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!!!
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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

End of 2008 and HELLO 2009

Well another year has come and gone. It has been a really busy year here at the Gibson house. Luke started a new job the last part of April, I started my transition program in May. The transition program, if you all remember, had me and the kids in Chattanooga from Monday night to Friday mornings. We survived. Then school started for the kids in August and for me in the actual nursing program. I was Chattanooga bound 2 nights a week (Monday and Wednesday) and sometimes 3 nights a week if we had a test. WOO HOO!!! Well I finished my semester the first week of December and made a "B" and the kids had school until the 19th of December. We had parties, teachers gifts, and horses to feed. Yes horses to feed. As you all know we have 6 horses on 56 acres in LaFayette, Ga. My mother in law usually takes care of giving them grain and hay, but for a week she was unable to do so. That week also happened to be a week that our youngest needed a leg doctored. Well , those tasks fell to me the last week of school for the kids. Like I didn't have enough to do. Well apparently my body didn't like the fact that I was soooooo busy because on Friday night (the 19th) my heart had an electrical issue and decided to beat somewhere between 185-210 beats per minute in rhythm called atrial fibrillation. Well that caused my husband to take me to the hospital and there I sat for the next 20 hours or so. LOVED IT!!!!

Well I am fine and I have to follow up with an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of your heart) and a cardiologist. Again, like I have time for that. But I do have great friends who will make sure that I do what I am supposed to and follow directions to the best of my ability.

Christmas as GREAT!! The kids got most everything they asked for and I got more than I asked for. We were busy, but it was great to see most of my family.

On the 29th I became an aunt again. My brother and his wife had their first baby at 8:24 p.m. Eli James McCarter was born and weighed 8 pounds even and was 20 inches long. I wasn't able to be at the hospital as they live about 4 hrs away and the kids aren't allowed to go to the room unless they are over 12. I have seen pictures of him and he is the cutest thing ever. As soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures from my phone to the blog I will post. They should be going home today and hopefully I will be seeing them the first of next week.

2009 brings BIG things for our family and our plans. I will be updating a lot more frequently as I want to keep you aprised of what we are doing. There are going to be great things from us this year I hope. I still have school and the kids do too, and of course Luke has work, but our family life is going to center around the horses a lot. The kids are getting better every weekend with their riding and now they have helmets (mom is very happy) and they have lariats (ropes with lassos used for roping).

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!! MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!!!!

Finally Finals

Hi All!! I have finally joined the blog world again...or at least there should be regular updates for the next 6 weeks. I have finished finals and am officially moving on to next semester. There have been so many things going on this semester I am just glad that it is OVER!!! I have been spending my weeks studying and not cleaning so my house looks like....well there aren't words for how NASTY my house is right now. I don't even think I could pay someone to clean it up. The kids are excited because it means that they will finally have socks in their drawers instead of me fishing them out of a basket every morning. Well...at least they are clean...right? Anyway I will be spending the next couple days cleaning/picking up and doing/catching up on laundry. Last weekend we went and took pictures for our Christmas card. Below are some of the pictures and hopefully a video of my crazy husband. Hope you like the pictures.

Another Update--Go me!!

Hello All...it is me again and I have another update for you. It is kind of lengthy, but there is a lot of humor.

This weekend was very eventful for our family. Staring with Friday night. Well Friday night I was able to find some medicine for Jacob's hamster Baby. She had gotten sick Wednesday. I think it was a cold, but I am definitely not a vet for little critters. Anyway, we gave her the medicine and left her in the small bathroom to stay warm (in her cage). Saturday morning we got up and went to the farm to hang out for a while. We had a GREAT time. We got Thunder out to handle him because that is what you are supposed to do with a colt. I am told the more you put hands on them the better they are when they are older. So...into the round pin we went with Luke. He wasn't on the same page as us though as he thought playing tag was fun (he was the taggee and Luke the tagger). That was really funny for a little while. Well, being the "cowboy" of the family Luke got a lariat (a rope with a lasso on the end) to "catch" Thunder and allow us to put a halter on him and let him get used to being walked around. Well, in the manner of a stallion (stud) colt he acted like an idiot and managed to cut his leg and I mean bad. So fun was over for the time being and medical attention started. Remember now that this colt has still not been caught. We still have to catch him and manage to now banage his wound. Thank goodness I had decided to buy treats when we stopped for propane. Horses apparently like peppermints and I learned today that they can have actual peppermints from the store. HALLELUJAH!!! Less money for those and it is Christmas. Looks like all of our babies are getting candy canes for Christmas. Back to the ding dong colt...Well we did catch him and manage to banage his leg. It took 3 of us and a stall to do it though. Thank goodness he had been vaccinated in the spring for tetnus. No vet needed. Another big HALLELUJAH!!

