Awww...

Here is what I turn around to see as I sit here and blog...just thought I would share this sweet moment with you!

Also I have not posted a picture of our lovely little Daisie Mae. I must get some pictures of her soon in her winter coat! it is too adorable! Here is the little toot!

Now seriosly, I must go pack for Gran's house...

Nursing School...

I finally finished my 3rd semester of nursing school. 3 DOWN, 1 TO GO!!! Everyone has to take the final exam! I am not gonna lie, most people were stressed to the heavens about our final, but honestly I was not. Not that I shouldn't have been but I think I was just experiencing burnout for the semester. Earlier in the semester we were given the opportunity to earn a "Crib Card" to use on our final. Which is a 3x5 notecard with a special stamp that we can put anything handy for the test on and use it during our final. I did indeed take hold of this opportunity and earned my very own crib car. Did I put that thing to use... well NO! This is where my burnout/senioritis kicked in. I did not pick up narry a book or note or a single thing at all to study for this test. When I sat down to take it with my empty crib card I was kicking myself in the butt fo not putting at least the simplest of things such a NORMAL lab values, ABG's and telemetry strips or something...

SO... you wonder, HOW DID I DO???

I passed! I needed a 46 to receive a 75 in the class. Which in Nursing school is considered passing! I will just leave it to yall that I made an 80 as my final grade in lecture of 3rd semester nursing school. And in clinicals I am proud to say that I made a 99.8!! Yes that is NOT a typo, I said a 99.8!!!

I do think thought that everyone should know that in nursing school, everyone strives to just make at least a C!! The motto is, C is the new A! C=RN

Whatever it takes to get by...

So I am about to be off to Gran's to celebrate Christmas for the weekend! I will leave yall with one sweet picture of my Dad and my siblings and my daughter and my sweet cousins Megan and Ben visting with Mr. Santa at Chicken Express yesterday!!! My dad takes all of us every year to see Santa, it is a tradition...

Sonshine School...

Here I am again and I have not posted in quite sometime. I currently have my little princess laying on a pallet right beside me threatening her to take a nap!! David just walked in and she told me "Oh, Daddys says its bright outside, my can wake up." Mind you, she NEVER went to sleep! Crazy KID!! So off she just went following her Daddy! Today was her last day of her first semester of Sonshine School. *tear*

Her class had a Christmas party, and Santa made a visit. And as most of you know Emilie is terrified of Santa, therefore, Ms. Kristi got to hold her the whole time Santa was in their classroom. She had a really fun day, they made gingerbread men, had pizza galore, santa brought mr. Potatoe Head presents for them and most of the kids brought little presents for eachother. Needless to say, Emilie made out like a bandit!! We came home with a wal-mart sack full of goodies.

Our newest family member...

So I sit here and wonder where exactly I should begin catching up on my lack of posts! I guess that I will start with Emilie's new ride...

Gami and Papa thought that Emilie really needed a horse. I believe they were in a good line of thinking because she is head over heels in love with her baby HONKEY! Yes, I said HONKEY! Emilie named this adorable little guy Honkey, like Honkey Tonk (badonky-donk). He is the perfect horse for her. He is only 8 months old and a shetland pony, therefor, he will not get much bigger than his size now. Now when I say he is the perfect horse for her... I MEAN IT! She is the only person that can literally walk right up to him and get his lead rope to walk him around without him ever moving. I think he feels really safe with her or something since she is no taller than he.

Everymorning since we got Honkey, the first thing Emmie says when she wakes up is ALWAYS something about going outside with Honkey. She just cannot seem to get enough of him.

I will continue my posting hopefully either sometime tonight after my family has all gone to bed or during the day tomorrow. I have tons to do for this weekend. We have two Christmas parties and my brother has a basketball tournament and I am having a yard sale this saturday at Tasha's house and then of course church on Sunday and I think I want to go to a church in Combine Sunday night to watch their Nativity production.

Oh how I love Christmas...

A Day to Remember...

