Video game junkie

Ok I have to share a few pictures I took tonight of our little video game junkie. At the ripe old age of 4, Eli loves to play video games. What is even more amazing is he really doesn't know what he is doing but somehow can get past stages of the game that Jaron who is 7 has to repeat a few times on occasion.
Right now Eli's favorite game is Ben 10: Protector of the Earth. WE just go t this game for Jaron as an early birthday/reward for being such a great kid. Jaron is such a helper and is my right hand man when Sean is not here. I get tons of comments on how much of a helper at school he is and what a great kid he is. Guess we are doing something right with him despite there are times at home that he just pushes our buttons.

Anyway about Eli. He is so funny to watch as he plays the game. When Accelerate is the character he stands and runs in place fast like the character does.

When he is Fourarms he acts and says tough things like:"I'm gonna punch you out!" He does sound effects as well. It is absolutely hilarious to watch!

Kristofer loves to watch but doesn't want to even try to play. Not sure why I think the whole controller thing scares him because he has such a hard time with his fine motor skills.

My thoughts....

I haven't actually posted in a few days. Sure I have posted praise songs but not actual writings. Mainly because I have been super busy this past week creating a website for a friend's salon/spa. Becky bought my Mom's spa and she needed a little help. So I helped her out. You can check out what I did at www.simplicitydayspa.org I think I did a great job for a complete amateur. I love doing it. It's a lot of fun, time consuming but fun. I am in the beginning stages of making one for our church as well. Once I get it done I will post it here for everyone to check it out.
So what's with all the praise songs you might ask...well lets just say I have a lot to be thankful for this week. Also I find when you are in pain it is always good to listen to some good praise songs and take the focus off of you and put it on God. That is what I have had to do this week. I have been in terrible pain since Wed. night. My Florida knee ~ I call it that because that is where it was injured tripping down some steps ~ has tendinitis or at least that is what the doc thinks without doing any tests. It is over stressed right now because of not being able to use my other leg due to the surgery. Needless to say I have been in pain the kind of pain that makes you say things like just cut it off. Not really meaning it just being in pain. Yes I am taking my pain meds, icing it and staying off of it as much as possible. But that is pretty hard to do with 4 kids when your husband has to work. I have not had much sleep. In fact I think last night was the first night in 4 nights that I got more than 3 hours of sleep.
Praise songs are what soothes my soul. Gives me peace and I love listening to them as well as singing them. Sean my loving hubby has blessed me this weekend. He has been wanting to get me a MP3 player for sometime now. Tried at Christmas and for our anniversary and I just kept telling him no. I didn't see the point in having one. Well let me tell you something, he got me one...a Samsung P2 video/MP3 touch screen player. I LOVE IT! It is so much easier than dragging out the cds and using a big boom box...hmmm can you tell I was a teen in the 80's. I absolutely love this thing. It has the best sound, and the pictures for videos (music or movies) is as great as having a HD tv. It is great! I LOVE IT! Did I say that enough?
Anyway I have laid listening to my praise songs praying for relief and sleep. Last night I got some tonight I am not sure what is going to happen. I honestly had a good day but right now my Florida knee is giving me some problems. I can't get comfortable and I have taken all the meds I am allowed at the moment. I can't take anything till 4 am and its 1:30 am right now. It's just another late night for me. UGH!

Hillsong United One Way

WHAT A GREAT SONG!!

Here I am to Worship

just more worship!

God is Great

Just in a mood to praise God tonight!

Mercy Me - I can Only Imagine

This song says it all!

Italy vs Holland

My friend Angie found this on the web. I find that is exactly what I feel like about Kristofer. Please read and know this is what it feels like for us.


*******************************************************************


I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......


When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands.




The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they are all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland. Now you can understand a little more of what its like to have a special needs child.

Elmer

Let me introduce you to Elmer! He is the newest member of our family. Our Elmer has a red plaid shirt on. He lives in a brown box and loves to sing...My name is Elmer and I love the Lord. My name is Elmer and I love the Lord, He is the greatest and He saved my soul.. My name is Elmer and I love the Lord. Al with an Elmer southern drawl.