Well after that fiasco Luke told me to go catch my horse, Pilgram! I got him into the pin and managed to get him caught. We hung out for a while and I talked to him. He loved on me and I on him. I love that horse. He is absolutely the sweetest thing. So Luke comes out to the pin to inform me that we will start breaking my horse and he won't be doing the riding...I will.... HA HA HA HA HA I laughed at him. I consider myself a good rider, but breaking a horse is something that I have never done, didn't think I would ever do, didn't really have a desire to do. How wrong I was. Luke was right...he wasn't riding, I was. We got to the middle of the ring and got set. Luke started to give me a leg up on the horse (no saddle, no bridle, just shipping halter and bareback). Needless to say Pilgram wasn't real wild about it and moved. Try #2 wasn't successful either. So you know the saying...third time is a charm. Well apparently Pilgram hasn't heard that one. Third time wasn't any better than the first 2. Luke decided that it would work better if Pilgram layed down. Rodeo move 1. He loops a lead rope around his front foot and around his neck pulling it up and causing him to lay down (it wasn't as easy as that, but that is it in a nutshell). Luke then tells me to come and talk to Pilgram and pet him..I do so..and then he says get on him and he will stand him up. HA HA HA...Well I did it because he said it would be OK. We stood up and he did GREAT!!! I loved it. We rode for about 20 minutes and I was in hog heaven. He did so good. I think he was happy too. Thanks to my hubby for making that happen.

We left and came home Saturday evening. Baby seemed to be getting better so I gave her another dose of the medication. If she had an infection she needed it for probably 3-5 days...right? Well, apparently not for hamsters...Baby got worse throughout the night and died around 11:15 or 11:30 on Saturday night. I buried her. Jacob knew before he went to bed that there was the possibility that she would die before he got up. Luke and I had also told him that if she did die we would let him go get another one. I guess that makes me mom of the year for him.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to early service for the 4th week in a row (that makes me so excited). The kids get there and literally run to Sunday School. I have never seen them that excited to go anywhere. Well when we returned home from church I had missed a call from my mom-in-law. Go figure I leave my phone at home and chaos ensues. The bandage on the wound was too tight and Thunder couldn't put any weight on his leg. We had to change clothes in less than 5 minutes and back out the door. We got to the farm in record time. We managed to wash the wound and rebandage the thing and restall the colt. Then I got to ride again. I thought it was going to be a repeat of the day before. Not so. Pilgram was easier to catch than the day before and he seemed a little more lovey. Well...he should have been...he must have had a plan and worked on it all night long for when I returned. We managed to mount without laying down and we did have a bridle with a bit this time. He did manage to at some point, because this is new to him, to break part of the headstall and then manage to jerk away from Luke. Yea...I am now running toward a fence with no control what so ever. I have mane in hand with half the reins. I was not the most optimistic at this point. Well he did manage to slow down and hang a hard left at the fence line...I almost stayed on...but regrettably I did not. I hit the ground. The good news is that I am not hurt..the horse stopped and backed up so that was good. I did get back on for about 15 minutes and then I was done.
I had a good time minus the falling off part. I have figured out that hitting the ground isn't so bad, but the falling part (the air in the middle) is just the worst part. I will repeat the whole riding thing later this week and will update then, but for now that was my weekend. Have a great day

Finally!!!!

Well it has been 12 days since I posted last. Sorry!!! My life to date has been so busy I don't know which way is up anymore. To catch up....the diet I started on Halloween....I have lost 14 pounds now. I am so excited. I am walking almost everyday and I am really following what the diet (Food) is.

Nursing school is still hard, but clinicals are over. I have one more care plan to submit by Monday. I have a paper due Saturday the 29th, a test on December the 4th and the final on December the 8th. So if you don't hear from me it is because I am covered up in books and papers.

