SOOOOOOOOOOOO Tired

I have not stopped today, seriously!

Last night Steve and I got our lesson finalized so I went to bed a happy camper.

My day started at 6:15. I was at the Y by 7:30...yes A.M. Is that commitment or just plain stupidity?! Anyhoo.....I have cleaned this house all day. Like really cleaned. You know how you do when your having company. You gotta do the whole clean sheets on the beds thing. I do love the smell and feel of clean sheets though!

I made Steve a "honey do" list this morning, like literally. Here's what it said:

Steve.....Please

fix the towel holder thingy in Morgan's bathroom

clean the trampoline (normally, I wouldn't ask him to do this but Autumn has little siblings and I know they are gonna want to jump.) Our trampoline had gotten so dirty. It would leave your feet black, filthy black for some reason. So, he got the hose pipe, the dish washing liquid and the big push broom and scrubbed that puppy down

take the dogs to his mothers. 12 people in a house with 2 dogs do not go together, especially when one of those dogs is named Dakota....enough said

move the school table out of Autumn's room so it's completely empty and ready for her

The only thing not completed is the table and he is gonna take it out to the garage after church.

Ahhhhh....thanks, honey....I really appreciate!!!!!

I also went to Wal-mart for some stuff. Ya gotta have stuff when guests are in your home. They should be getting here in the morning. I'm super excited! Autumn and I were talking today about having to be really careful hugging because it hurts her neck.

Gotta go. We are grilling out hamburgers and hot dogs tonight after service in honor of the Shaw family moving to pastor Portland. Steve has do the grilling so we gotta get our grill there.

Later!

Headache free

I haven't had that headache at all today. Thank the Lord and thank you if you prayed for me.

A quick update on Autumn and her family. They left this morning around 10. About 250 miles or so into the trip, their van started leaking oil really bad. They stopped to have it checked and there was a really big Ford dealership place that was able to fit them in today. A couple of hours later, I got a text saying that the van had been fixed and they were back on the road. They are driving until 7 tonight and then hitting the road again in the morning.

O.K...... school so far, this being only the 2nd week hasn't been bad at all EXCEPT for Chandler's math. Well, not all of his math, just the geometry. YUCK!!!!! He has had Algebra I and Algebra II and is now in Advanced Math which has the Geometry in with it. Not fun....not fun at all! Did I say it was not fun at all???!!! What Lynn and I have decided to do is let the boys do the math part each day and one day a week, we are gonna get together and just do the geometry. Lynn is better at math than I am so putting our two heads together and only doing Geometry one day a week will hopefully not cause me or Chandler to claw our eyeballs out!!!ha! Seriously, it's like looking at Greek, some of that stuff. Anyway, we will make it through with the Lord's help. Back when we started Algebra I, I thought there would be no way I could do it...but....I did. And then, Algebra II. Actually Algebra II was not as hard as Algebra I because we had the basic concepts from Algebra I.

Tonight Steve and I are gonna finalize the class we will be teaching at Family Camp. We have the inspiration, just got to put in all down on paper. I want to be completely finished by the time the Thompson's get here. So, tonight, that is my goal. If I can go to bed with that all finished....I'm good!

That's all for now
Tam

Tammy + Chocolate = 3 days of headache!

It's just not worth it! I ate that stupid moose tracks ice cream Friday night (remember at the Chinese place) and have had a stupid headache ever since. It has eased up at some points but has been there since Saturday. It's just not worth it! Not worth it, I tell ya! What a shame, chocolate is so enjoyable too!

Tonight I got to spend about 3 hours with Bradley. Slowly but surely, I see improvements in him. For example.....He was sitting at the table tonight eating dinner. I was sitting beside him and Rick was sitting across the table from him. The guys in our family have "this thing" that they do. They stick their tongue out at each other and say...."wussssssuuuuuuup". Well, Rick did that to Brad and Brad did it back to Rick. I then said to Brad, "who else in our family does that" and Brad said, without being prompted or giving any hints said, "Steve".....and I said, "who else"? And he said, "Tommy" and I said, "who else" and he said "Cha".

Now, you have to understand this is really good and I told him it was really good because we didn't have to give him clues or have him guess by elimination which is what you have to do alot of the times. He remembered all their names perfectly and knew exactly who did it. He didn't mention any of the girls in the family...just the guys with their...."wusssssssuuuuuup" that they do. It excited me.

