checking in

Sorry I have been MIA! I feel like I am juggling too many websites! I have this one, a personal one (by invitation only because of the graphic pics) and FB. Anyhoo...my surgery went AWESOME!! I am SOOO excited! First of all...for the VERY FIRST time I did not get sick from the anesthesia. Thanks to an online friend who suggested a new medication (used for chemo pts) and thanks to my surgeon who actually LISTENED to me and got the med for me and thanks to GOD...for His mercy!! Anyhoo..I was expecting the worst kind of pain ever and I can honestly say I am not in ANY pain....I am just "sore". I did not even need to take a Tylenol while at the hospital! I took a PM one last night...to help me sleep. I spent one night in the hospital and I was "itching" to get out by the time I was discharged! I still get sleepy, leftover anesthesia ....I am guessing. I am walking bent over per doc orders..but even that is not as bad as I prepared myself for. My biggest challenge now is just to follow doc orders. She was worried that I would try to do too much since I am feeling so good.....but I have seen pics of incisions where people did too much and I do NOT want to go through that (I have several hundred stitches....3 layers for each stitch!)!! SO.....I am taking a mini (6 week) "vacation". Reading books, having friends visit..(and bring me food!), watching TV.....taking it easy. Thanks for all the prayers!! Please continue to pray..I am believing God for a flawless recovery!! He has brought me this far and I know that He will not leave me now! I feel so loved....I feel like God heard my cry and He answered my prayers...exceedingly-abundantly ABOVE all I could ask for or think! Truly...He has!

Crazy day!

Today has been one CRAZY day! Maddie woke up with her eye swollen shut. This is the 6th eye infection she has had over the last 2 months! I took her to the doctor at 8:30 am, took Spencer to Tanya's house (to play with Ryan) at 10 am, had to be in Tampa for my neurosurgeon appt by 12:00 pm, picked up Spencer, took Maddie to another doctor (a specialist), then filled her Rx's. Now I am home and ready to rest!
So...here is the news!! My neurosurgeon took new x rays and I am 80% fused (I had back surgery 1 year ago on Aug 5th)!! YEAH!!! I was hopeful that I would be 100% fused but the surgeon was very pleased with 80% so I am happy too! He told me that he thought I should get the screws removed since they are pushing into my muscles. He gave me the option to go ahead and do it now or wait another year until I am completely fused. Since I am not sure I want to get them removed at all, and since I am having another surgery next week, I am going to wait until next august to even consider it. The pain I have from the screws is not even close to the pain I felt before...if the pain before was a "10", the pain now may be a "2" or "3". So I can live with it!
I just wanted to share the news with everyone! I am so grateful to God for causing my bones to fuse properly!! That was one surgery that I NEVER want to have to go through again!

This evening Maddie managed to SHATTER the front of my oven! She was leaning over it, trying to get to the microwave and the door just shattered into thousands of tiny pieces! Anyhoo...sometimes ya just gotta laugh! Only my Maddie!

Loss

Last night I attended a funeral. The ex wife of one of my cousins died at the age of 41. In my family, once you are family....you are ALWAYS family (TRUST me on this one!! I have to deal with this fact with a few old boyfriends that became "part of the family"......no one can just let it go already!) Anyhoo-No one wants to go to a funeral...but I am glad that I did. The church was packed to overflowing with our family and her friends. I have to be very careful how I word what I am about to say...so bare with me please. As I sat in the church last night, and I looked around.....my heart became broken for the lost souls that were there. I saw the tears that they cried for the loss of their loved one and I became burdened for them. Part of me knew that they were not just crying because of their loss....but also because the realization that they are headed down the very same path that ultimately buried their friend. Unfortunately, I did not get to stay for the entire funeral, but in my heart I was hoping that there would be a call for repentance within the service. I have heard so many people speak as though "she got what she deserved"....and the truth is, I may have felt that way at one time too. But God has softened my heart and I can see that someone who lives with addiction, lives a life pain. They use, whatever it is that they use, to escape the pain. I have been blessed, sheltered really. I have never been in the shoes of an addict, but everyone has experienced pain and hurt. Can't we try to look beyond the addiction and see the pain?

