Life is full -- We are blessed

I was just thinking about the past week. My life is so blessed. Not only am I blessed with the husband and children the Lord has given to me I am also blessed with "adopted" family :)

Matt, Jenn and Landon came Friday and stayed through Monday afternoon. It was so nice having them 'back home'. They are a blessing to us in so many ways. I am very thankful to the Lord for putting them in our lives and allowing us to "adopt" them into our family!

Danny, Brandy and their children came Tuesday to spend the day. (The have a/c problems and it so hot at their house they came to our house for a cooling off break :) ) They ended up spending the night and the next day and that night and the next day! I just love it. They are so much a part of our family, it feels very natural (though a little loud! LOL) to have them here!

The Lord, in His infinite wisdom, chose to plant us in an area where we have no natural relatives. We may never know the reasons for this... but He has been very kind to us and given us 'new' relatives. We have parents in the Nissleys, siblings in the Hunters and children in the Bates.

You are so good, so kind, so loving -- Thank you Lord for filling our lives with such wonderful people!

We love you!

Latest update on Tony

He had a post-op appointment with the ENT doctor today. Doc is very pleased and expects the ear to heal well and to have improved hearing!! Yeah!

TONY!

Tony is doing great! Better even than the "best case scenario" we were expecting!

Thank you all So Much for praying!!

Update on Tony

I just talked to him. He's in recovery. They were able to do the surgery via his ear canal :yay: He sounds really groggy, said he feels like he has a fifty pound weight attached to his legs. He has a headache and his throat is dry. He should be home in three hours or so. Thank you all so much for praying!!

Please pray for Tony today... surgery

Today he is scheduled for a tympanoplasty with possible ossiculoplasty.

He's having his eardrum partially reconstructed (via a skin graft from the coating of the muscle near and below the temple) and his second ear bone will either be reconstructed or a prosthetic bone will be put there.

His ear drum ruptured twenty years ago. When it healed it healed with a dimple. The dimple has gotten deeper and traps ear wax, dead skins cells, etc... and that has caused it to lay back on the second bone which has caused deterioration of that bone. His ear is in pretty bad shape.

His hearing is moderately affected and his understanding and comprehension are even more affected.However the surgery is to repair the damage to his ear and not to improve his hearing -- it may be improved but that is not the reason for the surgery. He has a nearly constant noise going on all the time. It changes but is currently a plusating that corresponds with his pulse.

The doctor intends to do the surgery via the ear canal. However if he gets in there and can not perform the surgery that way he will have to cut along the back of the ear and flap the ear forward toward the cheek. This second method will (of course) require a longer healing time.Tony can't drive or go back to work until he's off the narcotics for pain.

We would really appreciate your prayers for wisdom for the doctor, no adverse reactions to the medications, and smooth healing for Tony. Thank you so much!

Sew...

the girls and I have been sewing the past few days... We should finish up today and I'll share pictures with you!

Joke for the Day

The Good Grandpa

A woman in a grocery store happens upon a grandfather and his poorly behaved 3 year-old grandson. It's obvious to her that Gramps has his hands full with the child screaming for candy in the candy aisle, cookies in the cookie aisle; same for fruit, cereal and soda in their respective aisles.

Meanwhile, Gramps is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy, Albert, we won't be long -- easy, boy."

Another outburst, and she hears Gramps calmly say, "It's okay, Albert, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Gramps again in a controlled voice is says, "Albert, Albert, relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, Albert."

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where Gramps is loading his groceries and the boy into the car. "You know, sir, it's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay. Albert is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."

"Thanks, lady," said Gramps, "I'm Albert -- the little boy's name is Steve."

today... it's Monday...

I'm going to clean out the freezer.
Molly is going to clean out the refrigerator.
Then we are going grocerying.

:)

Just didn't want you to wonder what exciting things were going on around here.

Nehemiah and Kirky

We have a family tradition of naming stuffed animals for the giver (in some way) as a way to remember the giver and think about him/her when we play with our stuffies. A sweet friend named Kiersten (nicknamed Kirky) made this elephant for Nehemiah and she made the shorties too! Aren't they cute?!

Rearranging... Part 2 -- The Sewing Area

For those of you who have been to our home, this is the room on the front of the house that was originally 'the living room'. It has been a library, a guest room, a play room, a sewing room and is now half playroom and half sewing area.

Rearranging.... Again :)

Most of you know how much I like to rearrange :) I am always looking for ways to make the best use of our space. Well we have this large room 'downstairs' (used to be part of the garage that we closed in). It has been a guest room, a play room, a sewing room, a sewing/Matt & Jenn room and now it's a sewing & craft storage room / guest room / Littles Library & Lounge :) I like for rooms to be functional. We moved the shelving to create a wall and made a storage area in the back of the room for sewing and craft stuff. There's also room to leave the ironing board up all the time -- which makes Molly very happy!

