Mid-June update

Hi everyone,

I hope this post finds everyone well. This past month has been a series of ups and downs. I recieved my sleep apnea machine on May 8th and by the 11th I was able to walk without limping or dragging my feet. I am still doing better with it but I am not quite back to where I used to be. I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me relief and also for the doctors who found out the problem. I still suffer with some hip stiffness, fluid retention, and numbness in the hands but other than that I am doing better. Also, I've lost 5 pounds woohoo!!

We are enjoying the freshness of our new pastor's ministry. It is like the pause button has been taken off of our church. He and his wife have jumped in with both feet and set off in a sprint. I love it! We are also anticipating the Vacation Bible School "Crocodile Dock" from June 29th through July 3, 9 am to 12 pm. There is even a place where you can register your kids online. If you are a local reader and want your kids ages 4 years old to those who just finished 6th grade
we'd love to have them join us for some great fun. The link to register is:

http://www.groupvbs.com/webtoybox/myvbs/gramercy2009

Dad had the arterial bypass in his stomach in mid-may. We almost lost him and he gave the doctors a run for their money. He spent about a week in Critical Care Intensive Care Unit and he required 13 units of blood. We had the loving support of our family and friends surrounding us, especially that of our church family. The church will be hosting a blood drive for him this Saturday, June 20th at First Baptist Church of Gramercy, 1046 N. Airline Ave. from 9 am to 1 pm. He is home now but still struggles with fluid retention (about 30 pounds of it) and he coughs a lot. Please keep him in your prayers and mom as well. She was having blood pressure issues but is doing a little better.

David's step-dad Jake had a similar surgery on his leg two weeks ago. He is still in the Critical Care Intensive Care Unit in Jackson, MS. The surgery went well for him and he went straight to a regular room from surgery but got blood clots and had what his wife described as a reverse heart attack. His heart simply lost blood to pump. They got him better from that and were lessening sedation to take him off the ventilator and he pulled the tube from his lungs, aspirating
one of them. So he has been struggling since. They tried once again to remove the tube but after a short while had to be put on the ventilator again because he couldn't breathe on his own. They put in a tracheotomy and now he seems to be doing a little better. Please remember to keep him and David's mom in your prayers.

We also had some sadness in our lives at the deaths of two dear friends. The minister that married David and I went home to the Lord last Monday. Another friend of ours went home to the Lord three days ago. He is the father and husband of some really wonderful friends we met online when we began our journey into homeschooling. Please pray for the families of Bro. W.O. Cottingham and "Gampy" Champion. They will always be remembered with fondness and love.

We are experiencing trouble with too hot weather and too little rain. Temperatures have been bordering on the edge of 100 degrees with the heat index past that point. Everything in our garden is turning yellow, with no rain in sight for our little corner of the world. We are doing everything we can to keep the rabbits and chickens hydrated but the garden is suffering. We did, however, manage to get quite a few tomatoes and some yellow squash from the garden. It wasn't a total washout they were absolutely delicious. One good thing though, is there haven't been any hurricanes. It will be harder to keep up with the hurricane updates when the electricity goes out now that the government has gone on with the digital television switchover. There have been commercials for the new battery powered tv's that are digital, but in this economy who can afford $100+ for a 7 inch screen? Hopefully they won't do something similar with the radio stations. Ahhh well what can I say?

I hope this post finds everyone happy healthy and safe. Take care and God bless.

May 2009

Hi everyone,

Wow it doesn't seem like it's been almost three months since I last wrote. So much has happened since I last wrote. Hopefully I can catch you up on most of it.

