Momto2brightboys

And, the busyness continues!

2009-02-24T11:13:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

After being gone weekend before last (President's weekend) for the Stone Mountain/Snow Mountain trip, we headed out of town last weekend as well.

Michael graduated from high school in 1986; and the only reunion that the class had thus far was the 5 year. The officers of his class are bound and determined to make the 25 year (which will be 2011) reunion one worth waiting for. Enter Facebook -- and the success of locating a lot of the classmates. That led to the gathering that was last weekend. It ended up being 12 classmates that showed up...but the goal of that meeting was to schedule future meetings to actually organize and plan the big 25 party. They're attempting to work on getting email/phone number lists for the people that have been unsuccessfully found before now. The class was around 120 I think, so even though it's relative a small group, I think they've only located around 50 thus far, so a daunting task of finding the other 70 or so lies ahead of the group.

Anway, we headed to Michael's hometown last Friday, and spent the night with one of his classmates. On Saturday, we spent catching up with old friends. Saturday night we had a dinner meeting to discuss what those future plans consist of. We will meet at least twice a year each year prior to the reunion in 2011. I graduated the year after Michael, but I did not know most of his classmates, because my family had just moved into town prior to the fall of my senior year. It was neat meeting some for the first time, and certainly nicer to see some of them again after 23 years. I'm looking forward to helping Michael plan this event. I think it will be a great thing!

This Saturday, a co-worker and I are running in a 1 mile fun run...not really a race, but an event to raise money for heart disease awareness. She and I are also involved in an office Biggest Loser contest. She and I are teammates, and there are 2 other teams that we are competing against. Right now, we are in 2nd place. We've been working out together pretty consistently 3 to 5 days a week now for over a month. She's getting ready to go to Las Vegas for a girls weekend (April 23 -26), and I've got our 20th anniversary cruise to Cozumel, Mexico coming up (April 25 - 30), so we both have a goal that we're shooting for. Wish us luck. The contest actually ends on my 40th (OMG!) birthday, which is April 17th.

In case some of my readers (do I still have any out there?) aren't on facebook, I'll take this opportunity to mention that Michael's leg surgery has finally been scheduled, and will happen next Wednesday, March 4. Hopefully once he's fully recovered, and we return from our trip he will go full speed ahead into looking for a more stable job, one that has even a hint of benefits. Yes, we are thankful for the one that he has, but we both think that the time has passed for being happy at his current job.

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Time away for bliss and fun

2009-02-13T14:29:00.001-05:00

This week sure went by quickly, did it not? No matter to me, really; I'm actually elated about the upcoming fun, and time away our family has planned for this weekend.

Both Aaron and Zack are members of a youth fraternity called DeMolay International, a Masonic-sponsored organization. Michael is one of the chapter's Advisors. Tomorrow night is their Valentine's Dance, and all members and advisors are "encouraged" to attend. So Michael and I will be two of several chaperones at the event. I think they'll have a good time (and us too, I suppose). :) It's a dress up affair, therefore I hope to get some pictures to post.

On Sunday, the four of us are going up to Atlanta to spend the night here: http://www.stonemountainpark.com/lodging-camping/hotels.aspx for an afternoon and evening of relaxation. They have an indoor pool and even a spa for us to use. Monday we are going over to Stone Mountain Park, which is just 5 minutes away from the hotel. In the park they have an area where we can have lots more fun. Looking at this link, http://festivals.stonemountainpark.com/mini-section/default.aspx?season=christmas&id=113, will give you an idea of our plans. We have never been snow skiing, and I know it's far from the luxury of that, but it will be the next best thing (and lots cheaper!).

Robbie is back at home and doing wonderfully, much better than what the doctor anticipated for her. They were able to burn off the tumors that were on her liver. For now her liver is cancer free. I say *for now* because she is at very high risk for the cancer to return, considering that this is the 2nd time already that her liver has been plagued with the disease. The last time they removed 40% of her liver (do you remember that?) Also, we hope to get results of Michael's biopsy next Tuesday, when his next appt. is scheduled. I'll keep you posted.

I look forward for this family getaway. I'm pretty sure we all do. We have been through the ringer lately, and need some time away desparately. I'll *see* you guys on the flip side.

Happy Valentine's Day! Show your loved ones that you care, not just tomorrow, but every day!

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A new look!

2009-02-11T11:08:00.001-05:00

You notice anything different? Of course you do (that is if anyone is still checking in on me here). I can't take the credit for it though. Jennisa at http://onceuponablog.org designed it. Didn't she do an awesome job? And in my opinion, she is VERY reasonable for all of her services. If you're looking for an overhaul (like I was) or just need some ideas, go check out her website. I know you won't be disappointed in what you find.

Has it really been since Christmas Eve that I put a new post here? That's pretty pathetic, I guess. Amazing how time flies, right?

Here we are in the middle of February, and I've got nothin'! Well not really...a lot has been happening, but most of you I've kept up to date via text messages and/or emails.

We're still waiting on Michael's biopsy results from last week. He's got a follow up the middle of next week to get final answers (we hope it's a final one anyway - we've certainly been waiting long enough). I pray that the answers come quickly and whatever is going on can be fixed just as quickly.

Graduation time for Zack is rapidly approaching. We've got the invitations, cap and gown, and senior portraits ordered. We've got the ads complete that will go in his school yearbook (you know the ones where you send in "that was then, look at him now" photos. He's staying busy as always, with debate and his many clubs. As a matter of fact, next week is the Beta club convention held in Atlanta. He has made it to the Nationals again in Debate, and will be going to Albany, NY with 3 other teammates near the end of May (well, if they can get enough funds raised -- apparently the program is pretty tapped out this year, though I'm not surprised with everything else happening in the economy these days!). He has been invited to read an essay that he wrote for a scholarship competition. He'll be reading it at the county Republican convention meeting, and will possibly go on to read it at the district and state levels as well. Time is passing by at rapid pace. We've got his enrollment and housing deposit sent in for his dorm next fall. Even though he will be awarded $27,000 annually in scholarships in tuition money (we're still lacking just under $2,000 a year for total amount of tuition), none of that includes room and board, so he has continued to follow through with filling out and competing for additional monies. Too many to count really. We should find out something no later than May 1 for most of them, with some of them promising notification by April 10th. We'll continue to keep our hopes up, and pray that he'll be awarded quite a bit more, so that he won't have to apply for much student loans.

Aaron's soccer season will begin in the next couple of weeks, which means our life will begin to get a bit more hectic soon with practices, and soon to follow with games beginning.

We are going on a cruise! Our 20th anniversary is March 25, and we have booked our trip for April 25, an all inclusive 5 night cruise from Mobile, AL to Cozumel, Mexico. We're trying not to think too much about the "what-ifs" in our life right now that could throw a big wrench in our plans.

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Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T09:51:00.000-05:00

Here it is, nearly 10:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve, and I'm anxiously awaiting 11:00 to get here, so that I can go home and enjoy the holidays for the next four and a half days. Christmas shopping finished now for well over a week, Christmas dinner purchased from the grocery store, the anticipation of this beautiful season is building to a crescendo now.

I pray that each of your families has a very Merry Christmas, and that 2009 brings you nothing but happiness, prosperity, and peace.

Until 2009 -- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

On Zack and college...

2008-10-02T12:58:00.000-05:00

Ok – so I guess it has been a month since my last entry. No real excuse, just slacking again I guess.

The school year is flying by already. A little more than eight weeks into the first semester, and things seem to be going pretty well. Zack’s progress report a couple of weeks ago proved he is taking his senior year seriously. Even with 2 AP classes and a 2 period Humanities class, he’s keeping all his classes above a 90% average.

He’s even been accepted to a very prestigious private university – and even better than that, a mere 30 minutes from home. Go here http://www2.mercer.edu/default.htm if you’d like to browse the site. Obviously, with this prestige comes a high price, right? He was even invited to the university’s scholars weekend that only a select few receive. This is a weekend that the invitees compete for one of only 30 coveted presidential scholarship awards. The awardees receive a scholarship for a full four years of tuition, which is current $28,000 a year. We’ve told Zack that this could be a long shot…first of all, a very competitive school to begin with. But this scholarship competition is HUGE. I think we all understand if in fact he isn’t a scholarship recipient that the chances of him going to this university is slim to none. So we shall see!

He’s also been accepted to the three other universities for which he has applied. Those three are all public universities in Georgia. This means the state’s HOPE scholarship program will be available at his disposal. This program allows any student with at least a 3.0 GPA, full tuition to any PUBLIC school in the state. Consequently, it only pays for $3,000 a year for any private school. You see the difference? HUGE – right?

