the table was homemade Hot chocolate mix. I had made a Hot Chocolate pound cake. Ha ha ha laugh with me!!! Obviously my brain is already fried from 2 nights of school. For those of you asking the cake was actually pretty good. Luke and the kids really liked it. I don't make cooking mistakes often, but this one has to top all of the others.

Hope you enjoyed my mistake. I can assure you it won't happen again unless requested!!!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed

How cold does it have to be....

I will have to say that the past 2 days have been the coldest I have experienced in a long time. Friday was bad, but let me tell you Saturday was...well...miserable. We, and when I say that I mean Luke and I, have started a LARGE project at the farm. It was decided about 2 weekends ago that a barn on the property that was literally falling down should be torn down and removed. Great idea....unless you are the one doing the work. We have moved junk out of the rubble, taken off old siding and saved what we could for another project, made a trailer load of metal to be recycled, and burned old hay. That was just the first two weekends we worked on this "project". This past weekend we had a bobcat and a mini-excavator to help with this. It was SO COLD and honestly I wasn't in the best frame of attitude to work on this this weekend. I found other things to do inside the house as I watched my kids and husband tear down the barn. In all honesty...what was I going to do with heavy equipment. I don't know how to operate those things and I would be willing to learn if it didn't require hypothermia to do it. The wind was bitter and it started snowing mid-afternoon. Didn't last long because, of course, this is Georgia and we never see snow...not on the ground anyway. Then it changed to windy, cold, and rainy. Typical for this time of year. Cold, but not cold enough to make snow. YUCK!!! Well, after I had run out of things to do at the house I had to finally go out to see if I could do something. Well, I got to go get diesel fuel for the equipment. YEA!!FUN!! Then I got to sit in the truck and watch. I was trying to be supportive in this endeavor. Finally, I was told that we were going to take the wood that was left from the barn and place it on a pile to be burned. So I HAD to start helping. Man was it cold. In case you can't tell at this point, I hate cold weather. I don't mind some cold, but the past few days have been literal misery for me. Anyway, it took 3 full 16 foot flatbed trailer loads to remove all of the wood that was left from destruction. Talk about a lot of wood. And none of it was good to use for anything else. The property looks WAY better and our "project" is about 1/3 done. This project actually still involves siding one side a now small storage room that was left from the barn. It was the only part that was worth saving. Then siding/closing in Glory's stand alone stall and building and closing in a stand alone stall for Pilgrim and Thunder. Eventually, we will either have a barn for the mares or they will have a stand alone too. Which ever we can get first. I am so tired today. This weekend has not been restful at all and all 4 of us are walking around like zombies. The one good thing that happened was that I did learn how to operate the pieces of equipment that we had at the farm. I have a general knowledge of how to dig holes with a mini-x and how to work a bobcat. Not sure when that information will come in handy again, but at least I have it. Knowledge is power so I have been told.

For those of you who are reading this please say a prayer for my friend Ashley and her husband Keith. They are leaving tonight for Bangladore, India to pick up the newest member of their family. They have adopted a little girl named Ambika and have finally gotten clearance to bring her home. They will return on January 27. I can't wait to meet her and see them home. I have been talking with Ashley for over 5 years now about adoption, since I am adopted, and we have gone over lots of aspects from an adoptee's point of view. I have always said that they should just include that information from the beginning. It was never something that I remember was a shock to me. It was just something that was and nobody made a big deal about. I was never upset about it and it wasn't a secret. Ambika is a very special little girl and I can't wait to meet her. Prayers for safe travel and a smooth transition for Ambika. I know coming to America is a great thing for her, but it will be hard since she has been in an orphanage for almost a year now. Her story can be found here at Our Indian Angel. It is an amazing story of love and God's timing. I hope you all have a great week.

Wow! I made another post!!

I am so proud of myself. I made another post. Not in a row with the other, but it is an update of sorts. HA HA HA.

