My niece, Riley, was born with a liver disease, and just recently was told she needed a transplant to survive.  She is only eleven, and luckily they found a donor. She just had the liver transplant on Sunday.  She isn't doing very good and the anti rejection medication is affecting her personality.  My sister asked me to tell everyone I can to please pray for her.  So once again I need everyone's help. 

Thanks for your support Minti!

Lisa

 

Thank you again everyone for your prayers!!!!!!!  My sister is doing a lot better.  She is at my mom's now and resting, taking her antibiotics and getting much needed help with little Ava.  It was such a good feeling to know that people care about your problems and are thinking about you all the way across the other side of the world.  As parents, it doesn't matter where you live, how you were brought up or what your particular circumstances are, we all have something to offer each other and that is a caring heart, sympathetic ear and advice.  Thanks Minti family.

 

I woke up early this morning to the usual rushing around.  Make lunches, get breakfast, close all the doors so our huskie doesn't get into anything.  She's actually a really good dog, compared to when we first brought her home from the Huskie rescue where we adopted her.  At first she would howl ALL DAY while we were gone.  The neighbors started to complain so we went around and showed her to everyone and asked if they would be patient.  Once they took a look at her, (she's GORGEOUS) they said they would give us more time.  Finally she adjusted and she is great, sometimes she gets into the food if it's left on the counter, but other than that everything is good.  Anyways,  I had to drop kids off at football practice at 8:30 am then off to work.  My boss needed a ride to the airport so rushed him there.  After work I pick up kids drop them off at the beach or friends houses.  Then I have to cut my friends daughters hair.  I went to cosmetology school but never completed my last few hours.  I got pregnant and since I have a tilted uterus, the weight of my son kept getting on my sciatic nerve and I would fall all day.  Yeah, it was kind of weird seeing me just drop to me knees out of the blue , so I had to quit.  I still cut my families, friends and dye and cut my own hair.  Yes, you guys now know my secret, I'm not a natural blonde.LOL.  I have jet black hair!  I look like a death rocker chick with it though, so I keep it blonde.   Gosh, I keep getting side tracked, anyways, I have to go school clothes shopping, Jullien and Dillon start next week and Adam & Elijah start the following week.  I guess I am kind of ready for it, I wont have as much running around to do.  Well, another day of rushing and I still have my sanity, AMAZING! 

My sister is out of the hospital!  Thank you everyone for all your prayers, they definitely helped.  My sister is on a plane back to my parents house.  She is still really sick so when they released her from the hospital my parents had her fly to their house immediately so they can have her checked by our family doctor.  No one has given answers so it will be nice to see what our doctor has to say.  I'll keep everyone updated as I find out more.  Thanks again everyone, you don't know how much I appreciate it!

Hi everyone,

I wrote a TRUE story and wanted to share it with you.  Hope you like it!

I stood at the patio door, the cool breeze gently blowing across the greenery in my yard.  I watched the stems bend and spring back to their upright position.  I was mesmerized by the way they all seemed to move in unison, as if they were all dancing to the same beat of a song. The entire yard was alive and seemed to be enjoying the beauty of the day.  I watched and found the old familiar feeling rising up throughout my entire body, slowly…slowly, no, not again….horror!  Yes, there it was, unavoidable on this particular day.  I could no longer hide behind the safety of the floral, crème colored curtain, which had effectively served as a protective barrier against the outside nightmare.

The picture that currently kept me frozen from movement was a garden full of low amaranth, southern brass buttons, bermuda grass, in other words, weeds!  Oh, I did have three fern trees that had spread their way across the wall as if they too were trying to escape the confines of their dismal existence.   My husband had strategically placed bricks around the ferns, more in an attempt to cover the weeds than to create the look of a planter.  The persistent weeds however, were trying to push their way out of the suffocating, sunless, cramped covering that was forced upon them.  Something drastic had to be done!  I was running out of time.

