Crazy Times!

Well, talk about a crazy couple of days it has been!

First of all, Timothy's eye appointment lasted 3 1/2 hours yesterday! But he did great! The doctor said that he is a little farsighted, but that it was within normal range for his age. Something to watch, but not to be concerned about just yet. She also said that his "wondering eye" is nothing to be too concerned about yet either. She said that with some kids they do that when they are trying to focus on something but if it ever happened and didn't go back to the normal position, within a few seconds, then that would be something to be concerned about. SO, all is well where that is concerned.

Now, here is where things get a little crazy. Yesterday morning I woke up and stepped on the scale. (my usual routine in the morning) As the numbers were flashing I was thinking, "What the heck...this is taking a little longer than usual!" When they stopped, the scale read 158. I had weighed the morning before and the scale read 148. SO, I thought that maybe for some reason it was having a bad morning and tried it again. It was consistent and once again read 158. I knew I was a little constipated, but come on....10 pounds worth....I don't think so!

That's when I also started noticing that I felt as if my whole body was bloated. My rings were tight on my hands. My face felt really "puffy". My calves felt tight, and my tongue felt like it was too big for my mouth.

I told Carlton about it all, and he shook his head and said...."Every morning it is something." I agreed with him and then KINDLY let him know that I WISHED it wasn't! He wasn't being a jerk here, just a little insensitive. But who could blame him....he was right!

SO, being the dedicated teacher I am, I headed on to work.....we have TAKS testing going on right now and I couldn't just call in the morning of the first day of tests and say I wasn't coming in.....well, I could have.....others did, but I just couldn't! I figured, if it gets worse I will call the doctor and then leave early.

I got to school, had the nurse check my blood pressure and all was well. One of my coworkers came in and said, "Angela, I am not trying to be rude but you look like you put on some weight over night!" I told her about the 10 pounds and she didn't feel so bad! I had only taken about 5 days of prednisone for the rash on my arm so I didn't think it could be that was having some kind of withdrawal from it, or that the weight was a direct result of it since it happened over night but started becoming concerned that I might be having an allergic reaction to the prednisone.

So I called the doctor's office. Most of the day had gone by at this time and my kids were all done testing. The nurse and I talked a little and she said that if I noticed any of the symptoms getting worse, or if any new ones occurred to call back or come in to the office. SO, about an hour later, new symptoms occurred. I couldn't really feel my lips and my tongue felt like it was getting bigger. So I called to let them know I was headed in and left work!

By the time I got to the office, I could still breath, but it felt like my tongue was touching my epiglottis. And sure enough as my doctor looked in my mouth he told the nurse I was going to need a shot NOW! I am sure my eyes got as big as oranges for a second or two!

He told me that after having this rash on my arm, the hives I had a couple weeks ago, and now this, he was sending me to an Allergist/Immunologist within the week. I do not know what causing my body to "fire up" but something is and honestly I think it might be something at my house! But I can't think of anything new that would be causing it!

This is all so crazy.....just pray we figure it all out soon. In the mean time I am on a combo of meds...Benadryl, Zyrtec, Prednisone, and Pepcid along with carrying an Epi Pen for emergencies.

If its not one thing its another!!!

Oh, there was more drama today concerning TAKS testing and teachers and students....but I will save that for tomorrow....to see if anything else happens to add to it, but for now I will tell you it involved teachers yelling at other teachers as if they were students, students fighting and one student being cuffed and removed from campus for hitting the principal!

PRAY FOR OUR KIDS!!!!!!!!

MORE updates!

First of all, if you haven't read my post below this one....titled Surrender....go read it....and visit the other blogs that I link to, they are really good!



Ok, now for updates....



Rachel - We went to the ENT on Wednesday. We discovered that the tube that we thought was still in her right ear was not there any longer. As a matter of fact, it was rolled up in a ball of wax that was literally the size of my pinkie finger nail (the pink area that is)! After they pulled that ball of wax out they sent us down for the hearing tests. In doing the tests we discovered that she does have about a 45% hearing loss in that right ear. The doctor later informed us though that the loss should be reversible once we get rid of the thick fluid that was build up behind the ear drum.



That's right......thick fluid!



Obviously we had tubes put in her ears the first time because of this fluid. SO, what's next.....Well, the doctor has us giving her Zyrtec every day for 30 days. Instead of jumping into a second set of tubes, he would like to see if this is just an allergy issue. IF after 30 days the fluid is STILL there, then we will look into another set. And if we do put in another set, then he will also remove her adenoids and her tonsils. Her tonsils have always been big, just like my mother's. They literally look like quarters in the back of her throat. And if they do this, he will draw some blood to do allergy screenings.



SO what does that say about her behavior....



Well, to me it says this.....If she has had this issue off and on for months (or longer, maybe even since she got the tubes) then this could be a large factor in her language/speech delays. If her frustration is linked to the fact that she doesn't feel understood, then this is something I, and speech/language therapy, can work on with her. It also says to me that some of the behaviors could be because she has felt all this pressure in her little head from the fluid build up and it has caused some these behaviors. I know that when I have a lot of sinus pressure I don't want to be messed with...do you?