Being at the funeral and seeing all the lost souls gave me a new burden for the lost. A new urgency to do all that I can do to snatch their souls from the grips of Satan and keep them from an eternity of torment in Hell.

If any of my readers would like to contact me, my email address is sha9830@msn.com please do not hesitate to send me an email if you have any questions about where YOU stand with God. None of us are promised tomorrow-but you can have the security of KNOWING where you will spend eternity!

FYI

When you do your Walgreen's shopping, make sure that the cashier scans your MQs BEFORE the store Qs.....otherwise the computer may not allow you to use ALL your MQs. I have found that this varies from store to store-but to be safe give them your MQs first.

God's blessings have been poured out upon us here in the McCann household....we'll you may be shocked to find out that "God" sent Spencer LOTS of new clothes! Well.....maybe not "God"exactly-He may have used someone to give them to us. There was a note in the box that said " This is a little something back because you have given unto others as you would have them give unto you." The sender said she wanted to sign the note "God"...but she was afraid too :)! How funny! I'd probably be afraid to do that too! Anyhoo, Spencer has LOVED his new clothes! The first morning after he got them, I woke up to find him wearing the robe that he got....and his shoes and socks were on! Well, as soon as he saw that I was awake he said excitedly "Mommy, I am wearing this robe 'cause I did not want you to see what I look like" then he flashed open his robe to show me how his clothes looked on him! He had a sweatshirt on, and before I could even look at it, he was stripping that off to show me the shirt he had underneath it! Poor kids must have been sweating to death waitin' for me to wake up! He is so proud of his new clothes ! Thank you God and the people that you use to bless our family!

I need "needy" people!

I know that there are SO many people who are going through a rough time financially right now. Lots of layoffs, hours are being cut back, mortgage payments have doubled and tripled for some people....... So I know that there are a lot of people who could use a little help right now...my problem is I do not know how to find them! I do not have much to offer, but my coupon closet "overfloweth" with essential items (shampoo, toothpaste, razors, medications......) , I have already given so much to my church that they told me that they do not need any more at this time! So, if you or someone you know could use a few things, and you live locally to NPR...PLEASE contact me and I will be more than happy to share! I know, from experience, that sometimes you just have to chose what you are gonna buy with the little money you have left, and when it comes down to food for your kids or toothpaste for your teeth...you are gonna feed your youngins! So, while it may not be much help-it will allow you to spend a little more on food for your "babies"! Email me directly at ilovelucyfan4@msn.com and we can set up a meeting time and place! God just continues to pour out His blessing on my family, and HE has given "seed to the sower"...I do not want to keep my seed-I WANT to sow it!

God is SO good!

Today Michael, our AC guy, ("Vinson Air"-they are AWESOME if you ever need an AC company....they come highly recommended! Let me know if you would ever like their phone #.) came to check out our air ducts. We were pretty sure that they needed to be cleaned or replaced, so we asked him to come out and take a look. They DO need to be replaced so we got an estimate on how much it would cost. After we got the estimate I told him that I would talk it over with Brett and see what we could do....since I knew that we did not have the money to get it done right now. Well, I prayed and asked God to make a way...since I knew it was so important, especially for Spencer, who has asthma! Well, less than 1 hour later, God answered my prayer!! I called my mortgage company to ask about getting our escrow account looked at, since our insurance went down several months ago, but we have not seen a difference in our mortgage yet. Well, not only is our mortgage going down $101 a month but we are getting a REFUND check that is JUST enough to cover the new air ducts!! I never dreamed that we would be getting a refund! God is so faithful to us and I just wanted to share how He has blessed us! I have NEVER gotten an answer to pray THAT quickly!! I mean.....it is not like I asked God to help me find my car keys or something.....I was asking God for more than $1,000 and it took Him less than an hour to answer my prayer!! Thank you God! Thank you Michael for coming out to take a look at our ducts today!

