Mom2Tori-Bug

WE ARE LEAVING ON AN AIRPLANE!

2011-11-02T13:57:00.000-07:00

Tori-bug and I are getting so excited about our trip to Haiti. We leave in 28 days!! Woohoo!! I can't wait to see all the kids at the orphanage and I am excited to see how Tori-bug interacts with kids way less fortunate than she is. I think it will make her to have an even bigger heart than she already does. She said she was willing to give up her Christmas presents for the chance to go.

I was really nervous about taking her with me to begin with b/c she is so young. I didn't want to overwhelm her with the sites of pure devastation, but after we prayed about it, we felt like God wanted this opportunity for her. I didn't do any fundraising this trip (warning..... you will probably be getting a support letter for us to go back in May..lol) so coming up with two full price tickets was a big deal. When Tori-bug found out that it costs so much she said she will give up all her Christmas to be able to see these kids and take THEM Christmas. What a sweetheart! Isn't that what we want our kids to know about the true meaning of Christmas anyway? It's not about them getting, but giving to others like Jesus Christ did for us. This will be a great learning moment for her and she will never forget it. All 127 kids were sponsored for Christmas. Thank you, Jesus. What a blessing! Another friend, Amber is going with us too so this will be her first trip and I believe her first mission experience. Hopefully between the three of us, we will be able to make a difference for the few short days we are there. Please be in prayer with us for safe travels, safety while we are there, and an experience like no other. May those kids experience the true gift of Christ through us three girls.

Wendy

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

2011-09-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our pics from Haiti. I wanted you to be able to put a face with a name. The boy to Kevin's right (in the black shirt) is Tirelli. He had just turned 15 when we were there. He never left Kevin's side the entire time. Most of the kids in the orphanage don't act their stated age. Some don't even know their age. He is 15, but acts more like 11-12. They just don't have the same socialization that our kids have. Tirelli wants to be an interpreter when he grows up. A very good career that could be. He speaks English pretty well and definitely understands a lot of English. I would venture to say that more than half of the kids can speak English fairly well inside this orphanage. Most of the older kids can speak it and understand at least some. The younger kids, not so much. When you first get to Haiti they won't open up to you very much. They are leary about you, but when you show up several days in a row they start to share with you and become comfortable. The older kids usually don't think they will ever see you again so they have a harder time opening up to you. I told them that I would be back. They will be thrilled when they see a familiar face again in December. It is so hard to leave them. At least I will be able to tell them I will be back again at the end of May. I honestly never thought I would like doing this kind of thing when we first decided to go. Now, my heart is so invested in these kids. I think about them constantly and worry over what they are doing and how they are getting along. I worry about the money and them having their basic needs met. It makes me want to send every extra dime I have to them. I am not a rich woman by American standards and I don't have a lot of money, but I have SOOO much more than they do. I know that my $30 a month is truly being spent to feed, clothe, and educate them. I feel so strongly in the mission that Melissa is running and I know what a great job she is doing so sending my support to help a child every month is easy for me. Who doesn't waste $30 a month on stuff we really don't need? $30 a month goes a LONG way in Haiti if you get it to the right people.

This picture was taken at the team house. We stayed in a very nice house by Haitian standards. We had clean facilities, bathrooms with showers, stove, refrigerator, and freezer. We ate EXTREMELY well. Full breakfast (eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, juice, and oatmeal every morning. Mikela (in the middle next to Melissa, who is holding baby Leekson) is the team house mom. The average life expectancy in Haiti is like 45. Scary isn't it?? Mikela cooked and cleaned for us three meals a day and did our laundry (with the help of the other two young ladies in the picture- Yprolin (holding Takesha) and Woodland). Yprolin lives at the orphanage and she helps a lot to look after Leekson and Takesha. She brings them back and forth from the orphanage to the team house when there is a team there. These two young ladies are 18-19 years old and have lived a lifetime already. Mikela is 42 I think they said. Neither of them speak much English. Woodland has lost both her mom and dad. She was the young lady crying that Sunday when we came home from the beach (I think I wrote about that story). When I finally figured out why she was crying (b/c she doesn't speak English) it was because it was Mother's Day in Haiti and she missed her mother. I had just lost my mom 2 months prior to our trip so I sat down and boohooed with her. We used a whole roll of toilet paper, but we bonded without words. I love that girl. Please say a prayer for her. She is having a difficult time at present. I hope I can dig a little deeper into this situation when I return in December.

Something I recently found out is that once a child turns 16 they are no longer adoptable. Not sure why that is, but that is the way the Haitian government runs things. We are hoping that the new president will relax some of the laws in Haiti so that some of the kids could get a temporary visa and passport so they could come go to school in America or at least come visit. How they expect these kids to learn a new way of life and take it back to their country to teach others is beyond me? I am hoping we can get Melissa's orphanage some chickens (laying hens) when I go in December too so they can at least have protein in their diet once a week or so. They used to have some laying hens, but once they get to about a year of age they stop producing eggs so they ate them. They need more. Also, prior to Amber and I going in Dec. I am going to learn how to milk a goat so they can milk the goats they have for calcium. They do have several goats running around inside the orphanage, they just don't know how to milk them. I'm making it my personal mission to learn how, teach them how, and see what happens :-). That ought to be fun!! Lol. Anybody wanting to help me by purchasing a chicken- they cost $10 each and if you know how to milk a goat and are willing to teach me, hit me up!!!

Derline is my girl! Don't know why I didn't get Kevin to take mine and her picture, but she is the young girl in the pink dress. She is the same age as my Tori-bug. She is a fiesty little thing that is all attitude. She wouldn't let anyone get near me the whole 9 days. She said I was hers. Well, besides Dieunor (pronounced Juno). Dieunor is in the looney tunes shirt. This was at church on Sunday morning. Dieunor is a very sweet, mild mannered boy that is being sponsored by my friend Mama Nell. Sonson is in the orange shirt and is being sponsored by my friend Linda Gail.

We have all these little guys in the above picture sponsored monthly and for Christmas. Want to help? There are still things you can do!

God bless you all!

Wendy

It's been a while!

2011-09-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

You know what they say....... Time flies when you are having fun!

I haven't updated this blog in a long time partly b/c my laptop was down for over a month back in June and July. The days just seem to pass by lately is the only other excuse I have. Everything has been going great. I never finished my journaling from Haiti. I already have plans to return next year May 29th. I am also now sponsoring the two children that Kevin and I connected with while we were there. Derline is a precious 11 year old girl that I fell in love with. Kevin is sponsoring Alteus St. Claire, aka "Tirelli". That is not at all how his name is spelled, but that is how they say it. Derline's name sounds like "Daylynn". Tirelli is 15-years-old and a very sweet kid too. Imagine Missions started a Christmas sponsorship program too where you select a child or in our case the child we sponsor monthly and you buy Christmas for them. They sent us a small wish list of things that they would like to have. There is no mail system in Haiti so everything has to be sent via Melissa Young, who runs the orphanage. Somehow she has to get all 127 kids gifts to them so I decided that I would make a very short Christmas visit in early December. My friend is going to go with me and I'm seriously considering letting Tori-bug (my 11-yr-old) go too. That way we can take the 11 children that we have gotten sponsored locally to them before Christmas. I think my friend Amber is going to fall in love with Haiti just like I did. Hopefully, she will want to go back with us for our regular mission trip at the end of May. My baby girl is dying to meet Derline so I am praying about letting her go for this very short trip. We will fly down on Thursday and fly back home on Sunday. I feel safe enough for her to make the trip, but it is very costly---- $600 for just a plane ticket for 4 days. I will have to see if I can come up with the money for the both of us to see if I can make it happen. She says she is even willing to request her Christmas gifts from grandparents, family, etc. be money instead of gifts so she could go.

Tori-bug is gearing up for gymnastics season to begin. She told me a couple of months ago that she didn't want to compete this year. She loves gymnastics, but for some reason didn't want to compete. She was back and forth, back and forth, then finally said last week that she didn't want to compete. I was a little bummed out b/c she is so good at gymnastics that I didn't want her to regret her decision. The first competition fee installment was due last Thursday and she tells me on Wed. night that she didn't want to compete so I didn't pay it. Last night (Thursday this week) she says she DOES want to compete. I texted her coach and asked if it was too late to pay the fee and she said she would let me pay it so now we are back to competing. I am so happy. They had a mini-meet at practice yesterday and she looked so good. Her kips on bars are still a little off, but we don't have our first meet until December so she has time to get it together.

I continue to miss mom horribly. The days are better now though. I don't have that extremely raw feeling in my heart anymore. I think about her constantly and I have to smile every time I go by a Chick-fil-A or if I eat there. Mama LOVED Chick-fil-A. Six months seems like a lifetime without her, but I know she is dancing in heaven with Jesus. A friend of ours lost her mom about 2 weeks ago and it brought back so many memories when I attended the funeral. Hopefully, I can help others that are now going to be living without their moms now too. Nobody understands that feeling unless they have been through it.

Well, thanks for checking in with me! No telling when I will update again so I won't even begin to make promises :-)

God Bless!
Wendy

Hait- day 4 Saturday May 28, 2011

2011-06-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. They didn't finish the concrete inside the house last night. They were only able to get 3/4 of the front room done. A teenager that went with us had me awake most of the night (it's a long story) so I got back to bed about 3:30am. I'm exhausted! My energy is not up today. We went over to the house to start sifting sand again and the girls started painting. They were able to get the back room done. Hopefully the guys will be able to start on the outside after lunch. Us girls are going to go over and start handing out the shoes. Lillie and Emily went to finish sorting out the storage room this morning b/c Lillie is one-handed now :-(
We are home for lunch at the moment. Hot dogs and mac 'n cheese.

Saturday night

The boys were able to finish the second room with stucco. We went over to the orphanage to pass out shoes. That was priceless!! We brought them in a few at a time and sized them. They also got a toothbrush and a pack of toothpaste. It was interesting b/c some of the kids were being picky about what shoes they got, but most of them were okay.. The older girls wanted nice church shoes/sandals. The older boys also got a Galilee Mission Run shirt. The older boys like tennis shoes.
We were also throwing a birthday part for the "May" birthdays. We had about 6 different kinds of cakes and some juice. The 11 kids who were celebrating their birthday got 3 items as a gift. We had wrapped them in plastic disposable colored tablecloths. What was funny is the kids don't really know their birthday so when they come in and see a gift with their name on it, they figure out it must have been their birthday that month. It is cute to see their face light up and them say, "It's my birthday".
Melissa is doing a fabulous work here. She really is. Her funding is not at all what she needs and it frustrates her to be able to keep up with everything that needs to be done. Example: 2 flat tires and a battery on our first day here. On the second day, one sink and one toilet wasn't working. Both the refrigerators (in the team house and the orphanage) went out the third day and yesterday (day 4) we noticed the drains in the kitchen at the orphanage weren't draining properly. It is really burdening me to know that this awesome lady is trying to keep this place running. I'm gonna ask all my Facebook friends to sponsor a child. Only 75 kids to go!!
An ER doctor from Canada came yesterday to tour the orphanage. He is connected to two very wealthy men who had been supporting an orphanage in Ethiopia. The person running that orphanage was misusing the funds and was put in prison so now they are thinking of supporting Melissa. That would be way awesome. Every dime goes to the kids. She will tell you all of her budget and where your money is going. People really do want to know where their money is going to want to sponsor. I assure you, she is doing right by it.

Friday 5/27/11 10:45pm

2011-06-12T14:14:00.001-07:00

We started the day today taking shoes over to the orphanage. We organized them on the shelves in the storage room. It looked like we had about 200 pairs of shoes. Tomorrow we are going to bring the kids in 4-5 at a time to size them. The older boys are also gonna get a Galilee Mission Run t-shirt (a mission run that raised money for us to take over there). We also have to celebrate May birthdays tomorrow so we were able to wrap up a few things for the ones celebrating their birthday. We will have a big birthday party- even cake (gato)!! Today the boys continued the work on the house. Sifting sand, mixing concrete, and putting stucco up on the walls. They got the inside walls done today.

"Finnie" (FINISH!!!)

We will be able to start painting the inside tomorrow. We ate a good dinner tonight of white rice, sausage, and bread. After dinner, Lillie fell out of a chair (it broke) and sliced her hand open on a glass Sprite bottle. We quickly took her to Open Hands Hospital in Port-Au-Prince for stitches. She had to get 9 stitches!! We joked with her that was one for every day that she was here. She would always remember Haiti!! It was a little harrowing trying to get to the hospital, but once we got there- it was all American run staff. The physician was Angelia and she was from Manhattan. They even had LIDOCAINE!! Thank God for lidocaine!! Everybody at the hospital was phenomenal.

Now we are ready for bed!!!

Thursday- 8:30pm

2011-06-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

This young lady is the only person near this house (young or old) that actually picked up a shovel and helped us.

Our first church service at the orphanage. It was awesome. The guys had been working outside in the heat all day, but the kids didn't care that they were hot and sweaty.

Etalin in front of her home prior to the renovation. Etalin works as a cook at the orphanage, but she lives in a little small community just down the road from the orphanage. She earns $37/mth. for her work at the orphanage!

This is a small child that lived behind Etalin. I'm not sure if he was family or not, but seeing this child was extremely hard for me.

Getting started on Etalin's house.

WHEW!! Today has been so physically hard! We didn't sleep well last night. It seemed like half the house was awake. Mainly Emily! She couldn't fall asleep for some reason. Cheryl was digging around in the bag looking for her some Melatonin. I was up at 5:00am anyways.

We went over to Etalin's house to work early this morning after eating scones, bacon, eggs, and fresh mango. We had to sift sand- a 2-part process. Once to get out the big rocks then again with a smaller sifter to get even smaller rocks and sand. They use a very fine sand to make stucco to put inside and outside the house before painting. Her house is going to be pink! The men worked hard and put up a tin roof today too. What was amazing was that there were probably 25 men looking/standing around watching all the women and girls work. This was BACK-BREAKING, very physical labor we were doing!! One very small girl, who looked to be 8-10 years old picked up a shovel and started helping us throw the gravel into the water holes while all the strapping, young men watched. It was crazy!! I rewarded her with bugspray. Bugspray is a huge commodity here. Everyone wants it, but nobody can afford to buy it!! It costs $14 a bottle. I also coated all the little ones around there. The mamas were wiping it off the children to put some on themselves.

Leave me comments to let me know you came by my page. I'm hoping you can get a glimpse into my experience through my journal.

Wednesday- May 25, 2011

2011-06-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

The room where I slept- on the floor, on a twin mattress BUT we did have a toilet, a shower, GREAT food, and mostly mosquito-free!!

Animals roam free all over Haiti. Here is a pig and a goat right outside the team house gate.

Lillie posing with some of her kids the very first time meeting them. The little one she is holding is Shadline. She's 3 years old. Precious!!

Kevin meeting Sonson and Terelli (Alteus St.Claire or Tirene). For some reason he is called Terelli. He has just turned 15. Sonson I believe is 10. Also, they write their last name first so Terelli's first name is St.Claire and his last name is Alteus.

My new friends John (in the red) and Kenson (in the blue). John is 10 and Kenson was 8 or 9 I believe. John will be my best friends son's penpal. They love to write letters and most of them can speak/write English well. Most of the boys have ringworm/fungus on their heads, but we had their heads shaved and treated it so hopefully this will get better.

Here's my journal entry for this day:

Waking up my first morning in Haiti. I actually woke up at 3:30am and have been awake ever since. It's now 5:00am and the sun is already up, shining thru the bedroom window. The rest of the house is quiet except Lillie- she's awake too. Melissa tells us that they start their day really early here and they finish their school and outside work by about noontime because it is so hot.

Thankfully so far I haven't gotten any mosquito bites. I'm sure that will change!!

Our plans today are to help repair a house for one of the ladies that works at the orphanage. She cooks and does some laundry there. She lives in a little village right outside the orphanage. She makes $37 a month for her work at the orphanage. The team house is about 1/2 mile down the road from the orphanage. This lady is living in a small house with no doors on the house, a tarp over the top for a roof and just 2 rooms. We haven't been there yet so I'm not sure yet- this is the info. Melissa gave us.

I need to take some pictures today on my phone so I can post them on my FB. When we walked over to the orphanage yesterday to visit the kids, it was overwhelming. 127 kids living behind a gate that resembles a compound or a prison. There are several buildings with an open courtyard in the middle. I drew a picture of the grounds in my journal, but I can't draw it here. They have a big girl's dorm, little girl's dorm (where the babies sleep), cafeteria, elementary school, clinic, food depot, church, sewing room, and a boy's dorm. All of the middle is sand, dirt, and rocks. Oh, standing, stagnant water too. No grass and a very skinny tree.

The kids just flock to you and are literally hanging on your every limb. I had 3 boys- John, Kenson, and Dieunor (pronounced Juno). Also a little girl named Derline (pronounced Daylin). The kids were playing in the water when we arrived and were butt-naked. They were hurriedly putting on their clothes. All of which looked very dirty. Most didn't have on any shoes. On the walk over there people were walking barefoot in the dirt and mud in which the animals and people pee and poop in. By the way, there are a variety of animals that roam free. Goats, pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and dogs. Melissa says they belong to someone but she doesn't know how they know whose is whose.

John wanted to show me where his bed was, which school room was his, etc. All the kids go to school- even the 3-yr.-olds (there are 2 that live here). Elementary age go on the campus at the orphanage and big kids go to secondary school in town. Until they pass a test, which is a government test they can't go to secondary school, which is like a public school, but you have to pay to go- around $500 a year. Usually by about 12 yrs. old they need to go to secondary school.

All the kids in this orphanage are healthy. Free of diseases, etc. There is a clinic next door to the team house that sees them. That's where Lillie and I will be helping I think (we didn't).

Something interesting I saw yesterday was how the kids groomed and picked each other. A fly or mosquito might have landed on the other one's face and they would smack it off. We joked that you know you are in Haiti when someone slaps you and you say thank you! A stranger stopped our truck yesterday wanting some Gas X and he picked off a mosquito that had landed on Roselle's face like it was nothing. Invading your personal space is very acceptable, I guess.

I can't wait to see what's in store for us today........

Noon the same day

We walked over to the house where we were going to be working. Her name is Etalin. She had a 2 room block house with a little porch (uncovered) on it. Only half the roof was covered with tin, but it's leaking. In the front room was a baker's rack with a small metal bowl on top of it. That's it! Dirt floors. The bedroom had 3 small beds, no windows, and several clothing items (ripped and smelled bad like urine). There were 2 babies in the yard- no diapers and the mom and grandma (Etalin) were using an old piece of cloth swatting the flies off. This has probably been the toughest for me to see. Those 2 babies looked like the postcard for life in Haiti, like something I would have seen on TV. There is no bathroom so the babies just pee or poop in your lap or in the yard. I had a little fan with a water sprayer on it and one of the babies loved it. His name was Joseph. The other baby wouldn't open up to me.

