Quick Catch up

Wow a whirl wind around here would be an understatement. I can not post pics because they are all on the laptop and I havent got the router for it to use with our new internet server. We are in our new home. There is still no kitchen,livingroom, or dining room. The girls have a completed bedroom, DH and I are on a mattress on the floor until tomorrow when our room will be done. we have on operating bathroom out of 3. The playroom and the sewing room are distant blurs right now. But what it really boils down to is; We have a home, it's ours and God is good. Genevieve is now officially in public schools for kindergarten. I was concerned about her being behind a bit because I was slacking the past few months with all on my surgeries and the moves but she is still ahead of the game. That's a scary thought. I still have Abigail in her preschool program across town. So my mornings are spent driving from the north to the south side and back again by 11 am. I wouldn't change a thing. I'll get pics up as soon as I can

a few pics from Disney

I have finally gotten through all the pics. I started out with 1528 and have dwindled it down to 841. Scrapbook heaven

we are home

OK we're back - Exhausted, Sick, Stressed, Cold and ready to go back :>). I have been working on the photos. We started out at 1500 and am down to just over 900. As i finish editing I will post some. For no just say a prayer we all get better soon.

i am so sorry

This is only going to be a quick post - We have been uprooted and proclaimed homeless. So I have no Internet access. Today I am at Starbuck's. We sold our house and bought a new one. The bad part is the new house had the kitchen stolen prior to us purchasing. So our friend Donna has taken us in. The house will be 80% done by the time we get back from Disney. But until then the posts will be sporadic. I'm sorry. I'm hoping to post from Disney. Wish us luck -

I like this perspective

Here's a new twist on our financial crisis.. I'm against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in a ""We Deserve It Dividend"". To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000. My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a "We Deserve It Dividend". Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500 in their pocket. A husband and wife has $595,000. What would you do with $297,500 to $595,000 in your family? Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved. Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads Put away money for college - it'll be there Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs. Buy a new car - create jobs Invest in the market - capital drives growth Pay for your parent's medical insurance - Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ("vote buy") economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+! As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts. Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't. Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work." But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party! How do you spell Economic Boom? I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion "We Deserve It Dividend" more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC. And remember, The Family plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because $25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam. Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest. Kindest personal regards, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic.

Our life in a nutshell

Wow it's been a week since I last posted. I guess it couldn't be because we have nothing going on here. 1) Abigail is recovering nicely. She is now on her breather PRN, her Claritan in the am, and her Singulair in the pm. This seems to be keeping everything at bay. She has been outside paying and done fine. 2) I am recovering fine. The surgery went well except for the fact I was dehydrated when we started from sitting a the hospital for 3 days with Abigail. I am on a 8lb weight restriction for another 8 weeks. GRRRRRR I can't stand it. 3) We are still packing because we need to be out by Tuesday am. It's so hard on DH because I can't lift a thing and he's doing it all. I have been packing and leaving the box, but that is so annoying having the boxes just sit. Cleaning is also a struggle because of the reaching and pulling. But that too is getting done. 4) Abigail is doing OK in Dance class. She missed last week because of the hospital stint but went this week. Her Aunt Barbie took her because my truck is in the shop. 5) The truck is in the shop to the tune of $4,000.00 of damage from when I backed over a tiny little car I could not see because he was 2 inches from my bumper. The police ruled it not my fault, the guy was to close at the stop. But needless to say, I have no vehicle for a couple days. I had no idea to rent a van or truck is about $68.00 a day. That was the cheapest I could find. If I get anything smaller, Genevieve gets car sick from sitting to low. Not worth it to me. 6) Ok I feel better now that I have vented. Have a great day. BTW less than a month until Vacation