Friends...who are more like family.

I know that I have shared so much about my friends and how blessed I am to have them, but tonight I'd like to share how humbled I am by the blessings they bring. As many of you know, we have had some plumbing issues in our house for MONTHS! Well, when Chris (Tanya's husband) got word of it, he insisted that he come and take a look! He refused to take "no" for an answer and told me not to "take away the blessing of being able to do it". Chris is not a plumber, he is an "IBM" guy-but that did not stop him from coming over and fixing our "issues". He was here for 3 hours, he ran into all kinds of problems (hey, at least we know it is NOT just US!), but he pushed through until things were fixed! He kept asking "OK, what is next?". Anyhoo, I am so grateful for friends who really are FAMILY. I am grateful to God for sending Chris to help us! Now, we can use the money, that we were going to have to spend on plumbing, to get our air ducts cleaned out...which they need BADLY! Anyhoo-tonight I am thanking God for Chris and Tanya!!

Such a proud mother.....

I know that my blog has been taken over by coupon craziness lately-so I am trying to incorporate more of the "day in the life of the McCann family" part! I wanted to share something that Spencer did today. This morning he was telling me and Brett about a boy in his class who lied about him, and caused one of his "friends" not to like him anymore. He said that the boy told his "friend" that Spencer was "bad"-I think meaning not a good influence...? Anyhoo, we told Spencer that he should just try to ignore the boy that lies (since we have also heard other things that we do not like in this child....like he does not believe in God!). A while later, as we were getting ready to walk out the door to go to school, Spencer showed me a book and said "I am gonna bring this to read while I wait for my teacher (they have to wait in the cafeteria every morning, until it is time for school to start). I looked at the book and he said "it is not a Bible, but it has scriptures in it". It was a "light for my path" book. He then opened it up and pointed to a scripture and said "here is a verse about lying"-he said, " I think I will show this verse to _____ (the boy's name) , because he will go to the lake of fire if he doesn't stop lying"! I really believe he was sincere in his concern for the little boy's soul! At such a young age (he's 8)! Nothing makes me more proud, as a mother, than to see my children LIVING for God!!

Today

This morning I met Carol for breakfast at Panera bread....we chatted until about 11:00 am, I have enjoyed getting to know her all over again! Then, I ran to CVS to get this week's deals and I also ran back to Walgreen's! At CVS they have "Soyjoy" bars (a 6 pack) for $6.00 and you get $6.00 in ECBs back! There is a limit of 5, but once I got my 5, the receipt still said I was eligible for this deal (usually when you reach your limit, it say "offer limit reached")-so I got 5 more boxes....for FREE-since there is no tax on food!I actually made a buck on the deal-since I had a $1.00 off coupon. So I got $60.00 in reward bucks back and only had $1.03 out of pocket cost (since I did not want to break a $2.50 reward buck for just $1.00-you lose the remaining amount, since they do not give ECBs back as change). I also got another pack of "nuta-trim" gum-now I have reached that limit. SO, always check your receipt-at the bottom it will tell you if you have reached your limit or not-do not just go by the signs or ads!

At Walgreen's I got another 8 tubes of Colgate, 12 tubes of Aquafresh, 4 boxes of Equal and 2 cans of OUST! The only thing I paid for was the Aquafresh...which were .24 cents-minus the overage from the Colgate so, more like .12 cents each!

The picture above is just what I got today!............and YES, there are still products left on the shelf......for NOW, so hurry!

The girls have been trying to attract birds to our bird bath and our feeder-we bought another feeder, that is SUPPOSED to be squirrel proof, but those stankin' rodents are SMART! They have figured out how to hold on the the pole and not put too much weight on the feeder, so it will not close off the food doors! Anyhoo, I bought the bird seed that said "attracts red cardinals"-not really thinking that it would attract anything but doves (which is what we normally see)-but the last several days we have a red cardinal "couple" (the girls can tell male and female apart!) who comes to eat and drink in our back yard! I love to look out of our huge back window and see them!! It is so sweet! It reminds me how God provides for ALL His creation!

