Please pray for my friends!!!!

Our friends, Jim and Melanie Walenciak, and their family had their car stolen. Please read their story and pray for them...we know that Satan will be defeated and he will have to pay them back SEVEN times and that God WILL be glorified through this!!!! Hallelujah!!!

http://melaniewalenciak.blogspot.com/

New Year's Poem

Twas the night before New Year's, and all through the house
Everyone was partying, even the mouse
The snacks were all out, with people beside them
And drinks were being poured, as fast as people eyed them.

The kids were all playing Monopoly and cards
And some were outside playing tag in the yards
While Dad and I were snug in the den
Sitting around and talking to good friends

When in our conversation, such a topic arose
To frighten the women and curl the men's toes.
Someone had the audacity to bring the word up
And the rest of us just stared at the ice in our cup

RESOLUTIONS the word was, that caused us to groan
And as they searched for paper and pencil, more intense grew the moan
We all had been there before, with our intentions grand
Only to fail miserably, everything we had planned.

The lost weight, the exercises, pilates and tae bo
Were forgotten as our waists continued to grow.
The plan of time spent with God and kids and friends,
Lasts until the new TV Season begins.

What went wrong, we ask ourselves, as we avoid making more
Knowing that new resolutions are something we all abhor.
As we sit and we think, contemplating our downfall
The missing element comes to me, as I think and recall

We never asked God to give us His life goals
Instead, we thought we were the bishop of our souls
And leaving Him out, we let in defeat
And year in and year out, this we did repeat

Instead, let us Listen, this year to our perfect Lord
And let us with the Holy Spirit be in one accord
God has great plans for us, when we listen and obey
So before another year of broken resolutions…..let's take the time and pray.

Big plans!

Well I just got done accidentally waking up Kaedy by having too much fun with Tarry! It is so nice to have her come over twice a week and talk...oops, I mean work! LOL. We have a lot in common, so I really love talking to her, it is nice to talk to a like minded person and share our struggles and our triumphs! :-)

I have been working on my speech for the seminar coming up in January. I am so excited about it and I have been working THROUGH it as well (it is going to be a workshop on scheduling and organizing) and I have been learning so much about myself and my habits. It has been awesome. God is really opening my eyes to a lot of things right now and I feel like I am getting a much better handle on my life. I have been working on it with Sherria too, although she is a little harder to get a handle on. She is goal-resistant. LOL Well, at least that gives me something to practice with, in case I have some goal-resistant listeners!

I am getting back into the calligraphy business. I am going to offer a free class to my homeschool group (adults and/or children) and then I am going to advertise my services through the city-wide homeschool "magazine" we have and possible through continuing education as well. I used to teach calligraphy in Albuquerque from the time I was about 16 until I was about 25. I did it through continuing education and the technical institute there. I also did wedding invitations, name place cards, certificates, etc etc. I am going to get back into all of that. I really enjoy doing calligraphy and I want to share it with others as well as make some money at it! :-) I was never as artistic as I wanted to be, but maybe with some practice, I will be able to become a little more artistic. I will probably start selling my "Namelets" again, too! I haven't even thought of those in years. But those are two nice things I could do, being confined to the house a lot of the time. And extra money is always nice! :-)

God is planning and working and weeding in my life and I am seeking Him with all my heart. It is a wonderful time!

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven
A time to give birth, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search, and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together; A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace.

I feel like I am going through most of these times right now....a little of each....and I will be more like my Savior when He is done with me. Hallelujah!

Things to do this week

Tomorrow I am having some sweet friends over for dinner and we are having a traditional "New Mexican dinner." (They are from NM too!) I am cooking tamales, posole, frijoles, calabacitas, tortillas and sopapillas. Susan is bringing flan over for dessert. I am making tamales today. Sherria is going to help me and we are going to cut the recipe in half and only make 5 dozen. It is great to have them in the freezer ready for whenever we are hungry! I cooked the pork meat all last night and the house smells delicious!!!!! Now I am going to let it cool until 'Ria gets here.

Most people are taking their trees and decorations down this week, but we are going to keep them up until at least the 6th of January (traditionally the 12th day of Christmas.)

We do need to write thank you notes this week, get all the way caught up on laundry, get chore charts done, write bills, work on seminar, send an update and pictures of Kaedra and put Christmas presents away.

Some praises:
Emily slept in her own room last night!!! WOOHOO!! That is her first time in years. I did stay in ther until she fell asleep, but I will be weaning her back on that.

My cold is going away and I can breathe through my mouth for the first time in weeks!!!

The girls have been doing much better on their chores.

Kaedra went down to 12 breaths a minute and tolerated it wonderfully! I also lowered her oxygen and she is doing great with that!

Kaedy has her four molars already cut through!! She has her first two teeth on top and bottom and then her four molars. I have never heard of that.

Brittany loves her Nancy Drew software I found for her online for Christmas!

Kaedy is able to support herself standing (by holding on to something) and is able to roll over to her tummy and move herself around. Not exactly crawling, but at least an effort! :-)

Okay, bye for now!

Country Vegetable Pies

I hope you all had a great Christmas!! What a blessing to have Kaedra Noelle home with us this year. I kept thinking it was "Baby's first Christmas," which, to us, it was! :-) We did things differently this year, but my favorite part was going to church on Christmas morning. I wish we had church EVERY Christmas morning! We took Kaedy to church with us, too, and it was wonderful. It was a prayer answered, to have her there, with her church family, able to sit through a service. (well, just barely, she was SOOO wiggly and busy!)

My parents are in Hawaii on a cruise and it was a little odd not talking to them on Christmas (they were in the middle of the ocean, away from phone service on Christmas day). On top of that, we have been talking more regularly now, so I have missed them while they have been "out of pocket."

I tried a new recipe the other night and everyone LOVED it. It was a HUGE hit! I need to type it in for Miss Linda and for my palm pilot cookbook, so I think I will share it with all y'all here!


Country Vegetable Pies
Yield: 2 pies to serve 6-8

2 prepared pie crusts
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated Swiss cheese
4 cups frozen vegetable mixture
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. LIne two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non stick coating.
2. Place 1 piecrust on each baking sheet.
3. Beat together the cheeses. Spread half on each piecrust, leaving a 2 inch border of dough.
4. Todd the vegetables with the vegetable oil, basil, salt and pepper.
Place half the vegetables on each crust, covering the cheese mixture.
5. Fold up the edges of the dough, partially covering the filling. Press the edges together to hold them in place.
6. Use a pastry brush to cover dough with egg wash.
7. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

(I messed with the recipe a lot. I added chopped ham, used olive oil (instead of veg oil), used italian seasoning (instead of basil), used garlic salt (instead of salt) and didn't do the egg wash. You can use any kind of veggies and add any kind of meat. Michael also wants to try it with cheddar instead of swiss.)

Never back down from a challenge

I collected elephants for most of my life. From sometime in elementary school when everyone had something to collect and my friends asked what I collected and I had no idea but I really liked Snuffleupagus so I said "elephants!" Little did I know HOW many elephants I would end up with. And NOT ONE, NOT ONE....NOT EVEN ONE EVER looked like Aloysius Snuffleupagus. What kind of luck is that???? If I had gotten JUST ONE Snuffleupagus, maybe I would have kept collecting. I decided about 4 years ago that I couldn't handle ANOTHER non-Snuffleupagus elephant. I asked everyone to stop, and thankfully, we are free from elephants at the moment. In fact, if you check ebay in a month or so, you can start seeing my collection. ;-)

And, speaking of the Muppets, Steve, the guy from church that built our wheelchair ramp, said that Muppets in outer space is the best Muppet movie. I don't remember if I have seen it or not, but if My kids keep want to try any other Muppet movies I think I will get them that one!

I have Colby and Daniel today while the rest of the boys are at a play dress rehearsal. Kaedy loves having all the little ones over playing with her. I have a PRAISE! While writing this, I went in to help Renee with feeding Kaedy and Renee suggested trying Kaedy with a bottle again. We tried her and she did take a few sucks!! WOOHOO!!! I know this is late to start bottle feeding, but if she got down the idea of bottle feeding, maybe feeding her solid food would be easier! :-)

Okay, ta ta for now....I will check in later!

Beaker and sick Maddi

I just LOVE Beaker (the one with the orange hair). He is my favorite Muppet. I am actually not a huge Muppet fan, although my mom is, but I LOVE Beaker. He is so cute and I love how he talks. Why am I mentioning this right now? Colby (Paula's son who I watch on Thursdays) and Emily were watching A Muppet Christmas Carol and he has a small part in it which is my favorite part. The crazy kids are now outside playing. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. It is cold!!!!

I just got done painting flowers on some jars that my friend Susan brought over. She had painted the jars solid colors and wanted me to put some designs on them so she can give them away. I had a great time talking to her and I had fun painting. I don't usually have an excuse to take time and paint so it was a lot of fun! Another person from church is coming over to build us a ramp today for our front walkway. That way we can get Kaedy and her Kart out to the car with fewer bumps and less muscle power. I am really excited.

ps...Madison (my dog) has been throwing up all day!!!!!! WONDER WHY????

Cookie Monster

I am FURIOUS!!!!
She did it again!!!!
I realize I have some culpability here, but I still can't believe her!
ALL OF MY COOKIES!
We made 3 kinds yesterday....
I can't say what kinds, because one of them is our cookie exchange cookie.
But we made about 8 dozen cookies and there are 4 left.
not 4 dozen.
4 cookies.
4

f o u r

1 2 3 4

4!!!

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

Those of you who know me well know which "she" I am talking about.
She is infamous for this.
So you would think I would know better.
I tried to put them out of her reach.
I told her no.
I caught her once and she got in trouble and then I put them somewhere else, where she couldn't get them.
She must have half climbed on the counter to reach these.
AND they were in a big bowl.


