Adventure's of the Gregory's

Blogging Fail.

2012-02-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am officially a HORRIBLE blogger. I just realized it has been OVER 4 months since I have posted, and to be honest I never even thought twice about it. It could be because I am a full-time student that had 13 hours last semester and this semester I have 18 or it could be that I am also a wife, mommy of 2 growing, smart, WILD, boys. There are about a billion other things that I am involved in because for some reason I tend to spread myself way.to.thin. ALL the time. That is something that I am working on this year for sure. For now I am focusing on God, Family, School, Friends, and just enjoying this wonderful life that we have been blessed with!

On a different note, Eli is playing BASKETBALL!!! If you know me at all then you know what this means...you know how happy this makes my heart and how excited/nervous/anxious I get every week at game time. Yes, it is only Upward and he is only 5 and has a lot to learn, but I am so darn proud of this sweet boy! He LOVES it too!! Every Tuesday he asks me "Is it time yet?" these are the nights he has practice and every Saturday morning he has games. We have really enjoyed this and we appreciate the "fan club" that has come EVERY Saturday to support our special boy...we are so thankful for amazing family/friends :0) ( Oh, and he is also signed up for BASEBALL in the Spring....my dad and brother are thrilled!!!!)

I have quite a few blogs I need to write to catch up on things that have been going on and upcoming events. Our family has been so excited to watch the West Family as Amber and Nathan are over in Eastern Europe right now (Day 19) getting ready to bring home Anna Gray to her forever home!!! Also, Preston is scheduled for another surgery on Friday, Feb. 17th (more on that to come..) Until the next time....and who knows when that will be with my track record! ha!

I will leave you with some precious pictures :0)

(The lighting in the gym is HORRIBLE..beware. )

Logan says" Heeeeyyy!"

Halloween Party-Kindergarten Style!!

2011-11-19T10:23:00.001-08:00

This year I signed up to be the “Head” of Eli’s class party for Halloween. I knew that anytime would be hard with my school load, but knew finals would be at Christmas time and that after Christmas nothing would be possible..lol. So, I began to plan, and plan, and plan. Have I ever mentioned that I have OCD? Well, let’s just say that for someone who is supposed to plan a party and then delegate to the other parents helping you should NOT have OCD. I had a major issue with delegating things out. I kept thinking, what if they don’t bring it, what if it’s not with my color scheme, what if it’s…..UGLY. Please, I do not need for you to tell me how ridiculous this is b/c trust me..I know. I just can’t help it. Anyways, the party ended up being GREAT! All the kids had a blast! We had the kids play the “Mummy” game with toilet paper and they were so funny. I wrapped up Mrs. Abby first to show them how and they all thought that was HILARIOUS. This is such a FUN age and Eli is having so much fun in school..not to mention getting smarter by the second! I look forward to always being able to be apart of my boy’s school parties and activities and I am sooo thankful we are able to let me do that!

The food on the Cupcake stand is “Chocolate Covered GIANT marshmallows that I made…they were covered in Halloween sprinkles too!) And the white boxes are juice boxes that I wrapped in White Electrical Tape and then glued spooky eyes to them and they looked like little mummies!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-19T10:06:00.001-08:00

Obviously I am behind…I blame school and our hectic lives..mainly school. I am just going to post some pictures of the boys and our Halloween fun. We went to the Pumpkin Patch twice this year and had a blast both times. Once with friends, and the 2nd time I got to be a chaperone on Eli’s first field trip The Saturday before Halloween my parents hosted a small party for close family and friends. I could kick myself for not getting pictures of my parent’s garage because they totally decked it out in Halloween Attire by decorating. I am talking Black plastic hanging from each wall , scary music, skeletons, black lights, ghosts, etc. It was AWESOME! We did pots of chili, and hotdogs and then had a big campfire. The kids had a blast! All the kids dressed up that night too. I am beyond thankful for parents that even my friends love hanging out with

Sunday, the 30th we went to our church’s Trunk or Treats and it was so fun. They had inflatables for the kids, food, and TONS of candy. On the actual night of Halloween we went to our friend’s subdivision and ate dinner and then we started trick of treating pretty early b/c all of the kids still had school the next day. Overall Halloween was a blast..busy, but fun! I had the most precious Optimus Prime, and Bumblebee EVER! (pretty sure if they heard me call them “precious” dressed as superhero’s I would be deemed silly!)

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Even Sweet Logan enjoyed the Pumpkin Patch

Your Great Name

2011-11-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

Life is crazy and chaotic, but I would not have it any other way. School consumes my life pretty much these days, but that's ok because it will end...one day. My boys are growing like weeds and are becoming smarter by the day...they seriously amaze me beyond belief. I don't have the time tonight (and my eyelids will not stay open) to catch up on everything that I need to, but I will tell you that life is great. While my anxiety has been high and I am more behind then EVER before on my holiday shopping this year...life is GREAT. Our family has SOO much to be thankful for this year, and this past weekend Justin and I were able to go on a little weekend getaway (without the boys) with our sunday school class and we formed new bonds. Some of those bonds are stirring lots of feelings and ideas within my heart and there will be more on that to come soon! I hope and pray that all of you are lucky enough to be surrounded by family and friends during the upcoming holiday season...if not..let me know.. we will be your family :-)

I am posting the lyrics to a song that my Uncle Damon and I will be doing soon. He will play guitar and sing duet with me. The first time that I heard it I immediately thought of my uncle. Most of you who read this or are friends with me remember that back in the summer my Uncle Damon had a very sudden brain hemmorage that was life threatening and for a few weeks things were very tense and scary. It is so amazing to look at him now and the power of healing that happens when "His Great Name" is spoken and cried out too. From my precious baby boy, to my Uncle, to recently my Popa Oz, and even to me when I was a child. Healing happens daily and NONE of it is a coincidence. God's hands are involved in all of it...he is the reason our doctors and surgeons and nurses can do what they do....this song gives me chills and can relate to lots of situations. I hope you enjoy :-)

YOUR GREAT NAME
By: Natalie Grant

Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of Your great name

All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of Your great name

Every fear; has no place; at the sound of Your great name

The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of Your great name

[Chorus:]

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man

You are high and lifted up; and all the world will praise Your great name

[Verse 2:]

All the weak; find their strength; at the sound of Your great name

Hungry souls; receive grace; at the sound of Your great name

The fatherless; they find their rest; at the sound of Your great name

Sick are healed; and the dead are raised; at the sound of Your great name

[Chorus:]

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man

You are high and lifted up; and all the world will praise Your great name

[Bridge:]

Redeemer, My Healer, Lord Almighty

My savior, Defender, You are My King

[Chorus:]

Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man

You are high and lifted up; and all the world will praise Your great name

Rallying the Troops

2011-10-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Yep, I am rallying the troops...I am asking that my family, friends,blog buddies, etc. PLEASE pray for a man in my life who has NEVER not been there. A man who defines the saying "Actions speak louder then words", and a man who has always held part of my heart that no one else could...my Popa Ozzie. If you are family, a close friend or even someone who has played sports with myself, my brother, my sisters ,or even my cousins...you know who Popa Oz is. Oliver Ray Reynolds...Ozzie...Oz...Dad...Popa...Pop...Husband. All of those are just names I have heard him called before. I don't have enough time or tissues tonight to tell you exactly what this man means to me, and to be honest I don't know that I can even put it into words, but just know that he needs prayers...my granny needs prayers....my dad, his brother, and sister need prayers...my whole family needs prayers. We discovered on monday that Popa has the horrible, awful "C" word. CANCER. Colon Cancer to be exact. He has had a rough year and has not been feeling well. His blood counts came up extremely low a few weeks back and he continued to lose blood and they could not figure out why. His appetite has dramatically decreased and he has lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. His doctor scheduled a colonscopy for this past monday to just "check" on things. A tumor was discovered in his colon and found to be cancerous. *heavy heart....fear starts to creep in...* Pray for my precious grandfather please....he is well known around middle tennessee as an amazing athlete and an avid sports watcher...Folks, I played 3 sports growing up..from the time I was 6 until I graduated high school I only remember my grandfather missing ONE sporting event of mine. ONE....seriously?! Isn't that amazing?! Get this..the only reason that he missed that ONE basketball game my senior year is because he himself was being inducted into a Sports Hall of Fame here in TN.(Oh, and he also was upset he was missing my game and even wanted to ask if the banquet for his induction could be moved to another night...lol) This is a man who traveled all the way to Aiken, South Carolina to watch my 11-12 yr old softball team play in the World Series and watch my dad coach. I am not the only one he traveled to watch...if his trucks (red ford rangers :-) ) they would tell stories of thousands upon thousands of miles driven to support those he loved...even if it was only for a 9 inning baseball game..he was there. He is not only supportive, but he would give anyone the shirt off his back. Yeah, my grandfather is amazing. He is kind, he is humble, he is giving, hard-working,loving, funny, handsome, smart, very athletic, wise, and he is my Popa. PLEASE, PLEASE be in prayer for him as he and our family face the upcoming weeks ahead and what they hold. He and my Granny are meeting with his surgeon tommorrow to find out exactly when his surgery will be to remove the tumor. Pray for the surgeon...the surgical team. The doctor he has been seeing is confident that the cancer is hopefully contained and just in the colon. They will know for positive once they get inside, but the CT scan did not show any spots on any other major organs..PTL!!!!! Pray for my Popa's spirits...this is a man who used to play 18 holes of golf 2-3 times a week and now he is tired and even though he would never admit it I am pretty sure he hurts. I only hope he knows what he means to us, and how much he is loved by so many. I have girls that I played basketball, or soccer, or softball with that still see me to this day and ask me about "Popa Oz". People he is the cream of the crop, and I just ask that you Pray! Prayer works and I know from experience that only our HEALER can take care of this, but HE can! Thank you, friends :-)

Boys of Fall

2011-09-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took our 2 rowdy boys to meet up with my dear friend, Amber West, and have some new pictures taken of them. We were also delivering furniture to Amber and her family that will be there and ready to Welcome home, Anna Gray when she arrives to her FOREVER home...VERY soon :-) Amber and her husband, Nathan, are going to be the proud parents to a 4th addition to their home when they welcome, Anna "Annie" Gray West home hopefully in December :-) Amber is an amazing photographer who is WONDERFUL with kiddos and all of the money she is making right now is going to help fund Annie's Adoption. We are THRILLED with the outcome of our boys pictures (like always) and I am going to try and limit myself on this blog so that you are not overwhelmed with all of their "cuteness" ;-) This is just a peek at the pictures we got...Please let me know if you would like Amber's information so that you can set up your own photoshoot...afterall, you get cute pictures AND you are helping bring a sweet baby girl home to her FOREVER family!!! What are you waiting for?!?!

Please go and read about the Anna Gray's Adoption at http://www.ephesians15.blogspot.com/ :-)

Blessings in disguise...

2011-09-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Life has been EXTREMELY overwhelming for myself and my husband here lately. The adjustment to our lives with me in school full-time has been a tough one for everyone. Job changes, birthdays, new school schedules, family sickness, etc. have had me at MAXED OUT for the last month. My shoulders are heavy and some days my heart is too, but I continue to press on knowing that this is GOD's Will for my life right now. Even if it means sacrificing the family time that I have always had plenty of time for...The song below speaks to my heart in great ways and is so appropriate. Through the good, the bad, and the ugly God's mercies are neverending and I am SO unworthy. Thank you, Lord for loving me even on my "ugly" days, and for giving me strength daily.

Blessings

By: Laura Story

We pray for blessings

We pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

All the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom

Your voice to hear

And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your Word is not enough

All the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know that pain reminds this heart

That this is not, this is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You’re near

What if my greatest disappointments

Or the aching(s) of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy

And what if trials of this life

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Eli is 5!!!

2011-09-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Wow. I still remember my post about Eli being born, and now I am writing that he is 5 YEARS OLD!! 9-19-06 was one of the greatest days of my life, and we are forever blessed with our sweet Elijah Wade Gregory. Bubby, we love you soo much and we have been so blessed being able to watch you grow into the handsome, smart, loving, thoughtful, funny young boy that you have over the last 5 years. You continue to amaze us daily and we can't wait for 5 more years! Love you to the moon and back sweet boy!!

Eli just a day old :-)

5 Years old!

This is the stuff....

2011-08-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

I refuse to give in to my "irritations" from the last few days and instead I am going to post the lyrics to a new fave song of mine that reminds me just how blessed I am. I refuse to let satan control my thoughts of doubt and rejection...REFUSE. So, enjoy the song :-) It's a very catchy tune and I LOVE Francesca Battestilli!!

I lost my keys in the great unknown

And call me please 'Cuz I can't find my phone

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff that's getting to me lately

In the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

45 in a 35

Sirens and fines while I'm running behind

Whoa

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff that's getting to me lately

In the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

But I gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

So break me of impatience

Conquer my frustrations

I've got a new appreciation

It's not the end of the world

Oh Oh Oh

This is the stuff that drives me crazy

This is the stuff

Someone save me

In the middle of my little mess

I forget how big I'm blessed

This is the stuff that gets under my skin

And I've gotta trust You know exactly what You're doing

It might not be what I would choose

But this is the stuff You use

Lord,

Forgive me for my thoughts of complaints and being whiny sometimes...Help me not to sweat the small stuff. Thank you for loving and being patient with me. I am undeserving.

Love,

Kace

1st Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

Eli is officially in KINDERGARTEN!!! He is doing so well and is LOVING his teacher, school, classmates, etc. Last week he only went 2 days because they do a "phase in" process for them. Tuesday was his 1st official full day, and he walked into the classroom and never looked back. I explained in my last post that it had just started to hit me that he was going to school full-time and it honestly had not "upset" me like I hear so many other mom's talk about. The first day his teacher (who is Mrs. Abby Sutton and we LOVE LOVE her!!!) allowed the parents to walk them into the school and into the class so that we could take a few pictures and say our goodbye's. As I took Eli into his class and he found his seat I was snapping a few pictures for the scrapbook and grandparents. He looks up at me and says, "Mom, why are you taking pictures of me?!" I said, "So, that your daddy and Gigi and Poppy can see!" He proceeds to take a minute to think and then says, " You tell Poppy that I got this!!!" It was HYSTERICAL. I could barely get him to tell me bye. I was ok after leaving and to be honest I don't think it "hit" me until his second day which was on Thursday. This day we had to just drop them off in the car rider line, and wave goodbye. As my baby boy turned and looked at me with his backpack on and waved bye....it hit me. The tears came and I could not believe that we were in this phase of his life. Don't get me wrong they are all happy tears and tears that come with the excitement of knowing what the next 12 years hold for us! Today started his first full week and let me just say that getting the boys up everyday at 6 am to get ready and be at school on time is a change for us. We have had the luxury of me being able to be at home and not really have a strict schedule since Eli was born. So lots of changes all the way around. I start my classes next week so life will get a little more hectic, but we are embracing all the new and taking it one day at a time! God is so good and I know he is wrapping up both my boys daily :-)

Uh, yea...so he is only 4 remember?!!?!?!

Bittersweet

2011-08-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

Bittersweet sorrow is a contradictory emotion where a circumstance or event causes sadness, but the event is also good for you and /or others. ...

The above definition could not better describe the feelings that this mommy is having these days. So many changes in our house...no much "new". It is all happening so fast that my head just spins. My own new ventures in life have at time caused me to have blinders on to just how fast my sweet boys are growing. I keep getting asked if Eli starting Kindergarten is breaking my heart or tearing me up....Most of the time I have answered with "No, he is beyond ready and with my school I have not been able to think about it much to where it makes me sad yet." Does that make me a bad mom? I at first felt really bad about it because let me just tell you I have been at home with my boys since a month before Eli was born. Being with them 24/7, 7 days a week, 365 days/year is ALL I HAVE KNOWN. They are my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night, and trust me I would not change ANYTHING! I am truly, unbelieveably, thankful that our family was lucky enough to take advantage of me being a stay at home mommy. We have been so blessed in that even in hard times God has always taken care of us. My wonderful, handsome, hard working hubby also have a ton to do with it ;-) Along with my thankfulness in the last year I have been at home I have also known that my time of just being "mommy" was coming to a close. Not because it had to or even just because the boys were getting older, because I KNEW that it was time. Time for me to accomplish those dreams that I have always had for myself. Time to better my family's future even more securely, and time to be able to give back in a way that I know God has called me too. It is an amazingly exciting, scary, and sad feeling all at the same time, but I am taking it by the reigns and going with it full force. Along with the changes to my schedule and free time our family has experienced lots of major milestones with the precious angels God has gave us.

Preston has 99% mastered potty training!!! Let me just tell you this kiddo is S.M.A.R.T.!!! He amazes me with his constantly expanding vocabulary and his ability to easily pick up things so quickly. He not only wore his underwear all day with no accidents, but he also started at his new private preschool today. He will go 2 days a week until Christmas and then 3 or maybe more after Christmas because of my demanding school schedule. I am so thankful for this new school and the doors it is opening for our Super P. He will always be my "babay" (yes, the spelling is correct...thats how we say it...lol), but he is quickly becoming a little man....just like his big brother.

Eli....oh goodness...Our first born, our "bubby", our rambunctious, funny, SMART, handsome, smooth-talking, Eli :-) ( Can I just add also "skinny and tall" and when I say it I MEAN it...lets just say his legs need a size 6-7, but his skinny behind is to tiny for a 6 SLIM to fit?!?!?) Eli starts Kindergarten next week, and while above I talked about how it had not yet hit me yet...it started to today, and right now I am not really sure how I feel...bittersweet. That is truly the perfect word to describe it. I have no doubt that he will walk into that new classroom and never look back besides to say "See ya, Mom!" and I will have to get back to you on how I react after that ;-) I am so proud of this sweet boy. He is such a great big brother and I can not wait to see what the next 12 years hold for us. He will also turn 5 in a month and that is just CRAZY!!

Now that I have written a book I want to leave you guys with some pictures that make my heart smile....Bittersweet smiles.

This is his "I'm strong like daddy!" pose :-)

Super P's First Day of Preschool

Our World!!

Bubby and Babay,

I hope you 2 know how proud your Daddy and I are of you both. We pray that whatever life may bring that you will always look to the Lord for your strength, but also know that we are right there to hold you up and be there for you no matter what life may hold. You both have such bright futures!! We can't wait to watch. Love you to the moon and back, sweet angels.

Love,

Mom

Ah, Bittersweet.

Memory Lane...

2011-08-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

I found this video today while going through some old computer files. I made this video for Eli before he turned 2 years old. Next week my baby boy will start Kindergarten and in almost a month he will turn 5!!! This brought lots of tears...sad ones b/c he is growing so fast, but happy ones to see how much he is growing into a handsome young boy whom his daddy and I are so very proud of. Eli Wade, you ARE so amazing and we pray that you always shine like the stars in everything you do! We love you always, bubby!

My mind is jumbled.....

