"The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or touched-they must be felt with the heart." Hellen Keller

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Ok, so I spoke a little too soon about the air condtioner. It was actually another week before we really had air conditioning. SUCH a nightmare! I had to post a picture of Bryson's fortune from his fortune cookie the other night.
Boy, nothing could be more true! My fortune cookie, on the other hand, was really off!
Um....yea, not gonna happen! The closest I come to sports is "sporting" a hat on the weekends. However back to Bryson's fortune. He is really such a joy in our lives. I cannot tell you how we EVER lived without him. He is so silly and funny and sweet. He likes to hide from me when I come home at lunch and jump out and scare me. He likes to wear his heart cape backwards so that it just looks like a giant bib. He just learned the words "poo poo" and everytime he says it he blushes from head to toe and hides his face. He puts on his dinosaur feet house shoes and goes around the house with his eyes squinted like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" and growls, "I'm MEAN!" When you get up from any seat in the house he runs over and sits there and just grins. And this kid, I swear he has twice as many teeth as a normal person. And he has dimples (just slightly) and they are so cute. I think it looks like he has a lot of teeth because he has such a wide mouth. Everything about the kid is cute...from his dimples to his slightly curled blonde locks. He is such a joy! It is unimaginable that there was ever a time that he might not be with us. Riley is, well, he is a Riley. He is doing great at school. He even got accepted into the gifted and talented program. I am so proud of him. He is avid reader and an avid eater too. He keeps me on my toes! Kory is doing great too. He is, of course, acting like a 16 year old and asking for a fancy, new car and somedays he speaks to me non-stop and other days he doesn't say two words to me. Ahhh, the joys of teenagers. But honestly, when it comes to him, I am so blessed. He is a great kid. I love it because at night all the boys just wrestle and fight and giggle. I love that! I love to watch them together. They love each other so much! Here is a picture of Bryson with his cousin Yubin. He is the newest addition to our family. My brother and his wife adopted him from Korea. He is so cute and full of personality!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

I haven't written lately because I don't really have any great news to write about. Things are better than before....we went without air conditioning in the house for two weeks but now have air conditioning and WOW, it is wonderful! I am not sure how we ever lived without it! This past Friday Bryson got really, really sick and I had to take him to the ER in the middle of the night. It was a nightmare! He had strep! They gave him a shot and some antibiotics and he is much better. Bless his heart, he was so sick! And the doctor at the ER was a jackass! I mean here is a kid with a heart condition and sick as a dog and do you know he didn't even listen to his heart or lungs or anything. He was spending far too much time griping at him and saying, "there is no reason for you to be screaming." I wanted to say to him..."he has been through more in his short life than you will EVER know, and he has every damn right to scream!" UGH! So frustrating!
I went today and signed Bryson up for Mother's Day Out for next fall. I am excited and nervous and all those things! I know it will be wonderful for him to be around other kids. He loves to play with other kids! And, he needs the help in speech I think. He grunts a lot instead of talking because we do all the talking for him and we jump at his ever demand. I know we shouldn't but it is really hard not to coddle him after everything he has been through. Plus, I am thinking it would help with using the potty too. Maybe if he sees others using it he will as well. BUT, on the same hand I worry about the GERMS! UGH! I know he needs to build up his immunity but I hate having him be sick and I know that is what is going to happen. It will be great, it will finally give us the "push" to let him be a toddler instead of a baby and it will make him see how other toddlers act as well. I will say that my nephews came in to visit this weekend and Bryson played really well with my nephew who is about 8 months younger. Even when he wasn't feeling good he was sweet and played nice. He doesn't know to be pushy or take things away so much because no one at our house takes away his toys. Mother's Day Out is going to be a huge learning curve for us all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have some great memories in the making coming up. We are fixing to be headed to Dallas to take the money that was raised on Bryson's behalf. They are going to give us a tour of the hospital (the new parts) and we will do a check presentation thing and see all of our old doctors and nurses. I am super excited! Then we are going to go to the Great Wolf Lodge for Riley's birthday. Bryson has never been and I know he is going to be soooooo excited! It should be a lot of fun!
Then in May and June the job search starts for me!!!! As you may or may not know, I have my certification and I am ready to teach and so I am going to start applying for jobs for the next school year. I am excited and nervous all at the same time but I know this is the right thing for me. I know it is a stressful job but at the same time such a rewarding job. One teacher gave me the best advice....she said, "some days are stressful, but I never wake up and dread coming to work...I love it and I love the kids!" It will be good! My life has been such a roller coaster for so very long it seems. I sure would like some normalcy, some routine. I had the same job and essentially the same life for 18 years...day in...day out. And I remember complaining that I was bored and I needed a change. Well Lord, I got the point. I am bored no more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
Yall be good! Love yall!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Yea, we are strange...what of it?


This is me...crawling into my mom's house via the window because she got locked out of her house. Yes, we are a strange family! We own it....we embrace it! :)


This is what I look like from the other end! I don't normally post pics of myself...or have any for that matter. However this picture was taken at bunco and I actually like it. How often can we say we actually like a picture of ourselves? So I thought I would post it. When I read blogs I am always so curious as to what that person looks like. It helps me to visualize the words better. Sounds strange, I know!

Well our life right now is in complete and utter turmoil. Some I can share....some, not yet. Besides I like to keep you coming back for more!!!!!!!!!!! :)
In the past month our kitchen floor has been flooded and ripped up. And, let me just mention that it looks HORRID! The tile underneath is soooo bad! I can barely stand it! I have rugs EVERYWHERE! Oh, and I can't find anyone to repair it until JUNE!!!!!!
Kory's car broke and the repairs were over $500
We have a mobile home we rent and I went in for the first time in years to find holes in walls and terrible, terrible damage. We had to pay $400 just to have the holes and toilet repaired. The rest we just left! UGH!
Our air conditioner started leaking into one of our closets (thankfully just a closet with jackets and such) and so we had to call the air conditioner repair people and that cost us about 300. We had to tear the ceiling out of the closet as well. Then we find out that the air conditioner isn't just leaking....it is DONE...BROKEN....DEMOLISHED....CONDEMNED! Sooooooo....we have to get a new air conditioner but have to go a week without any air conditioning at all so they can order a new one.
Now, with all this WONDERFUL stuff going on...let's see if we can see the silver lining.....
1) we have survived WAY worse...and our kids are healthy right now...and happy (knock on wood)
2) our insurance is going to cover the kitchen floor and our deductible was a fraction of what I thought it would be
3) Kory's car broke but we noticed it before it got bad and the wheel could have come off because of this particular problem. SUPER SCARY! Oh and the night before we paid for the repairs Mark was able to sell his bow and arrow. (It had been on Craigslist for so long....so it was a Godsend) and that actually paid half of the repairs
4) we have a home warranty and they are going to pay for the ENTIRE AIR CONDITIONER! Wooh! I can't imagine what we would have done if this had not been the case.

SOOOOO, with all that being said...yes, man, things are tough right now but it could be so much worse. And with that being said I would like to send mad prayers to all my friends and family in Dallas. They had some really horrific tornadoes and storms up there recently! So sad! I was so glad no one was hurt! God is good, ALL THE TIME!