The reason I titled the entry today Finally is because we went to the farm today and I got to actually get on my horse Pilgram. For those of you who don't know, I sort of inherited this horse. My husband's family has always had horses and when I got married I got my dream....HORSES!!!...I love them and everything to do with them. Oh yeah, back to my day today and how I got this horse....About 3 1/2 to 4 years ago my brother-in-law's mare Rosie had a colt and he was named Pilgram. Well, not too long after Pilgram was born Rosie got sick and died. Matthew lost interest in the colt and he became sort of an orphan. I loved him. He was, to me, just a baby and needed love. I continued to spend time with him and love him and just try to put hands on him. It was hard because he was skiddish and just all around weary of people. Well it came time that he really needed to be fed more than just hay. When I started noticing that he wasn't being fed I questioned my mother-in-law and she said that Matthew wasn't going to feed him grain because he didn't have an interest in the colt and honestly he could just care less. I think one reason was because he had found his current wife and he was just love smitten. Anyway, they got married in May 2007 and when they did Luke (my husband) spoke with Matthew asked him about the colt and then I had papers that said he was mine.

I was so excited. He was too young at that point for me to ride. All I could do was put a halter on him, get him used to a lead rope, and maybe used to one of the kids on his back (with the help of Luke of course). I have never broken a horse before, but that is Luke's thing. He is so good at it.

Well..Now he is old enough for me to get on and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. It wasn't a long time that I rode and getting up on his back was a little tricky, but we did it and I rode for about 20 minutes...bareback...with Luke holding the halter and lead. For me to get on took a little time. We tried just holding him in the paddock and Luke giving me a leg up, but Pilgram was not real interested in that so after a couple tries Luke made him lay on the ground and I was able to get on and then let him get up. It worked pretty well and I think it sort of put him in his place. Well, we walked around a little and then I got off. We then tried again and were able to get on with him standing up in the paddock. I was so proud.

I have waited 1 1/2 years to get on my Baby and now I have FINALLY done it. Luke told me on the way home that we would go back Thursday morning before we go to mom's for Thanksgiving Lunch and then again on Saturday. The more I get on him the easier it will be for both of us.

This is the best and I am so excited that I have started riding and working with my horse.

Hope you all have a great night.

Updates

Yes finally an update from me. Well, things are going well with me and my family. Nursing school is hard, but I am passing. The kids are finally finished with football and cheer. They had a great season and have made some great friends in the process. Luke is working hard at Pangean and is being given more responsibilities (I guess that is a good thing, but he is out of town for the week). We spent last Friday and Satuday in Savannah with the Johnson/Flanders family for a reunion. It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone. I miss all of them. My cousin Lauren is pregnant and due in April. Her little boy John Patrick is absolutely the cutest thing I have ever seen. I have pictures, but I don't have time to upload them right now. I will hopefully by the weekend. My Aunt Margie turned 80 and Uncle John turns 90 this year. WOW!! And they look GREAT. I hope at their age I look that good.

Well, sorry to be so short and sweet, but I have a clinical at Parkridge tonight and I have to go get ready. So Adios Amigos.

P.S. I started a diet on Halloween (yes, I know a really bad day to start) and I have lost 9 pounds to date. I am working on a bikini for summer !!!! YEAH ME!!

One McMuffin coming up with Prayer!!!

I don't have a lot of time usually to catch up on blog reading right now, but I have been keeping tabs on one. If you look at my blog follow list there is one called My Charming Kids. You can click on the name to go there. The lady writing this blog is due to have a baby boy named Stellan tomorrow morning at 9:30 and there were some complications during the pregnancy with the baby. She and her family have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby Stellan. They have asked for prayer for their family for the the next 24 hours for the healthy delivery of the baby. I will be praying for her and her family and I hope you will join me.

Jacob at the School Board

Jacob had the chance to speak with a group of students in front of the Bartow County School Board this past week. We were able to video it from our phones and here it is. I am so very proud that my son was one of 7 chosen from his school to do this. I think it was a great honor for him. He was John Walsh from America's Most Wanted. We tried to make him look the part. I hope you enjoy watching it.

P.S. you will have to go to the bottom and pause the music so you can hear the kids. THANKS