2011-07-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

So here is where I will let it out...

*Today begins FINALS week for my summer school. Yay! This yay is a sarcastic, I don't want to study, yay, but also a "I'm so glad that I'm almost done!!" yay too.

*I have 3 weeks off school before I start full time. *gulp*

*Eli starts KINDERGARTEN in 2 weeks!! Oh my....I have not had much time to process this so it has not hit me yet. Stay tuned...

*I want to re-do my boys rooms because they now want to share a room. We will make Preston's room a playroom for now I think...Lots of paint, room ideas, etc. are in my head and NEED to be put to use!!

*My sister Taylor's shower was yesterday. My aunt's and I threw it for her and now we are just waiting for Easton to make his arrival...I honestly do not think it has hit me that she is having another one yet....I'm kind of still processing Madison....I am soo excited however and when he is here it will be amazing!!

*I have more paperwork, applications, transcripts, etc. to handle in the next 2 weeks then I even want to discuss. Anyone want to be my assistant?!

*I finally sold my Durango and got a *new to me* Ford Escape....I am in LOVE! I thought I would have a huge transition from a big Durango to a mid size SUV but the leather, sunroof, 6 disc changer, and many other perks have helped me transition just fine...plus anything that is Paid for in Full is awesome in my books!!

*Preston will be starting at a local Christian Preschool and I am so excited for him. He loves to learn and socialize with other kids and is quite the charmer. It will be hard for mommy to let him go 3 days a week, but it has to be done for me to finish my school and I know he is in good hands!

*Justin has big things in the works....God is working within him and his career like no other and I can't wait to see what the next 6 months holds. His talents he was given of custom painting and airbrushing are such good things for our family....I am so thankful to have a husband who provides for us and works so hard to do so. Love you, Dudin!

*My baby sister turns 17 in a week...ugh. I remember being 10 when she was born and saying "When Allie is 15 I will be 25, and when she is 20 I will be 30!" Can I just forget about the whole 20, 30 thing?!?!? I am so proud of her though.

*My best friend/soulmate had her sweet baby girl (this will be a post in itself soon!) almost 2 weeks ago and I got the honor of taking her to the hospital (they were moving to a new house THAT day so her hubby was in panic mode!!) and being there to see Logan after her arrival...she is the sweetest angel and had a rough start after having to be admitted to Vandy Peds at 6 days old with a horrible virus that left her very sick. She was released after 3 nights and is doing great now! So is Beth!

*Have I mentioned lately that I have the 2 best friends in the entire world?!?! All my life I have had wonderful friends and I still do have those same friends, but the bond that Beth , Ash, and I have formed is awesome and I can truly say that I have found my "soulmates". (I am a believer in soulmates that are friends and of course my hubby too...think Meredith and Yang relationship from Grey's Anatomy....or Peyton and Brooke from One Tree Hill...lol)

Well, my files have finished printing so back to studying I go!!

Blue Skies

2011-07-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

July has been completely CRAZY to say the least and I am way to busy studying muscles and the autonomic nervous system to write a long post, but I have some amazing friends who have had some rough times and it has been emotionally a hard month. I heard this song on a CD of mine and fell in love with it. It totally describes the way myself and these 2 gals are there for each other and I just wanted to share it. Enjoy and if you have a friend who is down and out try and be there "Blue Skies" I promise it means WAY more then you know!!

BLUE SKY LYRICS

By: FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI

When you’re down and you’re out

And you don’t think you have a friend

When you’re lost in the doubt

And you can’t see what’s around the bend

Just hold on

Don’t turn around

Keep on walking

Don’t lose heart

‘Cause I am here, I am here

Wherever you are, wherever you are

(Chorus)

When the rain is falling

And there’s no silver lining

And you just can’t seem to find the light

When you need a reason

To help you keep believing

Let my love be your blue sky

Don’t you know that I know

Life can be so hard it makes you wanna give up

But don’t you know over the horizon

The sunny day you’re looking for

Is waiting right here in my love

Just hold on

Don’t turn around

Keep on walking

Don’t lose heart

‘Cause I am here, I am here

Wherever you are, wherever you are

(Chorus)

Come on come on

Don’t you be afraid

Whatever comes tomorrow

My love is here to stay

(Chorus)

One year.

2011-07-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

One year ago tommorrow you left the earth. So unexpectedly for all of those who loved you so. I know you have watched them from above since then and have had your arms wrapped tightly around your wife, your parents, your brothers and sisters, and your sweet, look-alike daughter :-) You left an imprint on so many people's hearts with your smile,your unforgettable laugh, and your amazing musical talents. You left your love on the hearts of those whom loved you the most. Patty and your parents have been so strong. Seeing them celebrate your life and enjoy each other yesterday just made me smile. I know you were smiling from above too :-) Your brother and sisters are amazing as well. The strenghth they give each other and bring to your parents is so evident when you look at all of them. Keep your arms wrapped tightly around them, Bran. They still have lots of healing to do....your so badly missed. Idol just wasn't the same this year w/o you hear to discuss it with. Go see your mom in her dreams, buddy. Give Patty and Jaidyen sweet kisses when they close their eyes. Send sweet lyrics of melody to Ash and Matt. Hug Rachel when she least expects it, and hold your dad's hand as he fills in those awesome tattoo's in tribute to you ;-) Keep Rockin', B! Gone but NEVER forgotten.

Head,Shoulders,Knees,and Toes...Knees and Toes.

2011-07-05T22:42:00.001-07:00

My brain is on overload!!!! I have a HUGE test on thursday morning, and I did way to much "fun" stuff this weekend. Tissues,Bones,Bone Markings,Cranial Regions, Muscles, Joints, and Case Studies are all jumbled in my head in a mush. Prayers, Coffee, and quiet are much needed...mainly just prayers. (Ah,and who am I kidding...TONS of coffee!!)

Out of the mouths of babes....

2011-07-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Eli: Mommy, how much longer until I can get married?
Me: Well, bubby at least another 20 years...we can even make it another 25 yrs if ya want?!
Eli: How will I ever find a pretty ring like you have to give to someone I love?
Me: You will work really hard and save your money just like your Daddy did and then you will buy one for the girl you love.
Eli: Ok, well that's gonna work out good because you already have a pretty ring and I love and want to marry you!!!

I AM WOMAN!

2011-06-23T14:50:00.000-07:00

So, I went to see NKOTB and BSB on Tuesday night with my best girlfriend, Beth and Ashley, and we had an absolute BLAST!! I think the only thing that could have made the night better was if Logan had decided to make her arrival :-) But, that's ok...she will be here any day!!!! The last month of life has been out of control hectic.

1. I am in school

2. Justin is in the process of a lot of changes at work and about to take a huge step up at another buisness (an opportunity that I am still PRAISING God for!!!)

3. My Uncle Damon unexpectedly had a brain hemorrage the day before Memorial Day while playing guitar for praise and worship at church (he is 37!!!!!!) and very tight knit family spent 2 weeks on a roller coaster in Vandy's Neuro ICU before he was sent home with the neurosurgeon saying "you are a miracle" (PTL!!!!!)

4. We are still currently fighting BCBS and TRH health insurance to pay for the surgery that Preston needs so badly, and that in itself is BEYOND frustrating!!

5. We are working on potty training w/ Preston and let me just say that Eli was WAAAAAY easier!

6. Myself and Ashley threw a baby shower for Beth and Baby Logan :-)

7. Beth and Brian have sold their house (yay!) and have bought a new one and so we are preparing to help move them, paint, and get everything situated. (Keep in mind Beth is 9 months prego!!)

8. Awaiting and helping prepare for Sweet Baby Logan :-)

9. Fighting the school system to get Eli in at Woodall Primary (this is a post in itself...grr...)

10. Planning my sister, Taylor's, baby shower for the sweet arrival of my new NEPHEW, Easton Wayne :-)

11. Did I mention that I am in school and trying to keep up with a lab/lecture class that is NOT easy?!?! (Oh yea, and we have at least 1 huge test a week ...boo.)

12. I am doing the music for our church's VBS and so I am teaching the songs to our VBS team on Wed. nights, preparing to decorate in 2 weeks and have a full week of VBS everynight!

Ok, so that wore me out even more listing it all, but I have to tell you that at the NKOTBSB concert Jordin Sparks opened for them (she won American Idol a few yrs ago..) and she was AMAZING!! She has released a new single called "I am Woman" and it inspires me soooo much! So listen to it :-)

(I realize this post is pointless and has not "signifigance" but I needed to get this out of my brain :-) )

A time for everything...

2011-06-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

A sweet friend of mine recently placed one of my favorite passages in the bible on her blog. It reminded me that God's timing is all that matters. That HE is the one that knows when the time is right for everything. HE is who will help me get through these next 2 years of school even when I have rough nights like tonite...HE is who continually provides for our family and provides my husband with amazing job opportunities that continue to bless our family in major ways. HE is who will work out everything with P's surgery that is needed and the fight w/ the insurance company...HE is the one that will straighten out Eli's school situation so that it allows our family to help me be able to get through school...HE is the one that heals the scared and broken hearted in times of fear and unknown....HE is who made my Uncle Damon part of the "7%" that survive the brain injury that he did 2 weeks ago....ONLY HE can do these things, and I will be the first to admit that sometimes I forget this. (Thanks,AW ;-) )

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die, A time to plant and a time to harvest.

A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild.

A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away.

A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak up.

A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

Jackson " Jack" Sloan Gregory

2011-05-20T07:22:00.001-07:00

See this PRECIOUS baby boy??!! Yes, well he is my brand new NEPHEW! My 1st Nephew actually! Justin's older brother,Clint, and his beautiful wife,Maryann, welcomed this beautiful blessing into the world on April 30th. His entrance was unexpected...a little scary and very fast, but he and mommy are great! Jack weighed 6lbs 15 oz and was 19 inches long. Oh,and have I mentioned that Eli is INFATUATED with him :-) He held him forever and talked to him about "trains and trucks". So cute. Welcome,Jack! We love you!!

Technical Difficulties

2011-03-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

Sooo, I apologize for not blogging like I should the last month or so. My mind and heart definetly need it! So much is happening and has happened that I feel as if I am on overload, AND I am w/o a laptop right now. I promise to be back soon...tax refund is expected soon and new laptop here I come! It's needed for lots of things including SCHOOL!!! (which starts in MaY!) So stay tuned.....

Wordless Wednesday

2011-02-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Preston (3 days old) Eli ( 2 1/5 years old)

**sigh**

4 years

2011-02-10T21:07:00.001-08:00

4 years ago today the world lost a sweet,funny,precious, giving,loving soul. The world lost a son, brother, cousin, friend, brother in christ. The world lost Andy Finch. Heaven gained an angel though. I miss you,buddy. I miss playing pick up games...I miss your hugs and laughs and even you picking on me..I miss your calls for rides to church or the park and gym..I miss your funny stories and your unforgettable goofy laugh! ...I miss knowing how much you would have loved all of our kids...oh,you loved kids. I miss knowing who you would be now....I miss you. Love you,Andy.

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Used

2011-01-20T16:14:00.001-08:00

Ever feel like you give and give and you do things to help others to better there situation and you only end up being thrown out like last weeks "used" gym towel. That's my theme for here lately. I am trying to find a silver lining in it all...I truly am,but today I reached a breaking point and needed to vent. I am a very giving person. I give to God...I give to others just because...I give to the guy on the corner selling candy bc he has no job and 2 kids...I give because that's what God and Jesus did for me. God gave me his only son and Jesus gave me his life. So the least I can do is give to others....I give till it hurts,and here lately I give until I have gotten hurt. It hurts worse when its by those you love though. Those that you are always there for...those that you stay awake at night and cry for because when they are upset you are too...those that you would take a bullet for. I give because I love to help others....I don't care if they know it's me....I don't need to be recognized. I just want others to feel the love that I do. But sometimes when you give and then are used, well..it just plain hurts. Today was that day. It wasn't the first time,and I know it won't be the last because it will not stop me from being the same person I always have,but just for today I feel very used. I wonder if Jesus felt this way as he hung on the cross bearing all of OUR sins? Used,worn,beaten down,emotionally just tired....Of course I know his pain and hurt was way more justified then mine,but he was" used" too.

Father,
Use me daily for your work...for only you know where I am needed and what I am supposed to do. Whether it be giving my last 15.00 to the guy on the corner or just being an ear for a friends tough times....use me. Use me like we used you.

Love
Kace

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My Little Men :-)

2011-01-17T15:50:00.001-08:00

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White as Snow

2011-01-11T08:55:00.001-08:00

This winter season we have seen more snow thus far then I can ever remember seeing this early on in winter. I mean it's just the first of January and we are having our 3rd big snow (big as in TN standards..lol). Anyways...all of the snow always makes me think about God and his amazing mercy and grace in our lives. The snow falling is one of my favorite things because each flake is different, each has it's own beautiful design and while it only lasts for awhile while it is here it places a smile on faces :-)

My God is so merciful.....he washes me white as snow each day as I am a sinner, and I am beyond thankful for his amazing mercy on my life. I am not perfect....rather I am very imperfect. This is something I struggle with because I am constantly setting expectations for myself that sometimes are not healthy or attainable which in the end just does more damage then good. But you see...MY God is ok with ME...so why shouldn't I be? Each day is new and just like the snow we are all different in design and shape,but we all put smiles on someones face whether we realize it or not and others are always watching us. I have to be ok with me because HE made me....to be different in my design and shape. To stay on this earth for awhile and then to be welcomed into his merciful,loving arms one day. I am not perfect...but I am me.

"Lord,
Wrap me in your arms and help me to love me because YOU love ME. Amen."

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Random, Wierd Loves of Mine.

2011-01-11T08:39:00.001-08:00

** I LOVE to make-up my bed....even if my whole day is a mess and my house is in shreds if my bed is made it helps me with a sense of calmness (yes, I'm weird)

** I LOVE Lysol....my husband hates it...ha.

** I have a weird obsession with my dust buster..seriously.

** I love getting in bed after putting clean sheets on my bed...

** I love cleaning windows...it gives me a sense of dirty then wiped clean :-)

** I love my morning coffee..or as Justin says my morning creamer with a tad bit of coffee...

** I love my boys laughter..seriously makes my bad days simply gone...

** I LOVE when Justin pulls in the driveway after work..the boys go running and it's a sense of relief for me...most nights...

** I LOVE mace. If you know me and my history with public stores you will understand this statement.

** I love that point in Sunday morning worship when all is quiet except for the piano playing and soft voices singing....that is truly a" peaceful" time for me...which can be rare.

** I love to run; however, finding the time is hard....

** I LOVE my shark steam mop and vacuum...I could clean the world with these!!

** I love my life.

** I love helping others...the sense of relief given to those in need when they need it the most or just a simple smile on an unknown persons face....those are reasons God put me here.

** I love to steam up my bathroom and just sit there...calms me.

** I LOVE getting mail and I have to be the one to get it out of the mailbox....

** I love my family.

** I love waking up to snow...

** I love waking up by the ocean...

** I love seeing fast results...I get bored easily.

** I love planning things for others.

I could keep going but Eli loves to eat.......lol.

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The end of 2010

2010-12-31T13:27:00.001-08:00

This year has been one of new adventures for our family, and for Justin and I especially a year of testing our faith. Now don't get me wrong...2010 brought much less stress and worry when it comes to talking about what we went through with Preston in 2009, but we knew once he began to get better that the bills would start to roll in!! Oh buddy did they start rolling in! Justin had also officially bought his shop and opened Gregory's Custom Automotives as well, and that brought a whole new sense of "worry" to both our minds that we never had imagined. His business itself was booming, but keeping up with all the new expenses it also brought became a weight I began to wonder if was worth it. Let me express how thankful and proud I am of my husband. He is a man that will work 56 straight hours (no sleep,shower,barely food!) And then come home sleep and go back to work. He works so hard to provide for our family and because of his gifts and talents he was given he is able to make a living for us that makes it possible for me to stay at home and raise our boys! This is something I am very grateful for and that we agreed on before ever having kids. Opening this full time business changed my husband though....he was constantly worried..even in good times...constantly fearful of failing his family (even though he was doing the complete opposite!!), and he became so full of anxiety that it began to affect us as a couple. God has always been faithful in providing for our family. I could tell you countless stories of how when times were hard money just happened to come in the mail or our account was higher then we thought,and over the last 16 months God has given my husband an opportunity to fulfill his dreams of owning a biz and doing what he truly loves...creating custom art designs on cars,trucks,motorcycles,helmets,tractors,walls,etc and he has truly (WE) have prospered from it. About 6 months ago our comfortable living lifestyle began to feel very stretched with Preston's many hospital,specialists,and doctor bills rolling in what seemed like daily. You see when Justin opened the shop it was a dream we knew we wanted it just happened way sooner then we thought bc of his former company being bought out and him being pushed. Which meant we lost our health insurance....right in the middle of Preston's hardships. Talk about the devil knocking! We quickly (the same day) got new family insurance easily for Justin,myself and Eli, but for Preston it wasn't so easy. They agreed to insure him but put a huge rider on the policy stating everything having to do with practically anything excluding routine shots and colds, as pre-existing. Yea,devil..you suck. We trudged on knowing God would provide and he did...at one pt. We were forking out over 295/month for just Preston's medicines. (For almost a year). On top of prestons bills I had an incident in March that gave me an overnight hospital stay and 5 different CT scans....our insurance decided 3 months ago after months of battling them that it was a pre-existing incident bc a doctor had written down before that I had headaches. Then Justin had to have an emergency surgery at the end of August (6 days before our pre existing period ended) that is now stacked onto all the other medical bills. Can you feel my frustrations yet?? We always had enough to provide for us if not more....so don't think we are ungrateful but still something was off. In the midst of trying to make it all work and keep up with the shop and house and our new debt (we were so close to being debt free before Preston was born..) we began to resent each other. Justin changed...our friends saw it..family saw it. I saw it. I changed too though...I battled with being upset while at the same time knowing deep down we were blessed. Hard to explain and probably makes no sense but its how I felt. In September Justin was offered a full time job from a big company doing what he does now at his shop but it would mean more steady money...paid vacations/holidays...retirement funds...not to mention a chance to work there and still keep shop on side. We prayed and talked and prayed and talked. I cried and wondered if this was God's answer to less stress for us..a chance to pay off medical debt and a chance to see my husband again. Well, he answered me loud and clear! That steady very busy flow of work the shop was seeing came to a halt...literally within a week. It was odd. Justin took this as his answer and took the job. This job is slowly becoming a huge blessing for our family...while it has been a huge adjustment for us it gets better everyday,and I see my husbands anxiety free personality coming back. I think a lot of the adjustments have been bc it was right here at the holidays and he was getting a few custom orders and insurance jobs in too at the shop...it has been a whole lot to juggle and balance. We are right now deciding if we should continue juggling the shop at all anymore or not. We still have those bills and with him not their full time its not turning profit like before. Pray we do the right thing...I think its a sense of pride for my hubby (and me) to hand the shop back over after the year we had...its hard. At the same time God has a plan and as you can tell he has not failed us yet! Justin would continue doing his custom work still though and nothing much would change ..."just ownership".