He is taking the SAT again this Saturday. Although he had great scores when he took it this past May, he thought he’d take it again to attempt to raise his scores even further, therefore raising his chances for the scholarship aforementioned above.

Zack is still dating Arrie, now for nearly 21 months. I thought this past weekend though that the time had come for their relationship to end. Zack broke it off with her, not really giving us a lot of details other than she was continuously doing things to annoy him. After only two days, and seeing how miserable he was (literally – he wasn’t sleeping, hardly eating, and spent most of his time moping around the house), he had a long talk with her, and they got back together.

He is currently doing some community service for his Humanities class for 2 hours a week. This year the class requires each student to go to different schools in the area to help assist teachers in tutoring, making copies, etc. He is enjoying it immensely, but I think its because it gets him out of the hum drum of every day life at his own school. Next semester these same students will be required to search for and find someone locally that are in current positions of what the students themselves wish to become. Zack has decided that he wants to major in political science for his undergraduate degree, and go to law school. Of course anything at this point is subject to change. He still has ten months before he even begins college, much less declare a major.

I guess this entry ended up being all about Zack. It was long overdue though. I have been meaning to write about his college decisions for awhile.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of Fall. We’ve had some beautiful weather the last few days, and I hope that the trend continues, at least for a few more weeks before getting too chilly for short sleeves.

We’re having a family portrait done this weekend in our yard. We haven’t had one done in over 7 years, so I thought that it’s definitely time. After all, this could be the last one in a long time considering that Zack will be a high school graduate next May.

Any suggestions on coordination of outfits? I’m still trying to figure this one out…

Until next time!

Labor Day 2008 (a weekend that I never want to relive again!)

2008-09-02T20:57:00.004-05:00

This weekend was supposed to a weekend of some relaxation, some sight-seeing, some shopping, and probably some good eatin' -- and doing all that sans kids! Our plan included spending the weekend nights at Michael's brother's house in North Georgia, and driving into Helen during the days -- http://www.helengeorgia.com/, a beautiful mountainous city just 15 miles from his brother's home. But those plans all went out the window last Saturday morning around 4:00.

It all went down like this...

The boys were scheduled to go on a church youth whitewater rafting trip, leaving this past Saturday morning at 8:00. Michael and I were planning on pulling out of the parking lot right behind the church bus to our own destination. Friday night came, and we finished packing -- each of the boys with separate bags because of the middle schoolers and the high schoolers, although going together, were not going to be spending any time together once they got to their destination. We all went to bed, anticipating what our weekend was holding for us.

I woke up at 4:00 to the sound of Zack wretching in his bathroom down the hall. I should have prefaced this all by saying Aaron had been sick just 36 hours before with the same virus. I helped Zack back to bed after giving him some tylenol for his fever, which was 103, and some medication for nausea. Then I woke Michael up telling him our plans for the weekend were now null and void. We all three went back to sleep and Mike woke up in time to get Aaron up and to the church in time for his departure.

After getting up, I decided to get weighed in at Weight Watchers -- down 11.5 lbs in 10 weeks, thankyouverymuch!, have my eyebrows waxed, and head to the gym -- in that order. I knew that I would probably be spend the rest of the day de-funking the house thinking that the virus was probably thriving, in our home. And I was sure that I didn't want it. When I came out of the salon for the waxing appt., I realized that I had a flat tire. I called Michael, who in turn came and took care of changing to the spare. We both drove to a place down the road that would repair the tire for us. It was at this stop where I realized that I was not feeling so well. I had a headache coming on, my body was beginning to ache, and I was suddenly feeling very fatigued. I told Michael as much, and told him I would see him at home when he got through.

By the time I got home, I couldn't get in the door and under the covers fast enough. Michael was home just 30 minutes later. I was covered up head to toe, joints hurting so badly I could hardly move, burning up with fever, and had chills. I had tears rolling down my cheeks when he came into check on me. After getting me the meds and the fluids I desperately needed, I slept til 4:00 that afternoon. (I had gotten home around 11:30).

When I woke later, Zack was already beginning to feel like himself again. I still could hardly move, nor did I want to try. My first trip to the restroom post virus-attack, my legs were like jello. Michael had to help me walk. I was so sick, ya'll. Sicker than I have been in a very, very long time. Michael heated me up some chicken noodle soup and brought me a bowl in hopes that it would help build my strength back up. I ate it, and ate it heartily. I was hungry, and still very, very weak.

After eating the soup and drinking ginger-ale, I also ate a popsicle. I did begin to feel like I was going to pull out of it. We all watched tv, the guys played cards, while I was still lying around on the sofa. I went back to bed around 9:30, woke up at 1:30 shivering so badly that I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering. My temp had spiked once again - 102.5. I woke Michael up, begging him to pile more covers on me. The shivering would not stop. My back was spasming -- I was in so much pain, I didn't know what to do. He finally brought me a heating pad, and started placing it in different places on my body intermittently. The chills finally stopped about 30 minutes later - no lie. I thought I was dying!

Believe it or not, just 7 hours later, I felt like that the virus had finally run its course, and I was feeling alive once again. I still was weak, but was beginning to feel good again. We were all waiting for Michael to catch up. Thank God that he did not!

A Labor Day weekend that I don't ever want to repeat! No thanks!!!

Senior Class of 2009

2008-08-19T13:46:00.004-05:00

Finally...

2008-08-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! I wanted to give you the good news. An entire year has passed since Michael's accident; a year since I've had a peace of mind about this whole situation. I'm glad to say that my husband is finally employable again. The best news...he got a job!!

He begins next week as an advertising executive for a local radio station. Therefore, he will still be in the car a lot, but the driving time will only be locally! He will be home for dinner most every night; will not be required to drive the 1000 miles a week that he was doing in his last job. Although it's not "all" that we were hoping for, it has us both looking up again. The benefits package is severely lacking, at least for now. But his new employer hopes to have a good one put together by the end of January or so. For now, I'll keep him on my health, dental and vision plans. We are contemplating whether or not we will continue to pay the COBRA premium or not. I'm thinking that maybe we will, at least until the end of the year. The main reason is that it looks as if Aaron will be getting braces by the end of the year. Michael's formal employer's dental plan is outstanding, and has an orthodontia plan attached to it. My dental plan has that plan as well. But I'm sure you realize that having double coverage for orthodontics is a wonderful thing to have. It cuts the monthly payments substantially.

So that's that, and I'm hoping to get my next post up soon. I wanted to write about Zack's college search. I've put it off for awhile, but think I have finally put it all together in my head to finally be able to write an entry about it.

Until next time.

1st day of school

2008-08-04T12:24:00.004-05:00

Hey everyone. Yeah I'm still around reading blogs. I just haven't posted in over 2 months.

I'm finally getting around to posting another entry. I won't apologize, because that just sounds lame and "I'm all important and such", so I'll just get right to typing.

Today is the first day of school here in Central Georgia. And you know what? There's something so wrong about having to start back to school when it's still 100 degrees outside. Man, am I ever thankful for air conditioners!

Aaron started middle school today. He was going to ride the bus this morning, but for some reason it never came by. Mysterious, because it's been coming by for years now for other students in the neighborhood! This will be the first year that he's ridden the bus, because we lived too close to the elementary school in years past.

Zack started the first day of his senior year - boo hiss! He actually drove himself to school for the very first time today. We had his senior portraits taken a couple of weeks ago. They turned out really well. If you would like to see the proofs, email me or let me know in the comments section, and I'll be glad to send you the link. We had some taken at school this summer, and we also had some taken at a professional studio.

It's been an emotional first day for me, no kidding. I was very sad, and cried on my way to work. I guess every mother goes through this at some point in their kids' lives. From preschool, to kindy, to "big school". It's just all so surreal to me. The last 17 years of parenting have flown by entirely too fast!

Yeah, so Zack's driving now -- full speed ahead. Still dating Arrie, and still pursuing his college choice. It will be an extremly busy year for him, what with Debate competitions and multiple club activities, no to mention the two AP classes, Calculus and Spanish, as well as a 2-hour Humanities class. I hope he can keep his grades up. He definitely has his work cut out for him.

Aaron is just beginning the soccer season. Practices will begin in the next week or so (can you imagine practicing in this HEAT?), with games beginning the first week of September.

Michael has had a wonderful summer home with the boys. He said although it's been very tough financially for us for him to be unemployed, he's enjoyed doing things with the boys. He has just gotten released from all his doctors to go back to work the first part of July. He also had time to give Zack some more driving training, which helped us both more confident in letting Zack drive. He is smack dab in the middle of multiple interviews. Three of them over the last couple of weeks, and one today. He also has a phone interview (which is actually a 2nd interview from one that he went to last week). I would appreciate your prayers and good thoughts. We are both so ready for him to go out into the work field again.

