Ornament Swap and thoughtful friends

Hello again!  I am trying to do better by keeping up with posting more often.  I have been so behind and really not in the mood to post.  But things are great now!  We are all in the Christmas spirit and looking forward to the holiday.

I participated in the ornament swap that Amy over at Bumble Bee Lane hosted.  This was my second time participating.  I love the swaps she does!  

I received the cutest ornaments!  

I have already placed them on my tree.

I love this little snowman ornament.  It was from Danice over at Homespun Hannah's Blog.  I am not a follower of her blog but am looking forward to visiting and getting to know her.  Thanks Danice!  

Isn't this little gingerbread the cutest?  He looks good enough to eat!  

It was from Marsha over at Tattered Chick.  I had never visited her site until now either.  I love making new blogging friends!

I also got this neat quilt block ornament from Allison over at Sew Many Girls.

Yet another new site to me.  

If you have never joined in a swap, you should!  It's a lot of fun.

At the end of last year, everyone was doing the pay it forward on their blogs and on Facebook.  I too jumped in and had several sign up on my post.  I have to admit, I have been a bad friend.  I haven't sent my goodies out yet.  I honestly forgot about it.  Oops!  I still have the names and promise you will get a package from me.  It won't get to you before the end of the year but I promise it will come.  I will carry it over into next year.  

Last week though, I received a surprise package in the mail. A pay it forward.  It came at just the right time to put a big smile on my face.

Look at these cute "candies."  These were from Janice over at Prims By The Water. 

I love these!  Thank you Janice.  You made my day.

If that wasn't enough, I went to the mailbox today and found another package!  Another Pay it Forward.  This one was from Jessica at Blessings in the Country.

Just look at all of these goodies!

Thank you Jessica!  

I love it all, especially the pin keep.  

It has been a good day! We are officially on Christmas break!  Yippeeee!   Darbee and I took lunch to Nana's and helped her make divinity.  Yummy!

We have a fun shopping day planned for tomorrow.  Hope all of you are having a good week.

Until next time....

A week later....

Good evening everyone.  Are you staying warm?  It's quite chilly here in the south.  I love it.  Makes it feel like Christmas.

As I sat down tonight to write a blog post, I really didn't know what to write about.  I knew it had been a few days since I had updated but I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to post.

Then it hit me.  I knew what I wanted to say.

Have you ever had a feeling where you knew something was bad but you try to put on a cheerful face and go on?  Have you ever wanted to go in a room and scream and ask God why but you smile through the tears and stay quiet?
I know we have all felt that way at times.  This time last week, that was me.  I was so worried. So scared. So confused. So upset. My mama was in the hospital in the critical care unit.  I knew she was very sick.

I tend to be one of those people who think the worst.  I always jump to the worst conclusions. As I drove home from the hospital by myself, I prepared myself for the worst.  I mentally prepared myself to hear any bad news that could come my way.  I didn't want any surprises.  I thought through what I would tell Darbee if we got bad news.  How I would explain things.   I thought about the future.  I did. I didn't know what the next few days would hold but I wanted to be prepared for the worst.  I asked God to help me get through whatever I was facing in the days ahead.

God already knew what was going to happen. He had it under control. I became very hopeful through the week as more good news came our way and the kidney procedure worked.  Things were looking better and I had a better feeling about everything.

Now here we are a week later and I can only say Thank you to God that my mama is still here and is doing great.  She has been able to get out of the house and go shopping and to church. Something she hasn't been able to do in so long.   Her leg and hip pain is GONE! Her happy attitude is back.  She is smiling.  My mama is back.  I am so grateful.  

A week later, I am smiling but giving credit to God for it all.  Even the doctors were amazed.  They said she should have had a high fever and awful pain. She didn't.  They said if the abscess had busted she would have immediately been in a coma.  God didn't let that happen.

My God is so good.  I can't stop smiling.  My outlook is happier.  My mood is good.  Tonight I will go to bed much different than this time last week.  I am so blessed and so thankful I serve a God who still answers prayers.

