Update...

Alyssa made it through her surgery just fine. The dr said that her heart has already begin to return to the normal size. She still has a long road with a lot more surgeries, but she is ok for now. Thanks for the prayers!

Apparently, after I left last night at my designated 'curfew', my cousin and her friend decided to stay... in fact they closed the place down. When our friend got home her husband kicked her out of the house. Keep my friend and this situation in your prayers. We went over there tonight to try to work some stuff out, but he is so full of anger that there was no discussing it. It's hard to see another couple right in the middle of what Rt and I just went through. I can see the mistakes they are both making... because let's face it... no one is perfect... but they are both so angry. I guess this is what happens when you ignore the problems in your marriage! Ugh... anyway, they have 4 kids and the kids do not need to deal with this!

Lot's of prayers going up...

jw

A first...

Last night, I went to BWW with my cousin Kim and our friend Shannon... on Wednesdays at BWW it is Karaoke night! I have never in my life done Karaoke... not that I can't sing, just that I refuse to make a fool of myself, which means I need to practice the song before I would be brave enough to sing it... but last night the girls took me up on the stage to sing "girls just wanna have fun." I would have to say it was actually fun... and since neither of those girls could actually sing very well it worked out over all.

My neice, Alyssa, is having her open heart surgery today. It started at 8:30am. Keep her and my family in your prayers. She is only 7mth old and this is all quite scary!

jW

Oops!

Just got a phone call from the church... no church tonight due to the fact that the building flooded last night! The rain came down hard last night and apparently the corridor between the two buildings flooded and there is much to fix. I was just up there yesterday to get something out of my music minister's office and his office floor was full of papers/music that he had in piles, I'm guessing all of that got wet! ugh!

On a side note, can someone please explain to me why when my children eat nutty bars they feel the need to separate the bars instead of eating the bar whole. All this manages to do is make a huge mess, but when I say something they freak out like the bar are not edible any other way!

jess

oh and the Kelly Clarkson CD is great... I couldn't handle the pressure it was on sale at WM for 9.92... so I HAD to... I mean, I NEEDED it! haha!

Summer Blues

I love summer... I love the long lazy days, the feelings freedom, the staying up late and sleeping late the next morning. What I don't love about summer are the limited funds to do the things I want to do. I mean, my kids want to go to the movies, skating, and bowling quite often... and all I have been able to say is no. Last summer I had no salary and things were not fun... so I really thought this year would be different... so far it hasn't been. It seems that although I still have a paycheck coming, things are just like before! There are bills, unexpected expenses, and the feeling of dread every time I look at the checking account balance. From talking to my friends, I know I am not the only one who feels this way... but I am quite frustrated because I thought it would be different this summer. I have taught a Summer I course, so my July 1 paycheck will have some extra money on it, but every time I think about that extra money I see the bills that are due! UGH! I don't want to be a grown-up anymore!!!!!!!

jess

P.S. Did you realize that Kelly Clarkson's new album comes out today??? I soooo want to rush to the store to purchase it... but I know that would not be wise... so Friday it is!!!!

Mosquitos

Heard this on the radio this morning:

God did not create anything without a purpose... but mosquitos come close!

I would say I have to agree. Does anyone know of a purpose for the little things? We had a 1/2 bd party for Kali at the pool on Friday night and my legs are all kinds of eaten up! I want them to go away!

I am trying to upload some bd pics, but blogger doesn't like me this morning! Kali is our Christmas baby, but we have decided to 'move' her birthday to June. We of course still acknowledge the real date, but the party comes later. I guess someday she may choose to move it back, but for now I'm thinking a party in June is way cooler!

I really, really, want my hand back!

Well, the stitches came out yesterday, and the dr gave me 10 days to regain movement of my fingers or I will be attending daily physical therapy sessions. So... in order to not have physical therapy I was good and really worked at making a fist. Well, um... this morning I looked down at my finger and the entire cut has reopened. It hasn't opened as far down as they cut originally, but it is opened enough that my cousin who is a nurse handed me the phone and said call the dr... I called the dr and will be sitting in his office in the morn. What I would like to know is if I should be expecting stitches again or what? I mean, what can they really do about it? I have to bend my finger, right? The scar goes across my finger. So... in a nutshell, every time I bend my finger I will be opening the cut. Hmmm... any suggestions here? Here is a pic of it (sorry if it grosses you out). The cut goes across the finger (this way the scar is not visible was the original logic)... the holes below are from the stitches. And no, my knuckle isn't normally that big... hubs says it is swollen. I would just like to mention again that THIS IS RIDICULOUS! It was a thorn for crying out loud! The most frustrating thing for me is that a stupid little thorn has caused havoc in my life and all around me people are suffering from potentially life threatening things... I mean, Jack has a brain tumor and is in the hospital, Alyssa is having open heart surgery in a week, and my Aunt Diana has a wound in her back from a post-surgery spine infection that is requiring her to live in a hospital for a couple of months (I'll explain in a minute). All of these seem way more important than my stupid finger...