I took lots of pictures. Maybe you can get the basic idea (especially if you've been here before). Now this area has a storage area for sewing and craft stuff and the rest of the room houses the dvds/videos, small TV, children's computer, love seat and futon. It will be very easy to 'convert' into a guest room (hint, hint, hint) and will still be very usable space for us!

view from the storage area looking straight out
storage area

storage area (still needs to be organized a bit, just did all this yesterday)

Molly's Happy Place!

Oh and the children's books are down here too. I think I forgot to mention that earlier!

Another shot. Still no doors for the closet so I hung a curtain there. That closet houses more craft and sewing stuff.

Loveseat and children's computer with dvd/video storage cabinets top left

See?

view from the doorway

It's working wonderfully! Just like I envisioned!!! I love it!

Now if I can recreate the space upstairs to be exactly like I want it to be... Originally the room upstairs was our library, then it was a guest room, then it was a sewing room, then it was a play room, then I scooched the playroom over to half the room and used the other half for sewing. I really like sewing up there where I am 'in the midst' of my children :) I want to rearrange things a bit better today so it is half playroom and half sewing room. Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day

To my Mama...
To my Mom...
To Miss Peggy...
To Miss Alma...

To all the women who have shaped the Mother I am

I love you all.
Thank you!

Day 2 ~ Visiting with Nana and Poppa

Cousins -- Joseph (born in July) and Avery (born in Nov)

Great fun with 'new' toys!

Friday we drove to Hendersonville and spent the day with Tony's folks. His brother Andy and sister Anitra were there along with Anitra's son Avery and Tony's grandmother. MaryVance had the camera so all the pictures are of the boys playing :) Amanda was there for a little while and Anitra brought Allen to meet everyone. Poor fella... LOL

We spent the night with Grandmother (thank you GG, we really enjoyed spending time with you!) Grandmother took us out for breakfast. I didn't have my camera but hopefully Mom will send me a copy of the whole family picture taken in front of Cracker Barrel. :)

Love y'all!

Day 4 ~ My Mama and sister

Grannie with the red-haired grands
Grannie and Mr. Steve with the children

Mama and her girls

Sisters...

Pretty Rebecca :)

Rebecca's son Jacob

Enjoying pizza!

Nehemiah with Grannie

"I see you"

Cutey Patootey!

Mama always has horses... it was too muddy to see the cows.

Joseph and the collie puppies.

Tony needs a haircut.

Day 7 ~ Brownsville Fire Station and Police Station Visit

Joey is just fascinated with fire trucks and 'Andy cars' (he calls police cars 'Andy cars' because he loves The Andy Griffith Show) so when we went by City Hall to tell Mama goodbye I asked if we could walk around and see a fire truck and police car.

Little did I know this would turn into a mini field trip. Firefighter Jeff was very gracious to show the children the fire trucks and answer their questions. Thank you Jeff!

And then around the corner to the Police Station... Sergeant Haynes allowed the children to sit in a police car! He even turned on the lights and siren for the children. They had loads of fun!

Joseph with Sergeant Haynes.

THANK YOU all so much! You made our day!!

Day 6 ~ The Memphis Zoo

It's a family tradition... we always take a picture of the children on the cow. :)
We have lots of cool animal pictures, I'll ask Molly to load them later!

Day 5 ~ Lisa and her children

All the children... Andrew and Caleb are the same age, Sam and Shelby are the same age, Bradleigh Grace is between Joseph and Isaac :)
Lisa and I have been friends since third grade. We were in school together and church together. It was so good to see her again, it's been a long time!
Y'all come see us sometime!!

Day 4 ~ The Sheltons in Brownsville

My "other parents" Mr. Floyd and Miss Peggy :) We met them when I was three and we moved next door. They have been a fixture in my life and I have always known they would be there for me, no matter what. I love y'all. Thank you!
Doing what "MiMi's" do best...

We really enjoyed our visit. Lora and her children (Ashleigh and Trey) came over too. Lora is my oldest friend :) I thought we had pictures of them too but I guess not...

Day 5 ~ Paris

Monday found us on the road to an inpromptu visit to the town we lived in from 97-99.

This is our sweet little home on Grove Blvd - the first home we owned.We also went to the park where the children loved to play.

We always called it 'the Eiffel Tower park', I don't remember its proper name.

Bye bye Paris!

Get Together with Friends in TN

Our afternoon... in no particular order...

Tony playing Frisbee

All the children and Daddys playing Frisbee on the hill

The Mamas... Nina with LeAnna, Kim O, me, Toya, Kim C

Randy showing Isaac how to walk like a sheriff

Kim C teaching me all about heavy weight lifting

Brandy, Molly with Nehemiah and Cassie

Hannah, the Monkey!

hhmmmm.... I don't remember what we were discussing... but it must have been interesting!

Isaiah the Adorable

a more subdued conversation with Nina

Kim with Garrison, Toya and Kim

Bradley and Nina, me, Kim O

We had such a great time!!! Thank you Randy and Toya for opening your home to all of us!