2010 was a hard year for me in terms of loss. Not just in friends and family lost,but in letting go of fears and struggles within myself. I'm still working on it but daily find more of who I want to be. I also lost a sweet family friend this year....he was a big brother figure of sorts. Brandon grew up beside my family with his from the time I was 5 till now. Even when his parents moved houses mine moved a few yrs later and we were neighbors again! Brandon Roden was a guy you don't find often and losing him happened so suddenly and was so shocking that it was very hard. Brandon had moved to be with his precious new wife but we still talked often over computer (especially during idol season when we made fun of people!) I remember last April when he mentioned his headaches to me (he knew about my migraines) and now its still hard to swallow that he is gone....the docs found a brain tumor on a friday and on Monday he was gone. Hard to swallow. Brandon was a musician and an amazing one at that! Growing up I sang with his dads band and him and his sister often. I remembering telling him one time I wished I could play piano like someone on idol...he told me it was never to late. I always told myself next year or the next....I will be taking piano lessons in 2011 and the first time I can sing and play will be for Brandon ;-)

2010 you have been good,hard.sad,and strong but i welcome 2011 with open arms...arms that know what my family can get through...arms that know I have a God who loves and protects me no matter what, and arms that are excited to see what's in store for us :-) Happy New Year!!

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Many Merry Christmas'

2010-12-27T16:50:00.001-08:00

The 2010 Christmas season has been a very joyous yet challenging one for this mommy. My boys are at a age of lots of excitement and so much preparation has gone into this years Christmas that it hit me about 2 weeks before the actual date that I was not enjoying myself at all. I decided then to change that! We made cookies..we sang songs...we acted silly...we just enjoyed each other. Don't get me wrong...things were soil CRAZY busy like they are every year,but I enjoyed it a bit more, and I tried to soak in the fact that this could always be a "last" and to never take those I love around me for granted. We read the Christmas story and sang songs about the true meaning of christmas and when those snowflakes began to fall from the sky I had tears of joy in my eyes because I feel as though that is God's way of cleansing his land and our souls. Everything is beautiful when it snows.....everything. I pray that you and your family had a very Merry Christmas!! I will get some pics up soon!! Hope 2011 is filled with many blessings for you and yours :-)

Love,
Kace

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One Last Christmas - Matthew West Official Music Video

2010-12-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

We have the most PRECIOUS angels among us! This video blessed my heart so much...Please give to St. Jude's or your local Children's hospital. The children and families that you will be helping appreciate it more then you know :-) And the Lord said give....

Shutterfly Spreads the LOVE!!!

2010-12-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

All you blogger friends....Shutterfly is sharing the Christmas LOVE! I always use this awesome photo sharing site each year to order our Christmas cards and now this year they are offering 50 free Christmas if you share about their offer with your blog friends :-) LOVE!

Soooo, Just go and click on this link below and register here before December 10th and then share about the offer on your blog and you can save some money this year for your family too! Thanks Shutterfly!!! You ROCK!

http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/

Here are some awesome examples of their cards...I am having a really hard time narrowing my search...I will make sure and post the final pick soon :-)

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

2010-11-23T07:26:00.001-08:00

So, I set up " Mobile" Blogging...Not sure exactly how this will look ( or work!) for that matter,but maybe I will be more present then I have been :-)

Abscence Makes the Heart grow fonder...

2010-08-03T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have taken a leave of abscense from my blog here in the last few months. For more reasons then one, and now that I feel as though I could begin to write again...well, I can't. So many things have happned and passed in the last 2 months that all the thoughts are crazily jumbled inside of my head. Please bare with me, friends...this will take time and many, many, many catch up posts to get everything out. Some will be funny, some relaxed, some uneventful, and some...well some will just be plain emotional and really sad. So...they say abscense makes the heart grow fonder....well, I am still trying to truly understand that statement.

-K

(Thought I would at least leave you w/ a few recent pics from our beach trip..these were stolen from my lil' bro's computer so sorry Justin...you are missing till I get our family pics up! Love ya, babe! )

The cutest boys ever.

I am sure he was being my smart butt brother!

Missing TAY :-(

We do love each other ;-) Missing Taylor though :-(

Rest Peacefully Lil' Soldier

2010-05-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

At 5:17 p.m. today on a rainy Sunday afternoon Ethan H. Bibb went home peacefully to rest with Jesus. No more pain,no more pokes, no more tests, no more chemo, no more cancer. While it is so comforting to know he is no longer in pain it is now that his earthly family has to really deal with the grief and heartache of losing a child way to early. I ask that we all lift up Farris,Robin,Lanna and all those who love Ethan so much during this healing time. It won't be easy. So many emotions.

Lil' Soldier,
You fought so hard and so strong...till the very end. You have inspired thousands and continue to do so. You are so loved and always will be. I know you are running and walking in heaven as you fish and ride 4-wheelers! Rest in peace Lil' Buddy...this is not goodbye...just "see ya later!"

The LiL'Soldier-Ethan

2010-05-14T06:36:00.000-07:00

My heart is heavy. I have posted before about Ethan. Ethan is a sweet young boy from my town whose family has ties with mine. His grandmother taught my sunday school class growing up...his dad worked with my uncle...his uncle works with my uncle...his aunt is one of my aunt's best friends,etc.

On 3/31/2009 our families crossed paths again as we sat in Vandy Childrens Hospital both waiting for our precious son's to come out of tedious surgery's. We had no idea either would be there...it was quite ironic and yet soothing...our church families were near and lots of familiar faces made the long hours go by faster. Over the next year year we crossed paths many times at Vandy and Ethan's story and journey as he battles a rare cancer has grown close to my families heart.

Eli prays for him every night,and now Ethan and his family need those prayers more then ever. Ethan was doing great Saturday...better then he has in over a year and now he has been sent home with hospice.Unresponsive.Peaceful.Still having bouts of pain and still fighting like the Lil' Soldier he is. This Lil' guy has more fight in him then I could ever explain...his parents...amazing...his sister...wise beyond her years. This family has been through hell and back and they are still praising him in the storm. Please,Please take time and say a prayer for Ethan and his family today.

Overflowing Heart.

2010-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

My Heart is heavy. This past weekend Nashville, TN. My home. The only place I have ever known as home was forever changed. Lives were torn apart. Families were torn apart. People's lives were taken and homes and business's were destroyed. In a matter of 2 days. Mother Nature has never been a force to mess with and once again her fury was shown as she poured down over 3 months worth of rain on over 7 counties in a matter of over 48 hours. History was made, and while you and I may stare in amazement....it truly hurts. I am going to post below an article that I came across today on facebook that sums up what happened greatly. It makes me very proud of where I live and even more thankful of what I have. My husband's business flooded, but only suffered very minor damage compared to what the thousands of others have lost just a few miles down the road. I can not. even. imagine. My heart is overflowing. It hurts. You can help by going to hon.org (Hands on Nashville) to find out where you can send clothes, food, toiletries, baby items, etc. Or you can text 90999 and your Cell bill will be charged $10 that will go straight to Middle TN Red Cross to help out all these families that are homeless and without food or shelter. Our flooding here did not get the national news coverage that Katrina got, but our families are real and the devastation is VERY real. You can also go to the link below to view pictures of some of the devastation that has been caused.

These pictures are of some of the streets of Nashville:
http://wpln.org/?p=17055

These pictures are of Opryland Hotel and the Ryman Auditorium...both Historic Landmarks and Huge Tourist Locations for Nashville. The Opryland Hotel had to evacuate over 1500 guests on Saturday night when the water was at 10 feet and rising inside of the hotel!

http://tinyurl.com/25jk3a5

Here is the Article that was so well Written by Cell Block 303:

We Are Nashville

Allow me a moment to step away from the usual voice of this website.
What I am about to write has absolutely nothing to do with hockey.
If you live outside of Nashville, you may not be aware, but our city was hit by a 500-year flood over the last few days. The national news coverage gave us 15 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story? It may not be as terror-sexy as a failed car bomb or as eco-sexy as an oil spill, but that’s no reason to be ignored.
The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.
Does it really matter? Eventually, it will…as I mentioned, there are billions of dollars in damage. It seems bizarre that no one seems to be aware that we just experienced what is quite probably the costliest non-hurricane disaster in American history. The funds to rebuild will have to come from somewhere, which is why people need to know. It’s hard to believe that we will receive much relief if there isn’t a perception that we need it.
But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own.
Some will be quick to find fault in the way rescue operations were handled, but the fact of the matter is that the catastrophe could not have been prevented and it is simply ignorant beyond all reason to suggest otherwise. It is a flood. It was caused by rain. You can try to find a face to stick this tragedy to, but you’ll be wrong.
Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. We saw boats going down West End. And, of course, we all saw the surreal image of the portable building from Lighthouse Christian floating into traffic and being destroyed when cars were knocked into it. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it.
And yet…life will go on. We’ll go back to work, to school, to our lives…and we’ll carry on. In a little over a month, I’ll be on this website talking about the draft. In October, we’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.
Because we are Nashville.

One Year Ago.

2010-03-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

One Year Ago Today:

* We handed over our barely 3 week old son for a grueling, 5.5 hours as we prayed to God that the surgeons would fix his defects while removing the cyst and not causing to much damage in the process.

* I dealt with emotions that I can now look back and say that I had NEVER had to deal with before and never want to deal with again.

* I had the longest on-going prayer I have ever had. I literally spoke and prayed with God for about a full 9 hours this day.

* Our family felt a peace and uplifting from our family and friends and even strangers like never before. The calls,texts,messages,flowers,food,visits,and prayers....all of it was felt.

* I saw my son in a state that I never imagined and to this day I still wake up sometimes breathing hard from it.

* We found out that the surgeons fixed P's hole in his throat...removed most of the cyst,removed half of his thyroid, and one of his vocal cords. While part of the cyst can not be removed b/c of its placement on the jugular vein we felt good with the outcome.

* I cried my eyes out for 2 hours in the quiet of Vandy Childrens at 1 am bc I could not hold my baby.

* I was very angry and bitter at God while at the same time at peace with him...a strange place

* I cried and thanked God for fixing my son.

Today One Year Later:

* I watched my now 1 yr old son laugh. smile and run at the park as he wears his almost 2.5 inch long scar across his neck as a reminder of how GREAT our GOD is!

It could be worse.

2010-03-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I got up. Showered, got myself and the boys ready as I prepared to take Eli to MDO. It was a normal Monday. I felt fine. I had no headache. It was a good day. After dropping off Eli I dropped of Preston at my nearby grandparents house in WH as well so that I could grocery shop in peace (hey, even I deserve that, right?! lol). I realized that I had forgotten my coupons at home and since it was such a nice day I did not mind taking the 15 minute drive back to my house to pick them up and go back to WH. As I was driving down Hwy 76 towards my house my vision started getting blurry. I have worn contacts since like 3rd grade so in my experience I just assumed it was time for a new pair ( even though the pair I had in was only like a week old!) so I thought to myself I would just change them when I got home. About 2 minutes before I got to my road I blinked. When I opened my eyes I blinked again as my stomach dropped. WTH? I could not see out of my left eye?! It was a black haze with some sort of funny circular fuzz in the middle?! I bypassed my road and drove straight to my eye doc's office in Springfield while calling them the whole way. As I walked into the office they took me straight back. After about 15-20 minutes we realized that my eyeball was not the problem. There was no retinal distachment's or not disease of the eye or anything like that. My eye pressure was way off and my eye was so dialated that I had no color to my whatsoever. Just white and then black. At this point I have to say I was beginning to freak a bit. My eye sight is one thing that has always been a sore spot for me. It has NEVER been good and without my contacts I am literally blind. My family has horrible eye history and I know I am just destined for all of this as well, but I am just too young for it to start. My eye doc begins to tell me that he believes this is all neurological and that I need to have a CT scan immediately. A long story short I ended up in the ER. Luckily my mom is an OR nurse so she met me there. As soon as I arrived they began and IV and CT Scan's not long after. I was not aware that dialation of one eye is a sure sign of a brain aneurysm (sp) or brain bleed. (trust me..as I began to learn this I became MUCH more freakishly scared). My CT Scan was clean but by this time both of my eyes were dialating up and down very wierdly. Getting really big and then really small. I was really sick to my stomach as I had been for 2 days. I still had NO migraine. You must know that I had never been a migraine sufferer until about a year ago. They have since gotten increasingly worse and worse and when I say worse ... I mean... WORSE. They at this point have called in specialists and decided to admit me overnight for observation b/c of all the above. I have an MRI and MRA done of my neck and head to check all my arteries as well for clots. At about 2 am I awoke with one of the worst migraines I have EVER experienced in my life...nothing they were giving me through IV was helping and no amount of puking was doing anything. I was at one point wishing I could just curl up and slowly pass. (Horrible I know, and I did not mean it..just at the time it felt the most sensible...I am not crazy I promise) So...we found out the next day that I have a pressure pocket that was once in the back of my brain that has been pushed to the front by my worsening migraines. It has placed itself upon my left optical nerve which is what caused my sudden vision loss. At this point I still do not have my vision back but they are saying it could be a few weeks. I am on very high doses of meds and they are reeking havoc on my body but I am willing to do anything at this point to keep from losing my vision again, and also to help with these migraines. I know that I am not the only person in the world who suffers from these and lots of people just take drugs when they hit and I HAVE TRIED things like Immitrex and stuff like that, but FOR ME they are just not helpful and NOT options. I have 2 small children...those drugs KNOCK me out and I can not function...so I am choosing the preventative route. Pluse my neuro doc says that the drug I am on is also what I need to reduce the pressure in my brain to reduce the likeliness of my vision loss. Please just pray for the side effects to decrease and for my body to adjust. It could always be worse :-)

Super P Turned 1!

2010-03-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

So Life has been nuts and I am so behind that it is unreal, BUT on a happy note....my baby is 1 and we could not be happier :-) This post is going to just be FULL of pictures from his special day (which happened to be on the same day as his party-how perfect!) His theme was "Super P" which was very appropriate given his 1st rough year of life and we celebrated with a HUGE bash where over 65 of our closest friends and family came to celebrate a sweet little life that has touched so many of us in such a short period of time. Thank you so much to all of you that have joined us along this crazy ride in the last year. It has only just begun and we are so thankful for that :-) So look out.... " It's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPER P!!!!"

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY PRESTON REECE

YOU ARE LOVED MORE THEN WORDS CAN EXPRESS BABY BOY

MOMMY LOVES YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK ;-)

Still here...

2010-03-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

I am still here. I have been absent for quite awhile now. My laptop did crash and burn. I am a cheap skate and have not brought myself to purchase another one in efforts to find "the deal". Lots has happened since I last blogged. Lots of GOOD :-) Preston is now ONE!! God is GOOD!

Until I find my motivation to share again.......Oh, and when I do be ready for picture Overload!!

xoxoxoxo

Circumstances Change.

2010-01-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

Preston has had a scheduled visit w/ his Urologist for a check up about his kidneys for months now. I assumed that we would go...check out a few things..get more meds and then set up another appt for three months. Preston's kidneys had been doing so well....I thought. Preston decided to wake up this morning with a fever of 101.0...good timing, kid! Seriously, though I was some what relieved that we were already planning to go to the Doc since he spiked that fever. The office was majorly crowded and had a horrible smell today...not one of our better days at Vandy. Then to top it off I was informed that they wanted me to sit tight and speak w/ the surgeon....ummmm, WHAT?! We have known since P's diagnosis of Kidney Reflux Disease that surgery was a big possibility, but that he would be on meds for a year before that decision would be made, so, you can imagine my shock today when they mentioned a surgeon...he has only been on the meds for 6 months now. He has had about 3 break through infections..which while it is not good...I once again just assumed that meds would still fix this. I am not sure why I continue to push the thoughts of surgery out of my head since we have already faced those fears head on many times in his short 10 months of life, but I do. I am an optimist, always have been and when it comes to my children I chose to just believe that it will all get better...it will all be better. So, when I am told otherwise it crushes me. I am tired of seeing my baby pricked and prodded, I am tired of the endless medications and diagnosis's that seem to continually pile up. I am tired, and I am sure if he could express his thought's on all of this he would tell us that he is SICK AND TIRED!

So, I am awaiting a call from his kidney doc/surgeon to discuss more of this in detail. We will be going back to Vandy on the 17th for him to have another VCUG procedure done...this one is a little different though they tell me...more intense and more painful. Preston was only 4 months when he had the first VCUG and a paci and bottle fixed everything..this time he is bigger, more alert, hates the paci, stronger, and DESPISES being held down. I dread it. They will do the cath procedure early morning on the 17th and then we will see his doctor a few hours later that same day to discuss the results and where to go from there. If there is no improvement we will be scheduling surgery to fix his bladder and ureters.

After taking all this in today I was talking with one of the surgeons at the doc office. I told him that he may think I was crazy, but I wanted to know if he had ever seen a child "healed" of this condition in 3 weeks. (They changed his meds today to something stronger...) He looked at me and said, "Are you asking me if I believe in miracles?" I smiled and said, "Yes, I believe that I am." To which he simply looked at me and said, " If I didn't then I could not do what I do everyday." Thank you, Lord for blessing our family and my son with such amazing doctors.

At this point we are just praying for a "miracle healing", as I like to call it. Praying that between now and the 17th his little, sweet body will heal itself. Praying that he does not have much pain on the 17th and praying that there are no break through infections between now and then. While I know that things could be so much worse and trust me, I would rather be going through all of this with my child then not having him here at all, but at the same time we ARE going through this...he is having to endure things that, of course, as a Mommy I don't wish for him to have to go through. I believe that God performs BIG miracles and LITTLE miracles, and I am praying for our own "little miracle." After leaving Vandy I sat in my car for awhile just sitting there...telling myself that this was just something else he would overcome and be stronger for. While sitting there I noticed my (brand new, just given to me this past Sunday!) Sunday school book sitting in my passenger seat. I picked it up and just opened it looking for some encouragement and this is what I got....there are little miracles :-)

" Circumstances will change from day to day, but God will always be good, he will always be faithful, and he will always be in control. "

BIG things in 2010!