I have been definitely diagnosed with sleep apnea. My family, friends and I had prayed for the doctor to be right and that sleep apnea was the cause (as my new doctor suspected) and that God would heal me of it so that I could return to a normal life. It seems God has answered everyone's prayers. I will be getting a CPAP machine this Friday and hopefully it will do the trick. I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with a real diagnosis. I knew I wasn't crazy or pretending. I just knew I wasn't me. For the past few months I have been dealing with mild depression. I call it mild because I didn't want to go anywhere or even talk to anyone. I was tired of the questions without answers of "What is wrong?" or "Have the doctor's found anything out?" or "Are you sure there's something wrong, sometimes you look almost ok?" This strange illness has been aggravating and embarrassing to me because I don't like this type of attention and not being able to do the things I love. My strength through it all has been my family and my Lord Jesus Christ. Without them things would have seemed hopeless. They are always there for me, loving me and supporting me. I never once doubted that the Lord was with me. I am His child and he's always on call, even in the dead of night when pain makes it impossible to sleep. If the CPAP machine doesn't take away all the symptoms there may be something else in addition to the sleep apnea, but I am leaving it in the Lord's hands. He knows what's best for me and I trust Him with my life.If you don't know Him I don't know how you make it without Him. I couldn't.

My hubby is, as I speak working on remodeling the bathroom and installing a shower for me. I am excited. I love my deep bathtub but sometimes it would feel nice to just take a quick shower, so I get the best of both worlds now. He is on vacation this week so he can work on our bathroom.

Heather had her tonsils out and recovered just fine. Her hubby came home in February and they are enjoying their time together. On another happy note, I am going to be a grandma. Heather is due December 12th! I say it's going to be a spoiled baby but I'm not saying who's going to spoil it. Heather and her hubby are staying with us until they can find a house to buy.

Tiffany and Rochelle are doing well. Rochelle doesn't need an apparatus to strengthen the muscles in her face like our old doctor said. According to the dentist she has severe TMJ and she just has to give her jaw a break for a while. No hard, crunchy or chewy foods for a few months. This however is about to drive her crazy as she is an avid gum chewer.

My dad still needs your prayers. Since I last wrote he's had open heart surgery and eye surgery. They couldn't do the surgery to remove blockage on his legs because they found a massive blockage in his stomach. When they looked to see if his heart was strong enough to unblock that they found 80%, 70%, 80% and 100% blockage in his heart, so that caused the open heart surgery. He had eye surgery last week because one of his eyes was leaking. Both of those surgeries went well. He will be scheduling surgery to have the blockage in his stomach removed soon. The doctor seems to believe that there will be no need to remove blockages in his legs because the blockage in his stomach is what's causing the blood flow to stop in his legs.

Also pray for David's step dad, Jake. He also has a blockage causing trouble with his legs. They went to see if they could put in stints and they couldn't, so extra surgery is pending on him as well. Please keep both of them and my mom and mother-in-law in your prayers.

Our friend Julian who struggled so long with his battle for life has gone home to be with the Lord. Although it saddened us to see him go, we know he is now dancing on the streets of Gold and praising the Lord in person.....lucky guy. Please keep his widow Janice in your prayers.

My cousin Shirley who had the sinus cancer has been given a clean bill of health! Praise the Lord!

Our church now has a new pastor. His name is Bro. Josh Burnham. We are so excited to have him and his wife Casey in our church family. God answers prayers more than many realize. Thank you all for your faithfulness in praying for all of my requests.

I have started an email group for recipes if anyone is interested. My doctor says now that I will have the CPAP machine I should be able to start losing weight....YAY!! I want to do all that I can as I have about 100 pounds to lose now. I figured new, healthy and cheap recipes would be a great addition to my weightloss plan. The list is extremely new. Right now I am the only member. Please join in to help me. I will post new recipes as I find them but it's more fun to share. The idea is to find recipes that are quick, easy, cheap and healthy. I will post my progress here in my blog as I go. I also have a program that counts the calories, fat, sugar, carbs, etc in whatever recipes I type in so don't be shy about not knowing nutritional values. I can fix that. The address to sign up for my group is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuickEasyCheapAndHealthy

Well, that is about all of our news that I can remember for now. Stop in some time or drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you. Take care and God bless.