Until next time!

In lieu of a title...

2008-05-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

The month of May, as well as the 2007-08 school year is quickly coming to a close. I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed by. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend. We certainly did, spending some family time at the lake and on the water.

Zack’s national debate tournament (in Wisconsin) was this past weekend. It was a looong weekend – the six students and three chaperones left at 8:30 Thursday morning, and didn’t make it back home til after midnight Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, none of the team members placed in the tournament, which means that the Vegas tournament for Zack (and his dad getting to chaperone the trip) won’t happen. Honestly though, I think it is a blessing in disguise, because at the tail end of the long trip to Wisconsin, Zack is heading to Niagara Falls, Canada with the youth choir next week. They are going to be gone for eight days, and are blessed to do some mission work while they are there. They will be working on and repairing homes of seniors with fixed incomes. They will also perform a couple of concerts at different churches while they are there. I thought that maybe we could make this into a family vacation when I first learned of this trip. I thought Michael would be long-settled into a job again by now, alas, it is not meant to be. To say I’m disappointed would be an understatement.

Speaking of Michael’s job – he is just beginning the job hunt. He’s at a time in his life that he knows he can’t go back to being on the road like he used to. But by the same token, he’s just unsure what his career goals should be. The doctor told him that he could give him the go ahead – to seek employment – at any time by giving him the official medical release, but wanted to let him do some therapy on his own first (non-ordered) to see if his progress would regress, impede, or continue to improve. Ironically, his knee has begun to bother him a bit more in recent days – and he’s trying to decide if he should call the orthopedist to examine him. The knee was injured in the accident when the bottom of his thigh bone actually came through the kneecap. Up to now, he’s made good progress where his knee is concerned. I’m thinking he’ll be making an appt. in the next few days if it doesn’t improve.

My trip to Colorado was wonderful. The bonding my sister and I were able to do while I was visiting is irreplaceable. We had a fantastic time. I was honored to be able to watch my nephew graduate from high school. I want to post some pictures, but haven’t had the time (or energy, lately) to download them to my laptop. I’ll attempt to post some soon – but can’t promise when that might be!

We had parents’ night for orientation to middle school a couple of weeks ago, and it made me sad to think that my baby is heading toward adulthood so fast. He is excited about this new venture, and can’t wait to be in Band, so he can play music. He’s done hand bells at church for two years now, but now wants to spread his wings and learn a new instrument. Zack’s girlfriend has volunteered to tutor him this summer in a couple of instruments to see which he may be interested in.

Friday is the last day of school for the boys. Zack exempted all but one of his semester finals and is finished except to take that exam tomorrow afternoon. We all have a busy weekend ahead – two graduation barbecues as well as a graduation ceremony. Arrie, Zack’s girlfriend, is graduating, and her parents have invited us over in the afternoon on Saturday for a cookout. The ceremony begins at 7:00.

I guess that’s it for now, with the exception of having to buy a new grill. On our old one the burners finally burned through, so we had to put it out by the street. I guess Michael will be getting his Father’s Day gift a little early. We got to be able to do the summer cookouts, right?

Until next time!

Miscellaneous

2008-05-02T09:46:00.000-05:00

I guess I’m slipping back into my old ways…and that being I’m neglecting my blog. This part of the year is so very busy for us, as we begin to wrap up the school year; i.e., final exams, AP exams, cramming, award ceremonies, etc. The sports and hand bell practices continue for Aaron – so our schedules begin to get crunched, thus the reason for abandoning this website.

I figured I owed my blog (and the few readers I have left) an update.

After my doctor ordered a CT scan of the head following four sinus infections in as many months, everything turned out “normal” – good? Yes, but now we still can’t figure out why I continue to get them. At the moment, things have settled down – I don’t feel bad. The regimen of meds I’m currently on are and have been helping now for over two weeks (fingers crossed). Let’s hope that trend continues.

Prom night turned out great. Everyone had a good time. Arrie’s parents didn’t have to send anyone home for getting out of hand. NO ONE got more than an hour of sleep. I believe Zack is still attempting to catch up on his. I think Zack’s respect grew immensely for us letting him be allowed to be part of that night away.

Aaron’s middle school orientation is next week – OMG – I don’t think I’m ready for this. Middle school? Where has my baby gone? He is looking forward to having a bit more freedom educationally – and having multiple class changes (as well as teachers) during the day. He is also looking forward to riding the bus. We’ve always lived too close to school for him to be allowed to ride, so he’s always been dropped off and picked up by us.

He said he was also very interested in being a part of the drama club – which I think is great. Aaron is a part of the cast in a musical at our church this evening. I take this latest statement to mean that he’s taking this gig more serious than first thought. It’s his first real “part” in acting and he is responsible for 8 or 9 lines. I think I’m more nervous than he is.

Zack is scheduled for the Scholastic Aptitude Testing (SAT) exam tomorrow morning. He is required to be there at 7:45. That should be interesting to say the least. He is SO not a morning person that boy. He’ll just need to go to bed by 10:00 tonight to ensure he gets a good night’s rest.

Our belated anniversary trip to Savannah will begin about the time Zack gets out of the bed in the morning. Our plan is to be out of the house and gone by 6:30. His girlfriend will be taking him (along with her sister, who is also taking the exam) to the testing site. Zack will be taken somewhere else to spend the night away, while Aaron will be with Arrie overnight. I’m looking forward to this trip in so many ways. The wedding we’re attending is at 4:00, so we’ll have some time to just hang out and sight see before the ceremony. We’ll be home on Sunday evening.

I still owe an entry on Zack’s college search. I promise it will still be written.

Until next time.

Prom 2008

2008-04-26T22:37:00.010-05:00

If you can believe it, Zack's junior is quickly coming to a close. I am having a very difficult time wrapping my brain around that fact myself.

My son has grown up in the blink of an eye. (sniff! sniff!)

These pictures were taken in our yard this afternoon before the prom. (her prom -- he didn't want to go to his -- figured they would go to that one next year.

They actually met up with 3 additional couples (and two stag males) at their restaurant of choice after these pictures were taken.
I want your opinions on something. I hope I didn't make the wrong decision. Curious about your thoughts.

Arrie 's (Zack's girlfriend) parents have opened up their home to an all night fellowship for Zack, Arrie and their friends. Their plan after the prom is to run home, change into comfortable clothes and go bowling. After they're finished bowling they're headed to Arrie's house for some popcorn and movies. All of them plan on staying away all night, with Arrie's parents in the house. (Their house is only 1500 sq ft, and their bedroom is right off of the den).

They all are going to church in the morning in their prom attire.

Be honest...would you all be ok with your teen(s) given permission to do the aforementioned in this situation?

Why or why not?

I'm 39 today!

2008-04-17T12:42:00.002-05:00

Happy birthday to me. This will be my last birthday in my 30's. Waaa! Where has the time gone? The answer is beyond me!

I was thinking about this the other day and realized how big a year 2009 will be for us. Huge milestones next year for sure! Our 20th anniversary, my 40th birthday, Zack turning 18, Zack graduating from high school, and (gulp!!) also beginning college!!

But...I guess I need to age gracefully, and just let it all sink in.

OMG -- I'll be 40 years old in 365 days!!!!!!!!

Catch up entry on what's up with Aaron

2008-04-10T09:29:00.003-05:00

Aaron is definitely keeping us on our toes these days. First and foremost, he’s been struggling academically this semester, specifically in the subject of Math. Standardized testing is scheduled for week after next. All 5th graders are required to take and score a minimum for Reading and Math sections in order to be promoted, or be required to take summer study classes to retake the standardized test at the end of these courses. We are a little concerned that Aaron will not make the minimum score in Math.

We feel we are doing everything right. Examples: he’s been in after school tutoring for Math twice a week for the last six weeks. His brother (you know, our young mathematician) has been checking over his homework papers, and going over mistakes with him. Apparently, when it comes to testing, Aaron gets a mental block. He rushes through to get through due to frustration levels. The last report card Aaron received, he had a 79 in Math. Since then, I would guess to say that it has slipped down even further. My question is this…how could this be the same child as the honor roll student of last year? Different teacher? Perhaps. But from having an “A” in Math to the fear of failing this year? I just don’t get it. Any suggestions?

Aaron is still loving soccer. He has become the team’s 1st string goalie. The teammates look to Aaron very respectfully. These two things combined have definitely helped his confidence level on the field this year.

I can hardly believe that my youngest son will be in middle school this fall. *He* can hardly believe it either. He’s growing up way too fast!

P.S. Just as a clarification...the person (Robbie) that I mentioned in my last entry is Michael's sister. My sister is the one I'm flying out to visit with and attend her son's high school graduation. I think I confused some of you. Sorry! :)

Until next time!