Bad bad dog....

How come I am always "talking" to my blog during the day, but when I sit down to write, I can't think of anything to write????

Well, for one thing, I went to torture, um, I mean physical therapy on Monday morning. It was AWFUL. My foot felt like a watermelon on fire for almost 24 hours after that. It is JUST starting to feel better and I have torture again tomorrow morning. I did not do any of the exercises he sent home with me. I could barely move my foot, much less exercise it!! As I was leaving, he hadn't given me an appt for another visit and I was SOOOOOO tempted to just leave without making one. But then I realized that I couldn't go back to the dr and tell him it was hurting...he would ask why I wasn't going to physical therapy. SO, I ended up asking for another appt. ARGH. Please torture me....no really, please. I am hoping since he didn't schedule me until Thursday that he is only going to have me go twice a week instead of 3 times a week. I am just claiming a complete healing...I don't need to be having ANY of this pain because I am redeemed from it by Jesus' blood. I don't need any more torture....Jesus was tortured for me and specifically for my foot and it's pain. I am so glad I am healed!!

Tonight was an AWESOME sermon by a member of our congregation - Ben. He taught about Isaac and Rebekah's beginning and how it was an allegory of the Holy Spirit and the church. It was wonderful and opened my eyes to things I have never seen in that story. He is moving down to South Texas to follow a call from God. I am so excited for him, although we will miss him playing the organ, teasing pastor, and preaching.

I am looking for a devotional for Britty. I want a spirit filled one. She just finished a great one, but I want to keep on going!! Anyone have any good ideas?? A friend suggested Kenneth Copeland's teen devotional - Extreme, which is fine, but it is out of stock everywhere until January and I want to give her one for Christmas!! Anyone, anyone??

Code words from tonight

blog blog blog
handcuffs
duct tape
"what if I hit you?"
saran wrap
Happy Birthday!
Melanie's handprint on her face

That is all I can remember at the moment...I know there are more! Especially from the movie. I had a GREAT time, girls, thanks for inviting me!! It was awesome. I haven't had that kind of fun in a long time. Sorry we had to leave so quickly, but Kaedy needed her formula and I didn't want to stress the nurse out. We didn't get back to the house until 12:23am and I KNOW Tonya was freaking!! LOL.

Well I had better get to bed. I need to relieve Tonya at 8am and I should be showered and dressed by then, since my mother in law is coming to hang out with us tomorrow. Can't have a jammy day! Whoops, did I say tomorrow?...HAHAHA....okay, it is actually in 6 1/2 hours!

I am WAY too wound up to go to bed! I should do something productive...but am I?? Ohhhh no, I am blogging. Of course. After tonight's conversations, I had to! ROFL.
Maybe I will play some games on Yahoo. Or read a book. Or write a novel. Whoops, I think I got a little carried away there.

Once again, great time ladies...thanks and thanks and thanks.

And, Mel, I haven't forgotten, I am still watching my back.....

ADULT FUN (no...not R rated....LOL)

I just talked to one of my favorite movie reviewers - Timmy. (He is my friend Paula's oldest son. He's 14 years old and we agree on most movies we like or don't like, same with music) ANYWAY, HE went to see Narnia last night at midnight and he said it was awesome. He said it was very true to the book, as well. YEAH!!! I am so excited. I was really waiting to hear his opinion today, because I know I can trust it. ;-)

I am so excited about tonight!! I am going out with some friends to celebrate two of their birthdays. We are going to Zio's, an Italian restaurant, and then to a dollar movie afterwards. WOOHOO!!! A night on the town with my friends!!! I can't believe it!!! :-) :-) I was just looking at their menu and I have NOOOO idea how I am going to pick what to eat! One of each please??? Oh wait, I am supposed to cut my carbs in 1/2. Okay, I'll take 1/2 of each entree please! LOL!!

Today Melissa and I were on the phone together, both talking to Melanie on IM. That was too big of a coincidence, that we had to do something about it. We decided to start writing the exact same things at the exact same time. Melanie was QUITE freaked out for a minute or two. It was very fun....we were laughing sooo hard.

I haven't hardly gotten to see Ria lately. She did come over on Wednesday, but I took a nap during part of that time. She is coming on Sunday and I am looking forward to hanging out with her. Tonight with my hs friends and Sunday with Ria and next week Paula is coming to hang out with me....I am getting spoiled!! LOL. Actual adult conversation...what am I going to do with all of it?

A Weekly Menu (for Brandi)

Okay, Brandi, I will give you a weekly menu. This is one we used about two weeks ago (I haven't had a chance to make a new one yet) However, just so you know, I took a lot off of one of your weekly menus for ideas!!! So, if this looks familiar, you will understand. ;-)

Monday:
B: Muffins
Snacks: Apple with PB
Lunch: Quesadillas, veggies with dip
Dinner: Garlic Roast

Tuesday:
B: Cereal
Snacks: Carrots with Ranch
Lunch: Sandwiches, pickles
Dinners: pork chops on the grill

Wednesday:
B: Bagels with Cream Cheese
Snacks: Granola Bar
Lunch: fish sticks, cottage cheese, fruit
Dinner: Chicken and Mushrooms in CP

Thursday:
B: Cereal
Snacks: Apple with PB
Lunch: B-sandwich at PE; Colby and Emily- Mac n Cheese
Dinner: Baked Salmon

Friday:
B: Popovers
Snacks: Carrots with Ranch
Lunch: Tortillas with filling
Dinner: Britty make dinner (she made cheese stuffed burgers)

Saturday:
B: Cereal
Snacks: Fruit Salad
Lunch: soup, crackers and cheese
Dinner: Roast Sticky Chicken

Sunday:
B: Bagels with Cream Cheese
Lunch: CP Mac n Cheese with Salad
Dinner: Mini pizzas

My Foot! And What to pray against!

Well I finally got to a doctor who could figure out what was wrong with my foot!!!! YEAH!!!! It is good to know what to pray against! I have been praying against a broken foot and lo and behold, I don't have one! LOL. Unfortunately I think that was a case of mistaken syndrome rather than a miracle. But now, for the REAL problem......

I have the symptoms of tendonitis in my foot and an entrapped nerve in my calf. The nerve is being squeezed every time I move my leg in certain ways. My doctor set me up for physical therapy 3 times a week for 6 weeks. He told me that if I was still having the pain after that time, we would talk about surgery. It is a very small surgery, from what I can tell, but also a surgery I won't have to have, thanks be to the blood of Jesus.

I haven't quite figured out how I will get to physical therapy three times a week but I am working on it. My mother in law is coming on Monday morning, my first day. After that, I don't know yet. Of course, now that I know what to pray for, I doubt I will have to go for 6 weeks!

The doctor also said I weighed too much. (surprise, surprise! LOL) Apparently my arches are starting to fall. He wants me to follow this diet:
1. Cut my carbs in half
2. Fill in the missing portion with protein
3. For lunch everyday have a protein shake. (btw, anyone know which ones taste the best??)
4. Exercise on a stationery bike or elliptical machine 30 min a day (or swim) (I don't have either of those things OR a pool!) I am supposed to get cardiovascular exercise without putting much weight on my foot....any ideas for that one??

I am DETERMINED to do it this time and stay on it and do it right. I am able to do all things through him who gives me strength. I am going to put a thermometer thingy up on my wall with the amount of weight I want to lose and I am going to watch it grow!!! WOOHOO!! I am EXCITED!!!! Anyone want to do this with me????

What we're reading

Brittany: Brittany has been DEVOURING Nancy Drew books, lately. Reading more than 1 a day. Here are some of her recent ones: The Haunted Bridge, The Clue in the Broken Locket, The Golden Pavilion and The Quest of the Missing Map.


Kahri: Boo Hiss (sequel to Boo by Rene Gutteridge)
The nearly perfect crime : how the church almost killed the ministry of healing by Francis MacNutt.

Read Aloud: We just read "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry and we had previously finished "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" and now we are reading The Life and
Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum. After this we will probably read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever....we read that one every Christmas. :-)

Wild Child and getting ready for Christmas

Kaedra is WILD right now!!! WILD! This started yesterday. She had been feeling bad for about a week and we finally went to the doctor on Wednesday to find out that she had an ear infection in both ears. He gave her an antibiotic and within two doses, she was already a brand new baby! She even felt like sitting up, smiling and kissing. Then, yesterday afternoon, she turned into WILD baby. Throwing everything, grabbing everything, pulling on hair (hers and others), pulling on her cords and her circuits, banging things together...just general mayhem. She is usually sweet and cuddly and soft, but she is getting a new side to her personality now. This very playful and ornery side! At least she is feeling better!!!

Brittany and I are home alone with Kaedy right now. My parents took Emily to the Annual Broken Arrow Christmas parade. While they were watching, one of our friends saw Emily and whisked her up and onto a float with some other friends. Now my parents are Emily-less!! They have to go find the float after the parade and retrieve her. LOL.

Linda called in sick yesterday (I think she got sick from Kaedy) so I had Kaedy myself and I had our new nurse, Renee, to train as well. Renee did very well and just had a few times she was nervous. All in all, I think she will work out fine. It ends up that she will not be working on Saturdays at all. Saturdays are her Sabbath (just like Linda). I am not sure, why, though, since she is Catholic. Oh well. Also, she calls herself a spirit-filled Catholic and she sure doesn't talk like a Catholic.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. The girls put all of our decorations out yesterday while I was taking care of Kaedy. My dad was nice enough to get the boxes down, out of the attic. We are going to put up the tree today. I don't really know when, since we have Kaedy today, too, unless she is feeling well enough to go into the other room.