February News

Hi everyone,


I have news. My diagnosis of polymyositis is incorrect. All of my blood results were excellent. We will be starting from square one with a rheumatologist this month. I will be going for my first visit on the 23rd. I am beginning to consider whatever this condition to be as my "new normal". It is not fun, walking for any sort of distance becomes very difficult and it starts in my lower back with tightness and spreads to my legs making them tight and very hard to move. They are also swollen and sensitive. The heaviness in my arms is still there, the numbness in my hands and feetand the sensitivity in my elbows are returning and the shortness of breath has been attributed to my asthma not being under control. The stress test came back normal, praise the Lord. I will be trying to find another general practitioner in the next few months. I cannot continue to go to a doctor who does not have my complete trust. Please pray that the rheumatologist will find out what's wrong and that my search for a new doctor will find just the right one. I have a new normal but I am still finding God's blessings in my life. He is right by my side.


David is doing well and continues to work for Winn Dixie. I am thankful that he has a job in this ever flaky economy. We just had news this week that one of the plants that provide employment for a major part of this small town of ours will be closing down for 2 years. Please pray that he will continue being able to provide for our family and also for the trials he is going through with my health. He is such a wonderful man and I am blessed to have him in my life and loving me. He has jumped in with both feet and hands and is taking care of some of the things I took for granted that I could do on my own before.


Heather will be going for surgery to finally have her tonsils removed on February 25th. Please pray for her that the surgery will go well without any complications. It is supposed to be a one day thing so we are expecting her to be home quickly. Please also continue to pray for her hubby. We are expecting him home soon but are not yet sure of the day. Military plans as always rely on the whims of the military, but we can't wait to see him. Oh, and son-in-law, look out when you come home she is bound to be really hyper!


Tiffany is enjoying her truck very much. We were going for a little while where we saw her very little but she's starting to hang around the house more again. I've missed her. She, Chris, Rochelle and Chris's cousin C.J. played games on the playstation yesterday for a long time after chruch. The laughs rang through the house and I just loved hearing them. They played Monopoly and some game called Little Big Planet. It is one of the cutest games I've ever seen.


Rochelle is doing well with her lessons. She has been printing them out more often than working on the computer with them. She says she can do them better that way. She does them on paper and then loads them onto the program. She is in a stand still kind of with her art. She has several people currently awaiting their left eye. For some reason no matter who she is drawing, they will have the left eye done last. Rochelle also needs your prayers as she was diagnosed with scoliosis and also is having residual effects from the Bell's Palsey she suffered when she was 13. It seems the paralysis that remained caused her facial muscles, over time, to weaken and they no longer hold her jaw in place.


My dad is having some more health problems as well. They found 50% blockage in both legs and 60% blockage on the left of his neck and 100% blockage on the right side of his neck. He is at risk for a stroke and will need to be evaluated every 6 months from now on for his neck. He will be having surgery for his legs on the 20th of February. Mom says that the blockage in his neck is directly related to the fact that he used to smoke. Please pray for him and my mom.


Our friend Julian who had the double transplant is having a rough time they had to drain fluid from his stomach and he also fell and broke his hip in the hospital. Please continue to pray for him and his wife.


We lost the neighbor who lived behind us this past month. She was 97 years old. It will seem odd to not see her anymore. She always loved to ask David what we had planted in the garden and he always brought her some of her favorites. She used to worry when she didn't see him. Please pray for her family.


Please also continue to pray for my cousin Shirley as she undergoes chemotherapy treaments for her sinus cancer, and my friend Karen's husband who had another operation in an attempt to save his leg after an accident he had at work 7 months ago.


Our church is still looking for a new pastor. It has been 8 months since our much loved pastor and his wife left due to health reasons. We have a really nice interim pastor but we need to find a permanent pastor who can bring structure and growth to the church. Please continue to pray for our church. We are a small church but we are a family.


That's about it for our family news this time around. I hope this update finds everyone happy, healthy and safe. Take care and God bless.

New Year, new prayers needed

Hello Everyone,


As always there is never a dull moment around our family. Christmas passed peacefully and we spent it with my Mom and Dad at their home.

