Prayer request!

We have a very special request! We just recently learned that our former pastor's wife out in South Carolina was just diagnosed with colon cancer. She just found out last Friday and has already had surgery to remove it 3 days ago. They do know that it has already spread to her lungs, but are waiting on the results from a needle biopsy to see the prognosis there. They have three children and one is still in high school. She is such a strong woman and has such a wonderful testimony with her life. She has just recently helped her sister go through breast and lung cancer and all the treatments that followed. She is still cheery as usual, but very weak. Yet she always thinks of others that are worse off and knows that God is in control! Please pray for her healing, her family, and the doctors to know exactly what to do for her! I will keep you updated as I know more!

A great idea!

I received an e-mail a while ago from a pastor friend of ours with this idea of sending cards to a recovering soldier at Walter Reed Medical Center out in Washington D.C. I knew definitely that our family would all do one, but I wanted to do more than that. These soldiers have sacrificed so much for our freedoms and will spend Christmas in a hospital away from home and more than likely away from their loved ones. I sent a note to both Lauren's and Shelby's teachers to see if I bought the cards if they would let the students each make one so that I could get them sent out by today. I am very glad to say that they agreed and today I mailed out over 40 cards to the hospital and hopefully they will touch many lives. I put the class name and school address in hopes that maybe one or two soldiers might send something back to the kids and what a thrill it would be for the kids to know what they did really mattered in someones life. My family will sit down tonight and do ours all together to get 6 more out in the mail tomorrow! I passed this e-mail on to many people in hopes that their families would join in, so thank you to all those that liked the idea enough to do it and support our troops!!

Our Thanksgiving

It has been a busy few weeks and taken me a while to get back on here to let you all know about our Thanksgiving. My mom and dad were out here for a few weeks to spend it with us and we were blessed in more ways than one to have them here at this time. Our Thanksgiving day started out normal by doing breakfast and then the girls and I decorated our Christmas tree before lunch since Greg and I were suppose to go away the next day for a short getaway. We have a small tree this year since we are limited on space, but it is beautiful because we did it together. After snacking around at lunch time, I began to throw all the meal together and Greg started frying the turkey. The girls all enjoyed helping do something. As part of her home economics this year, Kalani made the homemade macaroni and the fruit salad. Hannah helped make the broccoli casserole, grossing out the whole time as she despises broccoli. Lauren and Shelby helped do the apples for the apple pie. Hannah and Lauren also helped peel the eggs for deviled eggs. Along with all that we had a small ham, the deep fried cajun turkey, andouille cornbread stuffing, regular stuffing, both gravies, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pies, and of course my mom's homemade rolls.

We all went around the table giving thanks to many things and I had just done mine. With all the disease and sickness that is in this world I had just said how thankful I was that everyone in my family was healthy at the moment, not knowing where the next few hours would lead us.

About an hour before it was all done, Hannah came out and said the right side of her body was numb and was experiencing some silliness when trying to talk or hold something. We did not think much then because she was laughing about it and had been laying down so we thought maybe she laid a way that part of her body fell asleep. After sitting down to a table so full of food that we could hardly pass it, Hannah began to complain of a headache. I started out with one ibuprofen and she laid down for a while. She got up and said it was worse so she took the second ibuprofen and laid around.

At a little after six, as we were all fixing to play a game together, Hannah began to cry and say her head was getting even worse. Greg and I were beginning to be very concerned so we headed out to the ER at the army hospital. On the way there Hannah began having difficulty answering simple questions and things she was saying didn't make sense. Amazingly when we got there, they were not busy for a holiday night. Hannah was examined by the doctor and was unable to communicate things to him as well and was unable to perform some motor tests he asked due to the numbing on her right side. It was very hard watching her be altered and not able to do these things. They did a CT scan that was inconclusive because the doctor said there was some kind of a malformation that kids her age can develop on the brain that the scan wouldn't show, so they were transferring us to a civilian pediatric ICU. Thank goodness my mom and dad were here to be with the others while Greg and I spent the next 2 days in an ICU with Hannah.