Tomorrow is church...YEAH!!! I missed it on Wednesday night because Michael had to work late. My parents were both here, but they have no idea how to take care of Kaedy, so I couldn't go. Tomorrow morning I am going to go and hopefully tomorrow night as well!! WOOHOO!! I am so excited that we have church on Christmas this year. What a WONDERFUL way to spend Christmas. I am hoping maybe I can take Kaedy to church that day, too.

I am going to be part of my homeschool group's Cookie Exchange again this year. I LOVE it. It is so much fun, and such a great holiday event. It is one of my favorite holiday events. There are 12 ladies and we each make 12 dozen cookies. We bring them to the party location in special containers. The cookies, containers and the big container we take them home in are not labeled with our names. We each vote on the best tasting cookie, the prettiest cookie, the prettiest container, the prettiest take-home container, the best dressed lady and a few other things. Then we all have prizes that we get. Everyone ends up going home with some prize. The person who gets the most votes overall gets to be "Martha" of that year. I was "Martha" two years ago. This year the ladies were so sweet, they made a special effort to invite me and I was THRILLED. I am SOOO excited. I had picked out my container over the summer, now I just need to make them. I don't know what kind of cookies I am going to make, but it will be something easy. I am determined not to stress about it and to just have a good time! :-)

Okay, back to life...gotta go try to tame the wild child, spend some quality time with Britty and prepare for my parents coming back.

My outting!

I KNOW I live a sheltered life. I KNOW that I hardly ever get out (actually just to church and to Walmart for groceries). Today Michael needed some new pants from JC Penney and I JUMPED on the chance to go and get them for him! I went to the MALL. Yes, I said the MALL. That place I haven't been in who knows how long....definitely over a year!! I had a blast. I was all by myself and I went into tons of stores and just looked as quickly or as leisurely as I liked. I found a TON of presents at a place called Kirkland and also got Michael's pants and a few more things at Penneys. It was SOOOO much fun. I loved the Christmas music, the scents and sights, the crowds didn't bother me and I got lots of shopping done. It was WONDERFUL! On top of all that, there were still some GREAT deals out there. Everything I bought I ended up spending less than I thought I would. I had priced everything up in my head at Kirkland's at about $50 and then when I got rung up it was $21!!!! I thought it was wrong!!! But, no, everything was just on sale!! WOOHOO!!! Okay, enough about my outting, it was just SOOOO nice to be able to get out and browse and not be hurried or stressed - I just had to get back by 6 when Linda was going to leave. That was okay, because the mall closes at 6 anyway!! :-)

Update on nursing situations

I forgot to update you on our nurses!

My friend, Tarry, DID take the job!! WOOHOO!!! She is going to be Kaedy's night nurse on Sundays and Wednesdays. I am VERY excited for us and for Tarry. She will be able to work only a mile from home!

The nursing agency did hire another lady, Renee, to be a nurse here as well. She will be working Thursdays (so Linda won't have overtime), Fridays and every other Saturday. She is still training now, so I don't know much about her.

School on the brain

Sorry I haven't written in awhile, again. Life just keeps getting in the way of reporting life. LOL! I am in the midst of working on a school schedule and deciding what we are going to be studying for the remainder of the year. Because Brittany was in Albuquerque for most of October, and because we take off two weeks in December, she won't be done with school until around June 30th. I hadn't really had a chance to make a plan yet, I was just flying by the seat of my pants. But you know the saying....."if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" I wasn't happy with how things are going. I finally took the time this weekend and have been working on it. I have the "three Rs" scheduled...now I just have to put in everything else. The biggest chunk, of course, will be history. Most of our school revolves around history. And that is a pretty amazing thing, considering that I really didn't like history in high school or college. Actually, I think THAT is why I like it now....I am learning so much more as I teach Britty!!

My parents are coming to visit this week...probably on Wednesday. I don't know how long they are staying. It will be a good time. I am looking forward to it. I even have decided not to clean for it!! Isn't that amazing?? ROFL. I just mean, I usually get so stressed when people come to visit, and I am not going to stress this time. I am what I am. My house is what it is. Linda was laughing at me on Thursday because I was TOTALLY not stressed about Thanksgiving being at my house. In fact, at 9am, Thanksgiving morning, when we finished eating breakfast, the house was a mess, nothing had been cooked, none of us were dressed or showered. By the time people came at 11, we were clean, the house was picked up and the oven was emitting yummy odors. And no stress. :-) It was amazing. Of course, I wasn't cooking the turkey, so I don't recommend that method to people in charge of making the whole meal!! LOL

Well back to school planning now.....Many blessings to my readers!!!

Great New Book

I just had to sit and write really quick. I have A LOT to do today, but while I was eating breakfast I started a new book and I have just read ONE chapter and it was AWESOME. It was the best first chapter I have ever read. It is called When the Day of Evil Comes by Melanie Wells. It is a Christian Suspense novel about spiritual warfare. It sucks you right in and leaves you with questions and a general feeling of uneasiness which makes you want to keeeeeeeep reading. However, I have LOADS of things to do, so it will have to wait until lunchtime. :-(

One more thing..I am really excited. One of my friends may become one of Kaedy's nurses!!! She is a NICU nurse at a local hospital and she would be perfect for working some of Kaedy's shifts. She would be doing some of the overnights so Tonya would not be working 7 days a week anymore and that would also mean if Tonya needs a night off, we would have someone else!! WOOHOO!!! The worst part of it would be wanting to hang out with Tarry while she was here overnight, just to talk to her. LOL. I will have to force myself to go to bed. Also, she is going to come here on Sunday night to be here in case Linda needs any help during the Harvest Dinner at Church. HALLELUJAH!

Have a great day everyone!!! This is the day the Lord has made, REJOICE and BE GLAD in it!!!

This and That

Well the bad news is our insurance has handed down their edict about our coverage. They want strictly 20 hours a day, not 140 hours a week which means that we cannot have Linda work for 16 hours on Sunday, like she has been. She will have to go back to a 10 hour shift, which, unfortunately, will not cover both church services. We will have to go back to me going on Wednesday night and Michael going on Sunday mornings. Brittany has to get there every time because she is going to be in a play for Christmas so we will have to figure out how to get her there. And I just realized that I need to ask Linda to come this Sunday night, instead of Sunday morning so we can go to the Harvest Dinner. I feel horrible going to the dinner and not going to church in the morning, but we are doing a play for the dinner and I am reciting my poem, Talitha Cumi. Well....this is a conundrum. Hmmmmm this will require some thinking and finagling on my part. My mother in law is not available to help because she just had knee surgery. Sherria can't help because she has to be there too. Same with Timmy and Hillary, my other babysitters. ARGH!!!

We had an Egypt co-op at my house today. It has been a long time since I have had 11 kids in my house all doing projects. It went very well, though, thanks to Paula and her keeping things under control and moving. Although it was FREEZING outside today, we sent the kids out, too, to keep them busy part of the time. They worked on painting their homemade paper, making invitations to Egypt night, painting their mummy masks and designing their menu for the party. Reminder: I need to get a babysitter for that night too, and see if Linda will switch her hours. ARGHity ARGH ARGH.

Kaedy is doing some new things....she learned to hold her cup all by herself and drink from it starting today. She also started playing tug of war with her circuits (which is not a good thing!!! although it is funny!) She is making some sign that none of us can figure out. I wish we knew what she meant, she does it quite a bit.

Well, I never did finish reading Expiration Date. I was FORCING myself to get through it and I thought that was silly. I ended up reading about 3/4 of it before I quit. I did not care about he characters at all or what happened to them. Instead I read Tested by Fire by Kathy Herman. It is first in a series she is starting. It was not my favorite book, but it was a quick read. It was more like what I thought Christian Fiction would be like before I actually started to read Christian Fiction (thanks to my much-missed, good friend Mary!). I want my books to be focused on characters living victoriously through the promises in the Bible and the abundant life that Jesus has given us.

Okay, I had better either get to bed or get started writing. Hasta!

The first day of the rest of my life

That's what today is!!! WOOHOO!!! HALLELUJAH!! I am a new creation! I'm a brand new woman!! Old things have passed away! I am born again!!

I have been REALLY tired lately and had some problems getting going. Mostly been wanting to rest. Unfortunately, with 3 girls, a husband, and a house, resting isn't really an option for more than one day. SOOOO today I am starting anew.

I have a bunch of new ideas about school (thanks to Paula). I have some new habits I am cultivating (with Sherria) and I am trying to stay on track with my list (ala Flylady). I have lots of ideas and I just need to start implementing them. I am more organized and in better control now of my life than I have been for a year but I still have lots of room for improvement.

I was just going to say that I needed to find time to write them all down. Well, no time like the present! Here are some of my changes (not in order of importance):
1. no more pop
2. spending time every night writing
3. more time with God - Bible time, prayer time
4. Eating to a "5" (see Thin Within)
5. Going to bed by 1030
6. Getting up at 6am
7. Getting a new meal plan going
8. new rules for B and Em:
a. no "big" breakfast unless Britty is completely ready for school by 7:45
b. cereal if she is not
c. Emily will be put in time out everytime she interrupts.
d. Emily will no longer be allowed to get out her own clothes...Mommy will have to help her.
9. Different load of laundry every day
10. New Flylady list because of new nursing hours
11. Making Britty a weekly list of school assignments.
12. Making Britty and Emmy chore lists
13. Cutting down on people coming over to 1-2 a week, or doing it after school hours. (that doesn't include Ria, of course!)
14. Cutting down on nap time for Mommy (at first in minutes, then in days)

Well that's all at the top of my head. I will see y'all later....Tschuss!

A Day out of her room

On Friday, when we had Kaedy without a nurse, we started off by taking her to the dining room for a lovely breakfast of plums. She loved them so much that she picked up the bowl and drank them!! LOL After that, we took her to the tub and she and Emily took a bath in the tub. It was Kaedy's first "big girl" bath. After drying her off and getting her dressed, I did the rest of her medical care: trach tie changes, omni flex change, HME change, etc etc. She was so exhausted after such a big morning, she fell asleep for a few hours.