Autumn Moon Festival

Genevieve struggles sometimes with sensory stuff. She had been such a trooper up to this point, but she was done. She hadn't seen her Mommy in a couple days, her sister was in the hospital, she was staying at her best friends house but still out of the norm and she was tired. That was all she needed to just sob until she vomitted. I was totally stunned. Mostly from exhaustion but stunned to say the least. Thank Goodness for mommies. Two other mommies stepped up and took over because at that point I was done. I couldn't handle anything else. After she slept on 3 different Mommies for a spell of about 2 hours she was fine. Our Girl Chloe - What a beautiful little face. Her bust Bud Drisella of Course. I have such cute pics of these two at different festivals. Is that the sweetest face you have ever seen or what. That little picklehead is such a clown. She is what my Ma used to "Good for the Soul" Our newest friends. Aren't they beautiful Our Dear friends Dave and Brenda. Sometimes I wonder how i would get through life without them. How blessed I am for them to be a part of my life. I use the term friends but in reality it's more like family. That's what the Moon Festival is about - Family Craft Time at the restaurant while the parents all gabbed. The girls made Lanterns and coloed pics of toys with the Chinese Caharacter on them.

Abigail Ambulance Ride Pics

This is Abigail Saturday night at the hospital. Here we wait and see to try and figure out why she is in respiratory distress. No one could figure out why so the decision was made to admit her. The hospital we went to no longer has a peds admit wing so we needed to take the ambulance to their partner hospital in South Bend. Abigail had the nicest ambulance driver. He took really good care of her and kept her airways open the whole trip. She got a kick out of the thought of riding in it. She was also very clear that the cars had to get out of the way because that's the rules. She was released on Tuesday morning (just in time for me to check into the other hospital for my surgery) with a diagnosis of allergies. The allergies hit her so hard it puts her into respiratory distress. her butt is too little and dehydrates so easily. This is the last thing she needed. This is how we now spend every 6 hours for a while. This and all the meds. She is on 2 steroids, 2 allergy meds and 1 inhalator. I guess she needs a little extra TLC right now.

I wish I could post the pictures on the camera but I don't have my cord at the Hospital. I guess I should be glad I could access the Internet. We have been in the hospital with Abigail since Sat. She started getting shortness of breath and refusing to eat and dring. RED FLAG RED FLAG, time for dehydration so off to ER we went. They still have no real diagnosis. The guess-timation right now is allergies. They are settling in to her chest. She is on 2 steroids, 2 allergens and 1 more I can't think of right at the moment. I have had minimal sleep with all the juggling and sleeping in a twin bed with her and all her wires. Our goal is to keep her oxygen saturation at 84 or above for 24 hours. Wow that feels like impossible, but we are getting there. Along with tending to her, there are still all the arrangements to be made for Genevieve, the sale of our house the purchasing of the new house and my surgery. So to say the least I feel a little nutso at the moment. Sunday Genevieve and I went to dinner with some other families to celebrate Moon Festival at our favorite haunt while Daddy stayed at the hospital with Abigail. That in itself was a story I will tell later when the pics are loaded so you can get the full effect. BTW - HAPPY AUTUMN MOON FESTIVAL TO EVERYONE As we set right now, it looks like she may be able to go home tomorrow and I will have surgery. So many prayers, we can use all the help we can get right now. Also I need to send HUGE HUGE Thanks out to Donna, Kate, Karen, Wendy and everyone else who knew I could not keep up. They stepped up called me and jumped right in to help. I was going 20 directions at any given second and couldn't take the time to breath let alone call people and say HELP.

In china Now

Our friend Nikki is in China right now bringing her darling home. We can't wait to meet Aubrey. Nikki will be living about 5 minutes from the house we just bought in Granger. We are so excited.

Momma's been sewing again

This is for our girls Sarah in NC. We are packing it along to take to her when we all meet up in Oct at Disney World. This is Genevieve's dress from the same pattern, just a different fabric. You know butterflies are her thing. Genevieve wants to be Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior for Halloween. I got part of the costume done. Now I just need to make the pants and order her shoes. She LOVES that movie.

Playing in the Rain

What a life to be a child and not have a care in the world, but how high you can jump in the biggest puddle you can find. It's these moments that my heart is so full of love I could just bust. God is Good.

