How Time Flies!!

It's been a fun filled summer here in Kansas! Trips to OKC, and to the D.C. area......spending time with dear loved ones. Seems as though I'm always busy, but haven't accomplished much at all! We are all doing well, taking one day at a time. James is growing so fast I can't keep up, and is quite the little comedian now. He keeps us in stitches most all the time. Heather is still at home after being laid off in June, and loves being at home with James! They just enjoyed his first trip to the Wichita zoo together this week, and he's still talking about it.....he loved it! Mom still comes over every Thursday to spend the day with James, and they are still quite the pair! We will get together to celebrate Mom's birthday tomorrow, and she is doing great. She STILL gets down on the floor to wrestle and tumble with James.......she amazes me! I hope and pray I'm still that active at her age. My sister Vonita is still slowly recovering from her toxic lithium levels.....she has good days and bad days, but we are hoping for the best. My sister Harelda is looking into going back to school after being laid off from Hawker-Beechcraft.......one day shy of 20 years! She is considering being a radiologist, and she would be good at it! We are all beside ourselves happy for my sister Terra, who will become a Grandma for the first time in December! Her daughter, Kourtney will bless our family with a precious new life......and we are still waiting to find out if we should buy pink or blue. My sister Cindy is still a work-aholic, and on the go ALL the time. We practically have to tie her down to get to see her! LOL. She gets to fly with her husband, Craig once in a while, so she has seen some beautiful parts of the world.
I guess that just leaves me and Beryl, and we are still enjoying life as it comes......seems like a roller coaster at times, but at least we have each other to share the ride with! He still works in the oil fields, and I go with him on the weekends, and I LOVE it! For being such a girly-girl, I just love to don the grubbies, put on the greasy gloves, and gauge the tanks, and tighten the stuffing boxes and such.......we always seem to have a blast at it, anyway.
So, I think that brings you up to speed for now.......I'll try to do better at updating more often....
I got some ribbing the other day about it, so here you go, Elizabeth......just for you!! I'll post some pictures soon, and hopefully some videos, also. You all take care, and remember to hug the ones you love! Thanks for sharing my corner of the world with me! God Bless You!!

The Dog Days of Summer

Sleepy, but handsome in his summer haircut......eating lunch

Such a BIG boy on his new play gym...(just tonight he learned he can slide down
on his tummy!!)