***changing books completely here***

Autumn and her family are leaving in the morning to come to Tennessee. She is doing much better, by the way. I can finally understand everything she says and she finally sounds like Autumn. She has not had to take any of her pain medication today except for some Ibuprofen. We are very thankful for this. She said she woke up one time in the night with pain, but prayed and then went back to sleep.

Anyway, they are moving all her stuff down here. They are bringing her bed and the rest of her stuff. They are also bringing her car. Her whole family (except for her older brother) are gonna be going to Tennessee Family Camp with us this weekend. Before they found the cancer, her plan was to stay in Tennessee after camp when her family went back to Minnesota. Now, she is gonna go back with them until all of her re-checks are done. After that, she's getting a one-way ticket to Tennessee.. YAY!!!!!

Please say a prayer for their safe travel. Also, pray that this headache is gone tomorrow.

Officially Official

Well, today was the day! We said good-bye, no...let me rephrase that, we said....farewell to my parents. We said our "farewells" today because next Sunday we will be at Family Camp, including them. They will be at church Wednesday night but after that......boy, how things will be different. Not bad different, just different.

I want to share how the service went today.

Lynn is the pastor's support chairman so she opened the service with a little piece about a shepherd and sheep. Mom & Dad were both sitting in a chair facing the congregation. Morgan, Kaite and Emily sang the song...."Trust in the Lord". (they did a great job). After their song, whoever wanted to say something to mom & dad came up to the microphone and shared. We had funny stories which made us laugh and we had emotional stories that made us cry. What an impact my parents have made in so many people's lives. It was evident today.

After the last person that spoke was finished, we watched a slide show of many different pictures of our church family together over the past 15 years. As the slide show was going, the song..."Thank you for giving to the Lord" was being played. This is when I pretty much lost it. Just the memories that we have together as a church family, well, there's no way to describe it.

We had a dinner after the service. The Lord gave the cutest inspiration for the center pieces of each table. There was a different object on each table that reminded us of daddy. And then a card beside the object explaining what it meant with a scripture. I'll try to remember each one:

1. cell phone - for always being available
2. Bible - for never compromising the truth
3. whistle - for bringing us encouragement (my dad is ALWAYS whistling, he is known for it)
4. shepherd - for being our shepherd
5. box of kleenex - for all the tears of joy and the tears of sorrow we've shared
6. coffee - for providing hospitality
7. band-aids - for helping cover our wounds
8. hammer - for building, repairing, remodeling and planting (physically & spiritually)

Daddy was asked to share to the congregation who our new pastor will be.

Bro. Bobby Sutton and Sis. Annette will be coming to Antioch. And, the Shaw family will be going to pastor the Portland church.

I have great peace about this. Sis. Annette....we can for sure go see some plays now, huh?! I know they are going to be great for Antioch, just great! They definitely are welcomed with open arms!!!!!!! I can't wait to see what all God has in store.

I am sad though about the Shaw's leaving us. I have truly enjoyed getting to know them. They are a great family. Morgan is totally bummed about Brandon leaving.....TOTALLY bummed. She came to me after the announcement crying and said....."Momma......Nanny & Grandad and now the Shaw's". Morgan and Brandon had gotten to be good friends so, she is sick! But, we are still in the same district so hopefully this will allow the youth in the district to come together even more. That would be great.

Things certainly are going to be different. But, we are all on this journey together, right? I know that God has great things everywhere just ahead....how exciting!!!!!!!

Starting with last night......

Chandler and Morgan went to the Blackman High Football game. We decided to go out to eat. We meaning....Steve, myself, Les, Rick, Bradley, Momma, Daddy, Tommy, Deb, & Tristan. We hit the Chinese place. It was very good. I love Chinese food. After the main meal, I decided I would get some ice cream. Let me say this, for those who may not know this about me. I can't eat chocolate. Well, I can but I shouldn't. It gives me bad headaches. I suffered for years with migraines not knowing what was causing them until finally I learned that chocolate can be a trigger for headaches. Wouldn't you know it, when I stopped eating it, the headaches got tons better. I wouldn't say I never get one but not near like I did when I was eating chocolate.

This has been probably about 5 years that I've known it. Every once in a long while, I will eat some, not much, just a little and most of the time it doesn't bother me. Like last weekend, I ate some peanut M & M's and did just fine. No headache. So, back to the ice cream at the Chinese place. I got moose tracks, and yes, it has chocolate in it. I figured it would be O.K. When Les saw me eating it, she said...."Don't call me in the morning if you've got a headache". ***can't you just feel the love in our family....ha!!!