Once she woke up, we brought her into the den and Emmy cuddled with her on the couch for awhile. Then we put her on the floor where she played with toys for awhile. When she started to get tired, I cuddled with her on the couch for awhile and then we put her in her new walker-thing and she played. We fed her dinner and then played a little more and then took her back to her room. It was so cute. It was like she had never seen the things in her crib before. She was picking them up and looking at them one by one. She soon went to sleep and I am sure she dreamed of other parts of the house she hasn't seen yet! LOL

What I am reading

Right now I am reading a book called Expiration Date by Eric Wilson. I just started it but it seems very good. I am also reading The nearly perfect crime : how the church almost killed the ministry of healing by Francis MacNutt and The Gospels in our image : an anthology of twentieth-century poetry based on Biblical texts.

I have just recently finished:
Storm gathering / Prequel To The Splitting Storm Rene Gutteridge.
The splitting storm / Rene Gutteridge
Nowhere like home / Mary Higgins Clark
Boo : a novel / Rene Gutteridge.
Life management for busy women [large print] / Elizabeth George.

I forgot how much I don't like Mary Higgins Clark. I used to love her books, but then, after a few of them, I realized they were pretty much all the same and pretty much all silly, so I stopped reading them. I ordered one at the library this last time and read it very quickly and remembered again why I don't like her.

Rene Gutteridge's novels are WONDERFUL!!! She is a Christian Fiction writer. The Storm Gathering and The Splitting Storm are both suspense novels and they are very very good. Boo is a hilarious book which is a quick read and has you loving her quirky characters.

Kaedra's 1st Birthday!!!

This was written to a friend for her to pretend she was at the party...it will give everyone an idea how it was! Enjoy!

Okay, so you got here about 12:20, straight from church and you probably followed Michael and the girls. I wasn't quite ready, so you sent the kids outside to play with the girls and you came upstairs to talk to me while I curled my hair. Sherria came about 15 minutes later and she came up to talk to me too. Melissa (one of the hostesses) came while we were upstairs, so I finished up and we all went downstairs. I came to show you and Sherria Kaedy's very first picture because I had put it as the computer desktop. Then we went into the kitchen and looked at the cake which was HUGE - a FULL SHEET! And Beautiful!! It was different colors and flowers and butterflies.




Paula got here about that time and set up balloons and decorations. Then some people from our church arrived and we sat down with them on the couch in the living room, since Kaedy was still asleep. She woke up soon after, so we came into her room and Linda was holding her. We all sat and oohed and aaahed over her! She seemed a little disoriented and shy, but happy. More and more people started to come, so people started switching out who was in her room and who was in the rest of the house. Sherria, you and I stayed in her room with her most of the time. I had her on my lap when they decided to bring in the cake and sing to her. We sang and blew out the candle and she put her hand in the cake a little.



I think she was more overwhelmed by everyone being there with her and singing to her, so she wasn't that interested in the cake. A few people said "is it okay if she opens our present?" so we told them yes. So, she opened a few at a time. Melissa held her for awhile and then someone asked if she could sit up by herself, so I put her on the floor and let her play with some of her new stuff. About that time, Brent and his family showed up and met her for the first time. I left then to go talk to the people in the rest of the house, but Ria stayed in the room. My Pastor was here with his wife along with LOTS AND LOTS of people from church. Only one family showed up from my homeschool group - but I was so excited to see them because they had adopted a baby from Korea and she had finally gotten here about 2 months ago and I had not seen her yet. She was also about 8 months. Two good friends that I NEVER get to see showed up - Alison and Terri, but I didn't get to spend much one-on-one time with anyone. It was SOOO busy. It wasn't really crazy yet, that was the nice thing. Most of the time the kids were outside and noone really crowded the baby or hogged her or anything. About 3:30 everyone started to leave and Melissa and Paula had to leave a little after 4. Kaedy was in my lap, but dozing on and off. They brought in their present for us, which they, plus one other lady from my homeschool group, pitched in on. It was a large play yard (like the one the rugrats use). We were so excited!! I have never had one before, but we needed something to contain Kaedy and how far she could get from the vent. Linda is THRILLED! no trying to chase Kaedy around the house with oxygen and her ventilator!! LOL

Kaedy had a new trick, as of Saturday, so I showed it off a few times. She is now able to stand up with me just holding her hands!!! :-) We are SOOO thrilled. She loved showing off and everyone clapping for her. She LOVED the attention she got and just "ate it up." She was not at all overwhelmed or freaked or anything. She took it all sooooo well!

One of her favorite presents was the Fisher Price Musical Chair . My parents sent me the money to buy it for her and we gave it to her on Saturday. She just LOVES it!!!



Brent and Kim bought her a Fisher Price Intellitainer. We are going to put it together today. I think it will be her den toy for the evenings when we don't have any nurse and we are cooking and cleaning up. I think she will like it a lot and it will keep her QUITE busy!! LOL. I had no idea they were getting her that.

That is pretty much the story of the day. Did you have fun???????

Not much new

Not much new around here....No nurse today, so I spent most of the day in Kaedy's room with her. We had a good time although Satan is trying to give her a little head cold. We are not accepting it. We have never heard of a "heavenly head cold" and if it's not from heaven, it's not from God and if it's not from God, we don't accept it! HALLELUJAH! :-)

We moved our computer desk today, which was a big deal since it has been in the same place for 2 years. It is amazing how clean the carpet was under it. I love the new place where the computer is: I can see right into Kaedy's room and it is not in the way anymore. I also have a window I can stare out of! LOL. It looked nicer the other way, but this way is more functional, so we will keep it like this. I got to dust all around it and in it, too, which was great and makes me feel MUCH better about the thing.

I don't know if I ever wrote our new nursing schedule. It is awesome. We have nursing 20 hours per day which is basically 10pm one night until 6pm the next night. (We take care of her ourselves from 6-10pm) Linda changed her schedule on Wednesdays to allow me to go to church on Weds nights, so she now works 11-9, instead of 8-6. She also is allowed to work extra hours on Sunday, since we have no nursing at all during the day on Fri and Sat, so Michael and I are both able to go to church on Sunday. He goes to the morning service and I go to the evening service. The girls get to go to both. Our new schedule is great for going to church and having Kaedy to ourselves in the evening. We have been bringing her out in her exersaucer while I prepare dinner and she has been sitting at the table with us during dinner! YEAH!! NORMALCY!!!

Kaedra is signing a lot more now. She even has a sense of humor! Linda asked her for kisses the other day and Kaedy signed that they were "all gone" then smiled really big! She also does the signs for Mommy, eat, drink, and play pretty regularly. It is wonderful to be able to communicate with her!

Talitha Cumi

How do you thank those who have whispered supplications
From their mouth to the ear of the Father?
For those who have been on their knees for us,
Not only asking for miracles,
But thanking Him for the many blessings?
For those who put their hope in His word?
These are the people who agreed with us
The more than two or three
who arose
went with us to the throne
And came back changed.

It’s funny how He does that, isn’t it?
We think we are coming to Him on behalf of someone else,
And yet He changes us. Each of us.
And we arise
become more like Him.
It’s that time spent beyond the veil-
In the secret place of the Most High.
How can we not be changed?

We heard time and again
Even walking into Kaedra’s hospital room
You could feel the anointing.
There was something special there.
After spending time with her
Praying and singing and praising
We arose
With the faces of Moses
Bright and shining with glory.

And He heard us.
Oh, we knew He would
And His Word says if we know He hears us
whatever we ask –
we know that we have what we ask of him.
And we did.
No more Jarcho-Levin.
No disease.
He took it away and healed her.
And we arose
To see that he is not changed.

Within days of her being born
God spoke to us:
Do not be afraid, just believe
And she will be healed.
And she was.
And she is.
And we thank Him.

And we thank you.
You arose
followed us out into the desert
To have our faith tested and tried
By he who is in the world.
And he, the lesser, fled
In all seven directions.

God has plans for her
They have been spoken
And they will be done.
She is a peculiar baby-
Set apart for Him
His treasured possession.

But not just for Him,
But for all of us
We who have grown through her
Who have learned more about Him
By caring about her.
And what Satan meant for death
God used for Himself
That the Son of God may be glorified by her.

And Jesus said, “Talitha, cumi”
“Child, arise.”
And we all did.


Thank you

The things we never knew

She’s beautiful. Stunning, really, with those long, curled eyelashes. She has warm chocolate colored hair, with a curl on the ends. Her eyes are always crystal clear and her lips are the perfect shape for a pout or a dazzling smile. She takes our breath away.

Speaking of breath…..

She didn’t take one. Y’know when you push and you push and you push and finally the doctor says “STOP PUSHING!” and you have to hold it there, even though you want to keep pushing until you can’t push any more? And then you are allowed to push again, “but slowly,” and then the baby is there, up on your chest, everyone crying and happy and the baby is pink and crying or pink and quiet or anything but blue and not breathing. Anything but whisked away and suctioned and nurses talking in quiet voices, telling other nurses to call someone else in. Anything but being taken away from the room, with the doctor hurriedly stitching you and telling you “He’ll find out what’s wrong.” Anything but nobody looking you in the eye. Anything but that.

The funny thing is, I knew this wasn’t the worst. We’d already experienced that. The worst is when they let you keep the baby on your chest. Knowing that nothing they can do will make him breathe. The worst is when they tell you that you can keep him for five hours before the mortuary will be coming to pick him up. The worst is when they do look you in the eye – and tell you that they’re sorry but there’s nothing they can do.

It’s the things that they CAN do that we are thankful for. It’s the things they whisked her away and did. How thankful we are for things we never knew.