Next up…

Zack’s college search, and the latest discovery that we've made about funding the same.

Continuing as promised...

2008-04-07T15:30:00.001-05:00

The allergy troubles that I was having when I first put up the list of what's to come on my blog, for the most part (and I cross all things crossable here) has worked itself to a "better" mode. I no longer have continuous sinus drainage down the back of my throat. I'm not constantly sneezing. For the most part, the sore throats and headaches are staying away. The ENT specialist put me on an elixir of meds hoping it would soon do its magic. It looks that for now, it has begun to do so.

I have an appointment on May 1 for a follow-up with him. For now anyway, I can safely say that I can go in there with a good report. He had told me that if it wasn't a good bit better that he was probably going to discuss the next step with me -- which was of course, a tonsillectomy. He told me when I was in his office last that my tonsils have become "pitted" over time from numerous infections, and that THAT was why I was having continuous sore throats. The infection would never completely go away. It would then rear its ugly head once the antibiotics got out of my system.

Some of you may know that I have a sister who lives in Colorado near Springs. She and I are the closest of all our siblings. She called me one time last fall right after her son started his senior year of high school. She was very emotional and told me that she was dreading when her son graduated this spring, and the fact that she had no family around her for support made her even more sad. I told her then that if there was any way possible that I was going to be there for his graduation. Thanks to getting a nice sum back from our taxes this year, I'm flying to Colorado Springs in just over five weeks...all by myself! I say that because I feel the need to get away by myself for awhile. I've had to shoulder so much these past few months. I'll be leaving on May 15th, and returning on the 19th. This nephew is the brother of the neice that went on vacation with us last fall.

Oh -- one more thing. Robbie got a great report from the Mayo Clinic last week. She is currently cancer free! She has to endure 4 chemo treatments as a precautionary measure only. To say that she is excited is a huge understatement. You may remember that when she was diagnosed last June that the one thing she asked for was to see her son graduate high school. Now here we are six weeks away from his graduation.

All I can say is I am so glad that our family is finally getting some good news again!

Until next time!

Next up...

- A catch up entry on what Aaron has been up to lately.

Our (delayed) anniversary plans

2008-04-04T12:48:00.005-05:00

As some of you may have already read in a previous entry, Michael and I just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on March 25. Due mostly to financial constraints we opted not to do anything special together besides having dinner out until we can better afford it.

Then I remembered a dear friend’s wedding that’s happening in Savannah on May 3rd. I had an aa-ha! moment and suggested to Michael that we make this our anniversary trip. I thought that we could spend two nights away to begin with. Then I looked at my calendar and realized that Zack has the SAT exam on the morning of the 3rd. I didn’t think it a good idea to allow him to spend the night away before an uber-important exam such as this. So, we decided to wait and leave town at dawn that day. We have worked it out that he will be picked up and taken to the testing site by his girlfriend, who will then return to the house with Aaron until the testing is complete. (He has a vehicle, yes, but doesn’t have his regular license yet. We are working on him getting them. Just not quite there yet.) She has also agreed to pick him up. They'll all have lunch together, and then take Zack to where he will be spending the evening and night. She and Aaron will spend the night at our house. Works out perfectly for us.

It’s a mere three hour drive to Savannah, and the wedding is at 4:00 in the afternoon, so we’ll have sufficient time to site see, enjoy lunch together, get checked into our hotel, and get ready for the ceremony. The wedding reception will be a sit down affair at the famous chef Paula Deen’s Restaurant, (http://www.ladyandsons.com/) which means the only money we’ll need is for fuel, lunch, and any souvenirs that we may want – oh, and a wedding gift for the happy couple of course! I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! The best part of this trip? Michael was able to use the last of his Hilton honor points to reserve a top notch hotel spot for us. Buffet style breakfast included!

All in perfect timing, no?

Until next time!

Next up --
- This never ending allergy crap!!
- Tonsillectomy in my future?

- My future trip to Colorado Springs...alone; May 15 - 19

Michael's recovery progress report...another surgery ahead?

2008-04-02T14:11:00.001-05:00

Michael had an orthopedic appt on Monday, and it looks like, at least for now, that surgery is not on the horizon. His physical therapists have been documenting that stiffness and/or scar tissue is impeding progress. After several tests last week they told him that they were sending his doctor(s) notes to describe what was going on. The flexibility in his foot has stopped increasing. Stiffness is an understatement…I think the word they used was “frozen”. The doctor told us way back when that this may happen, and “may” require surgery. For now, the doctor is modifying the therapy treatment, to focus specifically on his gait. He thinks that Michael is favoring the foot so much that the flexing isn’t happening mainly because of habitual “compensating”. Does all that make sense? He’ll begin that therapy on Friday.

In the meantime, the doctor has scheduled an MRI for his shoulder. He has had shoulder pain since a couple of days after the accident, and even mentioned to the doctors this fact. They were more worried about his foot and leg (rightfully so) at that time, and casually mentioned to him that they would put off tests of the shoulder until a time that he wasn’t going to have to rely on that shoulder for mobility. (Remember, he used a walker exclusively for 4 months post-accident, and obviously had to rely on use of both arms).

Michael mentioned to the doctor once again this past Monday that his shoulder was still bothering him and was anxious to get something done about the pain he was continuing to have. The MRI will be done later in the month. I’ll keep you updated on the results.

Until next time.

Next up --
- Anniversary trip; May 3 - 4

Of posts to come...

2008-03-25T14:01:00.004-05:00

Just so that I have something to help me remember, as well as to keep my reader(s)? coming back, I wanted to put a list here of different subjects about what I want to blog.

- Michael's recovery progress report
- Another surgery ahead?

- Anniversary trip; May 3 - 4

- This never ending allergy crap!!
- Tonsillectomy in my future?

- My future trip to Colorado Springs...alone; May 15 - 19

- Catch up on what's up with Aaron blog entry

- Zack's College search

- Zack's 1st prom, April 26

- Zack's 1st car - finally purchased (the one we looked at way back when didn't work out for us)

Happy Anniversary, my love!

2008-03-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

I want to say a BIG “Happy Anniversary” to my wonderful husband. Nineteen years ago today, I was walking down the aisle, at the arm of my dad, toward my life partner, my best friend.

I don’t tell Michael enough how much I appreciate him. We have been through many rough times through the years (these last 8 – ½ months notwithstanding!) but we can always count on each other for never-ending encouragement, love and support.

I love you Michael – more than words can ever say! This poem says so eloquently what doesn’t come so easy for me.

I Love You Because

I love you because of your sweet, gentle, ways;
So, slow to condemn, so quickly to praise.
Encouraging words, with a soft easy touch ...
Just some of the reasons why I love you so much.

I love you because you are honest and strong.
Right here, in my arms, is where you belong.
You hold me, console me, and you are my best friend.
I can't live without you, no need to pretend.

I love you because you light up my days,
Fill my heart and my soul with your sweet loving ways.
I love you because you never pretend.
And if I'm hardheaded, you always give in.

You're so easy to love, so hard to forget;
Faithful and true since the day that we met.
I could search the world over and still never find
A love like yours. You are one of a kind.

I love you because you are quick to forgive
Overlooking my faults each day that I live,
So slow to anger, so quick to respond
To my loving wishes; above and beyond.

Thank you for choosing me to be your wife!

Sickness, sickness, go away!!!

2008-02-19T19:14:00.009-05:00

Here it is little more than a week after my last post, and unfortunately I have been sick at least half of those days.

Zack had a debate tournament this past weekend. We didn't get home until 2:00 on Sunday morning. He and his partner came in 4th place out of 30 other teams. The top 3 teams are going to Vegas this summer. Although he was very disappointed he didn't make 1st, 2nd or 3rd, he was excited that he made it as far as he did. It was a double elimination tournament, and the last debate of the night was his team's 2nd loss, thus knocking him out of 3rd place.

Overall -- that part of the weekend was good. All day Saturday my throat was feeling raw from sinus drainage, but wasn't feeling too terrible. It was the ride home where the symptoms of my previous malade reared their ugly heads. The sinus drainage and pressure, the dry cough, the sore throat and fever all were making me miserable. I spent the next two days in bed and went back to the doctor yesterday. I marched into the exam room (after spending 45 minutes in the waiting room -- apparently everyone else has been suffering from similar symptoms) and, after listening to my lungs, and examing my throat and ears told me that bronchitis was plaguing me again (still, I say!). So I'm currently on my third round of antibiotics and having to use an Albuterol inhaler four times a day. Doc said that my chest was very tight -- and this combo should do the trick of loosing up the mucous in my lungs. So, we shall see!!! I had to go back to work today, suffering through a blinding headache most of the day. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll be feeling quite a bit better and can say I'm over the worst part of it.