Well, I'm sure you've guessed by now, after saying all of that......I had a headache this morning. MAN!!!!! When I told Les I had one she said....."Tammy Fox". That was a I told you so.....Tammy Fox! Anyway, it 's better now so there......lol

Now on to today. Steve and I went and ran this morning. From there we drove through Chick-fil-A to grab a sandwich and then headed to Kroger. I had to get the things I needed for mom & dad's farewell dinner that is tomorrow. Plus, we needed some stuff as well. When you are down to your last roll of toilet paper in each bathroom, then you definitely need stuff.

Les and I and Morgan went to Chuck-E-Cheese today. No, not just because. It was Seth's birthday party. (Seth is Kyshia's baby) He's such a cutie.

We left there, went to Wal-mart for some more stuff and then headed to the church. This is where I can not explain why we went to the church because my mom reads my blog and she can't know why we went to the church cause it 's for my parents farewell tomorrow. After tomorrow, I will explain. Speaking of tomorrow.......IT'S GONNA BE SO HARD!!!!!

Today is my mother-in-laws birthday. We are going over to Steve's sister's house in just a few to be with them tonight. I love my mother-in-law, which she doesn't like for me to use that term......she prefers "other mother". I told someone just about a week ago how blessed I have been to have her. She has been a mother-in-law (other mother) that anyone would love to have. Seriously, the best! Happy Birthday, Mimi!!!!

Welp, I outta here!

"OH NO"

I had my alarm set for 6:45 this morning. I don't know what happened, but I do not remember it going off. It was one of those cases where I either turned if off in my sleep or it didn't go off at all. Whatever happened, I woke up and the clock said 7:18. The first words out of my mouth were, "Oh No". The kids needed to leave by 8:00 to get to tutorial and they certainly were not up. So, I jumped out of bed, made the coffee (priorities here, right?...ha) and got the kids up. Well, TRIED to get the kids up. Chandler takes about 3 calls but Morgan, well, it's like pulling teeth to get her out of bed. They did not leave by 8:00 but I think it was about 8:10. As they were walking out the door, I said what I always say to them...."text me when you get there". And then I say a prayer for their safety.

Yesterday I did not feel well AT ALL. I will not go into all the details but I have a UTI. I will just say...NOT fun....NOT FUN AT ALL!!!! I will leave it at that. I also have this huge ulcer in my mouth. I bit the inside of my lip last week and bit it again and bit it again and it formed these 2 huge ulcers. They are SO painful. So, yesterday, I was in bad shape.

I usually always go to bed before Steve. He is a night owl. I am not. So, I was already in bed when he climbed in. As soon as he climbed in, he reached over, didn't say a word but laid his hand over on me. I immediately knew what he was doing. He was praying for me. We never said anything to each other, but I knew.

This morning, I do feel better than I did yesterday. The UTI is getting better and the ulcer is not quite so unbearable. It still hurts but I think I'm on the upside of it. Thank the Lord!

I clean the shop this morning. Since tutorial has started my cleaning day will be Friday instead of Monday. I'm sure that place is gonna be super gross since it's been longer in between my cleaning days this time.

So, I'm off for now...until next time.....

Just talked with Autumn

She is on her way home from the hospital. She's doing better today. She sounded more like herself than she has yet. I understood her better. Thank the Lord!

She still has some pain but I'm sure that will get better with time.

Autumn and Gene

Autumn first.... she had a very rough night and day today. She has been in tons of pain. One of the times I talked with her, I prayed with her over the phone and after that she seemed to get some better. Thank the Lord! I spoke with her mom, Mitzi, right before I left for church tonight and she said the pain was better. Autumn was out walking in the halls. She is having to stay one more night in the hospital because she had such a bad day. The plan is for her to go home tomorrow. Hopefully, the worst part is behind her and it will only get better from here.

It is SO hard to understand her when she talks. I'm sure she is really swollen. Autumn is not a quiet person usually, but I can barely hear her. Sometimes her words just jumble together. Bless her heart! Please keep praying for a speedy recovery!!!!