Knowing all this sets me a little more at ease with all these behavior issues.....this is something that would be a lot easier to deal with than if it were all some kind of behavior disorder.



Now, for my GYN visit.........



Well it seems that my uterus is completely retroverted. It lays so far back that it sits on my rectum....I know that may be a little TMI for some. Because of this, my cervix is very tilted too and when hubby and I, well you know...... then his you know.....it hitting my cervix which causes so much pain at times that all action has to cease! We have tried all kinds of different things to make it better, but nothing really seems to help. This, on top of several other "hormonal" issues I have makes a hysterectomy sound really good to me right now. It all comes down to a "quality of life" issue to me.

We have two beautiful children. I have had two "chemical" pregnancies and this new doctor agreed with me that with this retroverted uterus, I could possibly have more if I were to "try" to get pregnant. However, the possibility is the same either way. The problem with a hysterectomy for me is not "having it all removed", the problem is that it can not be done the easy way.

What I mean by that is I can not have it done laproscopically. Back in college we discovered that I have "pelvic kidneys". My kidneys are fused at the bottom and are pulled forward into the pelvic area. They lay parallel to the ground right under my belly button......I know....FREAK!! (That's what my hubby says!!)

Because of this, I can not have laproscopic procedures, however, I didn't realize this until I visited this doctor. No other doctor had ever told me this before. SO, since this is the case, the only time I can "afford" to have this kind of surgery would be during the summer, when I already have time off. HOWEVER, we all know that a YOUTH MINISTER's busiest time is during the summer!

Just pray for me.....I'm a little bummed about it all. I know that all things happen for a reason. Maybe God wants to bless us with another little angel...who knows. The pain is not so much that I can't function, but it gets a little burdensome on hubby if you catch my drift! But he is a good man, and very understanding!

My brain is so scattered right now and things are starting to feel as if I am rambling....

Oh, pray for Timothy....his eye appointment is tomorrow at 1:30. I'll let you know about that later.

Surrender

I just came back from here ,an acquaintance from college, Angel is an awesome person and sometimes I don't think she actually realizes how awesome she really is! Just like many of us, she is just trying to do what God has called her to do and in the meantime she is sharing it with all of us, and for that I am very thankful!

Every morning I log on to this computer, check my email accounts and then quickly browse through many of the blogs on my sidebar. (of which later I will be adding Wendi...another UMHB Alumni!) Anyway, they are in alphabetical order, so as you can see, Angel is # 2 at this moment in my "blog life". So, as I started to "scan" her blog this morning I got stuck!!! (once you start reading her blog you will understand what I mean....sometimes you can't just "scan" it!)

First of all, she is adopting a sweet baby girl from China. You can read all about that on her blog. So, the first post I saw this morning was one in which she was showing all the stuff she was packing up for her upcoming trip to go get this precious baby girl. Then I started scanning the next few posts and since I , for some reason, can't view video's here at work, I just scanned over them until I came to this one, and this is where I got stuck!!

I am not currently reading the book she mentions here but the title of the book is Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren. It sounds like an EXCELLENT book and I hope to read it soon.

I STRONGLY encourage you to read HER post about the chapter she just read and what she got out of it. I am not going to even try to restate everything she had to say, but I did want to share with you what I got out of it as I read her post.

My "red pill" moment came a couple years back when I decided that the experiences I had growing up (the rape and self-abusive behaviors, the "yoyo divorce" my parents had, the addictions my dad faces still today, and every thing else....which was a lot) would help me to minister to young girls. However, giving up my "dime store pearls" for the real thing and allowing God to use the "cheap" stuff in my life to bless others has not been easy. It never is, for most of us anyway. I still keep finding myself with that red pill in my hand ready to swallow, but getting a bit choked on it!

Ok, I said I wasn't going to do this, but I just had to add this quote in here right now! It was taken from Kay's book:

After a month of anguished wrestling with God, I reached a point at which I had to make a conscious decision. Would I retreat to my comfortable life and to my settled plans, pretending I didn't know about the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the millions of orphans? Or would I surrender to God's call and let my heart engage with a cause I was pretty sure would include buckets of pain and sorrow? I didn't know what would happen if I said yes to this increasingly strong urge to engage- what did "engaging" even mean? I felt like I was standing on the edge of a giant precipice; I couldn't go back, and yet the way forward looked like stepping into a void.

The moment of decision came. With eyes closed and teeth clenched tightly, I finally said yes. The second I did my heart broke, and I was SHATTERED.....

I bolded the part that really hit me. If I am truly ready to take that red pill, then I am about to step into a world that will "include buckets of pain and sorrow". OUCH!! I sit here shaking my head, letting out heavy sighs, with a wrinkled brow, knot in stomach and huge lump in my throat as I reread and type!

I feel that there are SO many girls out there that are suffering. They either grow up in homes where the family is all "together" and everyone pretends that "all is well" (I say pretends because we all know that there is NOT one perfect family out there!). Or they grow up in a home where no one is there for them and they feel all alone. They all want to reach out to someone but feel as if there is no one for them to reach.