Sunday... where to start??? Sunday was friend day at our church, Victory Church! (kind of redundant!) Anywho, a group of about 50 some odd people have been praying hard and preparing vigily for this day. Oh how I prayed so hard and so many times that this day would bless at least one life but preferably many many lives. I just prayed so hard that my testimony alone would touch someone. I prayed so hard for my family members and friends that I had invited numerous times. Those of which only about half actually showed. I will continue to pray though for those that didn't show. There is no better time than now for anyone to meet our sweet Jesus!

Anyhow... So you ask... What was this Sunday going to consist of that you were so prayerful of?

Friend day was supposed to leave such an impact on so many lives... and that it did! As a matter of fact, it left a lifelong everlasting impact on 22 souls! YES! 22 people came to know the Lord through the plethora of testimonies that were given on Sunday! 

And... GUESS WHAT!? Two of those 22 people were my family members! :) I was overwhelmed with joy! My cousin Kayla, my daughters Godmother, my newest cousin Addy's momma, my nursing school inspiration, my friend, my mentor, did I mention she is my cousin, my very own blood.... Kayla accepted Jesus to be her personal Lord and Savior!!! WOW! I was beside myself. She told me after the service and then later in a text message that part of the reason she made the choice to accept Christ was so that she could learn to lead Addy the way she should. She said that she wants Addy to grow up knowing God and wants to be able to give Addy the knowledge she needs to make good decisions in life. What better reason...

The other person you are wondering... it was David's Aunt Doris. Ronald's Aunt! She is such a sweet lady! I was so very proud and happy for her.

Ok so you ask again, what made this service so special and moving? 

Like I said earlier about 50 some odd people or so prayed hard and long about what their testimonies were and how they could put them into a pre-help from God statement in just a few words and then a current situation statement in only a few words as well. These statements were to be put on cardboard. One statement on one side and the other on the other side. 

I cannot explain this very well so I am going to try and link a youtube video of a cardboard testimony that another church did to this blog. As soon as I get a DVD of our cardboard testimony I will post it on here hopefully. 

Ok so I cannot figure it out so I will just post the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

Anyhow, the day was amazing. Mine and Davids cardboard said:

UNWED TEENAGE PARENTS 

and on the other side it said 

SERVING GOD AS A FAMILY... 3 YEARS LATER

Anyhow, for some reason I just had a brain fart and I am not having any creative writing juices flowing right now so I may update this thing later! PS I cannot post any pictures because my computer is not connecting to the internet. Until a later date: look both ways before crossing the road and never ever shake a baby!

Peace-- Lindsie

I miss my sister!

I sit here with tears rolling down my face. I cannot stop crying. I miss my sister so much. I want her here near me so bad. She is my best friend, the one I can tell anything too and she will not be mad and she will not think different and she will always love me the same. I just want to snuggle up in her comfy bed and talk and laugh and cry.

Do you ever just start to cry and don't know why? I am right now. I think though that everything in life is just building up and I have no one to tell it all too.

It is so hard to talk to someone over the phone and express how you really feel and them actually understand. You really just need to be face to face. Katie is the one person that I can talk to and tell her anything without thinking twice before a single word comes out of my mouth. Have a mentioned that I miss her. I miss the late night run-away-from-home drop-ins she would make. I miss her randomly coming by after school to see me and Emilie. I miss staying the night with her and talking forever when we should really have been catching up on much needed sleep. I miss being able to borrow eachothers clothes. I miss having someone to mentor and having her call me and come over and cry to me for advice. I miss my little sister... I miss my best friend.

Noone could ever replace the friend I have in her. I know the friendship is still their and I know that we will always be sisters. And I know that I must let her go and grow up and do her own thing and not worry about her. I know I must be strong so that I do not drag her down or hold her back from accomplishing her dreams. But... I don't know...

I feel like there are so many things that we should have done before she left for college. I feel like we should have hung out so much more and then maybe this would be easier for David to understand and easier for me to deal with... But I cannot dwell on the past and what was not done. I just really wish that she was here.