Next....Gene....this is Lynn's husband. HE JOINED THE CHURCH TONIGHT!!!!!!!! Yeah! We have been praying for this for years. Lynn was so surprised. She didn't know he was going to join tonight. She cried and cried and cried....tears of joy!!! Since Sunday will be mom & dad's last official Sunday, Gene really wanted daddy to take him in to the church so tonight was the night. It was wonderful. God is so good. It may take a while for some things to happen, but keep praying....He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him!!!!!!!

***tam***

Pray for Autumn

She is in alot of pain. She did not have a very restful night.

Please continue to pray for her recovery.

Thanks!

She's out of surgery

This is the text Josi (Autumn's best friend) just sent me:

Neck looks completely normal. Had a couple lymph nodes that looked not so normal, but they weren't too surprised. They took those lymph nodes out as well as her thyroid. She will be taking some radioactive iodine later to kill any other possible cancer cells. It's not chemotheraphy. It's much easier. You do not get sick or loose your hair as you would with chemo.

She is just waking up now. She is doing good!

More to come later, I'm sure!

Update

Just got a text from Autumn's best friend. She is still in surgery. They are waiting to hear from the Dr. but haven't as of yet.

I'll let ya know

Autumn

I spoke with her this morning on her way to surgery. She is in great spirits! They are gonna keep me posted through out the process. I'll post info as I get it.

Autumn's Surgery

Tomorrow morning at 10:00

The surgery will last about 2 hours.

Update

Autumn is meeting with the surgeon today at 2:30. Her surgery is going to be tomorrow. After she talks with the surgeon, I will have more details.

Keep praying!

More info on Autumn

That child is amazing. I know she's 17, but she's a child to me. Anyway, after the initial "shock" of hearing ...."you have cancer"....she is doing really well. Actually, better than really well.....

She so wants God to get ALL the Glory out of this. My prayer is "God, don't let this cancer spread, please, let it be gone for good, never to come back again". Her prayer is...."God, your will be done, whatever that means". Shew....is that not faith?!

She told me...."Tam, honestly, if they tell me cancer is everywhere in my body, that just means God allowed it to happen for a reason" She so wants this to be a testimony for the Lord!

In one of our conversations I said to her..."Autumn, when they do the surgery, they could tell us that the cancer is gone, that there is NOTHING there". She said to me, "I don't want that to happen, I don't want that scar for no reason." LOL! That is SO Autumn.

Anyway, we find out first thing in the morning when her surgery is going to be done. I will try to keep everyone posted. PLEASE PRAY! I want to ask you to pray for complete healing but Autumn wants everyone to pray God's Perfect Will in all of this.

I did some research on the type of cancer that she has. There are 4 types of thyroid cancer. She has the most common. It has about a 100% cure rate if caught early. It was said that if you had to "pick" a cancer to have....pick this one.

So, this is already VERY good news. God is already working in this, it could have been much worse.

Praise His Holy Name!!!

PLEASE PRAY

Autumn had this thing come up on her neck. The Dr. found it after checking for strep throat. They wanted to do further testing on this knot/growth. We were not concerned at all.

She called this afternoon, VERY upset. The Dr. called today and said that it was cancer. She has to have surgery immediately.

PLEASE PRAY that the cancer has not spread......PLEASE! We serve a God that IS THE healer. It is thyroid cancer.

Pray for her and her family to have peace this weekend waiting for Monday to get here. They have to call first thing Monday to find out when the surgery is going to be scheduled for.

Our God is so GREAT that when they do the surgery, they could find nothing!!!! Grant it, Lord Jesus!!!!!!

Lots done today

When you get up at 6:15am, you can get alot done by noon, which is what I did today. No, I did not get up that early just because. Lindsei is staying with us until Sunday. LaDonna was able to fly to New Mexico and spend some time with David so Linds is with us. Jacob is hanging out at the Mayberry house and Chelsei is with the Donnafields. I had to get Lindsei up today to be at school at 8:00. My kids had to be at tutorial today at 8:30 so goodbye to sleeping in. Wanna hear something great about Chandler being 16?! He can drive himself and Morgan to tutorial. WooHoo! I love that!!!!

After everyone was at their places, I started in on cleaning the house and doing laundry. I even decided to be the "good mom" today and cleaned my kids rooms up for them. I hope they appreciate that....I wonder if they even noticed? hmmmm?! I even dusted and ran the vacuum in their rooms.