The kids have started back to school and as of yesterday my life has resumed a normal schedule...well sort of...my school starts tomorrow. I guess that will be the offical start to what we call normal around our house. School for the kids is going well and my house is getting back into order from the 2 1/2 weeks the kids were off. It was nice to have them home, but man it rained EVERY day that they were out of school. OK so maybe not everyday, but enough that they couldn't go out and play any day that they were off for Christmas break. Talk about really cruddy. We had a great time during break seeing family, welcoming a new member who you can see here at our new adventure. He is the cutest. We also spent lots of time at the farm with the horses. Luke and I have made the decision to really try to make the horse thing work for our family. The kids are really involved with it now and they are doing GREAT with their skills. Jacob has started riding on his own...or let me rephrase...he is now riding his horse Joy without any help from an adult. Luke used to have a lead rope connected to Joy's bridle and he would help Jacob with control. That no longer happens. Jacob now is able to control the horse on his own. We stay right with him of course...he doesn't have free reign to go anywhere he pleases. He isn't quite ready for that, but he is doing a great job. Cassie is still learning and getting her "seat" about her. She likes to ride with me on Lady and she rides Glory in the paddock on her own, but we don't have a horse that she can control on her own...yet. That is a work in progress. I think Lady will do really well with her, but I and going to have to ride her more than once a week or once every other week. Then again...it has to stop raining long enough that we aren't sopping through the mud too. Pilgram is progressing nicely. He and I are working on getting on the same page with each other. Riding him is nice, but getting a saddle on him is still an issue. I am trying to learn when to be "his friend" and when to be "his boss". Luke says it is all in my tone of voice. For those of you who know me...this should not be a problem, but apparently what horses hear and what we hear must be different. I thought I had an authoratative tone with him this past weekend, but it took a lot longer and a lot louder tone than I thought I would need. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't take him peppermint treats. HMMMMMM Maybe I can try that.

Bribery works right?

Well, I guess we will see...let you know after this next weekend. We have to finish tearing down the largest section of the old barn on the property and close off the section that is left. It is going to be COLD so I hear this Saturday. Pray that I don't freeze to death. I am hoping that all the work Luke has planned will keep me busy enough to stay remotely warm. I will make sure I have my camera so that I can show you what we have done. I know I have been promising pictures for a while, but I keep forgetting to move my camera from one purse to another. Well...I have to go exercise to keep the weight off and to keep losing so I will update as soon as I have new information for you.

Just another day at the farm

OK so I missed a day blogging. Sorry...I am trying real hard to keep up on this for now. School starts back on the 14th so I might be a little slower with posting at that point. Well, we spent another day at the farm working on things. It was foggy, rainy, and cold...I swear it was like we lived in England. Anyway...the kids and their cousins played for most of the morning and then made Gingerbread Men with their grandmother. This was a makeup date since I was in the hospital the last planned date. They had a blast! Luke and I worked on disassembling (sp?) the old barn that sits on the property. It has been falling down for years now and no one has had the intestinal fortitude to start to take it down. We are hoping to save a lot of the wood off of it to use on our barn to be built after we get tax money back. Over the past few weeks I have really been indoctrinated into what owning a farm with 7 horses on it is all about. I honestly hurt in places that I didn't think I studied in anatomy and physiology. It is a good workout though. I don't need to join a gym for weight training or for cardio when I start riding my horse or breaking the 2-3 we have left to break/train.

We have been working with the stud colt "Thunder" and with my gelding "Pilgram". Actually Thunder has been a work in progess due to his leg injury (but that is another blog story). Pilgram is a BIG learning task for me and for him. I have never trained or broken a horse before. We have gone from him being skiddish of any human contact to me actually being able to ride him (with Luke's help of course). Like I said he is a work in progress. I love him though. He is a really lovey horse. He loves me a lot too and I am not just saying that. We have worked on this relationship for a long time. He actually became mine 2 years ago, but I have tried to love on him since he was born. Origianlly he was my brother in law's (Matthew)but when he got married in 2006 he became mine. I was so excited. It took the rest of that year and then some for him to become the sweetie he is now though.

I used to spend hours studying in a chair next to his pasture so that he would come and stand by me. I gave him horse treats and started buying him grain to have on a daily basis. He is now my "baby"!! Well, to continue with all of this horse talk...we have decided that starting the first of May we are going to start showing our Morgan horses!! Luke wants to try to make some money from them by breeding and selling the foals and the only way to do that is to show your face and to do that you have to go to shows and place. We have beautiful animals and they have great bloodlines. Now all we have to do is work them into well behaved all the time horses. That is a feat in itself. They definitely have a mind of their own and it isn't always on the same wavelength as ours as to what they need to do.

Like I said I will try to keep this up as much as possible and I will put pictures as soon as I remember to get my camera out of my purse. HA HA HA

I hope everyone had a great New Years Eve and that 2009 blesses you all.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Day!!! The kids, Luke, and I spent the day at the farm. We had a great day!! We rode horses, cleaned tack, and just spent family time together. It was great!! We are going to repeat it tomorrow and Saturday! I am loving spending so much time at the farm with my horses. Hopefully there will be pictures coming soon. It is hard for me to take pictures when I am on the horse so as soon as I figure out how to make that happen you will have them!

HAPPY NEW YEAR