Brian went into town to get supplies while the rest of us took to cleaning out and packing up Etalin's house. We took all the stuff outside and into her sister's house (right in front of her house). After we got that done and while we were waiting on Brian to return and the sand to be delivered we came back to the team house to rest and eat lunch. It was only 9:45am or so and we felt like we had been at it all day. After lunch of hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, left over spaghetti noodles, ham and cheese sandwiches we loaded up and went back to the house to work. They had the sand delivered by this time so we got to work sifting out the big rock and the guys got to working on putting up the trusses on the house. We were to put the big rocks down on the floor of the front room and concrete will go over the top of that. Once we got to the point of getting a base down we (girls) walked to the orphanage. One of the guys standing around outside Etalin's house I nicknamed "Smiley". He was very well dressed and smiled the entire day. I later found out his name was Enud. He really liked Emily. There were several boys around that gawked at us and never did any work. Of course when we got to the orphanage, were were immediately surrounded by "our" kids. Certain kids take possession of you and won't let the others near you hardly. They say, "Wendy mine- NO, NO, NO!!" Kevin was still working at the house so Terelli and Sonson wanted to know where he was and they hung out with me all afternoon.

Derline (Daylin) is a 10-yr-old girl that has the most beautiful complexion. She speaks great English and so does Terelli. We tried to teach the kids how to play Red Rover/Red Rover. They finally got the hang of it- sort of!!

Before we knew it we were all dispersed into little groups. The kids loved seeing pics of Tori on my phone and videos of her gymnastics. I sat down and remembered that I had some games on my phone. They instantly figured out how to play TicTacToe. While I was sitting down the girls took over braiding my hair. They kept saying, "Oh American hair, so hard-different-not braid easy". It actually ended up looking rather good, but I had to endure about an hour of torture. If a strand of hair got left out of the braid the pulled it out of your head!! OUCH!! It was all good though.

I then went to walk around and find everyone else. Lillie had about a million girls in the cafeteria dancing, clapping, and doing the Mac arena in Haitian. The kids actually know a lot of American songs. They even knew "Beat It" by Michael Jackson. Elizabeth was getting her hair plaided (braided) and it looks great. Lillie had hers done too. The girls loved Elizabeth's long hair b/c nobody has long hair here. Hmmm...... maybe I should get them to show me how to braid black people hair so I can do it for Kylee's hair (my niece is bi-racial).

What I learned today.......

1. Haitians love cat meat! They saw a picture of my cats and said, "mmmm" cat tastes so good! Oh how sad! Guess if I was starving I might feel differently too but that just about got to me!

2. The older girls in the mission have very beautiful skin. Maybe it's from all the sweating I've done, but my face has never felt this soft either.

3. Mosquitoes here by the billions and they can bite thru clothes- especially socks. I might have one bite though still. I'm keeping lots of bug spray on.

4. As a general rule, Haitians don't care for the American military. They love Brazil though.

5. They don't know where GA is. They know Miami, Florida and they know Ohio (where Melissa is from), but not GA. I'm gonna try to send a USA map to Melissa for their school.

6. One boy today asked me if I knew Osama Bin Laden and I said yes, he's dead. Our conversation went like this.

Terelli: "You know Osama Bin Laden?"

Me: "Yes, but he's dead"

Terelli: "NO, he's not dead!!"

Me: "Oh yes he is. Americans kill him. Shoot him in head two times"

Terelli: "You see with your eyes?"

Me: "No"

Terelli: "you see on TV?"

Me: "yes"

Terelli: "I like Osama b/c he's my color!"

Me: "Yes, but I like you and you're not my color. It's what is on the inside, not the outside. Osama was evil"

Terelli: "Are you Christian?"

Me: "Oh yes, I'm a Christian.

Terelli: "ME TOO! ME TOO!" (conversation over- haha)

7. The average life expectancy is 45!!

WOW?!? Sorry this entry is so long. Tomorrow's won't be! I promise. Let me know that you were here please. Leave me a comment.

Haiti Mission Trip

2011-06-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Brian- our fearless youth minister and leader. He was an awesome leader and remained calm every step of the way (even though he probably knew I would be way out of my comfort zone). Lol.

Kevin and Brian on the first leg of our journey to Haiti.

The teenagers and Brian in Miami Airport

A view of Haiti from the sky. Wow, our mission is about to begin!

We were responsible for bringing shoes to the 127 kids at the orphanage. I think we probably had over 200 pairs. It was awesome.

We've just returned from our mission trip in Haiti late Thursday night. We had an amazing experience and it was definitely life changing. I am going to blog my journal just like when I was there each day and post pictures.

Here is my first journal entry:

05/23/11

Well, it's the night before my first mission trip to Haiti. I'm laying in the church sanctuary thinking how very blessed I am. I may never have this chance again but if I don't, I can cross it off my bucket list. My feelings tonight are of nervousness, excitement, joy, and a little bit of fear.

I'm sure I'll come home changed, with a renewed sense of accomplishment, that I conquered something else. I hope to come home to my own child with a bigger heart, with more compassion, and a steadfast spirit.

05/24/11 10:00am

I'm on a plane headed to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. I'm so excited about this opportunity. Brian gave us these journals last night and told us to write down our thoughts and we would be able to go back and reread them some day. You think you won't forget, but I am sure with time, some of the memories will get foggy.

Everything has been very smooth so far. The plane is very full. I'm told we are in for a huge experience and it will be shocking and eye opening. A gentleman on the plane with us is from South Dakota and he has made this journey several times. He is starting a food program called Aquaponics. We have to travel one hour in the back of a pick up truck once we get to Port-Au-Prince to get to the orphanage. That ought to be interesting with 11 of us, 22 checked bags, plus 22 carry on bags.

9:00pm

Brian wanted us to list the things we saw today:

1). Almost saw a fight at the airport over our luggage. We had been told repeatedly to say "no mesi" in regards to Haitians helping us with our luggage at the airport. We even practiced carrying everything the night before so we knew we could handle it, but when we got there we didn't know "who" exactly was with us and who was against us. Finally, a gentleman came in and ushered us out the door, but not before someone grabbed Stephanie's bags and the men were screaming and shouting over who was supposed to be helping.

2). A dead dog on the side of the road.

3). A woman with only half of her top on so her breast was exposed (sorry, but that's what I saw and then journaled). haha

4). Children walking in urine and feces without shoes on.

Things I smelled today:

1). Trash

2). Sewer

3). My own sweaty butt!!

How I felt today:

1). Sad

2). Overwhelmed

3). Burdened

4). Blessed

5). Surprised

6). Tired

7). Scared

8). Hungry (before Mecula made us the best spaghetti dinner)

HAITI- IMAGINE MISSIONS

2011-05-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

When Kevin and I decided to go to Haiti on this mission trip, it was beyond our imaginations of what we would be in store for. I had a mission trip on my Bucket List for quite a long time so this will be a dream come true for me. Something to cross off my list. The name of the mission group we are going with is called "Imagine Missions". It is an orphanage housing 130 children. My passion in life is pediatric nursing so this will definitely be my cup of tea. I have lots of "nerves" going on....... I am a planner, super organized, "don't rock my boat" kind of girl and I've been told that I need to just "go with the flow". Be ready for changes. I'm told the most chaotic time is the airport in Haiti. It can be very chaotic, kids pulling on you begging for money, people wanting to carry your luggage for a fee, etc. You can't. You have to say "No, mesi", i.e. no thank you. If you give money to anybody it opens you up for prey. I would be fine with saying no to an adult, but a child? I will though. It puts your whole group in jeopardy if you do. Once at the orphanage we will have a little bit more free will.
This will be only my 4th. flight so that has me a little nervous too. Don't get me wrong, I actually like to fly, but it's still a little nerve-wrecking to me. We have a lot of donated shoes to take with us so we have to try to get them packed into our checked bags tomorrow night. Each bag will weigh 50 lbs. and we will need to pull 2 each, plus a backpack, plus a carry on. I only weigh 100lbs. so I will be carrying and pulling more than I weigh. That has me a little nervous as well with my bad back self. No, really, I'll be fine. There are lots of people way worse off than me so I can do it. I plan to take lots of pictures to share when I return.
I am hoping I fall so in love with the Haitian people that I will want to return again some day. I am specifically asking for prayer at 11:30am every day until we return. Not just for me and my physical problems (my back), but for our team, that we will share the love of Jesus with others, that God will put people in our path that we need to see and talk to, but also that God will put people in OUR lives that we need to hear from. We want to be a blessing, but we also want to receive a blessing. I am going expecting and IMAGINING GOD showing up and showing out!!! I am so eternally grateful for the opportunity. Thank you friends for the prayers in advance and for helping us get there. You guys are awesome!!
Excited,
Wendy

Emotions and Mother's Day

2011-05-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is this Sunday. I get emotional/tearful when I think about it.

I miss mom terribly.

I keep trying to remind myself how blessed I was to have had her in my life for 36 years. I also think about being a mother to my own daughter and I wonder if I'm mothering her the right way sometimes. I know I could do better at times, but no doubt she knows she is loved. I love being her mother. She is so sweet. She went to Florida last week for Spring Break without her daddy and I (with my sister's in-laws) and I celebrated a birthday while she was gone. She came back with a little necklace she had picked out from somewhere and went to her room, found a small used giftbag, and handed it to me saying "happy late birthday". It looked like a beaded Mickey Mouse and they did go to SeaWorld so I guess she got Mrs. Mary to buy it for her. What a sweetie!! Mary (my sister's mother-in-law) has stepped in to be our "mom". She doesn't even know how much I appreciate the love that she has not only for my sister and her family, but she has loved us just as much. I try to tell her often what she means to me! If I could convince myself to go down the card aisle, I'd buy her a Mother's Day card. I love her!!

We leave for Haiti in 21 days!!! I'm getting excited and nervous all at the same time. I can't believe that I finally get to go on a mission trip. God has so blessed us!! We are almost ready. I need to find a couple more used suitcases to use to leave there. We are not going to return with anything except the clothes on our backs so I want to find old luggage that I won't care that I leave. I've been looking at the Goodwill in our town and did find one, but I need three more. My husband and I need two a piece. We are also taking shoes (used or new) for the orphanage and being a nurse I have a lot of "medical" items that I am donating. A very sweet dentist donated toothbrushes and toothpaste too. We leave on May 24th. Please be in prayer for us, especially now with all that is going on with security in the U.S. It makes me a tad bit more nervous for our safety traveling to a foreign country and leaving my own child here for 9 days.

Thanks for checking in! I will write again soon!
Blessings,
Wendy

Anniversary #13

2011-04-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

On April 4, 1998 I married my best friend and high school sweetheart. We celebrated by going camping at Stone Mountain and Kevin made me the neatest video of the beginning of our relationship, wedding, and up til now. I can't figure out how to get it to download. Shoot! It is so cool. It's probably the best present I've ever received. I love you Kevin. More today than yesterday, but not near as much as I will tomorrow. This May we will also be celebrating our 20th. year together. More than half my life. Wow!!

MY GIRl

2011-03-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

The whole world should know that my Tori-bug won 4th. place for her age group overall in the whole STATE at her gymnastics meet!!! To say I'm proud of her would be an understatement. She medaled in every event too. Some kids went home with nothing so this is a huge accomplishment. We spent the weekend at Red Top Mtn camping with the family. Even my 19-year-old stepdaughter went. We had not been "together" in over 8 months so this was nice. Since mom passed away my feelings on parent/child (adult) relationships have changed so we needed this family time. Plus, I needed a get-away. The tears still flow freely. My emotions are still very raw. I'm trying to be patient with myself and I know it is normal to still be grieving. I'll post pictures of the 4th. place state win later. Thanks for stopping by!! Wendy

Sunday

2011-03-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday. I should have went to church. I woke up crying so I can't go. Sometimes I'm not even sure what sets me off, but today I was watching the news on the earthquake in Japan and the tsunami that might have hit Hawaii, but didn't. Kevin, Tori, and myself went to Hawaii when Tori was a year old and I promised mom that I would take her someday too. I never did so I guess that's what set me to crying this morning. She would have loved to see the most beautiful place on earth. Really, it is. We plan to go back someday soon. I'm having a hard time today. I wanted badly to go to church, but I couldn't even put my make-up b/c of the crying. My sister wants to do some kind of memorial for mom so we decided to go on a family camping trip. We have a camper, Monica kept mom's pop-up camper, and I'm giving my sister our old tent. Mom loved to camp. She would have loved for us to do this as a family.

I'm going to go back to work tomorrow. I NEED to. I need normalcy and a routine to get back to my life. It must go on. I know there will still be days where I cry and miss her more than others, but hopefully they will get fewer and farther between. I need my friends on days like this. They have been my lifeline as well as my husband. They can't even imagine the ways they have helped me. My husband doesn't know how to help, except be here for me. That's all I need and to talk when I want to. He is sooo good to me.

We are still going to Haiti in May. I feel so much better about going since now I won't have to worry about leaving mom behind not feeling well. I think this will be life-changing for me. I might even do something there in remembrance of my mom. Pediatrics are my life and we are going to an orphanage. I'm scared to death, but now I'm really excited. My prayer is that my back will hold up and I won't be in too much pain while I'm there.

It's supposed to be nice in Georgia today so maybe we will plant some flowers. Mom loved tulips. A weird, God-thing happened on the day mom died. I have a huge tulip tree in my front yards. On Tuesday when mom passed the tulip tree bloomed in huge full blooms. I was a sign to me that she is still with me.

Darn, I almost forgot. Tori-but had a gymnastics meet yesterday and she won first place overall!!! She has never won first. She has come in second lots of times, but she finally got the first place status. I decided not to go so that I could finish the stuff for mom before going back to work, but Kevin recorded it for me. What a blessing and a great accomplishment! To say I was a proud mama is an understatement. I'm sure it was my mama looking down smiling on her and giving her good mojo.

This blog helps me to vent and express my feelings. Thanks for sticking with me and listening. I love you all.

Missing my mama especially bad today,

Wendy

Angel Wings

2011-03-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Mom went to her heavenly reward yesterday at 5:45pm. Oh how I am going to miss her! I'm heartbroken. There will be a great reunion in heaven today. Mom gets to see her mama, daddy, brother, and sister. As well as a lot of other family members. I long for the day that I too get to have that family reunion. I can't imagine seeing Jesus face-to-face the first time. Maybe that is what mom was seeing when she opened her eyes wide and took her final breath.

Thanks for all the love and support the past few weeks! We will always be grateful.

Wendy

Best Friends and Heartbreak

2011-03-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

I'm so heartbroken. Mom is not well at all. She is still at my house b/c my sister's house was still being unpacked. Sunday mom had an awesome day. She was awake and alert all day. She had said she was ready to go home to Monica's house so my brother and I went over to try to help Monica get her room ready to receive her back home.
Sunday night she started this really bizarre-sounding breathing. It wasn't like an asthma attack, but that's the only way I know to describe it to someone else. My stepfather and I finally got her to calm down after about an hour-and-a-half. She slept great the rest of the night. I got up and ready for work yesterday and when I went in her room to give her morning meds she looked horrible. I couldn't leave her like that so my sister, C.C. called the nurse. Mom's nurse got here around 9:45am and told us that her resting O2 sat was 84. When she stood (with a lot of help) it went down to 70. We were told that she had tops 2 weeks, but probably less than a week would be more like it.
Mom is and has always been my best friend. My husband is too, but there is nobody like my mama. We planned for her to spend the last days of her life at Monica's where she has been for 2 years, but we couldn't move her yesterday. God's plan is always better. Even though that isn't what we had planned for, it is much better for her to be at my house so she can be with ALL of us. She is getting round the clock morphine and anxiety meds.
I know I serve a BIG God. My strength only comes from Him, but I can't imagine my life without my best friend. My heart feels like it is breaking in to. I'm going to try to focus on the good memories with mom. We went camping together back in November and we had a great time. I don't want mom to struggle to breathe. I want her to go to Heaven peacefully. Please pray for that for me. My uncle Mike (mom's only living brother) was really sick in Nov. and was in ICU on a vent for about 10 days. He is going to try to come down from Virginia on Friday. I bet mom will try to hang on until she sees him. He has COPD really bad too.
I love my mama. I thank God every day that he gave her to me as a mother. It won't be the same without her, but I know I will never say goodbye. I'll see her again one day.

Heartbroken,
Wendy

EVERYTHING

2011-02-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

WOW!!! A lot has happened since I last logged in and wrote a post. I didn't realize that it had been so long.

We had a great Christmas with family and friends. Tori-bug kept the miracle of believing in Santa. I was almost hoping that she would ask me, but she didn't so we got to surprise her yet again this year. I think it will be a different story next year as she goes into middle school. Her elf, JOY came again this year on Dec. 1st. For some reason though, she didn't get into a lot of mischief. She did toilet paper Tori's bedroom one morning and also wrote on her bathroom mirror with spray snow. Tori is totally in love with that elf and cried on Christmas Eve night b/c she was having to leave.
We camped the last time the week before Thanksgiving with our best friends, The Corbetts. We tried to get our other set of best friends to go with us, but it didn't work out b/c they had football tournaments. We camped at Vogel and it was sleeting and snowing when we were trying to set up camp. It was brutally cold outside too. I think the temps one morning was in the teens. Nonetheless, we had an awesome time. The kids love being together and so do the adults.

My sister's house is nearly ready to move in after the house fire in July. The new house is absolutely gorgeous. I think they are gonna love it. It has been such a tough time for our family in the past year, but now they will get to move back and have all new stuff. This is an answer to prayer and we feel so blessed that God has continued to provide. Hoping they get to move in in a couple of weeks.

Now, we need even bigger prayers. Mom got sick a couple of months ago with a cold. The whole family had it. They had been going through some of the fire damaged boxes and it was really dusty and still smelled of smoke. The other members of the family got better, but with mom's breathing she didn't. She took several rounds of antibiotics, steroids, nebulizer treatments, and such, but couldn't kick it. She finally went to the doctor 2-1/2 weeks ago and he wanted to admit her. She didn't want to do that b/c she said they would put her on the Bipap machine for her breathing so she refused the admission. He gave her a shot of steroids and a shot of antibiotics. She came home with oral meds as well. That night she started having severe shortness of breath and difficulty breathing so my sister and I took her to the ER. They did admit her and her numbers were really bad. Her oxygen sat was in the 80's and she was really struggling to breath. She asked them to sedate her if she needed the Bipap b/c it makes her feel like she is suffocating. We ended up giving three nebulizer treatments back-to-back-to-back and several other IV meds for breathing and she finally settled down. She was in-patient for 3 nights and 4 days. We came home on Sat. on hospice. This wasn't necessarily a hard decision for us to make b/c her lung specialist has been recommending it for a long time, but we didn't feel it was necessary until this admission. Mostly it relieved me of having to be the nurse and daughter. I can just be a daughter now and let someone else do the nursing stuff. Sat. and Sunday mom looked and felt better than she had in 2 years. I was thrilled. Tuesday evening she started having severe stabbing-like pain in the left side of her chest and a horrible deep cough that was taking her breath. We called the on-call hospice nurse and she felt like mom had broken a rib so we started her on morphine. The morphine was only relieving the pain for a short while then it was coming back so we started giving it to her in a pill form twice a day. She was having to take extra liquid in between too. She got really confused and unsteady on her feet so we made the decision to stop it. She was a lot better with the pain and the cough was all but gone too. We put her back on her regular pain meds and this seems to be working for now. She has to take it every 4 hrs. but that is better than seeing her so out of it on the morphine so we would rather do that. She gets short of breath when walking or getting up and down so she gets anxious. Monica and I have been tag-teaming her. To say it has been a stressful, emotional filled 2 weeks is an understatement. I have spent nearly every day and night crying. I know mom probably won't live very long, but I want her to be comfortable and not confused while she is here. We are taking it day by day. So far, we are making it the best we know how. All of us kids have had our moments, but by God's grace we are still trying to make each day the best it can be.