Steve sat at the computer today about 6 hours, job searching. Oh yeah, he has an interview on Tuesday. YAH!!! He met with a recruiter yesterday, who happens to be a friend of his sisters. He was a really nice guy that had some great ideas for Steve's resume. So, that was one of the things he worked on today, "spicing up" his resume. Steve has a great work history and very specific things that he has been responsible for that this guy said needed to be seen on the resume. It makes it look more impressive, I guess. We shall see.

Tonight the Mayberry's are coming over to grill hamburgers and watch the Titans play. Lynn is making a peanut butter pie......mmmmmmm...can't wait for that!!!!

My parents are in New York right now. They are on a little mini-vacation. It's so funny when my dad, my 59 year old dad will text me to say "I'm standing at ground zero right now". It's just too funny for my dad to be texting. Ha!

later

Update on Morgan's physical

She is in tip top shape. Thank the Lord!

weight - 94.5 (skinny minnie)
height - 5' 4"
eyes - 20/20
hearing - good/selective sometimes (ha!)
She has a slight curvature in her spine, nothing serious, just want to keep an eye on it.

As we were leaving, we were commenting on her perfect vision and she said "makes me want to read", so she starts reading all the signs as we were going out of the Dr.'s office.....push to open......exit.......handicap parking.....she's too strange sometimes, that girl. ha!

Stuff

My husband is at this very moment meeting with a recruiter. That's one of those people that find jobs suited just for you. It makes it easier on the company doing the hiring. They don't have to interview 100 people before they find the right one. They get a recruiter to do all their work for them. So, we shall see. Steve got a call on Tuesday and another yesterday about jobs, so again, we shall see. God knows.......

Today Morgan has an appointment for a sports physical. They require them for school teams so we gotta get that done. Chandler has to go this morning at 10 to meet at the Nissan fire station to learn about fire safety for his Chemistry class at tutorial.

Boy of Boy, I am SO THANKFUL that the Lord has allowed our family to home school. This is the first week of public schools and I've already been told by someone at our local church that they witnessed a drug deal and another shared that there are 3 girls already pregnant that are in the 8th grade. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! I want to remember on those days when I'm about to pull my hair out or at least pull out the hair of one of my children (those of you that home school know exactly what I'm talking about....and if you don't...hang on...you will...HA) how blessed I am to have my kids at home. Shew!!!!!

gotta go get Morgan up to get her to that appointment

later

Lots of paper work

For the past several hours I have been covered in paper work. It's time to pay bills, AGAIN. Why does that come around so soon?! Actually, we, like most, pay bills twice a month. We have the bills due around the 15th of the month and then those that are due around the 1st of the month. Last time I sat and started the whole online billing thing because I was out of checks. I really like the idea so I sat today and registered all of our 15th bills to be paid online as well. That took a while.

Also, we are starting school next week, so I had the paper work to fill out to register the kids with our umbrella school. Morgan is playing soccer this fall, so I had that paper work to get filled out.

I had lots of things to print off the computer for Chandler's classes that he will be taking at tutorial. His tutors had sent outlines and such so I needed to get all that printed out to put in his notebooks.

I do feel very accomplished though. I feel like I've gotten alot done this afternoon. I like that feeling.

changing books here - I haven't said much lately about our job situation but please keep praying. Steve has several irons in the fire and we are asking God to hand pick the job that He wants us to have. I know God is gonna come through one way or another. We want the one that He wants us to have. He's in control....not us (thank goodness!)

Going back to the subject of starting school next week. I think I'm sorta ready....I said sorta! Ready or not, it 's coming. I pray for a very good and blessed year. It is pure joy to have my kids home with me. I love it!!!!

Has anyone been watching the Olympics? The gymnastics are my favorite. What's yours?

Home

We are home from an AWESOME Assembly. I'm sure everyone has heard by now but my dad was appointed as Regional Overseer of Georgia & Florida. So, that means for the first time in my 40 years of living, I will not be in the same town or the same local church as my parents. It was rather funny today because right after the appointment was made, I can't tell you how many people came over to "check on me". It's funny but also very sweet. I'm not the one leaving, my parents are, but everyone wanted to make sure I was alright. So, do you want to know if I'm alright, or not???








YEP! I'm alright. Am I gonna have my moments of sadness? Well, of course....I already have and expect to have more. But, I do have a great peace about this. It's going to be VERY different but I have told many...."this has to be God, cause I'm not a basket case".