NICU is a whole different world. A world of gowns, quiet voices and wires. A world where we forget that she is ours and we let others tell us when we can hold her, when we can visit her and what her schedule is. It’s a world where we are told to expect the worst and told that we “don’t know what we are getting into.” We are thankful for every small thing: when they let me hold her for the first time, when we are able to put clothes on her and when she gets moved out of the most critical room into a smaller room. We are thankful when they finally give her a diagnosis: Jarcho-Levin Syndrome. Now we have a name and something to learn about. We don’t know to be thankful that they want to do a tracheostomy, but we end up that way. Thankful that she can’t become extubated anymore, thankful that we can start mouth feedings and thankful for how much easier it is to hold her.

We don’t know to be thankful when they move her to PICU either. We are frightened by change and by new nurses. They are frightened of us. They have heard we are “very involved.” They have also heard we are “in denial.” Soon we are thankful to be there. We love the new nurses, the private Noah’s Ark room and the nurses are used to us being involved and have their own views of whether or not we are in denial. And we are oh-so thankful when we find out there is a place where they can give her ribs.

We know new things now. We know to be thankful when she can tolerate a larger feeding, when she doesn’t have to be suctioned too many times, when she does not have “episodes” where she de-sats and they have to work on her to keep her alive. We are thankful when she switches to the home ventilator, when she is accepted into the rib project in San Antonio and when we find out we can ride on the jet with her.

Then, eventually, there is a new hospital in a new state with new staff and we know to be thankful we are here. We know to be thankful for these two brilliant doctors who invented these vertical expanding prosthetic titanium ribs. We know to be thankful when they tell us they will do the surgery on her, even though they have never had a child with her exact problem. And even more, we know to be thankful when they say she does NOT have Jarcho Levin.

And coming home. We never knew how thankful we would be when she came home. How could we have? Ten months ago, we thought she would be wheeled down in my arms to our car and to our little carrier/car seat and our life would go on as normal, with a few more naps and one more diaper bag. But now we knew. Now we knew to be thankful for the ambulance drivers who brought her home in her already-forward-facing car seat. And we were thankful for the nurses and respiratory therapists who filled her room with items we had never heard of before she came. Thankful for strangers in our house taking care of our baby and thankful that at least we know she is ours now and we choose when to hold her and what her schedule is.

We now know things we never wanted to. And the things we know, we are thankful for. We try to help others that are a few months behind us in the learning process; new mothers and fathers learning things they never wanted to know. And they are thankful too, for the things they never knew…..

Story about Olamide

NORMAL, Ill. (AP) - Friends and classmates mourned the death of an Illinois State University senior as authorities continued investigating how the missing woman's body ended up in a burned-out chicken coop in Mississippi. Authorities said dental records confirmed Wednesday that the remains were those of 21-year-old Olamide Adeyooye, a college senior last seen two weeks ago renting a movie at a video store near her off-campus apartment.

"You always hear about stuff like that on the news but it never hits close to home," said Adeyooye's friend, Rick Paterala, 23, of Schaumburg. "She was a great person."

Authorities did not release a cause of death and offered little new information on an investigation they say will now expand to Mississippi.

A native of Nigeria who moved to suburban Chicago when she was 8, Adeyooye was last seen Oct. 13 at a video store near her off-campus apartment in Normal. Her car, a green 1996 Toyota Corolla, still was missing.

Normal police Lt. Mark Kotte said authorities were still investigating how Adeyooye ended up in Mississippi. But he added: "It is not an incident of somebody going around preying on college students."

In Mississippi, Newton County Sheriff Jackie Knight said investigators believed Adeyooye's death took place in Illinois.

The body was found Friday as workers cleaned up a chicken coop in Lake, Miss., where firefighters had put out a blaze four days earlier. The coop is about 60 miles from Interstate 55, a highway that passes through Normal.

Nearly 40 investigators, including FBI (website) agents, took part in the search. Her family and friends posted fliers and sent out messages through Web sites and blogs.

"We still have a list of persons of interest and that hasn't really changed," Kotte said. "We still have quite a few people that we need to talk to, and also people now that we will be reinterviewing."

Adeyooye, who studied laboratory sciences and biology at ISU, was due to graduate from the 20,000-student college in December and planned to return to Chicago to complete her clinical training at a hospital.

She was reported missing when she didn't show up for classes and her weekend job as a waitress. Police launched a criminal investigation into her disappearance last week after evidence and interviews led them to suspect foul play.

Adeyooye's father said his daughter was diligent, quiet and never offended anyone.

"I want the justice to take place," said Adiodun Adeyooye, fighting back tears.

Pray for Olamide Adeyooye's family

For some reason I got caught up in the case of Olamide Elizabeth Adeyooye - a missing Illinois State University Student. I read her blog, her friends' blogs, her boyfriend's band's web site and his blog, etc. She was found today, murdered. Please pray for her family and friends. I can't imagine what they are going through.

Thank you!!

PECULYR

"I'm peculiar
and getting more peculiar
walking 'round talking prosperity
living my life with my future free
I'm peculiar
and getting more peculiar
and if society doesn't agree
that's a good indication to me!"
taken from a David Ingles song (I think)

Got my new vanity license plate this weekend....PECULYR. I love it!!!

Exodus 19:5Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine

Deuteronomy 14:2For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

Deuteronomy 26:18And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

Titus 2:14Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

1 Peter 2:9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light...

(all taken from King James version)

Another answered prayer!!

God told me a few months ago that I need to start writing again...poetry, fiction and non fiction. I asked Him to show me what He wanted me to write. Tonight He told me the name, genre and (very) basic story line to the fiction I will be writing. Not only that, but He gave me more than one title....I will be writing a series!!! HALLELUJAH! Glory be to GOD! I am so excited!! I can't wait to start. And that laptop....what a BLESSING right now!!! WOOHOO!!!

Back to the new normal

Brittany is back from Albuquerque after a month. We are soooo excited. Now things are going to be able to go back to the "new normal." We started back to school yesterday, Britty had a co-op about Egypt today (she is mummifying a piece of chicken and they made paper), and she has PE/Art tomorrow. I am so excited to be able to start school and get going "for real" this time...knowing I have a while before any interruptions! WOOHOO I seem to manage my schedule better when we are on a good school run. I am giving us until next Monday to get started on time with all chores done, etc. We ALL need the practice. LOL.

Linda had to go home early yesterday, she got sick, so we had the baby to ourselves all day. We did most of our school in there, including Brittany making an Egyptian pyramid (with secret passages and temples) out of legos. Sherria came over last night for me to practice her hair and makeup. She is going to a Halloween party as the Cinderella from Ever After and I wanted to get her makeup just right. I did it with butterfly wings coming off of her eyes and LOTS of glitter. I glittered her shirt, my shirt, our pants, the floor and everything within the area. It was quite a bit of fun. LOL I also put her hair up and we are going to glitter it quite a bit as well!!

Well I need to go and get things going around here. Linda came in late so I could go to church tonight, so I have been having Kaedy-time this morning. Brittany is back from co-op, though, and it is now time to actually get to work...

See you soon....

Back Again

I was taking a break from blogging, mostly because my friend Brandi was taking a break, and when I write, I always consider her the audience. She is back blogging, so I am too!! LOL. Hi Brandi!!!

A lot has happened since I last posted. We had a weekend nurse for one weekend and one day and then we fired her. We are back to no nurse on Friday and Saturday. Linda, our wonderful day nurse, traded Friday for Sunday so we could go to church on Sundays. She also changed her hours on Wednesdays so I can go to church Wednesday nights. What a blessing!!!

Speaking of blessings, I was SUPER-BLESSED today. (Dr. Carey says SUPER is the highest word in the heirarchy of praise) My friend Melanie and her husband Jim GAVE me the laptop they had lent to me in San Antonio. I feel so spoiled. I danced around the house today every time I thought of it!!! This is SUCH a huge blessing....especially for the days/nights with no nurses and any other trips we may have to take. They are so generous, it is amazing when people are like that. Michael is going to get a wireless router so I can log online with cox and then I will be set! WOOHOO!!!!

Kaedy's first sign!

We have been teaching Kaedy "Baby Signs" for about 4 months. The other day she did her first sign for Linda! She did the "all gone" sign when Linda took something away from her! We are so excited. Now we have to get more disciplined about teaching her signs, knowing that she is "getting" them.

New Diversion

I have gotten TOTALLY sidetracked on this new "toy" Michael found this weekend. It is called Google Earth and it is a program by Google where you can zoom in from outer space to see pretty much anywhere on earth. It is much better than the other satellite sites I have tried. First of all, it is from 2005, second of all it has pictures of EVERYWHERE I have tried, whereas the other ones did not have pictures of Paula's house in the boondocks or other outlying areas.

I have found all the houses I have lived in since birth - including many in NM, one in CO, one in CA; all my various schools; many vacation spots including my friend's house on Cape Cod and my great aunt and uncle's house on Martha's Vineyard; a lake we stayed at in Italy, some places we visited in Germany (although I am still looking for Munich), Downtown San Antonio, Michael's places of residence, many of my friend's houses (although I can't find you, yet, Brandi!!).

Anyway, if you decide to download this program, do it realizing you will get SUCKED in and "play" on it quite a bit.

Why not to walk around for two months on a broken foot....