I MISS MY SISTER, MY BEST FRIEND!!!

I am aware that the above is all probably a bunch of jumble and totally out of nowhere but it is all straight from my heart. I miss you terribly Katie!

Going, Going, Going...

It is really hard to believe that I was so incredibly sick with a stomach virus type thingy yesterday. I have been on the go all day today! No problems at all. A little clarification about the virus: I never threw-up, I had diarrhea only 3 times early early yesterday morning, and never ran a fever, I was just VERY achy!

So this morning I got super early and got Emilie ready for school and myself ready for the day! I dropped Emilie off at her school and then headed to take Daisy Mae to the groomer. After dropping the girls off I headed to the orthodontist to have my retainer tightened. I just finished my defensive driving course online!!! WAA-HOO! And I am fixing to be leaving to go get my little baby Emilie! I am feeling 100% better today! It is so crazy how I have all of my strength back today!

I am really looking forward to church sunday! I made phone calls last night to remind all of my family about church on Sunday. Hopefully everyone will come. I will call again to remind everyone on Saturday evening.

Look again for a post this evening!

In the dumps...

My alarm went off at 5:45 this morning. WOW was that early for a Monday morning! I had full intentions of getting up and making Dave's normal egg and oatmeal breakfast but I did not feel well at all. I had chills and was really really achy! My stomach was in knots. I felt horrible. Dave was so sweet to me, he told me to just get back in bed. He tried to come take my temperature with the thermometer that I had used on him only two days before. I denied a reading because I knew that I had not DE-germed the thermometer yet! LOL! Then he brought me a cold glass of water and asked if there was anything else he could do for me. I assured him that I would be OK. I'm sure that he was really thinking that I was faking being sick so that I didn't have to get up and make him breakfast on a Monday morning.

So this nasty feeling continued on and when I got up for the second time at 7:45 to get ready for our school bowling tournament I still felt horrible. I knew that I could not back out though. I stayed home Saturday and took care of Dave instead of going to the TVCC homecoming football game where I could have earned 10 bonus points. That was a BIG DEAL! I could not lose out on the 5 bonus points that were being offered at the bowling alley. Needless to say I made it through the bowling tournament with the lowest score of everyone. :) I got a prize for it!!! YAY!

After bowling I came home and slept until about 4:00 PM and then attempted to get ready for my volleyball game that would start at 7:00 PM. I am sure you are wondering how I was taking care of my child through all of this...

As most of you have heard me say before, I don't know what I would do without my mother-n-law... She had her! she is the greatest help in the whole WORLD!!!

After a lot of trying, I decided with the help of Angie that I probably would not be much of an asset to our volleyball team. I found a fill-in... Thank you Randee!! David said you did great!!

By the time Dave, Angie and Emilie got home from the game I was feeling really good. Ronald had brought me some dinner out to the house and I ate a good portion of it and then did two loads of much needed laundry. Now I am fixing to be off to bed...

Sorry for no pictures with this post...

Pumpkins Galore...

Emilie and I got up from our nap early this afternoon and we got dressed and headed to church an hour before it would start... I told Emilie on the way there that we were going to take some beautiful pictures with pumpkins. And she said to me "momma, you not let those peoples looks at me when I smile." She is so stinkin' shy! I don't know where she gets it... I am the furthest from shy. :) So needless to say in every single picture that I took of her and someone was standing nearby really watching, I had to assure Emilie that she could look at the camera and they would not watch her. (she actually went for it, except for when we were by the windows and people were standing against the window watching her)
Here are some of the shots I captured...

And a little different lighting...

Wreck em'... (this one is for Aunt Tate)

My poor husband...

Dave is at home in bed. He was sent home from work today because he was sick! He has been throwing up and having diarrhea ALL DAY LONG! So I guess as you can only imagine being the clean/neat freak that I am, I have been disinfecting and cleaning ALL DAY LONG!! I went in there to check on him about an hour ago and he had 101.3 fever! Poor thing... I feel terrible for him. He has not had any explosions though from either end since about 7PM! Maybe, just maybe he is almost finished with this mean virus!! Keep him in your prayers!