As the days grow longer and hotter, we are all adjusting to a new "normal", as, sadly, my
daughter, H, got laid off last week. My heart just breaks for her.....but we are praying that the unemployment benefits will allow her to stay at home for a few months with James. She is still waiting on the paperwork to "crunch the numbers", and see where they stand. The main concern is that she carried the family insurance through her job, and COBRA payments are so outrageous! All I can do is put it all in God's hands, and have faith that He has a reason for it. In the meantime, my days are suddenly quite long, and VERY quiet! Even his toys and stuffed animals seem sad and lonely, and I miss the sound of little feet running amuck through the house, and the sweet sound of his little voice,......(he had JUST started saying "I luff my Mammo"). And there are times that I swear my ears literally ache to hear his contagious laugh!
His vocabulary is absolutely exploding right now, and I long to hear his chatter. I still get to see him most anytime I want.....but I am trying to let them settle into their own new routine without my interrupting every day. If I had MY way, I would be over there every day at the crack of dawn and spend the whole day with him! LOL. The good stress is that I am getting motivated to get some things done around the house that seem to have been put on hold for the last two years, so that will keep me very busy, and I am actually starting to look forward to it. It has taken me a few days to wrap my head around it, and I'm sure my poor daughter thought I was some sort of whack job the first day or two. I cried a river of tears, and you'd have thought he was moving across the country!! I had to give myself an attitude adjustment, and did ALOT of praying about it, and I am in a much better frame of mind now. I still (and always will) worry about how they will make it, but H is a strong woman, and a force to be reckoned with when she needs to be, and I am sure she will be just fine. But as many of you know, they are ALWAYS your babies, no matter HOW old the are, and it's just my maternal perogative to worry. LOL.
Honestly, I am thrilled that she finally gets to be at home with James.......just as she always wanted.
On a lighter note, I am happy to tell you that our little friend in Florida, "Bella Bean", got to go home last week after MONTHS in the hospital in Ohio. She has a disease called Hurlers, and has been through the horrendous ordeal of a bone marrow transplant, and is on the road to a happy, healthy life. And she will be welcoming a new baby brother to the family in just about a month now. We are thrilled for them, and praise God for his blessing of restored health. I love you, sweet girl, and am so proud of your strength and courage. God Bless You!!
My sister Vonita gave us quite the scare a couple of weeks ago......and again, we are thanking God for his blessings. She was found at home by her best friend....breathing but unresponsive.
After countless tests, it was discovered that she had TOXIC levels of lithium in her system. She had been prescribed lithium quite some time ago, but the (so called) doctor that she switched to about a year ago kept increasing the dosage without any blood work, and it finally reached the critical point. Another few hours, and she wouldn't have made it! She was in the hospital for a week, and is continuing to recover at home now. It will just take time to get it out of her system, and then we will start from scratch again. Needless to say she has a NEW doctor now, and i have every confidence that he will stay on top of things. I love you, sister.....more than you will ever know. God Bless You!!
My dear friend Lora has also been through the ringer the past month or so. She had gastric bypass surgery, and had complications which led to a second emergency surgery, and between the two operations, she was so weak and so sick, and it has taken a few weeks to even begin to feel any better at all. On top of all her other medical problems this was just too much for her body to take, and I was scared to death for her for quite some time. AGAIN, we are thanking God for his blessings! I love you, Lora, to the moon and back, and that's just for starters! God Bless You!!
Mom is doing very well after her eyelid surgery, and looks cute as a button! Her face just looks so much brighter, and you can't even see any scarring......it's amazing! She is on the go again, and looking forward to going to see Lora with me this weekend. We can hardly wait.....we have so much fun together on our little road trips! I love you, sweet Momma, more than there are words to express it. God Bless You!!
So, that's my summer vacation thus far......the typical roller coaster! I'll be back soon with some pics of our trip to Lora's. Till then, hug your loved ones, and TELL them how much they mean to you......never let that opportunity slip past you. Thank you for sharing your time with me, and......God Bless You!!

OK, OK, OK, .........

His favorite meal....pancakes.....on his birthday.

Playing with his new "farm".

Discovering the wonders of a flower with his beloved Grams.

Third day after surgery........looking good!! I just adore that smile.

Sorry I've been gone so long......it seems as if my life has just been a whirlwind of activity! But I have to ask myself......"if you've been so busy, why haven't you got anything DONE?" LOL. I'm finding out that the older I get, the faster time flies, and the slower I get. And the two just don't mix well! I am still thrilled to be keeping my little lovebug during the week, and by the time he goes home in the evening, I am just whooped, which does NOTHING for my "to do" list. But I don't stress over it so much anymore......I am learning to accept it, and not beat myself up over it. As fast as his Mommy grew up, I think he is growing up ten times faster! We celebrated his second birthday this last week, and was such a double edged sword for me. I am in such awe of his milestones and accomplishments, and eagerly anticipate his daily discoveries, and yet, I find myself longing for the "baby days". To sit and hold him and rock and sing to him for hours while he looks at me with wonder......those days are long gone. He is perpetual motion at all times now, unless he is sleeping. ALL boy, this one! And at the same time, so sweet and tender-hearted.
(reminds me of my Daddy that way). His vocabulary has blossomed the past few weeks, and is quite the little "repeater". Which gives me a daily lesson to watch my tongue AND my attitude with which I speak! He continues to be consumed with anything with wheels, be it a truck, a car, a train, it doesn't matter.....if it has wheels, it's COOL! And he LOVES the farm......farm animals, farm pictures, farm books, but being ON the farm is by far the greatest. Today while we were at Mom's, he just took off up the driveway......on his own......(with his Mother not far behind him, of course) and walked all the way up to the neighbors to see the cows, and the barn with the hay,
and then all the way back again. And then ran all over the yard to boot. He was still going strong, but his Mother was pooped, and alas, we had to go inside to keep him from taking off again. His curiosity of the world fascinates me, and I hope and pray he never looses it.