Kevin and I are going on a mission trip to Haiti at the end of May. Our church youth group is going to an orphanage. I am going to do nursing within the orphanage and my hubby is going to do construction type work. I am really excited but nervous at the same time. It is not very safe in Haiti right now and with my bad back and now mom's health, I am a little more than anxious. We have our trip sponsored. We are so grateful for our loving friends and church family that have helped us and are still helping us. Please pray that mom will be healthy enough for me to go. I don't want to leave the country for 9 days with that hanging over my head. I am counting on God to make those provisions for us and I know He will.

Gymnastics is in full swing. Tori-bug is doing great. We have only had 2 meets so far, but we have one next weekend in Panama City and the following weekend in Pigeon Forge. Hopefully she will do great. That girl loves to flip and flop.

Sorry this post is so long, but since it has been forever I had lots to tell you :-)

Thanks for checking in on us,
Wendy

Celebrity Status

2010-11-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

In my little small neck of the woods, I am almost a celebrity.

I was asked to be the featured cook of the week in our local newspaper. REALLY!! I WAS!!

LIL 'OL ME??!!??

I honestly almost laughed when they asked me, but I really can cook when I decide to so I decided to participate. I do not have any original recipes but really who does? I used a couple of Ree's from The Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com) and everybody I have seen in town since then raved about The Marlboro Man Sandwich. It tastes so good. I also gave them a recipe from my church's cookbook.

I went to vote last night and the older lady who was volunteering took my driver's license, saw my name and said, "ooooh, I saw you in the newspaper. It's nice to meet you". I was cracking up!!

Besides being the celebrity around here, we have been doing a lot of camping still. We have been two separate weekends. Fall Break we went to Calhoun KOA Campground and had a great time. Last weekend we went to our local state park, Fort Yargo. Both trips my niece and nephew went with us. This weekend we are going to the mountains to another state park and then hopefully the weekend before Thanksgiving we are going yet again to a different park. That will probably be the last of it for the winter. It is finally feeling like November in Georgia just this week. The weekend in the mountains the low will be in the 20's so hopefully we won't freeze our hiney's off. We love to camp so we are game anyways. Hopefully, next time I can post pics of our adventures. You can read all about me in the Barrow Journal newspaper if you want to google it :-)

Tootles,
Wendy

Marriage Retreat

2010-09-18T15:46:00.000-07:00

My dear hubby and I spent a weekend away last weekend camping ALONE!!

As in, no kids.

Just us.

It was wonderful. We went up to Victoria Bryant State Park about an hour-and-a-half from our home with our camper and enjoyed a weekend away. We had not been able to do this since getting our new camper back 3 months ago. Lots of trips with Tori-bug and we love going with friends and family, but we soooo needed some time away to renew our relationship.
Victoria Bryant State Park is a beautiful park in North Georgia. Since we don't have a TV in the camper, the weekend was filled with relaxing, hiking a nature trail, reading, cooking out, and listening to the radio. I loved having this time to spend with just Kevin.

This weekend, we were able to attend a Love and Laughter marriage retreat with Dr. Gary Smalley and Ted Cunningham at a local church. Friday night and Sat. morning until lunch we learned how to put the laughter back in our marriage. Boy, oh boy did we laugh and laugh. The seminar was awesome. Kevin and I have been together for 19 years and married for 12 years. Like so many other couples life gets in the way and we are busy raising children that we sometimes forget about each other. We didn't know it at the time, but several other couples from our church attended the same seminar. We sat on the front row with two of the other couples and got "called" out a few times b/c we were laughing and agreeing with what the speakers were saying. One of the couples ended up getting a free book b/c Dr. Smalley was "picking" on them! It was hysterical. We love sitting up front where all the action is. Plus, with my OCD and Kevin's ADD, we have a hard time paying attention sitting in the back. Ha! It was neat getting to spend alone time with my hubby last weekend and learning at the marriage retreat the following weekend. Great week indeed! We bought a few of the books and some of the books on CD and even a study book so hopefully we can keep up the laughter for months and years to come.

The rest of the home front is going good too! Tori-bug is in full-swing of gymnastics practice and 5th. grade. She has a really good teacher this year so we are happy about that. Business is good for Kevin right now since it is still mid-90's in the middle of Sept. in Georgia! Pretty unusual for us in Georgia, although you just never know. A few years ago, it was so cold on Labor Day in GA that we nearly froze. When you own a heating and air company you are thankful for the extreme temps. whether it is too hot or too cold. We will take what we can get. I am still working 32 hrs. a week. I changed my schedule a little to a half day on Wed. and a half day on Thursdays so now I am able to co-lead a middle school girls small group bible study on Wed. nights. I was not able to do this in a long period of time (mostly b/c of my severe back pain) so it makes me feel great that I can get back involved. Since I only work a half a day, I am able to come home and rest before going to church on Wednesdays if I need to.

Well, that's about it for the Whiddon's. Happy Birthday to my daddy on Sept. 20th! I love you daddy!!

Note to hubby:: Let's balance the budget this week! I love you!!

The Lambs Book of Life

2010-08-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today my Tori-bug's name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. What a glorious day!! Her daddy and I couldn't wait for this day. The day we have prayed about since the day we found out we were pregnant. If feels so good knowing that she will meet us in Eternity one day.

Pictures and Such

2010-07-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

I totally forgot about Tori-bug's birthday on June 14th. She turned 10. Double digits now!! Woohoo! We kept it very mild this year and only did a small family party since her "real" gift from us was GymDog Camp. Here she is with her favorite GymDog--- Hillary Mauro! Tori-bug had such a fabulous fun time during the entire week. But, true to Tori-bug fashion she did break her pinky on the first day!! Poor girl, she didn't even want to tell me for fear that I wouldn't let her go back the rest of the week. I guess she didn't realize how much we had spent on that week of camp so "Oh, she was going back every day!!" She barely let it slow her down at all. She just couldn't do a couple of the bar routines. The mat slid out from under the beam on dismount is how she broke the finger. She's good now.

This is my gorgeous niece Leah! She is now 15 months old and has a brand new baby sister. She spent a little time at my house this day and we got her an Tori-bug in a little baby pool on our back deck. She had so much fun. I sure do love that little sweet thing.

Speaking of brand new---- here she is, Kylee Kristina. She is so adorable. She was born on June 10, 2010. My very young, 20 year-old sister now has two precious baby girls under age 15 months. She is a great mom though, just has her hands full. My other sister and myself try to help out as much as we can.

Pictures of my sister, Monica's burned up house. The house caught fire on July 10th. at 7:00pm. My husband and I had been camping for the weekend so I had invited my sister and my disabled mom to come visit me at the campground for the day. They did and we had a great day and ended it with a cook-out. My sister, her husband, 3 kids, our disabled mom, and my sister's inlaws all lived in the same house. The in-laws and the children had went to Florida for the week. A 12-year-old neighbor called my niece (not knowing she was in Florida) to say her house was on fire, the roof was gone, and the firemen were there. She didn't know if anybody was home. I got the call at 8:30 about 45 minutes after my sister left the campground to go home. The inlaws didn't know Monica and the dog had been with me all day so thankfully nobody was home at the time. By the time my sister arrived at her house, the whole thing was in flames. We decided to stay put at the campground so the rest of the family could go to my house to sleep EVENTUALLY. About 80% of the house is burned. The basement where the mother-in-law suite was and my niece's rooms was not fire damaged, just under a foot of water. Everything down there was soaked. My family was devastated! All night I cried out to Jesus asking what are we gonna do. My house is not that big, but we have the new camper and such so we would make it work. With my mom being disabled with only 18% of total lung function she was the one we were most concerned about. My sister and the rest of the family functioned during the day out of my house and at night were sleeping in a hotel. People in our community really opened their hearts and brought homecooked meals, food, clothes, school supplies, etc. We are really blessed.

The biggest praise out of all of it was this: All night while I was crying out to God, my sister's best friend (unbeknownst to me) were both asking God to save my sister's pictures. Everything else is replaceable, but we couldn't replace pictures. On Sunday, after the firemen released the house to us we discovered that only a portion or about half of my sister's bed was burned for some unknown reason (*well, I know the reason, but anyway*). The side that wasn't burned had three storage totes under it. Guess what was in those totes? My sister's wedding scrapbooks, birth photos, and baby pictures!! We both fell out praising God for that miracle. My God is a big God. What ever is over my head, is under His feet. They still haven't determined the cause of the fire. They are supposed to go in the morning for them to release the investigation report. Doesn't really matter at this point. They had insurance and they have been amazing thus far. They got moved into a rental home yesterday which the insurance provided for them. It is far more than we could have asked for too. My sister had quite a large house, 3600 sq. ft. as you can imagine with 8 people living there, but the new rental house is 6-bedrooms and 6,000 sq.ft!!! God proved himself big in that situation too!!

It will take them about 6-9 months to rebuild and they are thinking of adding another level when they do. They will level the house down to the foundation and start over. The ins. company even rented all new furniture to go in the rental house. They even rented pictures to go on the walls to make it look "home-y".

Thanks for checking in on us! Sorry this was such a long post, but I had to share some of our experiences over the past few weeks. It has been a busy month indeed!!

Hopefully the next month will be a little more relaxed. School starts for us on Monday, so we shall see :-)

Wendy

What a mess!!

2010-07-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Lots of stuff has happened since my last post. Most recently, as in on Sat. night, my sister's house burned down. My sister, her husband, 3 kids, my disabled mother, and her in-laws lost everything in the fire. My family is totally devastated. We are a super close knit family and have endured a lot of stuff but never a fire. No injuries or lives were lost and we were able to salvage some pictures, thank God for that!!! They think it might have been an electrical fire, but it is still under investigation. The pictures (which I haven't downloaded yet) are horrendous. My family is staying with me for now. Well, between here and they are sleeping in a hotel at night. Mom is with me. It will take 6-9 months to rebuild so we are praying and ask all of our friends to pray that they can find a handicap accessible rental house big enough for 8 people that is in our area.

On a lighter note, my Tori-bug was able to go to GymDog gymnastics camp a couple of weeks ago. She had the most fun and learned a lot. I'll try to post pictures of her experience soon. She says she is going to be a future gymdog. I surely hope so b/c she needs a scholarship to go to college :-)

I have a brand new niece, Kylee. She looks just like Leah, her sister. She is gorgeous, but I'm a little biased I guess. I need to post pics of her too I guess.
I just wanted to ask everyone to pray for my family as we go through these trials. I will try to post again soon and put the pictures up.

Summer is here!!!

2010-05-27T06:49:00.001-07:00

I love this picture of my Tori-bug. It was taken at a hotel in Concord, N.C. when we were there for the Regionals Gymnastics Competition. She swims like a fish! We do a lot of swimming in the summer. My dad has a pool so it is convenient. When Tori-bug was 4 she took her first swimming lesson class. By the end of the 6 weeks she was the only one in her group that was diving to the bottom of the pool.

Tori-bug and her daddy stopped to pose for a picture. I am so blessed for them to be a part of my life. I am thankful that I have a husband that still takes my breath away. He is so loving and is a man of God. We are ready for summer to begin. School got out last Friday. Tori-bug will be going into 5th. grade. We have lots of plans to swim at the pool and go to the lake with our friends. We are also going on our annual family camping trip. About 30 family members on my dad's side all go to the lake to camp-out every year. We ski, boat, kneeboard, ride the tube, and swim all day long for the whole weekend. Tori-bug also gets to go to GymDog gymnastics camp this year. It is a week long daycamp. Gymnastics 8 hrs. a day!!! Fun, fun, fun!!! We have VBS that same week in the evenings so she will probably be exhausted, NO DOUBT!

I hope you all enjoy your summer! Thanks for checking in on us!

Wendy

Our Daughter, The Graduate- Class of 2010

2010-05-22T06:44:00.000-07:00

We couldn't be prouder of Lyndsey. She made it through high school. I told Kevin yesterday that some days it seems like she was just born and other days it seems like it has been a lifetime ago. I was 17 and a senior in high school when she was born. Kevin was just out of high school and was 19. We had a very tough time some days just because we were so young and her mom and Kevin were never married. Thankfully, Kevin and Michelle both found a way to make it work. Michelle married Jonathan and Kevin married me. We all live in the same town and for the most part get along very well. I wouldn't say it was a piece of cake, but we made it to this day..... Lyndsey's (OUR daughter) GRADUATION DAY!!

Kevin, Lyndsey, and Michelle

Lyndsey--- we are so proud of you!!!

Easter and Anniversary

2010-04-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Me and the love of my life--- 12 wonderful years later

Me and my mini-me- Easter 2010

Tori-bug in her Easter dress 2010

Leah on her first Easter

Easter happened to fall this year on our 12th. year wedding anniversary. We were able to enjoy not only the day celebrating a risen Saviour, but also His blessings on our family and our relationship. I married the most wonderful man. He truly treats me like a queen. I couldn't have hand-chosen anyone better. We got up early and went to sunrise service at church. Came home and got dressed up in our new Sunday clothes and went back to the church for an Easter celebration. Tori-bug agreed to take our picture before heading out. After church we were able to have lunch with my husband's mother and really enjoyed being together. There is very few kids around now so the three of them (after they found eggs), re-hid them and made their daddy's go on an egg hunt. It was really cute. I hate that I didn't get pictures of the men running around the yard looking for eggs. Besides the fact that they were hunting empty eggs (the kids had already taken out the candy). Hahaha...... We did have a real egg hunt on Sat. at the church and my niece (who is about to turn 1) got to look for eggs too and have her picture made with the Easter bunny.

Wendy

State Meet

2010-03-28T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well, let's start with the good news first.......

2nd. place on bars in the state!!!!

I was so happy for her. She deserved to get a great all-around score too, but she didn't. She took a risk on the beam routine, trying to do the back walkover, which I didn't want her to do, but she fell off the beam. She scored the lowest score she has ever made at state or any other meet with a 7.7. I was very disappointed at first and so was she. After I calmed down and really put myself back in check, I was proud that she took a risk (despite it not going in her favor). She can land the routine that she has practiced all season easily and probably would have gotten a point or so better on the score, but nobody gets far in life without taking risks....... at least that is what I have convinced myself now. She did great on vault and scored a 9.325, but didn't medal on it. She had a really good floor routine, but the judges were scoring a little hard so she didn't medal on it, nor get the big scores like she usually gets. It is supposed to be hard. It is the STATE meet. Not everyone gets the chance to go to state so I am trying to be easier on myself. Mama just wanted the best for her :-).

We are going to Regionals in a few weeks. That is in Concord, N.C. We talked about her doing the cartwheel on beam at that meet. It will be competing against 6 different states in our southern region. We plan to go get our first place medal at that meet. She can do it!!!

Go get 'em in North Carolina, Tori-bug!!!

Wendy

Slacker

2010-03-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ooooohhhh, just call me a SLACKER!!!

I have been so terrible about updating my blog. I realized that I had not posted anything since Tori-bug's Panama City Meet over a month ago. Let's see..........

We went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee at the end of February for a gymnastics meet. Tori-bug did really well there. REALLY WELL!!!

Here is how it broke down. There were 15 competitor's in her age group. She got her highest all-around score EVER. I can't imagine why I didn't get on here and brag, brag, brag on her, but I have been sooooo busy.

All-around score: 36.45 Third place
Vault: 9.350 Third place tie
Bars: 9.025 Sixth place
Beam: 8.775 Third place tie
Floor: 9.300 Third place

I was so very proud. Despite the beam score not being very, very high she still got a third place tie out of it.

On March 12, she had a gymnastics meet near our home town. Actually in Athens, Georgia (Home of our beloved UGA Gymdogs). She scored really great at that meet too. Second highest all-around score for her.

All-around score: 36.325 Second place (1st. place went to her teammate)
Vault: 8.85 Third place tie
Bars: 9.3 Third place
Beam: 8.775 Third place
Floor: 9.400 Second place tie (also with her teammate)

Two back-to-back meets that were rocking!! We have our State Meet coming up on Sunday. Her coach wants to change her beam routine for our big State Meet. She learned her back walkover on beam a few weeks ago, but it is still inconsistent. She is only "landing" it 3/4 of the time. She has a great cartwheel on beam, but the back walkover looks prettier for her to do. I am not the coach and I will go with whatever her coach (who is former Olympian-Hope Spivey) recommends, but I don't want her to fall off the beam at the State Meet and get a big deduction when she can land the cartwheel with very little risk of falling off. She is going to decide tomorrow night at practice and tell her which one she wants her to do. I think she is definitely capable of landing it, but I am kinda worried for her :-)

I have had pneumonia three times (well probably never got rid of it from the first time) since January. I had it, got better, relapsed three weeks later, got better, then got sick again. It was exhausting coughing so much and thus the reason I have also for not updating this blog. See, I am trying to find myself some good excuses Kathleen!! Haha.

I started a new once a month Bible Study at church. It is a Beth Moore study and I love that we only have to show up once a month. They are calling it a busy woman's bible study and that is definitely me.

I didn't get to make it to Pyper's funeral and actually haven't had much contact with Ms. Mandy (Pyper's mom) since she went to be with Jesus, but I have thought of her almost every day. I know her parents are still having a very difficult sad time. I keep up with Ms. Mandy via FB and I think she is trying to find a job now that lil Pyper is not her full-time job. Oh, how that was a sweet girl. Please remember both of her parents in your prayers and that Mandy can find something to do that she will enjoy and also find a way to honor that sweet girl that she lost.

I won't promise to update on Sunday, but I will do my best to update next week about the State Meet (UNLESS of course, that she is the STATE CHAMPION and then you will probably hear me screaming about it).

Thanks for checking in on us,
Wendy

Panama City Meet

2010-02-20T07:46:00.001-08:00

Good Morning Friends,

I didn't want to take away from letting you know of Pyper's passing so I didn't tell you about Tori-bug's gymnastics meet in Panama City Beach Florida last Saturday. I had hoped that I could post earlier in the week, but didn't get around to it. We had a great time in Panama City, despite it being brutally cold at the beach on Friday. It was sleeting and windy on Friday like I have never seen at the beach before. We had 4 inches of snow at home so it was bound to be cold. After all, it is February!!! haha

Tori-bug didn't compete until Saturday morning, but she had to be there at 7:30am and I found out Ms. Pyper had passed at 4 am that same morning. When I woke Tori-bug at 6am to start getting ready for the meet she said she was going to try to get first place in honor of Pyper. I was already emotional about her passing and thought that was so sweet. I teared up. We got out to the parking deck and Tori-bug fell on some ice and busted her knee. It wasn't bad and she was fine, but then she started crying. She got okay and we made it to the meet. She started out on vault and had a really good vault with a score of 8.825 (which is really good for her. She has never been strong on vault b/c she is so long, lean and lanky too :-)
She didn't medal on vault but it was still a good score for her.

She went to beam next. She has a really pretty beam routine, but she fell on her full turn (which is a level 6 skill anyway) and she is only technically a "level 4". They are not doing levels this year so she is on the silver optionals team. Do not think I am making excuses for her b/c I definitely am not. She has landed the bigger skills repeatedly and can definitely do it so there was no excuse for her falling off. She messed it up. I will go ahead and say that the other teams present at the meet were doing very basic skills and getting huge scores. Our coach won't accept that for our girls so we didn't get as high a score, but were blowing the other teams out of the water with our skills. Tori-bug scored an 8.6 and that was 7th. place. She didn't medal on it either. She went to bars then and had a beautiful routine. She isn't getting her underswing very high and is squatting on her dismount, but it looked great. She scored 8.750 and that was 7th. place as well. Still not a bad score, but the other teams were getting higher scores by doing a level 3 dismount and routine. This probably makes no sense to a lot of you with all this talk of "skills, scores, levels, etc" but a lot of you do know what I am saying.