My family may have been a little "messed up" at times, but I know they loved me. Many of these girls feel that same way, but many of them don't even get to feel the love. My heart aches for those girls. Those are the ones that society "uses". They get beaten down from all angles. They beat themselves up while others are doing the same. They end up pregnant or in loveless relationships. They are the ones pretending all is well, but falling apart inside. She might be the girl sitting next to you at church, bathed, well dressed, singing in the church choir and active in every ministry you offer. OR she may be the girl that you see at the mall that you avoid eye contact with because you aren't too sure about her. You don't know if she is dressed the way she is because she belongs to some "cult" or because she is "working" the streets, or because she doesn't' have anything better to wear.

Either way, she is a girl. She longs to be loved, accepted, acknowledged, forgiven, at peace....and the list could go on and on and on.

I think people avoid such topics....disturbing ones....because they are afraid that God would have them do something about it! That is why I LOVE this quote that I found on Wendi's blog. She has it posted right under the title of her blog. What an awesome quote. I think it says it all!

"Sometimes I'd like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice in the world when He could do something about it..., but I'm afraid God might ask me the same question."

~ Anonymous

Chew on that for a while!


Once again.....heavy sighs, knot in stomach, wrinkled brow, lump in throat and head shaking!


What do you think God wants YOU to do?

Pictures

Ok, I was FINALLY able to load all these pictures! WHEW....it took a while! As you can tell I have not had my camera with me at work in a while. These pictures are all from the month of April.

Come back tomorrow for an update on my doctor's visit. I wanted to wait till I took Rachel for her hearing check this afternoon. That way I could post them both together. Oh, Timothy's eye appointment was scheduled this morning for Tuesday, 29th of April...next week.

So, let's get started.....

These first few are from Tables On Parade. The women of our church all decorate tables and the men serve us dinner. We have special music and a speaker that night as well. This is my table. Simple, just like me! :) There were some AMAZING tables for sure....However, I didn't get pictures of them all, there were so many and I was too busy getting mine together and hosting it as well.

Here are the kids after we finally got home that night. They were dying to smell the roses in the car. So as soon as we got home, just barely in the back door, Timothy insisted that I put them on the floor so he could smell them!

Now, this next set of pictures are just a sample of the ones I have from the Sage conference at Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler. If you all haven't heard of Sage, then go check them out! Great girls ministry! The theme for the weekend was Simplicity: feedom from chaos. The talked about ways to simplify your life so that you have more time to focus on God and your relationship with Him. They also do a fashion show/slide show of ways to dress/not to dress. The girls we took had a great time....although, several of them didn't even want to go!

This is Nolen. He was our bus driver. You can tell he was very excited about the weekend! LOL I snapped this picture and told him that it WOULD be posted somewhere at some point. So, Nolen, here it is! (He said I was wrong for taking this shot!)

Merritt Johnston is the main speaker. She is awesome. The girls loved her.

A time for praisin' and worshipin' our Lord with the ALL GIRLS Sage band! Our girls thought they "rocked!" Megan Charles was the "lead" singer for the group. She is on staff at Green Acres as their Girls Minister.

Rachel's 1st Tea Party! She had a blast....well...to be honest, she was very shy and reserved for the whole thing..... They had princess dresses for all of them to wear and then they had two young girls there doing hair and makeup....Rachel insisted that she sit in my lap while they "dolled her up". Then she made her way to the table. The mother of this birthday girl had gone to different garage sales and thrift stores/antique shops to find (a ton of) tea cups and saucers. They were all cute! She put them all on the table at each place setting and then the girls got to choose which one to sit at; this is the one that Rachel chose.

The special prize for the party was that Cinderella came! The girls were so excited! Rachel finally smiled! But she was still hesitant of Cinderella until Mommy talked to her too.

Now for my little MAN....well, Sunday before last he decided that he wanted to wear a suit with a tie just like Daddy does. We had this coat, shirt and tie that someone had given him a little over a year ago that had been hanging in his closet. It HAD been too big for him, but not anymore! However, the shirt would not button around the neck! It fit him perfect everywhere else, but would NOT button around the neck. He was very upset about it but still determined to wear the tie....so I did the best I could....I clipped that little Veggie Tale clip-on tie to the next button down.

What's a Momma to do on a Sunday morning as she is trying to walk out the door (already running 15 minutes late!!) and her little man is upset!

Isn't he handsome!!! Sunburn (from t-ball and the first "warm/sunny Saturday in months), bummed chin and all!

Well, that's it....actually there were many other pictures to share....but these were just a few to highlight the month so far! (there is still more of it to come...)

Quick Update

I have been trying to post several pictures today, but blogger is obviously having some issues! Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know that

1. Rachel's hearing is being checked tomorrow.
2. Rachel is scheduled for a speech eval. on May 6th @ 9 a.m.
3. I'm still waiting on Timothy's eye appointment to be scheduled.

On another note....I have an appointment today with my GYN to discuss a possible hysterectomy. I will let you know more about that after I meet with him this afternoon. (Probably won't post about it till tomorrow sometime.)

Thanks for all your prayers! Hopefully I can load pictures tomorrow.....I have a lot to post!

Siest Fiesta

Oh, I am so excited!!! I went by Lisa's this morning and she had this cute little button on her post with the announcement that "Patty and Kim have created a Siesta Fiesta Blog for those attending the LPM event in August."
WOOOHOOO!!!!! I was so excited that I headed over there myself. Go check it out. It is going to be a great place to get to know fellow Siesta's before meeting up in San Antonio.