Elmer is my new toy so to speak. We purchased him and have no intention of having our church reimburse us. The kids love him. I have completely enjoyed creating a personality for him. For those that do not know I am the children's ministries director at our church. I teach children's church on Sunday mornings and on Sunday evenings we have Adventure Kids Club and I teach that too. Since being laid up with my knee problems I have been getting all kinds of ideas to enrich the lives of our kids. Another ministry we will be starting as soon as I can get back to teaching will be a kids worship team. They will be learning how to play hand bells while participating during our worship/song service.

Anyway, Elmer is so much fun. His head is at least 2 feet in length. I am doing a lot of practicing with him. We purchased his legs so he can sit on my lap as well. His head is pretty heavy so every now and then he just goes to sleep (my arm starts aching bad! anyone that has done puppets will understand just how bad it can get! well imagine it at its worse. His head is that heavy!)

Elmer has become a great social friend with Kristofer. Kris really lights up when Elmer wakes up and comes out of his home (box). It's easier to talk to the puppet than to me sometimes. All the kids love Elmer and I can't wait to introduce him to the kids at church.

I talked with Kristofer's OT today about his behavior at home. I wanted to make sure he wasn't having problems at school with aggression and crashing into things and people. I got some great reports! YEA! He has learned to tie his gym shoes in one day. I have never worked on this with him. His OT showed him a few times and he got it! His fine motor skills and pencil grip has improved dramatically. All great news!

At his IEP meeting back in Dec it was suggested that we have Kris evaluated for autism. He seems to be borderline with his behaviors and social issues. Well this is nothing new for us. But to be honest I just haven't been ready to hear a diagnosis. Sean and I have been discussing it alot and I just asked Jennifer today point blank what do you think. Naturally she made sure to say that she is not a professional that diagnoses this type of thing but because Kris is so much like many of her autistic students that she works with she thinks he may be and highly recommended that we get him evaluated. SO that is what we are going to do. Just as soon as I am able to get out of the house on my own and we get our doctor situation fixed. We are in between doctors right now. It's a long story and unless you want details I would rather not discuss it on here.

AUTISM what does that mean? This is what wikipedia.org states: Autism is a brain development disorder that impairs social interaction and communication, and causes restricted and repetitive behavior, all starting before a child is three years old. This set of signs distinguishes autism from milder autism spectrum disorders (ASD) such as Asperger syndrome.

Its just a word, really. You see the Bible says He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it. I am standing on that fact! I believe that regardless what a doctor may tell us that Kris is perfectly made and that God has a purpose and a plan for his life. I believe that God has been and will continue to heal Kristofer and one day he will be standing before a crowd of people giving God the praise for his complete healing! Kristofer is an amazing kid! Yes everyday is different. A few years ago he was fixed on dinosaurs. We ate, breathed and lived dinosaurs. The kid knows more about dinosaurs than anyone I know. He knew things way before we even let him watch educational tapes Discovery tapes on dinosaurs. He just blew us away with what he knew. He couldn't say basic words clearly like cat or dog but he could say brontosaurus and other long dinosaur terms. Now he is fixed on Transformers. So much so that he everything is about Transformers. I say this to share about yesterday.

Yesterday we surprised the kids with small little toys. Eli and Sara had birthday money they wanted spend and both wanted to share it with the older two boys. So Eli picked out Transformers for himself and Kristofer. Inside one of the packages was a advertiser with other Transformer products. Well Kris found one that he wants. So he gets dressed, gets his shoes and coat on and says come on mom lets go get it. Like I can just get up and go! Needless to say it took me almost an hour and a half to calm him down when I told him we couldn't go. SO today he comes home from school and for 3 hours he keeps saying, "Lets go to store and get my toy!" Now we don't just buy our kids things all the time. We just happen to have our tax check and wanted to bless our kids. It took me all 3 hours to get him to understand that we were not going to just go buy this toy that costs $30. He will have to wait till his birthday. Well then we had to get the calendar out and he says that is too long, it's making me tired. No I told him, He is making ME tired.