Anyway, she went to floor. She has a great floor routine when she tries her best. She scored a 9.45 and tied for 2nd. place!! Not first for sweet Pyper, but still awesome!! I was so proud of the skills she was doing and her routine looked beautiful. Needless to say, I was so happy for her. She had an all-around score of 35.625. This has been the best all-around score thus far this season. We are headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee next weekend. It is about to break us this month with all these out of town meets, but we are having fun. Perhaps she will score high and get a first place win, but if she doesn't I will still be proud of her if she does her best. She is having fun and loving it still so we keep on.

We had a blast swimming in the indoor pool, some at the outdoor pool, and crazy Lindsey even swam in the freezing cold ocean!! I kept my coat and gloves on the whole time at the beach and the kids had on bathing suits!! Crazy, silly girls!! Sunday we had a beautiful day with highs in the low 60's. Our best day at the beach. The picture below is of Tori-bug acting like she was going to eat a shrimp off my plate at Dirty Dick's. She didn't eat it by the way, but thought it was hilarious looking. Now, on to Tennessee next week.........

Wendy

Angel Wings

2010-02-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

Sweet Princess Pyper gained her angel wings early Sat. morning. She fought a good fight and finished the race and now she is in the arms of Jesus. It makes me so sad to know that the world lost such a precious child. It also happens to give me much joy to know that I WILL see her again one day. You can too, if you know Jesus. This sweet 3-year-old was such an inspiration to me and I love her family beyond measure. They have not had it easy. They have given up a lot of material things, time, and energy to try to save their daughter. Her parents and siblings are devastated, but they too will see her again. Her funeral was today and I ask for you to continue to lift her family in your prayers. They need them today and in the days and months to come. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know and love them.

Fly high Pyper!
Love always,
Wendy

Update

2010-01-31T17:07:00.000-08:00

They tried to extubate Pyper today but she started vomiting so they had to put it back in!! Keep praying!

Princess Pyperetta

2010-01-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

I am really sorry for the delay in updating this blog. My thoughts have been totally consumed with praying for my little friend Princess Pyperetta. You might remember that she is 3-years-old and was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6 weeks old. I met this sweet baby through some other children and my friend from church (Lillie) who is a pediatric oncology nurse. I have been following along for SEVERAL years of a couple, okay about 10, children's blogs thru Caringbridge Websites. This a place for parents to go blog and keep friends and family updated about their children and the many longterm illnesses that they have. It isn't just for children either. Sorry, I am rambling. I have been following my friend, Madie who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 4 years old. Thru her site I found and started following another child and then another child and so forth. Lillie told me to pray for and go check on her little friend, Pyper. I did and have been "checking" on her ever since. If you would like to check on her too, look up her page at www.caringbridge.org/visit/pyperaddisynsellers. She is a precious little girl. Anyhow, back in the Summer I believe her sister was able to give her a bone marrow transplant. I went to visit Pyper right before she had the transplant in Atlanta. Her family lives 4-1/2 hrs. from the hospital and she has 4 other siblings so pretty much the family had been "living apart", so one parent can be with her at the hospital and the other parent could be home so the other children could go to school, etc. Pyper was doing well until they discovered that she would indeed need another bone marrow transplant, which her sister was willing to give again. About a month ago she started having really bad bellyaches. It got so bad her parents took her to their local ER on Saturday and she was transported via ambulance to Atlanta with only her daddy coming with her. Like I said, they live 4-1/2 hrs. from the hospital. When she got to Atlanta she apparently had 2 very bad bacterias, septic shock, no blood pressure to speak of, and had very low platelets. She was admitted to PICU and put on a ventilator. I had not seen her since back in the Summer, but had been following along on her website and also getting updates via Facebook from her mom. She was admitted on Sunday morning in critical condition. Her mom has been at their home worried sick. Since I live only about an hour from Scottish Rite I told her that I would try to go visit and maybe I could take her daddy something to eat for dinner. When I saw her on Tuesday I just about lost it. That precious angel was laying there with lots of tubes in her and she was very swollen. I am a pediatric nurse and have seen a lot of "medical" stuff so I was prepared and not scared like that, but it is a whole different world in a Pediatric Children's Hospital. I was completely humbled. It made me think twice of holding my own Tori-bug extra close that night when I got home. It was only a small amount of effort and time on my part to go check on a dear friend and also hopefully give her mom a little comfort in knowing that another mommy was able to go "love on her baby girl". I am seeking and requesting all prayer warriors to go to the throne of God and ask HIM for his strength and guidance for Pyper and her family. They will have a long hard road just to make it out of this immediate risk, but then another one when she has to have the second bone marrow transplant. I went again today to see her and take her daddy some snacks and such and she did look better. She is still on the vent and sedated, but she is breathing on her own. All the infection is gone, although she still doesn't have any white cells (the cells that fight off infections). She has a lot of swelling and also has fluid on her lung which they might draw off. She is still really sick, but they are thinking they might try to wean her off the ventilator on Monday. I pray that they can. My GOD is a big GOD and I know He only wants what is good for her. I just ask that you please remember to say a prayer for her and for all the little sweet children fighting a really terrible disease called cancer. I will try to update on her again soon and hopefully I will have great and miraculous news to share.

Thanks for reading and praying......
Wendy

First Gymnastics Meet of the Season- Pre-op Silver

2010-01-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Tori-bug had her first gymnastics meet of the season on Saturday. She was geared up and ready for a great meet- Pre-op Silver. She worked really hard the past 4 months and was really excited.
Monday, I had strep.
Tuesday she had strep.
Wednesday I had walking pneumonia.
Saturday at the meet she fell off the mat and pulled a ligament in her foot or her ankle.
I am not sure which. She did vault first. Our coach made a HUGE mistake and had them warming up on 5 mats instead of 4. Tori-bug couldn't even reach the 5th. mat. Three of our girls had already vaulted before the head coach realized that Tori-bug was struggling and realized that there was 5 mats instead of 4. She stopped everyone and fixed the mats, but three of our girls had already vaulted and got stinky scores. Well, one of the girls got a stinky score b/c she is the same size as Tori-bug. Tori-bug did vault on the right amount of mats, but it was still a semi-bad score. She has never been great on vault. No big deal. She got to bars and during warm-ups stepped off the mat and twisted her ankle. I didn't even realize anything was wrong. She mounted the bars fine and then fell right before she jumped to the high bar. She was trying to balance herself on the low bar with a hurt foot and couldn't balance, I guess. I still didn't know that she was hurt though. She got a stinky score on that too b/c she fell. She almost never falls on bars. She got to beam and started tearing up. THAT's when I realized something was wrong. She tried to motion to me that she couldn't do beam or floor b/c her foot was hurt. Her coach sent her over to the sports medicine people that happened to be on hand and they were acting like they were going to be keeping her/observing her for awhile. If you have never been to a gymnastics meet, you don't know that parents are not allowed on the floor. No matter if your child is hurt or not. She was being looked at on the far side of the gym. I am a nurse and her mother and it was driving me crazy. Her coach told them to tape her foot and ankle and send her back to him. The sports med. lady said, "no, I don't think she should finish". He said, "oh yes she is. I said wrap her up and send her back to me". I was able to run down to the side of the floor and give her a dose of Motrin (thanks Carmen) and my Tori-bug got right on that beam and did her full routine without ONE fall. She didn't get a great score b/c she couldn't jump high on the beam, but she did it. She ended up placing 4th!! She went to floor, but I didn't let her warm up so she could save it for when it counted. She did her routine, round-off double back handspring too, but only got a 8.4. I have always told her at these meets to do her best and have fun. She did the best she could do with it!! She put on her big girl panties and finished it. I am one proud mama today. I can't get my pictures to upload on here for some reason, but I will keep trying.

I am feeling a lot better. Not coughing my head off at least so much now. Just finished some strong antibiotics and hoping I will continue to get better. Thanks for checking in!
Wendy

Double the trouble

2010-01-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

It is a sign.

I posted yesterday on having strep and walking pneumonia. Um yeah, DOUBLE the trouble.

After I left a comment on The Park Wife's blog AND added her to my Facebook she DOUBLED the chances of winning the PW T-shirt!!!

Pioneer Woman sent her another one and she is giving it away too......

Ooooh, I hope I win!! At least it would help me to feel better.

No, really, it would!!!

Just kidding. I am feeling a good bit better today. I at least was able to sleep last night and not hack my brains out. I think I am up to going to work tomorrow. I am definitely not 100%, but I don't believe I am contagious since I have taken two (that is DOUBLE) highly potent antibiotics. One yesterday and one today. Since it is so potent you only have to take it once a day and it is only for 5 days. Now, here's hoping to sleep again tonight.

Wendy

The Park Wife and Pioneer Woman

2010-01-13T12:32:00.001-08:00

A couple of years ago I ran across a blog (which is why I wanted to start one myself). Then I found another blog, and another blog, and another blog. I started reading and following lots of blogs. I don't even realize how much time I used to have. I surely don't do great at keeping up with this blog. Besides the amount of time it takes, I love reading blogs. I feel like I know some of these people. I stumbled across PW at www.thepioneerwoman.com. She has the coolest site and has great contests. I even won a random contest a while back. It was a $100 gift certificate to Snapfish. Still haven't used all the money. Hmmmm...... reminds me that I need to print my pictures and make a photo album of Tori-bug's gymnastics meets last year. Anyway, Pioneer Woman or PW, or P-dub has a brand new cookbook out. It is the best cookbook ever. The recipes have ingredients that anyone could find in a local grocery store. PW lives in OK on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Kinda like my little small town I guess.
From PW's blog, I found another blog, www.theparkwife.blogspot.com. She is married to a park ranger. I have been following along on her blog for a few months. PW was doing a Griswold Book Signing Tour. She was going to a bunch of different places signing the cookbooks. She did come to Atlanta about a month ago, but I live an hour from Atlanta and she came on a Monday. I couldn't get out to meet her, but I soooooo wanted to get to and have her sign my cookbook. Plus, she was giving away specially made "PW t-shirts". My blogger friend at The Park Wife received thus said T-shirt in the mail b/c she was able to meet PW when she came to her hometown, but didn't bring the shirts. She got it in the mail. I want that T-shirt. She is giving it away. I think the reason is b/c it doesn't fit her, but it WILL fit me!!! Anyway, her requirements for possibly winning the T-shirt was to blog about her website, add her as a friend on Facebook, and leave her a comment. I didn't even know she was on Facebook, but I will be adding her as soon as I finish this post. Everyone please visit these two blogs. I promise you won't be sorry. It is two of the three that I have listed as following on my blog. I visit these three blogs almost daily. Sometimes I visit Pioneer Woman's blog several times in a day b/c her blog is so big that I have to read in spurts. She has a cooking blog, homeschooling section, home and garden section, etc.

I am off to go add The Park Wife to my Facebook,
Wendy

P.S. The other blog is www.notquitewhatihadplanned.com

P.S.S. I was diagnosed with strep on Monday. Today I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Yeah me!! :-(

WOW, where did the time go?

2010-01-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks for it being so long in updating. I didn't realize until a few days ago that I have not even been on this laptop for quite some time. No facebook, no reading others blogs, etc. I don't know what happened to the time. Christmas, New Years, etc. I guess. Needless to say, Joy got quite lazy the last few days before Christmas. She didn't do much in the way of making "Christmas Magic". Tori-bug didn't even complain. We were all just so busy. Christmas Eve when she placed her under the tree she told her sister that at least she didn't have to be good anymore b/c Joy was leaving. WHAT???? I tried to tell her that she has to be good all year, not just the month of December. We had a wonderful holiday. Lots of gifts, time with family, and all that jazz. Much more low-key for us this year and I loved it. The girls really enjoyed their gifts. I will try to post some pics soon.
We went to the GymDogs Meet and Greet last night. Lots of pictures and autographs from the gymnasts. Thanks Amy!! It was a blast. We are going to the season opener meet today at 4pm. If you live in Georgia and have never been to a GymDog meet it is definitely worth the time. So much fun. We bought season tickets this year for the first time ever. We didn't get great seats, but hopefully we will next year.
Tori-bug has her first meet next Sat. at Gwinnett Arena if anyone is interested in coming. It starts at 10:30am I believe. She should be ready. They had a little bit of time off for the holidays, but now are back in full practice mode. I hope she does well. No matter what I am proud of that little girl. I hope some day she is standing in Stegman Coliseum for her first GymDog start. If she doesn't, I will still be proud. She has a new GymDog favorite this year. She is a freshman named Christa. She told Tori-bug last night that she has a sister named Victoria that was also called Tori. We thought that was so cool. Of course, she still likes Hillary and Grace Taylor too. It should be a fun-filled day. First I have to drop the dog off at the groomer, take the cats to the vet for a well visit, get mom's prescriptions filled, and then come home to get ready.
Take care and enjoy your Saturday. We sure will!!!
Wendy

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program! Well, sort of....

2009-12-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

Tori-bug had her first gymnastics meet of the season yesterday. Sort of. Technically her season starts in January every year, but we had the chance to do a "brush up" meet yesterday. Really just to see where the girls were and what they needed to work on before the season begins. BUT..... it was a sanctioned meet and the scores counted. The girls have to have at least two 32's to go to the STATE meet every season so if they scored at least a 32 yesterday it only helped them. If they didn't, it really didn't go against them. Well........ my Tori-bug got a 35.55 all-around!! I am so proud of her. I would be proud of her even if she didn't make it, but she did her best and ended up with great scores. A little stress for sure. She doesn't get nervous at all before meets, but I usually am for some reason. I just want her to have fun and do it safely. In fact, that is what I tell her before EVERY meet. I am still nervous for her b/c she sets such high standards for herself. I want her to enjoy gymnastics for years to come so I am so thankful that she doesn't feel pressured to "perform" at someone else's standards. She came home with two 2nd. place scores in beam and bars. She got 4th. in vault and floor. Her floor routine was really good (according to her mama anyways). She got all the skills and bonuses, but she didn't end spot-on with the music. All of the girls music was cut short 3 days before the meet so she didn't have a lot of time to get the beat down pact. She was scared she would finish after the music ended so she rushed and ended up ending a few seconds before the music. They apparently count off big time for that b/c she ended up with a 8.950 and 4th. place. Still a great score, but for landing all the skills--- round off double back handspring and a front handspring, not as high as I thought. She definitely needs to work on "selling" her song. I was a really bad mama and didn't take my video camera with me to the meet so I don't have video to post. One of these days I am going to get a video posted though. The rest of the scores were: Beam- 9.050, Bars- 8.7, Vault- 8.8. She got second place All-Around.

Joy left her a note and 30 treat bags for her gymnast teammates. The note said to take the treat bags filled with hugs and kisses and a candy cane to the meet with her. Joy also said she wanted to go to the meet. The same day she left all of our clean underwear all over the undecorated Christmas tree. We don't have our tree decorated yet b/c we haven't been able to get to our Christmas stuff b/c we are finishing our basement. It was supposed to be done when we got home on Saturday, but he needs about 3 more hours to finish on Monday. Hopefully he will get it done tomorrow and then we can get on with getting our Christmas stuff out.

Tori-bug's 2nd. place All-around trophy and four medals!! She loves coming home with SOMETHING!! We should be back to Joy adventures this week so I will post when the mischief continues tomorrow.

Proud of my baby girl,
Wendy

Joy got into the Fritos

2009-12-02T16:44:00.001-08:00

Tori-bug ended up sleeping with Joy last night. I didn't get a picture of it, but she promptly wrapped her in her big coat and snuggled her in the bed beside her. She thought she needed to rest after her long journey from the North Pole yesterday. She placed her under the tree this morning with a jelly bean when she left for school. I think this is the better plan so we don't have to worry about her getting into "messes" when we are sleeping at night ;-)

Tori-bug had wrote to her in the journal yesterday asking her how old she was this year. Joy wrote back some time today when we were gone saying that elves don't age so she was still 9. She had gotten into the Fritos and left a big mess on the counter. She said she was hungry or something because of the long trip from the North Pole.

Tori-bug: "Mama, some kids on my bus said Santa isn't real. It's your parents".

Me: "Really? What do you think?"

Tori-bug: "I told them that I knew Santa was real b/c my parents can't afford all those presents!"

Me: "You are EXACTLY right!!"

Oh how I love that girl. She makes me smile :-)

Oh Joy!! Oh Joy!!

2009-12-01T18:02:00.000-08:00

Today is December 1st. and Joy has arrived!!

She was under our undecorated Christmas tree when we got home from gymnastics.

She came with a pair of new Christmas pajamas, her journal, and a box of jellybeans.

Tori-bug wrote a note to her underneath her note that said she was back.

She said, "Hey Joy. I was scared you would not come back but you did! How old are you now?"

I'm 9!

Joy told Tori-bug last year that she was 9, so I have a feeling she is going to reply that she is now 10 years old, but we will see.

Either way, Tori-bug was ecstatic that she was here for the month. I don't know how much she is going to be getting into, but I think I have finally convinced Tori-bug into feeding her jelly beans in the mornings when we leave for school and work instead of at night. When we come home in the evenings we can clean up the mess. I don't have time to do it in the mornings. She is only allowed to feed her jellybeans two days a week too and the other days she has to give her oatmeal flakes so she will sleep ;-)

Tonight, b/c Joy has been traveling from the North Pole all day, Tori-bug wrapped her up in her coat and put her in her bed to sleep with her. She wanted her to have a good night of rest all snuggled up beside her!

Spreading Christmas "JOY",

Wendy

Sunday

2009-11-29T07:01:00.001-08:00

I have been up since 4am with my back "out". I hate it when I wake up early with back pain. Not fun at all. We had a really relaxing day yesterday. Went out and bought some concrete floor paint for the basement, which will hopefully be done early this week. We thought we might put hardwood lamenent on the floors, but I simply don't want to fork out a lot of money to put it down. We decided to go with just painting it and then putting a big area rug down. It will be cold, but it is way cheaper. We wanted to finish the basement so we could have a place to go and hang out, watch TV, play videogames, scrapbook, etc. It will be nice to come up the stairs and shut the door on the mess if we need to. I am really excited!! While we were out at the Home Depot picking up the paint, we bought our Christmas tree. Mind you, all my Christmas stuff is in the basement and I can't get to it until the contractor is done, but we went ahead and got the tree. Hopefully, I will be able to decorate it before Tuesday when "Joy", our elf, comes. She is coming and I have a plan of some mischief she can get into. I think this might be my last year for the magic of Christmas so I went ahead and decided to do it. I will post pics when all the magic unfolds. You might even get a few more updates than normal with all the Elf Magic. If you would like to get your own elf or would like to sponsor a child to have an elf go to: www.hostanelf.com
Under CatieElf. They donate a part of their proceeds to CURE childhood cancer research.
Today, is going to be a relaxing day too. I am skipping church today since my back is out. Hoping to get a little laundry done, Christmas presents wrapped, and some homemade chicken stew for lunch prepared.
Enjoy your Sunday!!!
Wendy

Elf Magic?