I am still working on the details for attending the event. I hope to be there SO, I will be frequenting the site!

Need $1000??

Need $1000 dollars? I thought so! If you'd like a chance to win, write a haiku poem about your mom and enter it at Rocks In My Dryer. Hurry!!!!! She's closing the comments tonight!

**Just a note** A Haiku is a poem consisting of 3 lines. It has 5 syllables in the 1st line, 7 in the 2nd one and 5 in the last one.

Here is mine about my mom:

Momma, or MeeMee,

loved, missed, admired and adored,

you're all these and more.

Need for Change!

Ok, I was checking out yesterday's Small Thing for the Company Girls today and it slapped me right in the face!

I just had an "email conversation" with a friend this morning about feeling "old". I shared with her that for some reason this upcoming birthday (not til September) has me in a "tizzy". I have never felt this before.

Don't misinterpret me here....I am not going into some kind of depression over it, but I have certainly not been looking forward to it! I mean, come on...you all know when you feel out those surveys or things that ask your age and it groups all the ages together.... I can still check the box that says 24 - 34! I like that!! BUT ..... pretty soon I will be checking the box that reads something like 35 - 45 (or sometimes older!)

NOW, before I get slammed from all my friends that are over that hump.....I love you all dearly! Surely you have been here too! Maybe just at different times. :)

The challenge from our dear friend Rachel Anne was to reflect back on how far you have come. To look back at all those mountains you have climbed, all the valleys you have been through. She challenged us to forget where you think you ought to be and to take joy in right where you are! and this part I loved....

"Right where God wants you to be!"

I know that RIGHT NOW, I need to stop and thank God for all these struggle I seem to be facing. I need to thank Him for the gray hairs in my head. Thank Him for the few extra pounds I have. Thank Him for this job that I have.

Knowing that if I hadn't gone through all I have gone through then I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I wouldn't be able to help these girls that are in our youth group that have been raped and feel worthless. I wouldn't be able to understand their pain of divorced parents, and living with an alcoholic father.

Thank you Father for giving me this life you have given me! Thank you for putting me right were I am!

Some updates!

Where do I start.....

I got Timothy in to see the doctor yesterday. We talked about his eye and his ears (he had complained a couple times over the past two days about an ear ache, turns out it's just allergies!) and about his size for his age.

Let me start with his size....I do not think that my child is obese by any means. However, Carlton and I have ALWAYS struggled with weight so we are a bit more cautious than some may be. We noticed that Timothy had put on some pounds over the past 4 or 5 months. However, I also tried to relay the fact to my dear hubby that he has also grown about 4 inches!!! He was right at my bra line about 5 months ago and now he is above my breasts! With all that being said, we still wanted to change some of his diet (ours as well!) BUT since the daycare is on a Federally funded food program, there can not be any deviation from the menu unless there is a note from the doctor. Not even if I brought the snack for him.

SO....I took full advantage of this $25 copay!

I asked the doctor if she could write a note to the daycare that says she felt that Timothy needed to be given HEALTHY snacks. She and I giggled a little, "Why of course!" she said. I explained to her what we were trying to do as a family and of course she supported that without hesitation!

Neither she nor I feel as if he is UNHEALTHY for his age despite his 48" tall, 63 pounds self! He is just a big boy. However, she felt our concern since there is a family history of obesity on both sides!

GO DOCTOR!!

As for his eye....she didn't see a concern right away, but happily wrote a referral for us since we have seen it and so have others!

Now, for Rachel! Yesterday was another trying day! She got in trouble at school once again. The teacher told her that she was going to call her Daddy. Rachel looked at her like she was crazy and continued on with her behavior. So the teacher got the phone and Rachel still acted as if it wasn't a big deal. SO the teacher called.

Once she got off the phone with Carlton, she told Rachel that she had called him and he was on his way to the daycare. At this point, the teacher said Rachel looked right at her and proceeded to SPIT in her face!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!! I DO NOT know where all this is coming from. That same morning, Rachel walked in, hugged her teacher and told her that they were going to have a good day. The teacher said that she played well with the other kids, painted well, played outside with no problems and ate lunch. Then something snapped!

This morning Carlton was talking to her about "school" and told her that they better not have to call him and that if they did, she would be in trouble. She looked at him and said, "I not go to Dreen Frog Daycare!" He asked her why and her response......."I will hurt someone!"

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! It broke our hearts to hear her say that! Just bathe her in prayers PLEASE!!!

I talked with our school district this morning. I have her hearing scheduled to be checked next Wednesday and will be waiting on the school to call me to set up an appointment to have her speech and language evaluated. At that same time they will evaluate any behaviors that may occur to see if there is a need for intervention, or if this is just a developmental stage she is going through.

Please tell me if any of you have had these kinds of problems!!!!!! I beg of you!

New Addition

Got ya....I bet you thought I was going to tell you I was expecting again didn't you??? If my mother is reading this she was probably about to pass out!! She already thinks I am way TOO busy as it is! LOL

No, really, I have added a new button to my side bar. It is Married to the Ministry. A blogroll on Lisa's site at The Preacher's Wife. Go check it out!