My son and step-daughter were graduating from high school in less than two weeks and we were having about a hundred people over our house.  I usually put together the famous “honey do” list, which is generally given to my husband in the sweet, loving, in other words…manipulative way that only a wife can do.  Today was different, I didn’t feel particularly sweet or loving, the feelings were…mad, frantic, anxious, and just plain frustrated.  I did what every normal woman would do, I freaked out.  I began screaming frantically, in a high pitched, borderline crazed lunatic, being put in a straight jacket tone.  Yes…….I went a little overboard but I had been asking my husband to fix the yard for about a month.  Time was running out and so was my patience. 

So began the creation of what I now refer to as, the gardening monster.   He took three days off of work to get the job done.  He decided to really stick it to me for my outburst.  He said he was going to design a backyard masterpiece.  Which I thought, go ahead, how will that affect me negatively?  Little did I know that the “masterpiece” would change my entire life as I knew it and not in a positive way.

The transformation began with a full day of removing the entire weed garden.  He then chose a wide array of palms, the king, kentia, bamboo, queen and sago.  The beginning of the tropical environment was starting to take shape.  The bright red, orange, yellow, and purple tropical flowers were then added in as fillers, anthuriums, heleconia, torch ginger and my personal favorite, orchids.  The colors were like a bright sunset setting over a Hawaiian waterfall.  They each seemed to be glowing and illuminating their light on the entire yard. The warmth that they radiated made you feel as if you were on a tropical oasis vacation. The carefree, relaxed, calm and peacefulness of my new retreat was refreshing.  I had to wonder if that was the emotion that he was trying to invoke on my behalf?   

My excitement began to take shape in the form of my own desire to create something beautiful.  I decided to get a large pot for the front of the house and pick out all of my own plants.  I chose a sago palm as the centerpiece, and then surrounded it with a wide assortment of flowers.  When I was done, my husband even complimented my “creation”.   How satisfying a beautiful yard can make you feel!

Long after the graduation party, that was a complete success, due in part to my new tropical heaven.   My husband took it to the next level, he became obsessed.  Everyday he would go outside and if he didn’t have something new to plant, then he would rearrange the ones that he already had!  Okay, this was getting out of hand.  He was like a maniac, we all had to go outside and praise him for whatever new design he had come up with that day.  The kids started to complain about going out to look at the same plants in different positions.  I told them that their dad had found his passion and we all needed to go along with it.  That was until the day that he decided to take it one step further. 

I was napping one afternoon, when I heard the familiar daily sound of the shovel going in the back yard.  I knew that I would be expected to go out and see what he had done today.  So I headed down and saw that he had new things to plant.  They looked very familiar and I couldn’t quite place where I had seen those particular flowers.  He had a huge smile on his face and seemed even more proud of himself than usual.  He then told me to come out front and see what he had done.  We walked outside, turned the corner, and to my utter shock, I realized he had stolen my plants from my pot and moved it to his backyard.  In place of my sago palm and beautiful flowers, he had left me one lone drab desert tree.  I couldn’t believe it!  I told him, “You stole my plants.  How could you do that?”  His reply was, “That tree didn’t go with my yard so I gave it to you.”  Yes, there is a moral to this story and it is a simple one, be careful what you wish for.  I created a gardening monster, who ultimately resorted to stealing trees and flowers from his own wife!

I

. 

(Me, Amy, April, Mom, Zoey, Stacy)

Here is a picture of my sisters & mom.  The little girl is my sister April's daughter Zoey.  Amy is four months pregnant in this picture. She's the youngest girl in the family so we all feel the need to help & take care of her all the time, especially since her husband doesn't.  My family is going to try to fly her home once she is well enough to travel.

First off, thank you everyone who has been praying for my sister.  So far they said she has a bladder infection, kidney infection, mastitis & an infection in her heart valve.  They now have called in a specialist because she is not getting better.  She was so bad before she went to the hospital that her baby was crying because she was hungry & she couldn't even lift herself up out of bed to pick her baby up and feed her, so poor little Ava just kept crying and my sister was crying because she couldn't help her baby.  Her husband (who none of us particularly care for because he is VERY self centered)  was down stairs and never went up to check on my sister or the baby! Please continue with your prayers!!  She definitely needs them.  