On to my Aunt... Aunt Diana had back surgery about a month ago... something about a nerve. Anyway, she went in to have the stitches removed and apparently it hurt like nothing she had ever felt. She left the office and went home only to wake up in the middle of the night with her would open and oozing. It oozed allllllll night and into the next day and she finally went back to the dr. Well, her back was infected and she was rushed into surgery. The dr's cleaned out what they could but the infection was so bad that they left the wound open to be cleaned out and packed several times a day. The wound is deep enough that when the nurse cleans it her hand and wrist disappear inside. (It is pretty wide as well.) The nurse walked in yesterday and opened the wound to repack it... she looked at my aunt and said "Wow... I can see your stomach!" Aunt Diana is on some pretty strong antibiotics and pain bills. Her spirits seem high (or maybe it's just that she is high). Yesterday she joked that she would need drug rehab from all the Oxycontin they have been giving her. We really have no clue what the future holds... I mean, an infection that deep and large could easily cause sepsis and she could die. (Not that we couldn't all die at any point in the near future... but who wants to go that way?)

Anyway, with all that said, I do know that the future is totally in God's hands and there are some massive prayers coming from our house for the people mentioned above. Please do the same in yours.

jess

I want my hand!

Ok... I supposed to go to the dr on Wednesday to get my stitches removed... I know it is only two days away, but this is getting ridiculous! I am just about sick of being without my left hand. I am also tired of flipping off the world (it's the middle finger that's all taped and splinted out straight). Not to mention how ridiculous I feel every time I have to tell someone the story behind my injury!

For those who have been reading my blog for a while... my niece Alyssa is having some serious issues. She was born in Sept with lots of problems (cleft palate, skull prematurely fused, heart not functioning right, blind in one eye, etc). My brother and his girlfriend went to the dr last week to schedule the skull surgery. They took sweet Alyssa in for a sonogram of her heart, just to make sure nothing had changed, and they realized that her heart was way more serious than her skull. In fact, the sweet baby is due to have open heart surgery on the 28th of June and my the family has pretty much been told that she may not make it. Basically, the left side of her heart is not functioning... putting all the stress on the right side. If they had done the skull surgery, the stress would have made her heart explode. I really struggle with the questions of quantity of life vs. quality, and the longer baby Alyssa is with us, the more we learn about how difficult things are going to be for her. Please keep my family in your prayers... specifically my brother and his girlfriend.

jess

Left hand

for all of you who have a difficult time reading things with poor editing, i'm sorry, but typing w/one hand is hard. Cap letters are the most difficult.

I had surgery on Friday to remove the stupid thorn. surgery took about 25 min, and the dr said I would be quite irritated if i saw the size of the thorn. They did let me stay awake, so I got to chat with an old friend who was my nurse anethesist. all in all the surgery was no biggie and i thought all would go back to normal by today. Can I just say how difficult it is to do things with one hand? I can't get dressed, take a shower, type, spank my kids

;) (they are not complaining about that), and I cannot drive. I like to be waited on, but I know the family is getting tired of it. I did have a most embarrassing moment yesterday. We decided to come to town for dinner, so I took my pain pill before we left the house. Bad idea. We got around winter's freeway, exited southwest drive, and Rt pulled over in the parking lot of a car dealership so I could puke my guts up. Now, that is not one of my favorite things to do to begin with, but to have to puke in front of the cars that were speeding by... ugh! I just keep waiting to get a phone call from someone I know saying they saw me.

I included a picture of my hand... who would've thought that two fingers stuck together could make a difference! I guess it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't hurt so much. I don't like pain pills, but I sure am taking them every 4 hrs... if I don't I can't handle it. I feel like such a wimp. My cousin tried to make me feel better by explaining the amount of nerves in my finger... but come on....

oh well... hope everyone is having a good weekend...

jess