Well hopefully this won't be too confusing or too long.........

The first week she was there wasn't very nice to say the least. The guy she went to meet was nothing like she thought and she wasn't prepared for what was to come. He was always TELLING her what to do and never listened to what she had to say, if he didn't like what she was saying or agreed with her, he would just talk right over the top of her. My Mum let it go and just decied not to start an argument. She was plain miserable.....we had many long talks on yahoo messenger about how she was and for me it was so painful, as there was nothing I could do. I knew she didn't want to be there but I couldn't help her.......I rang fi very upset and worried and together we hatched an escape plan....lol.

The second week she was there she was off to see a friend of her's, with this guy, to spend a few days. She had an absolute ball......she rang me the first day she was there to let me know she was ok and it was great to here her voice because she sounded much more like herself then previous times........my Mum had even packed her bags and taken everything with her incase she decided not to go back with him to his place.......she do go back to his place and decided to give it a second go but this time she wouldn't put up with anything.......lol

The last week my Mum said was great.......she stood up to him, and reminded him that please and thank you get you further that 'orders'. She told she wouldn't put up with him interrupting her and that this was her whether he liked it or not..........after that everything got so much better and he even started to listen to her.......I'm certainly not saying what he did was ok by any means of the imagination as NO-ONE treats anyone I love like that and gets away with it but in the last 2 relationships his had, he was allowed to get away with treating the women like that.....but not my Mum!!!!!!!

Anyway they both still have feelings for each other and in November he's coming here for 3 months,but have no fear........he will have to pass the "Amanda Test" and trust me when I say that, that's not easy. You can ask any of my brother's last few girlfriends and my ex step-father.......if you treat people I love the way they should be treated then you're ok.....but if you don't......then watch out!!!!!!

I'm just so happy she's now home.......and so is she. There were ALOT of tears at the airport when she arrived back and again when we had to send her back to Coffs........ I still miss her but at least she's home!!!!!

This is my Mum at Niagra Falls

Amanda xxxx

My friend rang me last night to let me know they were home. The Eye specialist saw them on Saturday morning and said that they finally got to have a good look at the back of the eye and that there doesn't seem to be any damage to the lense or rentina at this time. They still don't know about the extent of the damage to her vision and won't know for about 3 months but so far it's looking ok.

She still has to have drops 4 times a day and will go back to see the specialist on Tuesday and then once a  week after that to just check the eye over. She'll be off school for about 2 weeks at least.

I'm just so happy she's home!!!

I'm also very proud and happy to say that on Saturday Zak picked up a stick to play with it and Luke (3) said to him,  "no stick's Zak, J has a stick in her eye and can't see, they're dangerous"  So after that we all went round the round the yard and picked up any sticks and put them all in the bin. This has hit us all so very hard and Zak was so upset when I told him about it, he said he wants J to be okay and doesn't want her to be hurt anymore.........I can't stress enough just how dangerous sticks are!!!!!

Thank you all for your support and prayers, they are much appreciated!!!!

Amanda xxxx

How many times do we tell our kid's to stop playing with sticks? They ask why, we say "because you can get hurt". Do they stop playing with them?.........NO!

Last Sunday afternoon I got a phone call from my very good friend.......she was at the hospital in emergency with her 6 year old daughter who had gotten poked in the eye with a stick while playing outside with her brothers. The stick had cut into her iris. She rushed her to the local hospital who then told her to go to Westmead Children's Hospital, one of, if not the best Children's hospital's in Australia. they operated first thing the next morning with the best possible eye specialist and his number one team. They stiched the eye back up and now we have to play the waiting game...........

J has to see the registrar everyday to get eye drops and have an examination of the eye to see how she's healing and if there's any progress. So far there has been no progress.......the pupil isn't dilating which is the most important thing and what they're waiting for. The drops hurt and light hurts, but she's being so brave. I rang her last night and had a chat to her and she was telling me all the great things she's been doing, like going to the hospital school and playing Barbie games on their special T.V.  Today I went and visited her and was just heartbroken to see her.........she is such a happy, vibrant, cheeky little girl and this hasn't stopped her.....which is great to see but also so devastating. She has a patch over her eye which her Mum has decorated with pretty, girly stickers and sparkles. Her Mum and I had a good cry together today.........which is what we both needed........Her Mum has been with her everyday and hasn't left her side for a second. She's beating herself up over it constantly.......The doctor at the local hospital told her that whatever she'd done after it happened was the wrong thing to do......so naturally she blames herself........what sort of doctor says that??????

So now we just wait and see and take it one day at a time...........she may lose her eye, she most probably will have some eyesight damage, we just don't know and we won't know for at least 3 months when the stiches come out.

So PLEASE, PLEASE tell your children this story to hopefully make them realise that something like this actually does happen and will happen.