2009-11-24T17:05:00.001-08:00

Hello friends,

Things are much more calmer here in now. I am thankful for that. I feel so blessed to have great BFF's that are there for me. Thank you Tammy and Marsha. We were able to get away Sat. for a shopping trip, which really helped my spirits out!! Things are still going to come up and my mom has an appt. on 12/3 with her pulmonologist so I know it is just the beginning of more things to come, but my mind is much better and I think I will be able to handle what comes. I needed to be able to set my ownself up for dealing with some future stresses when they do come. I am not really *worried* about my mom's appt. after getting my focus where it needed to be, but I would appreciate some prayers on her behalf when we speak to the doctor that day. We might consider putting her on hospice (not bc they think she will die necessarily), but to help my sister and I with her care. We have had lots of experience with hospice in the past and very recently with my grandfather in April and we were so much better equipped having them. I am a nurse, but I have my own family, stresses, full-time job, etc. and so does my sister. All the care falls on us. It might just help us not to have to bathe her ourselves, get her out to the doctors (especially in Winter months), and such. I will still continue to fix her meds, but a nurse would be able to come in weekly and monitor her and a tech could come bathe her for my sister. We will see......

Now, the real reason for my post is in regards to our Elf, (her name is Joy). If you have been following my blog for any length of time you know how this goes. A couple of years ago I read a blog about a little girl that had cancer. I still follow her site. She died after a long battle with the beast. Anyway, her mother always blogged about how in the month of December, Katie got to ask Santa for an elf to come visit with her for the holidays and all the fun and mischief that the elf got into. They were raising money for CURE, childhood cancer research. Tori-bug wrote a letter to Santa at Elf Magic and requested an elf. She came that first year, two years ago, named and with a box of oatmeal flakes and jellybeans. The letter from Santa said that she could stay her for the month, but on Christmas Eve she had to be placed under the tree to hop back on his sleigh to go back to the North Pole. Sometimes though, the elf gets into things at night and creates mischief while the family is asleep. If you don't care if she gets into mischief, you "feed" her a jellybean and if you don't want her to get into mischief she has to "eat" oatmeal flakes. The first year, I did really good and was really creative to come up with mischief. Last year, not so much. I only allowed Tori-bug to "give" her a jellybean two nights a week b/c sometimes she made a huge mess and I simply didn't have time to clean it up. Other nights, we would just find her in the freezer (bc it reminded her of the North Pole) or she would sometimes be laying in front of the TV, like she was watching a movie all night. Not too hard.... This year, I was considering her sending a note saying she was not going to come here and maybe she would go help someone else spread the magic of Christmas, with another family. My sister-in-law said I couldn't do that bc I had gotten it started way back when and I couldn't stop now. I just don't have any creative ideas for the "mischief" this year. Can you help me come up with something? If you have time, go back over last years posts from around this time of year and see what she has done before. I don't really want to do the same things over again. I have *some* ideas though. I think she might bake cookies one night and ask Tori-bug to take her and the cookies to the nursing home and pass them out. One night or day, she might make homemade dog treats and have Tori-bug drop them off at the vet or animal shelter. She is not only supposed to get into mischief, but help spread good cheer too. I want Tori-bug to learn the magic of Christmas and doing for others. It is fun to watch her wake up in the mornings and start immediately looking for her to see where she is. Last year, Joy (the elf) put a 4 ft. Christmas tree up in Tori-bug's room with ornaments all over it that said "Joy" and she was at the top, like a tree topper. That was really cool. She will show up this year on Dec. 1st. with a set of Christmas pajamas so i need at least 10-12 ideas. So, if you have anything creative for me to help spread good cheer or do something mischievous (without me getting caught), post it on here. There are websites that I have looked at for ideas, but some of the things are just not do-able for me. Come on, help me out..... and say a prayer for my mom's visit on Dec. 3rd if you remember.

Ready for the "magic" to begin,
Wendy

Peace and Understanding

2009-11-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

I am feeling emotionally better this week. It was rough last week, but I am making progress. I had a good week to take off. It was absolutely gorgeous in Georgia every day last week. Mid 70's and warm Fall temps. I wallowed in pity on Monday. Tuesday my husband met me for lunch. We went through the drive-thru of KFC and took chicken plates to Fort Yargo where we ate lunch by the lake and took a nice stroll down a nature trail. We were able to talk about a lot of stuff that was burdening us. I went to work on Friday feeling much more at peace.

My Tori-bug is practicing hard on her gymnastics. She only has about 6 weeks of practice left before the first meet. All of her skills are shaping up nicely. She was struggling with not wanting to jump to the high bar a few weeks ago. Now she is jumping with absolutely no problem. Her dismount still needs work. She is not getting enough height on it and is sometimes squatting or falling on the dismount. If her hands or bottom hit the mat it is counted as a fall. 5/10th. of a point off her score automatically. The rest of it looks pretty good. Her floor looks really good and she is mostly spot-on with the music. It needs to be tightened up some, i.e. hand placement and such. Her front handspring doesn't look as graceful as she needs it to, but she is landing it. Beam she was struggling on the full turn, but finally has it now too. A lot of the girls are having a hard time on beam with their cartwheels. This is our (parents) biggest event of concern. We know the girls will do well at meets on the other events, but since so many are struggling on beam we are worried. The girls have worked so hard and will continue to work hard until the meets. Hopefully, they will get the skills they need. I am so proud of every one of them.

Thanks for stopping by!
Wendy

Gratitude List

2009-11-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

I took the time this week to sit down and write down a Gratitude List. I often have to remind myself how blessed I am. I know it, I just have to be reminded of it. I did un-link my blog from my facebook page for personal reasons. The people that read my blog know almost everything there is to know about me anyways so I unlinked it. The ones that choose to come here and read are the people that I have relationships with anyway. I started this blog for myself as a way to write down my thoughts, but by no means want people to think it is more than that. The people that don't want to read don't have to stop by. I was informed that the whole world (meaning facebook users) don't want to know all my personal issues. Oh really? Don't read it..... it is for me. So in saying all this, I now won't be able to receive comments from my link to FB and that is where I was receiving most of them. Please, feel free to comment me on here, but I won't know that you stopped by unless you do leave on a comment. If you don't have an acct. just leave it under anonymous and sign your name to it so I will know it was you. Okay, moving on to my gratitude list......

1. My husband-- for 18+ years he has been my rock. The other half of me that tells me, "everything is going to be okay". He is a great husband, father, and provider. I honestly couldn't have asked God for anyone better. He and his girls have a very special relationship. He still makes my heart go pitter-pat. I am blessed to have him in my life.
2. My beautiful girls---- Lyndsey is a good big sister. She has a smile that can light up a room. She is sweet and loving. Tori-bug is my sweet, high-spirited girl. She has the biggest dimple in her right cheek (thanks to her daddy!) She "rocks" at gymnastics. I am blessed to have them in my life.
3. My four-legged children. They love me unconditionally and I can tell them anything. *smiles* I am blessed to have them in my life.
4. My job and co-workers---- I work with some of the sweetest people. My bosses and office manager are Godly people that are always willing to lend an ear and Godly wisdom. It makes it easier to show up to work everyday. I am blessed to have them in my life.
5. My best friends---- Marsha and Tammy. Without even having to know what I am going through they are there for me. I know they are praying and when I get ready to talk they will be there. Friendships like these are hard to find and without looking for them we found it!! I am blessed to have them in my life.
6. My sister, Monica--- we haven't always been super-close but all the things our family has been through has pulled us together. We have a family bond and loyalty that is hard to beat. I am blessed to have her in my life.
7. My mom--- we have always been close and she is my world. I can't imagine my life without her but know that her health is not good. I am very protective of her and will always strive to do my best for her. I am blessed to have her in my life. Before I got married, I always thought that I could never love anyone more than I loved my mom. Then I met and married Kevin. Then, I thought there was no way I could ever love anyone more than I love him. Until, I got pregnant and had Tori-bug. I know that I really couldn't love anyone more than I love her, but I still love my mama A LOT!! All different kinds of love, but another thing on my gratitude list.....
8. LOVE
9. My daddy--- I've always been closer to my mama than to my daddy, but there is a special bond between daddy's and daughter's. I am blessed to have him in my life.
10. My Faith--- Thank God for faith. I became a believer on April 9, 1984. Right before I turned 10 years old. I asked Jesus into my heart at a youth retreat. It was a day I will never forget. I am thankful that God doesn't keep score and allows us to make mistakes or sin, ask for forgiveness, and then wipes our slate clean. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit that nudges us to ask for that forgiveness when we do wrong. I wish that I could forgive and forget that easily when people wrong me. I am blessed to be able to be called a daughter of the King!!

I am doing better the past couple of days. I continue to strive to be the best me I can possibly be. I read a quote somewhere the other day that I totally needed and thought was extremely helpful. Here it is......
Faith is not necessary when you know how things are going to work out- that's knowledge. It's in the time of unknowing that having faith is what sees you through to the other side. Faith is what gives you strength. Faith is that light in your heart that keeps on shining even when it's all dark outside. Now is the time to keep that faith alive.

Wendy

Here, but struggling

2009-11-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

I have a ton of mental and emotional junk in my head and heart. I will get through this, but I am struggling. I asked to take a few days off of work to be able to clear my foggy brain. Thanks for praying.

I am reminding myself how blessed I am. I have so much good in my life. I am thankful that I serve a risen Saviour who is in control. I am grateful that I can leave my burdens with Him, but I keep trying to figure out HOW to leave it. I don't want to be a "whoa is me" person. I don't want to be depressed. I don't want to be worried, but I am.

Hopefully, if you check back here next week I will be in a much better place emotionally and mentally. Going to talk to someone this week will help. Until then.......

Wendy

Parenting, Daughtering, Sistering

2009-10-29T07:27:00.000-07:00

It is hard to be the oldest daughter of a disabled mother.

The hardest job in the world is being a parent.

Sometimes it is even hard being a sister.

I need prayers for my sanity. I found out this week that my mom's lung function is down to 18%. In 2006 she had 37%. She had been smoking last year too when she was near death in December. She was in ICU for 3 days. I called her lung specialist this week b/c my ex-aunt is near death with only 2 weeks to live with 13% of lung function. It scared me and made me realize that back in May I never asked what mom's percentage was when she had the lung function study repeated. The doctor just told us that it was significantly worse. My grandfather had just passed away so I never asked the percentage. I really think I would have lost it at that point to know. When I talked to her doctor's office this week the nurse told me and then said when mom comes in December that we might talk about putting her on hospice. I proceeded to tell her that mom was smoking again. My sister and I just discovered this. When I asked her why she was smoking she said it was stress, but that is untrue. When my grandfather passed away in April we moved her in with my biological sister since she has someone home a lot of the time and I work full-time. My sister does everything for her. She does her meals, baths, etc. I take mom to the doctor and fix her medicine weekly. She has no stress at my sister's house. The truth is that she is addicted to nicotine. She enjoys smoking. For a daughter, I don't get it. I can't see how she would want to die quicker. We know she isn't going to live a very long life, but we want her to get the most of what time she does have left. When the nurse mentioned hospice she didn't specify or speculate on the amount of time we are looking at. I don't think the doctor will in December or not, but we do know that if she smokes she can't make it long. She took Chantix, the smoking cessation pill about 3 months ago and did fabulous on it. When she was done with the 3 months she told me she didn't need it anymore, that she had no desires to smoke and I believed that she had totally quit. In fact, I am sure she did! Recently she started back. Needless to say I told her what the nurse had said (we have never kept anything from her and won't start now) and that she was going to go back on the Chantix, which she did. I hope it works again. I lost my grandmother 8 months before my grandfather and I can't bear to lose my mother.

Without going into details, I am also dealing with some issues with my daughter and my adopted sister. I am not going to go over it here but the two are mad at each other now. My head is filled with conflict, my heart is breaking. Over family, over parenting, over daughtering!!! I have asked many times over the past several weeks to please pray for me, but I am asking again. I feel so needy these days. I hardly ever even mention my own prayer concerns, but I think I need them again. I need to figure out the best way to have a relationship with all parties involved. I love my daughter. I love my mama. I love my sister.

Wendy

Aunt Wendy

2009-10-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

See this beautiful baby girl? She is my niece Leah. My 19-year-old sister had her six months ago. She was born on my birthday, April 20th. She was an unexpected great surprise. See, my sister is not married. I would not have chosen for her to give birth at such a young age, but I love this baby like no other. She isn't technically mine own blood b/c my sister is adopted. But she is still my niece and I am blessed to have her in my life. On Thursday, my sister told me she is expecting AGAIN!!! I am devastated. She is not at all ready for another baby. She has a hard time providing for this one. No job, not married, no house, etc. I don't know what she is going to do. I will help her any way I can b/c she will have another child that will be my niece or nephew. I know that I can't DO this for her and she wasn't trying to get pregnant, but we have to figure out what to do. She really is a good mother to Leah. She just simply has a hard time providing for her. Dad is in the picture, but they are an inter-racial relationship which makes it even harder on them. If you feel so inclined please lift this situation up to God. She is trying to get a job (or so she says). The dad does work, but b/c neither of them graduated high school, it is hard for them to make good money or even get a job in this economy. I don't think she would be willing to give the child up for adoption, but she can't provide for two kids either that will be 13 months apart. Two in diapers, carseats, etc. I am doing some soul-searching as to whether if it came down to it would my husband and I be willing to take a new baby on. Our babies are 18 and 9. We had decided that we didn't want anymore kids 5 years ago when I hurt my back. I got my tubes tied. I know that we would be able to provide for another child and before I would want the child to go into state custody, I think we would take it on. It is a sticky situation. I love being an aunt to Leah and I will keep you posted on what happens, but please lift up my family. I am a little stressed out about all of it.

TGIF

2009-10-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

Not the best pictures I have ever taken, but this is a pic of Tori-bug and I at Vogel State Park over the weekend while we were camping. My Tori-bug had to pose by the sunflowers at the CornMaze. I remember one time A LONG TIME ago seeing a picture in the local paper of my great-grandparents growing the largest/tallest sunflower in our county. It was really tall, but I can't remember the height. I am extremely glad that today is Friday. We are scheduled for family portraits on Sunday. My 18-year-old is also getting her senior pics made then too. Should be a fun day. I will see if I can post some of the pics. Have a great weekend. Supposed to be wet and rainy here all weekend! On second thought, maybe our pics we get re-scheduled. I hope not!!!

Wendy

Updates, I guess

2009-10-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

I have had my legs striped for not updating in so long!! Sorry Kathleen!! I really didn't know it had been so long since my last update and that very many people cared ;-)

Let's see....... what has been going on?

Tori-bug continues to go to gymnastics each week. Although now that her friend has gotten hurt she is afraid to jump to the high bar. I don't know what is up with that, but at least she doesn't want to quit anymore. All of her other routines are shaping up nicely. She looks really good on floor and on beam. Vault has never been her strong suit, but it looks good too. At least to me it does! Competition starts in January. She needs to get ready. We have lots of meets out of state this year so it should be fun. And expensive.

My friend, Pyper continues to need prayers. If you remember she is a 2-year-old with a relapse of cancer. She got a bone marrow transplant from her big sister a few months ago and it has been going great, but now they are almost positive that she WILL relapse again. Her mom, Mandy and her daddy are scared to death. They don't want to lose her. Please lift her up to God. We serve a MIGHTY KING and He is still on the throne. I believe in miracles and that is my prayer.

We went camping this past weekend in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains. A very nice park, Vogel State Park. We went with our best friends and their kids and had a great time. The kids looked for salamanders, played in the creek, rode bikes, roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and even read while we were there. We visited a corn maze too. It was a great trip. Now, I have camper fever. I have been wanting to purchase a camper for awhile now and so now I am going to start looking for one. We hope we can make it an annual event.

I will do my best to update again soon. I have lots more pics of the weekend to share.

Thanks for checking in and don't forget to pray for Pyper!

Wendy

Oh, to be 18 again!!

2009-09-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

Would you be 18 again if given the chance? Just one day?

Yesterday was my step-daughter's 18th. birthday. She is a senior in high school and is a beautiful young lady.

Dear Lyndsey,

Wow! Where to start? I have been thinking a lot over the past few weeks about you turning 18! An adult!! How did that happen? When I was reminiscing, I thought back to those first few weeks with you. You were the "baby" that a lot of people took to raising. Because we were all so young when we had you, a lot of close personal friends took care of you like you were theirs. Daddy was 19 when you were born and had just graduated high school when he found out he would be a daddy. Needless to say, it was a shocker. He was only a year older than you are now when you were born. Because of the circumstances, daddy and I didn't start getting you for weekends until you were 9 months old. A lot happened that first year or so, but we all learned together. Even with the shock of daddy finding out that he was going to be a father, you were the best thing that ever happened to him. He still tears up at that country song, "There goes my life". That song is so about him.

Anyway, I think about the sleepless nights (you didn't sleep all night until around age 2). You were just so busy and didn't have time for sleeping. When you did sleep, you woke us up on the weekends by rattling your baby bed and shaking it across the floor. Your smile was and is still infectious. You smiled A LOT. We loved that! You walked very early b/c like I say, you were so busy. You just had to go. When you were a toddler, you loved Barney. Oh yikes! We knew every Barney song ever sang on the show and you would dance and dance every time a song started playing. One time at Easter, you were just barely able to reach the counters and you pulled a whole cup of blue egg dye on top of you. You were stained blue for days and we called you Baby Smurf. It really wasn't funny at the time, but now that I think back it is! I remember you starting kindergarten, middle school, high school, dancing for 10 years, and your first and only beauty pageant. You didn't win, but you lit up the stage that night. You took your frilly little dress and rubbed it all over your face right in the middle of the stage. It was too cute.

I really just wanted to tell you how proud I am of the beautiful young lady you have become. I know I am not your mom, but I love you like the daughter you are to me and always will be. You make daddy and I proud to be your parents. Keep working hard and enjoy your last year of high school.

How blessed I am, you are my daughter and also my friend!! I love you and Happy Birthday, Zee!!

Wendy

Greetings from Heaven

2009-09-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we decided at the last minute to take a trip to Ruby Falls and to see Rock City in Chattanooga Tennessee. The family got to enjoy seeing lots of beautiful scenery which we thoroughly enjoyed. Tori-bug was not on her best behavior, but we enjoyed the day nonetheless. I had been to Ruby Falls about 25 years ago (and no, I am not THAT old). It was when I was about 10 years old. When didn't go to Rock City that trip that I remember. The rest of the family had been to neither place so it was a real treat. On the way home, we were talking about how blessed we were as a family and "how can you not believe in God when you see such beautiful sights?" Right about the same time the bottom dropped out on us and it started pouring down rain. It rained really hard for about 10 minutes and then a complete rainbow formed in the sky. It was so cool, like a reminder that God was saying to us that He was there.

Sunday we were so exhausted from all the walking that we took a nap after church. I love Sunday naps. It came up a bad thunderstorm so that made for an even better nap. Life is great!

Now, I want to tell you another story......