Now the little guy is laying next to ME. He is sick. Threw up all over the living room carpet. Then after he had gone to bed while sleeping proceeds to do it again. Now he is laying on towels on my bed and has thrown up 3 more times. Poor Sean had to give him a bath. Good bonding time for them.

A song comes to mind....

My Redeemer Lives

Eugene Greco

My Redeemer lives and I will see His glory as He works all things
Together for my good.
Whatever things occur of this I can be sure, I know my Redeemer lives.
(Repeat)

Even though I walk through the valley, I will fear no evil He is with me.
And on the battlefield, although the pain is real, my struggles soon will fade as His glory is revealed.
(Repeat chorus twice)

4 weeks post op

So yesterday mark my 4 weeks post op day. YEA! Today I ventured out to the doctor appointment and then went shopping. So nothing has changed except that I now know I have 3 screws in my leg. I get to wear this wonderful brace another 4 weeks.

No bandages now though!

I get to relax and only do the small number of exercises for another 2 weeks. No ROM for another 2 weeks. I can bear 25% of my weight. What the heck does that mean? Basically I get to put my foot down now not just my toes. In 4 weeks I go back to see the doc and then I should be able to start strength exercises and just possibly be able to sleep without the brace and maybe even throw it (stow it) away. We will see. The bone graft is healing well so that is a positive thing. I do have osteoarthritis in my knee but it isn't terrible it is actually just the starting of it. So that is good too, there are many things I can do to slow the process. So I have hope! It didn't go the way I had hoped but at least I am going forward and not backwards with this knee.

Now as for my left knee...that is a different story. It was my bad knee till I really injured the right one. It was doing so much better until I had the surgery. Now it is so aggravated I can barely walk. So I had it looked at today as well. Without the xrays and MRI I probably will need later on the doc says as of right now it looks like I have tendinitis...severe case. So I am now icing that knee and taking meds for it instead of my surgery knee. Thank god for wheel chairs. I would not be able to do much at all even in our house where it not for this wonderful wheel chair!Once I get past all this crazy knee stuff I may talk Sean into getting a gym set or even a gym membership.

If there is anything I can do to convince you to take care of your knees I can stress enough....TAKE CARE OF YOU KNEES!!!

I did enjoy getting out of the house. After the doc apt. we headed to WalMart. I was wheeling around in the wheel chair we have rented. I have to tell you if you want a good work out for your arms go wheeling through wal mart and go around the whole super store. My arms are so stinking sore! A good muscle sore though. It was fun today. Sara was being my helper and was
"pushing" me through the store. We went shopping for dresses and shoes for her. Her favorite things to do as Sean and Eli went grocery shopping. I got a lot of stares but I sure did enjoy getting out. I have to tell you when you are no longer mobile or independent any thing that seems like freedom such as shopping is a treat! It is no wonder all the elder men/women who are mentally fine but physically not and are put in nursing homes get depressed. I know understand why my grand-MOM was so depressed all the time. She wasn't able to drive and just go the last few years of her life. When you loose that independence it is a hard thing to deal with. I know! Although eventually I will get it back I now wish I had taken the time to understand what she was going through more and been a little more willing to just take her anywhere she wanted to go. She is now waking on streets of gold but if she could hear me now...SORRY MOM!!! Be good to your aging parents and grandparents! It is depressing when your independence is taken away...willingly or not!

Grace

A friend of mine gave me some wonderful perfume called Amazing Grace and it is a product of a company called Philosophy. On the box you will find this statement...

"How you climb up the mountain is just as important

as how you get down the mountain. And, so it is with

life, which for many of us becomes one big gigantic test

followed by one big gigantic lesson. In the end it all

comes down to one word. Grace. It's how you accept

winning and losing, good luck and bad luck,

the darkness and the light."

For some reason this statement really struck me as interesting. Does life all boils down to grace? Yes I believe it does. The Bible tells us that it is by grace that I am saved. It is through Jesus' death on the cross that broke the bonds of sin for all that will believe in Him. Easter is coming early this year. In most cases Easter comes in April this year it comes early and falls in March. This year I hope you will take the time to worship the creator of the universe. He alone created the mountains and if He has a mountain for you to climb then He will be present to see you up and down that mountain. Hold on to Him ad you face the mountains in your life and remember it all comes down to one word...GRACE!