Well I broke my foot. How you ask? I have NOOOO idea. I know when though.....the day we moved the FAITH library. I was out by the truck talking with my friends and when they drove away, I limped into my garage. I had NO idea what was wrong or how I did it, just that all of a sudden my ankle/foot REALLY hurt. I was not able to go to the doctor, because soon after that Kaedy and I went to San Antonio. It hurt while I was in San Antonio on and off. When I wore my tennis shoes, it did not hurt nearly as much as when I wore my sandals. Some days I had a severe limp and others I hardly limped at all. When I got home, it still hurt but then we were caught up in bringing Kaedy home. Last weekend, I was coming down the stairs in the middle of the night when I stepped on that foot and it gave out. I fell down three stairs and pulled some muscles in my back. I went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and found out that my foot is broken, my ankle is sprained and my back muscles were pulled. I got some meds and a wooden shoe (no, not like what the Dutch wear). I go back to the doctor in 14 days and he will re-xray and decide what to do next - whether to cast it, keep me in the wooden shoe, or ??? Anyway, my foot feels MUCH better when I am wearing the wooden shoe. I accidentally came downstairs without it today and really really felt it. I am so glad I had a chance to go to the doctor!

We have a new nurse this weekend. She only works 9-5 so we fill in the times in between our night nurse's 12 hour shift. The new nurse, Kim, is very nice and really enjoys Kaedy. If she worked every weekend 9-9, she would be just about perfect! LOL

Emily: Future nurse?

BEWARE: this is a little graphic, those with weak stomachs, skip to the second paragraph.

We don't have a nurse this weekend. We are blessed that we will have a nurse every other weekend, which will be nice. Michael had to work yesterday morning, so Emily and I were here with Kaedy by ourselves. I was talking to Paula on the phone when I saw/heard Kaedy coughing and she started to de-sat (her oxygen saturation level went down). She usually does not de-sat, even when she coughs or has a plug in her trach. I got off the phone and quickly gloved up, got the oxygen going on the ambu-bag, turned on the suction and tried to suction her. When I took off her vent tubing, there was a big bloody glob in her trach. I tried to suction it out and the suction wasn't working. I took my non-sterile hand and tried to figure out what was wrong with the suction machine, and couldn't find a thing. I thought maybe the tubing got clogged, because it had some mucous on it, so I opened up a new kit and got new tubing. No luck there, either. Meanwhile, her sats were still dropping. I ambu'd her (aka bagged her) and she came back up, so I tried to put her vent on her to go get the back up suction machine. As soon as I put the vent on her, she de-satted. I bagged her again, up to 100, put the vent on, and she de-satted into the 70s, very quickly. Sooooo, here I am, just me and Emily, Kaedy needs to be bagged and I need to go get the backup suction machine which is at the end of the crib, but completely out of reach.

I then taught my 4 year old how to bag the baby.

She bagged her for about a minute while I got the machine and got a new sterile kit ready to suction. I go to suction Kaedy again and the backup suction machine was not working. I have Emmy bag her again while I figure out what was wrong (this time I could figure it out) and open up ANOTHER sterile kit and suction her SUCCESSFULLY this time.

Later, when Michael came home he was able to figure out what was wrong with the first suction machine.

So far this is the scariest thing that has happened to me, personally, with Kaedy. I now COMPLETELY understand why we need to have two people here all the time, preferably adults. Unfortunately that means that we will only be able to go to church every other weekend, one at a time. I am already going on Wednesday nights, by myself. I will be going Saturday, Michael will be going Sunday morning and I will be going Sunday nights, every other weekend. I can't wait for a better scenario!!! I really miss church when I am not there. And I am not able to do all I want to do for the church, when I can't be there, as well.

I am looking forward to the next season of my life!

I'm a couch!

Emily and I were reading a book together before naps today. It is called "I like me." Whenever I read her or Brittany books, they always pick out which one of us matches each character in the book. Today, Emily was saying: Kaedy was the little girl, Brittany was the dog, Emmy was the cat, Daddy was the bird, and I was the couch. THE COUCH???? "Why am I the couch?" "Because everyone is cuddling on you!!!" OF COURSE! :-)

Cheaper by the Dozen and Flealess in Broken Arrow

Sherria (my neice) and I watched the old "Cheaper by the Dozen" movie last night. Michael and I had watched the new version in the hospital while we were rooming in with Kaedy - we didn't like it. It was very sad (although it was supposed to be a comedy) and I think it was propaganda from the liberals to prove that people should NOT have large families. There was hardly anything redeeming in the movie to me, at all. I knew that I had seen the older version and loved it, so I decided to rent it and I knew Sherria would be willing to watch it with me...she is up for anything!

We were getting ready to watch it after church and Kaedy was still awake so we loaded her up in her stroller and brought her into the den where I got comfy in the lazy-boy with her. Tonya, her night nurse, came out too. As soon as we started the movie, I could tell we were going to love it. It was WONDERFUL!!! My favorite line was when the dad says "what do people DO [with their time] when they only have 5 or 6 kids?" I highly recommend it to any and everyone, it was a hoot! (as my friend Denise would say!)

This morning I was looking carefully at my cat and noticed he had a flea (I am sure their were others, but one is all I need to see!) so I took him and bathed him in flea shampoo. Oops, I meant I bathed myself in flea shampoo and got a little on him. He is declawed in the front, but not the back, and he managed to hook one of his claws into my arm. Unfortunately I didn't have a good grip on him, so he squished out of my hands and was hanging from my arm by his claw. It would have made a very comical picture, but I have decided I am DEFINITELY not into any of that "piercing my body for a religious experience stuff." He is now in my room, recovering from the experience and trying to find his pride. I, on the other hand, don't have any pride, so I came downstairs to show Linda how thoroughly drenched and covered with hair I am. If I had one of those little web cams, I would even show you all...however, you will have to imagine it yourself. ;-)

She said "Momom!!!" and Pics

She said "MOMOM!" WPPJPP (actually that is WOOHOO! when my fingers are on the right letters!) I was so excited!! She actually said it twice, but I haven't gotten her to say it anymore. The way she says it is so cute, too. She puckered her bottom lip like a huge pout and then stuck her chin out and finally got both lips together to say "momom."

She is having a great day today! She ate by mouth three times, she had her teeth brushed for the first time, she had tummy time and lifted her head up while on her tummy for the first time by herself!! That was HUGELY exciting too!! Once she figured it out, she did it over and over. When I put her legs beneath her, bent, she would push forward to, and was able to scoot around a little, with my help. What a big day!!!

Here are some pics from the past week:
Kaedy Pics

Nurseless and B's departure

We didn't have a nurse today because our back-up nurse was sick. We will probably not have one tomorrow because our regular day nurse's father had to have a pace maker put in and our nurse went to Texas to see him. Please pray for them!

Anyway, we had a great day today, even without a nurse. In fact, I finally got her clothes organized in her drawers according to type and season so that we could get to them better. Michael and the girls had graciously gotten all the 18m-24m clothes out and put them in the drawers, but they really didn't organize them. I folded them all over 3 times and put them standing up side by side so you can actually see all the outfits at once and just pick from the top. That is my favorite way to do baby clothes, so you don't miss any! If we don't have a nurse tomorrow, I will organize her shoes/socks and toys. If our nurse is able to come, I will go to church!

Brittany is off to Albuquerque today for 1 month. Emily fell apart at the airport when she saw her sister go through security. She just was so upset. We have a surprise planned for Britt when she gets back, though, so that is exciting Ems now and making her forget about her absence. I am also going to make her a little calendar where she can mark off the days until sister comes home again!

Kaedy is doing well getting out in the house. She has been in our living room, den and kitchen. Pretty much everywhere on the bottom floor except our school room.
And, to be honest, noone, much less a baby in a stroller, can get in our schoolroom right now! That is my next big project!!!

I want to thank the few friends that have stuck by me during these last 10 months with Kaedy in the hospital and now that she is out. I seem to have lost a two whole groups of friends somewhere along the way, but it is so nice to have people that really care including some wonderful new friends at my church that we made during this time, as well. (Speaking of church, I have been going there a whole year now!!! YEAH!!)

Middle of the night musings

Well it is the middle of the night and Kaedy and I are both awake. It is a coincidence, however. I couldn't sleep and I came downstairs and she woke up from her treatment. I tried to rock her to sleep, but she just wanted to play. I decided to put her back in her crib with some soft music on to try to cut down on the stimulation. I can hear her in their playing, though, so I don't think it worked!!

Yesterday was an extremely busy day. We had people in and out of our house all day long - nurses, RTs, someone measuring her Kaedy for a kidcart, someone with TONS of paperwork for physical theraphy, a person with supplies, UPS, and, finally, a wonderful dinner from our Pastor's wife! It was VERY busy and hectic. I am glad it is over. :-) We ended by going to church, so that was a good way to end a day like this!!

Linda (the nurse) and I have been working on Kaedy taking a toy out of a container (part of her physical therapy). She finally did it a few times today! Who would have thought that you would have to "work" on something like that! She is not yet consistent with it, but she is doing better.

We had a great doctor's appt this week and he said she can come out of her room. With all the excitement around here, we have not yet actually brought her into the rest of the house. Maybe today. :-) The girls are just SOOOO excited about taking her into the house.

We need to move the den around to have more room for Kaedy's stroller to get around. We also need to move the computer armoire so that it is not in the way of everyone going to her room. It is funny, our house worked fine for us, but we are realizing it doesn't work fine for others! I am also probably going to move the girls' rooms around upstairs. I think we are going to give them each their own room. I am still praying about it, so we will see.

Kaedy's HOME!!

For those of you worried about Kaedy because I haven't written, I am so sorry!! All is well!!!! I have an email list where I keep people updated about her and send pictures and I figured that everyone who cared was on that list and would know how she was....if you would like to be included, please let me know... kedlynn@hotmail.com. We had someone prophesy over her that she was going to touch lives all over and I am seeing more and more that it is true!

Okay, here is the update...SHE IS HOME!!!! She has been home 6 days now. Her homecoming was wonderful and didn't seem real for many days. Or perhaps I had imagined it so much that I just slipped right into it...I'm not sure. It has been wonderful!! We have 3 nurses...a M-F daytime nurse, Linda; a M-Su (yes 7 days a week!!!) nighttime nurse, Tonya; and a Sa-Su nurse, Clara. We really love Linda and have adopted her into our family! She is wonderful!