2010-01-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so what kind of wife would I be if I did not brag on my husband and the big things he has done and that are to come for him?! :-) Most of you know that in September 2009 my husband stepped out on his own into being a business owner, Gregory's Custom Automotive. To date it was one of the scariest, most exciting, biggest decisions we have made as a family. Since then things have done nothing but get better from there. My husband is very blessed to have a talent that is far and few between....he is not only a painter, but a CUSTOM painter which can include (but not be limited too!): hand painted wall murals, airbrush murals, airbrush paint jobs on anything from cars, trucks, motorcycles, helmets, walls,guitars(which also sell in guitar shops!), tractors, etc., he is also getting into pin striping and he specializes in custom true fire and flames. We also can do metal art (Gregory's Accents). Along with starting his own biz we bought out his father's full mechanic/machine shop which includes his paint booth and all of the equipment needed to also fully service anyone's vehicles. His brother runs the mechanic part and also offers a towing service. So, he stays pretty busy to say the least. We have been blessed to have gotten in with several people who are very influential in several different types of worlds that require LOTS of custom paint jobs. On top of that Justin is also doing auto body repair jobs for insurance companies when he has time. Needless to say, Life is GOOD! I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished. Anyone who knows my husband knows that he has AMAZING work ethic. He is constantly thinking of ways to better his trade in order to make his business thrive even more. One of his most amazing qualities, I do believe, though is that in all of these successes that he has been given he gives all the credit to God. He prays without ceasing and is constantly thanking our Lord for these opportunities and chances to succeed. I am so greatly blessed to have a God-fearing man leading my family and to be able to walk hand in hand with him through this life.2010 holds some very BIG things for our family and this business. Justin's schedule is already very full and continues to grow each day. I am so happy that he is HAPPY and loves what he is doing. These pictures are just a few examples of his work:(I apologize for the quality of some of these pictures..he actually took most of them..lol. He is NOT a photographer!)

Here is a custom 2009 Heritage Softail that he did for Pastor Ron Baptiste of Covenant Confirmer's of TN.

The Front of a Custom Helmet done for a Race Car Driver.

Another Custom Helmet done for a lady. (This was a Christmas gift from her husband!)

One of his custom guitar's for a client.

A guitar that was done and sold in a local Guitar Shop.

A Race Car he did

Example of the Metal Art he does.

Metal Art done for Little Boy's room.

Him working on his latest project...A custom Pulling Tractor that competes on a National Level.

The tractor being put back together after paint. This Tractor is owned by Bob and Bobby Barbee.

Picture of the top of the hood on the tractor. (Sorry for the bad lighting!)

I had to add this! Eli is soo proud of his daddy :-)

I will from time to time update about this venture on my blog, but Justin also has a biz website at

Gregory's Custom Automotive

Let us know if we can ever help!

Happy 10 Months Preston!

2010-01-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I awoke and as always I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock... 8:11 am. My 1st thought was "WOW! I never get to sleep this late..the boys are tired!" Then it hit me...10 months ago to that exact moment Preston was being pulled from my belly...all 9lbs 11oz of him. To this day hearing his birth weight still makes my stomach do flip flops..lol. It was a great day and the days that followed were some of the most emotional, difficult, scary, joyous, happy, eventful days of our lives. I would not change a bit of it though. It all makes him who HE is today and who HE WILL be.

P,
You are now 10 months old and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you! You constantly amaze us with all you are learning and your sweet, sweet personality and temperament. You are so different from your older Brother, but in your own very special (amazing) way! You are still 23lbs, but getting longer and longer.You have weighed 23lbs since about 7 months old though....you gained really fast b/c of your thyroid, but since we are getting that under control you have been holding steady. You are almost 32 inches tall! Bigger then your brother was at this age and you have been off of the height charts since you were 4 wks old!! You are talking and jabbering up a storm...you say " Mama, Dada, Bubba, Hi, bye bye, and I swear you say No, but that is to be determined still :-) You wave Hi and Bye Bye to everyone and you for sure know how cute you are! You think your big brother is the greatest and follow him EVERYWHERE! You have been standing on your own for awhile and now you are taking steps and I am so close to announcing you "officially walking". You get so proud of yourself when you do so and it melts my heart! We love you little P and look forward to all the new still to come!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Up's and Down's but we made it Through...2009 HERE'S TO YOU!

2010-01-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

1. Beth's Surprise 30th Bday Party!
2. Preston Arrives!
3. 1st Halloween with New Babies
4. Madison Rae Mason Arrives!
5. Preston is hospitalized at 6 days old.
6. 1st Christmas for Preston
7. Eli turns 3!
8. Our 1st Family Photo
9. Preston is diagnosed with rare cyst on neck at 3 days old.
10. Justin buys business and starts "Gregory's Custom Automotive"
11. WHHS Alumni Basketball game
12. Justin and I celebrate 4 yrs of marriage.
13. Eli's 1st soccer season- I coached :-)
14. We await Preston's arrival
15. Kelsey Lynn Robus arrives- we take a trip to St. Louis.
16. Preston's BIG surgery at 3 wks old.

Christmas Events of 2009....Continued!

2010-01-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas Morning at our House was soooo much fun. We enjoyed doing gifts with the boys...loved seeing the excitement on Eli and P's face when they saw what Santa had left and then we talked about the true meaning of Christmas and listened as Eli serenaded us with "Happy Bday to Jesus" on his new microphone and guitar....hehe. It was a wonderful morning that I will remember for a long time.

Santa Came!!

Wow...He was really good to us! (Disclaimer: Santa did NOT purchase all of these toys...family and friends also were VERY good to them this year!)

Oh, Eli got his Train Table! He has been asking Santa for almost 3 months for one!

Oh, I see Rock Out sessions in our near future!

Goodies in the Stockings...

Preston was a little overwhelmed!

He was also VERY happy! (as always!)

He kept whispering "I got a train table..." It was precious!

Then he ripped into gifts from Mommy and Daddy!

Preston loves his toy from Nana and Pop Pop!

Ok, so Mommy is a little NERVOUS..lol.

Daddy was really excited about his gifts too!

I just had to show you my hubby's creative wrapping on my gifts..all out of paint tape..he even made bows out of tape..lol.

See how excited he was?! Love it!

After we did our Christmas at home we got ready to head to Granny and Popa's in WH for our time with that side of the family. I LOVE Christmas at Granny's b/c we have no other obligations after this...we literally open gifts, nap, eat, and just hang out all day with family ...in our PJ's!! It is WONDERFUL!!!

Hailey, Eli and Allie about to open gifts at Granny and Popa's

Gigi and her E on Christmas Morning.

Preston, where you going?! :-)

This picture describes all three of there personalities!

And this one...CRACKS me up! Preston's expression is priceless!

P modeling his new boots from Gigi and Poppy!

Christmas Events of 2009

2010-01-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Events of 2009 were(as always)an amazingly fun, busy, stressful, joyful time for our family. Since Justin and I married over 4 years ago our holidays have always been jam packed since my family is HUGE and both of our families have several holidays parties to attend. When you throw 2 kids into the mix it makes it even crazier b/c then you are running around trying to manage all the chaos plus two very tired little boys. The last 3 years it has just been Justin, Eli and I running around and now that I look back that was SO easy!!! Seriously, I never knew how different it would be to just add one more to that mix...it is wonderful, but for sure a little more chaotic!

Our Christmas festivities began on Christmas Eve eve at my mom and dad's house. Eli has been so excited and anxious this year and it has been such a joy to watch his little eyes light up at the sight of presents and food, etc. So when Wed. arrived that is ALL he talked about all morning was "Christmas at Gigi and Poppy's!!"

Seriously, can you get much cuter than this?!

He was pooped even before the party started!

Santa Baby :-)

Christmas at Gigi and Poppy's!!

Ready for his 1st Presents...

Eli ripping into one of his gifts..

New Trains..yup, he will have no interest in anything else!

Preston's Big Gift from Gigi and Poppy!

Madison in her new hat..check out those lashes?!

Ok, so our 2nd party started early Christmas Eve Morning at Nana and Pop Pop's house. We get to there house around 9am and do breakfast and gifts before heading to our 3rd stop at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house up the road. I am sad to say that I forgot my camera in the car while we were at Maw Maw's so no pics there. Here are a few from Nana's house though...

CoCo trying out here new dress up stuff from us :-)

Preston is VERY brave on the steps!

My beautiful babes.

Yea, so they are boys!!!!

Eli was soo excited about his new talking Truck from Nana and Pop Pop!

About 2:30 we headed to Portland to my Mimi and Papa's house for our 4th Christmas party with family. The boys were running on NO naps at this point so most of my night was spent holding a child or just keeping them entertained! Not many pictures at this gathering either..boo.

This is my "country" family...I love Christmas Eve here...we sing and just enjoy each other's company..plus some dirty santa with ornaments!

More of the Burkeen Gang!

This concluded our Christmas Eve and we headed home to await Santa's arrival! More in the next post about that!

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

2009-12-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

I have to say that this year was the funnest(yes, I know this is not a word!) yet most challenging year I have ever had while putting up a tree. 4 Little curious hands a helping! Oh what fun! All in all it was a good night and although this post is about 4 wks late(our tree has been up since the Sat. after Thanksgiving!) I figured it was better late then never! I have decided that at the end of this holiday season I will be purchasing all new ornaments and changing up the colors on our tree so this is the last year for this color scheme! Enjoy!

P.S- I am not responsible for the huge smiles and laughs that the cutie in lights will provoke in this post. It is his 1st experience with the Christmas lights and he thoroughly enjoyed himself! (And it made for some really darn cute pics too! )

Lots of "Joy" being felt this Christmas Season!

My Big Helper!

I have so many "CHRISTmas" Miracles!

Santa was a SUCCESS!

2009-12-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

Last year Eli was LESS than happy about going and seeing Santa so I was pretty curious to see how this year would go. I knew that Preston would have no problem..this child seriously NEVER cries. So, the boys, my mom, Tay and Madison went last week to Opry Mills to shop and see Santa. It went great! All the kids were wonderful (besides that crazy, whiney 3 yr old that was crying at then end of the day...geez Gigi! Lol ). Below is our proof!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the last one where both of the boys are just "amazed" with Santa! Priceless!

"Why?"

2009-12-14T12:49:00.000-08:00

I don't know how many of you have heard the new Rascal Flatts song titled "Why", but it is a tearjerker. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with the heart break of suicide on more then one occasion in my life. I have actually been to 4 funerals b/c of it and all were very hard and shocking, but 2 of these cases were so close to home that to this day when I think back to getting the dreaded phone calls my heart literally hurts and the wind is knocked out of me. It HURTS....for years following these 2 deaths I asked myself, "why?" over and over to the point of breaking down. Could I have hugged tighter? talked longer? Could I have known and stopped it? In one case I actually spoke with the person about 24 hours before they took there life...it was not an unusual conversation...she was my neighbor...had lived feet away from me since I was 5 yrs old and had always been one of the funniest,most loving,sweet,fun,blunt(lol) people I had ever known. On this particular morning I had arrived home really early after a night out (hey I was 18!) and she was up early,as usual, doing things around her house. Nothing odd there. I heard her say, "Hey girl! What are you doing just getting home?" Again...just a normal voice tone..nothing odd. We spoke for a few minutes over the chain-linked fence and just as I was about to head inside she grabbed me and hugged me and told me to be careful and she loved me....again,not odd. So I did not think at that moment...she had always hugged me and told me things like that...I had spent many,many nights and days with her and her family...her only daughter was my age and we had grown up together since kindergarten. I remember walking inside the garage and as I shut the door I saw her walk into the family camper in the back yard....not odd. About 24 or so hours later I was at school in gallatin and had just gotten out of my first of 2 classes that day when my phone rang...my dad. "hey kace...maybe you should skip your next class and come home.....very odd. On top of that he was insisting that I allow my very recently ex-boyfriend drive me home...Waaay odd. To this day I still can NOT for the life of me remember how I got home. You see I refused to leave until my dad told me "why" I was leaving. It was then that he told me it was B and that she was gone. I remember thinking about a million thoughts...I don't think I even asked my dad how or why at the time. I just remember thinking "I have to get home".
My next memory is once arriving there I immediatley entered my neighbor's home. When I saw my friend (and B's daughter) I lost it. I remember just embracing her and not asking any questions, but little did I know that I was in for the shock of my life. I remember being told what happened. B had gone to work early that morning, locked herself into the bathroom and taken her own life. It couldn't be. This was NOT happening. My heart hurt so badly. For her husband, for her daughter, for her family and friends....for B. That day is a blur. I know that my friend(her daughter) and I went to the bank that afternoon to try and find B's purse in her car. It was very hard and very frustrating. It is so difficult to know what to say or even do in those situations. I know I can't comfort my friend....all I could do was be there. B's car was parked crooked in her spot...she had been in a hurry. It HURTS. WHY?

All in all there have been so many life lessons learned from going through these very hard times in my life. I will NEVER forget that day. You see it was hours later as I laid in bed trying to sleep that I realized something...something that would take me years to come to grips with..something that would cause me guilt even though I know deep down I could have done nothing. I had heard her husband say earlier in the day that the weapon that was used had been in there camper and in place of where it had been she had left a note....no explanation of her actions just a note to say sorry and she loved them. Oh My God.....remember earlier in my post when I had spoken to B over the fence? Remember our last conversation that I had with her minutes before I saw her disappear into there camper....she had been going to leave that note...and to get...the weapon. WHY?!

It has been almost 7 years since B passed. I still remember her laugh, her smell, her goofy sense of humor, and so much more. My parents have since moved from that house where we lived next to her and her family, but for years after that I would come home and find my mom on the couch. I knew what she was doing. You see B came home almost every day for lunch since she worked in town. I remember in the spring and summer when the windows would be up we could hear her car pull in the drive, her door slam and knew she was home. My sisters would run to the glass door to wave or run outside to see B. She was very special to so many people. She left behind a beautiful, strong daughter whom I know she is so very proud of today and always has been. She left behind an amazing dad and husband who has been such an amazing father to there daughter. She left before her song was finished. Such a very beautiful song she sang...one that I hope I hear in my heart and in my memories forever. I love you, B and I miss you dearly.

Rascal Flatts : Why Lyrics

You must have been in a place so dark
You couldnt feel the light
Reaching for you through that stormy cloud
Now here we are gathered in our little home town
This cant be the way you meant to draw a crowd

Oh why, thats what I asking
Was there anything i could have said or done
Oh I had no clue you were masking a troubled soul
God only knows what went wrong and whyy youd leave the stage in the middle of a song
mmmmm

Now in my mind ill keep you frozen as a 17 year old
Rounding third to score the winning run
You always played with passion no matter what the game
When you took the stage you shined just like the sun

Oh why thats what I keep asking
Was there anything I could have said or done
Oh I had no clue you were masking a troubled soul
Oh God only knows what went wrong and why you would leave the stage in the middle of a song
Yeahhhhh

Now the oak trees a swaying in the early autumn breeze
The golden sun is shining on my face
Tangled thoughts i hear the mocking bird sing this old world really aint that bad a place

Oh I theres no comprehending and who am i to try judge or explain
But I do have one burning question
Who told you life wasnt worth the fight
They were wrong
They lied
Now your gone and we cry
Its just not like you to walk away in the middle of a song
Your beautiful song
Your absolutely beautiful song

Madness...Plain Madness.

2009-11-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

I know I have been absent. Let me just begin by saying that life is complete MADNESS right now. The holidays, birthdays, new births, etc. We are just SUPER busy...not in a bad way though! :-)

We will be leaving around 4am tomorrow morning to drive to St. Louis to be with my cousin, Leslie, and her hubby, John, as they welcome there new baby girl, Kelsey Lynn, to the world! I am super excited to say the least :-) Most of you know that I am the oldest of 4 kids and in saying that, Les, has always sort of been like my "big sis". I am so blessed to not only have a cousin whom I love, but also one that I have found to be one of my few soul mates as well :-)

My computer has bit the dust again and I am trying to hold out until friday to purchase a new one so that is another reason for the absence when it comes to blogging! (It's way hard to do on a cell phone, people!!)

Until I am up and running again I will probably be absent...sooo...until then you can keep up with our family MADNESS on facebook if you like :-)

Hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving! I know that this last year has been full of up's and down's for my family like never before, BUT I have to say that it has also been one of the most "blessing filled" years I have ever experienced! God is soo Good!

Gobble! Gobble! (from Eli :-) )

6 Months Post Op...

2009-11-04T12:28:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday Preston had his 6 month post op check up w/ Dr. G. We left early and he endured an ultrasound and also a CT Scan and more bloodwork before we actually saw Dr. G. He was an angel!! I should have never expected anything less then that though...with everything this child has been through he has always been an absolute joy! I still jump and cringe everytime a needle comes towards me, but it's like he is looking at the nurse saying, " Ok, cool..just stick me!" as he smiles and flirts...lol.

So, back to the appointment. Dr. G was VERY impressed w/ how well his scar looked. For those of you that have never seen it it is AMAZING to see what he has come from to now what it looks like. As he grows it will most likely move down his neck and eventually end up on his chest. The incision was MUCH bigger then we had originally thought before the surgery so we are very happy that it has healed so well. It goes from right underneath his left ear and wraps all the way around his neck to about the middle of the right side of his neck...since he is a chubby bunny though you hardly ever see it! Lol.

When Dr. G removed the mass we were well aware that a small amount of it was not able to be removed...this part was attached to the jugular vein and that is just not an area anyone wants to mess with..especially on the small neck of a 3 wk old!! We knew that it would grow and in the future he will most likely be faced with other surgeries, but we are confident that will be even farther in the future now. Dr. G told us that the part of the mass that was left behind had only had 5% growth in 6 months!!!!! This was GREAT!!! He had prepared us for at least 20% growth so we were thrilled that it was better then he had thought! We don't really have to start talking about surgery options until the mass is about 65% growth or affecting his airway..whichever happens first. We will continue to see him every 3 months to monitor this.

The only other news was P's swallowing issues. P now has 6 teeth and at this point most kids will start eating thicker foods such as mashed potatoes, sucking and swallowing on cheerios or gerber puffs, etc. While P wants things like that BADLY we have not been able to get him to successfully swallow anything past Stage 2 baby foods w/o choking. During his surgery his vocal box (which plays a big part in swallow reflexes) was slightly damaged and just sort of pushed around. Dr. G feels this is why he is having problems swallowing thicker substances and hopefully with some more time will resolve itself. If not we will be seeing a Speech Pathologist for some more swallow studies and therapy. Right after surgery we worked with a Pathologist at Vandy b/c he had issues even swallowing breast milk and the therapist was such an awesome lady...we hope we will be able to see her again if we must.

Overall P is just growing like a weed! His thyroid (or half of!) seems to be doing a much better job at functioning as I have seen a huge change in his appetite and weight gain. He was gaining VERY fast there for a few months but the steriods they are using to try and kick start the thyroid seem to be working, in my opinion. We will do more blood work after christmas to make sure. Also, he is still infection free as far as his kidneys go. No UTI's since like Mid August so that is GREAT! He is still on Bactrim daily, but is getting sooo much slicker in trying to REFUSE the meds..lol. As long as we don't get any break through UTI's before Jan. we can wait until then to see the Urologist again for more testing.

