40 is the new 20!!!

Well word on the street is that 40 is the new 20!!! You wouldn't know it by all the "over the hill" and black balloon decorations they had strung out everywhere for my party last week!!! But if you ask me I am sticking with 25.... my grandma as been 18 ever since I can remember so it runs in my family!!

I had a fantastic birthday weekend!  My birthday was actually on the 8th.  My sister-in-law, a friend from work (pictured on the left with me) and I went out to watch MMA fighting at a local bar.  Pretty cool and some great fights!!! Had my picture taken with Chris Lytle, he was a UFC fighter and now runs a place on the other side of town for some of these fighters.

Then on Saturday most of my family (minus my sister-in-law and my youngest niece, who came down with strep throat) all went to the Rock & Worship Roadshop!! All I can say is this concert was AWESOME!!! Some artists were Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Tedashii, Rhett Walker Band and Family Force 5 to name a few!!! It was just a great time and our family loved all the music.  The most moving part of the night was at the end when  you had 11,000 people singing Amazing Grace, no music just the whole stadium singing, it was a moment to remember and I was glad I was part of it and the whole night!!!


Then the festivites continued onto Sunday for my birthday party!!! All my family and friends gathered at my Aunt' house for great food that my mom (above) prepared!  And my Aunt prepared 3 kinds of desserts (if you know anything about us, you know we LOVE to make desserts and she is awesome at them!!!).  Then we opened presents and just hung out and visited!  It was a great day and a great birthday weekend and I could not have asked for a better 40th birthday!!!!  Now only if Monday would not have ruined it by returning to work....hahah!!!

Discovering Dinosaurs



Big boy LOVES dinosaurs and our today was having this awesome event at our fairgrounds.... Discovering Dinosaurs! 

So off we went today after soccer practice!  They had several scenes set up will all the dinosaurs with them animated and signs that told all about them - this was very cool.  Then after you walked through all of that you could get tickets to do bouncy house, ride dinosaurs, minature gold and mine or dig for fossils and gems and of course the gift shop at the end!!!  Here are some pictures of our fun family day!!!



Hoping for Answers....

Well, the time is finally here. We are heading out to Philly next week hoping to get some answers to my medical issues. Just to get you up to speed, I have been diagnosed with Stage 5 osteoarthritis of both my TMJ joints -its the worst it can get and my oral surgeon here has never seen it so bad in someone my age. I basically have the disease of that of a 70 or 80 year old person....not good!!! So our plan it to go see a surgical specialist (because I will have to have a total joint replacement in both joints).

Now the surgeon we are going to see basically helped develop the prostetic joint devices that would be used in my surgery...thus the reason for the trip -I want someone who has done this procedure SEVERAL times and knows what they are doing. This is not a common disease, at least not in the TMJ joints. So we need lots of prayers for answers and just some overall guidance on where I really am in all this and how much time we can buy before surgery.

Now the next complex part is that insurance just sucks!! Medcial and dental just fight over who should pay, no one wants to and they all want to exclude it from their policies. But the end result is this is medically necessary for me, nothing cosmetic about what I need done, I can barely open my mouth or talk at this point!! I don't see how its any different than a knee replacement and they pay for those all the time....so needless to say I am overstress about the insurance part of this as well! Its costing us enough just to head to Philly for a few days for this consult.

So I am asking for everyone to please keep me and my family in your prayers. This is a very serious medical condition that is not going to go away. I am hoping to get lots of answers on our trip. I am nervous and anxious as to what we are going to find out, but ready for it...so here we go!

Stressed....to say the least!!

So much has been going on.....first my baby has turned into such a big boy!! Can someone please just slow him down!!! But in all reality I LOVE this age he is SO much fun. He is such a strong willed and independent little man, sometimes a little too much for his own good!!! He also has the greatest personality we could ever ask for and is very funny! Where he comes up with some of the stuff he does is beyond me. Just the other day it was time for bed and he was not ready to go (he never is but he always fall fast asleep) and he was going up the stairs and he turned around and looked at me and said "mom, don't make me through a fit!!" It took everything I had not to laugh, like he was saying you know what will happen if I do and it won't be pretty!!

We are also in the process of potty training and its going really good. We started him early because he gets diaper rashes so bad. He does have some accidents here and there but for the most part does so good. He loves to get on the potty and go and knows he gets candy if he does and he has this little "potty" dance he does when he goes -I love it!!! And now if we are out and he has his diaper on he will still tell us he has to go and off we go and then if he does go in his diaper he wants if off immediately and doesn't like it on. So hopefully we are close to only having diapers for nap/bedtime!!!

My big boy is also getting ready to start school, mom's day out, next month. Its one day a week for about 3 hours. I am excited for him, he loves to be around other kids and do little projects and Iam excited for him to learn new things!! He loves Sunday school so I know he will love this as well!!!