Well, my sources were right! I went to Walgreen's after church-I got 2 Oust sprays, 4 tubes of Colgate (with free toothbrushes included in the packaging), 6 tubes of Aquafresh whitening toothpaste, 3 boxes of equal (100 count packets), 2 bottles of Dial hand soap, and 2 lady speed stick deodorants. My total was $4.15 !
BTW-CVS has Christmas items 90% off right now-and then CVS by me still had makeup sets and other gift items! I got 2 makeup sets-that were $14.99 for just $1.49!

I have been meaning to blog about how proud I am of my kids! They have jumped on the "fasting" band wagon-without ANY prompting from me or Brett! ON THEIR OWN, they decided what they wanted to fast and for how long they are going to fast for. Brooke has given up her NEW Nintendo DS (that she just got for Christmas and she LOVES!), Maddie has been giving up ALL drinks but water, chocolate and DS, and Spencer is fasting CANDY! (If you know Bubba-you know that one means a LOT to God! lol) At first he was going to fast computer, cause he "doesn't really go on it that much anyway".....I explained that we should give up something that means a LOT to us-not something that we do not care about..he then decided he would fast candy, so God would know that he loves HIM more than candy-how sweet is that!? I am truly proud of each one of the kids, for deciding on their own to fast along with me and Brett! I am believing God for great things for our family this year!

What a Blessing!!!!!

Today I received a Christmas card.....inside was $2,000 CASH! (and NO, it was NOT from my Mom and Dad...if you are wondering!) I about fell over! God has always been faithful to our family, and He often uses other people to meet our needs...but $2,000 cash ?! WOW! Amazing! My goal for 2008 was to pay off all of our credit cards-we have been so blessed this year and we are down to only one card-and now, with this blessing, we are going to be able to pay it off in January! NO MORE credit card debt! We owe on our house and our car-but that is ALL! God is so good! We stopped using our credit cards a long time ago-after we charged my equipment for the photography business. We have since learned how to manage without using them-that is a blessing all by itself! So, now, when we get our tax return back, we can afford to fix up our house and our plumbing issues (my Daddy tried to fix the tub while he was here but he said that we are going to have to go through the wall in the girls' room to repair it!). We also have issues with the back bathroom, the kitchen sink, the toilets (both bathrooms), the dishwasher is broken and most recently........the washing machine is now leaking! We should be able to fix at least SOME of that with the tax return! Then, our next goal is going to be to get life insurance for Brett and me and then start saving $$-so we do not have to wait for the next tax return to fix any other house issues! Anyhoo, I am so excited and grateful to God (and the people that He uses!) for being able to pay off our card! AND for being able to pay our bills! Some of that $2,000 will go to our budget next month-Brett's 2nd job has been sloooooooow! Two weekends this month he did not have ANY work! Well, I just wanted to share my joy with everyone...I really hope that I am not coming across the wrong way-I really just wanted to share how good God has been to my family! Trust me when I say....there have been MANY, MANY times when I sat and heard other people's testimonies-about how God dropped 2 grand into their lap....or how God canceled all their debt-and I did not understand why God did not ever do that for us! I can not pretend to understand why God provides "more than enough" for some people and for other people (like us sometimes).....just barely enough! Or, why He seemingly doesn't provide at ALL for some people. I do not understand! I know that there are many of you who are reading this who are on the very brink of losing everything you have, and you wonder how you will provide for your children-please do not give up! He does not always come (almost never!) when we think we need Him-but if you stay faithful....He WILL provide. One way or the other! You may be under a much smaller roof-but He will provide shelter (to some people, my little tiny house is a mansion!). You may not be eating steak.....but He will provide food (Ramen noodles are still considered food-right?)! "Give and it WILL come back to you, good measure, pressed down and shaken together..". There are many weeks (MOST!) when we put our tithe into the offering, I pray. I remind God that we are giving out of obedience to His word and out of obedience to His voice. I ask Him to stretch and multiply our (His) tithe money and use it to bring souls into His kingdom. Then, I ask Him to remember the covenant that we have with Him and ask Him to meet our needs. It may sound strange, to remind God of anything... after all, it is not like He forgets! But, none the less, I do. He always provides! Praying lots of blessings over your families too, Sha

When Bubba saw the money...he screamed "we can stay at Disney world FOREVER!"! Too funny!