I am going to post below a "tumor timeline" of what P's neck looked like at 6 days old, 3 wks old, the night before surgery, and then 2 days after surgery, and one month post op, and NOW! It's such a roller coaster of emotions to see the pictures now. Those feelings are still fresh and I can still feel all the crazy emotions we went through in each of these pictures. I just continue to Thank God for his blessings and even though P may face more obstacles in his future he has a future...and a VERY bright one at that! :-)

These are both at 6 days old(above...minutes before he started spitting up blood)

These 2 are from the night before surgery...we had planned on him being about 6 months but it began to affect his breathing and more than tripled in size in about 2 wks.

These were 2 days post surgery. He was doing so well, but still under medication.

You can't see his neck here, but had to share this...This was right before we were discharged...I feel like he is holding on for dear life saying "Get me outta here, daddy!" He is almost 5 wks here.

The picture on the left is ONE month post op and the pic on the Right is 6 months post op. (It's far away but just shows you how much better it looks!)

HEAL THE WOUND, BUT LEAVE THE SCAR. A REMINDER OF HOW MERCIFUL YOU ARE!!!

Just Another Day in Paradise....

2009-11-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

Computer Troubles....

2009-11-02T13:40:00.001-08:00

Well, I had TONS of updates that will just have to wait a bit longer...on thursday night my crazy laptop decided to go haywire!! I am praying endlessly that it has not crashed, but if it has my biggest prayer is that all of our info and pictures will be able to be saved. (I had not backed up in a month! stupid I KNOW!!!) So, until then I will be absent...but...I have LOTS of GOOD things coming!!! :-)

Coming soon.....

2009-10-29T09:27:00.001-07:00

I promise...we are alive....Life has been CRAZY and that's an understatement. Crazy, but good!:-) I hope to have time to post some update blogs this weekend...maybe. Until then hope everyone has a safe, and Happy Halloween! Lots of Pics coming soon!!

Not Me! Monday

2009-10-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So, I have been reading Not Me! Monday for awhile now on Mckmama's blog and decided it was time to join in :-) So, read, join, laugh, or just enjoy reading that I am in NO WAY a perfect mommy..lol!

Ok, I did not let my 3 year old eat his dinner while in the bath tub just in effort to not have another mess to clean up...not me! Oh, and I did not also feed P his dinner while he also sat in the bathtub...that's just crazy and in no way would I ever do that ;-)

I most certainly did not tell Eli that his trains were all broken down so that I would not have to make anymore endless tracks for them to ride on...never!

I did not let Eli eat PB&J for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Tuesday last week b/c he screamed for nothing but that....never would I do that....

I did not wash the SAME load of clothes 2 different times b/c I kept forgetting to place them in the dryer hours after they had been washed...NOT ME!

So...what did you do this week that other "perfect" mom's would gasp and be shocked at?!?! Lol....share with me or head over to MckMama's blog and tell her!

Gregory's Custom Automotive- Official Website!

2009-10-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that about 3 months ago, Justin, went out on a leap of faith and went full time with his Custom business. It has been a WONDERFUL 3 months and the Lord has provided for us and plus some! Justin has had opportunities and doors open that have been amazing and it only seems to get better. I am so proud of him and what he has accomplished and what he will accomplish. A few blogs back I had mentioned some great news that we had coming up, but I have not been able to share it until we knew for sure it would happen. As of tomorrow, Justin and his brother Clint, will be owners of also Gregory Repair!! Gregory Repair has been Justin's dad's business for over 18 years and is a fully operating mechanic/machine shop. We will be buying this out and the guys will now be co-owners together. This is a huge door that has opened for our family and while it is a load of responsibility it is also FULL of opportunities and great things for our family years to come! So, Gregory Repair and Gregory's Custom Automotive will now be located right outside of Springfield, TN. (Justin recently changed his biz name so that people would not assume he only did graphics work!) Just today I got his official website up and running. It is still under construction and I have many testimonials and pictures to add, but it is up none the less. We look forward to sharing this journey with our family and friends and as always we know that God has this all in his hands. Only with him will all of this be successful! To him be the Glory!!

Click below to visit our new website and contact us for all your custom/automotive needs!
www.gregoryscustomautomotive.com

"Take a LOOK!" Tuesday!!

2009-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

(Mommy's Answered Prayers)

(Be Patient. God is not done with me yet.)

You like those shirts?! Cute huh? They are just the tip of the iceberg. Faith Baby Wear is a christian oriented company ran by a sweet family. Please check out there website here, and get your little one a shirt for them to wear as well!

www.faithbaby.com

The TERRIBLY, TESTING 3's

2009-10-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

Terrible two's?! Pish Posh....they were wonderful...they were easy....I WANT THEM BACK!!!!!! My sweet, handsome, loving (mouthy, full of attitude, dis-obeying, trying) three year old is REALLY testing mommy's patience these days. I knew these days would come of course, but WOW. They have hit with a freakin' fury!!! I love my son with all my heart and soul, but let me tell you.....he LOVES to test me. I have come to the conclusion that b/c I am at home with him daily my voice does not have the effects on him that his father's does, and that is frustrating to me, to say the least. He does great most of the time with listening and when we are in public he is an angel or when he goes to Mother's day out he is great, BUT something about being at home makes an alarm go off in his head as if to remind him "I must torture and test my mommy 200 times today!!!!" Seriously, it's there...I will NOT believe otherwise.

(It's small but notice his shirt. "Be Patient. God is still working on me" Compliments of FAITH BABY WEAR)

On Friday, the boys and I met my amazing friend, Beth, and her precious daughter, Anna (aka: Eli's best buddy/future wife!), for lunch and a trip to Target. Now, kids will be kids and they both did great during lunch. We had to sit for quite awhile b/c of the rain storm that hit while we were eating. Once in Target the "nap time" blues hit and he began getting quite testy with me. You must first know that Eli has picked up the phrase "shut up" from someone at school, and we have been VERY strict about him NOT saying that EVER!! He has done fine with it and not much else has had to be said....until Friday. So I was pushing the cart through out Target with Beth trying to waste time. (Yes, another rain storm hit again!) Eli was in the front of the cart and kept standing up. I repeatedly told him to sit down and finally had to tell him he would be in major trouble if he did not listen this last time. He proceeded to calmly sit down and then looked me straight in the face very sternly and said this " SHUT the door, UP in the sky". Ummm, excuse me?!?! Did my child just proceed to tell me to "shut up" in a what he thinks is some sort of "code"?!?!?! I believe he did. I was in shock. I looked at him and asked if he just told me to "shut up"? In which he proceeded to say "Maybe?!"

Lord, please provide me patience and strength as I navigate through these trying times with my son. Please allow me the self-control to not rip every strand of hair from my hair and to not hang him from the ceiling fan by his toes. Please help me remember that this too shall pass and that you are still at work within his precious little mind and soul. Until all this passes please just help me to remember that alcohol is not the answer and that my sanity shall remain in tact and one day I will look back and laugh about all this attitude. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

"Take A Look" Tuesdays!

2009-10-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Go ahead, you know you want to!!! Go TAKE A LOOK!!

You HAVE to check out this awesome website...I am already trying to figure out which Christmas cards to order!!! They have such awesome designs and ideas! Love it!! For sure a new Favorite of mine!

DoodlebugDezigns.com

7 Months Old!!!

2009-10-06T17:04:00.000-07:00

Whoo Hoo!! Go Preston! 7 months old today....can't believe it! Love you more and more with each passing day sweet angel! You will always be our special "P head!"

October is HEEERRREEE!!!!!

2009-10-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

October is by far one of my favorite months of the year. The cool crisp days and nights, the leaves changing, the breeze that blows, the smell of bonfires and cookouts...I could go on and on. Not to mention October is very significant for my love and I as we were married on October 15, 2005 :-) So....here are some highlights in October we are looking forward to and some "not so excited about" points of the month that we face, but we are confident will hold nothing but good news for us! Our family has some exciting, life changing events in the works and I can't wait to share them with you guys when the timing is right.

Highlights:

On Oct. 15th my sweet love and I will celebrate 4 wonderful (trying,eventful,busy,tiring,scary) amazing, loving years of marriage!! Yay for us!
My bro-in-law will marry his sweet heart who we are oh-so-excited to welcome into our family!
Justin and I are seeing Dane Cook Live(front row seats baby!)
Justin and I will have some "private" R&R after the Dane Cook Show as we stay downtown for the night! It will be the first time it has been just "us" since about 6 months BEFORE Preston was born...very well deserved if I say so myself! (oh, and shhhhh Justin has NO IDEA!)
Sweet Preston will turn 7 months old!!!
We will enjoy Preston's 1st Halloween and our 1st time to dress up the boys together :-)
My cousin (whom I love dearly) will be coming in as we throw her a baby shower as we anxiously await the birth of , Kelsey Lynn, who is due next month!
Eli has lots of soccer games and we look forward to the little bit of chilly air as the kids seem to enjoy it better then super hot!
Lots more that I can't share...just yet...but SOON! I promise!!

The "not so excited about" Stuff:

More tests and blood draws on Preston to further inquire about his thyroid and where we go from here.
On Oct 25th we will see his Neck Surgeon. We were not scheduled to see the surgeon again for 2 more months, but we received a phone call that they are now keeping an closer eye on the type of cyst that P had b/c of new discoveries they have found. Now, P's cyst was a Type III which Vandy had never seen, but a branchial cleft cyst (more often Type I and Type II) have been seen. New studies have shown that children who suffered from this type of cyst have a high risk of forming a malignant tumor in the same site as an adult. Gulp...yes....that is not settling with me well, but I am confident that my baby boy is receiving the best care available and I know that these doctors are watching everything closely.
Also, on the 25th we will have another Scan done to see if the part of the cyst that was not removed has changed in growth at all. I am actually at peace about this. Preston's neck looks wonderful and unlike before he has shown no signs of a new growth from what I can tell or see. Pray with us that the Scan just justifies my feelings.
While I love the weather October brings it also makes me a bit sad this year as it only brings winter closer....most winters have never bothered me, but with Preston's conditions and very weak immune system (due to the meds he takes daily) we will spend most of the winter quarantined to our home or grandparents houses. We will get out on occassion, but I will be the crazy lady hovering over my child in efforts to keep others from breathing or touching him ;-) I am selfishly praying for LOTS AND LOTS of sunshine so that the cold, weary months ahead will not be as gloomy for us.
October also brings a time of "anxiousness" for our family this year. Some of you know that while BCBS accepted Preston for insurance they also decided to pretty much not cover ANYTHING that happened before the month of October.Lol. So, we are working with a program through the state for kids with special medical needs that we are hoping, and praying will help pickup some of the costs that come along with all of these doc visits, meds, tests, etc. that we go through. If not we will just be in even more medical debt for years to come. Being accepted into this program would be a huge weight lifted from our shoulders just knowing that if and when he has future surgeries we will not be responsible for the WHOLE cost on our own. (That thought makes me physically sick.)

All in all I am excited for the month of October. A lot of fun memories, fun events and family time! While some things are not looked forward to very much I have no doubt that the Lord will continue to provide and keep his hands over our family. If he brings you to it, he will bring you through it! Thank you, Lord!

Weighing In

2009-09-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Blah, the word "weight" literally makes my skin crawl and I begin to have repulsive thoughts running through my head. I HATE weight and everything that revolves around it. My entire life I have been very self- conscience about this subject. While I know that I am not an obese person I am in no way a small one and will never be. It is just not how I am built, and I am "ok" with that. (I am ok, I am ok, I am ok....) However, after the birth of Preston I am finding it MUCH harder to get to feeling back to normal like I did after Eli. This time around my circumstances have been so different. First of all, after Eli I hit the ground running to get the weight off and feel better, and I was breast feeding like crazy. Both of those combined plus some dieting helped me shed the 19lbs pounds I gained plus about 28 others! I felt better then I had in YEARS!! This time around things have been different. After Preston's birth I had the same game plan..hit the ground running, and breast feeding.....SCREEEECHHH, HALT, STOOOOOOP! Yea....that's what happened. With everything going on with Preston I have HIGHLY neglected my own self in a bad, major way. (Don't get me wrong...I would do ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING for my child and in the last (almost) 7 months he has deserved every bit of extra attention he has been given.) So, I am now miserable. I am sick of trying on millions of clothes before I feel comfortable, I am sick of having tons of clothes that are just "a little" too snug. I am sick of feeling like everyone is staring at me saying "OMG, look at how big she is" (even though I am told this is all in my own head) Anyways...I did not get to hit the ground running like I wanted after P's birth. I have been running off and on for months, but not on a consistent basis, and my eating habits are either not eating at all or not eating good foods b/c of our circumstances. Let me tell you Vanderbilt Hospital food is NOT my choice of diet foods...lol. The breast feeding was cut short this time around as well b/c of all the swallowing problems P had after his surgery. Boo.

So, while my main concerns are STILL my boys (and always will be) I have decided that action MUST be taken. I refuse to feel like this anymore. It is going to be a long winter and much to my dismay most of ours will be spent cooped up with Preston and so I am hoping I will be able to focus a little more on getting myself healthy and feeling better.

Shew, there. I said it. I figured putting it out there would MAKE me have to stick to it! Lol.. we shall see. And this time around the plan is "healthy" weight loss. None of my past crazy habits. Weighing in....until next time....

Going...Going...HE IS GONE!!!!

2009-09-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

The pictures tell it all!!

This little boy has "answered" prayers written all over him :-)

Lysol....OJ....Kleenex...and lots of hugs.

2009-09-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, folks. Our home has been infested by the FLU for over a week and half now! Grrr......It started out last Monday night with me feeling a tad under the weather. Well, on Tuesday morning it was full blown and I was miserable. I am the LAST person in our house to get sick like that and obviously I am the LAST person who needs to be sick seeing as I am the one who cares for the sickly, right?!?! Well, nope. Justin finally took me to the doctor on Wed. and not only did I test positive for the traditional flu, but my pig flu test also came back as a "false/positive"...Oh yay :-( So, after getting Tamiflu and shipping the boys off to my MIL's for a few hours I retreated to my bedroom and tried to get some rest. This is much easier said then done for me. I am one of those who my mind races in a million different directions and naps are far and few between for me....ugh. I was feeling much better on Friday morning and was glad because we had Eli's 3rd birthday and birthday party on Friday night. Well, on Thursday night Eli came down with fever :( When I say fever I mean 104.1 and up. It was scary and exhausting. I just can't sleep when either of the boys are sick like that not to mention I still was not 100% myself. Sadly, we had to cancel Eli's Birthday party for a later date and he has been sick ever since. Yes, it is a week later and the poor boy still has fever. I am guessing he has lost a few pounds as well. He just has NO appetite. Poor baby. So, as I spray my Lysol, drink my OJ, wipe lots of runny noses and give extra big, long hugs I am hoping all of this will pass soon. Although I could get used to all of these hugs ;-)

P.S- Keep P in your prayers that he stays healthy. B/C of all his conditions if he gets fever over like 101 straight to Vandy we go, and we do NOT want to end up there. As of now he is feeling good, and has just a stopped up nose, but no fever. PLEASE let it stay that way!!!!!

3 Years Ago on September 19th.

2009-09-22T19:38:00.000-07:00

We were being admitted to Hendersonville Hospital to Start a VERY Long Day...

We spent the day with TONS of family and friends as they all anxiously awaited the arrival of Eli. (Although I do not recall much of that day since I went over 12 hours withOUT my epidural.)

At 10:34 p.m. the most beautiful baby I had ever seen was born, Elijah Wade, weighing in at 8lbs 13oz and 23 inches long. My life was forever changed.

Fast Forward to Sept 19, 2009....My sweet precious firstborn baby boy, Eli, turns 3 years old. Wow. Time is flying and I need it to slow down, but since I can't control that I am just enjoying the ride and smiling as he grows everyday. We Love you Eli, you are a light in our lives and you make each day so full of joy for us. We can't wait for the years to come bubby! You are my sunshine.....

Madison Rae Mason

2009-09-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Amazing (Scary) Childbirth

2009-09-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

On Sept 9th, 2009 my younger sister, Taylor, went to her OB appt. hoping to hear that she had progressed and that Madison Rae would be here sooner then later. You see, Tay was already 6 days overdue and of course we all know that is MISERABLE...so, much to her disappointment her doctor informed her that she was still only a little over a 1 in dilation and that she would not be induced until the following Sunday night. Tay was very discouraged and we all took in the news and prepared to meet Madison that weekend. Well, can I just say that I always wanted my water to break on it's own...something about the rushing around in anticipation just gets me excited! Lol. So, at 11:00 Wed. Night on 9-9-09 I got a call that made me VERY excited....Tay's water had just broke!!!! YAY! YAY! YAY! My husband laughed at me as I jumped out of the bed as though I was the one in labor and ran around getting everything together. Tay and her fiancee' Chris had asked me to be there with them(along with our mom!) to take birth pictures and just to be there for Tay as well. After all this is my "baby" sister we are talking about!!! So off to the hospital I went....I met my mom in Rivergate so we could follow each other onto Baptist Hospital to meet Tay and Chris. I was ECSTATIC!

Tay labored without an epidural till about 4:30 am...she then took her epidural (ahhh! relief!!!) and was feeling pretty good. At 6:30 am Tay was still just a 2 and we all prepared for what we really thought would be a LONG day. At around 8am the doctor came in to check on Tay and to see if she had progressed any...she was now a 4!!! Within an hour she was a 6 and by 10am Tay was an 8 1/2 and they began to get things ready. At about 10:50 am myself, my mom, and Chris gathered around Tay for support and encouragement as she pushed her sweet, baby girl Madison Rae into the world....can I just say that I have NEVER been so proud of my lil' sister...I have always known she was tough, but she was TOUGH! After only about 20 minutes of pushing we weeped, laughed, and screamed for joy as Madison Rae Mason made her arrival at 11:19 am on 9-10-09!!! She is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Now, for those of you that know my baby sister you know that she is a peanut! Very tiny and really only looked about 7 months prego when she was full term. The doctors along with all of us really truly believed that Madison would weigh no more then around 7 maybe 7 1/2 lbs at the most. So, let me just tell you....as Madison's head began to crown, Chris and I, looked at each other and were smiling and talking about how small her head was...we knew all along she would be tiny...Tay had her final push and all of a sudden that "tiny" little head Chris and I had been talking about turned into this fat, chubby little face and then all at once her right arm flew out...with...what....CHUNK on it!! I was in absolute shock!!! I knew by looking at her that she was a bigger baby and none of us could believe Tay had just birthed that beautiful, chunky baby!!!! So, Madison Rae weighed 8lbs 10.5 oz and was 21 inches long!! Big Girl, and she has about an inch and a half (if not more) of thick dark brown hair on her head as well...GORGEOUS!! Everything was going and had gone just perfectly.....and then things got scary.