Kids say the darndest things

Today when I was getting dressed Kristofer came in my room and climbed up on my bed. He said he wanted to rub my back. As he was rubbing my back he asked if it made my knee feel better. So sweet. Then he says as he is poking my back..."Mommy when I grow up will I have sprinkles on my back?" At first I was like huh? But then I realized he meant my freckles. I told him he might have some already so I checked and counted 8 little freckles. He was so cute. I told him he had them and he was so excited about it. He said really loud, " I have sprinkles on my back! YEA!"
My kiddos have been sick specially Sara and now Eli has a cold as well. Eli was being so pitiful. I asked him if I could help make him feel better. He said, so sweetly, " I want Deedee to come make me better!" It was just so pitiful. So we called Grandma Deedee and he told me he felt so much better just by listening to her voice and talking to her. Sometimes we want mommy, daddy or even better..our grandmas!
Then later tonight Sara and I were talking while she was drawing pictures. She said she was drawing pictures for her Aunt Nennie. Then she says to me, oh Nennie has a boy ... I said you mean Uncle Neil..He is her husband. She says, "oh yea, and pauses and then says why doesn't he have hair? It was so cute.


Update: Tomorrow marks my 4 weeks Post Op date. I am doing so much better. Over the weekend I was adjusting my leg to get comfortable and something popped. It didn't hurt but the next morning I had pain I haven't had in a while. I could figure it out but today I realized it had to have been the way the brace was laying against the outside of my leg when I was sleeping. It feels so much better. I am even seeing an improvement in my ability to stand when taking a shower without the brace on. It is still very wobbly but I can tell a difference in the strength. I am so hopeful that the doc will release me to start ROM and be more weight bearing. We shall see. I will post on Tuesday about what I am told after my appointment. The incision is looking really good. It is not the best closure. It looks like a terrible sewing or stapling job. Definitely not going to look pretty with shorts even a swimsuit. All well as long as I can walk without it giving out and not be in pain I will be so much happier.

Josh Groban - You're Still You

Our new love song! Hope you enjoy and feel this way about your husband/wife/loved one!

Valentine's Day Memories

Instead of going into all that mushy stuff about today I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day and share a lovely VDay Memory! But before I do that I have to share...I DID IT! I finally did a SLR (straight Leg lift!) This is a huge step forward in the process of healing for my knee! What a great VDAY gift!


SO my favorite VDay memory is from 1997. It was our first Vday asa married couple. Sean was a reported for the Morehead News (paper) in Morehead Ky and was also the pastor for Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship ( college ministry of the Assemblies of God-reason and how we met!). Anyway he had just done a very nice article about one of the owners/president of a local bank. A very nice and well to do man. He wanted to treat us out for dinner and told Sean to pick a night that we could go to dinner. It wasn't that he wanted to take us out to dinner he wanted to send us to dinner on him. So Sean picked Vday night. We went to a VERY expensive restaurant that was at the top of a very large bank in Lexington KY. I have no idea what bank just that it had a wonderful view of the city.

We instantly felt out of place....you know the movie Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts is sitting in that very fancy restaurant unsure of what fork to use...that was what it was like. It was a 5 course meal. I can't tell you what we ate its been so long ago but I can tell you it was delicious. Have you seen the movie, Princess Diaries when they eat the sorbet all at once. Well we had that experience too. Oooo it was so cold! We sat amongst very wealthy business men and woman that night. Both of enjoyed that night and when we talk about it laugh! It was the best Valentine's Date I have ever had! It was fun to feel pampered and treated like royalty as well. No one knew that we were living in a shoe box of an apartment or that we could have never afforded to be there that night! When we were leaving we picked up a brochure that listed the costs of the evenings dinner. It was a prepaid event and it was $75 a plate. Which means it cost $175 for us to eat dinner that night.
Now I am not sure if the food was that great to cost that much but the experience alone was well worth it. We made sure to send a thank you note to that nice man. It is and will always be my favorite Vday memory!