Thank You

Thank you for all of your sweet words and for all of the prayers that were lifted up today for my mama.  The kidney procedure was a success!!!  I will never forget the smile and the look on her face when they brought her back in the room.  We all cried tears of joy.

There are still concerns about the colitis and the next step for that treatment but things are looking better.  Please continue to pray that everything will get back to normal and she can start healing and feeling better.

Please Pray

Good evening dear friends.

Tonight, I have a special prayer request.

All of you know the health problems my mama has been having lately.  She was scheduled to have another kidney procedure on Tuesday morning.

Around 9 last night, she called to tell me they were on the way to the ER with yet another issue.  She was quickly taken back and admitted.  She was losing blood and a lot of it.  Her blood pressure was VERY low also and her heart rate was high. That was at 9 last night.  At 5:30 today, she was still in the ER waiting on a room.  She has been admitted into the critical care unit and finally has a room tonight.  She is getting a blood transfusion and has been diagnosed with colitis.  That is about all I know for tonight.

Although the kidney doctor thinks this issue is totally unrelated to the kidneys, he has pushed up the kidney procedure to tomorrow morning at 7:30.  That is if her blood pressure stabilizes and will stay up.

Please pray for answers.  Please pray for healing.  Please pray for a smooth procedure in the morning.

Catching up again...

Good afternoon. I have been a bad blogger again.  I'm sorry!  I'm not going to put up excuses. Just haven't done it.

So here I am again playing catch up.

I received my ornaments from Amy's ornament swap over at Bumble Bee Lane and I love them.  I put them on my tree today and promise to take pictures and post them soon.  What a fun swap!

We are counting down the days until we are out of school. Five more days!  This week will be fun.  The kindergartners are putting on a Christmas play.  They will be busy practicing this week and then a big Christmas party on Friday.  We are busy in our class making ornaments and gifts for the parents.  I am still loving working there.  So much fun.

The weather has been so rainy we haven't got to do much decorating outside but we did manage to get the playhouse done.  It is so adorable.  I could live out there.

Here is the outside.  We added wreaths to the windows, garland and lights to the banisters and lights around the poles.  We also added a sparkly wreath to the door.I love how it turned out.

Come on in!

Darbee will greet you from upstairs.

Inside, we put up a tree.  It looks so cozy.

We also changed around a bit.  We added a large bookshelf and moved the chair up to the loft to create a little reading nook.

We added two pillows to the bench that you see as you walk in the door.  

Darbee enjoys being out there.  We want to have an "open house" for her friends to come play soon.  The weather just needs to cooperate so us moms can sit on the porch. 

This morning, we went to Breakfast with Santa at hubby's work.  They do this every year and it is wonderful.  We always look forward to it.

The decorations were beautiful this year.  

Darbee had so much fun doing crafts, eating her favorite, Chick-fil-A and seeing Santa.

She made an ornament.

And decorated a gigantic sugar cookie!

Yummy!

There was a nice fire to keep us warm and cozy!

And best of all, Santa!

We are headed out to a Polar Express party this evening.  Looking forward to it!

I hope all of you are having a good weekend.

Please keep my Mama in your prayers still.  She is having another procedure on Tuesday.  Pray that this one works and she will be feeling better soon. I miss her so much!

Until next time...

Today I am Thankful

Good afternoon friends!  Happy Thanksgiving.  I know many of you are so busy in your kitchens getting ready for the big holiday. 

When I started my blog, I had no idea what direction it would go.  I never imagined there was people out there whom I had never met who would be truly interested in my life and the life of my family and people who would be so genuinely concerned when something went wrong.   Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done and all of the prayers that have been sent up for my mama.  I am so thankful for each and every one of you. 

Yesterday was surgery day and it didn't go as planned.  The surgeon said he hit a blockage and was not able to complete the procedure.  So...the problem wasn't taken care of like we had hoped.  During her surgery, her blood pressure hit rock bottom and the doctor admitted she scared him.  They admitted her to keep a check on the blood pressure last night.  It just wouldn't come up!  