I just got home from bible study and had three missed calls from my sister April.  When I called her back she was crying & told me that our youngest sister Amy, who just had a baby girl on July 18th, was rushed to the hospital.  My oldest sister, Stacy then called, but she didn't know very much either.     They think she might have staph infection, she has had a high fever for ten days.  They also think she may have a hole in one of her heart valves.  We are waiting to hear from the doctors.  So I would appreciate your prayers.  We can't call my parents to receive more information because they are to upset to even talk & they are trying to get a flight to Washington.  My mom is not in any condition to deal with this because she still hasn't gotten over the death of my brother John, who died at the age of 22 in an automobile accident.  

I'm just waiting to get more information to see if I need to fly there also.  Right now I'm doing what I always tend to do in stressful situations, push all my feelings down and try to keep my sisters calm and be the voice of reason.  Sometimes I wish I could just break down and cry and have someone else take charge.  It's hard feeling one way and trying to act another.  Thanks Minti family for letting me let go of some of this stress through writing to you.

I had every intention of making my first trip to the gym today, the mistake I made was coming home and instead of just changing and running out the door, I got on the computer, Minti of course, (see how I blame you guys).  Yeah, you guessed it, I never made it!  So the new plan is to get my workout clothes ready tonight so I can take them to work and head straight to the gym.  Why does it always seem like once you get home you're too lazy and tired to go anywhere?  Maybe it's just me?!  Me and my husband did take our dog, Allie for a walk tonight though, that should count for something I guess. But unfortunately not very much, here's a tip girls..........old age SUCKS!!   I never used to have to work out, but everything just starts to jiggle now and you have to lift weights to stop it.  You'll see, that moment when you enthusiastically wave to your friends that you spot across the room, your hand stops waving while your under arm continues to wave uncontrollably.  Yes, I never thought it would happen to me, but here I am, with arms flapping away.  Hey, I think I'll write a new poem- Old Age & The Underarm Wave....LOL...So be on the look out..........Until then, keep your fingers crossed that I make it to the gym tomorrow.

 

Mondays, yuck!!!  The weekends seem to fly by and the rest of the week is slow.  I just got back from work and it'll be time to take the boys to football practice soon.  My youngest son pulled his hamstring on Friday, so I don't know if he'll be able to practice very much.  He has to lose 7 lbs. by Aug. 10th  to be able to stay on this championship team.  The coach has been trying to get him on his team for years because my son is really fast.  But we usually play him up a level with his older step-brother so we have one less game to go to on Saturday's.  We told the coach we would go ahead and try this year, but my son is taking a huge growth spurt.  I feel kind of guilty having him lose the weight because he really has no extra pounds to lose,  but my son said that he wanted to try.  I hope I'm not being a bad mom? We just kind of changed his eating habits to chicken, non-fat yogurt and jello.  Any other ideas on non fattening food?  I'm a terrible eater, so I cook the same way, Pasta, Potatoe's..........Mmmmmmm carbs, my favorite.  So this is a task for me to find the right things to feed him.  Hopefully there's someone out there who eats healthy and can help! 

Oh yeah, I think my stomach sickness is finally gone, so since I'm about 6 pounds lighter, I think it would be a good idea to get back to the gym this week and try to start working out so I can tone it all up.  Well, that's the plan for now, hopefully by writing it in my blog it will make me feel like I have to follow through with it..........we'll see........I' ll let you guys know.  Anybody who wants to push me by making me feel guilty if Idon't following through, please go right ahead............I need it!!   