ABF ladies Sleepover...

Last night we had a sleepover at our ABF leaders house. I had such a good time. We stayed up until probably close to 5AM! And were awake by 8:30AM!! WOWSERS!! I was pretty sleepy this morning. We had a great turnout and played some really fun games. Misti shared an awesome word. It really got me to thinking... What kind of legacy will I leave behind?! Who am I impacting positively/negatively?!?

On a less serious note: I have a serious crick in my back! I slept on the couch and it was not good to me.

LOTS to catch up on...

So I am sure you all are wondering where the heck I have been?!? I am here just an incredibly busy person. I am back in school full force. My clinical rotations are at Ennis Hospital this year. Let me just say that place is WHACK! Aside from the hospital, school is going really good. I have work due all the time but I seem to be keeping up and staying on track this semester. I have had the privelege of becoming the 5th and 6th grade KBF (Kid's Bible Fellowship) teacher at our church. I love my kiddos they are simply amazing. We are currently working on getting our room to be retro/hippy/disco style!! :) Good idea guys!

Emilie is doing great in school. Her teachers brag on her every single day she goes. They told me last week that she was a six-year-old trapped in a two-year-olds body. They cannot get over how smart and grown up she is! I am one proud mommy!

We went to the Mesquite Championship Rodeo a few weeks ago with our ABF group. Emilie had a blast. I really enjoy hanging out with these guys. I am so greatful for our growing relationship with them all. It is so awesome to see my husband growing in the Lord and at the same time finally opening up and flourishing in his relationship with our church family.

Have I mentioned that my child LOVES the rodeo? She could not wait to see the buckin bulls. They even had a little pot-bellied pig in the arena. She went out for the calf scramble. Doggonit... she was unsucessful. There were a few hundred too many people for her to be able to handle. I went with her though and she thought it was totally the neatest thing every when mommy touched the baby cows back and tried to get the sticker off. I was unsuccessful as well. The sticker had already been removed. (What happened to the days when there were only like 10 kiddos out there going for the ribbon on the calf???) After the rodeo Emilie insisted on riding a horse. Well actually, she insisted that we take a horse home with us. That did not quite happen but she did get to ride a horse. Spoiled little toot!

Awesome God!

Emilie told me earlier today that her tooth was hurting. Well actually, she was crying about it hurting. We were on our way to run some errands in Mesquite and I asked her if she wanted to pray and ask Jesus to make her tooth better. She quickly said Mamma you pray for it. So I said a little prayer outloud to Jesus asking him to make her tooth better. When I was finished she said "Mamma him not make it better, it stills hurt." So I/we prayed yet again. After that prayer she did not have any comments. On our ride to Mesquite she fell asleep and after going into multiple stores she finally woke up and while we were walking around, out of nowhere, she said, "Mamma him finally make it better, my tooths not hurt no more." All I could say was "Praise the Lord!" Not only because my babies tooth stopped hurting but because it was just so astonishing to actually witness my two-year-old seeing Jesus working in her little life and her actually acknowledging it. I know that God will take her far. She already loves the Lord so much. Our God is an Awesome God!!

Daddy Daughter Dinner

Tonight Emilie and David had there very own special date. Sonshine school hosted a Daddy Daughter Dinner. They had a really good time. As you can tell by Emilie's face, she really enjoyed the food. Dave on the other hand is not much of a sweets eater but he just enjoyed the special time spent with Emilie. I know that you cannot tell from these pictures but her shirt says "My dad ROCKS"

State Fair of Texas

Goodtimes, Goodtimes!!! Every year since David and I have been dating we have gone to the fair with Ronald and Angie. We made this trip decision very last minute though today. I was sitting at home sick from school studying and decided that this would probably be the last least crowded day of the whole fair this year. It was senior citizen day and also a day that we would all be home at a decent time. We had a great time. I failed to take many pictures. I have really been slacking on my photography lately.