I hope your Valentine Day is a memorable one and that you take the time to tell your loved ones how much they mean to you!

Snow Days...Storms of Life

Well for those that care our kids have another snow day! Tomorrow our kids get to spend Valentines Day at home with us. The roads are still very covered with ice. We are hoping that tomorrows fore casted highs of 48 will actually break through some of the ice. The problem is that we are also suppose to get some strong winds as another storm approaches. Which means if the ice doesn't melt quickly more tree branches are destined to break.

So where do you go to when life throws a storm your way. Are you easily tossed in the wind or do you have a solid foundation to hold on to? I go to the rock of my Salvation Jesus Christ when life's storms blow my way. I have found that in the years and seasons of stormy weather that my foundation has been strong and God has seen me through! It may not have always turned out the way I wanted or planned but He has always been faithful to give me grace to weather the storm and accept the outcomes.

Today has been a bit of a storm for our Kristofer. He has been very jumpy, touchy and in need of deep pressure. So how do you know he needs deep pressure...he is running full force into things and isn't stopping. He crashes into the couch, his brothers, the wall and me. So what is a mom to do who can't just get up and stop him...I grab him and basically sit on him. Let me explain...this morning while Sean was digging the car out of the ice...literally it took him an hour to get the ice off the windshield and then another hour and a half to get the car out of the icy ditch.

Anyway while he was doing that I was trying to balance our checkbook and pay some bills. Kristofer who would not stop jumping on his brothers despite their pleas and continued to crash into everything. I called him in to our room and he proceeds to jump on our bed near my leg, at full force as if the bed was magically going to turn into a trampoline and launch him into outer space.

SO what did I do, I pulled him down to the mattress and proceeded to squish him with pillows. When that didn't calm him I told him to lay behind me and I would lay on him. I "squished" him into a pancake as he was giggling with glee. It took a few times of "squishing" him but finally he calmed down and I could feel his body finally relax. Once he was relaxed then he just wanted to snuggle. I asked him if the squishing helped and he said, "oh yeah!" Now if we could get him to tell us what he needs with his words instead of his actions.

The day progressed and then another Hurricane Kristofer appeared out of no where. He had played most of the day quietly after that episode this morning until he realized that the sun was going down. Then started the screaming, throwing things, and the biggest tantrum I have seen in a while. All due to the fact that he could not find his shoes so he could go outside. You seen he had started the process this morning of wanting to go out in the snow. But because he chose to not put his shoes where they belong he spent more time searching for his shoes and just got distracted and started playing. I spent over two hours trying to find his shoes this afternoon the whole time he was screaming and crying. "I want to go outside! I want to go outside! I want to go outside!" Finally Sean and Jaron came home and he was distracted enough to give up the obsession of going outside.

I think that is one of the hardest things we deal with with Kristofer. We never know what he will become obsessed with and how he will react. The fact that his school schedule has been completely messed up doesn't help. Kristofer lives on his schedule. Its not something that is written down per say but he knows, two days off 5 days of school. This has thrown him for a loop. Plus the fact that it hasn't been the safest weather for him to go out and make a snowman in. I stand on God's promises of healing for Kristofer and know one day he will stand before a congregation and give God the glory for healing him. Sensory Processing Disorder not only affects him but our whole family. For us a small windstorm can come and blow through but we have a solid foundation and know that in the storms we go to the Rock for it is in Him that we find peace and when He speaks, "Peace be still" all things become calm.

I challenge you to go to the Rock for your peace! Jesus is there waiting to hold you and calm you so that when the storms of life have swept through you will be standing strong in the end!

QUESTION: What killed the dinosaur??

ANSWER

THE ICE AGE!!

Yesterday i wrote about the storm that was coming in. Well we woke up to a cold house ( electric was out for about 4-5 hours) and a icicle world of wonder! It is absolutely beautiful as well as saddening to see all of the broken trees that are down. Our small little country town has half of the people with out electric and half with. We are lucky enough to have gotten our electric back. In Marion where we go to do our shopping at is even more covered from reports from friends who live there. The kids have had a blast today! For four Florida born babies they sure do love the ice and snow! They have stated I wish our cousins in Florida could see this! SO make sure you call your kids in to see these pictures, for those of you in Florida...we miss you and although these are amazing pictures we sure would love to be laying on Venice beach soaking in some sun!