 

Today I'm still struggling with this weird stomach thing.  I'm happy that I can at least leave the house (thanks to the medicine I got at the drug store).  I can only be cooped up for so long!  My two fifteen year olds left at 5:30 this morning for church camp at a lake for a week and the two little ones (okay, 13 & 12 aren't little, but when their your last ones, they are always your babies) stayed the night with their friend.  So we went to church alone and then out to lunch.  As the children are getting older, this alone time with my husband is happening more often.  At lunch I noticed that my sickness has left me with a positive side effect, I ate three bites and I was FULL!!  Hopefully I will lose a few pounds and keep it off.  See, I'm so proud of myself, I'm trying to find the positive in all situations.  Now I just have to take that attitude through to my larger struggles.  I will try to take it one day at a time and not look at the big overwhelming picture.  Okay, so the more I tell myself that, hopefully the easier it will be to practice it.  

Today is my kids football team beach party.  I was excited to go but unfortunately I've got some kind of stomach problem & I can't be far away from the bathroom (I guess that's the nice way to put it.)  I had a really good day yesterday with my oldest son, and yes, he did show up at my house on his birthday.  Kind of funny, just after I finished crying and posting my first blog about it, he walked in.  He said he had been mad at me and wanted to pay me back for yelling at him (nice kid, huh?!)  He told me that he was going out to dinner with his dad and step mom & I could do his dinner on Friday (yesterday). Yeah, still kind of hurt but said okay.  When he came over yesterday for dinner, I asked where he went with his dad and step mom for dinner, he said no where.....Of course I wasn't surprised because his dad has always let him down his whole life (kinda hard to understand how he keeps subjecting himself to the same disappointments?)  So anyways, we did his birthday dinner and then we went to exchange some shirts that didn't fit.  It was really nice getting to spend some one on one time with him, (hasn't happened much since he moved out).  He seemed really appreciative and told me Thank You & I Love You (shocking because he's one of those kid that EXPECTS everything).  

I guess the hardest thing for me has been letting go and trying to establish a new "adult" relationship with my son.  It's sooooo hard though, you always think of them as a child that you need to help make decisions for, protect and boss around like you've always done.  Letting go is a hard thing..........I guess I will just have to keep working at it.   To bad there isn't a manual that we mom's are given as our children go through different stages!!!!

Money problems, how frustrating!!!!  Why does it always seem like when you think your going to get ahead, some unexpected expense always seems to pop up.  Okay, I guess, it will work out because somehow it always does, but I wish I could just stop stressing.  I just need to have faith that God will see us through just as he always has in the past.  

So, here's the thing, does anybody have any info that they could share about part time work at home?  I tried those - read ads online, but that was a joke!  I am not good at selling things (ie.  Multi level marketing) .......I'm stumped!!  Definitely need to do something to bring in extra money quick!  I've sent in a few articles to magazines, but still waiting.  I work outside of the home only part-time because I need to be home in time to pick up kids and drop them off at their different sports.  I just thought if I could also do something in the evenings to get us out of this hole we're in. HELP!!!!!! 

So, today is my first blog.  I guess I never started writing because it is easier for me to help others and try to not show my own personal daily problems.  But, today is my eldest sons 19th birthday.  About six months ago he decided to go live with his dad, who has NEVER been involved in his life.  I was hurt and had to go through the feelings of sadness and loss, however, I knew it was important for him to establish a relationship with his father.  The hard thing is that his dad just recently remarried and now his dad and new stepmom is basically all he cares about.  

I have a family tradition that I have always done for everyones birthdays, they get to pick their favorite dinner for me to make and their favorite cake and we all get together to celebrate.  I had a little argument with my son last week about  how he will never help out on the rare occasions that I ask him to pick up one of his brothers for me.  I said that next time he needs something, that I probably wont be able to help him out.  Anyways, we haven't talked since last week.  I have left several messages about what he wants for his birthday dinner, etc.  I called and left a message telling him Happy Birthday and I loved him and to call me.  He still has not returned any of my calls.  The other kids told me that he was over our house today while I was at work and told them that he was having dinner with his MOM, which he obviously meant his step mom.  Okay so I just finished crying and felt that I needed to get it out.  It's hard when you give everything to your kids and they don't seem to care about you!!  Thanks for letting me vent!