Kaedy is supposed to stay in her room this first week. (we have a doctor's appt tomorrow where we are hoping she will be able to venture into the rest of the house) We have been spending a lot of time going in to see her. Almost everytime we switch what we are doing, we go in to "check on her." LOL!! The girls have caught me in there when I was supposed to be doing something else, too! She is just too much fun. She has SOOO many smiles...one for EVERYTIME she sees us! She loves to cuddle and loves kisses. When she is sitting in her crib, she will lean toward me for a kiss. The girls just love her and adore her and haven't had any problems adjusting to her being here. In fact, things are just going wonderfully!! It is SOOO wonderful being home with all three of them all day long. We are really having a great time! I really feel that we are re-connecting, even though we were never really apart...it is just a time where we are able to enjoy each other even more!

I am going to go for now, but will keep you updated more regularly now. Many blessings to all that read this!

Righteous Anger

I just have to get a few things off of my chest here..... (I have just spent the last few minutes on two message boards and it wasn't my place to offend anyone on the boards, so I am just going to say my piece here...)

1. God is a GOOD God ALL THE TIME....He does not create bad things to "teach us a lesson" or help us grow. Bad things happen because of Satan. God=good, Satan=bad
If anyone needs clarification of this or would like to talk to me more about it, please email me and I will be happy to talk about it...it is my favorite subject.

2. Our God supplies ALL of our needs out of HIS riches in glory. (Phil 4:19) We do not need to complain or worry about gas prices....God supplies all of our needs!!! But we have to know it! Not only do we have to know it, we have to claim it! We have to speak it! We have to get our angels working on it! When you speak doubt, unbelief and fear you are turning your angels into couch potatoes and leaving the door wide open for Satan to come in and work.

3. Proverbs says that the tongue has the power of life and death. (Prov 18:21) Which will you choose? Do you realize how God created the world? He spoke. He spoke and it was done. God spoke and the world came into being. What comes into being when you speak? Do you speak fear? unbelief? doubt? You do when you complain about all of your ailments, your lack of money, how nothing goes right for you. It is then that Satan can get a foothold and come in. BUT, we can correct that. We can start speaking life. We can catch ourselves when we speak the wrong things, and correct them. We can submit to God, resist the devil (and his way of deceiving us into seeing the world) and the devil will flee from us. (James 4:7) It is not too hard.....Greater is HE who is in us (God) than he who is in the world (Satan). (1 John 4:4)

You know, I love talking to those that talk life. It is exhilarating just being with them. It is awesome to feel the presence of God amongst us, just while we are talking our everyday talk. Do you experience that? Or do you feel weighed down by the world and all that is going on in it? When you are done talking to your friends, do you feel worse? Do you think that God has forgotten you or is too busy elsewhere? Do you think that your worries and problems are too large to overcome? or Do you think that if you talk life you won't be "telling the truth?" Let me explain another thing...

4. This is pretty radical....are you ready? Are you sure? Are you sitting down? .....

This world is not real.

That's right...it's not real. It is a "realm." The "natural realm." There is another realm - the "spiritual realm." It is the spiritual realm that is "real." When I say that Kaedy is healed, I am not lying, I am not wishing, I am not "stretching the truth" or hoping to convince myself. I am speaking the truth...the truth of the spiritual realm. Kaedy IS healed. So are all of us. It was "finished" 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross for us. He died to give us salvation - the Greek word is sozo. Sozo means salvation, healing, and deliverance including deliverance from poverty. Jesus died so we could have an abundant life including healing and prosperity.

Now follow me here....I am not a great theologian, so I will have to explain this in my terms....

I know there are two realms because I believe the Bible.

What do I mean? Well....if Jesus died on the cross so we could be healed, and we don't feel healed...where is the discrepancy? Did Jesus die in vain? NO! He did not die in vain if we understand the way the world works. We ARE healed...in the spiritual realm. Satan attempts to deceive us (his only power) into thinking that we are NOT healed, that we are NOT saved, that we are NOT delivered! I explained it to Brittany this way.....you know the books that have a picture on the page and then there is a transparency that you can put on top of the picture to learn more? Think of our body on the page, perfect, whole and completely well. Satan tries to put a transparency over that page that has various ailments and diseases on it. Everytime we claim one of those ailments or diseases and call it "ours" it becomes ours and then we have to live with it. However, if we know that Satan is just trying to deceive us, all we need to do is catch him at his game, tell him we know the truth and praise God for our healing, our deliverance from poverty and our salvation! We may not "feel" any better but feelings are actually not a good gauge of the truth. Satan deals in "feelings." That is how he deceives us. We need to learn to trust The Word, over our feelings. The Word is the truth....the spiritual realm is the "real" realm. Every time we thwart Satan, speak life and praise God we get a little closer to living in that spiritual realm.

Okay, that is enough "preaching" for now. Like I said earlier, if you want to talk about any of this, let me know, I would love to. I am still learning myself, but I hope I am able to share when I learn with others...

Blessings,
Kahri

Well I am down on the 5th floor of the San Antonio hospital again, using the internet while Kaedy sleeps. I keep having thoughts swirl around in my head that I should get down and write....Thought I would take a minute now and do that... first of all, an update. Kaedy got her JP drain out today...HALLELUJAH! Now we are just waiting on the incision. It is looking good (according to the doctors and nurses) so I am hoping we can come home fairly soon. Today is a weird day for me. The residents that we have had the whole time we have been here are now gone. Our favorite resident, Michael, had his last day here on Friday. They moved Kaedy to a different room yesterday (without telling me first, which REALLY freaked me out! and without moving her bags she brought from Tulsa, so they got taken to "lost and found!") We have a different nurse today, we don't have Michael and the hospital seems like a much different place...not as wonderful. I realize I am a creature of habit and I like things to stay the same so I need to grow a little in that area and get used to change better.

I had Kaedy sitting up in a high chair today. She was loving it, watching everyone that walked by, saying "hi" and "dadadada" and playing. When I went to get her out and put her on the crib, her trach came out. That was the first time that has happened to me. I called for nurses, but noone came so I just popped it back in and kept calling for nurses (I couldn't see it really well to make sure it was in right). Finally a bunch of nurses came all at once and Kaedy was fine (her sats never went down) and they were all proud of me. I had to calm my heart a little afterwards, but I have to say I wasn't really scared. It was just a "do what you have to do" moment. So, that's another thing I can cross off of my "things I need to do before we can take Kaedy home" list.

Downtown San Antonio is not a wonderful place. I can't speak for the rest of the town, so I won't venture a guess on whether I like it or not. I am also thinking that I probably would not like hardly any downtown places, unless they were little towns like Broken Arrow...I LOVE their downtown! There are a lot of homeless people here and I get asked for money quite a bit. The park across from the hospital has a lot of folks who sleep on the benches or ground. There are a lot of pigeons and they are very friendly...they are probably my favorite part of downtown! I ride a trolley back and forth from the hospital to the hotel and anywhere else I need to go. I have met some very nice trolley drivers, but most are grumpy and seem tired of people. I try to give them all huge smiles and let them know I appreciate them. There is a restaurant here called Shiloh's (pronounce she-lows) that is owned by Germans. It is my favorite place to eat. I feel very comfortable there, the food is good and I don't feel odd being by myself. My second favorite place is probably Denny's. There is some awesome Mexican food around here, but I don't feel comfortable going there alone..the places we went were more of a "get-together" atmosphere. My mom suggested I get some food there "to-go." I may do that! This place really seems like another country. I don't even feel like I am still in the U.S. It is very different here from Broken Arrow. In the last 24 hours I have seen an older man who was tatooed on every part of his body (that I could see) from the neck down, two ladies kissing, a man asleep with pigeons all over him, two FULL blocks of middle eastern women sitting on the sidewalks (I later figured out that they were waiting for two tour buses), a cowboy (hat, tight jeans, skoal in back pocket, boots, and a lasso stuck beside him) driving a trolley and a man with obscenities tattooed onto his bald (and very large) head. It has been interesting!

My mom and I had a good time. I miss having her here...at least I could be sharing these sights with her or we could be talking the pros and cons of tinkerbell and what it would feel like if a giant could pick us up and hold us (sorry...private jokes! LOL). She is calling every day, though, and I am glad she came. That was the nicest time I have had with her. We even got matching Alamo mood rings!!! LOL I'm wearing mine, MOM!!

Well I better get off of here, the library is closing...I will be back someday soon.

Blessings to you all!!

Kaedy is doing great today! She is just on Motrin and doesn't seem to be in pain unless she coughs and then she cries. Tomorrow they are going to switch her back to the Trach that she is used to and then Tuesday they are going to put her back on her home ventilator.

She is really back to her normal self and smiling and playing and giving kisses...she is just wonderful!! It is hard to not just scoop her up and hug her, but I still see her wince and I know she is not quite ready for that!!

Kaedy pics

San Antonio Pics

I was just listening to my church in Broken Arrow, over the phone again. I just love listening to my Pastor.

Here is today's update:
"I am redeemed from the curse of the law, Jesus having become a curse for me therefore my daughter does not experience 'severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sicknesses' (Deut 28:59). My daughter is mine and she is not in captivity (Deut 28:41). HALLELUJAH!!!!!!"

She has no more pain in her body, no more sicknesses, no more surgeries, and her healing is quick and she is no longer held captive by the hospital!!! Her miracles are touching the lives of everyone who comes near her.

We haven't been to see Kaedy this morning yet but we are going in a few minutes. I called and they said that her arm looks better and she is doing well today. She is up to full feeds and is doing well with that....of course!!! SHE IS HEALED!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!