Zack's girlfriend traveled with us on the 2 hour trip to the tournament. She had never been to any of his competitions, and was curious to know what Debate was all about. We gladly invited her along with us. It actually helped him pass the time way in between rounds.

The boys are out of school this week for winter break and are enjoying playing the Wii with different friends coming over different days. It helps pass the "boredom" away they say. Well that and they're staying out of their dad's hair as well. Win/win, right? :)

Zack is competing in another tournament this weekend. The top three teams of that trip will go to Appleton, Wisconsin for competitions on Memorial Day weekend. It's apparently a pretty big meet for the winners. We shall see. Wish him luck!!

Until next time...

Good news, and not so good news...

2008-02-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

I know. It's been awhile, right? Well believe it or not, I am *just* getting over all that mess that I've been fighting for OVER THREE WEEKS. I ended up getting bronchitis, which actually turned into walking pneumonia. Three days of missed work, a chest x-ray, a round of antibiotics, as well as a shot in the hip, and a multitude of bills and pills later, I am finally on the mend, I think (fingers and everything else crossed!). Of course, not before each member of my family was stricken with something eerily similar. But, they too are all now on the mend -- thank God!

Now for the not so good news...

There is so much going on lately that I don't really know where to start. Lots of stressors lately...at work as well as home. Michael is still unable to return to work at his job, and is now officially unemployed. They came and picked up ALL his company assets last week while I was sick at home. It wasn't an unpleasant experience, all things considering. His former boss was as wonderful as he could be. Told him he could reapply when he was able. But, in the same breath also told him that that the promoted position that he received over a year and half ago was being phased out! This news has all but put Michael under. Depression...and thus I have followed. I hate this! It has been just over six months since the accident, and we are still in limbo! He's still in some type of therapy 4 to 5 days a week. He's doing ALL he can to get better, and he's being punished for not being able to go back by the six month mark! Ugh!!

I have become unhappy at my job. Stuff I won't go into at this time (there is a coworker that reads me sometimes. I may talk to her about the circumstances at some point) but will plan on explaining here in detail sometime in the future. Suffice it to say that there is a lot of uneven ground going on. It's become a real chore to show up at work.

Aaron begins soccer practice this week. The one good thing about Michael still being home is the fact that HE will be able to do some of the transporting this spring to the sporting events, and let me have some downtime.

I don't know if any of you remember this or not. But annually, Michael's sister, Robbie and I are invited to an all female cousins' retreat (coincidentally, it's actually their mother's female cousins). February 23 & 24 will be the weekend for the event this year. This month makes 10 years since the death of Michael's mother, and we (Robbie, me and and all the cousins) plan on doing something really special in her memory. I'll let you know more details after I find out more of them. It's being kept hush hush for the moment. Bittersweet times for us, I'm sure, but I can't wait for some wonderful bonding time with them all.

Zack was chosen as first alternate to compete in the school Math competition this next week. The winner(s) could win some scholarship money, so we are very hopeful! ;)

Until next time..

Still fighting with this illness

2008-01-16T22:28:00.001-05:00

Urgh! I swear I cannot get rid of this earache. I'm tired of being in pain. I've finished my antibiotics, and have since then called the drs office back to get some drops called into the pharmacy. I'm on the third day of that script, and I still have pains in my ear that feel as if someone is pushing a hot poker through the canal at times! If I'm still hurting tomorrow afternoon, I think I'll ask for another appt. He'll tire of seeing me soon and will want to figure out what's going on so he won't have to hear from me anymore. But something's gotta give -- that's for sure.

Zack is leaving to go on a three day trip tomorrow after school. The school Beta Club is having their annual state convention in Atlanta starting Friday morning, where he will be competing in the Quiz Bowl competition. Counting shopping/souvenir money, food, lodging, etc., it will put us back a pretty penny. But he was really looking forward to going, since back in October when we had to put a deposit down for the trip, so we really wanted to allow him to attend.

I signed Aaron up for soccer yesterday. I thought he might want to try baseball this year, but it's not to be, I guess. He took tennis camp in a summer enhancement course last year. He IS interested in beginning tennis lessons though. The teacher that taught the summer course teaches lessons to kids in the fall, spring, and summer. So, I'm curious to know what the cost will be. He's a professional tennis coach, so I hope it's not too outrageous!

Today marks five years since my mother passed away. I can hardly believe it's been half a decade. I'm giving blood this weekend in honor of this date. I really miss her, and wish I could still talk to her one on one.

Michael and I are going out with friends this weekend. Two other couples and we will be going out to eat at a Japanese steakhouse where they cook right in front of you! I'm excited; the big reason is we haven't done a lot of socializing since the accident. I'm looking forward to catching up with some of our friends again.

Enjoy the rest of your week. I will try my best to do that myself!

Sicknesses Abound

2008-01-12T08:22:00.000-05:00

What started as a cold New Year's weekend, ended in a bad sinus infection this week. This past Wednesday, I woke up to my throat closing up and my ears feeling as though they were filled with fluid. Thursday found me in my doctor's office getting scripts for a sinus infection and the beginning of an ear infection. To top it all off?? Last Saturday I had a pedicure for the first time in two months -- which led to me getting a badly infected ingrown toenail by Thursday. I began soaking it in warm Epsom salt water two to three times a day. Today it's feeling a tad bit better, but looks horrible! I'm afraid I may have to call in a favor to Michael's uncle (who is a surgeon) to look at and drain for me before the weekend is over with. Ouch!!

Oh yeah, there's more --

Michael began saying last night that one of his ears was beginning to bother him. I put some ear drops in his ear, but told him he would probably need to get on an antibiotic to clear it up. He went to his men's breakfast this morning, so he must be feeling somewhat better. Time will only tell, I guess.

There is some good news that I can share in this post as well:

Michael's sister Robbie had major surgery Friday before last. To give you some background on it...

The cancer that started in her colon (she had a resection done in June) spread to her liver. Two masses were found back in August/September time frame. The goal for the doctors was to treat her with agressive chemo strong enough so that those tumors would either disappear or would shrink enough that they could surgically remove them. After an MRI showed one mass disappearing altogether (thank GOD!), the other one was now small enough for surgical intervention. They began doing other tests to ensure that the disease hadn't spread elsewhere when they found a suspicious spot on her lung. They told her that if this spot was malignant, they couldn't and wouldn't do anything else for her. The "suspicious" spot on her lung turned out to be nothing else but scar tissue from several bouts of bronchitis over the last few years (thank GOD that was all it was!). We found out the good news the day before she was to host our entire family at her house for Christmas dinner. Fast forward to January 4, she underwent the liver surgery. They ended up removing 50% of her liver as well as the mass. The surgery went wonderfully, much better even than the doctor had hoped. He was able to do everything laparoscopically, but because of liver involvement in the cutting, it will take her months to fully recover. Did you know that the liver is the only human organ that eventually regenerates itself? I didn't either! That's just amazing to me! It will take close to a year to full regenerate. She was released from the hospital this past Thursday, where she is currently recovering with family in Jacksonville, who lives very close to the Mayo hospital there. Her goal is to be back home for her son's birthday, which is January 25. Shortly after that she will go through three more months of chemo to ensure that all the cancer is gone from her body. She is worried though about full recovery. Because the liver had already been attacked with cancer, then the removal of half of it, and now the chemo given to attack more (good as well as the bad) cells in her body, she is rightfully concerned that she won't bounce back to a healthy person. She is a very social, vivacious, loving person who I'm glad to call my sister. She loves her family with every fiber of her being. Her son graduates from high school the end of May. I'm sure she must be thinking a lot about the future right now. I would appreciate any prayers for her.

Then my sister, who lives in Alabama, had a benign tumor removed from her adrenal gland this past Tuesday. Although benign, it was causing her to have uncontrolled, dangerous blood pressure levels. I'm happy to report that she is back home recovering after a very scary few weeks for all of us.

Michael's recovery is going grand! He's beginning to walk with a cane now. He's been on a walker and/or wheelchair since the accident over five (!!) months ago. This is a huge step forward (pun not intended) for him. His hopes are to be back at work in 4 to 6 weeks. I pray that this happens, but I know that several things in the past have put this on hold. One being him having a staph infection on a place on his arm that he had to have surgically drained. It's definitely time for some good things to happen to us, no doubt!!