We went through this "On the Farm" type scenario thing. It was all for the kids, and it teaches them how to plant seeds and grow crops and then to harvest them and that you have to feed your animals with the food you grow and then to sell your goods to buy other necessities. Emilie had a really good time seeing all the animals and getting to feed everything and play in the dirt. Her favorite thing at the fair though has definitely got to be the petting zoo. She loves the little goats and baby donkeys. She even kissed one of the baby goats. We wrapped our night up by stopping for the yearly dose of Texas Nachos and one last stop by Aunt Karen's cotton candy stand to stock-up on the SWEET-STUFF!

Mamaw Post-op

Mamaw is doing spectacular. I went to the hospital today and saw her for just a little while. She has about a 5 inch inciscion on the top/front of her head. The drain was still intact. She was very tired when I got there and was getting ready to take a siesta. It was really shocking to see her in ICU because when you walk in the other three people in the room that she was in were completely unconscious with multiple tubes coming in-and-out of here and there. Mamaw was sitting up in her bed eating icecream and talking to myself, daddy, aunt patty and uncle mike! I thought ICU was for the unconscious and unstable! Mamaw had just got back in her bed right before I walked in from going for a walk. Mind you, this had not even been 24-hours post-op! WOW! She's a FIGHTER! When I grow up I want to be just like Mamaw.

Mamaw Surgery

Mamaw is in surgery as we speak. She is expected to fully recover. She will be placed in ICU tonight and possibly throughout the day tomorrow. She will have a brain drain in place for at least three days. After removal of the drain she will begin inpatient rehabilitation. She will have to relearn to walk and tie her shoes and eat and such things as those. We are very relieved as a family to hear that her cancer has not metastisized (spelling) to her brain. We were all fearing that diagnosis. To God be the glory it is something fairly simple. It has been three weeks since her accident in which she totaled her car. She refused care after the accident due to fear of finding out that she was eat up with cancer. Just within the last week and a half she has become very disoriented and her ambulation ability has greatly decreased. Her children (including my dad) finally convinced her to seek care earlier this afternoon. An MRI revealed that she had a subdural hematoma. Which is basically a brain bleed. The intense pressure on her brain is what is causing her confusion and all of her imbalances. The neurosurgeon said that she would be in surgery very quickly as the hematoma was only getting bigger with time. He informed us that she would only be in surgery for about an hour if all goes as planned. Again, thank you to everyone who is praying for my Mamaw and our family. We love you all!!

***An answered prayer: This situation has brought three of my brothers siblings together and they are getting along and laughing and speaking and loving eachother for the first time in nearly 20 years!!! This my friends is a MIRACLE!!!! And I witnessed it... I cannot even begin to explain! Thank you all for the prayers, we feel them! Below is a picture for proof of happiness in the family. I took this last night at mamaws house. Did I mention first time in nearly 20 years they have even spoke... and look at the smiles they are all so real!

Somethings not right...

Everyone please keep my Mamaw in your prayers. I went to see her today before she left with her sister to spend some time in Wichita Falls. She has been battling colon cancer since March of 2006. She has a permanent ostomy bag. It is all really a long story so to make it semi short, this is not her kind of life. She is a retired nurse and does not believe in doctors! I know... confusing! Anyhow, three weeks ago she had a wreck and totaled her car. She says that she simply fell asleep behind the wheel. But when I went to see her today I have been led to believe that she is struggling neurologically. Her response time to simple questions is extremely delayed. She could not get her right foot to go into her shoe. I mean like her mind would not tell her foot to lift off of the ground and set into the shoe. So... very simple everyday things she is seriously struggling with. This is a lady who at 75 years old and starting two months after having her ostomy placed went on two ski trips, a two week vacation to hawaii and an alaskan cruise!!! She is normally very independent and is now having a hard time asking for help. I am very afraid that her cancer may have spread to her brain due to the symptoms she is having and she refuses to see another doctor. So please just keep her in your prayers. She claims to be saved and will talk all day with you about Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our sins, but she also talks about the other side and reincarnation. She is very new age. She was raised in Hawaii so this is her culture... I don't know, I am just really confused! I need prayer as well as her. Please just lift us up! Thank yall so much.

