Enjoying my Monday

The girls are at school, and the house is quiet. mmmmmmmmm. Nice. They had such a loud morning this morning. Lots of bickering over everything. That's life with young girls, I think. They will have 5 days to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday. Should be interesting.......

Weather is changing as we speak. Cloudy and windy when we got up this morning. But the wind has picked up, and now the sun is trying to take over control of the sky. With the front moving in overnight, we should get colder and maybe some rain.

We had an unplanned treat yesterday. All nine of the grandchildren were here at one time! First Dana and her family came by after church to see the new couch. They had been here maybe 20 minutes, and Denise and her kids came over. We all visited for maybe an hour. Always fun when we all get together.

Dennis and I were shopping at the Dollar Store this morning. I saw some really cute, but cheap tablecloths with snowmen on them. I bought two of them. One I plan to put on the front door, and the other one I'll put on the table in the kitchen. I also bought some really cute large stickers of snowmen and I plan to give them to Ally's therapist to decorate her office. I like the snowmen to decorate with because I can leave it up after Christmas, just to celebrate the winter cold weather.

My heart is very sad with the passing of Pastor Billy Joe Daughtery. Billy Joe and his wife, Sharon, are the co-pastors and founders of Victory Christian Center. They founded Victory Bible Institute where Dennis and I attended Bible school in 1981/82.
Billy Joe was a wonderful, caring, funny man. I'm glad I have lots of his tapes. He had the very best laugh in the world, and now Heaven is blessed with it.

Oh my goodness it's November

Don't know what happened, but I seem to have gotten lost somewhere between Oct 30th and now! Blogging doesn't seem to be my strong suit!

It's cloudy and cool today. Kind of moist out, too, without being rainy. You know the type of day........dark, dank, and dreary. (to quote my mom) I much prefer sunny and warm days, but they don't come around much in the fall and winter in Oklahoma.

This time two years ago I was recovering from kidney failure, and didn't have any strength, and walked with the aid of a walker. Now, two years later, I have energy and strength and don't know where I put the walker. Thanksgiving is important to me, and I'm doing a happy dance this year. I give God all the praise and glory.

The girls are all doing well in school. I had to resort to bribery for their spelling though. (Will you teachers please forgive me??) See, spelling didn't seem to be important to them and their tests were so bad every week. I worked with them, but with three girls studying for spelling tests it just got too much for me. I wanted to want to know those words. So, after one more bad spelling test, I said "if you make a 100% on your spelling test, I will give you a candy bar of your choosing". The first 100 came from Ally. Seeing her eating her candy bar made the other two kick it into gear! Now they are consistantly bringing me spelling tests with 100 on them! No paper for proof, no candy bar. And no, missing one won't get you anything.....sorry.

Ally's therapist said Ally has met and gone beyond the goals set for her. I'm thrilled. What makes the difference, do you think?? I think it's love, because the Bible says "Love never fails". I have no other idea on what it could be. Ally has Asperger's, but she is NOT Asperger's. She is Ally. I love her so much. It is what it is. I love her unconditionally. She can not make me not love her anymore. I love her through every meltdown, every tantrum, every screaming fit, every night of no sleep (and there have been many of those). Is it because Dennis and I have walked down this parenting road before? I don't know. For me, it's just easy to love her. She's mine. I chose her (well, actually God chose her for me!!).
She wants to please us. She works so hard in school to make good grades, and she wants to excel. I was thrilled with her progress report yesterday...three A's and one B. The B being in Math....her hardest subject. She doesn't understand the concept of borrowing and carrying, but it's coming along. Ally loves school. She loves her teacher (so do I!!) and she has made friends this year. She is getting social! That was one of the goals we had that she has met. Go Ally, Go!!

It's a sad time.....

Isn't that the cutest face?! That's our Sassy. I named her Sassy Pants because from the time she was born until she was about 8 months old she was a growly kind of girl. She used to growl at her brother, A.J., then attack him! This was so cute, and we all enjoyed her doing that. Remember in the movie Lion King when Nala said "I pinned you again"? That's what I always thought of when Sassy would growl at A.J. then pin him down!