I found a bookmark in my grandmother's Bible on Sunday. Two bookmarks actually, just alike. One was written out To: Jean and one was written out To: Winford. My grandparents names and written by my grandmother. My grandmother died in 2004 and I lost my grandfather in April this year. I read almost every day. I thought, "How cool is this?" I am going to use this bookmark for the book that I am reading. I guess my granddaddy was on my brain when I went to bed since I read mostly at bedtime. Let me go back a little and say that my grandparents had this old clock on their wall for my entire life. It is a wind up clock and chimes ever how many times that it is that hour and chimes once for the half hour. Somehow before my grandfather passed away the clock was not chiming the right amount of times for that hour so when my grandfather passed away I asked my mom if I could have the clock. Of course she said I could so I brought it home and placed it propped up against the wall in my living room. My thought was that I would take it to a clock maker and try to get it fixed to chime the right amount of times. I never once heard it chime in the 4 months since my grandfather passed away. It has sat in my living room for the past 4 months. I really thought the clock was now broken completely and now I really wanted to get it fixed so I put in in the back of my SUV about 2 weeks ago. I have not found anybody to fix the clock. I dream of my grandfather a lot. I don't know why I dream of him in particular so often, but I do. I think about him constantly. Anyway, yesterday morning I was driving to work and I heard a "ding, ding, ding". I turned the radio down and listened more closely. I thought it was something on the radio at first, but no, there it was again, "ding, ding, ding". It was the clock CHIMING!!! Good Morning Granddaddy! I have not heard it since. It felt like a reminder that my GOD and my granddaddy are here and still looking out for me. I don't believe in a lot that is "coincidental". I know in my heart it was a reminder to me and I am extremely blessed. It was like a greeting from Heaven. Have a good day. Be sure to look around today and find someway you might be a blessing to someone else.

Wendy

Gymnastics update

2009-08-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I realized a little bit ago after responding to a comment from my sweet friend Sarah that I had not updated last night. Tori-bug got off the school bus saying she had a headache yesterday and she didn't want to go to gymnastics. I told her that I would give her some ibuprofen, but she WAS going to go to practice. Wed. night she didn't get in the bed until 9:45pm by the time we got home from church, finished studying for a science test, and took a bath. Way too late for her!! Big mistake!! So, when she got off the bus saying she didn't want to go to gym practice I thought it was just b/c she was tired. She did her homework then went outside to jump on the trampoline without taking ibuprofen. I called her in when it was time to leave for gymnastics and on the way, she started boohooing. Not just a little whine, but an all out breakdown about how she was quitting gymnastics b/c she didn't want to do it anymore. I couldn't figure out what in the world had happened and why she decided that she was wanting to quit all of a sudden. I calmed her down but told her that she had to go to practice b/c I had already paid for this month and if she indeed did want to quit then we would discuss it later (I don't want her to quit and I really thought is was all coming from her just being overtired). So, when we pulled in the parking lot she said she wanted to quit b/c she was scared of jumping to the high bar!!! OH! Her friend fell off of the high bar on Monday night and broke her shoulder (that is Caroline w/Tori-bug in the pic above). That was it. I told her that we would call her friend later on so she could hear it from her that it was just an accident and something that could happen anywhere. She did stay at gym practice but said they "spotted" her a little more for her jump to the high bar. When my friend Sarah told me all about how her daughter quit dance all of a sudden after dancing for several years I realized that I hadn't went into all this last night on the blog. Sorry Sarah if I confused you with my reply!! Geesh! Anyway, she talked to her friend that has the broke shoulder and all is well now. She is good to go again and told me to order her floor music CD when we got home. I am still sorting out the schedule as far as school and keeping her focused, but maybe all of this week was a result from being overtired. Now, I am sick so perhaps it was from her mom being a little oversensitive too. I hate Summer colds!!

Just Here

2009-08-19T18:14:00.000-07:00

I have been so busy lately and having an almost non-stop backache that I have not been wanting to update my blog. School has begun and I am working pretty much full-time now. I do have off on Thursdays so that is nice. Gymnastics is keeping Tori-bug really busy. Three days a week is a killer for us. With school just starting and 11 hrs a week of gymnastics I am scared her grades are going to suffer for it. This is something I am struggling with b/c her attention has been all over the place since school started. She is forgetting to bring her books home on a regular basis, not writing her homework assignments down, etc. Can you tell I am a little frustrated at this point? It isn't the gymnastics, it is her. I just have to figure out the best way to handle it. I am hoping that it is just getting back on a regular schedule, but we will see. If not, we will come up with a plan and follow thru with it.
I will do better at blogging soon hopefully. Thanks for check in!
Wendy

It's Saturday

2009-08-08T06:37:00.000-07:00

I love Saturdays. I love Saturday's that I can sleep in and do nothing for a few hours upon awakening.

That wasn't today, exactly. I woke up early at 7am with a backache. Uggh! I did get to do nothing (if you don't count watching TV and surfing the internet) for a few hours, waiting on my pain to ease up before I get the day started. But, I still love Saturdays. The girls are still sleeping and it is 9:40am.

It is supposed to be 93 today in Hotlanta! My nieces are having a combined swim birthday party today at Papa B's house. Ashley turned 15 on Aug. 5 and her sister, Hannah will turn 11 on Aug. 25th. They are growing up so fast. Ashley did not even study for her learners driver's test, went and took it on a whim and PASSED!!! Look out the girl will be learning to drive. Scary if you ask me. So we will go hang out and swim to celebrate their birthdays.

I kept Tori-bug out of gymnastics all last week b/c of her pulled muscle in her back (occurred early in practice on Tuesday). She was out doing back flips on the trampoline last night so guess that it is A-OK now. She will be going back to gymnastics on Monday. The first week of school went great. Tori-bug absolutely loves her 4th. grade teacher this year, Mrs. Lott. She seems really nice and I think she will be a good teacher and she will learn a lot. She has computers this year and they are going to learn to type. When Tori-bug came home and told me this earlier in the week, I told her about a CD that I had for the computer called, Typing Tutor and that being the way that I learned to type. When I quit my nursing job when I was pregnant with her I wanted to be able to supplement our income and decided that I would do some medical dictation at home. A friend at church lent me the CD (which I never gave back on accident- yep, guess I broke a commandment with that one- thou shalt not steal). Oops!! Anyway, in one month I learned to type using it and could type 65 words a minute. Which considering I was a hunt and peck kind of typer to begin with was amazing. She wanted to know if I still had it so she could practice at home too. Her daddy dug it out for her and she has been using it the past couple of days. She told me last night she was up to 14 words per minute. Amazing!!! I couldn't believe it. It is a really good teacher. Maybe she will make a good grade in that class this year.

Well, guess I will get off this blog now. I need to know that people are reading. Please leave me comments. I have been getting quite a few comments on my facebook page since this is directly linked to it, but not many people are commenting on here. Have a great Saturday! I love Saturdays!!

Wendy

Update

2009-08-07T04:45:00.000-07:00

After 2 days of nursing a pulled muscle, my Tori-bug is much better. Thank you Jesus! She was really careful with it and walking gingerly, but now it is good to go. She will be able to go back to gymnastics on Monday. Thanks for all the prayers for her. She is one tough cookie indeed!

Wendy

Ouch

2009-08-04T17:11:00.001-07:00

My beautiful girl hurt her back at gymnastics tonight. She was doing "bridge running". This is apparently where you do a backbend and then crawl like a crab walking on your hands and feet. When she stood up she said she felt immediate pain. It knocked her off balance I guess and she fell into the wall. I was at work when this took place so another mom called to ask if she could give her some Tylenol. "Of course", I said. When I got there to pick her up she was really walking gingerly and complaining of it a lot. She normally doesn't complain about too much. I asked her if she wanted to go to the doctor and she said she did. I ran her over to Regional FirstCare, an urgent care place in town. The doctor didn't feel x-rays were in order, but thought that she had a muscle strain and possible pulled the cartilage away from the muscle. He said to just rest it, give Motrin, and NO GYMNASTICS until further notice, i.e. not the rest of this week. We were told to follow up with our regular pediatrician (my employer) on Monday and see what she thought. Hopefully by tomorrow she will be feeling somewhat better anyway. I had to help her in and out of the car, in and out of the tub, and bending over causes her great pain. Geez, two people in one house with a bad back won't work for us :-)
Please pray that it gets better quickly and can go back to gymnastics on Monday.
Her mommy will thank you for it.
Wendy

I am back

2009-07-22T16:29:00.001-07:00

The family and I just got back from a great time at Panama City Beach. I didn't get that many great pics b/c my camera battery was dying. I was so proud of Lyndsey though. She is one of those people that has to just about be pushed into everything. She didn't have to be pushed this weekend at all. She tried everything!! Bungee jumping, Gator balls (haha-Zee), shark tails, parasailing, and got her navel pierced (so did I, but you won't be seeing a picture)........

Me and the love of my life!!!

Me on the balcony of our condo.

Two most beautiful girls in the world and they are mine!

We had a great time, but I am glad to be home. Now, I need another vacation from that vacation. Thanks Mandy for letting us tag along!!

The GIRLS

2009-07-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

My best friends and I and our families went to the lakehouse this past weekend for July 4th. My one BFF, Marsha owns a lakehouse about an hour from our house. The lake was about 17 feet down just 8 months ago and we didn't think we were going to be able to enjoy it at all this Summer. Plus, she just gave birth 2-1/2 months ago. Yep, that is her on the front of the jetski. My other BFF is Tammy. She is in the middle and I, of course, am on the back. We had a great time. The baby did so good. Everytime we rode on the boat she slept. Yes, we did put her on the boat. She had a little baby lifejacket and everything. I am sorry that I didn't get a picture of her wearing it. It would have been cute. We were able to enjoy watching the fireworks from the boat, eat some good food, and chitchat with the girls. We are planning on going out on Friday night too to celebrate my birthday (which was 2 months ago). I told you she was busy having a baby!
My Tori-bug is loving her new team and teammates. She is learning all kinds of fun new stuff. She is learning her back walkover on beam (not the high beam yet)! I am really proud of her dedication. She is practicing really hard. Keep up the good work Tori-bug!!
Thanks for checking in on us! Talk to you soon!
Wendy

Look out, look out

2009-06-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Two blogs in one week!! I know you are surprised, but I have some great news!!!! My Tori-bug is getting moved from the Optionals Bronze team to the Optionals Silver team. This is super-great for her b/c in only one month she has gotten her jump to the high bar, front hip circle, cartwheel on the beam, round off double backhandspring on floor, and vaulting on 5 mats. I couldn't be happier for her. She has worked really hard and she deserves to move up. We were told that this is the good thing about this new program so I am thankful that it is working out for us. Each child would be able to advance when they were ready and not have to wait on the entire team to move up. So, if one child is more motivated or works really hard they can move on up.

Now, I will get to actually attend more of her practices (especially in July). I had been working and not getting to see anything. I was getting there at time for her to do conditioning. Two more practices on Bronze Team and moving up!! Great job Tori-bug.

Wendy

Father's Day

2009-06-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Daddy and my brothers, Tony and Alan
(not sure why I didn't get my sister in here)

Me and my daddy

My daddy loved his scrapbook I made for Father's Day for him. He started crying on the first page (which I knew he would). I am not even done with the book and probably never will be until I die. This morning in church we talked about leaving behind a legacy. I want to leave a legacy when I am gone. I want my children to remember all the good memories, that they had a dad that loved their mother and she loved their dad. I want them to remember big moments, little moments, and some that seem insignificant at the time, but that turn out to be good moments. I wanted my dad to know that I remembered these moments too, thus the reason for the scrapbook. I have a long way to go on it still. I had just a few hours to spend on the pages that I got done, but I want to be able to add to it year after year for him. I am grateful to God that he gave me a great earthly father. Sure, he made mistakes here and there (nobody is perfect except my Heavenly Father), but through it all he taught me valuable life lessons. I am proud to say I am his daughter. I love you daddy!

P.S. I am also extremely proud to have the most wonderful husband who is the best daddy in the world to my girls.

VBS

2009-06-16T14:38:00.001-07:00

VBS this week. Period. Busy, busy, busy!

My sweet little 9-year-old

2009-06-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

Today is my Tori-bugs 9th birthday. I can't believe it has been 9 great years. I am blessed everyday I get up and see her sweet smiling face. We went camping this weekend and had a blast, but boy are we tired. That is why my birthday girl already has on her pj's. We are having her official party on Sat. at her gym (of course a tumbling party).

Letter to Tori:
I love you baby girl with all my heart. You will always be my baby girl. You were the best baby. You never cried except when you wanted to be fed or changed. You were a thumb sucker baby so you slept all night at 7 weeks old. You didn't need me to get and find you pacifier for you. Yeah, that definitely worked me for me. I love you Tori-bug more than any other thing.

The sun is shining

2009-06-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

Yep, the sun is shining. It has been shining all week and it has been nearly 90 degrees outside all week too. I had the priviledge of baby-sitting my niece two Sats. ago. This was her parents first outing without her and they asked Aunt Wendy to be her first babysitter. Awww! I loved it. We had so much fun with her. Tori-bug and I gave her a bath, Tori-bug fed her a bottle AND burped her, and she swang in her swinger for the first time (since it was still at my house). She really liked her swing. This is a picture of me holding her. I realized that I had all these pictures from the hospital and not one of them had me holding her. I was the one behind the camera, I guess! She is 6 weeks old now and hopefully they will let me keep her again really soon.

Here is Tori-bug holding her right after she got her bottle. She was trying to go back to sleep.

I couldn't remember if I had posted this picture so I put it up again. This was her coming home day. I just love this picture. Such a pretty girl!

Here is my new ride! I love it too!

Tomorrow's forecast is thunderstorms, but if it doesn't rain I will do my best to put pics of Tori-bug up of her jumping on the trampoline. I know I promised that and haven't gotten around to it. Shoot, I haven't even taken them yet. You'll have to check back to see if I got them up.

Wendy

TGIF

2009-05-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

I am so glad it is Friday. We have had non-stop rain FOREVER in Georgia. Today is gorgeous, hot, 85 degrees and RAIN-FREE!! Woohoo! I am so excited that the forecast for the weekend is rain-free as well. Maybe we will be able to sit by the pool too. We bought Tori-bug a trampoline for her birthday. Her birthday isn't until June 14th. but we went ahead and got it for her. She has enjoyed it so much. I'll post pics of her on it tonight. She has her back tuck and back handspring on it too. She could technically do a back handspring on the floor, but won't. She is too chicken. She can do about 30 in a row on the trampoline though. They had field day today at school and her daddy went. I am working full-time for the next three weeks so I was unable to attend. Last year she was in a cast so she didn't get to do much. I normally just work part-time so I hated not getting to go this year. Oh well! You gotta do what you gotta do.
Have a great weekend!!

Wendy

The days gone by

2009-05-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing new going on. I have just now been able to get on here and look around at the different blogs I read. I have hardly been on the computer at all since getting the Wii. It is so much fun and it is taking away all my "used to be" computer time. My husband and I are so addicted to the game we got on Wii. The Animal Crossing game that I told you about last week. He looked on there and discovered that one day this week I had played the game a total of 1-1/2 hrs! Geesh, don't I have a life? He said he was ashamed to say that the same day he had played it 2-1/2 hrs. Needless to say, it is a fun game.
This is Memorial Day Weekend. My mom is coming over here for the weekend. My sister and her crew are going camping so mom gets to come over to stay with us. Well, technically she doesn't "have" to, but she chose to b/c she didn't want to go camping. We can hang out anyways. For that I am grateful for. Have a good weekend. Get out and enjoy the Springtime air (I probably won't, I'll be playing the Wii). Just kidding. Maybe we will cookout or something.

This Week

2009-05-15T16:58:00.001-07:00

This picture isn't from this week at all. It was actually back in January when we went to Hilton Head Island for Tori-bug's gymnastics meet. This is at the top of the lighthouse. I don't think I have ever posted any pics of me on here so I decided that my husband needed to forward them to me. I love this picture of me and my mini-me.

Here is another one of me on the way out the door going to church one morning. Not the best picture, but it is me! Sadly the camera doesn't lie.

Now, on to the title for this post..... This week......

Not much happened this week except for work, gymnastics practice, watching the finale to Grey's Anatomy (boohoo), and the finale to Biggest Loser. Oh yeah, we got a Wii too. We discovered the funnest game ever. It is called Animal Crossing with Wii Speak. You create yourself a character then build your town. Kinda like the new farmtown on Facebook for all you Facebookers out there. The Wii Speak part of it comes in when you open your town gate and your friends can come to your town and play. You go around collecting things to sell, plant flower and fruit trees, fish, catch butterflies, etc. When your friends get to your town a microphone comes on (that is attached to the TV) and you can talk to your friends in your own living room. We could hear everything that was said at my sister's house and they could hear us. It is just like being on the telephone except your not!! We need all our friends to get this game so we can play!! I think me and my husband like it and play it more than Tori-bug.

And, this week I won a Pioneer Woman contest. I have never won anything before. It was the neatest feeling. I created an account at Snapfish.com and won 5 free photo books. If you have never stopped by her blog, you must do so. She gives away all kinds of stuff too. She lives on this big ranch and is the neatest person. Her blog is great fun to read and she posts recipes, photography, and homeschooling stuff too.

Well, that is all I have going on. I know, boring and all that, but it is my life. Thanks for stopping by.

Wendy

Yay Me!!

2009-05-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

I got a new vehicle on Tuesday. I have been driving the same minivan for the past 13 years. It was just about on its last leg, but it was paid for so I kept driving it. It felt so good not to have a car payment (we paid off my husbands too) for a while now. I had been looking and longing for a Toyota Sequoia and Tuesday I found one that I loved. It is gorgeous. Going from a minivan to an SUV felt weird. It is so big!!! Anyway, yay me. Maybe I will post pics of it soon.

Wendy

WHO AM I?

2009-04-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

I was driving to work this morning and listening to the radio. It takes me about 30 minutes to get there so a lot of mornings I pray! Sometimes I just listen to the FISH, which is a local Christian radio station here in Atlanta. I have been on such an emotional rollercoaster the past couple of months and this morning was no different. The song, Who am I by Casting Crowns came on about half way to work. I was listening to the words and singing at the top of my lungs as a prayer to God. Grief struck me!! I was immediately crying and sobbing about missing my granddaddy. Who am I that HE would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt? I miss my granddaddy immensely and I know this is normal and I am grateful to God that I will see him again. I feel truly blessed that I know who I am because of what HE has done. Here are the words to the song.....

WHO AM I?

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would chose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am
But because of what You've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are

Chorus:
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in th ocean
A vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I'm calling
Lord, You catch me when I'm falling
And You've told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Thank you Jesus for telling Who I am!!!

Feeling blessed,
Wendy

2009-04-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

So, I was tagged by www.fosterhome5.blogspot.com to do this 8 things survey. So, of course, I have to do it. It really is a lot of fun.

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:

1. Getting our debt paid off (one credit card)
2. Watching my new baby niece grow up.
3. Summer.
4. My 17-year-old getting a job :-)
5. Being a stay-at-home mommy one day.
6. Buying a new car (sooner rather than later probably. Mine can't last much longer).
7. My husband's business raking in the dough (see #5)
8. Pain relief (stupid back pain!! Ugh!)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Took my dog to the groomer.
2. Went to the grocery store.
3. Loved on Leah and my Tori-bug.
4. Read.
5. Found my sister's dog a home.
6. Picked my dog back up.
7. Cooked out with my sister and the rest of the gang.
8. Went to bed rather early.

8 Things I wish I could do:

1. Get rid of this stupid backache that has lasted for 4 years.
2. Cure childhood cancer.
3. Pay off my house.
4. Wrinkle my nose and my house be spotless.
5. Be a stay-at-home mommy.
6. Buy a new car.
7. Go to the beach.
8. Have another week of vacation (since I didn't get to rest on mine last week).