As usual Life is a whirlwind

To make a Very long entangled story short after lots of stress and tears, we have found a house. Not before I was put in my place by our Almighy to remind me that I'm not in charge, he is. No matter how much I want to believe it's me controlling my life it's not, and God will put things in place that he knows are best for us and in his time not ours. It's an REO (Bank Repo) that was in the middle of a total renovation. So as of right now there is no kitchen and only partial other rooms are completed. The contractor said he can have it totally done in 21 days. He can't start until our closing and we can't close on that one until we close on ours on the 12th. We are shooting to close on the new house on the same day, but we'll see. We need to be out of here on the 30th of the month. That will only leave a few days of living around the contractor if we are able to close the 12th. I have my last surgery the 16th. So to say the least I will be worth zilch for the next 30 days after that. I am trying to pack absolutely everything I can before my surgery as well as tie up loose ends of appts, Moon Festival Celebrations and other stuff too. So my postings are a bit sporadic with everything else going on.

How wonderful is this

This was in the Associated Press a couple days ago China opens registrations to adopt quake orphans 2 days ago BEIJING (AP) — Eighty-eight children who were orphaned after a massive earthquake struck central China earlier this year have been made eligible for adoption, state media reported. The orphans have been deemed eligible for adoption from Sichuan province, the China News Service said. Chinese authorities began processing registrations Monday. The children are among the survivors of China's worst natural disaster in a generation — the May 12 earthquake that killed 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless. There were 532 children left unaccompanied after the quake, according to an official count, the report said. The eligible orphans are 14 or younger, with some suffering from physical or other disabilities, the report said. It did not say if the disabilities resulted from the quake. Calls to the Sichuan government's office for adoptions were not answered Monday. The news agency said the children were deemed eligible for expedited adoption because both of their parents are known to have died, and because they have expressed a wish to be adopted. Other children whose parents are missing must wait a period of two years for the parents to be declared dead before they can be adopted, the report said. Adoption applications are not open to foreigners, including residents of the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau and Taiwanese citizens, the report said. Applicants must be at least 30 years old, childless, and must prove they can support a child's education and provide emotional comfort. Successful applicants will be notified in about a week's time, the report said. The Civil Affairs Ministry said earlier this year that people nationwide had shown a huge interest in adopting quake orphans, with 10,000 families registering for adoption in one province alone. An official indicated the ministry could give priority to parents who lost children in the quake.

Our last days in the pool have came and went. Our air is shifting and the cool weather is coming in. So down came the pool but not before Genevieve figured out she likes diving. As she went in and came up her comment was "too much splash". Ok I admit it to much Olympics. I'm sorry they ended, maybe one day I'll watch Genevieve.

She's Growing Up

I love taking pictures of this darling. She on the other hand HATES it. But no matter how I take her pictures they are all beautiful. Very photogenic.

Our Cutie

Our Pretty Princess Poopy Pants is now 10 weeks old, 15 pounds and just a dream baby. What a cutie

I'm not sure what I'm feeling right now

This is my house. I bought it Oct 15th, 1991. It seems funny to look at that date and then think about how long ago that was. It's also kinda eery to think about the fact that it's the only house our youngest son has ever known and he is now a man. But I think the hardest part is thinking about packing up 17 years, 7 kids 9 grandkids and allot of hurt, happiness and love into about 400 boxes.

Note to Self

I am feeling a ton better than I did a few days ago. I am walking around and actually got outside and walked in the back yard today. I'm also attempting to pick up a little. But I also realized a few things I should have done prior to my surgery. I have to have another stomach surgery the 16Th of next month so these are a few things I will make sure are handled. Hair Color, Pedicure, Meds. Wow the grey is getting really bad. I need to monitor this a little closer. When you can't bend over the toe nails are the last to get attention for quite a while. I guess the body is not made to retain your BM for 5 days. Go figure. With my stomach muscles being cut to shreds all I have is God a Gravity on my side. Stool softener on the top of the list. Ok when your stomach is the size of a basketball - there is a problem. I had no idea that gastritas was typical in stomach surgeries.

After tomorrow 7am these things will all be a part of my past. I am getting a hysterectomy. The days of bleeding through all of my clothes, ruining bedsheets, sitting on shower curtains to drive and feeling as if the skin on the back of my legs is being ripped off from the inside out are done. Also done is the investment of almost $25.00 each month in P&G corporation and scheduling vacations and our entire life around my cycle. So say a prayer and I'll sign on again when I'm up to it -