Now for me I have major TMJ issues that my oral surgeon has never seen in someone my age before. So I have osteoarthritis in my jaw joints and its so bad he said he would expect to see it that bad in like a 70/80 year old person but not in someone my age!! GREAT! So basically I am going to most likely going to have to have a total joint replacement in both jaw joints. We are doing everything we can to make me as comfortable as possible for as long as possible and put surgery of for as long as we can....but for as much pain as Iam in it doesn't seem far off in my eyes right now, let's hope I am wrong. So I could use lots of prayers right now!!

We are sad that summer is coming to an end. We loved being outside this summer, hanging out with friends, family and at out family lake!!! We like fall and the bonfires, fall festivals but are not looking forward to that cold weather that will follow...well maybe little man is but I am not. For now we will enjoy what warm weathe we have left and hope you and your familys also had a great summer!!

Fundraising Ideas

So we are hopefully going to start the process of our second adoption in the near future!! I know what I want to have financially before we send papers/profile in so I am in the process of getting some ideas together for fundraising to help get the funds together to reach this goal.

Now I did some fundraising with our son but most of it was done during warmer weather so I am at a loss of what to do now during these colder months.....so that is where I hope some of you can come in with some ideas. I have some ideas but as always more is better!!

I have tried calling our church to see about a spaghetti dinner, but they don't help with these types of fundraisers because we are a large church and it would take the focus off our missionaries and we have so many who have adopted in our church that this is all they would be doing if they started helping and that is not their focus.

I do sell jewelry so I am trying to get together some things from some local places around town to raffle off and have an open house with my jewelry as well. Also any money I make from doing my jewelry shows is going into our adoption fund.

So I am looking for any and all ideas that you guys can come up with!! If its something that is easier to email you can send it to lovetoread60@yahoo.com

Thanks so much!!!

A day in the life of my son!

So I just had to share that my little guy is the funniest little man on earth!! He can turn a bad day into a great one with just his smile or with something funny he says or does!!! He is an early talker and talks like he is 3....mind you he is only 20 months!!! He blows my mind everyday with the things he says and we have to be very careful with what we say because he will not only repeat it but he remembers it and says it to you days later when you think he should have forgotten it!!!

Some funny things he has been saying lately that I say to him are "I miss you" (I was just out of town for the weekend so he says this all the time now....so cute), and my all-time favorite is "hi honey!!!" I LOVE this and its the funniest and cutest saying ever and he just laughs when he says it because he knows its cute!!! Just out of the blue he will turn around and look at me and go "hi honey"....just melts my heart!!

Now some not so cute sayings....and I hope its a boy thing and a QUICK phase he is going through is "hit so and so" or "kick so and so"..... this is SO embarassing and my little man has spent his fair share in time out lately!!! My brother thinks its a boy thing because my 3 nieces were into pinching and not hitting or kicking! I just really want my sweet, cuddling baby boy back.....I really think he got the kicking because he just finished up with soccer a few weeks ago.

Anyway just wanted to share his cuteness and how he just brightens my day with his words and how funny he is!!!

For those of you with little ones I would love to hear what fun sayings they have....or not so fun sayings!!!

Calm before the storm....

Well much has happened since my last post! I am starting a new full-time job on Monday...yes this coming Monday!!! I am really excited about my new job but really sad to not be home with my little man. Its going to be hard to leave him now then it was when I went back to work when he was 3 months old. He was 10 months when I got laid off in March and he is now 18 months and these last 8 months have been AMAZING!!! I have not taken one day for granted because I knew this day would one day come! Who I feel sorry the most for is everyone around us because he is so attached to me and can't stand for me to be out of the room....so when I am gone all day everyday...he will be crabby for the first few days and so will I!!! Probably best to just stay clear of us for awhile...that first weekend will just be him and I...oh and some Christmas shopping because it is Thanksgiving weekend and we always shop till we drop!

So onto this new job! I am really excited, I will be an administrative/clincial assistant for a general surgeon. It will also lead to research coordinator for a clinical trial they will be doing in the near future so lots of opportunities which is really exciting. The people I have met and talked with so far have been great and its near another department I used to work so I can catch up with some old friends!

We are gearing up for Thanksgiving around here! I LOVE this time of year. We always have everyone here, I love to entertain and I love to plan big holidays like this! My favorite is after everyone eats and we just hang out and play games and go through the ads for the next day. Now what I am not real happy about this year is that so many stores are opening at midnight or earlier...that time should be really spent with family and shopping is okay to start at 4:00 am but shouldn't be creeping in any sooner on Thanksgiving day! I love that all my family helps prepare Thanksgiving dinner and all the kids come over and play - little man will be so excited - he LOVES his cousins!!!

We are all getting over some nasty sinus crud right now and little man is fighing with some teeth coming in too, about 3 or 4 right now. So hopefully we all feel much better by next week. But I am very thankful for a very healthy family, thankful they all live close and we get to spend so much time together and I am thankful for all our friends who are always here for us as well!

We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!