That brings me to this current paragraph. Our Christmas day was fabulous - and now the boys are back in school. Our life is beginning to turn to semi-normal, I guess. Zack's junior year is flying by -- and doing great. He has won first place trophies in debate tournaments more than once this school year. His grades are outstanding -- 2 AP classes this year have kept him to 2 B's and 4 A's for the first semester, with a current solid 3.75 overall GPA. We just received his PSAT scores that was taken back in October. His freshman year his score was a 1740 out of 2400, his sophomore year an 1850, and this year a 1960. If this trend continues, he'll have well over 2000 for his SAT scores to be taken in May this year. Hopefully, this will have schools from all over knocking on our door. ;) Aaron is doing well in school this year, too. 2 A's and 2 B's overall.

That just about catches you all up in what's going on in our life. I hope that 2008 brings each of you health and happiness!

Until next time -- take care of yourself. It is still flu season afterall! :)

In 2008 I will...

2008-01-04T12:16:00.000-05:00

Love me for who I am. . .

Be the person that I want to be, not what others want me to be. . .

Show and tell those that I love exactly how I feel because we never know what tomorrow will bring. . .

Instead of trying to change myself to please others, I will only change myself to please ME. . .

Take more time to myself. I DO deserve a break once in awhile. . .

Live life to the fullest, love like I"ve never loved before, laugh more times than I will cry, and be happy with whatever God has in store for me. . .

This year, WILL be better than the last, but not as good as next!

Christmas parties, pics and more!

2007-12-04T14:44:00.000-05:00

Not really too much to say right now, besides a very hectic ongoing schedule. We just wrapped up our churchwide Christmas program this past weekend, which went beautifully, I might add. With practices for Aaron almost daily though, I for one am glad for it to be over with. He was starting to become a little irritable (ok, a lot!).

The children's program and the handbell's program is Dec 16 and 19, respectively, and Aaron will be part of these two events as well. I think he has picked up the acting/drama bug. He is really enjoying himself this year!

My office Christmas party was this past Saturday night. It was the first time since the accident that Michael and I had been able to have an adults only night. Even though he was using a walker, we're incredibly happy that he was able to attend. We had great fun, a night of rejuvenation, free food and fellowship; the few drinks I had helped round the evening off nicely. :)

I won't go into it right now, but Michael has a (different) job prospect that is waiting for him if he wants it. The employer wants him to come to work for him at any capacity he can after the first of the year, until he's 100% again. I'm not sure how that will work out though. Kind of concerning to me, actually. In this position, there will be no out of state (a 100 mile radius maximum) traveling. This will bring him home with us...on a regular basis. We're not sure if it's what God wants us; so we continue to pray about it. He is supposed to meet with him again by the beginning of next week. I'll give out more info when/if Michael makes the decision.

More later!

Je suis fini (with shopping, that is)!!

2007-11-26T14:08:00.000-05:00

Our Thanksgiving meal went very nicely. My sister and her husband, and the four of us went out to a place in town to eat our turkey, and it was splendid. The best part? No clean up, and no leftovers for daaaayyys! :)

Black Friday had Michael and me up before the crack of dawn (3:45) and out the door by 4:15. Aunt Gail's $1,000 gift (can you believe the amount?!?) was well worth the early rise. Michael waited in line at one place while I waited in another. The one family gift (The W!!) we wanted to get this year was what we were hoping to get our hands on - and the demand for it was very high everywhere. I had no success where I was. Michael was #6 in line at the place he was waiting, but the store didn't open til 7:00. Come to find out...they had only 9 in the store, so we got what we were searching for! Yes, we waited in line over 2 hours to get it, but I think it will be well worth it.

I do have to look for Michael another gift -- a small one that he can open and be surprised about -- we were present with the gifts that we bought for each other. I have had my eye on some cookware for awhile, and finally found it on sale at K0hl's. He picked up some tools at Lowe's that he had been wanting, so we are through with each other's big gift. We also got Aaron a 2GB MP*3 player with case, charger, and armband for less than $50 on sale. A rubik's cube was also something we found for him that he'd been asking for, along with some Transformer type figurines. We picked up Zack a couple of shirts along with some Georgia Bullog lounge pants.

I found some jean's for the boys -- Goody's had all their denim on sale the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, including Duckhead, Polo, and Levi; so that is out of the way.

We'll be getting Zack's car for him sometime this week. We got a 1996 Mercury Sable with just under 100K miles on it, and runs wonderfully. What's not so wonderful is the insurance premiums--$1,100 for 6 months just to add him to our policy!! Can you say sticker shock!?! And that's with the good student and driver's education course discount!

I can hardly believe that Christmas is less than a month away. After the accident happened, the rest of the year has been a blur, and therefore, has passed at record speed. Michael's PT begins tomorrow-yay!

The month of December holds a very busy schedule for our family, with Church Christmas programs (x 3 - to include Aaron's handbell program), Christmas parties and (x 2, possibly 3). I hope we can get through it all without too much stress. :)

I'll close this entry for now, but look to post another entry before the week is up. Bye for now!

Shopping, Physical Therapy and Thanksgiving

2007-11-19T11:56:00.000-05:00

First of all, I wanted to share details of my shopping venture this past Saturday. Although I had lots of fun just hanging out with friends all day, I didn't get done as much as I wanted to. Aside from a few things for the house (ornament, dishcloths and dishtowels), I was only able to find a (very) few Christmas gifts. The big need was finding the boys some jeans, which I haven't been able to find yet. I'm going out this week to the mall hoping I can get some good finds. We're not going to be getting Zack too much. We've spent nearly $1,000 on him since school began this year, with purchasing his class ring last month and the mandatory driving course that he just completed. Plus he'll be going on a big youth trip (to Niagra Falls and Canada) with the church next summer, so we'll be putting money away for that each month, so that we won't have to pull it out of the air come June.

I wanted to give an update on physical therapy as well. Michael is scheduled for his evaluation for PT on Wednesday. He will be going 3 x a week for 6 weeks, then be re-evaluated to see how the recovery effort is coming along. His foot is really beginning to look (half)-normal again, And that combined with beginning PT is helping us to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We just have to keep reminding ourselves how much worse it could have been.

I'm sad about Thanksgiving plans this year. In my thirty-eight years of living, I have always been surrounded by a house full of people for this holiday. This week, only my sister and brother-in-law will be joining us. I'm trying to be thankful (hello, it is Thanksgiving after all!), but I'm having a very difficult time about it for some reason. I guess I'm missing my folks this time of year as well.

If I don't post before the holiday, I hope everyone enjoys their time with family and friends. Stay safe!

Arrrrgggghh!!!

2007-11-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

Hubby is at the doctor's office for a scheduled visit with the plastic surgeon as I type this, but the skin graft took a turn for the worse over the weekend. Over the last few bandage changes, we've noticed what appeared to be skin peeling off. Saturday night's change showed that most of the skin was just hanging loose around the edges of the wound. When I looked at it this morning, the hanging skin had turned black, so...not sure what that means, but he says he's not going to do another graft, and let it heal on its own. This may delay the physical therapy even further. We'll have to see what the surgeon says today. He also has an appt with the orthopaedic doctor tomorrow. Depending on what the doctor says today will depend on what the ortho doctor wants to do next.

I'm feeling very frustrated at the moment. We think we make 1 step forward, then we have to take 2 steps back. Michael is feeling very discouraged at the moment as well. Will update after the appt.

I'm going on a ladies Christmas shopping trip with our church this Saturday. For obvious reasons, at first I had decided not to even sign up to go. But I received a phone message from Michael's aunt Gail on Friday afternoon telling me that she wanted me to take a friend along, and enjoy the day. The message stated that she was going to give me some shopping money to shop for Christmas for my family. I was speechless! What a blessing this woman has been in our lives throughout the good times, and the bad!

Appt update:

Apparently, only about 30% of the graft took, so we'll have to take measures to prepare the exposed skin for healing on its own. The doctor told him that the ortho doctor can safely allow him to begin physical therapy. He was instructed to begin scrubbing it with soap and hot water every day to help promote healthy skin growth.

So...not as bad as we thought!

Calling all blog friends...remember me?

2007-11-08T09:15:00.001-05:00

Hi all: Good grief -- has it really been over 10 months since I've last posted an entry? I'm sure some of you *still* remember me, right? ;)

We've had lots of goings on since my post way back in January, that's for sure! Some good, some tragic. I wanted to try to begin blogging again so that I could have a place to put my thoughts.

Firstly, in February, Zack went on his very first date!! As a matter of fact, nine months later they are still dating. Her name is Arrie (sounds like "sorry"); she goes to a rival school in town and is a whole year older than he (which also means she will be 18!! in December). They've known each other as friends from church for a couple of years; i.e., hung out with the same crowd. He finally got the nerve enough to ask her out and the rest is history. ;) She is such a sweet girl; very polite and well-mannered, and seems to have a good head on her shoulders. Dating Arrie has definitely helped Zack become grounded in a real way! He turned 16 in April, and is currently finishing up the newly 2007 mandated driver's education course. His goal is have his Class D license by Christmas. We need to log more supervised driving hours before he can actually go take the test.