I was so worried and was so hoping they could do something to get it up.  They pushed IV fluids fast all night and this morning it was high enough that they felt safer.  It has stayed up all day and they are going to release her.  

What's next?  A lot.  A lot of doctor's visits and still more procedures.  They are still going to figure out a way to get the fluid and infection drained from the kidney.  

Please keep her in your prayers. 

I am thankful that she is coming home and thankful she is ok. 

I am thankful we can all be together to celebrate Thanksgiving. 

 Hubby's family has decided not to get together.  Kinda sad that families have lost that importance of being together but it is what it is.  

We will eat lunch with mama and daddy (Taking them Cracker Barrel) hehe.

Then we will eat supper with Kathy.  She has been cooking for what seems like a week!  

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving and make great memories with your families.

What a Show...Date day with Darbee

Good evening everyone.  It's a yucky drizzly evening here in GA and quite warm.  I hope all of you have stayed safe from the terrible storms.  

This was hubby's week to be on call which means it was his weekend to work.  I do not like those weekends but at least they only come once a month.  

Darbee and I went to church this morning and then we had a special afternoon planned. It was a mommy and Darbee date day. We went to lunch at Zaxby's (Darbee's favorite when Chick-fil-A is closed).  After lunch, we headed over to the Performing Arts Center for a special show.  

The Golden Chinese Acrobats were visiting and putting on a show this afternoon.  I went on a fieldtrip when I was teaching to see them several years ago and I knew when I saw they were coming I wanted to take Darbee. I knew she would love it.  And that she did.  She was in awe the entire show.  I admit I was too.  It is amazing to see how much they can twist their bodies and the strength of those men and women.  There was no photography allowed, but I did find some pictures on the internet that are exact scenes that we saw today.  Just take a look....

This woman was amazing.  Her balance was amazing.  She twisted and turned and never dropped a thing.  When she was done, she sat the cups down and showed the audience that they were not glued or stuck together and guess what????  They had water in them!  Wow...

Darbee liked these ladies.  She liked their "nails."  

How these girls did this and never dropped a ball I will never know.  Amazing.

The strength of these two men amazed me.  I wonder how much training they do each day?

This guy had the audience on edge and ended up with two standing ovations.

He stacked the chairs so high that when he was up like this, his feet could touch the ceiling of the performing arts center.  It was so cool.  A little scary but very neat.

He was great.

One of the final acts was all of these people on this bike at one time. 

It was really neat.

We had the best time and the show was well worth it!

I am so glad we got to go. 

Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments about Mama.  She is still feeling rough and having a hard time.  Please keep those prayers coming.  

Until next time...

I'm Still Here

Good evening friends.
I just had to stop in to say hello and let you all know I was still alive.
There hasn't been a lot going on around here and I honestly haven't been in the mood to post.

I am pretty sure most all of you who are followers of my blog also follow my mom's blog Thru Nana's Window. You all are aware that she has been having a few health problems and is now facing surgery.  You all also know how close my mom and I are.  Until we got an answer and found out what was really going on, I will admit I was very worried.  I feel better now that we have some answers and things are looking better.  It's going to be ok.  Just keep her in your prayers and pray for me too to be there for whatever she may need.

I did get out our Christmas decorations and get most everything decorated last weekend.  I wanted it done so I could sit back and enjoy the holidays.  I will share pictures very soon.

My new job is going wonderfully.  I love the teacher I am working with and the kids are great.  So sweet.

I promise to keep up with blogging better and share some pictures next post.

Until next time...

Fun Field Trips

Hello everyone!  

I hope your week is off to a great start!  Can you believe we will turn the calenders to November this week?  Wow!  Time is flying by.

Things here are going great...just busy.