The Saturday before New Years Day my dad tripped on a rug in a convenience store, fell and shattered a bone in his hip. When he still couldn't walk or handle the pain two days later he went to the doctor and that's when they told him his hip was broken. They called an orthopedic surgeon and sent him to have emergency surgery but he couldn't have it that day. Dad doesn't like going to the doctor and the last time he did was in 1979. It seems that he was diabetic. His sugar was 552. They struggled to get his sugar down far enough to operate and then discovered that his potassium was low and so was his blood count. They ended up giving him iv's of potassium and one pint of blood before surgery. I was sorry he was hurt but I told him that I was grateful that God got him there because if not he would have had complications from his diabetes and we would never have known. He now has his sugar under control with diet and diabetes pills. He is also going to the doctor. That in itself is a blessing only God could have worked out. Please keep him and my mom in your prayers.

On the same day as my Dad's fall, our former pastor and friend Bro. Sam fell and broke three of his ribs. He is doing better but still hurts. Also, his wife, Mrs. Betty got cataract surgery. Prayers are needed as well for them.

My David's grandmother also had some trouble with her heart during the holidays. She had a pacemaker put in and was supposed to go back to the nursing home but we found out later that she was still in the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers so that the pacemaker works well and she heals well from the surgery.

Our friend Julian who had the double transplant ended up in the hospital because his kidney stopped working. They did an electrical therapy on the kidney and it is working, not 100% but it is working. He was expected to be home again this week, but as I wrote this someone called to tell us that he'd developed a blood clot and had been in surgery for 4 hours. We don't know how he is doing except that it's not very good. He is a wonderful Godly man and always tells everyone he knows that God is with him in all his trials. Please keep him and his wife Janice in your prayers.

David turned his truck over to Tiffany this month and he got a new baby in the process. He wanted a bigger truck and thought he had one lined up but it disappeared before he could buy it. We think it went to a family member as its former owner had passed away. Something told me to look on http://www.craigslist.com/ to see if there were any there. I'd never been on this website but it was fairly easy to find what I was looking for. I happened to see a really nice truck that I thought David would like that was cost effective. I showed it to him and he was so excited that he called the owner as soon as possible. Needless to say we went to see it and he fell in love. It is a 1997 Chevy Silverado 2500... 3/4 ton with extended cab. It had only two owners before him and both kept meticulous records and kept reciepts of everything they did and they also made sure maintenance was kept up on the truck. There are two pictures of it in my photo album. Take a look at it. I told him he was terrible though, when he bought a small bass (fish) air freshener to hang from his rear view mirror. Heather will never be able to set foot in his truck. Luckily she hasn't seen the fish yet.

My cousin Maryjo from Kentucky called to tell me that her sister Shirley has cancer of the sinus cavity. I remember as a child going on our yearly trek to Michigan. We would always stop in at my Uncle Jr. and Aunt Maryjo's house/farm for a day on the way to Michigan and a day home. I always loved going there. I spent as much time as possible with Shirley and her other sister Debbie (we were closer in age). I always got into something and it was usually poison ivy. Mom would go to the doctor and get medicine for me before vacation because she knew I was going to get poison ivy. She had even tried to teach me what it looked like but I always got it anyway. Shirley and Debbie loved to teach me some of the things of farm life like how to gather eggs, how to milk/ride the cow, and what an electric fence does. I think I remember they said I'd see fireworks. What fun those days were, really. I loved it. Maybe going to their home was the reason I loved the book "Town Mouse, Country Mouse" so much. Ahh memories. Please keep Shirley in your prayers as well.


Another prayer request that I have is for a high school friend of mine and her husband. Karen's husband Danny suffered a bad fall at work and everything they try to help him these past few months has not worked. He may lose his leg. Please lift him up that his leg will recieve the healing it needs and that they both may have strength to go through this time in their lives.

Only a little while longer until Heather's husband David comes home. She walks around the house and at random times blurts out "____ days until he comes home!" She is excited, and rightly so. She has been spending time with one of his army buddies' wives and has developed a nice friendship. Please continue to pray for his safe return, also for his fellow battle buddies and all the other troops overseas, and also the girls' friend Josh Stevens who is serving in Iraq.