Aaron played tackle football this year, and his team came in 3rd place overall. He loved every minute of the season, and is already looking forward to playing again next fall. He is still playing handbells at church, and has recently become a member of a 10-member children's choir ensemble at church. Never a dull moment for him!

In June, Michael celebrated his 40th birthday. Friends hosted a big swimming social with 20 of our friends and grilled out. We had a wonderful time together.

June also brought us some rather shocking news. Michael's sister was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. After undergoing a major reconstructive surgery at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, she is currently in her 6th round of chemotherapy, and seems to be doing fairly well. She has kept her hair, and her spirits are wonderful. She's kept busy with attending her son's football games - where he plays the first string running back as a senior.

It was two months after his birthday that our family began the hellish journey of helping Michael recover from what could have been a fatal motorcycle accident. He broke his left leg and foot in multiple places, which included two compound fractures. His foot required a skin graft, which was done just two weeks ago. Thirteen weeks after the accident, we are still more than a week away from beginning physical therapy. Needless to say, you can imagine the financial and emotional strain this has put on our family. Michael is doing fairly well, and is very anxious to be able to get back to work. He has just been changed from a short term disability employee to a long term disability one, which means that he currently is unofficially a terminated employee. What this boils down to is after he is back to or near 100% and is released medically, he will need to reapply for his old job, or other similar jobs. This may even require applying for a job that would cause us to move away from our home. His boss(es) has/have assured him that he won't have any problems getting back into their employment. We can only pray that this happens. Since the accident though, his boss has moved elsewhere. This means that he'll have a new one to discuss position(s) with once he is ready to go to work.

I hope this post makes sense. My plans are to begin blogging again at least on a weekly basis. And if I can post more frequently than that, it'll be . I have missed blogging dearly!

I appreciate all the prayers you can muster for our current situation. Until next time.

Happy New Year, and Happy birthday to my beloved mother!

2007-01-02T10:13:00.000-05:00

2007 already? Wow...did 2006 just fly by at an incredibly crazy speed, or is it just me thinking this?

The past year brought about some wonderful changes to our lives, the first (February) was discovering what the concerns with Zack and his academics were, and finding the right medication to help Zack to succeed (incredibly so!) in school. Also last year, Dh got his much awaited and much deserved promotion in September. Last year also was a couple of near hits on having to pack up and move away from the hometown we've been in for 18 years. Thankfully, for now anyway, we are staying right where we are.

My hope is for 2007 to be an even better year for our family.

I'm having a pretty difficult time these days of being painfully aware that Zack's 2nd year of high school is already half over. Next year at this time, he'll begin to seriously consider what college he wants to attend, and begin taking graduation tests (in Georgia, they begin this process in their junior year).

Today would have been my mother's 67th birthday. How I miss her terribly so, especially at the tail end of the Christmas holidays. Happy birthday, Mom!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-20T07:38:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Hope you all are keeping your heads above water during this crazy busy time of the year. I am, if only barely! :)

Today is the last day of school for the boys until January 5...Zack has been cramming for finals over the past week or so, and very glad to be finishing up today. Aaron woke up today with a fever, cough, and a sore throat. Hopefully he will fill better before Saturday, because our plan for that day is to go to DH's brother's house in Atlanta for his family's Christmas gathering. If he's still sick, I'll probably end up staying home with him and sending Zack and his dad on. No sense in all of us missing out on the fun. I'll be calling the doctor's office this morning to see if they can fit him in today. He's with his dad right now, and I'll be relieving his caregiving after lunch today.

After today, I'm off work until Wednesday of next week -- yahoo!!! :) Since I've finished decorating, shopping and wrapping, I'll get to enjoy some downtime, instead of dealing with frustrated angry shoppers. Double yahoo!!
A friend and I were planning on taking Aaron and her son to see H*appy F*eet on Friday afternoon, but now that he's sick, that plan may be out the window. We'll have to play that by ear, I guess. I do plan on doing some baking (the W*eight W*atchers friendly kind -- down nearly 9 lbs now in 4 - 1/2 weeks, thank you!) and putting some goodies in the freezer. We've been invited to Christmas Eve lunch at a friend's house, which means that we'll probably be there until we leave for our church Christmas Eve candlelight service, which starts at 6:00. Last year it was a tough service for me, and by the end, I found myself bawling my eyes out, missing my parents dearly.

We're giving Zack our used laptop that we updated with new software for Christmas. He's been wanting one for awhile, and we figured that it will be used frequently, and he'll need to take one when he goes off to college in a couple of years (sniff, sniff). And, as much as he's on our desktop computer working on projects and reports, it can free up our computer more for the rest of us. :) Plus, my company offers an interest free computer loan to their employees with 25% down, so we will be taking advantage of that benefit at some point this next year. Besides the computer, we got him some clothes, and robe and slippers. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add...Zack got his braces off about 3 weeks ago!! I'll have to find some before/after pictures to post (his school pictures this year were awesome, even though they were taken just before getting the braces off - so I need to scan one of them to post).

Aaron's big gift request this year was a scooter, so we got him one in his favorite color, blue. He's played with Zack's used one for a couple of years now, and *still* loves it so much, we thought he deserved (a new) one of his very own. We also purchased him some various X-box and Nintendo games that he had requested. We picked him up a new robe and slippers too, simply because he is growing so much, and nearly out of his current ones. He will be playing handbells at the end of both worship services on Christmas Eve. They will be playing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!" from the balcony that's seen only from the foyer, as people are leaving the facilities.

DH is off all of next week, and plans to take the boys and visit his brother(s) for a couple of days. Speaking of DH, he told me that he didn't want me spending much on him, because of the "spending money" that was used in NY when he was there a couple of weeks ago. He had a fabulous time, and managed to see all the sites that he wished to see, but also managed to come home with blisters upon blisters on his poor feet. I did manage to pick up a couple of needed things for him to unwrap on Christmas morning, a gift from each of the boys, and one from me. He desperately needs some new shoes, but wants to wait until after the holidays to shop for them.

I pray that each of you have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and that you all have safe travels if you get on the roads. And remember what this season is truly about, the birth of God's holy son, Jesus Christ.

Now it is Zack's turn to be bragged on...

2006-11-22T06:49:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I wanted to brag about Zack in my next post, so I wanted to elaborate

When Zack received his first progress report this year, his grades looked something like this:

Spanish/100
World History/92
British Literature/80
Chemistry/83
Algebra II/Pre-Trig/82
Forensics (Debate)/100

When he received his second one, the numbers improved...

Spanish/99
World History/96
British Literature/84
Chemistry/85
Algebra II/Pre-Trig/86
Forensics (Debate)/100

He's currently 2/3 into the last progress report of the current semester, and those B's just keep on rising...

Spanish/99
World History/96
British Literature/86
Chemistry/91
Algebra II/Pre-Trig/90
Forensics (Debate)/100

Can you tell how proud of him I am? Do you recall just last year at this time all the stress we were all under when he got the diagnosis? Do you remember the long, informative email that I sent out regarding the meeting with his teacher(s) and counselor, and how concerned we were? I can honestly say that my son has finally turned over a new leaf. He is maturing into quite the young man. He and other members of the high school math club will be tutoring elementary age children after the start of next semester. He has been invited into the "National Honor Society", where he will be included in the national publication of the same. He has already begun receiving several information pamphlets from several different colleges and universities, and coincidentally, included in those is the University of Rolla (hi Kevin!) in Missouri. His PSAT scores last year were that good. He has recently taken it again. The results will be in the first week of December. I'm anxious to receive those scores to see how much improvement is there from last fall. Comparing to all sophomores, (taking it as a freshman), he scored in the 94% range in Reading, 75% in Math, and 92% in Writing.

In October, we discovered that President Bush would be a special guest at a local Republican rally later during the month. Considering a previous rally that Bush attended cost hundreds/(thousands?) of dollars, when Zack approached me about getting tickets to this one (gratis, I might add) I immediately found out how/when I could pick up tickets, and did so at the earliest hour I could get them. We were able to attend, and Zack couldn't have been prouder to be anywhere. He was all into the candidate that was being pushed. Although Zack (presently) says that his future career is in software/computer engineering, he used to say that he wanted to be an attorney. When he discovered the world's view on the stereotype of this job, he quickly decided against getting into that field. As good as he is as a debater coupled with his keen interest in politics, I still say that he would make an excellent attorney. We can't pick career fields for our kids though, can we? :)

Before I forget, I wanted to mention a trip that DH will be taking the first part of December. And this time, it's a trip of pure and unadulterated leisure. He's heading to the Big Apple...There is a friend of ours whose husband works as a software engineer in NY city during the week and comes home on the weekends, week in and week out; and has been doing so for over a year. As you can imagine, he has built up a high number of sky miles. He has invited Michael (and another of their buddies) to come visit him....using those miles. They plan to go to a play, a hockey game, Central Park and see all the sights that time allotted will allow. I am incredibly envious, but I hope to be able to go on a cruise with his sister and other friends sometime next year.