Some of these icicles hanging from our roof measure 6-12 inches long!

Just one of the many icicles the kids have played with today!

Two of my favorite pictures of the day...

what is suppose to a clothes line is a icicle line instead!

This is almost a two foot icicle that was hanging off the house!

Close ups! See all that ice, this is on the small maple in our front yard!

These two close ups are from the branches that now lay in our back yard!

The next two pictures are a before and after shot of the once beautiful tree we have in our back yard. The first is a fall picture from Nov 2006 when we were voted in and accepted as the new pastors of the church. The second picture is what is left of that tree after the ice has had its way with it.

More pictures of the now very sad tree in our back yard. We had a nice swing set in our back yard that another family had blessed us with. You will see in one of the pictures what is left of that swing set.

My once beautiful potted plant is now a ice plant. There is a plate of ice surrounding

it on top and then the bubbles of ice that formed down the side of the pot.

Celebrating Today!!

Hallelujah! I am free from that lovely medicine called coumadin! YAHOO! No more blood thinners! I am clot free! I left my house this morning excited with he prospect of seeing other human beings (other than my husband and kids) today and going shopping. Now here is the thing I want to share the most with you. When I left the hospital I was given my appointment time for today's ultrasound on my legs. It was set for 1:15. Which I thought was great being that Sean had to do the over night shift. It meant he would be able to get a little more sleep time. Well last Thursday I got a call saying my apt. was at 11:15. I figured ok that would be better because we would at least be home by the time the kids go out of school and we wouldn't have to get someone to pick them up.
Well I get to the hospital, get checked in and waited maybe 10 minutes and the tech comes out to get me. She proceeds to ask me if Icame early because of the storm that is coming our way. A winter storm as it is called...meaning we could get snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain. Bad stuff when mixed together. I looked at her and said no that I have been called by a woman on Thursday telling me my apt was at 11:15. She tells me normally it is a man (Doug) that does the apt calls so she was confused. I looked at her and said well maybe an angel called and changed it so that I could get home before it got bad outside. She just smiled.
Now I believe in angels and God was definitely looking over us and preparing today for us because not only did I only wait 10 mins to get it (norm wait is at least 30 mins) and we had Eli & Sara with us but as we left the hospital the storm started. Sleet every where and it took a matter of 3 minutes for the roads to start getting slick and dangerous.
Unfortunately we did not get to go shopping but we did grab lunch as we drove home. I was a short outing but it was nice to get out of the house. Another reason I believe God had a hand in today's events ... had my original apt time been correct we would not have been home to get the boys. On our way home I thought I better call home and check our messages, good thing I did. WE were about 5 minutes away from home when we learned that the boys were being released from school within the next 15 minutes. Had I not called we would not have gone straight home and the boys would have walked home and been stuck outside in the freezing cold. God was not only watching out for us but for our kids as well.
Next Monday I go to see the surgeon and I will be 4 weeks post op! I am so hoping that he will release me to do ROM exercises. Until then I can now rest easy knowing that I am clot free and no longer taking terrible meds.
Out side is looking more like a winter wonderland again. We have about 1/4 inch of ice on the vehicle windows which means the ground is probably worse. According to http://www.weatherunderground.com/ we are looking at 2-8 inches of snow and possibly up to 3/4 inch of ice falling before the snow comes. We are hoping that we will be spared the ice storm so that we do not lose electric or our heat! Keep us in your prayers~
Today as all days God is worthy of our praise~

The song I have sang all day is this:

WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE LORD
Words and Music by JAMES HUEY

When I think about the Lord

How He saved me, how He raised me

How He filled me with the Holy Ghost

How healed me to the uttermost

When I think about the Lord

How He picked me up and turned me around

How He placed my feet on solid ground

CHORUS:

It makes me wanna shout

Hallelujah, thank You Jesus, Lord, You’re worthy

Of all of the glory, and all of the honor

And all of the praise

18 Days Post Op.

So today marks a small milestone for me post surgery. I no longer have staples or steri strips on my knee. I do still have my wonderful brace and will continue to have it for another 4 weeks or more. Depends on what Dr Morgan says when I see him on the 19th. He may change it to a different brace. I have had a terrible reaction to the glue on the steri strips. It shouldn't have surprised me cause I had the same reaction when I had gall bladder surgery. But this time I have small blisters surrounding the incision. It hurts! It burns! In fact that is where most of my discomfort comes from other than my back. You can see the lovely staple holes. Sara says I have pokey dots.

You would never know how much not being able to walk correctly will affect your back but it does. I sure could use a nice massage! But what I really want is to be able to walk!! I also long to be able to get behind the steering wheel and take a drive. I have been in this house for two weeks straight and I am about to go crazy. I will be getting out on Monday and if I can talk Sean into it, I plan to head to Wal Mart and do my own shopping I don't care if I am in the wheel chair! I look forward to getting out of the house even if it only means going to the hospital for the testing. Oh, guess I should explain that. I am on coumadin (blood thinner) to stop clots from forming. I have to go for an ultrasound to check and see if I have clots. If the test is negative I can stop taking the medicine that day. YEA that is what I have praying for.

This adventure has been very trying on me emotionally and physically. It is difficult to sit back and watch my husband do all the house work. I think he is learning just how much I do do in the house daily. I have learned how to vacuum, sweep and mop the floors while in the wheel chair. It's not easy and it takes me about 3x the time to do it but at least I can help. It's hard on the kids too. They are use to me coming in and helping get them to bed and I haven't been able to do that. I plan to start to try this weekend. Now that I am getting around much better with the walker. It doesn't take long to get tired being that I can't put much weight if any on my surgery leg.

I have a few exercises that I am to do daily or more if possible. Two of the 5 are very difficult. One of them I can not do at all. My quad muscle is just not working right. It is so frustrating to know I was able to do 90 leg lifts the night before the surgery and now I can't even get my leg up on the bed without Sean helping me or me pulling on the brace to lift it up. I feel great and want to get out there and go but my leg is holding me back! It is so aggravating!

When I go to see Dr Morgan (pictured to the left) I am hoping he will say ok you can increase the weight bearing and start range of Motion (ROM) exercises. At least then I will be getting farther.

I am looking forward and no that is is only a season. Right now my favorite saying is, " This too shall pass, if it doesn't then God will see me through it!" Oh how true this is! I am holding on to the promises of God and I know I will be back to my old self and able to walk without pain or crutches soon!

Teaching Children the Importance of Prayer

Sean and I are huge advocates of prayer. Yes we are Christians and that should be a daily part of our lives but for many Christians, time gets in the way and they just don't make it a priority in their daily walk with Christ. One of the biggest things we have always done with our kids is pray with them. Not just at dinner time or bedtime but when ever they seem to have a problem. We started praying with them as babies. Always saying a night time prayer over them as well as when they were sick. As each of them grew our prayer time has changed. We make it a point to pray with them before sending them to school (on most mornings..occasionally time gets away from us) and definitely at bedtime. But there are other times as well. Such as when situations of illness arise, bad attitudes, school tests, sports (games) and other times as well.

One of the biggest times this week was on Tuesday night. We were sitting in the hall due to the tornado sirens and warnings on the tv as well as outside were going off. Thankfully our area was spared from those storms but I can tell you the fear in our house was very real! Our oldest, Jaron, was terrified. Oh he had lived through a variety of hurricanes in his short life but this was different. A tornado has so much uncertainty and he has seen the devastation they make on tv. So he was scared, shaking and crying scared. His little sister ran to her room and gathered all of her teddy bears and placed them around Jaron and told him, "Its ok, my teddies will protect you!" It helped him a little but you know what helped him the most?! PRAYER! Sean and I prayed with the children for safety and peace. Then Jaron came and got in my arms and I pray for him again. After the urgency was over Sean took Jaron aside and talked and prayed with him some more. I am sure that we will have more times of waiting out the storm in the hall or bathroom or even the basement of our church. But one thing you can be assured of we will not be waiting out the storm alone...the Bible tells us that where two or more are gathered He is there. When we pray He comes and is there. Does that mean that we will always be safe...no. Sometimes God allows the storms of life to come and occassionallythat may mean devastation follows but we rest assured on the fact that our feet are planted on solid ground and that our God is a big God and He will see us through the storm and will help us rebuild if needed. Storms are times of growing for Christians. If we hold fast to God's word and promises and trust He knows what is best for our lives then through the storms we shall see the rainbow!