The craziness of it all....

Today I have been running,running,running........ . WHEN will it stop?! I had to volunteer at the school this morning, then I ran to Sam's club, then I had a doctor's appt, finished up ALL my Christmas shopping and had yet another, doctor's appt. Ran to get the kids-and now, I am about to take Bubba to APD therapy! I got a LOT done today-but I am WORN OUT! Anyhoo-God is good and He is ALWAYS faithful to us! He ALWAYS has a plan!

God has lead TWO families to us (one I have never even met called me last night!), who are in need of the basic necessities-and because of HIS faithfulness to us, we are able to bless them with items from my "coupon closet"! I was running out of room in my closet......so I am glad that He directed them to us! God is GOOD!

Well, gotta run for now! Gonna be late! I want to post later about my "little Brookie" making it on the basketball team as a STARTER center!! YEAH BROOKE!

Busy......but blessed!

Today has been a busy day...as my whole week has been! I am waiting for the "merry go round" to slow down so I can jump off for just a bit! I met my friend Carol for coffee this morning, I always enjoy spending time with her-she is a lot of fun, and she is just as sweet as ever! After that, I ran some errands and picked Brooke up early from school. She is going to a youth convention and they left the church at 1:00-I hope that she has a great time! We are going to miss her....even if it IS just for one night! We were blessed....by surprise and I was able to give her some extra spending money to take with her (they will be selling Cd's and t-shirts and there is also an arcade at the hotel). She is such a great kid...she'd NEVER dream of asking for anything! When I told her about our unexpected blessing, and I told her I wanted to give her some money-she jumped up and down and hugged me! Then.......she said "I feel guilty!"-she's got a tiny bit of me in her! Anyhoo-after I dropped her off, I ran another errand and now I am about to go get the other 2 kids from school.

Tonight is a Chili cook off "hoe down" at the school.....kinda like a fall festival. I am photographing the families...so my day is not gonna slow down until my head hits the pillow! I am sure that it will be a fun time though!

I am going to take Maddie on a special "date"...just the two of us, next week. Brooke got to go to the youth convention, and Spencer got to go to a hockey game with Brett this week, so I am going to ask Madeline what she'd like to do and spend some time with just her! I am going to save a little bit of our "blessing money" so we can be able to do that! I am looking forward to it!

Well,.......gotta run! Hope every one is having an awesome Friday!

Happy Birthday Bubba!

Today is Spencer's 8th birthday! Our "baby"........is now EIGHT! Where did the time go? Spencer truly is a blessing! God had used him to teach us A LOT (trying to be as nice as I can lol!)! No....really, he is such a sensitive soul. Truly innocent. He has a sense of humor that keeps us laughing all the time! He TRULY loves God-even from the time he was 3...it was evident in his favorite song "Open the eyes of my heart Lord". He would say..."sing open eyes Mommy"! Lately he has been singing (non stop) "Nothing but the blood of Jesus" (I LOVE that he learns songs like that at school!). In his most recent book (he wants to be an author and he writes about 6 "books" a day to practice!) he drew a cross and wrote the words " Jesus died for my sins"! He is talented (beyond his years!) when it comes to most any sport. He loves them all (but golf-yuck!) just like his Daddy! He is very smart....even therapists and teachers have told us how amazed they are that he has coped so well with all the difficulties he faces. He is such a gift from God! I am honored that God chose me to be his Mommy! Happy Birthday Bubba!

Happy Birthday Maddie!!