All in all, things are going very smoothly in our lives, and we are so very richly blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Hi all! Still living and breathing over here. I hope I still have have a handful of readers out there. ;). DH has been at home every night for the last two and a half weeks, and we've all been enjoying spending time with him. It's been nice!

We'll have family in our home for Thanksgiving from Wednesday through Monday (not all of them at one time)...some will be here in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday; others will be arriving on Friday around lunch time. All will be gone by Monday midmorning.

I hope to get out and do some shopping with some of the female members of the family early Friday morning.

I wanted to wish you all a happy, healthy, safe Thanksgiving! And remember what this holiday is all about. Let's truly be thankful for all we have been blessed with.

P.S. I wanted to say that I'm currently working on my next post (bragging on Zack, and other happenings), and hope to have it published before Thanksgiving.

God bless you all!

Aaron, my baby :):)

2006-10-26T19:21:00.000-05:00

Look how big (and handsome!) my baby is getting! The little (big?) smartie just got his first report card -- midterm was given out just over a month ago -- and the stinker received all A's again.

Is this the same boy who was struggling in comprehension last year? I think not. He has certainly found his niche now, hasn't he?

He is such the sensitive type, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. Every night at the completion of his prayers, he always ask for forgiveness on things that he may have done to offend someone during the day. We could all use this ritual, at least I know I could.

His last football game is this weekend. His first handbell performance is on November 12th, and his choir group will be singing in this Sunday evening's service. If that isn't enough, he is participating in a bible drill competition this Saturday from 10:00 - 3:30, one of 8 children picked out of 25. My busy boy, that's for sure!

I'll post about my eldest son and brag on him in my next post. I also want to talk about an awesome invitation that DH received this week. :)

May you all have a good weekend. Our fall festival is this Saturday evening, so we'll be doing it in subsititution of Halloween's trick or treating. Be safe everyone!

2006-10-10T15:53:00.000-05:00

I know I've been lackadaisical in posting lately, but its not for lack of desire to do so. My posting over the last two months has been very sporadic at best. I love blogging; I just don't have the time to do so on a regular basis. If you don't mind reading on a very irregular basis, then I'll continue to blog. :)

A ladies bible study is starting up this Friday evening (alternating Fridays). It's called Conversation Peace - The Power of Transformed Speech (note the spelling of Peace). It will take place in different homes every meeting. I'm excited to be able to start a regular bible study, although I do feel like that I'm really going to have to schedule some time to work on the workbook every week. A video will accompany the studies, and the hostess will just facilitate the study from the DVD.

Aaron has a football game on Saturday a.m. This will be his third to the last game played this season. He truly loves the sport, and has actually told me that next fall that he wants to play "tackle" football. Although this scares me a bit (Tanya - how do you as a mother to a boy that loves to play the game handle watching your baby get tackled?). I guess I do have a whole year to commisurate about it though, don't I?

At 5:00 on the same day, we'll be attending a "Low Country Boil" that our Sunday school class is putting together. If you haven't heard of one of these, it's where they boil together in a big broiler (outside) shrimp, corn, potatoes, and italian sausage. We usually chicken for the kids since most of them don't care for the combination of foods offered in the boil.

Between the church schedule this Sunday morning and evening, we are going to attempt to go to the fair. At least with limited time, we won't have to worry about spending the amount of money we normally do. Though I'm sure the boys will appreciate any time at all that they'll get to spend there.

That's all for now. Hope all is well with you guys!

Tag, you're it!

2006-10-02T18:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks Tanya for tagging me. :)

GRUB-OLOGY
What is your salad dressing of choice? Light Italian or Light Ranch

What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Chick-Fil-A

What is your favorite sit down restaurant? The Olive Garden, or Carraba's

On average, what size tip do you leave at a restaurant?15 to 18%

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Chargrilled Chicken Salad from Chick-Fil-A (and this has been proven).

Name three foods you detest above all others? Anchovies, brussel sprouts, and collard greens

What is your favorite dish to order in a Chinese restaurant? Chicken and Broccoli

What are your pizza toppings of choice? ham and mushroom

What do you like to put on your toast? I can't believe it's not butter and sugar free grape jelly - yummy! :)

What is your favorite type of gum? Stride, spearmint (new kind - it's good).

TECH-OLOGY
Number of contacts in your cell phone? 45

Number of contacts in your email address book? 150

What is your wallpaper on your computer? picture of the boys

What is your screensaver on your computer? Pictures of the kids/and me and DH

Are there naked pictures saved on your computer? no

How many land line phones do you have in your house? One

How many televisions are in your house? 4 (but 2 are for video games only!)

What kitchen appliance do you use the least? electric skillet

What is the format of the radio station you listen to the most? Easy listening mostly, or contemporary Christian.

How many sex toys do you own that require batteries? no comment

BI-OLOGY
What do you consider to be your best physical attribute? My smile.

Are you right handed or left handed? Right

Do you like your smile? yes, because people tell me a lot that I have a nice one. :)

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Do moles count?

Would you like to? no

Do you prefer to read when you go to the bathroom? No, that would be my husband.

Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Definitely my sense of smell.I can smell EVERYTHING, just ask my husband.

When was the last time you had a cavity? Never (honest!)

What is the heaviest item you lift regularly? freeweights at the gym

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? No

MISC-OLOGY
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? Absolutely not

If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? I have no idea

How do you express your artistic side? I don't think I have one of those ;)

What color do you think you look best in? royal blue or pink

How long do you think you could last in a medium security prison? not long at all

Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? I'm sure I have

If we weren't bound by society's conventions, do you have a relative you would make a pass at? Nope

How often do you go to church? 2 to 3 times a week.

Have you ever saved someone's life? no

Has someone ever saved yours? yes

DARE-OLOGY
For this last section, if you would do it for less or more money, indicate how much.

Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000? No

Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? No

Would you have sex with a member of the same sex for $10,000? nope

Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? no

Would you never blog again for $50,000? maybe

Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? No

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? No way! too chicken

Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? No

Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? No

Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? possibly

Now, I will tag Nino, Holly, and Kristin. :)

Remember Me?

2006-09-30T14:29:00.000-05:00

I'm still around. No, I haven't given up on the ole blogging gig; I've just been enjoying the busyness that parenting brings.

Life in this household has definitely been busy, no doubt. Debate tournaments, book reports, projects, club meetings, football practices & games, and handbell practice schedules have all been keeping us moving constantly.

The first progress reports brought wonderful marks for both of the boys. Aaron made all A's (for the first time ever!), and Zack made 3 A's and 3 B's. With all that Zack had on his plate these first few weeks, I can't be too disappointed that he didn't receive all A's. As the year progresses, I know that he'll catch up with the schedules and will get most of those B's back up to A's. I'm not complaining at all that he got B's, but I know it's his desire (and mine) that he get A's as much as he can. With 2 -1/2 years left in high school (oh. my. God!), he knows that colleges will be looking at grades as well as SAT scores.

Aaron has been astonishing me more and more this year. His academics are finally beginning to shine. And, his teacher has emailed me on a weekly basis telling me how proud of him she is, how his maturity level has sky rocketed, even since the beginning of the school year.

I'm so darn proud of my boys, and that includes my husband. He has grown more spiritually these last few months than he has our entire marriage. He's always there reassuring me that no matter how bleak things appear, that things really will be ok. He makes me stronger every day.

Speaking of DH, the first official duties of his promotion will begin the week after next. He's already being compensated for the new title, now he'll have a chance to prove to them that the decision to promote him was indeed the best decision to make.

I hosted a ladies night in last weekend to more than a dozen friends from my Sunday school class. It was so refreshing to me. Zack was out of town at an overnight debate tournament, DH was out of town, and Aaron wanted to spend the night at his best friend's house, so I took advantage of an empty house and sent out a last minute invitation. I was pleasantly surprised to get such a great turnout. We talked about taking turns hosting a gathering on a monthly basis. Next month's plans are already underway, and I can hardly wait!

That's all for now from my neck of the woods. I hope everyone has a blessed week.

Making Changes

2006-09-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

I've decided to change blog providers...no need in paying for something that I can have free of charge, right?

Anyway, you'll be seeing changes to this new site over the next few days and weeks to come as I learn how to get around in this new world.