I'm very close to my parents and we have a very close family but if this is God's Will, and I'm sure it is...they have to go. My dad said he would be afraid not too.

So, please pray for us during this next month of change. There are many emotions and feelings going on in our family right now but, ALL things work together for our good!!!!

Our goal and aim in this life is to make Heaven, and if we are faithful to Him we will get to hear Him say "Well done". My daddy has always said...."to hear Him say well done.....you gotta do well", right daddy?

YAH!!!!!

I'm leaving for the Assembly in the morning....YAH!!!!!!!!

Painting

So, our school room, well, the room that was the school room that we got all cleaned out a couple of weeks ago is now freshly painted a nice neutral/tan color. Actually, the "official" color is Pony Tail. How in the world do they come up with those names? It's going to be Autumn's room. She has decided to decorate it in brown and pink. She will be here, an official Tennessean on August 25 (Lord Willing). I started painting around 1:00 and finished up about 4 or 4:30. I love the look of a freshly painted room. It just looks so clean. Autumn is so excited (me too) about getting here. Pray that God helps her to find a good job soon. She is gonna try to work at a hospital as a CNT. (that's a nurse assistant). She already has her training and is certified. Her plan is to go to school to be an RN.

I watched some of the Assembly today on the webcast. That is the coolest thing ever. It works great if you can't be there for the whole thing or even at all. We are going up Saturday morning and staying until it is over Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to get there!!!!!

Morgan has been there since the very beginning. She went up with momma & daddy. Being right there, right in the middle of it all, is right up her alley. I'm so glad!!! She absolutely loves church. I wouldn't change a thing about that. She loves the Lord with all her heart and I'm very proud of her choices. I text her tonight and said..."Hello, this is your momma, remember me?" She text back and said she was at Taco Bell with the youth. She's my miss social butterfly. I can't wait to see her on Saturday. I miss her.

Chandler on the other hand is totally different. He would rather just be home. Even though he got a car for his birthday, he doesn't go hardly anywhere. He's perfectly content being here at the house. He's going up with us Saturday.

Well, as soon as my husband gets off the phone, we need to have family devotion, then I'm going to bed.

Until next time....

So tired tonight

Today I was needed to take Bradley to therapy again. I got to drive the new van today. Oh yeah, I haven't told yall that Rick got Bradley a new van. Well, it's not brand new, but it's newer than the one we had. The air didn't work so good, which in this heat is not a good thing especially for Bradley. So, last weekend Rick drove to Indianapolis (i think that's where he went) and bought and new van for us to transport Brad around. It's wheel chair appropriate, of course. AND.....it has a good air conditioner.

I know Brad has to get tired during therapy. It last 3 hours. He did good again today but about 30 minutes before it was over he kinda shut down. I'm sure he was tired of working so hard. I would be.

After getting him back home, I made a quick trip to the Y. From there I headed over to my parents house to water my dad's flowers. They are already at the Assembly and so I'm taking care of things for them until I get there. One of the things I'm taking care of is Lady. Lady is their dog. She is here at our house along with our two dogs. Pancake is our oldest. She's kinda like the "momma" of the bunch. Dakota is the out of control sister, who usually rules the roost. The funny thing is that she is intimidated by Lady. It's so funny to see her coward down because it's SO unlike her. I'm sure you remember me telling about how Lady likes to "escape" from the house when she can and run and run and run and run and run......you get the picture.

We have a fenced back yard. We got this fence specifically so that our dogs would stay in our yard. It's one of those black aluminum fences that looks like rod iron. Well, miss Lady GOT OUT of the FENCED back yard today. She squeezed herself through the railings. Can you believe that? When I realized she was out, I thought, "OH MY GOODNESS", she does not know this neighborhood. She's gone. So, I said a little prayer, went and hollered for Steve and about that time, there she was. My dad called today to check on Lady. I told him how she had gotten out of the fence and he said "yep, she's an escape artist" Ha!

He also said how wonderful the Assembly is going. I can't wait to get there!!!!!!!!!!!

When I got home from my parents house, I made myself a B.L.T. I used the fresh home grown maters that daddy has grown and YUM YUM!!! He can grow some good ones. After munching down my sandwich, I decided to tackle the weeds. OH... they had taken over my flower beds. Shew, that is work. But, my sweet husband came outside to help me. At one point, there was so many that Steve just decided to spray that weed killer stuff on them. Hopefully in a few days, they will be dead.