Amanda xxxx

We didn't do much over the weekend, because of the rain last week I had 4 loads of washing to do It didn't rain however it was cold and windy. At one point I walked through the laundry and looked outside to see Luke on the cold, wet grass digging and he was having so much fun. So I snuck back to the kitchen, got the camera and went to take a picture of him when Zak (playing on the computer) asked me what I was doing, after I told him he ran outside and started to dig in the mud. I took the pictures and stood up to come back inside when Zak stood up, looked at his shook them off and said "ew...yuck"  Well I just lost it.....he only got his hands dirty to get his photo taken........while Luke just went back to getting dirty....lol.  It never ceases to amaze me how different my boys are............

Anyway here are some pics as promised.

I've been so down and emotional lately and even though my kid's drive me crazy, they really picked me up this weekend so I thought I'd post some pics of them and us being crazy......I dread most weekends lately because Zak seems to be really pushing my buttons and pushing issues and questioning everything, but he was so good this long weekend, hopefully that phase has stopped. Luke is growing up and becoming so much more of a boy.......louder, more cheeky, soooo much more non-stop energy and he is such a chatterbox, he'll talk about ANYTHING......lol. I really took the time and energy to enjoy them, it must be because of everything with my Mum because it's made me wake up and appreciate them so much more.

I've just finished talking to my Mum on yahoo messenger and am feeling a bit emotional so excuse my rant, it probably won't make much sense.

First off I spoke to Pete (the man my Mum went to meet) and he's just lovely, I think he was needing confirmation that I'm okay with everything. He told me he loves my Mum and would marry her tomorrow if he could......WOW !!!!!!!  I then spoke to my Mum a while later as it's only morning over there now. She told me she's having a wonderful time and asked if I had a nice talk with Pete. I told her that Pete asked me how I felt about the two of them and well that was just the start of my water works.........I was honest with her and told her I'm very happy and excited for her but scared for me. I'm worried that she won't come back even if I'm over-reacting or being selfish, I can't help it.

It scares me like you wouldn't believe to think I'll lose her.............I'm a mess just even thinking about it.

She did promise me one thing though. She won't make a decision about where they'll live until he comes over here to meet the family and see Australia. Which makes me so happy !!!!

Ok enough of my ramble.....just needed to get it out.

xxxxx

FINALLY!!!! She rang me this morning.....as soon as the phone rang I knew it was her, don't know how I knew, but I just did.

She's happy, safe and well. Although her luggage  was left in Detroit yesterday, she'll be getting it in the next few hours. The worst part is that my Mum has Glaucoma and needs to have eye drops twice a day everyday and has now gone without them for 4 days, which is not good She's also had no clothes....LOL. I told her that's too much information thanks.....LOL

She's also going to buy a pre-paid phone so we can talk more which is good, cause I can't really ask her too much about him when we talk on his phone. The main thing is that she's there and she's safe. I've just got to remember to open up Yahoo messenger and keep it open so we can chat on there.

Hope you all have a great day......I will now I've spoken to my Mummy...LOL

My Mum flew from Coffs to Sydney yesterday morning and her flight out of the country wasn't until late last night so we picked her up and bought her out to our place for the day, which was just what I needed.

We all took my Mum to the airport last night. It was pretty hard as no-one is allowed in the departure lounge......so no long drawn out goodbyes or sad waves as she walks out the exit......which is probably a good thing as I'm such a sentimental sook.....LOL

The boys were so excited to see all the planes coming and going.....Luke couldn't get enough of them.

I gave Mum all the lectures about being safe and what she needed to do in case she got into trouble, everyone thought I was going overboard but I made sure Mum knew where the Australian Embassy was.....LOL.

So anyway after she went through to the depature lounge, which was 1 hour before she had to leave, we left. As we were driving out of the airport my phone starts to ring and I just knew it was her........I scrambled for my phone but was too late and it went straight to message bank, I rang her back but she's turned her phone off I've listened to her voice message so many times now. She was just ringing to say goodbye for the last time and to tell me she'd ring me as soon as she landed in America, I could hear her voice shaking.... I was just so angry at myself for not getting to the phone in time, I think she needed to hear my voice and I needed to hear her's. I know she's going to have an amazing time and I hope she even finds love. Nobody deserves that happy ever after ending more than my Mum.

My Mum's first stop over was in Tokyo this morning where her next flight wasn't till 10 hours later, she did manage to get on the net though and send me an email, which absolutely made my day.

She'll get into the States at 8:30am tomorrow morning my time, and 6:30pm her time. she promised me she'd ring me as soon as she get's there. I'll be working but the girls all know and I've already warned them that no matter what I'm answering that phone call.....LOL

Ok, so enough of my emotional rambling....sorry guys

I love the new look Homepage........well done guys!!!

I love how the gifts and compliments are separate now. And I love all the new info up the top of the screen too.

It looks great Admin......and done so quickly too.....you guys are so clever

Amanda xxxx