Last week sometime we noticed that Sassy had a limp. She would lay out in the sun in the backyard and didn't play with A.J. as much. I didn't think a whole lot of it because our Rottweiler, Emmett, used to be that way, too. Since Sassy was an outside dog we didn't notice that she didn't feel well. She didn't look like she was losing weight, and she still came to the back screen door for her lovin' from me. But last night when Alexandar kept banging the screen door, I opened the door thinking maybe they had dumped their water over. But there on the garage floor was my sweet Sassy Pants. She had died. I am just heart broken over her loss. Sorry to be such a downer, but the loss of a furry family member is a big deal at our house. The girls are so sad about it. It's hard to explain it to them. We still have Alexandar and A.J. but Sassy's passing is a huge loss to me.

No school for the girls today. It's teacher's conference or something. I'm glad it's a nice (although cool and windy) sunny day so the girls can go play with their friends. It's also a big painful fibro day for me. I hurt from my head down to my feet, and my brain is so foggy I can't concentrate. It'll all be better tomorrow!

Don't you just love Autumn??

The trees this year are just especially beautiful. On the way to Ally's therapy this morning I noticed that some trees are mixed with gold, yellow, and orange. Now that is glorious! Some were purplish with red, and I liked that, too. See? God never worries about mixing colors like I do. I would never put purple with red in the same place. But on a tree, it's really beautiful. Why do some trees turn yellow, and some turn red? I've always wondered that. Our neighbor has a maple tree that has turned orange, red, and yellow while our maple is just green and yellow. Two maple trees but different colors. It's interesting, and really pretty at the same time.

My health insurance has changed, so I've had to change my primary care doctor. I've had the same doctor for 25 years. Anyway, I saw the new doctor yesterday. She was very thorough, and easy to talk to. I felt like she was listening to me, and I need that reassurance. I have a lot of scary health issues, and I want to be sure any doctor I see is listening. The nurse called this morning with results of lab work done yesterday. My choleserol is up (again), and the triglycerides are over 500. (not good). My A1C is 7.1, which isn't too bad. It should be below 7. Considering that in April 2008 it was over 17, I'll take 7.1.

Ally is continuing with asthma problems. She is needing more assistance from her inhaler and nebulizer than she has needed in a long time. We all had the seasonal shot in September. The H1N1 vaccine has not arrived at the Health Dept as of this date, so we have decided that by the time it makes it here, we have all be exposed anyway. I do have a huge concern about Ally, her asthma, and the H1N1 flu. But I trust God. He has shown me that when the Isrealites were preparing to leave Eygpt, they were told to kill a lamb and dip a hysop in the blood and put the blood on the door posts so that the angel of death would see the blood and pass by that house. Well, God says Jesus is the lamb, and His blood covers our home. I am not to worry about flu or any other pestilance because by His blood we are healed.

Therapy was really good today. I feel like it was very educational for me. The therapist went to class last week to learn about the brain, and she brought that learning to us today. She showed us some brain excercises to "wake up" the brain. I sure need that! She told us better ways to defuse breakdowns before they become full blown. Words make a huge difference! Instead of saying "no", say "I need to think about that and get back to you. If you continue to ask me, the answer will be NO". I like that. That puts the responsibilty of action on Ally instead of on me. She will learn that there are consequences and she is the one that has to make the choice. Ally wants to go play at a friend's house every day after school, and I want homework done first. There is a power of wills going on every day because of this. Joan (the therapist) says tell Ally "I need to think about that. If you mention it again, then my answer will be no". It'll be hard at first, but she will learn. (and so will I)

Am I the only one who thinks that Facebook is a hurtful place? It hurts to be "unfriended" by someone, especially if that someone is a family member. And you have no idea what you said or did..... I thought that Facebook would be a great way to keep in touch with my family (who all live in other states). But it hasn't turned out that way at all.

Just a little catching up

I see it's been a while since I've been here. Too many things trying to get/keep my attention! Ok, you try being ?2 years old, in questionable health, and raising three kids!! It's not like it was when we were younger, in good health, and raising three kids. But I probably wouldn't change anything (except our health!).