I rode up front in the ambulance with Hannah and Greg followed. Hannah was put through several tests the next day and all the really bad things were ruled out, which we are very thankful for. Her EEG did show signs of slowing from whatever happened the day before on the left side of her brain, effecting the right side of her body. It took well over 24 hours for the headache to totally go away. The doctor came in late Friday night to let us know all the results and that he feels she is at the age where she is starting to have severe migraines and this one produced stroke like symptoms from how it effected her brain. He did numerous blood tests the next day before discharging her as well to make sure it isn't some blood coagulation disorders that could have caused this episode, but we are still waiting on the results from those.

We came home on Saturday and needless to say, Greg and I did not get to go away, but being with her was more important. The neurologist put her on an aspirin a day until those blood results come in and since that we have had to deal with several nose bleeds. She is doing okay now, but we will have to see how often these may begin to occur and how aggressively we may need to treat them to keep them from getting as far along as this one did. We were also told because of the type of migraine she had that she is 4 times more likely in her life to have stroke. Not something a parent likes hearing, but something we need to be aware of. Please continue to pray for her and the doctors that will be treating her in the months to follow. Stress is a big key in how these may come on, and those that know us, know that she has been under a lot, so we are working on ways to relieve stress or ways to minimize it for her. So needless to say our Thanksgiving was good, but not uneventful!

I am still very thankful that those in my family are healthy right now and that it wasn't something much worse with Hannah. We are thankful to my parents for all they did and for being here at a time we really needed them! Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with those you love all around!!

Fun in New Mexico

Papa and granny are in from Houston for the Thanksgiving Holiday and were able to do a little sight seeing with us. This past Saturday we went to White Sands National Monument outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. It was just a little over an hour from here, but once again, with in such a short distance of home, we were able to see another beautiful creation and landscape from our Lord. I am amazed at such different views we can have just going an hour in opposite directions. I just recently received a New Mexico travel guide and I am so excited about all the things there are to do just a few hours away. If the snow comes this year we hope to go sledding and tubing only a couple of hours away from home this winter. White Sands Monument has acres of dunes and plenty of fun. It was a little chilly on Saturday, so the sand was very cold. The footprints you see in one of the photos of the slide show below are those of a road runner. They are all over out there, but do not look like the one we are familiar with that annoys "Willie" coyote. The white sand is actually gypsum and is very fine. You can do nature walks out here and a sunset guided tour that we hope to come back and do sometime soon. The girls were complaining about the long drive at first, but after sledding down the sand some they were asking when can we come back. It is a lot harder than you might think walking up loose sand and gave the girls a good workout that day. Going up is a lot harder than coming down and takes a little longer as well. Greg, myself, and my parents got tired just watching them, but enjoyed seeing them have so much fun.

After doing that for a couple of hours we all needed a little energy boost and snack all in one. We found a frozen custard place in the nearby town and went and all had a nice treat before our drive home and having to wait for hamburgers to be grilled. Frozen custard is awesome! The best one I have ever eaten at is in Illinois, but this one was still very good. It is so much creamier than your regular ice cream and just makes a great sundae or blizzard. We all had different things, but everyone enjoyed it. We saw a beautiful night sky as we were traveling home and pulled off to take a picture. The temperature drops pretty quick out here when the sun goes down out here, but the sky puts off some beautiful colors. The few trees we have around here are changing to fall colors finally and it is beginning to feel a little like the holiday season. It has still been warm here, but they say highs in the 50s this weekend with possile snow flurries Saturday night into Sunday morning. Below is a short clip of one of the girls sledding from this past weeknd and I will try to change it every couple of days so stay tuned to catch them all having a blast!

GOD BLESS OUR COUNTRY!

