Tree Lights

While visiting South Georgia, we went to a tree-lighting event at a town close to the farm. Here are some pictures of the kids. In the first picture, they are standing in front of the tree with their Nannie (AKA Dr. N's mom).

Three Cheers for Cousin Michael

The kids really loved spending time with their 17-year-old cousin, Michael. Here are some cute photos.

Orange Pickin'

After Thanksgiving brunch on Mema's farm, most of us went orange picking! Mema has an enormous orange tree right outside her house and it yielded 9 crates of delicious oranges. Above is Mema, proudly standing by her beloved orange tree before the picking commenced.

Here is the X-Factor doing her best to twist an orange from a branch.

X-Factor admiring her prized orange.

This is Napp's mom's husband, Jeff. X-Factor calls him "Gramps."

Our nephew, Michael, helping the X-Factor reach some oranges.

Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are a few Thanksgiving pictures from Mema's farm.

X and Me

X-Factor went cotton picking after brunch. The whole time she was in the fields she referred to the cotton as cotton candy. When she got back and brought it to me she said, "Mommy, can you please wash this cotton candy so I can eat it?"

This is Napp's lovely cousin Amanda.

X and cousin Michael playing with a tarp

True Love Means...

Sharing your favorite hat...

The Princess is Home

X-Factor and her daddy came back from down further south yesterday evening. I mentioned here a few times that the X-Factor was spending the week with her Nannie, but did not want to say that Dr. N would also be out of town that whole time as well. It was just me and the Z-man. But now we are back to our party of four and it feels good.

X-Factor had a wonderful time vacationing and Dr. N, survived a week of AP essay grading.

Today, my little girl and I went swimming while Dr. N and Z-man enjoyed some quiet time. Z-man is recovering quite nicely from his bout with pneumonia.

Here are some great pictures of X-Factor playing with her cousin Lane in GA.

PapPap Update

Thank you all for praying for PapPap.

Fortunately, the nurse who informed my mother of PapPap's stroke was incorrect. PapPap did not have another stroke. He was, however, admitted to the hospital due to severe dehydration. The ER doctor told my mom that unfortunately this is too common in nursing homes and even if PapPap is moved to another home, this would probably happen again. This was the third time in two months that PapPap has been rushed to the ER for infection and/or dehydration. Because of the intensity of his condition he needs to be in a nursing home type of facility. The ER doctor is going to send work order to the NH detailing them how often and how many ml of liquid PapPap should receive throughout the day.

Thank you for your prayers and support. While the unknown was going on, I felt a strong desire to pray and write. You can click HERE to read these thoughts.

Congratulations

Congratulations to my niece, Dezi. She just got accepted to STEAM Academy. It's special engineering program in her High School, and very competitive to get into. We wish you the best Dez.

Urgent Prayer Request for PapPap & My Family

PapPap had another stroke about an hour ago. This is his second stroke in a year. As you know, the first major one he had last May 25 kept him in a coma for 6 weeks and left him paralyzed without much speech. We know very little information at this time except that he is alive and in a hospital in Pennsylvania.

Stealing Again

Someone arrest me, I cannot stop stealing from my sister's blog. Here is an adorable picture of Jack. Click here to see more and if you're not shy, give my sis some comment love.

Pictures of PapPap's Big Day

A thousand miles or so is the geographical distance between PapPap and us, so we were unable to attend his birthday party today. However, I stole some pictures from Party at Jack's Crib (check it out). PapPap looks like he is having a blast.

PapPap with Jack (incidentally, Z-man wore an identical outfit today)

My "baby" sister JeanAnn with Jack (I love the three teeth on the bottom)

My sister Maranda, PapPap, Jack and my Mom (Doesn't she look good, especially for being in pain and having a medical procedure done a few days earlier?)

Update on my Mom

The below information is from My youngest sister, JeanAnn.

"They are not doing the surgery, mom is coming home today. They looked at her knee and said it was too swollen, they "cleaned" it out and sent the fluid for testing to see if her knee was infected again. They said if her knee is infected then she will need to be put on antibiotics again and wait to re-schedule her surgery. If it is not infected they will just re-schedule her."