Rachel, Timothy, and tests

Well...I have reached out to many people around me and here is where we stand with Rachel...

1. Hearing to get checked next Wed.
2. Meeting with NISD to set up a speech evaluation.
3. Behavior specialist coming to daycare to observe her for me. (I know this is extreme, but I am telling you, I am desperate to get some answers here!)

Now, pray for Timothy. Some time ago we noticed that his right eye was a bit "weak". They had a vision screening at the daycare for the preK class and they said his vision was 20/30 and that there wasn't enough "difference" that they could see at the time for them to referr him to a specialist.

However, recently we have noticed that his right eye has gotten worse. People at church and the daycare are also noticing these days. SO, I am waiting on a call from his doctor. We have to have a referral for vision. I am waiting to see if I would have to take him in to our family doctor or if he would be so kind as to just refer us!

just a test

Just checking to see if a badge from Pay Per Post pops up at the bottom of my post. I've been trying to play around with editing the html....we'll see

***ok...didn't work.....

I am trying to get this....

to show up at the end of all my posts with out having to copy and paste it every time I write a new post....I don't know where to put it in the Html to make it do it every time.....

If anyone knows, please share!!

Thanks!

Parenting Struggles

Wow, what a week this has been for me. There has been so much going on with the kids and I have allowed my self to get to the end of my rope. (not a place I like to go often) Let me see where I can start......

Okay, Friday I left town around 2 pm. I talked to the kids that morning, and when I dropped them off at the daycare I reminded them that Daddy would be picking them up and that I would not be home until bed time on Saturday. We all had our hugs and kisses, and more hugs and kisses, and then they both went into their rooms and all seemed peaceful.....until.....

Around 10 that morning I got a call from the daycare. They told me that they had already called Carlton and had him talk to Rachel, but that she was still acting out....pushing, hitting, refusing to do anything the teachers asked..... SO I talked to her on the phone for a few minutes and thought it was over. But I was wrong.

About 30 minutes later, the daycare called Carlton again and he had to go to the daycare to talk to Rachel. He ended up taking her outside to spank her. They told him when he picked her up that afternoon that she had done much better after he left that morning. BUT.....Timothy's teacher told him that she needed to talk to him......

She pulled him aside and told him that she knew he had a rough day with Rachel and she really hated to have to tell him this, but that Timothy had pulled down his pants in class and everyone saw his......well.....you know.....

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! I couldn't believe it........when it happens to someone else, you almost giggle inside, because you think "OH MY, I hope my kid never does that!" But it was my kid! Carlton was horrified and so was this sweet young teacher. (Later she told me that she was so embarrassed to have to tell the minister that his son was exposing himself!")

So, Carlton took him home and they had a "chat" about all that, and HOPEFULLY that will never be an issue again. And I decided that maybe it was time that I STOP bathing the kids together!

The rest of the weekend went okay, but then Monday rolled around! Many of you have read in past posts about the issues we have had with Rachel and her behaviors. Well, they have started up again! From Monday to Wednesday she had kicked, pulled hair, bitten, refused to join the group, refused to walk from one place to another, refused to take a nap, told her teachers "no" and one day would not keep her dress down. And all of the things mentioned have happened EVERY day, not just a little on this day and some of it on the next day!

When I try to talk to her and ask her why she is doing these things, all she says is "I don't know!" or "Because" but never follow that because up with a reason. Sometimes her responses are so random. For instance, she was talking about how she and another kid were playing and how another kid got in her way, then she went started talking about my hair! When I tried to redirect her it didn't work.... In some ways I think it was because she knew what she did was wrong and the story was coming to that part and she didn't want to talk about it.....but I don't know!

I am once again at my wits end with her and all this. I know she is just 3 1/2 and that SOME of the behavior are "normal", but to me they seem a bit extreme. I don't know if I feel that way because I teach Special Ed, or what, but honestly I am about ready to refer her for some behavioral screening. I told Carlton I would wait until she was closer to 4 to see if this would "die down" but honestly, I don't know!

Give me your opinions. What would you do?

****UPDATE**** Carlton just called me and today already, before 11 am, Rachel had kicked another kid in the face!!! LORD help me!!!!

Self Defense

I may have mentioned to you all that I was going to a girls conference this weekend. I will post about the conference itself later today or in the morning. For now though I wanted to talk about some basic self defense things that were mentioned at the conference that have been on my mind.

During one of the sessions they talked about "Things every girl needs to know" and one of those things included some basic self defense techniques. Some of them you may already be exercising, but I am going to share them with you just in case you are not.

1. Always walk in the middle of the road between the isles of the parking lot. What I mean is, don't walk right up next to the cars. It only takes someone about 2 seconds to step out, muffle you mouth and throw you into a car if they want you bad enough. If you walk in the middle of the isle, then they are less likely to come after you for fear of someone grabbing you.

2. Always carry your keys so that a key or two are poking out from between your fingers. This gives you your own little weapon.

3. When fighting back, don't go directly for the gut. Go for the face! Attack any exposed skin you can find. When you think about it, if you go for the gut, or the mid section, then you have layers of clothing to get through. If you go for the face, you can cause some pretty good harm pretty quick!