Today is veteran's day and a very hard day for Greg. He has been in a war zone 4 times in his military career and will probably go back in 2009. He serves his country proudly, following in the footsteps of his dad and many others before him. He reflects every veteran's day at all those lost during the wars our country has fought. He told me just today about a friend he had made when he was there back in 2003 and how hard the day that friend died was even though they had only known each other 4 months. He still remembers the ceremony they had over there for his friend as if it was just yesterday. The military is such a brotherhood and an immediate bond is formed with those who are putting their lives on the line for our freedom. No matter your stand on this war, we need to always support our troops while they are out doing as their country commands them to do. They need our prayers on a daily basis! Please take a moment today to pray and thank God for our soldiers both present and past, their families, and the future of our country. I am so proud to be an army wife and to have a husband that stands for this great country God has blessed us to live in! Always appreciate what freedoms we have! Please don't ever lose sight of where your freedom came from and all those that fought for us to have it!
GOD BLESS AMERICA, MY HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!

In God We Still Trust

Pause the music below and listen to the words of this song. Let's hope our nation continues to stand on the bible and in these times ahead, let us all trust in God again! Thanks for the song Stef!

Words of great comfort!

Christian MySpace Graphics

El Paso Sunset

Saturday night we decided to go to the Wyler Tram and view a Texas sunset from the top of the Franklin Mountains. We got there just in time, the sun was beginning to set behind the western horizon. We live on the east side of the mountains which was already pretty dark, but you are looking over the west side of the mountain as the sun sets over New Mexico and Mexico. The wind picked up a little while we were up top and it was a bit chilly as well. A cup of hot chocolate would have been nice to keep your hands warm and warm you inside. A jacket is a definite must if we do this again in the evening hours of the cooler season. It was beautiful and reminds you of all the beautiful things God created. It was so peaceful up there that you could actually forget your troubles for a minute, and just think about all you have to be thankful for. That is something we all need to take the time to do daily, but especially at this time of the year. Greg and I tried to sneak a few romantic kisses in as the sun went down, but Shelby quickly squeezed in the middle of us to try and get warm and told us our kissing wasn't helping her get any warmer. We enjoyed our time together as a family!

All about us

Gregory

Greg has just moved to a new unit with just being here 2 months now. He is still in the 11th Air Defense Artillery, but is more in headquarters now. He will still be teaching in his field, which is NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical warfare). This unit just began forming about 4 weeks ago so I am sure they will be looking to Greg for a lot of support since he has had a few years in the business. He will probably be a go to man since he has had 18 years in and many different specialties. He is updating his combat medical readiness certification this week and will probably be getting stuck today since he has good veins. He just bought a new 308 rifle to go hunting with Kalani this winter out in Oklahoma, since that is his home of record.


I am staying busy with home schooling a 10th and 7th grader. I am looking ahead to next year when I will have 3 home, and I am trying to be better prepared and more organized. I am steadily refreshing myself with Algebra II as Kalani needs help each day. I am volunteering at Lauren and Shelby’s school when I can and going to eat lunch with them some as well. I still enjoy cooking for my family and trying new things all the time. I am baking 2 cakes for our cake walk at the harvest festival at our church this Friday night. I think it is beautiful out here and really like El Paso, but it was made by our Savior’s hand so of course it is. I am just happy to be with my family and we are blessed to have one another.

Kalani-15

Kalani is in the 10th grade now and doing well in all her subjects. This year will probably be her fullest year as she is taking her last year of Spanish and 2 other electives along with her basic subjects. She is looking forward to learning to drive and now has the Texas driver’s book that she can begin studying to get her permit maybe next summer. Kalani and Greg plan to go hunting out in Oklahoma at the first of December. She just got a new 270 rifle from her papa and granny in Houston, and is hoping to shoot her first deer with it. Kalani is taking home economics this year and has been doing projects and cooking for us as well. Everything has been good so far and no major disasters. Kalani loves anything to do with Star Wars, but especially Legos and all the different series of books.
A'nika-13

A’nika is in the 9th grade this year and is playing volleyball for her school. She is also playing trumpet again this year for the band. She is striving to keep her grades up this year as these high school years are very important to her future in college. She still plans on going to college to become a veterinarian, which means she still has many years of school to go. She loves animals, reading, and watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. She is planning on going hunting this year and is excited about the thought of shooting a gun. This shocks us from the girl that never wants any animal to hurt. She is currently reading in the Redwall, Warriors, and Phantom Stallion series.