Right after the nurse took Madison off to the side to clean her off, Chris and I, followed to look her over and I was getting her first pictures. I heard the doctor talking rather urgently and I turned to look at my mom who was still with Taylor...I immediately knew that something was seriously wrong. They had my sister lying flat on her back and I had never seen so much blood in my entire life. Most of you know that my mom is an RN and she was a labor and delivery nurse for awhile a few years back so she is normally the "calm" one. I looked at her and mouthed "Is she ok?" My mom could not shake her head at me...she could not do anything and I could see the fear in her face as she stood beside her baby girl trying to keep her composure....the RN was gone...that was a mother standing there. The nurses kind of rushed Chris and I out of the room rather quickly telling us that we needed to get Madison up to the nursery. Everything was happening so fast and we followed the nursery nurse upstairs with Madison where more family was waiting to see this precious girl. I took a few pictures upstairs and then handed off my camera to our baby sister, Allie, and told them I was going to check on Tay and would be right back. I just had a really, bad feeling in my gut and I could not shake it. Upon getting to her delivery room and opening the door I was told that I could not come in, but not before I got a peek inside.....the only way I know how to describe it is CHAOS...complete and utter chaos. This room had gone from one doctor, my mom, and one nurse to about 4 doctors, 8 nurses, OR scrubs, lots of anesthisia people and LOTS of blood soaked towels and cloths. My mom's face was white and I could not even see Taylor at this point. When asking what was going on I was told that they were having problems getting bleeding to stop and I needed to go to the waiting room....EXCUSE me?!?! The waiting room was the LAST place you were going to find me at this moment. I proceeded to quickly go upstairs to where my dad and other family were admiring Madison. I quietly told Daddy that maybe he should come with me because something was not right with Taylor. Dad and I went back downstairs and upon getting to the room again a new nurse that I had not seen yet RUDELY approached us and informed us that we were a "security" risk and we needed to make our way to the waiting room. Yea, so how well do you think that went over with my dad? Not very well. We continued to stand in the hall as this nurse got even RUDER (these are my very nice words to describe her by the way!) and my dad got smart back.(have I mentioned how much I love my daddy?! lol) Anyways...the next hour and a half is a blur...we stood and waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed like a whole day. No one could tell us anything and my mom was still in the room. Instead of people coming out it seemed like the WHOLE hospital was rushing into the room and when they would come out it would be for more fluids, or instruments, or to bring in ANOTHER doctor or nurse, or (sorry for the visual) to bring out blood soaked towels or papers. My poor dad was furious and fearful at the same time and I was just pacing trying not to lose it. FINALLY, my mom poked her head out to tell my dad he could come in...as dad went in she came out...I asked what was going on and thru a mumble of words my strong, sweet mom started to crumble on my shoulder. She proceeded to tell me that Tay had began to hemoragge (sp?) after birth. The doctor at first was not worried but when she could not get it under control and it only continued things got ugly, and the following happened:

Taylor's Heart Rate went over 240 (the norm is around 60)
Taylor's Blood Pressure would not even read on the blood pressure machine.
Taylor's fever spiked to 104.
Taylor's breathing became very shallow and she was extremely unaware of what was going on around her.
Taylor's heart went into panic mode b/c of the amount of blood that her body lost her heart had hardly none to pump. (not a good thing)
Taylor was seconds away from cardiac arrest.
Taylor was given 2 blood transfusions and her blood counts were still very low after the fact. (Another scary realization of exactly how much blood she lost.)

Can I just tell you that hearing all of this made my heart sink to the floor and I felt physically sick. I can not imagine the emotions my parents (especially my mom) went through in that room. The thought of losing your child is horrible...and to watch all of these things play out as you stand there helpless is a horrible, horrible feeling.

All that being said, Taylor is doing much better now. If you were to ask her now she would tell you that the hardest part to her of all of that was not being able to see Madison. She was too unstable to be with Madison at this point and that's all she kept asking for. My sister really had no idea of exactly what happened in that time after Madison's birth so my mom explained it to her later. Such a scary feeling. Taylor was kept under a very close watch while at the hospital, and after some extra time there is thrilled to be at home with her sweet baby girl and Chris. (which can I mention..he did AMAZING throughout the birth and all this! many many props, Chris!!)

I think that sometimes child birth is down played in today's world. It is such a common thing that many people forget exactly how rough of a process this is and can be on a woman's body. Many have lost there lives while birthing there children and many have had severe complications, like Tay did, and much worse. I was humbled by the attentive doctors and nurses and thankful that all these people worked so hard to help my sister. Once again, Lord, you proved to be just how amazing you are as well. The next post will be picture heavy with pictures of this sweet, new baby girl!!!!!!

I love you, Tay. I am so very proud of you and Chris. You both did awesome throughout all this and are wonderful parents. Thank you for letting me share this amazing experience with you guys. :-)

Where to begin?!

2009-09-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

The last 5 days have been crazy..and that's putting it gently. I will be working on pictures for days, and a new post, but for now I just wanted to leave you with a few remarks:

On Wed. Sept 9th My sister went to the doctor and was dilated to a one at a week overdue. They scheduled her induction for Sunday Night, the 13th.
On Wed. Sept 9th at around 10:45 p.m. my sister's water broke!!!!!!!
On Thurs, Sept. 10th at 11:19 a.m. my sister gave birth to a precious, beautiful little angel...Madison Rae Mason. She weighed 8lbs 10 1/2 oz and was 21 inches long...a HUGE baby for my sister and her fiancee', Chris.
On Thurs, Sept. 10th after my sister had a WONDERFULLY easy birth she began to hemorrhage and my family and I experienced some of the scariest hours in our life as my sister was seconds away from Cardiac Arrest.
On Thurs, Sept 10th I experienced emotions that (until 6 months ago) I had never experienced before...and now I have experienced them for the 2nd time in 6 months. Emotions that NO ONE wants to feel or deal with.
On Thurs, Sept 10th I held the most precious, gorgeous, angel-like baby girl EVER....she looks JUST like her Mommy w/ hints of Daddy too. She has more hair then most babies have at a year old or even two!! Words can not express her beauty...breathtaking.
In the last 4 days I have personally watched my baby sister go from a woman...to a mother. Once again...breath taking.

So, there you have it...in a nutshell some of the things our family has been going through. I promise to have a picture filled post up soon (as soon as I home for longer then 30 minutes!!!!) so that you all can see our beautiful new addition to the Reynolds/ Mason families!!

Oh, and did I mention that my precious Eli will be 3 on Saturday?!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!?! Yea, those are some crazy feelings and a WHOLE other post!!!

Until then.....

6 Months?! Already?

2009-09-08T09:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. Seriously that is the only way I know how to describe the fact that our sweet boy, Preston, is now 6 months old!!!!! The last 6 months have been the biggest emotional roller coaster that I have EVER been on in my entire life...and that's putting it gently. Preston Reece Gregory joined us on March 6th, 2009 at 8:34 a.m. and we have not slowed down since. Even at 6 months old I look at this sweet, precious boy and I am amazed at his strength. He has been through things that no adult should have to go through...much less a baby, and he continues to face several health issues as he grows, but I have no doubt in my mind that everything will continue to work out for him. At 6 days old he had his 1st surgery....then at 3 weeks old he had a bigger surgery, and since then he has faced many obstacles and challenges, but you will notice in pictures that this baby boy is hardly ever without a smile on his face. He lights up the room and will immediately make everything better. I thank the Lord for this sweet blessing every day, and I continue to lift him up and know that while he is my earthly child that God has such bigger plans for this beautiful boy. I also would like to once again thank all of you that have continually lifted up, P, throughout the last 6 months...I am a true believer that God hears EACH AND EVERY prayer that is lifted up, and I believe that each time a prayer is lifted strength is sent down to those being prayed for...without all of your prayers our family would not have felt the peace and comfort that we have over these last 6 months....so from the bottom of our hearts...Thank You....may the Lord return your kindness to you and yours two-fold!

Bubs,
I hope you know how much Mommy, Daddy, and Eli love you. We are so thankful that God sent us to you, and we smile everytime your eyes meet ours. Your strength gives others strength and we know that Jesus has BIG plans for you little man :-) So, Happy 6 months Bubs! You have many, many, many birthdays ahead of you and we are sooo excited to watch you grow! We love you beyond words, Bubs....
Love, Daddy, Mommy, and Big Bro Eli :-)

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalms 32:8

Madison Rae.....We are waiting.......

2009-09-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

(The Above Pics are Tay w/ Madison Rae at 37 1/2 weeks at her baby shower!)

I am BEYOND excited. Most of you know that my younger sister, Taylor, and her fiancee', Chris, are expecting there first child any day now! Madison Rae (isn't that sweet!!!) has a due date of this Friday, Sept 4th, but I believe that she is going to be stubborn like her momma and make us wait even longer! I can not begin to tell you how excited I am...I am having some of the same feelings that I had the week leading up to having my boys..lol..well of course without all of the backaches, sleepless nights, and that part about feeling like a beached whale! So this makes the whole thing even better for me :-) But really, I am THRILLED to be so close to welcoming my sweet niece, Madison, into this world. I am excited to experience this w/ my little sister and I know she will be a great mom. It's all very surreal too....In a way I have always felt as though Taylor and Allie(my youngest sister) were my babies too. Taylor and I are a little over 6 years apart and Allie and I are 10 years apart. Growing up they were my baby dolls...they were how I was so ready for my own child...I never had a fear of knowing what to do when my boys arrived all because I was there when they were both born and did all the "baby" stuff that some don't learn till later on in life. Now to watch one of them birth there own baby is really odd, but SOOOO exciting!! So...Madi Rae...Aunt KK is anxiously awaiting your arrival and you can come out at any time you like...I will be right beside your momma waiting to take your very first picture when you enter this world...I love you beyond words already.....Stay Tuned there will be LOTS, AND LOTS of pictures very soon!!!

P.S- Please Keep Tay and Chris in your prayers over the next week or two...this is a MAJOR adjustment of course and I know my sister is a little nervous about the whole process....they will be great though! :-)

Goooooo Team!!!

2009-09-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Daddy giving many, many, pep talks to a VERY tired, cranky little man!

Eli and Madi Ready to play!

This past saturday was Eli's 1st Soccer Game! We were sooo excited and the anticipation leading up to the game was very high. So, let me begin first by saying a grumpy, almost 3 yr. old and a mid day soccer game...DO NOT MIX!! For some reason on Saturday Eli decided that he would wake up at 5:30 am...ugh. I knew then that the day was going to be a huge challenge. Eli has thoroughly enjoyed soccer practices thus far and I was very excited to see how he would do in a game situation. So, our game was at 11 and on the way to the field Eli fell asleep in the car...ugh...another sign that this was going to be a disaster!!! Myself and Brian (my best friend, Beth Ignatz's hubby) are coaching the team and were ready for game time! So we thought..haha. We had the kids ready and the whistle blew to start....a boy from the other team ran and kicked the ball past Eli and immediatly Eli went into MELT DOWN mode....he started sobbing saying "MY BALL!" Shhhheeesshhh....here we go! The rest of the game kind of went the same way...most of the kids either had no interest in playing, too busy watching the crowd, or did not like the fact that the other team was taking "there ball!" We got through the game and Eli did have 3 goals, Hannah had 3 or four I believe and Jenna had 1. It was very cute, very funny and very TRYING! Brian and I now have a new game plan for practice tonight and we look forward to another game this saturday! MAYBE this time my child will not be exhausted and whiney?! (fingers crossed!) Oh, and I most certainly was NOT the mommy trying to get my child to chug a mountain dew right before the game...nope, NOT ME! ;-)

P.S- Soooo thankful for Daddy's that can give "pep talks" to upset kiddies! Thank you Honey!!

Praying it Forward

2009-09-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

So most of you have probably seen that old movie "Pay it Forward". If not it is a must see! So, this blog will be all about "Praying" it Forward. You see when Preston was going through all of his surgeries and was staying in the hospital my family was so thankful and lucky to have a group of family and friends and church family surrounding us that poured out love, prayers, cards, emails, food, texts, gifts, etc. on us and our sweet boy. My whole life I have "believed" in the power of prayer, but until I was faced with situations that no mother ever wants to face I had never experienced the power of prayer. I can not begin to express to you how much the prayers that all of you (and complete strangers!) sent up were felt by myself and my family. There were times that I would literally be sitting there so emotional and so upset and all at once I would feel a wave of peace, comfort and plain hope come over my body. NEVER have I experienced that, NEVER! It is amazing and after we were released from the hospital the prayers and everything people had done became full circle. I remember my mom sending out an email to all of her friends updating them about Preston after his surgery and in her email she expressed her thanks to everyone and how "overwhelmed(in a good way) we were when we opened our mailbox." Literally, this child and our family had I know over 200 cards and letters. Most from people we knew but many from complete strangers whom had just heard about our sweet boy and the challenges he was going through. I was humbled, amazed, and plain thankful for all of those that sent up prayers for our little man, and I continue to be amazed at those prayers that continue daily. I have NO doubt in my mind that God is going to COMPLETELY heal Preston one day and he will be able to look back and say "It was nothing!" I have kept all those letters, emails, texts, cards, etc and one day I will share it all w/ Preston. He needs to know that the power of prayer is what got our family and HIM through a difficult time and continues to do so.

Saying all that....ever since we were first admitted to Vandy when he was 6 days old I had made up my mind that I would always take my opportunities to "Pay things Forward" to those in need. Whether that is tangible items, prayers, my shoulder, or just an ear to listen. I now fully understood how comforting that was and I want to be able to do that for others so that they can experience God's greatness as we have. I have a special prayer request below for a family whom I have known for a long time. Beth and I have pretty much grown up together in school and sports and my family has known Daniel and his family for many years as my mom used to babysit his younger brother, Zach, and he was a close friend of my younger brother too. Beth and Daniel are about to go something that no parent ever wants to experience. There 6 month old daughter, Presley, is about to undergo Open Heart Surgery to fix a heart defect she was born with, VSD. On Sept 9th Presley will be handed over to surgeons so that they can repair and fix her heart. This is nerve wracking for this family and anyone who knows them. From my experience, having to hand over your child to a stranger and say "Ok, Lord....I trust you....she's yours" is a lot easier said then done. I pray that this family will find peace and comfort during this difficult time and that Presley will fly through all this with flying colors!(As I am sure she will!!) As a mom, or just a parent..you want so badly to "fix" anything that is wrong with your child and the feeling of being helpless and not being able to fix it on your own is horrible. Check out Beth's family blog and follow there journey as Presley is fixed and grows to be big, beautiful and even stronger then she already is! Your prayers are felt and God never grows weary of hearing them. I want this family to feel what we felt, and I want them to know that this sweet girl is loved very much...even by people who don't know her! Send up a little extra special prayer for Beth....as a fellow mommy of a surgery baby...this is a time that no one really understands unless you have been there...the feelings, emotions are overwhelming and at times you just want to scream...so pray that God gives Beth a little extra comfort and that she is able to be the strongest mommy she can be for her precious little girl. It's in your hands, Lord and we are confident you will heal Presley completely :-)

Jesus...Something Happens, Something Special....when I mention your Name.

2009-08-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

So in Choir Practice a few weeks ago our director, Brad, introduced us all to a new song that we will be doing in the upcoming months ahead. The title of the song is "Something Happens" and trust me...when he handed us the sheet music and started the music I was NOT prepared for the revelations that were about to be revealed to me.....

So the music starts playing and I am reading along w/ the music like normal just trying to get a feel for the song. Now, you have to know that I am one of those people that Music has always been more then just "music" to me. Music speaks to my heart and carries it's melodies through my soul. I often forget things that happen in the past, BUT a song ALWAYS triggers memories for me. Music has also been a huge part of my spiritual life as well. God has always spoken to me through music so when I hear songs the lyrics play a huge part in my feelings towards it.

Ok, back on track. As I sat listening to the song the words started and went like this:

Je.....sus, Something Special, Supernatural about your Name...
Je.....sus, Something Happens, when I mention.....your Name...

Demons have to flee when I say ...Jesus!
SICKNESS HAS TO HEAL WHEN I SAY...JESUS!

Ok, STOP! What was that last verse?! Seriously? Ok....my heart is beating..I will not cry...I will not cry...yep, I am crying....the tears are pouring....JESUS!

It had HIT me....and when I say HIT me I mean HIT me like a TON of bricks!!! So maybe I should elaborate on this revelation..lol.

So, back up to 5 months ago. Preston was 7 days old and he had been through his 1st surgery that morning, we had been told about his condition that day as well and the bigger surgery that at that time we were hoping would not happen until late summer, and I was standing in the ICU w/ Preston b/c he was having major difficulties waking up from anesthesia that had been given during his surgery. His surgery had been at about 9am that morning and only last an hour...at this point it was almost 8pm and we still had not seen my baby's eyeballs. He was still on O2 and they had been trying for awhile to get his body temp above 92. I was a wreck. I was emotional, and not to mention postpartum at that. So...nurses and doctors had begun to whisper about what to do to get him to wake up and there was so much going on in the room around me that I felt as though my head was spinning..it was all a horrible dream and I would wake up soon. As I stood there over my 7 day old newborn I was angry, upset, hurt, scared, nervous, sick, PISSED, thankful, anxious, and those are just a few of the emotions that I remember feeling.....I was rubbing his little hand talking to him and asking him to please open his eyes, or wiggle his toes, or scream...whatever, I did'nt care...just WAKE UP!!! Before I knew it I had leaned over him and I started weeping....now before this time I literally had cried maybe one other time during this whole process. I had shut off my emotions to the outside world...I was numb...I wanted to scream at someone, I wanted to unhook P from everything and walk out the doors of Vandy and NEVER look back, I just wanted "normal". There are several people (now that I can look back on the situation) who were there with us through all this and I can remember them saying to me" You are doing so well, I would be a mess" and while I was a mess I was trying my BEST not to be...what good would that do my one week old newborn for his mother to be a blubbering baby?! I know now though that I should have sobbed more, I should have used the shoulders of those around me more(thank you mom, dad, beth, brian, dudin, corneila, christina and those are just a few...) but at the time I couldn't.

So, I laid over P and I finally began weeping..I was at the end of my rope at this point and really did'nt know what to do...I remember fighting w/ God in my head...I would one minute praise him and ask him for help and the next minute I was angry and asking him WHY?! Then I just began to whisper "Jesus" into Preston's little ear...I think I said it about 4 or 5 times before I opened my eyes....the weeping stopped and for some reason which ,at the time I had never put together, a wave of peace swept over me...for the 1st time in a week I was at peace...I knew that Jesus had my little boy in his arms..I knew he would be ok...and that's when I noticed the toes...Yes, Preston started wiggling his sweet, tiny, beautiful toes!!! Then I heard the nurse say those beautiful words, "He is trying to open his eyes!!" At this moment I remember just feeling relief...I remember thanking God for waking him up BUT it took fast forwarding 5 months on a sunday night in choir practice for me to realize EXACTLY what GOD had done on that Friday, March 13, 2009 at 8:38 p.m. God heard me screaming JESUS....he heard my cries and he heard my desperation and he knew I was on my knees...of course he knew all along that Preston would be ok...he knew all along that we would not get to wait until late summer for his big surgery and that 2 weeks and 4 days later that I would once again be saying "Jesus" as I sat in a waiting room on the 3rd floor of Vanderbilt Children's hospital waiting more then 5 1/2 hours for my sweet 3 week old baby to come out of surgery. He knew that we had many challenges ahead of us and he KNOWS that we still may have many more but HE KNOWS the outcome...only him and I now KNOW that a sweet name, JESUS, has more meaning in it then probably anything else in this world.