4. Carry some kind of personal defense spray. I found some online here Blackhawk Gear . Along with many other items that could be used. Those of you with hubbies in the military or in the police force should check out that site. It has some pretty good discounts on items they could really use! I may go to that site to get Carlton some more Under Armour.

They also mentioned some other techniques, but that would require me making a video and posting it here, but I am not to that point in my blogging capabilities yet. (Hopefully soon!)

Anyway, hope you learned something new, and hope you find something at the site that will help you!

"I'm just glad God didn't let me die!"

Ok, first of all, I CAN NOT believe I left out this one part of the whole bike wreck, ER, stitches story! A friend of mine was reading over it all and pointed it out to me! So I MUST tell it to you now!

After we got to our little spot in the ER that day and I was holding the ice bag on Timothy's chin, he looked up with me with the most serious look I have ever seen on this little boys face and said,

"Mommy, I'm just glad that God didn't let me die!"

Talk about break your heart yet at the same time thrill your soul that you little boy acknowledged that God was watching over him! I looked at him and stroked his little head and said,

"Oh, so am I! You know, now you can tell people about the day that God protected you! Although you had to get stitches and all and you are in a lot of pain. You can tell people how God made sure no cars came around the corner and ran over you. You can tell them how He made you brave when it was time to get your stitches."

Then we prayed. First I prayed, then he prayed. It was a really sweet time!

Baseball Has Begun!

Well, TBall season has started. This is our first year. Last year Timothy was old enough, but we missed the deadline for signing up. We were just getting settled in to our new house, town and church and never heard anything about the sign up. Come to find out, you just have to look on the side of the road. Around here, EVERYTHING is posted on yard signs. There are yard signs at every corner with announcements to everything from link sales, garage sales, ballet registration, community activities.....anything you can think of is on a sign! Cracks me up!

Here are a few pictures from opening day this past Saturday.

I hoped the photographer didn't mind that I was standing directly behind him taking the picture above and the one below of Timothy and Carlton. I did this with a couple of Timothy's friends too.....he didn't say anything.....besides, we still ordered some from him!

Notice the daddy wearing black......that's his little boy in front of him....obviously the dad is not one of the assistant coaches, but the little one wouldn't get in the picture without him.....and he still wasn't happy with that either.

Just a couple action shots!

Isn't my little number 11 cute.....bummed up chin and all!!!

Pay Per Post Newbie!

Ok, there are many things that I thought I would never try. One of them is all these money making websites online. However, after visiting a few blogs and seeing this thing called Pay Per Post, I thought, "What the heck, give it a try!"

Honestly, I signed up months ago. However, still being skeptical of the whole thing I decided to put it on the back burner. I have since discovered that they, the website, is a genuine opportunity for me and many others to make money
doing what we already do......POSTING!

The think I like most about Pay Per Post is that it is absolutely FREE. There are no start up costs, there are no hidden fees, and no one is asking YOU for money. Another thing I like about it is that YOU get to choose who you want to post for or what you want to post about. There are so many different options to choose from. Some of the opportunities may be as simple as placing a link on your site to another site to advertise for them. I think I saw one for some work boot earlier. You basically post a link to their site and that is it! Now how difficult is that!

I am not certain how much money I will generate from this endeavor yet, however, I have seen some people bringing in over $100 a week! That would pay for a little more than half of my child care costs! I could also use that money to pay off some of our credit card debt. It's not a lot, but too much for me! (We have two cards that we just can't seem to get rid of!) I could also use the money to pay for some summer clothes for the kids (they are both in need!)

I am just starting on this little money making adventure and hope to get to know some others that are doing the same soon.....I need to learn a few pointers!

If you should care to join me, it is free.....you get paid $20 just for making this 1st post, and you get money for anyone you refer that starts posting too!

Worth a shot!

3 of the LONGEST days of my life! (Part 2)

If you didn't catch yesterday's post with Part 1 to this story, then either click here or scroll down.

Ok, so where did I leave off.......oh yeah, we had just gotten the stitches. Well, after the stitches were in and Timothy felt "well enough" to move his mouth around he said to me....."Momma, my tooth is crooked."

WHAT???? Crooked tooth.......so I looked in his mouth the best I could (that he would let me) and noticed that the gums above the front teeth were very bruised and above one tooth their was some blood. I got the doctor's attention and he came in to examine Timothy's mouth, and sure enough there were 2 teeth loose, one more so than the other. Luckily these are still baby teeth and they would eventually fall out anyway. But the doctor in the ER told us that we should get him to our dentist as soon as we got back home. In the mean time we were told to feed him soft foods.

We eventually left the ER and Timothy wanted to go to the Kiddie Holy Land.....you know McDonalds....... Remember, the doctor told us to feed him soft foods, but Timothy was determined. So, Carlton said we would go, get a happy meal, and if he couldn't eat it, then oh well, we tried. We had to go to Walmart anyway (there was a McD's in there) to get some supplies for bandaging, and some Motrin, so off we went. Not to mention we had a prescription for an antibiotic that we needed to get filled as well.