The weather has been really dark, dank, and dreary around here. Thirteen days in a row with clouds, drizzle/rain, and cold temperatures. Finally on Friday we had sunshine, and it's been shining since. But the colder temps are still hanging around. It was only 39 this morning at 7:30.

Ally was sick from the end of August until the middle of October. Two different ear infections, then flu like symptoms that led us to take her to the doctor again. But the flu test came back negative. With the high fever, and rash (especially on her cheeks) the doctor diagnosed Fifth Disease. Ally was sick for maybe 3 days, but the asthma attacks were worse during this time. She had a treatment on Friday night, but has been ok since then. We are hoping she is finally well. Also praying that the H1N1 flu stays away from here. We have all had a seasonal flu shot, but the H1N1 shot. Still trying to decide what to do about that.......

Brianna has joined the Challenger Dance Team at school, and she loves it. She was made for dancing! This is a perfect fit for her. They are selling candles to afford the uniforms, and Brianna has already sold 10. Alright, go Brianna!

I have discovered a new author, and I really love her books. Right now I am reading a book based on the Biblical book of Hosea called Redeeming Love. I can hardly put the thing down! It's very well written and sucks you in on the first page. (or it did me, anyway)

Hopefully my computer woes are behind me, and more time spent with my cyber friends is ahead of me. I learned just addicted I am to my computer! But I'm not planning to lessen my time on here. This is where all my friends are!!

Watch the whole thing!

Just click on the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo



It's worth it to watch the whole thing!!

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Today was my big acting debut. The day began as any other day, except I had butterflies in my stomach. What does one wear to their acting gig? Well, if one is to be a tree, I guess one should make sure all their leaves and bark are clean and in proper order. So, I took a warm shower. I then chose to wear my jeans and a dark shirt. I forgot I was wearing my sandals. And it was brought to my attention at a later time that I should have worn my gym shoes. Ah, well, live and learn.

Ally was all excited about my acting as a tree, and she tried to get me to allow her to stay home. When that failed, she tried coughing.....a lot.....and loudly. I ignored that, so she chose to nag me some more. I decided to just ignore it. She did end up going to school. But more on that in a minute.....

We drove to Denise's house where she gave me my costume which consisted of beautiful golden leaves, a brown tunic, and a green turtle neck shirt. We followed Denise, and Melanie to Hunter Park. It's a really nice park! Lots of playground area, a water pad, lots of green open space, a dog bark park, covered picnic tables. But I digress........

We met other homeschool families from Faith and there was much laughing and making of tree jokes (you know what YOU would be saying, "barking up the wrong tree", etc), spraying for bugs and ticks (ewwww, but that's so necessary!) I was the oldest tree there. The other trees were mere saplings, but so cute! I loved them all. They were so good to an older tree with lots of bark missing and leaves falling off.

Denise and Melanie have produced a movie before, so they are professionals. They made my acting debut a pleasure. They were both so relaxed and calm about what they wanted. They allowed much laughing and joking, but still got what they wanted to be in the finished product. Thanks, ladies, for such a pleasurable and memorial day.

Back to the wearing of sandals. They are really comfortable, brown, leather sandals and I wear them so often it's just a part of what I put on in the morning. I don't even give it any thought. But I should have thought about it today. We were in the woods. Real woods. With real poison ivy, and stuff. *sigh* Hope I didn't bring home any souveniers of my first acting gig.....

Back to Ally....yes, she did go to school. She didn't want to go because she knew what I was going to be doing, and she wanted to be with me. But I didn't want her to miss any more school. We got back home around noon. We ate lunch, and I decided to get on my computer while Dennis opted to have a nap. While I was computing, my phone rang. It was the school nurse saying that Ally was in her office because she said she threw up her lunch. (Well, maybe not her lunch. She didn't eat lunch. She only drank some milk) I asked if Ally had any fever (remember, we've been such a time with Ally being sick and running fevers) and Nurse Natalie says, no, no fever. But I decide Ally should come home anyway....just in case. I woke up Dennis. He went and got Ally. Ally walks in the front door and says "did you go be a tree already?" Well, what do you think?