Je....sus! Something Special, Supernatural about your name.
Je....sus! Something Happens, When I mention .....your name.

Demons have to flee when I say....JESUS!
SICKNESS HAS TO HEAL WHEN I SAY.....JESUS!

You see that night at Choir practice all of the above had become FULL CIRCLE to me....that night at vandy, the many nights I would call out to him in frustration, all of this...it all made sense..he was re affirming to me that he was always there, he had been there, and would continue to be....After my tears stopped and the music paused I shut that book of sheet music we had been given...as I was drying my eyes I happened to look down and see something on the paper.... "This series performed by the PRESTONwood Series". Coincidence? I think not....Thank you JESUS!

Teeth, Thyroids, and Tests

2009-08-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

So first...TEETH! I am happy to announce that Preston has gotten not only his "first" tooth, but also his "second" as well! We noticed on Saturday morning that BOTH of his bottom, front teeth had broken through the skin....YAY!!! While I am thrilled my baby boy is growing I also have to admit that it makes me pretty sad...he is MOST likely our last child and I would love if he decided to "grow slowly". Lol. Yes, I am working on a pill for that.....

Onto the Thyroid. This is a word that I have come to DREAD. Before Preston's big surgery back in March we heard this word a few times but of course it was the least of our concerns, and I have to tell you after he came out of over 5 1/2 hours of surgery hearing that they had to remove half of his thyroid and a nerve from his vocal box was honestly the LEAST of my concerns at that moment...I just wanted to HOLD my baby boy and to see his precious face. In the months since while we have been on our rollercoaster of ups and downs when his health comes into play the word THYROID has come up several times. His surgeon warned us that b/c he only has half a thyroid that thyroid conditions would probably play a part in his life at some point, but he was not generally concerned about that being ANY time soon....yea, well....he was wrong. Once again, Preston, has felt as though he has disprove his doctors yet again. In recent posts you have seen that Preston's half a thyroid that he has left has been slowly shutting down, and while at first we were confident it would stimulate on it's own it has slowly just continued to decline. So, on Monday we finally met w/ the endocrinologist again at Vandy to discuss our options and where to go from here. More tests(dumb pricks and prods!!!!) were done and then the waiting for the tests and then FINALLY the appt. w/ Dr. L. He is wanting to try some experimental things before we give up on Preston's thyroid completely and I am game for whatever prevents him from 1. having to have ANOTHER surgery that would also be on his neck again. and 2. Preventing Preston from having to take meds the rest of his life for his thyroid. Dr. L gave Preston a shot of steriod that is specifically for the Thyroid in hopes that it will somewhat "kickstart" on it's own again. B/c Preston was not born with Hypothyroidism and his was brought on by the traumatic event that his thyroid endured during surgery we are hoping that it will decide to work on it's own again.....hoping, and wishing, and praying!!!! So, we are waiting 6 wks and then re doing blood work to see if the shot helped anything...if so PRAISE THE LORD...if not we will start to discuss meds and surgery to just remove the thyroid he has left altogether.

And Last, Tests. At my sister's 1st High School Soccer game Tuesday night (which may I add she played varsity and also scored her 1st high school career goal!!!) I was introduced to a lady from WH that I have always somewhat known but never really spoken with her. She has a daughter whom I went to school with that suffers very badly from Crohn's Disease and has for many years now. Mrs. T was asking about Preston and how he was doing and she asked me if I had ever considered taking him to what is called NAET at a local Chiropractor's office here in town. I have heard about this program but honestly thought it was for Autistic Children only. She went onto to tell me that this program has helped her daughter GREATLY over the past year and has give them a ton of hope for her future! I was amazed as she gave me lots of details and even more thrilled to learn that if I took Preston there would be no "pricks or prods" (because seriously how many times can this child be messed with before the age of 6 months!??!?!?) and that I would be the guinea pig almost like a "surrogate" for him. This doctor would help us figure out what meds were helping and which ones were...if P suffers from Food allergies that could be harming his body, etc. Now, I know some of you may think I sound like I have lost my mind...the term witch doctor came to my mind as Mrs. T was telling me about all this, but then it HIT me. I am at a point of desperation...I have hit a wall and I feel like my head just continues to bang against that wall in defeat when it comes to P and the COMPLETE healing of his body. Now, trust me I know this is all in the Lord's hands, but to know that there was something that "I" could possibly do to help my son find relief and possibly heal him all together sounds a little more then compelling to me!! So, while Justin and I discuss this and set up a consultation we are keeping an open mind...knowing that this may be a great thing for us or lead us to another dead end...either way as always the LORD has our son and his trials in HIS hands....and only in HIS time will things work out, but I am true believer in signs from the Lord and that he puts certain people in your path for a reason...so THAT I can't ignore.

Hi Ho Hi Ho...It's off to school He goes!!

2009-08-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, Eli was sooo excited to be starting back to school! This is his 2nd year of MDO @ WHFBC and he ADORES it!! (Mommy does as well !) I was concerned we would have some problems because he had become so fond of his teacher last year, but he walked right into class on Monday and I had to MAKE him give me a kiss and hug bye! (This is NOT easy for mommy!!!!) Now, he only goes on Mondays and Thursdays from 9-2 but it is a great time for him to interact as well as a wonderful time of rest for Mommy :-) Now, I use the word "rest" very lightly though..keep in mind I am still toting around my precious, but very high-maintenanced 5 month old as well! Anywho, Eli had a GREAT first day of school and is looking forward to returning tomorrow! I am so thankful that he has such great friends and such a wonderful program to go to! Just another one of the many blessings that the Lord has given us!! (I have pics of this 1st day, but that will have to follow as my camera is being stubborn!!!)

Heal the Wound But Leave the Scar

2009-08-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

There is this song that Point of Grace sings that literally brings me to my knees everytime I hear it. The first time I was introduced to it was literally hours after Preston's big neck surgery. I was so emotional anyways and just relieved to be watching my sweet angel sleep. I had a radio softly playing in the background in the room....it was on when they took us into the room so I never even picked a station...it was just playing. As I stood holding P's finger, not wanting to sit down b/c when he woke up I wanted to be the FIRST thing he saw, this pretty song began to play. The melody caught my attention and I began to listen to the lyrics....

Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar
A reminder of how Merciful you are..
I am broke and torn apart..
Take the pieces of this heart..
Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar...

Wow, that's all I really know to say when I see and speak the words of this song. Anyone who knows me that music has always played a HUGE part in my life as I have been singing since a young age and love to sing praises to my king, but at this moment in my life these words could not have meant more to me. God was telling me that he was there, he was telling me that his hands were on my shoulders and on P's heart. He knew what I needed to hear and he knew that I would understand. I am continually amazed by the many ways God shows my family and I that he is in control. For instance, the day that we found out Justin's company would be shutting it's doors was also the same day that Justin and I made the decision that he would just take on his biz, Gregory's Custom Graphics, full time. It was also hours later in that same day that he landed not 1, not 2 but FOUR major jobs that would keep him waaaay busy....things have just continued to fall into place since then.

While P still faces many challenges ahead and some days I am very angry and don't understand WHY such a precious little baby has to go through all of this...I just try and remember that it is all in HIS hands...he has shown us on more then one occasion that he has it all under control...Oh, what a Testimant P will have one day!

Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar....these words can mean many different things to many different people, but to me they are HUGE, they are Profound and they are encouraging. Thank you Lord for your mercy and being as WONDERFUL as you are!

WAYYYYY Behind!!

2009-08-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know...I stink. It has been over a month since I have blogged, and well it will take me awhile to catch up from the events of the last month. So, I will just do what I can :-) Life is crazy as usual. Eli will be 3 in September and Justin and I just can't believe it....he is such a little man and is a little too smart for his own good! ha! He starts back to MDO in a few weeks and I am SOO excited! Lol...it will be a much needed break 2 days a week for BOTH of us!

Preston is hanging in there. He is growing like a weed and just melts our hearts everytime he smiles, giggles, and talks to us. I continually just look at him in amazement. You would think that all that he has been through would make him a very fussy, needy baby, but No...he is very happy and content almost all of the time and just so loveable :-) The last time I wrote was right before his VCUG at Vandy. It went well, but Preston does have severe Kidney Reflux Disease. We have since seen the Urologist again and he is on daily meds. We are hoping that if we can keep him infection free until January that we don't have to discuss surgery to fix the reflux and they hydrocele until then. My nerves stay shot when he runs any little bit of a fever...if it gets over 100.5 we have to go straight to the Doctor. AHHH! He is also teething like crazy and chewing on everything! No teeth yet though. About 3 weeks ago we also found out that to our MAJOR disappointment the other half of his thyroid that he has left (since they removed half of it during his neck surgery) is now shutting down. I have noticed symptoms going along with this such as fatigue, decrease in appetite but he continues to gain weight VERY fast, blue feet, legs, and hands, cold extremities, etc. It's frustrating just b/c we are ready for him to be DONE with all of the specialists and doctors...bless his heart, BUT we know that God has a plan for all this so we continue to just hand all of these issues over to God and know that his hands are constantly on our sweet baby. We saw a cardiologist again and that visit over all went well. The reason some doctors hear a murmur is b/c one of his heart valves is much larger then normal. This should not cause any problems though and will most likely just continued to be monitored through out his life. While we have had tons of Doc. visits and trips to vandy this month it has actually been quite calmer then the past few months so we are hoping to start a trend!! We are going back to Vandy on Friday for more bloodwork and then we will see the endocrinologist about his thyroid in about a week.

Now, for our BIG news. While I wish I this was great news it's somewhat good and bad at the same time. We found out last monday that Justin's company would be shutting down at the end of September. This came as a TOTAL shock...like no warning and out of the blue. Now, some of you know that Justin has a booming side biz, Gregory's Custom Graphics, which include all of his custom paint jobs/ airbrush work. While it has been great that his side biz has been so busy it had become somewhat annoying in a way b/c we NEVER see him...if he isn't at his day job then he is working nights on his custom jobs. Justin and I have been praying and talking and saving for awhile about taking his side biz on Full time. While this is a huge leap in faith we knew that one day this would be our ultimate goal, but we just never expected it to be this soon. Things with his biz plan seem to be working out great and while it is VERY scary to know that he is stepping out on this leap of faith we feel as though God has orchestrated all of this for a reason and he has our best interests at heart.....where he Leads we will follow. My main concern with the whole situation has been insurance. Justin, Eli and I have no problem getting new insurance and I already have ours in the works (which is actually cheaper then what we pay his company!!!) I have been very stressed about Preston's insurance b/c we have not been able to find a company that will cover him b/c of his conditions and past history and the fact that most of his conditions will require surgery at some point in the future. So, we are praying about this and hoping that some of our other options come through and come through without a big headache or waiting period...this child CAN NOT go a day w/o insurance!!!!!

Whew....life gets so busy, but we are holding on tight for the ride. Please pray for our family as we go through these major changes. It is opening some doors that we will share about later as those things become more permanent, but for now we are just relying on faith, prayers, and peace in knowing he will Provide!

In happy news....My sister and Chris only have 4 weeks left until Madison Rae is HERE!!!!!!! I am SUPER pumped about this and can not WAIT to hold my sweet, beautiful niece in my arms!!! Also, my awesome, amazing, like a big sister, cousin Leslie and her hubby John found out that there sweet bundle of joy is a .....GIRL!!! Yay!!!! Finally some women to keep my boys on there toes! ha! The next few months are crazy busy but very exciting!!! Stay tuned.....

Faith and Nerves

2009-06-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

So, tomorrow is another Big Day for sweet Preston. My mom and I will be taking him to Vandy Children's at 9:30 am. His procedure will begin at 10:30. I have found out that Preston was scheduled on a Wed. b/c that is when they handle there "high risk" babies. He is put in this category b/c of the issues he has had w/ his airway previously. I am VERY nervous about tomorrow. I think honestly my stomach is more in knots today then it was the day before his BIG surgery...odd, right? The only thing I can figure is that for weeks I have been sitting on edge...waiting for answers..wanting a resolution and just desperatley wanting my baby to FEEL better! He has already had another UTI while on Suprax...that is 2 UTI's in the last month, yes...not good. I have been "prepared" for a of scenarios regarding the procedure tomorrow..of course BEST case scenario is that this is all a freak thing and EVERYTHING is normal!! (I have been praying for the endlessly!!!!!!) 2nd case scenario is that he does have severe reflux and that is all...and 3rd case would be reflux and another congenitial defect in his ureters or possibly kidneys. Mind Boggling, right?! Trust me I know. At this point I am running on faith and nerves...well, and Caffeine. So, at this point we just hope and pray and pray and pray some more that P feels NOTHING tomorrow and that all of this ends up being nothing! I'm so ready for him to just be a "normal" almost 4 month old....can you believe he will be 4 months on the 6th?!?! Thank you in advance for the calls and prayers...they really mean more then you know and have truly been a huge factor in getting us through these last 16 wks! I will update tomorrow more once we know something.

Wordless Wednsday

2009-06-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

Preston Update

2009-06-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well, P is doing better from what I can tell. His fever finally went down after a week and half of fevers over 103 degrees! I was soo relieved the first time that I took his temp and it was under 101 that I screamed for joy! He is still having crying spells and tightening of his belly which they told us are cramps from the UTI they believe. His appetite is coming back with a vengeance as well! Vandy called us last week and let us know that they have P's VUCG set up for July 1st at 10:30 a.m. . I was relieved that they got him in so quickly but was nervous to find out that they had scheduled him on a day when they only do "high risk" babies and that he will have to be put under again to perform this procedure. On one hand I relieved that he will not have to feel anything and will be sleeping peacefully, but on the other hand if you have been a reader of the last few months you know that P has scared us once while under Anesthesia and that has been hard to forget. We spoke further w/ our pediatrician who has told us they will be checking Preston not only for the kidney Reflux but also for many other things. B/C Preston was born w/ one birth defect (the hole in his airway) they are concerned that he may have some sort of defect in either his kidneys or in the ureters that connect his bladder to his kidneys. So, hopefully July 1st will go smoothly and will give us some answers...preferrably GOOD ones! I am trying once again to just give this situation to God and know that he has such a BIGGER plan for my sweet P then all of this...what a testimony this young man has already and he has NO IDEA! Please pray for the people that will be watching P during this procedure, pray for mine and my families nerves(which are shot at this point), and pray also that P's White Blood Count in his urine goes down. Right now we know that P's little body is immune to amoxicillion and to Bactrim..both which are pretty generic drugs used for many different everyday viruses. Because P has been through so much and had so many IV antibiotics his little body is developing immunities to drugs that really they don't need too. Also, b/c of this he is on an antibiotic right now daily that is very strong for someone his size and causing some tummy issues at times (not to mention it runs between 50-100 dollars a week!!!!!!!!!) . Thank you again for all of your thoughts and prayers..I know I say that a lot, but our family appreciates them so much. I have truly learned so much in the last 14 weeks, and I can say that the power of prayer has been a HUGE reason that I can find peace at times like these.

Listening...Waiting...Hoping....

2009-06-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

Those three words above are three words that I feel have defined the last 13 weeks of my life. I feel as though I have been listening, waiting, and hoping more in the last 3 months then I ever have. I have listened to the many reports and diagnosis from doctors about what to do and where to go from here...I have waited and waited and WAITED for test results and answers and also for miracles....and I have hoped beyond words that all of this craziness and all of these medical challenges that our sweet babe has faced would disappear into thin air.

As I was trying to get Preston to sleep today for his first nap it hit me. While I have prayed and prayed about all of this and in my heart I know that I have turned it over to the Lord to take care of I forgot to Listen for the answers...I haven't been patient in waiting and remembering that all of this will cease in God's timing...and I have put my hope in the wrong things when really I should have just known that this will disappear once my hope was turned in the right direction.

So, I will still be Listening....Waiting...and Hoping, BUT for the first time it will be at the feet of my Holy Father...the only one who I KNOW can heal all these hurts and questions in my head and on Preston's little body. Thank you for the little reminders in life, Lord....I needed to be reminded today :-)

Here We Go Again...

2009-06-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

Well, everytime I let myself relax and start to think life is getting to be "normal" BOOM! Out of no where comes something else that slaps us across the face. Those of you that are around us on a normal basis know that Preston has had a really good few weeks. After his visit to Vandy about 3 weeks ago for some respiratory issues he has been doing really well. Such a happy boy and just growing and thriving! Since his surgery back at the end of March he has gone through some side effects, but we have had a piece of mind in knowing that God had him in his hands....he carried him through that first crazy month and has been faithful in doing so since.