This is a real blow to my mom. For those of you who may not know the back story, she has Osteoarthritis in her knee...basically, bone is hitting bone. She went to the hospital in January with excurciating knee pain and it was discovered that she had a strep infection in her knee. This is about her 4th or 5th "cleaning," a procedure that is quite painful. My mom is in chronic pain and very down as a result of all these issues. So, your prayers are especially coveted right now.

Thank you!

Prayer Request

My Mom, Beverly, is going into the hospital for knee replacement surgery. The procedure is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. Please keep her in prayer for a safe surgery and an easy recovery. She's been having a rough time with her knee since January. Thank you!

Stealin' from Sis

I swiped this photo of Jack from Maranda's site. Is it not precious?? I love this boy!

Maranda Has A Blog

Maranda has a blog! Maranda has a blog! Hi-Ho-the Dairy-Oh Maranda has a blog! My sweet, crafty and creative sister Maranda just launched her new blog "Party at Jack's Crib" Is that not just too cute? Please head on over there to read her first post and to see one of the cutest baby pictures ever taken. And even if you don't know her, could you leave her a little comment of encouragement? Yes, I am forever the big sister!

Side note...I apologize if my changing my blog layout and colors several times a week has been a bit too much. I'll stop now. Promise. I think...I'll try...

Touch Down

Here are some cute pictures of little "Lane Bug" playing football at a birthday party. PRECIOUS!

I'm posting these for three reasons:

1) They are too cute not to share

2) We love Lane so much and I love to post pictures of family and friends---especially their kiddos


3) Proof that Donna Kay should also start a blog! She's a good writer and we all know she has some WONDERFUL pictures and stories to share.

Too Cute not to share

My stepmother and good friend, Gayle, just e-mailed me some new family pictures. I thought you'd like to see them. My sister Crystal and her family live in Arizona. My "Dad EW" and my stepmother Gayle live in the state of Washington.

Get to know PapPap

When I started this blog, I promised some posts honoring friends and loved ones. One of my most treasured relationships is the one I share with my grandfather, AKA PapPap. PapPap has always been my biggest fan and I one of his.

Some of you have met him personally and others of you only know him from this blog. For those of you who have never met PapPap, I decided to fill this post with pictures of him before his brain hemorrhage last May. He is such a vibrant, energetic man who adores his family. The vibrancy is hard to see in some recent pictures, but captured for sure in past photos. When I was younger, I always pictured 75 (PapPap's age) year-olds to be, well...old. I mean gray hair, sitting in rocking chairs complaining about the weather old. PapPap never fit that stereotype. He was a dedicated volunteer for Meals on Wheels and also drove people without transportation to doctors appointments. Always walking, always looking for adventure, always thinking of ways to pull a practical joke, PapPap kept busy.

The pictures in this post are of him with Xylie during his various visits to Texas. PapPap loves to travel. A few years ago he boarded a freight carrier and took a cruise to Australia. Two years ago he went on another freight cruise, this time to South America. To read more about PapPap from my Uncle Wally, please click on the Muncie Skies link.

Strep Throat of the Knee

No, I'm not being pithy. The above title is an actual medical diagnosis of my mother's current condition. On Thur. Jan. 10, my mom was sent to the ER (the third time in less than a week) regarding severe knee pain. That night she had emergency surgery on her knee and was admitted to the hospital. The doctors were baffled as to what was the root cause of her pain and how a terrible infection began. After two nights in the hospital and a series of tests, the diagnosis was "Strep Throat!" Apparently, a person can get strep throat and not show many symptoms. This happened to my mom. She had a very bad sore throat in November. The pain and fever went away on its own after about two days. However, the strep infection did not...only antibiotics can wipe out strep. The infection went to her knee (although she also does have strep in her throat). Again, this is a rare but not unheard of condition. The results could have been fatal. Oftentimes when these types of infections occur, they travel to the blood stream and the heart. My mom will have to get some more test completed to make sure her heart has not been infected. She is still in the hospital and will most likely remain there until Tuesday. I've spoken with her this morning and she is in a tremendous amount of pain. Tomorrow she will have a port put in her body so she can administer antibiotics when she returns home. She will need to be on strong antibiotics for six-weeks. Thank you for praying for her at this time and I ask that you continue to lift her up.