Wait........what pharmacy is going to be open on Sunday....well, usually WalMart or HEB would be, but today is a special Sunday.......it's EASTER......There were no pharmacies open!!!!!!!!!!! So after resolving to the fact that we would be making another trip into town in the morning, we decided to head to Mickie D's.

We attempted cutting a cheese burger into tiny bites and breaking up french fries, but as we expected, it didn't work. So Carlton took Timothy to pick out some soups. They came out with Cream of Chicken, Tomato, and Chicken Noodle along with some Hostess Blueberry Mini Muffins.

We got back to the camper and Timothy wanted to try to eat some muffins. He couldn't open his mouth to get them in, so Carlton broke them into smaller pieces then rolled them up for him. Timothy would take one of the pieces and stick it in his mouth way to the left side and far back. Then I couldn't tell if he was actually chewing it or not so I asked him and he said, "Not really!"
I asked him if he wanted some soup and he chose the Chicken Noodle soup. But once again he couldn't eat it.........

This got me to wondering if something was wrong with his jaw??? I cooked the Cream of Chicken and he finally drank it through a straw.

The next morning we got up and his chin looked terrible......NASTY.....and the more we thought about it, and his jaw, we decided that since I had to go back to town to get the antibiotic, I would take him back to the ER to have them x-ray his jaw.....they should have done this in the first place. Right??

Anyway, after several hours we finally find out that the jaw is fine and that the muscles and gums were just too sore and causing the extra pain.

While I was getting the prescription filled Carlton and I made the decision to just head home. We were scheduled to stay another 3 days, but we really wanted to get him back to see the dentist and just felt like it would be best for the care of the stitches too. So we talked to the kids and explained our thoughts and Timothy was fine with us leaving so we packed up and left.

He did fine on the trip back, not much pain and not much complaining. Honestly I was quite shocked. Rachel slept for about 3 1/2 hours of the trip back. We had all eaten so when she woke up we stopped and got her something to eat. She only ate about 1/2 of her cheeseburger and only about 3 of her fries......that's not right.......what's wrong with her......

Me= "Rachel do you feel okay?"
Rachel = "Uh huh, I not hungy now"
Me = "Ok....." (But thinking.....'somethings wrong!')

We got about another hour down the road and all of a sudden Rachel started complaining of her FEET hurting......weird.....I looked and sure enough her shoes were on the wrong feet! (Daddy put them on in a hurry!) I leaned back to help her get them off and that's when my fears came true.......SHE THREW UP!!!!!!!

She threw up all over herself, her baby, her blankets, her pillow...........

Carlton finally got to an exit and pulled over in front of a car dealership. I got out, took her out of her seat and stood her between me and the truck. I got all her clothes off except her panties and had her standing on a towel that just happened to be in the floor of the truck. Not a bit of it got on the truck, just on my baby girl and all her belongings. The bag that had all our clothes in it was packed way up in the back of the truck and to get to it we would have had to unpack most of the back end. (Carlton has an Avalanche and the top was on.) But there was one of Timothy's long sleeve t-shirts in the back with the kids.....don't remember how it got there, but Carlton handed it to me and I put it on her. She rode like that for the remaining 45 minutes of the trip home!

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Talk about a trip......it was the longest short trip of my life!


Here are the kids after we got back to the camper. Timothy still had a ton of stickers on his pants from the hospital. They were both worn out!

After a short rest, and finding the right soup and being able to drink it with a straw, my boy was happy.

I didn't post any of the yucky pictures, besides most of those are on my phone. I wish I had gone back and taken a picture of THE HILL! But we just wanted to get home! Do you blame us?

3 of the LONGEST days of my life!!! (Part 1)

I know this is quite lengthy, but it involves a blown out tire, bike wreck, trip to the ER and stitches!!!

Ok, to begin with, I can't believe I forgot my camera at home today!!!! Of all days, a pretty easy one at work, I forget my camera. SO, tomorrow I will post a few pictures from our week. Unfortunately there are not many from the camping trip.......and here is why......

Friday afternoon Carlton came in and told me that someone from our church had offered to let us stay in their camper that was already there at the park. So after talking about it some and making sure with the kids that it was okay with them, we decided to take them up on the offer. They had told us that the nights there had been very cold, and we just thought with it being our 1st camping trip it might be best.

Friday night Carlton and I got everything packed up that we had been collecting and ready to go. (I had called my mother and another friend to tell them to pray for us.....that if we could just get through the packing up, then we would be okay because Carlton and I DO NOT pack well together!!!)

LOL.....little did I know!!!!!

Saturday morning......we got up earlier than we had planned because my bike was messed up and we had to go to Walmart on our way out. The rim on the front tire was bent. We had only had the bike for about 2 months and I have only ridden it a few times, so we knew it had to have been that way when we bought it. Walmart was gracious and allowed us to return the bike without a hassel!

The trip to Garner was fine....the kids were civil to each other in the car, we stopped in San Antonio for lunch and Carlton's Dad and uncle Philip met us there. After lunch we headed to Concan. We stopped in a town about 45 miles from the park to get our groceries. I spent MORE than I had planned to spend, because Carlton and the kids were with me! You know how that goes!!!