Hannah-13 Hannah is in the 7th grade this year and is doing well adjusting in only her second year at home. Hannah is taking flute lessons at the church to hopefully play in the orchestra there soon. She is doing very well, but all her years in piano have helped. She is also due to start piano lessons back next week with the lady that plays piano for our church. She is taking a creative writing course this year to help her with her penmanship and story writing. I wish I had done it with Kalani, but it will be very good for Hannah. She is enjoying watching Kalani take home economics and has already asked if she can take it in 9th grade, not 10th. She is the one that found our little stray, Libby, and is so attached to that little kitty. I have to make her focus on school at times and stop going to check on the cat.


Tyson-12

Tyson is in the 6th grade this year and seems to be enjoying his first year of middle school. He is learning to play the trumpet for band this year and I am sure driving the neighbors crazy as he practices some days. I am sure he asks his nice big sister to help him at times as well. Tyson enjoys playing his video games and even calls his dad to help him out on the Pitfall game at times. When he is not being annoyed by his sisters he tries to find some quiet time and read books in the Hardy Boy series. He plans on playing softball for the school this spring and is excited about getting his own glove. Tyson is doing great considering how many sisters he has, and can handle his own when around them all together. He loves Star Wars and enjoys putting together the Lego ships.

Lauren-11

Lauren is in the 5th grade and I think is excited about coming home next year with her sisters, although they have told her they are not so crazy about the idea. She loves her new school out here and has a wonderful teacher that is goofy like her. She is taking art this year and really enjoys doing that in school. Maybe it helps get some of her creative energy out. She is always goofy as you can see by her chin video in this blog, but I will say Shelby and Hannah were in on the making of it as well. Lauren has all the sudden developed a kick for hot sauce and is putting it on almost anything. She just loves to eat and is always hungry. Lauren and Shelby now have a beta fish in their room which Lauren named Larry.


Leanna-10

Leanna is in the 4th grade this year and is little miss bubbly as always. She seems to enjoy most of the same things her older sister does, reading, animals, and so on. What Leanna wants to be when she grows up must have changed 10 times this past summer while they were with us. She loves horses and even believes she is an expert in the field at times. She is staying busy by being miss social butterfly and spending lots of time with her best friend, Gina, but I am sure she still has plenty of time to annoy her brother and sister. She was in a car accident with her “big sister” last month, so we are very grateful that everyone was okay and no one was seriously hurt. Leanna loves to get on the phone and talk to Kalani, just to tease her or annoy her.

Shelby-9

Shelby is in the 3rd grade this year and still my little budding author. She loves to sit at the computer and write stories. She still says she wants to go to college to become an author some day. She is in the gifted and talented class here, but still comes home and complains about how easy the work is at times. She has made lots of new friends this year as it is never a problem for her. Where we live she can go right behind the house and play with her friends on a playground after homework is done some days. She is enjoying getting more into chapter books this year and earning those AR points. We are studying multiplication facts now and learning to write in cursive. It brings back memories of when I was in school, but also makes me realize my baby is growing up.

Girls will be girls!

Lauren's "chin video" part 1

Part 2

Summer 2008

We had a busy, action packed summer that ended with our move to El Paso, Texas. We had our kiddos from Michigan down for 2 months this past summer and tried to make the most of all our time with them. Whether it is doing fun things while we were down in Houston or just watching me do my victory dance when I would win skip-bo again. We started the summer off right after school was out by going to see my family in Houston for about 2 weeks. We rented a 12 passenger van to make the trip more enjoyable and give a little more room for everyone. Greg and Hannah went to get the kids from up north and came right back to leave the next day for Houston. Needless to say, we were all tired of being in a vehicle by the time this vacation was over.