The following ex cert is from a recent newsletter I received from "Hearts at Home". I thought it was great! Take time to pray with and for your children. No matter what they need it !

15 Things to Pray for with Your Children

1. Pray with thanksgiving that this child is part of your family.

2. Pray for your child's safety, and for the safety of

all children going to and from school and during their school day.

3. Pray for your child to have a keen awareness of

God's presence throughout the day.

4. Pray that your child will be willing to work hard to

make the most of the gifts and abilities God has given her.

5. Pray that your child will be a blessing others.

6. Pray that your child will find pleasure in learning

and accomplishing new things.

7. Pray that your child will find good friends.

8. Pray that, in working on any special projects, tests,

or challenging assignments, your child will be able to

master the necessary skills and information.

9. Pray that your child will make wise choices and good decisions.

10. Pray with thanksgiving for the blessing of a good education.

11. Pray for children that may be causing problems

for your child or others at school.

12. Pray for your child's future spouse.

13. Pray that God will show your child one that needs a friend.

14. Pray for your child's teacher.

15. Pray for your school's principal to be a Godly leader.

Super Tuesday

GO VOTE!

Regardless of your political, religious or personal beliefs, today is a huge day in history. I never in my life thought it was possible to see a women running for president or even a black man. I was told so many times growing up, you can do anything and one day you will see a women in the White House. Well despite the fact that I do not agree with either of those two candidates it is amazing to me to see this. What a place in history America is in!
Today is Super Tuesday...most of the states will be voting. Mine is one of them. If I can persuade any of you to get out there and make your vote count GO VOTE!!! I am so tired of hearing people bashing our President. He may not be perfect but lets face it does he really have that much control when the House and Senate have to approve what the President proposes? Honestly if you want to make a difference VOTE! If everyone would stop and think about each President we have had I guarantee that each one has had ton of criticism~ Not a single president we have had has been perfect. Oh, some stand out for their courageous stands or what they took our country through, but all have been criticised.
GO VOTE! Your vote does count! Just remember the hanging chads in Florida and yes at that time we were living in Florida. We were the brunt of many jokes but I voted then and I will vote this time!

GO VOTE!!!

GIANTS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!

Giants 17 Patriots 14

There is excitement in the Kelly house tonight!!!

Sean is beyond happy tonight!

Congrats Eli Manning and the Giants team!!

Granma DeDe and Papaw Mac

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

SnowRex

So this morning we woke to a winter wonderland. Last night we went to bed with ice cicles hang from the roof. This morning we have a snow covered porch and a beautiful scene of snow everywhere. We are guessing at least 4 inches fell while we slumbered.

The kids were so excited. The boys were the first up and as soon as they could get dressed they were out the door. Sean shoveled the drive way so he knew where the ditch was so he could get out today to go to work. The boys had a blast throwing snow balls, foot tracks int he snow and just marveling at the sight of snow.

Sara was the last to rise up this am. She came running out of her bed room saying, I am so cold. When she looked out and saw the snow she was running back to her room for clothes. She is more like her Momma. Lets look at the snow and enjoy it from the warmth of the house. She was out for less than five minutes and wanted to come back in. The boys spent about 45 minutes out in it.

Eli came in saying his feet were popcicles. Kris said his fingers werejust too cold. Jaron stayed out the longest. He created his first snow rex (pictured below).

Had Sean not had to work and not stuck in the house with gimpy leg we would have taken to our friends house, Barbara. The has a field of hills that they could have had a blast on with sleds. Maybe tomorrow we shall see.

Stay warm people!