We got to Garner, the kids were excited. Carlton said he had to unload all the bikes so that he could go get the camper and move it to our spot. SO, we got busy. This is where our trouble started............Timothy's tire had blown out on the way. HOW...not sure....but it did......so Carlton told him that we would go BACK into town in the morning to get the tire. We needed to get the camp set up and get dinner going. Timothy was fine with that (he usually is....).

We got everything up and running. We got dinner going, ate, took baths and got settled in for the evening.

Then morning came....EASTER morning..... We all woke up, had a small devotional, talked about Christ on the cross, in the tomb and His resurrection. Carlton allowed Timothy to tell us this story in his own words and I wish I had pulled out the video camera. It was SO sweet.

After our time in the word, we loaded up and went to Uvalde (31 miles away) to get a tube for Timothy's tire. We got the tube, came back to camp and Carlton realized that he should have bought a wrench or something to take the tire off the bike. I looked around the camper and couldn't find one, so I just walked around to a couple different camp spots and asked some total strangers if they had a wrench my dear hubby could borrow. And I found one. SO he got the tire fixed and we all started off on our bikes.

We came to this hill (this is where ALL the trouble really starts!!!!!!) Carlton stopped at the top of the hill (not a terribly steep one...but steep enough) Rachel looked at us like we were crazy thinking that she was going to attempt that hill and pulled one of her stubborn moments refusing to budge. Timothy on the other hand was determined to go down that hill, because at the bottom of that hill was the river and his main goal was to see the water.

So Carlton decided after talking to Timothy and reminding him that he would have to use his brakes a lot, that the two of them would go down the hill, and Rachel and I would take another route. I stayed at the top of the hill to watch him go down. Carlton headed down a little in front of him. As soon as he got started down this hill we (Carlton, me, and the campers around us) could see that it was NOT going to be pretty. You could hear me and Carlton yelling.....

"(USE YOUR BRAKES....USE YOUR BRAKES!!!!!!!)

But it was not happening!!!!! All of a sudden you could see his handle bars moving back and forth and then the inevitable happened........HE CRASHED.......

I screamed......I didn't see him actually hit the ground......but I heard Carlton yell, "OH MY GOSH....OH MY GOSH....." The campers that were there grabbed Rachel and I took off running toward them. Carlton had picked him up at this point and was yelling up the hill to me....."GO GET MY TRUCK......GO GET MY TRUCK!!!!" All I could see was blood!!!

One of the campers there rushed me back to our camper and I got the keys and drove back to where they were. I quickly got out, opened the door and jumped into the back seat. As Carlton was handing him to me he said we had to get him to the emergency room, that he would need stitches. Timothy lost it again screaming...."I don't want to get stitches!" One of the campers was trying to make him feel better and said, "Maybe you won't have to!" But I looked at Carlton and his eyes were as big as salad plates and he shook his head (out of Timothy's sight) to let me know that he WOULD be needing stitches. Carlton had ripped Timothy's shirt off and used it to apply pressure to his chin and the camper had brought down a bag of ice, so I had not seen the chin at this point.

The camper's family walked Rachel down the hill to the truck and helped to get her strapped in. Then they took our bikes and told us that they would get them to the front office for us since they were leaving the park.

And we were off.....it took us about half the time to get to Uvalde than it took us that morning to get there.....Once we got there they put us directly back to a room. This is where I first saw the chin.......OH MY GOSH.....my baby boy looked as if he had another mouth below the one that God created! It was terrible!! You could literally see the boy's jaw bone!!! It was terrible!!!

Carlton came in and I looked at him with the..."I just saw the chin and you were right!" look. He jsut shook his head and closed his eyes! He felt so BAD about the whole thing....he kept saying, "I saw the whole thing...I thought I could stop it but I couldn't!" I told him he would be okay, and to not blame himself!

The doctor and nurse that worked with him were incredibly kind. The nurse brought Rachel stickers and colors and color pages and would check on Timothy then play with Rachel. She was an angel in desguise for sure!

They gave Timothy a dose of Benadryl and a dose of Tylenol with codine. We waited about two hours and the kid was still wide awake and still very much against getting stitches. SO about 30 minutes later they gave him another dose of the Tylenol with codine and an hour later he was still very much alert. However, he was becomming more open to the idea of stitches.

They told me to take a picture of the chin with my cell phone and let him see it! At first I thought, ARE YOU CRAZY...as soon as he sees it he will freak out!!!!! But I talked to him about it and he told me he would like to see it. SO I got out the phone took the picture and reminded him that it looked very bad....and very nasty!!! He giggled a little bit and said "OKAY! Can I see it now..." SO I showed it too him.....His first response was...."Yuk!" then it was, "Yeah, maybe it does need stitches!"On the phone it just looked like a huge hole in his chin....but later, after they had given him some deadening shots, he needed to go to the batroom. Of course he had to look in the mirror and when he did, he said, "ooooo, it lookes like I have another mouf" I laughed and told him I thought the same thing!

This whole ordeal, the bike wreck and ER thing started around 10 that morning.....by 6:30 that evening we were finally back at the camper, 8 1/2 hours and 8 stitches (two on the inside and six on the outside across the chin) later.

I am tired of typing and you are probably tired of reading.....More to come tomorrow!

YES there is more!!!!!!!!