First Day of School...

Sorry for the delay in this post! I am so excited to announce though that Emilie attended her very first day of school yesterday. September 2, 2008 a day I will NEVER forget. My sweet little angel walked through the halls of Sonshine School like she had been there a million times. When we got out of the car she told me that her weenie dogs (pigs in a blanket) had made her tummy full. When we got out of the car she insisted on pulling her rolling piglet backpack herself. With sippy cup in one hand and little piggy backpack handle in the other and her new little pink Nike's on she set off towards the door of Preschool. With tears in my eyes I asked her to turn around so that I could take a picture of my big little girl.;)

I had been dreading this day for quite sometime but at the same exact time I have been looking forward to it. I have dreaded the thought of me not being a full-time stay at home mother of my only little baby. My friends I think this might mean that she is growing up. I will not let her grow much more... I don't think I can handle it. I love her more than words could ever tell. We have such a crazy, beautiful time together. Ok, so I got a little off track. Anyhow, when we were walking down the hall she just walked right into the very first room she came to. I had to nicely tell her "sweetheart that isn't your classroom, but your's is right down here." When we got to her class we put her little backpack by her name on the wall and then walked in her door where her sweet teachers Ms. Kristi and Ms. Diana were there to meet her. She was never even afraid. I was in total shock. If anyone knows Emilie at the very least, you know that she is NOT a people person! You know how I mentioned earlier that I had been dreading this day, I have been for another reason being that I figured she would not handle the seperation well. After all she is at the seperation anxiety stage of Erikson. She had most definitely accomplished this stage. She did OUTSTANDING at school. I told her goodbye and kissed her on her cheek and she didn't even acknowledge me. She was so interested in what everyone else was doing. Emilie went to her table and pulled her little chair out and sat down and started eating her cheerios and I moseyed out the door. I did not immediately leave though, I did stand outside the door and listen to make sure she didn't start to cry and then I poked my head in the door and took a little snapshot.

I am not gonna lie... I had a smile on my face that stretched from ear to ear when I walked out of her classroom. I was so proud of my little girl who normally does not like people. She was so big for mommy! She made me VERY proud. Kids all around her were crying and she was happy as a little lark.

I felt kinda bad at the same time that I was smiling. I think I really just felt guilty for smiling. I have always dreamed that I would leave the classroom sobbing on my little girls first day of school. After all, shouldn't all parents cry that leave their kids for the first time??? She has never really been left for an extended amount of time. Her Gami and Papa picked her up from school at the end of the day. She received a great report. Her little note said that she did outstanding. She took a nap all by herself on her nap mat and she ate all her lunch.

What could possibly make a mother any more proud!? Have I mentioned that I love my little girl to the moon and back times infinity and beyond?!? I DO!

Now, I feel that it would be wrong to not tell yall about the one downfall that Emilie had on her first day of school. She failed to tee-tee in the potty. As all of you know Emilie has been potty trained since she was 18 months old. But she has NEVER been one to go to the bathroom with outsiders. She likes to go mostly alone and occasionally she will want her mommy or Gami in there with her. So I really anticipated this happening at school and I am sure it will probably continue until she gets use to her teachers. Hopefully that will happen soon. I will keep you posted... Just stay on me about it... as you all know life is hectic!

Emilie Update!

I have not sent any pictures of Emilie out since her 2nd birthday! What a terrible mother I am... I know. I just worked on a little something that I will be sending out soon! I sure hope you all enjoy! (see below)Surely I will have another update on Emilie out by Thanksgiving and then will come the Christmas Cards! Wahooo! Those are my favorite to design!

P.S. My sister is coming home in exactly 19 days! YAY!!!