My precious little Momma had eyelid surgery this past Tuesday, to remove the "droopy" that has been hindering her vision. Let's just say that I'm thankful it's over, and I pray she NEVER has to go through it again! The surgery itself wasn't TOO bad, although they had a slight problem getting her to stay deadened enough to be absolutely pain free. The mere thought of my Momma being in any pain just sickens me to the core, and she assures me it wasn't that bad.
(But I STILL hate it!) Then afterwards, we were in the post-op room, getting our instructions on home care, and she had a "vagus" episode that scared the goose liver right out of us! It looked like a cross between a stroke and a seizure.......and come to find out they are somewhat
frequent in these situations, but we had never heard of it. She came right out of it as quickly as she went into it, but it still haunts me at times. I called her primary doctor before we took her home just to double check with him about it, and we have stayed in touch the rest of the week.
I did some research on it, and these "episodes" have a varying range of degree from very mild, (like Mom's) to,......well......let's just thank God that hers was so mild, and leave it at that. I then stayed with her until Sat. evening, and she is doing remarkably well. She never bruised as badly as I had expected, and the swelling has gone down extremely. She itches something awful, though, which we were told to expect. All in all, I guess I can say it went well......and once again she amazes me with her strength and fortitude. What a blessing she is, and I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have her for my Momma!!

Oh, my! It's getting late, and I need my rest to be able to keep up with my little toddler tornado in the morning, so I will sign off for now. Thank you for checking in on me, and I will be back soon to do some more catching up. God Bless You!

I'm Baaaack!

"Hello, Danny, are you busy right now?"............

STILL trying to get out......even after calling for help!

What a photo op!!!! I was laughing by butt off!!!

O.K., sorry about that. Heather was having trouble posting a picture on HER blog, and wanted me to try on mine. Mine worked fine, and I fully intended to get right back to it, but James had other plans for me, and the very next day I really started feeling like crud, and, well, time just has a way of going by so fast, and I really HAVE been quite sick. Yesterday morning I woke up with very swollen, painful glands, along with all the other signs and symptoms I'd been fighting, so I finally admitted defeat and made an appointment with the doctor. You KNOW something is wrong when the doctor uses that light to look up your nose at your sinuses and says "Oh, my God"!! LOL. After a good going over, it was determined that I have quite a raging sinus infection, and a double ear infection. WOO-HOO!!! So I now have a steroid nose spray to help with the swelling, and an antibiotic. I am finally starting to feel a bit better this evening. At least I can breathe somewhat easier, and the horrendous headache is easing up. Thank you to Mom for watching James yesterday so I could go to the doctor, and for coming over today to help with James. You are the BEST, Mom!!!
Last weekend we had a rather large spring snowstorm that dumped anywhere from around 4 inches of snow (over by Mom's house) to around 10 inches here at my house, to a whopping 26 to 30 inches over at Beryl's house!! It was CRAZY!!! And VERY windy with it, so the drifts were increadable!! On Saturday, Beryl got the crazy notion to try to get to work before the snowplow had come down his road.......(he lives in the country).......and got a whole half mile from home before he was hopelessly stuck. (Grrrrr!!!!) After waiting for 2 1/2 hours for a tractor to pull him out, he went home and stayed there...... The snowplow finally came through about 5:00 that evening, so he was able to get out with no problem on Sunday morning. Now, I was SO ready to go with him, and take my camera and get some great pics of what mother nature had dealt us, so I bundled up good and got out the snow boots, and away we went. Low and behold, we got STUCK......and had to call a friend of ours to come and give us a pull. While we were waiting for Danny to arrive to help us, I happened to notice the headline on the local newspaper that morning, and HAD to get a pic of Beryl holding the paper in front of him......
PRICELESS!!!!! LOL! We got out of our "dilema" and finished our rounds with no more problems, but I used up my memory card in my camera taking video of the whole thing, so no pics of the snowdrifts.......phooey! That's OK, tho, what I DID get was worth it!! Ahhhhh, the
memories........ We have so much fun in the fields together, and I miss going with him every day, but very soon now, I think both James and I will be joining him once in a while. I can hardly wait to take James.......He LOVES watching the videos that I've taken of his "papa" at work.

So that's the latest from my humble little home in Kansas......thank you for checking in on us, and I promise to do my best to do a better job of keeping things more up to date on here. Gods Blessings to each of you, and I should be back soon.