Tiffany went to choir practice with her boyfriend, for her new church tonight. I am so glad to see she will be using her voice once again to praise the Lord. She is attending Chris' church now.

Rochelle is still drawing and crocheting. She has been enjoying watching movies with Charlie Chaplin in them. For Christmas her dad gave her an envelope. It was hanging in the tree for most of the month of December. What sweet torture. She wasn't interested in much of anything under the tree, just that envelope. She made a big deal out of the fact that she had an envelope and no one else did. On Christmas day she waited until last to open her envelope. Inside was a letter from my David stating that they would be going to a Gaither concert in March. Needless to say she was thrilled. Also she was thrilled recently at the announcement that her favorite singer/comedian/writer Mark Lowry was going to be back with the Gaither Vocal Band along with David Phelps.

We have been raising rabbits for home meat use. Meat prices in the stores are too much. We are putting the cages I made to use. We have had one successful litter and have 3 other does awaiting delivery soon. Some may think this is cruel but when food prices soar and you have a family to feed you do what you must. David is also getting seeds together to start our garden soon. One other use the rabbits are good for is fertilizer. I have been bagging up their waste to use for this purpose.

This past week I was in the hospital. I had dressed for church and then started passing blood. I spent three days in the hospital and then they sent me home to come back as an outpatient for a stress test and a colonoscopy. The emergency room doctor took me off the steroids and is running tests to see if the polymyositis diagnosis is correct. Thank God. I was wondering how to find a good second opinion and He provided the way for that by my hospital stay. I was thankful that God used me to speak about Him to others who came into my hospital room. Hopefully as the days go by I will open myself more for God to use me. I will be going to the hospital tomorrow morning to get my stress test. I know it sounds funny to say this but I hope they find out what is wrong. I don't want to come back home without knowing anything more than I do now. It is frustrating to know that something is wrong but not know what it is. I trust God and His divine will for my life. I know that whatever comes along it is for my best. I just pray that I do not go home to Heaven with an empty plate. I want Him to know that I loved Him enough to tell others about His glorious love and salvation, and that my life has been a testimony of what He has done for me. When I see Him I want to lay my crown down humbly at His feet.

Please pray for me, David and the girls, that we will always rember to praise God through whatever lies ahead for us.

If you do not know Christ as your Savior, what are you waiting for? No one knows for sure when their time is up. Although we are going through a lot we have reassurance and peace. We know that everything we go through, God is right there with us. Jesus never promised the road would be easy but He did promise us a comforter always. I feel His presence lifting me up and my burdens are just a drop in the hat. I am not afraid.

He died for my sins and rose again that I might live in Heaven with Him. He wants you to live with Him too. It's not about working your way to Heaven. If I could do that there would have been no need for Him to die. I could never have been "good enough" or done enough good things to get to Heaven. He says the only way to Heaven is through Him. I recieved the Lord as my Savior years ago. It is easy. All you have to do is admit you are a sinner (we all do things that are wrong), believe that Jesus is God's son, trust Him to lead your life through obedience to His word and tell others about Him. The changes He will work in your life will be so great that others will see and not be able to fathom them. He loves us all, no matter what we've done and waits to offer forgiveness when we truly go to Him asking for His forgiveness (repent). I did this years ago with this simple prayer: "Dear Lord, I know that I am a sinner. I believe that you are God's son and that you died on the cross and came to life again so that my sins would be forgiven. Lord, I ask for your forgiveness and I recieve you as my personal Lord and Savior. I promise to live my life according to your Word. Amen"

If you have prayed this prayer I would love to talk to you and encourage you in your walk with the Lord. You may email me at teachthem@hotmail.com Please put the words New Year, new life in the subject line.

Take care and God bless.

Happy New Year

Hi everyone,

I hope this finds everyone doing well. I had wanted to take the chance to tell everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New Year but the time has passed for that. We have been running quite a bit. Christmas was nice but I'm glad it's over with.