So now you understand my title....i've had a busy day.
thats all
cya

I teared up

For a while now I haven't been with Bradley to his therapy sessions. He was going to this one place then got switched to another place and so Rachel and Rex have been taking him to the new place. Rex has really been sick so today I took Brad to therapy and I'm SO glad I got to see what I saw.

I guess since I haven't watched him in therapy for a while, I was SHOCKED (in a good way)! Shocked to the point of tears in my eyes. He did so good. That's just an understatement. He worked so hard today. Let me try to explain his sessions:
I'll just hit the highlights:

1. Physical therapy - He was sitting in his wheelchair facing the parallel bars. He was to reach up with his good hand (the therapist placed his bad hand on the rail for him) and pull himself up. He did it GREAT. I asked the therapist, "did he do that" and she told me "yep, it was ALL him" Go Brad! He's getting stronger! Next, he transfered himself from his wheelchair to the mat, which he needs some help with but does very well.

His right side is the side that doesn't work very well (yet). But, he was lying on his back and today I saw him move his right arm several times. I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. Seriously, I could not believe it. I don't know if it was the position that he was laying or what but it was awesome. I kept having him do it to see if he could and he did it about 3 times.

2. Speech therapy - this boy knows everything such as numbers, letters, spelling things and such like. One way they get him to communicate is showing him a board with all the letters on it, and when they ask him a question, he can point to the letters and spell his answer. He has NO problem doing this. He can spell anything, without help. The therapist read him a short story. The story was about the Jones family that went on a picnic and then took a nap. She said they had hot dogs, hamburgers and chips. She then asked Bradley, " What did the Jones family do after their picnic?" Bradley pointed to the board with the letters.....N...A...P!!!!! Again, Go Brad! So, his listening skills are also working!

3. Occupational therapy - (this is when I teared up). He was sitting on the mat with the therapist beside him. She would hold a bean bag up in the air. Bradley's job was to reach for the bag then bend over and put it in this bucket that was sitting on the floor. He dropped one of the bean bags before he got it to the bucket BUT, he reached all the way down to the floor, picked up the bag and then placed it in the bucket, then sat himself back up right. When he did that the therapist looked at me and I looked at her and she said "that's the best he's ever done".

It was just a really good day for Brad. You may read these things and think to yourself that they are really not a big deal but for Brad they are a huge deal. He's made MAJOR progress since April 2, 2006. MAJOR!!!!!!

As slow as it may seem to us sometimes, I got to see for myself today that he truly is making progress. It was a long day. We were there 3 hours but it was awesome.

I just wanted to share this good news with you guys. I know there are those that pray for Bradley everyday and appreciate hearing about his progress. Please keep praying!

Playing catch up

I haven't posted since Thursday so I will try to remember since then. Hmmmm, let's see....

Friday - man, my memory fails me right now......thinking.....thinking....

I seriously cannot remember......

oh yeah, I went over to my brothers house to enjoy his swimming pool. I was all by myself, floating on a float, listening to 94.1 the fish (that's the Christian radio station around these parts). It was very nice.

What else did I do?......I went and spent some time with Bradley. That's about it, well, what I can remember anyway.

Saturday - not too busy of a day. Saturday evening we went with Ondra and Gracee to watch Bro. Tim march with the drum corp. He was in a competition and we went to support him. It lasted a very long time. There were 10 corps/bands in the competition and Tim preformed last. We didn't get home until almost 11 but it was worth it. I'm very glad we went. I think it meant alot to Tim & Ondra (I hope anyway) so therefore, it was most certainly worth it.

Sunday - today - Daddy preached a really good message this morning. After church, momma had my family and my brother's family over for dinner. Boy do I love my family!!!!!

Tonight we had communion & feet washing. Guess what? Something really cool happened. Bradley was there to participate. This was the first time since his accident that he was able to do this. It was a true blessing. Daddy made mention of the blessing this was seeing how the Dr.'s said he would never be anything but a vegetable. What do those Dr.'s know? If they could only see him, Bradley, now!!!!!

So, this brings me to now, sitting here blogging. I'm sure there are things I have forgotten but I guess I've hit the highlights.

Oh, this is back from Thursday, but I went to the new Ross in Smyrna. I really like it. I found a super cute shirt for $8.99 and a skirt for $7.99. Not my $3.99 Goodwill skirts but not too bad.

I'm tired and will be going now...
good nite!