I am still in San Antonio but Michael went home today. :-( My mom is here to keep me company (although she says it's just to see the baby!). Kaedy is doing better but she had an artery clog in her arm that turned her arm horrible colors. They took the lines out of her arm as soon as they saw the problem and it is slowly getting better (they are giving her heparin and putting warm compresses on it) but now it looks much like a tye-dyed arm. It hurts her to move the arm so she is not moving it much. The rest of her is moving quite a bit....her legs are up in the air (as usual) and her other arm is up and grabbing at everything. She seems very happy until she has to cough or until she moves in the wrong way and then she cries and cries. I think she has finally hit her limit on how much she wants to tolerate. She bopped herself on the head today and started crying whereas she would usually not have minded at all. Poor little thing. I can't wait to pick her up. Hopefully she will be ready for that by Monday. And we are still hoping she can go back to Tulsa by Wednesday, but I will keep you updated!!

We went on the river walk boat ride today. It was a very nice ride, about 35 minutes long, with a tour guide. The only problem was the tour guide sounded JUST like Squidworth from Spongebob. We saw some neat sites including some cool trees whose roots come straight up from the ground. (I took pictures which I will post later)

Okay, I am off to copy down a crochet pattern. I am tired of trying to make the same hat over and over so my mom suggested I make something else. I think it's a great idea! However, I forgot we don't have a printer hooked up so I am going to have to actually write down the pattern....ugh!!! I brought TONS of stuff to do while I was here and I have barely done any of it, but at least I brought a selection. I will have tons of time to do great things once Kaedy is home!! WOOHOO!! We are nearing the end!!!!

Thank you all for your faithful prayers!

Kaedy had a very smooth surgery with no problems. In fact, the nurse walked out and said that "God must be smiling down on this baby." (of course we KNOW that!!!)
These are the things they did for her:
1. They moved one rib from the right side to the left side
2. They moved the bottom ribs on her left side up to where they belong.
3. They detached her left side diaphragm and reattached it in the proper place.
4. Two titanium ribs were put in on her left side.
5. Her intestinal hernia was fixed

The doctors were very happy with the results. They are expecting her to come off of the ventilator before Christmas, but we are expecting it much quicker than that! :-) We have no information about how quickly we can get out of here, they said it just depends on her and how quickly she can come off of all the tubes and get back on her own ventilator. We are expecting supernatural recovery and a return trip soon! Best case scenario looks like about 3-4 days. Lots of people have been asking if she would come home or go back to St. John's in Tulsa. The plan is for her to leave here and return to the hospital in Tulsa. She would stay there approximately a week and then she would COME HOME!!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!! Please join us in thanking God for her supernatural recovery and the fact that she will be home soon!!!

I have another praise....several months ago a wonderful woman from ORU came to visit Kaedy - Sue Jester. One of the things we talked about was how to pray for the surgery. She counseled me to start praying then for spirit-filled people all around Kaedy down here in San Antonio. Our pilot on the way down was spirit-filled and so was the OR nurse today. I told the nurse, we have been praying for you to be here today for a loooong time. It was wonderful to share prayers with these people and the OR nurse even annointed Kaedy before the surgery as well....I felt awesome that she was in there during the surgery, speaking words of life over our precious baby.

Here are the pictures so far from our trip...they include pictures of Kaedy after the surgery but we don't have pictures of the xrays yet. We will try to get those so we can show you the amazing differences. I put these pics on OFOTO since we are away from home. There are three different sets...

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ww11agb.26kxs603&x=0&h=1&y=-w0mp2p

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ww11agb.1ony6ter&x=0&h=1&y=-5e6x05

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ww11agb.59sztplv&x=0&h=1&y=d4xo28

Well Kaedy is in surgery right now and instead of sit there and fall asleep, I came up to the brand new library (opened yesterday...they must have heard I was coming!! LOL)to use their computer. Michael is antsy so he came up for a minute and then went right back down. So far Kaedy has been in surgery a little over 4 hours (including the 1 hour of anesthesia time). So far they have moved over 1 rib from the right side to the left side, attached one VEPTR device and they are starting to raise her bottom left ribs to the proper place. Then they are planning to put in the other VEPTR, detach and reposition her diaphragm and move her herniated large intestine. She will be completely sedated for several days so I guess this is the time when we will be sight seeing...lol.

Speaking of sight seeing...let me tell you about our first few days...

We had an excellent plane ride. I was more worried about our luggage then actually coming here. We had been told that we had to be really careful to not bring too much luggage. I squished and rearranged and took stuff out of the suitcases until I had it down to their limit. When we got to the airport, the pilot came to get our bags and said "is this all?" Whew, first concern taken care of! The plane was very nice....it ended up being a lear jet. It was very comfortable and much quieter than I thought our ride would be. The ride took a little over 1 hour and Kaedy slept the entire time. She did wake up out on the runway after the flight because the wind was really blowing in her face, but she went right back to sleep.

We got a ride with the two pilots of the plane over to the hospital and found Kaedy fairly quickly. She was doing great and already charming everyone, of course. We got her all signed in and napping and then decided to head to the hotel so we could get settled. We knew there were trollies around here but had no idea where to catch them. A nice man from the information desk (who reminded me of my late Uncle Lee) took us outside and showed us. We went where he showed us but then realized he was wrong so we found the other trolley stop and caught the trolley soon after. I don't think we noticed a thing about the town on that ride. We had our luggage on the trolley (had been rolling it from street to street) and we just wanted off and to get settled!

We found the Red Roof Inn and got checked in and unpacked. We tried the laptop that a friend lent me and it started up fine but refused to log on. I was very disappointed but we decided to go back and see Kaedy and I was just going to pray about it and I knew it would work when we got back.

We went back and saw Kaedy for a few more hours and met many of the people taking care of her. We got her up and played with her and cuddled with her and then decided we needed to go find food and go back to the hotel to sleep. We thought Walgreens might have the part for the computer that we needed so we found where a downtown Walgreens was and got the trolley for there. By the time we got there, the store was closed for the night. We decided to walk around a little to try to find somewhere to eat. Unbelievably most of the restaurants were closed! We took a little alleyway and came upon some beautiful fountains. I thought we should go look at the fountains a little closer so we went to do that and stumbled into the Alamo!!! It is just sitting right in the middle of a bunch of high rise buildings! I told Michael, "that's the Alamo" and he said, "no it isn't." A few minutes later he realized it really was. We took a few pictures and as we were walking away we heard the same conversation go on with another couple...that really made us laugh!

We followed the fountains down some stairs and into the Hyatt Hotel. As we came out of the Hyatt we realized we had found the river walk. It is VERY DIFFERENT than what I thought it would be and is almost impossible to describe. It is below ground level, for one thing, and is very "rain forest" like. There are lots of ferns and exotic trees and flowers down there. We were there after dark and it was a tad slippery and seemed like a whole different world. We couldn't find anywhere we wanted to eat down there so we went back above ground and decided we would find the Denny's we had seen on one of our trolley rides. Unfortunately, we were very turned around and ended up walking several blocks the wrong direction! We found a grumpy German information man that directed us the proper way and to the proper trolley. We rode that to the Denny's and had a very nice, very late meal and eventually got back home by walking a few more blocks to another trolley. WHEW. We played with the computer a little more, trying to get it to sign on and it didn't work. We gave up and called it a night.

On Sunday, we woke up very late.....it was about 9 by the time we got up! We haven't slept that late in years!! My neice called me and hooked me up with the sound guy at my church so I could listen to the sermon on my telephone. I listened to all 2 hours of it on my phone and loved it. I had my bible out, I was taking notes, it was just like usual except I was snacking on nuts, pop and had my jammies on!! LOL I don't think Pastor would go for that on a regular basis....

We got over to see Kaedy about 1 or so and they were running a bunch more tests on her. We asked around where the nearest place we could get computer parts was and the closest anyone could think of was possibly the rivercenter mall right here in the downtown. While she was having some more tests done, we decided to run over there and see what we could find. (We went by Walgreens first and they didn't have any...their store was REALLY small and old and even had an underground stockroom!!) We had lunch at the mall, on the riverwalk with several pigeons (including one who liked egg rolls) and then found out that there was NOWHERE that sells computer parts in the downtown area. We asked and asked and kept getting told the same thing...we needed to go across town. We walked back to see Kaedy and the nurse there helped us call around to find what we needed and where to get it. She even helped us call the bus station, but they weren't doing what we needed to do. We ended up leaving Kaedy about 8 and going by cab to the nearest Best Buy and getting the part. We walked and walked trying to find a bus where we were, but there either weren't any or they weren't running at that time. We got a cab back and practically passed out on our bed, exhausted from all the running around town. We did manage to install the network card, though, and get the computer up and running Hallelujah!!!

Yesterday was much less eventful. We came to the hospital about 830am and we were hoping to see and talk to the doctors. We eventually did, about 630pm we had talked to everyone and decided to head home. The funny thing is, we met some ladies at one of the trolley stops and we were helping them figure out the trollies to get where they wanted to go! We are now the "experts" - that is scary!! LOL They ended up talking to us about the baby and telling us that they were praying for a miracle for her too. We got "home" pretty late and tried to find some dinner. We didn't end up eating until around 930 or 10pm and then we went to bed soon after.

Well that brings y'all up to date. We are getting used to San Antonio. It is not my favorite place by any means....but it is interesting. I can't wait to come home....I miss home! I really love Broken Arrow and can't wait to get back there: to my church, my home, my friends, etc. Now that Kaedy has had surgery, we need prayers for a supernatural recovery time. We are still believing in her miraculous healing because no matter what the circumstances are, God's Word has not changed. She IS healed. We are still rejoicing over her fully restored body and although Satan is trying to keep it from manifesting, Jesus has ALREADY paid the price and won the battle, so we have no fears.

Thank you for the prayers and keep 'em coming!!!