I have to share a bit of good news!  I got a job at Darbee's school!  I subbed for a few days at the beginning of school and enjoyed it.  Several weeks later, I got a call about a position opening in the 3's room.  I went and observed for several days and loved it!  I have now been there several weeks and still LOVE it.  It is wonderful.  It's only 3 hours a day 5 days/week but I am in the same building as Darbee and it has all worked out great!  I am thrilled.  I love the teacher I am working with and the students are great!  Did I mention the class only has 9 students?  Such fun.  We have a good time.  

Wanna know how I knew this job was perfect for me?  Look at this...

The minute I walked in to the room, I noticed this little pumpkin guy.

Yup....he came from my mom's booth. :)  That sealed the deal. Smile.

So...that is one thing that is keeping me busy.  

Darbee is thrilled that I am there and she gets to see me several times a day.

She is having a great year.  They have already been on several field trips and I have been able to tag along too!

The fire department was fun.  They walked from the school a few blocks to the fire station.

They got a tour of the fire station and got to get inside the truck.  How neat!

Next was the pumpkin patch.  I had already started my job but was fortunate enough to still be able to go with them. 

They walked through a vine tunnel that was really neat.

There was a hayride too!

The petting zoo was a big hit with everyone.

Darbee was a little nervous to start with but really enjoyed it too.

There was a fun nature trail.

And a picnic at the end.

We had a lot of fun! 

This is such a fun year. Looking forward to many more fun kindergarten memories.

Until next time....

I've got to catch up!

Hello friends.  Wow..I have been a slacker.  Sorry.  Haven't posted in a while.  A long while!  Things have been busy and I just haven't taken the time to post.  I have still been visiting your blogs and enjoy keeping up with each and every one of you.

Where do I start?

We have been busy getting ready for Darbee's birthday which was the 19th. The weekend before, she had several days off from school so I planned a surprise trip for her to American Girl.  That is what her dad and I were giving her for her birthday so I figured we might as well visit the store and bistro cafe in Atlanta and have a birthday celebration.  I was so excited.  I can't believe it, but I kept it a secret for a week!  EEEkkk!  

The morning of the trip, I just told her we were going to Ikea.  She knows that is a little ways away and was fine with that.  Nana wasn't feeling good and Aunt Maudie was in town so she went with us.  Just us girls.  When we pulled into the parking lot is when Darbee found out.  I had one very excited little girl!  

She chose her doll first and we browsed around the store.  There were so many neat things.

She chose Saige.  Saige is a limited time doll who is only out until December 31.  Saige also has red hair and freckles!  How perfect.

 Then we had a birthday lunch in the cafe.  It was the neatest thing.  They treated her like a princess and had "tea" and "food" for her new doll too.  She even had her own highchair that attached to our table.  

Our waiter said Peppermint tea was Saige's favorite.

The food was yummy.  We all three got appetizers so we all tried something different.

Darbee and Saige had fancy fruit kabobs with strawberry yogurt fruit dip and banana muffins.

I had spinach dip with tortillas.

Aunt Maudie had pretzel bites with cheese dip and honey mustard.

It was all yummy!

Our food was good too.

Darbee chose spaghetti.

Maudie chose chicken fingers.

and I chose salmon.

Darbee kept asking if they were going to sing to her.

They sure did and even brought her an entire cake!

Once she blew out her candle, they took the cake away and brought us each back a slice.

They boxed the rest up and we got to bring it home.  Yummy!  It was delicious.

They also brought Darbee and Saige a goody bag complete with a birthday balloon for Saige and a birthday shirt and a book and other goodies for Darbee.  

It was so fun.  Definitely memories we will treasure forever.

Of course we had to visit the bathroom. :)  There were even fancy little doll holders in each stall.  We were impressed.  Had to take a picture. Hehe.

My birthday queen had the best time.

And she is so proud of Saige.

We did wear her out though.

We stopped by Ikea on the way home and shopped a little more. :)

Saige has already been out exploring the world with us.

That night, Darbee took her to her first football game.  

Just so happens, mommy had already bought pom poms that fit her just perfect!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

I have lots more to catch you up on.  

Until next time...