This is a test.......

Of the blogging system. Will I be able to post a picture? We are about to find out......
Well, what do you know, it's working now!! I'll be back in a jiff!!

Now I know my ABC's......

Well,.....timing, as they say, is everything!! Just as I was going to post on here tonight, I received an instant message from by dearest Lora, so I just closed out to visit with her. THEN, while "talking" with Lora, my sweet daughter called me,......and was in tears. But, they were happy ones!! Our precious James was singing his ABC's!!!!!! We were bawling together, and so elated at this huge milestone.......and I can't thank Heather enough for calling me right away so I could hear him. I told Lora about it, and she started saying "VIDEO, VIDEO"!! So heather and I hung up so she could get the video camera out, and she called me back a few minutes later......as soon as she got the camera out, he quit, and just wanted to play with it. Isn't THAT just the typical toddler for ya?? LOL. But now that I know about it, you can bet that I'll have my camera ready to go at a moments notice tomorrow. Wish me luck!! In the meantime, I need to go and get my house in order.......I've been busy taking Beryl's mom to the doctor for the past TWO days. She has bronchitis, and we have to keep going in for antibiotic shots.......hopefully tomorrow she will be feeling better, and won't have to get another one. I guess these shots are quite painful to get, and she's had to have two of them now, and so BOTH hips are sore already. YIKES! We will see.
If she needs it, then I will be happy to take her in again, but I just hope she can get some rest tomorrow, and not have to get out again. And I can finish getting caught up around here!
So, until next time....God Bless You and Keep You....

Where does the time go?

Yes, yes, I know.......it's about darn time!! I'm sorry for not posting for so long! I won't go into detail, but let's just say that the holidays these past few months were very hard to get through, and my head just wasn't into merriment OR blogging! And now, it's been so long that I'm not even gonna try to remember everything, let's just fast forward to the last few days, shall we?
James came down with a NASTY cold/virus a week ago, and is just now getting back on his feet good. And now Mammo and Papa are fighting it! LOL. (yes, he has switched my name to Mammo now....and that's just fine with me.....he did it all on his own.) He continues to captivate my heart, and break it at the same time. He is growing SO fast, and learning new things so quickly that I can hardly keep up anymore! He is speaking so well, most of it is still "James-speak", but we understand each other just fine, thank you! He is saying complete sentences now, and is learning his alphabet and his numbers. He is a very quick study, and has learned quite a bit without us even realizing it!! He still holds court in a crowd, and is capable of charming the rattles off a snake! He is still, of course, the most beautiful little boy I've ever laid my eyes on, and I am still amazed at how much love and pure joy he brings into my life. I am so blessed........
"Papa" is doing well, except for the cold that James gave him, LOL. I tried to keep them apart when James was so sick, but that's like asking the sun not to rise! They are the best of buddies, and I honestly can't tell who adores whom the most. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Mom is doing well, also, except for a nagging skin rash around her eyes that has forced us to postpone her eyelid surgery till this spring. She was somewhat disappointed about it, but knows that it is for the best. She still struggles emotionally, which is to be expected, and I ache so badly for her sometimes.......it was 10 months ago today that we lost Daddy, and the pain and the longing is still so evident in her face, even through her smile. I feel so helpless at times, and yet I know that it is something she has to work through on her own. We spend alot of time talking about Daddy, and I know it helps me........I just hope it helps her too.
My precious Heather is still the brightest star in the night sky.......I am in awe of her every day.
I know it pains her to have to work, but that is the way it is, and she makes it look so easy to work full time, and yet still be an amazing wife and Mommy. I know she must get bone tired, but she ALWAYS has a smile and a hug for James, and tells him how much she misses him. He just eats it up.......LOL. I could just sit and watch them play together for hours. Too sweet!!
Which just leaves me.......and as you can tell, I am happy and content to just be around my loved ones, and try to be there for anyone who needs me. There are so many things that I am so grateful for, and the Lord has truely blessed me with the best!
I guess that brings you up to speed........there are more stories to tell, but I will leave them till next time, as my fingers are starting to ask for a break!! I am happy that you stopped by to check in on me, and come back soon, please! God Bless each of you, and remember to hug your loved ones, and TELL them what they mean to you........
Till next time..........