Today is our "little" Madeline Marie McCann's 10th birthday!! I can not believe that she is already 10! Maddie is our miracle baby! She fought hard to defy all the doctors that said that she may have brain damage (because she had a hemorrhage in her brain at 8 days old) and said she may not be able to walk (because she had a tethered spinal cord). God also healed her of a kidney disorder that she lived with for the first 4 years of her life! God has been faithful to my family and our lives would not be complete without our little Maddie!! She is such a blessing to us. And........she is JUST like me when I was little (and just like me now too!)-so it is kinda hard to "get on to her" for some of the crazy things that she does! She can make ANY thing out of NOTHING-she is also one that does not know that there "IS a BOX"! She is very smart, beautiful, very active, very sweet, tender hearted, creative, outgoing, caring, friendly, funny............................ . I am so proud of her and I am honored that God chose me to be her Mother!

Even more blessings...

This morning I went for a long walk-Spencer's hearing aid needed to be dropped off for repair so I saved Brett the trip by walking there and taking care of that. Brett was awake most of the night-he just could not sleep, so this morning I asked him why he could not sleep and he said he had too many things running through his mind and he was thinking about all he had to get done today. I can't do much-but I CAN walk so I wanted to help him out. Poor guy! I have said it a hundred times but we are so thankful for all the meals we have been getting-if he had to take care of cooking supper, on top of everything else, I am not sure he'd be able to do it!
This afternoon Michelle and her daughter came by with lots of goodies for us! She brought over an ice cream maker (can't wait to see what the kids do when they see that!) and she brought a CASE of easy mac (the kids love that!), she brought juice (grape is the kids' fav!), she brought a ton of fruit cups for the kids' lunches and she brought cookies (Brett and I already got into those-but don't worry, we saved some for the kids :)!! Her family has been such a blessing to us during this time-Michael has even asked if he could mow the lawn for Brett! Unfortunately, Brett's 2nd job has been dead lately-so he has had the last 2 Saturdays free-he's been able to keep up with the yard work then. At any rate, I am just amazed at how giving they have been! Worth repeating...time and money are so tight with almost everyone-I continue to be humbled by how people have stepped outside themselves and taken time,money and energy to help my family. I will continue to pray God's blessings on Michelle and her family-that is the only thing I can do for them now, but someday-I hope that I will be in a place that I will be able to "pass it on" and BE a blessing just as she has been!

I did it...I did it..

Well-I went for my first walk without my walker yesterday! It was kind of frightening-but I walked slowly and I did it! Now, I am mostly using my walker to help me get in and out of bed and my recliner. I look back and see how far I have come and it gets me so excited! I expect even better days ahead! God has been faithful to us in every way! I go back to the doctor on Sept. 24th-I hope that he will then clear me to start doing some things again. I think I should be able to start driving again-and if everything is at my level I should be able to cook again too. I know that I have the "BLT" (bending, lifting, twisting) restrictions for several months but I hope to set everything up (getting everything within my reach) so I can start helping Brett out some! He has already started telling me that even when the doctor releases me-he doesn't want me doing much. I would think that by now he'd be ready for me to just jump right in and help out! But, I know that he loves me and he does not want to see me have to go through the surgery again. Lord knows I do not want to EVER go through this again-so I will be careful. My pain level has dropped from a "10"-( right after my surgery) to about a "1-2"! Thank God! I know that it is only by His grace that I can say that! So many people I have talked to online are still in pain MONTHS after their surgery (some..even years!) I need everyone to keep praying that the bone grafts "take" and the bones are beginning to fuse! We should see some progress on my next x-ray at my next appt. I want to say "thank you" to all of you who have continued to pray for me and my family and for all of you who have brought us food and ran our errands!! I know it must be easy to "forget" about us-especially since it has been 4 weeks since my surgery, but I appreciate all of you who have not forgotten us! I do not say lightly-that our family has prayed for each one of you and your families-and I continue to pray for you all daily!