8 Shows I Watch

1. Survivor
2. Deadliest Catch
3. The Biggest Loser
4. American Idol
5. Dr. Phil
6. Jon and Kate plus 8
7. Oprah
8. Live with Regis and Kelly (DVR everyday)

I am supposed to tag some people. So, I tag www.adayinthelifeofacrazedmom.blogspot.com
www.jennykate77.blogspot.com (although I think she might have already did the survey), www.rajandginny.com/blog/
There you go.
Love to all,
Wendy

P.S. My great aunt passed away about 2 hours ago. I don't know what is happening to my family. Good grief, we have been on a rollercoaster.

The Best Birthday Present Ever

2009-04-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

My birthday was on April 20th. I turned 35 and got the best birthday present ever. Here she is.... Leah Racheigh Shields. My sister, C.C. was due on April 25th., but we told her all along that she would make her grand entrance on my birthday. And, she did!!! Leah was born at 2:10am. She weighed 7 lb. 9 oz. and was 19-1/2 inches long. I love being an aunt again. She is the most gorgeous baby so she must look like her aunt Wendy. Here is my husband, Uncle Kevin holding her for the first time.

Granny of course had to hold her too. She was going to be in the delivery room, but C.C. ended up with a c-section after laboring for 20 hrs.

C.C. bonding with her new lil' angel. She is going to be a great mom and I am proud of her. I will help her in whatever I can. Since I work at the pediatrician's office she has a pediatric nurse at her fingertips all the time. My little finger is wrapped tightly though from that sweet precious baby girl already!!

Happy Birthday, Leah and to me too!!

A Champion

2009-04-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Well, my Tori-bug didn't win a state championship today, but she is still a champion in my book. She did really well though. I will post pics tomorrow hopefully. She got her 36 finally!!! Actually, it was an all-around score of 36.105!!! She also placed in every event with 21 girls competing. She got a 9.1 on vault (pretty good for her), 8.85 on bars, 8.85 on beam, and 9.3 on floor. I was so extremely proud of her. She is getting on a plane tomorrow night and flying to Disney World. The lucky girl!!! The best thing about today was that SHE was proud of herself.

One beaming mom,
Wendy

Just an update

2009-04-15T16:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog all week b/c I am still trying to recover from the lack of sleep and fatigue that washed over me the past 2 weeks. It has been one big rollercoaster ride with my emotions. We have a lot of family drama going on (that I don't want to get into to right now). My mom is moving in with my sister and her family this weekend. Trying to pack a house that they never threw stuff away is tough. My granddaddy was one of those people who kept EVERYTHING. My other sister is still pregnant. She is due in 9 days now. She and her boyfriend moved into the house with his uncle (who is older and has dementia). Don't know how all that is going to work out when she has the baby, but they will make do. My mom is moving in with my sister b/c she is leaving my stepdad. He has been terrible to my entire family. Speaking horribly to all of us and I, for one, am tired of it. My child is scared of him. She finally told him that she wanted to leave him. But, mom is disabled so she needs someone with her during the day thus the reason she is going to my sister's. She will be done with school on May 5th. and will be available to mom during the day. I am working full time right now and it would be easier to have mom come here, but nobody is here during the day. We will try this out and see how it goes.
Tori has her State Meet this Sat. at 5pm. I absolutely love gymnastics competition season, but I am rather glad it is coming to a close for now. She is leaving on Sunday to go to Disney World without me. I went ahead and took the week off from work though so I could catch up. My husband and I spent our 11th. wedding anniversary at the funeral home so we want to be able to do something together new week. I will do better at updating next week hopefully. Maybe I will be able to tell you that Tori-bug won State Champion then too.

Wendy

Eulogy

2009-04-09T09:57:00.000-07:00

Never before have I spoken at a funeral. I am usually too scared to even offer to get up and try to speak, but for my granddaddy I wanted to. He was especially special to me. I wish I had my scanner hooked up so I could post a picture of him, but I don't. I will share with you what I said though.

My Granddaddy

You may have called him Peanut, Wimp, daddy, brother, or uncle, but he was my granddaddy. I wanted to tell you a little bit about who my granddaddy was. When I was a young girl I stayed every weekend with Mama Jean and Granddaddy. I could have had sleep overs with my friends, but I chose to go to granddaddy's because they were my favorite people. I loved spending time with them. Granddaddy worked for Palm Harbor Homes and Mama Jean couldn't stay by herself when Mama Mae (my great-grandmother) would go to Johnny's for the weekend or to Florida so I stayed with her. On Friday nights when granddaddy got home from work, we would go to the steak house and eat supper. Granddaddy could hardly eat because he knew everybody that came in the door. On Sat. nights we went to John's BBQ. It was the same way there.
Granddaddy impacted my life. He taught me true love. Mama Jean had epilepsy and had seizures often. When she would have one, he would wrap his arms around her tightly so she wouldn't get hurt. On April 16, they would have been married for 60 years. Yesterday (April 4) was my 11th. wedding anniversary and I pray we will be together for 60 years. Granddaddy loved lots of things and people. He loved to fish. He loved to eat catfish, chicken stew, BBQ, moonpies, and oh yes, HUNNY BUNS!!! Granddaddy told everyone about his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He carried pictures around in his wallet for everyone to see. When I was 9 years old Granddaddy told everyone that I was his "little nurse". I would just beam. I knew from that moment on that I would go to nursing school. He was so proud of me when I graduated.
There was a movie out several years ago where a man died. His family said it was not goodbye because they would see him again someday, it was "See you later". So granddaddy, "I'll see you later". I love you and I will miss you from the bottom of my heart.

My grandparents were very special to me. I just lost my other grandmother (my dad's mom) 8 months ago. They were the last 2 alive and now I have lost both of them. We are going through some really trying times right now. Please keep lifting my family up in your prayers. I will be forever grateful.

Missing my granddaddy,
Wendy

Funeral

2009-04-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

I am so sad! My granddaddy passed away early Friday morning. My sister and I had been caring for him all this week and Wednesday we knew that it would only be a couple of days. I stayed all night on Wednesday night, my sister stayed all night on Thursday night. She called me at 3:18am and said she wasn't sure if he was breathing. I raced over there (in about 3 minutes flat) and he was already gone. Today we have the funeral. I am going to try my best to get up and speak. I am hoping I won't be a big blubbering mess. I really want to express what kind of man my grandfather was. He was my favorite person. I will miss him dearly.

Grandmother Whiddon

2009-03-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

I realized that I had been putting a lot of "heavy" stuff on my blog recently. All this drama in my family with the medical issues so I wanted to post something more upbeat.
This is my husband's grandmother. Grandmother Whiddon is 94 years young and still finds time to sit down and play a game of checkers with her 8 year old great-granddaughter. I love that about Grandmother Whiddon. She is the most special lady you will ever meet. She always has a smile on her face. She does all her cooking and cleaning herself, has gorgeous flowers that she tends to, and occasionally a tomato plant or so. She got on a horse this year for her 94th. birthday. I will try to find the picture and post it. Grandmother Whiddon still drives too (although we'd rather she didn't b/c of the traffic on her road), but she does. She takes fresh cut flowers from her yard to all her friends when they are in the hospital, but she has outlived most of them now. She goes to church nearly every Sunday. That woman can do just about anything and with the right frame of mind. If you are ever down and out, all you have to do is go by and see her and when you do, you will find yourself smiling before you leave. We are fortunate to live directly behind her. We should stop by more often though. Thanks Grandmother Whiddon for showing my girl love, playing with her, and giggling the whole time when you let her beat you!!!
I love you so much!

Stress, stress, and stress

2009-03-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

Please accept my apology for taking so long to update my blog. We have had a ton of stuff going on. Gymnastics meets almost every weekend, doctor's visits for me, my mom, and my grandfather, in-patient stays for my grandfather 2 out of the past 3 weeks.
My grandfather was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer today. Not good!! I have been the caretaker for most of his and my mom's needs for the past 4 months. My mom nearly died back in December and she is doing somewhat better, but is still really sick. My grandfather complained of chest pain about a month ago on a Monday morning so we took him by ambulance to the hospital where he was admitted, cardiac cathed, and a stint was placed in his 95% blocked artery. He started looking jaundiced the day before that discharge, but nobody but us thought anything of it. He came home on Thursday. He was supposed to go to his regular doctor on Monday for bloodwork about that, but it snowed so we had to cancel it. He went on Wednesday instead. Thursday night they called my mom (who doesn't understand all the medical stuff much) to say that he was extremely jaundiced and he needed to be admitted immediately back into the hospital. I couldn't go that night so we took him the next morning. He was inpatient Friday, Sat., and Sunday. At discharge they told me that they had done some tumor markers on some blood work, but didn't have the results back yet. I was told to bring him to the gastroenterologist office in 3 weeks which we did today. She saw us and told him and me that he had extremely high levels of the tumor marker. Way off the chart so it is probably advanced stage. He has bad back pain, headaches, abdominal pain, nausea, etc. Now, all we can do is keep him comfortable. I am going to call hospice tomorrow to see if I can get that started. I am his main caregiver b/c I hold his power of attorney as well as my mom's. My younger sister at home is 19 and pregnant. She is due in 2-3 weeks. I need prayers for my family, for Pyper's family (she is doing some better), and for my peace of mind please. I will try to update again tomorrow when I get a chance.

Pray for Pyper

2009-03-18T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have a little friend who is 2-years-old that just relapsed with leukemia. She had it as an infant. She was rediagnosed last week. The family lives in South Georgia, 5 hrs. from Atlanta. Mom isn't working of course as she is taking care of her. They have a total of 5 children. Dad and the other children at separated from them while she is in-patient. She will probably be inpatient at least 6 weeks and she had a white blood cell count over 200,000. That is astronomical. They are really struggling right now, physically, emotionally, and financially. PLEASE pray for her. Her name is Pyper Sellers. You can check out her blog at www.caringbridge.org/visit/pyperaddisynsellers
I was trying to come up with a creative way to raise some money for them. I, like everyone else don't have any extra money right now. With her daddy being 5 hrs. away he will need gas money to come visit on the weekends. I was thinking that I could collect loose change for them to use in the vending machines while inpatient or if I raise enough money to buy them a gas card or an American Express card to use whereever. I am going to put a change bucket in my Sunday School room at church for people to throw their loose change in to. If you feel so inclined and have a few extra coins laying around, bag it up, or take it to the bank and write a check, either to me (I promise I will give them every dime) or donate on her website at Suntrust Bank. Everyone has a few loose coins. If you would like to donate through me, just email me at:
whiddonfour@windstream.net and I will give you my address. I want to collect change for the next 2 weeks and then take it to her. Mom would be so grateful. Let me know if you would like to help.
Wendy

Happy Birthday

2009-03-15T18:01:00.001-07:00

Today is my nephew's birthday. Big number 9!!! Part of the present he received was a Wii. Well, actually, the whole family got a Wii, but it just happened to be on his birthday. I got to spend some time over at my sister's house today b/c we were hosting a baby shower for our other sister. After all the baby shower guests went home, I stayed behind to learn to play the Wii. Let me just tell you, that thing is so much fun. Very fun!!! I always enjoy getting to see my nieces and my nephew, but today was especially fun getting to play the game. This picture is of my sister, Monica, my nephew, Timmy, and my niece, Hannah. My other niece wouldn't come out of her room to play with us when we were trying to get the pictures.

My niece, Hannah, aka "Sticks". This is here nickname on the game b/c she has the longest skinniest legs and she looks like she is walking on two sticks. How, I do love that girl! Freckles and all!!!!

This is the birthday boy himself, Timmy. He turned 9 today. His nickname on the game is "Tee". I think he changed it without our knowledge, b/c we used to call him TT as in TinyTim (his daddy's name is Tim and he is just like him). Anyway, I beat him at bowling and he didn't even have to let me win. We had a great time today. Thanks for letting me hang out today.

Let's see.....

2009-03-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Where did I leave off? Oh yeah, I was stressed out and tired from all the running back and forth.
My granddaddy got readmitted on Friday morning with a bile duct obstruction and jaundice. They couldn't do the really necessary tests (example: IV contrast CT) to rule out pancreatitis or a malignancy in his pancreas or liver b/c he just had a cardia stint placed last week. The doctor said it was most likely a gallstone stuck in his bile duct, but the possibility of a malginancy is still there as well as further gallstones. They are thinking some time in the future they might do a very specialized test called a ERCP or something like that to cut the duct so future gallstones would be able to pass thru and not get stuck, but now he is on Plavix for the cardiac stuff and can't have surgery for at least one year. That is still in the air, but they did let him come home today after a really long night last night. I stayed at the hospital last night and thankfully, we were able to get a decent amount of rest. The nurses on duty knew that I was a nurse and would call them if I needed them so they shut the door and didn't bother us. Thank God for that! He always gets extremely confused at night time when inpatient so he was on a tangent when I first got there yesterday afternoon, but I was able to get him to calm down rather quickly and then he did fine after that. It was rather funny b/c he kept telling the nurses that he put some connectors into the shot box (that was locked hanging on the wall) and he needed to get them back out. He said it wasn't locked when he put them in there and he had stopped on the way to the hospital to pick them up. Granddaddy was an electrician so he keeps remembering that he used connectors I guess. He doesn't even drive anymore and my sister had driven him to the hospital and definitely didn't stop to pick up any connectors on the way :-)

Let's see....

Other news this week. Oh yeah, Tori-bug had a gymnastics meet yesterday. My hubby was still home with the flu so my mother-in-law went with me. She didn't have her best meet yesterday and there was only 5 girls her age. She should have had better scores (from what she is capable of), but she still placed 2nd. on everything, including all-around and 4th. on bars. Bars are normally one of her best events, but she fell on her shoot-thru and got a really low score for it. She will always be number one to me, but I want her to do her best every time. She did have fun and my little brother, Alan, and my dad's girlfriend came to watch her for the first time. I really think she might have been a little too excited about that and lost her focus. I am definitely not trying to make excuses for her b/c she is capable of doing way better, but she was excited about them being there.
My husband is feeling MUCH better today and in fact, took himself and Tori-bug to church this evening. Tori-bug spent the night with a friend last night so that helped me a lot since I was staying at the hospital and Kevin was still sick. Thank you, Mrs. Barbara. I am so glad you are my friend and can help me get Tori-bug everywhere. It really means a lot to me.
Tori-bug is off next weekend and I am giving my sister a baby shower. She is due in 6-7 weeks. One of my best friend's is also due at the same time. They are both having girls so we are so excited. Since my baby days are over, it will be fun to spoil theirs rotten. Again, thanks to everyone for praying for my family. I don't want to speak too soon again, but I think it might just be a normal week this week. THAT is what I am praying for now anyway. It will be a gorgeous week in Georgia. 77 degrees today and about that tomorrow too. I can't wait.

Wendy

So I spoke too soon- Jeesh!

2009-03-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Did ya'll not hear me when I said I needed serious prayer? Oh my! I am so stressed out right now. Let me just give you a little recap of today. My husband fell really sick last night. He went to the doctor today and diagnosed with the flu. He is NEVER sick. When I tell you he was fine one minute then was sick, he was sick. He wanted to go to the doctor today and stayed in the bed all day. He doesn't stay in the bed ever and when he does you better know he is sick.
After I found out that he had the flu, I received a call from my mom telling me that my granddaddy's doctor called to say he had an EXTREMELY high bilirubin on his bloodwork yesterday and he needed to go directly back to the hospital to be readmitted for a probable bile duct obstruction. I was at work and my mom is disabled and she can't drive. My sister who is 31 weeks pregnant had already left to drive herself to the hospital for severe back pain, abdominal pain, and bleeding. She was not home and I could not get him to the hospital tonight. My other sister has to take him first thing in the morning to be a direct admit. I have a sneaky suspicion it is going to be a gallstone obstructing his bile duct. It could be a very serious thing. I am just waiting on my pregnant sister to call me back, hoping to goodness she is not in premature labor and has to go on bedrest. I have been squalling all afternoon and feeling really stressed out. I am almost wondering if I should take a Family Medical Leave to try and get everyone back on the right track in my family. So, I spoke too soon. All that, then when I got to the pharmacy to get my hubby's meds, it was freakin $80. Seriously? Who cares if it helps though, right?

Settling down

2009-03-04T18:24:00.000-08:00

Things are finally settling down from all the drama around us the past few weeks. My granddaddy is home and feeling better. My mom went to the pulmonologist yesterday and was told that she had even less lung capicity than she did 3 years ago. She had only about 30% of lung function in 2006 and when they repeated it yesterday it was significantly worse. I knew that in my heart, but it still hurt to know the truth. Mom was a bad smoker for a lot of years and started when she was about 13 or 14 years old. Her mom died of COPD, but had not smoked in 30 years prior to passing away. Her father (my granddaddy) has COPD, but he has not smoked in 30 or more years either. Her brother has COPD and continues to smoke. My brother is a smoker and I would love for him to quit, but so far he has not decided to commit to that. Mom's pulmonary function test was so bad that the doctor wouldn't even tell me what percentage is was yesterday b/c it really won't make a difference at this point. She can't regain it and will eventually just suffocate to death. She is not smoking so that is good. She is only 54 and probably (no doubt) not live to be in her 60's. It saddens me. My mom has always been my best friend and I can't even stand the thought of losing her. We are all going to go one day and I am glad that I know where I am going when I go. Mom does too. So less stressed and tired this week, but still going through each day. It is honestly a full time job with trying to take care of her and my grandfather. That is with three of us full time. Both of my sisters too.
My Tori-bug has a meet this coming Sat. Bless her heart she had a great meet last Sat., but her team was swept away by another gym. They are truly in a different league than us and we will have to compete against them at State and again at our home gym on March 28th. Our girls have the ability to do well against them, but we didn't bring it this past week. We have to next time. I will always think my Tori-bug is number 1 no matter what.
Thanks for checking in this week. If you find it in your heart to lift up a few prayers for my sanity and my mom and grandfather we could use them :-)

Tori-bug building a snowman

2009-03-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

She was too cold to let her daddy finish the snowman.

WE HAVE SNOW!!!!

2009-03-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

YEAH!!!! SNOW IN GEORGIA!!!!

Snow in Georgia is extremely rare. We are loving it. We are looking at 3 inches already and it is really coming down. I will try to post pictures a little later on. My Tori-bug is so excited and is already hoping they call off school tomorrow. It would be nice. It is so rare that we hope it sticks around a few hours or even a day or two. Woohoo!!

Stressed and Tired

2009-02-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

It has been a really long week.

1. My grandfather was admitted on Monday morning, subsequently had a cardiac cath. and
stint.
2. Work was crazy busy with lots of flu and stomach virus.
3. Husband snores all night and keeps me up. I slept elsewhere two nights this week. One night
I think I got about 2 hours. My stress level was really up the other 3 nights this week so that
kept me awake. The couch and my daughter's bed don't sleep as well as mine.
4. I have been trying to finish the fourth book of the Twilight series. So, at 5:00am when I woke
up I was able to finish it this morning.
5. Waiting 1-1/2 hrs. to be seated at Red Lobster after a long day at work was stressful by itself.
6. Gymnastics meet tomorrow. Take the dog to the groomer in the morning and drive 1 hr. to
meet. Sit 3 hrs. while meet is going on, cheering for my baby girl.

Yep, stressed and tired. TGIF!!! Let the weekend begin AFTER I get a good night of rest. PLEASE!!

Tori-isms

2009-02-17T16:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight Tori-bug and I were in the bathtub together. She was slinging her washcloth and slinging water into my face. Heres the way it went......
Me: "STOP sling that washcloth and getting water in my face". (said with a stern voice)

Tori: "Well, you don't have to be so confident about it"!!