On friday night at around midnight Lil' P woke up screaming. This is a baby who LOVES to sleep, and has slept through the night really since day one. I got up to go and change him thinking he may have a dirty diaper that was disturbing him. Once I began to undress him (and the fog over my mind cleared..since it was midnight) I realized that he was BURNING UP! Now, a little fever is one thing but when they begin to radiate heat..shew...that's scary. I took his temp and at that time it was 103.1. I gave him Tylenol and just rocked him for hours as he was VERY restless and uncomfortable it seemed. This went on throughout the night so first thing Saturday morning I called the Pediatrician. Off to the Doctor we went! Let's just say that our "quick" doc trip on Saturday turned into and ALL day event..shew. I took him by myself b/c I honestly just assumed he had picked up some summer viral bug and that we would be checked out and sent on our way. I wish. The doc was very concerned w/ his high temp and age (at the doc his temp was 103.5 and he HAD tylenol in him!) Thus began the tests. And cries. (P and mommy..) First, we put a bag on his lil' wee wee in hopes that he would urinate that way. Unfortunatley, this did not happen and he had to be catheterized. HORRIBLE! Then they did 3 different blood tests. Preston's blood work came back and looked normal besides slightly elevated white blood cells. His urine test came back and shocked us all. Preston's urine showed that he had an EXTREMLEY high volume of white blood cells in his urine and also traces of blood. The doctor sent the urine to be cultured and told us this would take 3-4 days to grow and give us results. He was afraid that Preston had a UTI, but could not be sure until the culture had grown. He gave P a big shot of Antibiotic and told us that we could watch him at home that night as long as his temp stayed below 104, but we had to come back first thing the next morning to see Dr. J for a follow up. The night went about the same...P screamed and screamed and was very much so in pain it seemed. His temp got up to 103.9 and he began to lose his appetite all together. The next morning we dropped Eli off w/ my parents so that Justin could go w/ us to the doctor(after the events the day before I REFUSED to go by myself this time). Upon arriving P's fever was still very present and his irritability was only growing. Straight to Vandy we were sent. (we are feeling as though this is our home away from home..geez) Once at Vandy Preston was catheterized again... :-( .... and poked and proded a million times....it was awful. They finally got an IV in after trying 3 different times. He began a high dose of antibiotics and also had x-rays and an ultra sound of his kidneys. If you don't know it, UTI (urinary tract infections) are very uncommon in boys..much less in a boy Preston's age so everyone was very worried as to why he would have one and ecspecially one with the high volume of bacterial infection that he had. The x-rays showed no infection his lungs so that was good and the ultrasound showed no kidney damage at this time. After 2 bags of fluids and 2 rounds of strong antibiotics our sweet boy began to open his eyes and calm down. The color was coming back to his cheeks and for the first time in 48 hours we saw a glimpse of our child. The ER doctor began to tell us that Preston's UTI was very severe and that our main goal right now was to hit the infection hard w/ antibiotics and then address why he had gotten this infection to begin with. Today we met w/ the Pediatrician again. Last night was very rough again as Preston barely slept b/c he seemed to be in so much pain and was just very restless and still with fever. Dr. J told me today that he believed Preston's UTI was a genetic condition (I had bladder infections as a child). He began to explain a condition called VESICOURETERAL REFLUX which in lamen terms is "kidney reflux". You can go to this website( http://www.drgreene.com/21_1218.html)to read about it and to see the procedure that Preston is going to have to have done in order to determine how severe his is and from there we will decide what to do about it. In good cases this can be treated w/ antibiotics on a daily basis until the child reaches an older age which then they would try and fix it surgically. In some cases the child is non responsive to the antibiotics and has to have a surgery to fix it. Kidney Reflux if not caught and treated can lead to damage to the kidneys which in turn can lead to hypertension and worst case kidney failure. Most studies done on this disorder have found that most kidney damage occurs before the age of 6 so it has to be watched and monitored very closely by a Pediatric Urologist.

Right now we are just trying to process all of this. Preston has already been through so many obstacles in his short 13 weeks of life and the thought of going through a slew of tests and procedures and possibly another surgery are very disheartning and just plain SUCKS. As a mommy I just want to take his pain away...I want to tell all the nurses and doctors that test and poke and prod on him to STOP..but I also know that they are only there to help and to make him better. I have always tried to remember the phrase " God won't give you anything you can't handle," and in times like we have had over the last 13 weeks it has been VERY present in my mind daily. I trust the Lord with all my heart and he has shown me so many times just how powerful he is and that he is the great healer, but I would be lying if I said that as a "mommy" I don't get angry and just plain tired of the what seems like neverending struggles my little one is having to overcome. Keep Preston in your prayers as we take on the next few weeks. He has to be on his meds for 7 days at least before this procedure can be done to determine the severity of his reflux. As of tonight I think the antibiotics are kicking in...he has longer spells of no crying and seems to be resting more peacefully. His fever is still going up and down but is staying below at least 102.5 now. We are praying for a return in appetite as we all know that my kid is a chunk and when he doesn't want to eat then he is really sick! ha! Thank you so much for remembering us..the calls and emails and just notes of prayers and kind words mean so much. Things could be so much worse..I know this...and I thank the Lord daily for my sweet, sweet blessings.

P.S- Also, b/c this condition is genetic they are recommending that Eli also be tested as well even though he has never had a UTI...the statistics show that when one sibling suffers from VR the other siblings have a 1 in 3 chance of also having the condition. We are praying Eli can be spared from this test...shew...I can not IMAGINE having to hold him down while the inserted a catheter in him...geez....

Taking.Deep.Breaths...

2009-06-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Breathe, Kacie...Breathe. This is what I tell myself daily. I am learning very quickly that life w/ 2 boys under 3 is VERY eventful and just plain exhausting. Trust me, I am not saying life is awful..blah..blah..blah, because I am VERY thankful for my sweet, precious, WILD, little ones ;-) I think I am just like most moms (or at least I am one that is willing to admit) that has those days of just wanting to walk out the door and get some fresh air....without 2 sweet voices behind me. Justin's biz has REALLY taken off and he is super busy on tons of projects, but he is also still working at his full time job so for now his "day" job has also turned into working until 10pm job. This is GREAT for our family ecspecially w/ me being a stay at home mom b/c that extra income is so very helpful, but it makes for LONG days for us both. Tonight after I was finished with laundry, dishes, feeding Lil' P, and talking Eli into watching a movie in his room I began wondering..Do you think God sits on his throne watching the decisions that we make and tells him self "Breathe...just breathe..." or do you think that his patience w/ us is unimaginable? I believe is patience w/ us is beyond words and way more then we deserve. So , I have decided that as I take my deep breaths I will thank him for having patience WITH me even when I have NONE left to go around.

I am Slinging and Swaddling! TWEET ME!!

2009-06-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

It has BEGUN! Check out the website below and Follow me (SnSMom_10) on Twitter to follow me on my journey throughout the month of June as I compete against 30 other moms! I am very excited about this contest and hope that you will spread the word and help me win the grand prize worth over 2k! Don't forget to add me on Twitter @Mom_10

Thanks!!!!

Relax, Eat, Sleep, and Pictures!!!

2009-05-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, that headline is pretty much all we did all weekend. It was a wonderful RELAXING weekend that was much needed for all of us. Justin has been so busy w/ his full time job plus all of the jobs he has going w/ his Custom Airbrush/Paint Biz that we rarely see him during the week anymore so to have some extra time w/ him this weekend was great!! Eli is doing good...he is for sure at a very testing stage (32 months) and we have our battles but overall he is a good boy who LOVES helping mommy and daddy with anything and everything! He is now showing a huge interest in feeding his lil brother when I pump and put milk in a bottle..it's super cute (I will post a pic soon). Preston is also doing better daily. The RSV is pretty much gone. He still has some rattling in his chest when eating or at night but it is NOTHING like it was! We are trying to get in w/ the specialist about his trachea as I speak too. I got some much needed sleep this weekend and I feel MUCH better. We went to church on sunday and then spent the day in WH with my parents and Allie and Chase and it was nice. I was feeling a little icky that day, but that night we all got out for a walk/bike ride/stroller ride to the pond around the corner from there house. As we are making our way back it begins to POUR down rain!! Lil' Preston was just holding his legs straight out as he laughed and smiled as the rain trickled down his legs :-)
The pictures on this post are from a "photo shoot" that Justin and I had w/ Preston after Eli had gone to sleep on Sat. night...lol...we got some cute ones. Overall, the weekend was great and I am so thankful for the men and women who make this holiday possible and make freedom for my family and I possible everyday! Thank you Soliders and the families of Soldiers!

Through fear I am reminded of my Beautiful Blessings...

2009-05-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

So, if you read my blog you know that these past few months have been anything but a breeze for my family. From Preston's ailing health to the attempted kidnapping that we went through just this past week. Fear has become something that I have dealt w/ on a daily basis and while I have been ashamed to admit it, fear has creeped in on me when it shouldn't. After all I had given all of these situations over to God, right? It hit me tonight that while I had handed these things over to my God I had not exactly let them go. I had to find peace in the things we have been through and tell myself that while God is in control I also have to allow myself to be at peace with all of them so that the ugly fear does NOT creep in on me. In the midst of thinking about this I was reminded just once again how BEAUTIFUL my blessings are...yes, I am speaking about my 2 precious boys. I know that these are just 2 of the thousands of things God has blessed me with, but I do consider them the 2 greatest blessings that God has given me...through fear I have been reminded of just how BEAUTIFUL my blessings are :o)

This world is SICK! Scariest Afternoon of my LIFE!

2009-05-20T07:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I wanted to just tell all the mom's out there my experience that I had yesterday and hope that it makes us all sit back and just realize HOW QUICKLY something like this can happen. I am ALWAYS careful when my boys are w/ me and was being that way yesterday, but all of this happened so quickly. My family is so lucky that nothing worse happened.

On 5/19/09 I decided to venture out for the 1st time to the grocery w/ BOTH of my boys by myself. With everything we have been through w/ Preston I had not attempted this yet, but was feeling confident yesterday. I got to Wal-Mart in Springfield and went in a did my shopping. I checked out and out the door we went. Now you know how at Wal-Mart you have the first few handicap parking spaces in the front and then the regular ones start? Well, I was parked in the very FIRST regular spot that was right in front of the door. Preston was in his carseat at the front of the buggy and Eli had been sitting in the big part of the buggy playing w/ his car I had just bought him. I went around to the side of the car where Preston had to be put in and pulled the buggy in between the 2 cars and had the buggy resting on my thigh so that I could feel it. I picked up the carseat and turned for maybe 15-20 seconds to snap the carseat into the carrier, and keep in mind this whole time I am still talking to Eli as he stands up in the main part of the buggy that is against my leg. I snapped the carrier in and turned around...when I first turned around all I saw was this short white Caucasian Male w/ dark hair that had one arm around Eli's waist and the other hand had my purse in it. I don't remember much besides starting to scream bloody murder and I pushed the buggy at him and went at him screaming and swinging my fists. He dropped Eli first and continued towards his truck w/ my purse. I continued at him. He dropped the purse and I hit him I think upside his jaw as he jumped back into a 2006 Reddish Burgandy Dodge Dakota. They had KY tags 314 ETD. I still have no idea how in the world I remember that, but I do. At this point I am still screaming for help as I literally threw Eli into the car and locked the doors. I fell to the ground. By now a woman and a man had come to my car to see if I was ok. The man had been in the car right in front of my durango but had thought I was just arguing w/ the 2 men. I called 911 and w/i a few minutes the police were there. They ran the tags but they came back to a van so the police are thinking that maybe those men had stolen the tags or the vehicle. They went into walmart and the whole thing had been caught on surveillance. The officer that called me last night said that that truck had been cruising through the parking lot for most of the day probably just looking to do what they did to us.

I have NEVER been so thankful in my life that that situation turned out the way that it did. This world is SICK and I was reminded yesterday just how quickly your whole world can be flipped upside down. Please keep your kids close and tight, and never trust anyone you don't know. They have contacted all surrounding counties and KY to be looking out for these 2 men and this truck. If they are found we will be pressing charges and set a court date...I just pray for justice b/c I don't want them to be able to do this to another child/mother.

Can we say "Crazyyy Week?!!" --Yes, We can!

2009-05-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I was doing great at keeping my blog up to date..things were relatively calm and I was getting into a good routine. THEN Preston's congestion got worse. So, since surgery P has had a cough and pretty bad chest congestion, but we were told before leaving Vandy that he had developed a chest infection from being intubated for so long (5 hours) and that it would work it's self out over the next few wks. Well, I was getting frustrated watching him gag, cough, choke, vomit and just be plain pitiful. I mean on tuesday it will be 7 wks since surgery..this should have passed by now! So, on Thursday I called his Pediatrician and Dr. J said to bring him on in. Upon arriving I told Dr. J what we were dealing w/ and also that Preston would choke and gag to the point of turning blue and his little feet and hands also seemed to not be getting good circulation either. So, they hooked him up to an O2 (oxygen) monitor in the office and monitored him for about 2 hours. His O2 should stay at 100 or at least 98, and the highest reading that he was getting was between 86-88. He was also retracting when he breathed(a sign of bad oxygen flow). So...Dr. J proceeded to tell me that we needed to go straight to Vandy...again. So, I went and got Justin and off we went to Vandy. Upon arrival they take Preston straight back to ER Critical Care and get him hooked up. (Dr.J had called to let them know we were on our way.) His O2 was about the same. They did a chest xray..which looked fine and then we met w/ a Respiratory Therapist who did a breathing treatment on him....THAT was NOT fun! In the end, the breathing treatment did him WONDERS and they thought it would be ok for us to take him home and watch him...after seeing his surgeon and MANY other doctors and specialists that afternoon they concluded that P may have some damage to his trachea (caused from intubation during surgery) so we will be seeing a specialist for that in the next week or so. The next morning I took P back to Dr. J just to follow up and check his O2 levels again. Sometime during this process a nurse came in and did an RSV test on P. I honestly assumed that this had already been done during the millions of tests that they ran at Vandy so I never thought twice about it thinking that no news was good news....well, he was POSITIVE. Actually a false/positive. Dr. J said that usually means that they are towards the end of the Virus and that he has probably had it since after surgery....I was LIVID!! No wonder my poor baby has been so sickly and in pain when he eats and coughs and breaths....he has had RSV. Most of you know that Eli had RSV at 3 months old and was put in Vandy b/c of it's severity...so for me to think that my newborn has had this scared me to death, but then again P continually beats the odds! So, we are home...in confinement for a few days and just resting...P was 10 wks on friday and I can honestly say that it has been the longest, most tiring, challenging, scary, nerve-racking, and most blessed weeks of my life. So, hopefully the craziness will pass again...we will see a specialist about his trachea which we PRAY is NOT damaged (this could be another surgery...grrr..). Stay tuned to this NEVER ending saga we call life.....

Goodbye Sweet Girl..for now.

2009-05-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

My heart is breaking this morning for the family of Kayleigh. I wrote about Kayleigh about a week back on my blog and I am sad to say that she passed away last night at 9:44 p.m. . This is an AMAZING, Strong, and BEAUTIFUL little girl who touched so many people in her short 11 month stay here on earth. She is no longer hurting and has a newly formed and perfect little body as she sits on the lap of the great healer :-) Please keep the Freeman family in your prayers as they go through this difficult time. Goodbye sweet girl, for now.

http://www.kayleighannefreeman.blogspot.com/

Nope, not gonna do it! I am NOT 25!!!!!

2009-05-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

(The above pic is myself at the ripe age of 17 I believe! Ahhhh, those were the days!)

As a child I can remember getting SOOO excited months before my birthday in anticipation of "my big day" and when my birthday would finally arrive I always had such wonderful celebrations with family and friends. It was such a fun day that I looked forward to so much.
Funny how things change, huh? Now, I am the first to admit that I am not "old", and trust me I am very thankful for all of these wonderful years of life that I have been blessed with so far...BUT...do I HAVE to turn 25?!? For the first time ever this is the birthday that I really did not look forward to. It is the first time that I actually dreaded my birthday a little bit...isn't that awful?! I mean it's not like I am turning 30, or 40, or even 50, but I DON'T want to be 25 either!! I guess I feel as though time is going by so fast and I just want it to freeze (if anyone finds a way to do this please contact me IMMEDIATELY!!) and not move any faster. Oh well, I should probably embrace the number 25 and run with it...but...I think I will secretly just hold onto my number 24...it is MY birthday after all, right?????!!?

2 MONTHS OLD!!!

2009-05-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

WOW! That is really all I can say...I CAN NOT believe that Preston is 2 months old today?! Somedays I feel as though he is 6 months old b/c of everything that we have been through with him, but at the same time I look at my sweet boy sleep peacefully and can't believe that I have had the joy and honor and BLESSING of having him in our lives for the past 2 months :-) God is so AMAZINGLY good! We love you little one and look forward to many, many more special moments :-)

Eli, Eli, ELI!!!

2009-05-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

I noticed that here lately with everything that has been going on w/ Preston I have not done any updates on our Big Boy! Eli is CRAZY as usual...I can say that he gets more challenging daily though:-) Eli has been attending a Mother's Day Out program 2 days a week for about 6 hours since Aug. and he has learned SOO much! The conversations that we have now are crazy!!! He is a smart little booger and is learning to manipulate..lol...this one I can do with out for sure though! He is a major ham and LOVES to have all attention on him...loves to sing..which mommy is THRILLED about and loves to Read :-) I could go on and on about all of his milestones and new things he is doing, but mainly I just wanted to say how proud I am of him for adjusting so well to his new little brother. He has done shockingly well (although we still deal with some outbursts every once in awhile) and our biggest problem has been him loving his brother TOO much..haha! It has been hard on everyone these last 2 months with everything that has gone on w/ Preston and us being in the hospital so much and Eli did great through it all (could not have done it w/o my WONDERFUL parents!!!) So, I am going to just post some pics of him from the last few months..Enjoy!

This is WAYY past due!

2009-05-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the last few months have held MANY changes for several members of my family and this post is dedicated to those WONDERFUL announcements :-)

First, My sweet lil' sister and her fiancee' Chris are expecting a PRECIOUS little GIRL!!!!!! I will be the proud Aunt to Madison Rae Mason come Sept :-) I am beyond excited and Can not wait for her to be here! Congrats Tay and Chris!!!

Second, my WONDERFUL cousin (who is more like my BIG sis!) is also expecting her 1st child on Nov. 13th!!!!!! Leslie and John will be AMAZING parents and I am sooo excited for them...

So, as you can tell it is baby overload for our family, but I AM TICKLED PINK ABOUT IT!! (and if they BOTH turn out to be girls I will be just as thrilled ;) )

Congrats Tay and Les!!!!

Kayleigh Anne Freeman

2009-05-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

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I have a heavy heart. Tonight as I sat and thought about everything we have been through in the last 2 months, I praised God. As I thought about the wonderful family, friends, and even people who did'nt know us that have lifted up Preston, I praised God. As I thought about how I get to look into my sweet 8 wk old miracle's eyes everyday and give him as many kisses as I want, I praised God.

The above link will lead you to a blogspot that the father of Kayleigh Anne Freeman created to document his sweet, precious little girl's story. This is a family that I was introduced to while at Vanderbilt with Preston. A nurse there saw me blogging and told me about a website for parents with sick children and gave me the information on this family and the link to this website. This little girl was born 3 months premature...weighing in at 1lb and 1oz she came into this world as a miracle, and sadly enough it is looking as though she will leave this world a miracle too. You see Kayleigh is the YOUNGEST and SMALLEST baby to EVER have open heart surgery...she has overcome obstacle after obstacle, but it seems as if now the Lord is ready to have her come home to him. My heart is heavy....my heart hurts for this mom and dad and her brother and sister and all the people that have watched everything this little girl has endured and been through. She IS a MIRACLE...She IS a FIGHTER...She IS HIS DAUGHTER. I ask that you visit this website and read about Kayleigh's story. Pray for her relief, peace and for healing...God can perform miracles, and the feeling a mother has when she realizes her child is "against the odds" is crushing. I pray that God puts his hands over this little girl and her parents, Lord. I pray that they are able to find some peace and strength as they have to face decisions that NO parent should EVER have to make. I pray that you HEAL this little girl, but if it's her time to walk with you through the pearly gates I pray then that you help her earthly family find comfort in knowing that their little girl was and IS a MIRACLE, and that she touched THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of people in her short life. I will praise you in there storm Lord, and I praise and thank you for seeing me through mine.