While in Texas we had a very busy schedule trying to do as much as possible. While we were there Greg was able to celebrate his birthday with all his kids present and enjoy a good old Grimes cake, my favorite childhood bakery. We spent a few days up in San Antonio with Papa and Granny doing the river walk, the Alamo, and Sea World. I was able to meet up with some friends from Hawaii that I hadn’t seen in over 14 years and hadn’t seen Kalani since she was 9 months old. We spent time on the river walk and Sea World with Mark, Donita, Chris, and Savannah Anderson. It sure was god to see some old friends and catch up on the past few years. The river walk was beautiful and Greg and I talked about getting a hotel right on it and coming with out the kids sometime. Sea world was a blast and the kids loved getting to see all the animals. I think Leanna has decided for now that she wants to work with marine animals. They all wanted to sit in the splash zone, but I opted to keep my camera dry and stay back a little. The Alamo was neat to finally see after living in Texas most of my childhood. The kids may have been bored a little bit with the history part of it, but they enjoyed the scenery. We ate a huge Chinese buffet one night and all the kids were happy because it had a chocolate fondue fountain. Can you say sugar rush?

We also went to Schlitterbahn water park down in Galveston, where everyone seemed to come home sporting a shiny red look. Yes, we were burnt a little! The water slides were fun, but the rapids in the lazy river were even better. Trying to keep up with 7 kids wanting to all do their own thing was exciting to say the least. We also spent a day down at NASA, or the Johnson Space Center. We took a tour around to all the buildings and saw just how many people it takes to operate a huge endeavor like space flight. Some of us more energetic ones went to the San Jacinto monument and Texas battleship, while a few of us stayed home to recoup. I have seen the battle ship years ago at an elementary field trip, so I sent the ones that I knew would appreciate it. Kalani, Tyson, Leanna, and A’nika went along to make sure Greg and Papa didn’t get into any trouble.

While in Texas I was able to get together with all my family at my sisters house and let everyone meet A’nika, Tyson, and Leanna for the first time. The day I married their dad they inherited 8 cousins and finally got to meet them all. We celebrated my mom and dad’s 46th wedding anniversary and I was with my dad for the first time in many years on Father’s day. It was also a very special Father’s day for Greg to have his kids, all 7 of them, with him and give him cards and presents to show how much they love him. He is an awesome daddy and I am so glad my girls have him in their lives.

After returning from Texas we spent the next several weeks getting ready for our move. We went out with the Cardwells to the Cheesecake Factory and came home packing on a few pounds. The food was awesome and the dessert was even better. I have to say the Dulce de Leche caramel cheesecake was my favorite! We went to Carowinds up in Charlotte, which is a theme park like Six Flags, but closer to home. We rode as many rides as we could and all ended up pretty soaked, some more than others, by the end of the day. We took the kiddos back to Michigan at the beginning of August and had to say our very hard good byes. We miss them so much, but hold them close in our hearts. It was a wonderful summer with all seven of my kids together for most of it. Amazingly, they all do get along pretty good and love to spend time together as a family. We enjoyed doing family devotions with them all and prayer time at night to see what everyone was thankful for or wanted to pray about.

We had a wonderful summer until it had to come to an end when we were packed out on the 14th of August and had to say some very hard good byes to wonderful friends and neighbors. My girls will all miss playing with the boys next door and with little Lauren. Thanks to Stef for making get out of my funk and care about myself again, plus pushing me to cycling class each week. More sad good byes to Tom and Kathy, and I guess Kathy and I won’t get to whoop up on the guys anymore at cards. We will miss South Carolina, but look forward to the next chapter in our book together as a family. As long as we are together as a family is all that matters!!!!!!!
Hope you enjoy the slide of our vacation picutres!