She doesn't even know what confident means. Haha!

Yesterday on the way home from gymnastics........

Tori: "Mama, do you know what color my stone birth is?"
Me: "You mean, your birth stone?"
Tori: "Yeah, my stone birth"
Me: "No, baby sorry to say I don't. Mine is a diamond b/c I am in April".
Tori: "Well, when you go to work tomorrow can you ask Dr. Newman what my stone birth is?"
Me: "Why would Dr. Newman know what your birthstone is? Her birthday isn't June".
Tori: "Because mama, she is a doctor and she knows EVERYTHING!!!"

As we are getting into the tub tonight.......

Me: "Tori, you have toilet paper on your butt".
Tori: "SEE, I told you I have been wiping"!!!

Do ya'll see why I am the crazy person I am?
GEEZ, kids!!!

Feeling the love on Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T17:43:00.000-08:00

We had a gymnastics meet today at Tucker Valentine Invitational. I purchased little red heart head boppers for the girls to wear. They looked so cute. Here they are wearing them in the opening ceremonies.

Tori-bug had her best meet all-around so far this season. I was really feeling the LOVE when she got a first place win on beam. It was a tie, but first place nonetheless. She also tied for third place on vault (which has never been her best event) and got her personal best score of 9.050. She placed fifth on floor with another 9.050 and all-around she scored 35.775. We were shooting for a 36, but came up just shy. That's okay, it was still a great day.

Kevin and I knew that we would be spending most of our Valentine's Day at a gymnastics meet and that is fine with us, but he surprised me last night with a steak dinner (that he cooked himself) and roses. We are also celebrating on Sunday by watching the first Nascar race of the season!!! I know what you're thinking...... "what?" I couldn't think of anything better to do than watching the cars go round and round on a track. I LOVE IT!!! Gentlemen, start your engines. Go..... Earnhardt Jr.
So, yeah, I am feeling the love today.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my little brother, Alan and to my nephew, Matthew!

Blue eraser

2009-02-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Tori-bug came home from gymnastics tonight telling me that her ear felt funny. She went on to say that it seemed like something might be in her ear. Perhaps, when she was playing with an eraser today and tossed it in the air it landed right in her ear. I immediately went into nurse mode and asked her if she had put anything in her ear. She started saying that no she didn't but it might have gotten in there SOMEHOW! I looked and didn't see anything. However, she said that she was certain there was an eraser in her ear. Now, I guess I should first give a BIG disclaimer and to say NEVER try this at home, but I have been a pediatric nurse for a long time. I have seen many things in childrens' noses and ears. I proceeded to do what my boss would have done to get it out....... I opened up a paperclip and ever so gently (not going all into her ear anything) and scooped out a bright blue eraser. I don't know how the child was hearing anything that was said all afternoon. It was pretty big. Had I not been able to pull it out extremely easily, I would have just taken her directly to the urgent care because you can bust a child's eardrum. YOU SHOULD NEVER DO THIS AT HOME!!! But, since it was me, I saved myself a whopping one hundred bucks!!!
P.S. I did put the fear of God in her though about putting anything in any orifice in your body. We don't do that and she better never do it again. She cried and said that as long as she didn't have to go to the hospital and get a big shot or anything that she wouldn't. Oh kids!!!!

My two favorite people

2009-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago we went to Hilton Head for a gymnastics meet. We stayed an extra day to enjoy the weekend and rest up. On Sat. we went to the lighthouse and to play putt-putt. I love this picture that was taken at the top of my two favorite people. My Tori-bug is a big time daddy's girl even though she looks EXACTLY like me. She looks so much like me that I call her my "mini me". Unfortunately she also acts like me a lot too :-)
She and her daddy are the best of friends. though. Kevin is the one that will get on the floor and play. They play games, read, bowl, and have the most fun together. I really wish I was more like him in that respect. I think of all the things that I should be doing instead and have to remind myself to live in the moment. We had an absolute gorgeous weekend this weekend in Georgia. It was 70 degrees outside and beautiful. They went out and played basketball together. I did go outside, but instead of playing, I cleaned the windows. She did help me though. I am trying really hard to sit back and enjoy her more and worry about things less. They are definitely worth it...... MY TWO FAVORITE PEOPLE!!!

A CHALLENGE

2009-02-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

My husband and I recently started The Love Dare book by the movie Fireproof. We haven't actually seen the movie yet. It is showing at our church on Feb. 19th. One of the dares in the book is to do random acts of kindness for your spouse. I have been trying to do random acts of kindness before this to perfect strangers. For instance, I would go to Starbucks in the mornings, order a coffee, then get up to the drive-thru window, and pay for the person behind me. I would then have to drive off really fast so they couldn't know who it was. Occasionally, I would pay for lunch for the person behind me at the drive-thru window. One time, when I got to the window and told the cashier that I wanted to pay for the next person (thankfully, it has never been someone that was ordering for their entire office staff or anythink like that), they asked me if that was my husband behind me. I simply said "no" and to tell them when they asked why I paid for their food that it was a random act of kindness and to pass it on. I am not telling you this to toot my own horn. I would actually prefer not to even tell anybody. However, I think it does two things...... 1. It makes the giver feel really good. I love doing things for others and I feel great when I do. 2. It just may make the other person's day.
So, when I saw this challenge in the book of doing random acts of kindness for my spouse, I thought this should be really easy for me. Of course, it isn't anonymous for him, but easy enought on me to actually do them. The only problem is, I have failed miserably. I can't even think of one REALLY nice thing to do for him that would be considered "RANDOM". He spoils me rotten and does random acts of kindness for me on a daily basis, such as bringing me a cup of coffee and placing it by my bed every single morning, cranking my car on the cold mornings so when I get in it it is warm, and occasionally leaving me the sweetness notes. Several months ago I got in my warmed up car to find a single red rose on the steering wheel with a note that said "Just like this was the only rose in the rose garden today, so are you the only one for me". Now, how can I top that? Valentine's Day is coming up next week and I need some help!! Anyone got any suggestions for me?
While you're at it, go ahead and do a random act of kindness today. It is my challenge to you. Let it be totally anonymous. Your soul will thank you for it, I promise!
Love and kisses to all,
Wendy

Hugs and kisses.....

2009-02-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

I read about a little girl named Sophia today that gained her angel wings. I have been following along her on her blog for several months now. She has been battling cancer for quite some time. I believe she was 4 years old. Her parents have been by her side day and night for many months. It really hit home to me that we are never granted another day of life. I get so frustrated at times with Tori-bug, but I have her tonight to hug and kiss on and I know that Sophia's parents would die for one more day with her. I am praying for their family and I ask that you do the same. While you are at it, thank God for the children that he has entrusted to you. Thank Him for the beautiful smiles, personalities, and joy that they bring to you. I will hug and kiss my Tori-bug a little bit more tonight.

Thanks and Congratulations

2009-01-31T17:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks for leaving me comments! I really appreciate it. I read several different blogs on a regular basis (like everyday) and I enjoy reading them. I am trying to do better about leaving comments too so the authors actually know that I have stopped by. I feel like I am so not good about updating my blog as some of the people I actually read. I also love it when they post pics. I am disappointed when I go to their sites and nothing has been updated. Bad, I know. Then some of them come here and I have not updated either. Anyways......
Today was our second gymnastics meet. Seems like this time of the year we are the most busy and it is all I do. I absolutely love attending all of Tori-bugs meets. Some of them are a ways off. It took us about 1-1/2 hrs to get to the one we had today, but we are off next week. Not as many teams competing at this one today either. Nonetheless.... my Tori-bug ROCKED!! She got 2nd. place all-around, 1st. place on floor with a 9.35, and 4th. place on both bars and vault. Her bar scores should have been higher based on what she did, but the judge was fair in the way she was judging everyone. I think the highest score on bars was like a 9.2 and the lil' girl was from our team. I was so wanting Tori-bug to get a first place all-around win, but maybe next time. We will be happy with 2nd. place this time. Way to go, my lil' Tori-bug. I love you so much and I am extremely proud of you.
Love,
Mom2Tori-bug

Drumming up business...

2009-01-28T18:17:00.001-08:00

HELLO? Is this thing working? HELLO? Oh, okay. I am trying to drum up some business for my blog. I want people to read and leave me comments. This blog is really for me and Tori-bug (so I don't forget all the cute little things that happen), but I would love it if people actually read it. Then leave me some messages. If you sign in anonymously, just type your name at the end of the post and perhaps where you are from. I will come by your blog too if you have one and leave the information.
Now, get busy commenting.......
Signing off,
Wendy

Hilton Head Invitational Level 3 Meet

2009-01-24T06:01:00.001-08:00

We had a our first gymnastics meet of 2009 yesterday in Hilton Head Island, S.C. I was surprised that I wasn't as nervous as I normally am at meets. Tori-bug doesn't seem to ever be nervous prior to them, but her mommy worries enough for both of us. Last year she won this meet on Level 2 with a first place win on bars and beam. Beam last year was 9.2 and bars was 9.175. This year she had 12 gymnasts in her age group and she placed 3rd. on bars with a 9.575!!! I am extremely proud of that score, but totally surprised she got 3rd. She also got 5th. place on floor and 5th. place all-around. Really not bad for our first meet. Her overall score was the highest out of our level with a 35.45. This probably doesn't make any sense to people without gymnastics knowledge, but everyone knows a perfect score is 10.0 and a 9.575 is really good for an 8-year-old. She rocked!!! We only have one week before the next meet in Dahlonega.

We decided to stay an extra day in Hilton Head, I mean we are at the beach so hey.....

We had to wear gloves and coats to walk on the beach, but it has been warmer this year than last. We are staying in an absolutely gorgeous condo. So glad we decided to take the extra day and relax today. We are going to surprise our friends on Sunday in Savannah and attend their church. He was our youth minister for 8 years and last year moved to Savannah to be the head minister of a church there. Savannah is just a few miles from here.

Ummmm......

2009-01-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

I should first start out telling you that I have the best husband on the planet. I really don't know how I got so lucky. The man will help with the house, laundry, kids, etc.
I will give you a little background information now. I have been suffering with back pain for now over 4 years. Terrible! I suffered a fall back in July 2004 where I fell down a 100 ft. natural rock water slide. My family and I had been camping that weekend in the mountains and at the end of the weekend decided to hike down into the gorge. You have to have a special permit and all that wonderful jazz to even go down into it. At the bottom of the gorge is a beautiful natural rock waterslide that people can slide on. To make a long story short, I sat down in the water, not intending to slide, and got caught up in the current where the water swooshed me down an uncontrolled slide and I hit a very pointed rock on the way down. STRAIGHT UP MY CRACK!! Yikes! When I landed at the bottom, I was in excrutiating pain, but I had to get out. I lay the next 2 hours on my belly on a rock until I felt I could make the climb back up the mountain to the top. I went to my doctor the next day. After several weeks of pain I discovered that I needed to have my tailbone removed. I did in August of that year. I was painfree for about 7 months after the surgery then woke up one day with my back hurting. It has hurt almost every day since then. I have bounced around from doctor to chiropractor to accupuncturist. I found out that I have a bulging disc and a pars defect on both sides from the initial injury. I am again in physical therapy. My husband surprised me this week with a massage to a spa. I had been getting one about every month which does help, but "my girl" (my massage therapist) moved and I haven't been able to get in touch with her so I tried out this new spa today. My husband called for me, made the appt., paid for it, and told me when to go. He even arranged a babysitter for Tori-bug. All I will say about that is ummmm....... oh how I love that man! The massage was wonderful and so is he.
PS... When I make my list of things I love, he will be at the top and massages should definitely be somewhere in the mix.

Things I hate

2009-01-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Isn't hate a really strong word? Today I was talking to Tori-bug on the way home from school. You know how it goes.....
Me: "So, how was school today?"

Tori: "Fine".

Me: "Anything exciting at school today?"

Tori: "No, but mama, I hate peanut butter and they had PBJ sandwiches for lunch today!"

So, I got to thinking about all the things that I dislike.
1. PEANUTS!! I hate peanuts. The only nuts I will eat are boiled peanuts.
2. Colonial bread. I only eat Sunbeam.
3. All brands of mayonnaise except Blue Plate. The South, baby... The South...
4. Unsweet tea. (see reference to the South above).
5. All things diet.... (diet Coke, diet cookies, diet everything). It just doesn't taste good.

So, there is my short list. I try to stay positive so soon I will write a list of things that I love.

See ya,
Wendy

The Biggest Loser

2009-01-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

YEAH!!!! The Biggest Loser is on again starting right now!! I love this show. Nothing much else going on in our neck of the woods. My DH joined 4 other people at our local YMCA (my sister, brother-in-law, and 2 friends) for a Biggest Loser competition. Thankfully, my DH doesn't need to drop but about 10-15 lbs. but it will be good for him to "tone up". Stay tuned for updates.

As a side note, I personally know 3 people leaving in a couple of weeks to serve our country in Iraq. Please pray for all of our military men and women that are serving there and abroad as well as the families they are leaving behind. My cousin's husband will be there for 11 months.

Wendy

Happy 2nd. Day of New Year

2009-01-02T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry! I didn't get on here yesterday and do a post. I decided to spend the day doing all the things that you aren't supposed to do on New Years. You know, the superstitious stuff. Let's see... I washed several loads of laundry (you aren't supposed to b/c you might wash someone out of your life). I swept the floor (you aren't supposed to b/c you might sweep someone out of your life). I didn't eat collard greens or blackeye peas (although I did cook some blackeye peas). Guess I won't have any money or luck this year!!!
Instead I spent the day doing all these things b/c well, they needed doing. I did stop for a little while and go bowling with my husband and my Tori-bug. Of course, she beat me bowling. After the fifth frame and me not having any points she finally asked if we should change the screen to add me the gutter guards. She cracks me up. I finally started using her ball (a 6 lb. ball) and ended up with a score of 54. Let me just say that I don't normally bowl THAT bad. I don't know what happened and I really was trying to do good. The second game I did a lot better.
Well, I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days off. Monday it will be back to the grinding board. I, for one, am sort of glad. I like a regular routine. Leave some comments so I know you are reading.

Reading

2008-12-30T15:30:00.001-08:00

I follow along on several blogs and one of the ones that I read has been talking about what she is reading lately. She has a preteen daughter (see notquitewhatihadplanned.blogspot.com) that has been having to do a lot of required reading. Hopefully she won't mind me posting her blog here for the world to see (or all of my 2 followers, *wink*). Anyways, it got me to thinking about what I am in to with my reading. First of all, let me just go on record to say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to read. I will just about read anything, but if I can't get into the book after the first couple of chapters I will put it down and move on.
The best book I have ever read is called The Shack. I would highly recommend it. I am a Christian and came to know Jesus at the age of 9. However, I have never really understood the whole trinity thing. Now don't get me wrong, I read my bible, attend church, bible studies, etc. This is not even a "religious" book. It just really makes you see God differently. In my opinion it isn't too far off theology. It is a fiction book though. If you have read it, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought about it. Right now I am reading "At home in Mitford", which is by another Christian author. Several other books that I have thoroughly enjoyed are all books by Terry Blackstock. I can't wait to get my hands on another one of her series. She has lots. My sister turned me on to these and we were not able to put them down. How about you? What do you like to read?
We had a great Christmas. Tried to keep it a little lower key this year, which was nice. Not as much running and being on the road as we normally do. My Tori-bug really was excited by the gifts Santa brought, namely her Nintendo DS, but cried Christmas Eve when her elf had to go home. Oh well. Maybe she will come visit us next year. Hope you all enjoyed yours. Looking forward to the New Year. My mom is doing much better and actually looks a lot better. Thanks for checking in with us.
Wendy

I'm just saying.....

2008-12-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

Did it occur to anyone else that today is December 18th? Did you hear me say it was Dec. 18th? Today the high was 72 degrees. What????? In December?? I'm just saying....... it is supposed to be cold in December. COLD, I tell you!!! Now don't get me wrong, I loved walking to McDonalds across the street from the hospital this afternoon with the sun beaming down, but I truly thought it was spring for a moment.
Let me also just say......... that I have the best friends in the world. Both of my two bestest friends have called me every day since Sunday when my mom got admitted. They even came down to the hospital on Sunday to show me support. Things are getting better for my mom. She won't get to come home until at least Sunday, but that's okay. We want her completely well before she does anyway. The family drama seems to be getting better too. We all need our mom and want whats best for her.
Tomorrow officially starts the holiday season for us. The kids get out of school tomorrow, all the class partys, and then holiday gatherings this weekend too. YUM!

Blah, blah, and more blah

2008-12-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't been able to get on here all week b/c my mom had to make an emergency visit to the hospital on Sunday morning. Mom has always been a smoker, but supposedly quit several years ago after finding out she had COPD (emphysema). I say supposedly b/c I found out on Sunday that she has been smoking quite a bit lately. Everybody knew she was except my sister and I. Anyways...... she got admitted to ICU for respiratory failure and aspirin toxicity. She had apparently taken 30-50 Goody powders in one day trying to get rid of her headache. She thought that the more she took the better it would get, but everybody knows that Goody powders have caffeine in them and you get a rebound headache. I am happy to say that she is doing some better but not completely out of the woods yet.

Sunday night, when we got home Tori-bug wanted to give Joy (the elf) a jelly bean. Monday morning when we got up Joy had made herself a bubblebath out of cotton balls in our bathroom sink. That silly 'ol elf.

Joy put a tree in my room!!

2008-12-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

Last Sat. night after being gone most of the day we came home to not being able to find Joy, our elf. Tori-bug looked all over for her and finally found her in her bedroom. She had been spreading a little Christmas cheer in there.

She had left a decorated tree with ornaments that all said "JOY" on them and she was sitting at the top. She had also left a pair of new red shoes under the tree. Tori-bug was so excited. We were supposed to leave her a jellybean last night (she can only feed her jellybeans 2 nights a week), but Tori-bug was feeling a little under the weather so we forgot. She is feeling much better today though so she might get a jellybean tonight.

Weekend Plans

2008-12-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

Well, today is Friday. I was very ready for a relaxing weekend at home. Well, maybe not at home, but not having to work either. We have plans to wrap presents tonight (I have not wrapped a single gift yet and there is only 2 weeks left before Christmas). Tomorrow morning we have a gymnastics Christmas party, then going to my bosses house for a family Christmas party. Sunday, we have church, then a going-away party for a gentleman that is going to Iraq in January, and a birthday party for my niece. The school called this morning and said my Tori-bug was complaining of a stomachache and she had vomited. I hope our busy weekend plans aren't busted. She has been asleep since I picked her up from school. I really need people to leave a message in my comments so I know that I am not just writing to the wind (even though I probably am)!!!! It would be okay if I was. I am mainly keeping this blog for a written journal for myself and Tori-bug anyway, but it would be nice to hear from you folks.

I know, I know

2008-12-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

I know, I know!! I said I would do my very best to keep up this website, I have already failed at it. I just haven't gotten around to posting my pictures yet. We are having a blast with Joy, the elf. She has put Tori's underwear all over the Christmas tree, watched a DVD with the tooth fairy (we know this b/c the tooth fairy left the money for the tooth under the elf's pillow), and she brought a 4ft. Christmas tree in Tori's room. She did this on Sat. while we were not home. The tree was decorated with ornaments that all said JOY and she was sitting at the top. Under the tree was a pair of new red shoes. My Tori-bug was ecstatic. She loved it!!! Thanks for checking in on us and I will try really hard to post pics really soon.