Where would I be......

without my sisters? Seriously. I know you are all probably "sick to death" of me saying it but,.........it IS my blog so I am gonna say it anyhow :) . My sisters have carried me through this whole ordeal! It is kinda weird but they have been closer to me and more involved in my recovery than my own blood relatives (except my "mama" of course!).
Tanya came by this morning-she brought me my fav Starbucks coffee drink and she took the time to sit and visit with me before she left to go buy our groceries. She has been up since before 6 am-taking care of her kids and getting them off to school, but she cared enough to sit with me a while. I enjoyed our time together this morning! She volunteered-from the beginning, to do our shopping but she has went WAAAAY beyond that (as if that were not ENOUGH!). Each week, she has bought a complete meal-out of her own budget-that we can throw in the oven "in case someone forgets to bring us food one night".
Last night, one of my other sisters brought over a meal for our family. She shared a little about what HER family is going through right now....someone should be bringing THEM meals-but yet she, so unselfishly, took the time to make a (awesome) meal for us!
Karen is always calling me to check on me-she's brought us a meal and even brought over a ton of extra goodies for us.
Money is tight-with everyone I know. Time....probably even tighter.I do not take for granted that my sisters have used money out of their budgets, and time our of their chaotic, busy days to help a sister in need. I am in awe and I am so humbled by all that has been given to us. Not many people have what I have...Sisters who REALLY care and who give so much of themselves to show it.
I thank God for each one of you-I pray that He blesses you and your families in everything that you do!

Oh...and just a note-they have even planned our monthly "Girl's night out" around me-we are having a PJ and movie night at Tanya's house (or mine-if I am not feeling well enough to go over to her house)! Sounds like so much fun-I will be sure to bring along my camera!

I am getting there!

Today has been a good day for me-the pain is less today and I also got out and went for a walk! I walked up and down 2 streets-which is the farthest I have gone since my surgery! It took me long enough-about 45 mins! It feels so good to be "active" (kinda) again! Tanya came by this morning and brought me Starbucks coffee and visited for a while. She has graciously volunteered to do our grocery shopping during my recovery, so she is out doing that now. I can not say enough how blessed I am! You know the scripture verse that says to "test God" and see if He will not pour out a blessing that you will not have room enough to contain? Well.....we have been so blessed that we literally do not have room enough to contain it! We have food stored on the counters, on top of the fridge, cupboards, .....even in the bedroom closet! Our "cup is running over"! God is so good to us and I keep praying that all those who have helped us in any way will receive a 100 fold blessing!

Ok-everyone knows the story of how God provided a FULL paid scholarship for the kids to go to Christian school-but I just wanted to say what a blessing that has already turned out to be!! I am so thrilled when the kids come home with homework -having to memorize scripture! Every aspect of their learning is based on the Bible! Even Maddie's science book is titled "learning about the world God made"! History,science,english.....they are all centered around God. I should not be shocked by this-I grew up in a Christian school but there is just something so different about being able to see my kids go to one! Spencer came home one day and said that they had "prayer request" time and he asked them to pray for my back. Sweet-so precious! He is a "mess"-that child! Let me tell you! He came in to the bedroom one day, while Brett was helping me put on my brace, and he saw my scar-he exclaimed "WHAT DID YOU DO?"-he was so serious-I just had to laugh. He knew I had "surgery" but obviously had no idea what that meant. I told him that the doctors had to cut me there to fix my back-he asked "well, how come you didn't die?", In his mind-if you get cut open like that you have to die. He still keeps saying "I just do not understand why you did not die". Oh-then last night, while we were eating supper he asked "why do people keep bringing us food?"-we have been getting a meal brought to us every night for the last 2 weeks and he just now asked why! Last night's meal was a big hit with him-he said "I can eat this forever"! He keeps us laughing! Part of the reasons why he doesn't understand things or that he says things that are not quite worded right is because he has "auditory processing disorder"-he has been getting a lot better but he still struggles with it some. God is faithful and I believe that he will be able to overcome it all together!! Well-Tanya will be back soon-so I am gonna quit for now.

A blessing

Tonight Michelle came by and brought us supper-we have been so blessed by all the meals that we have gotten! She brought a really good hamburger casserole, croissants, and and amazing salad. All of it was sooooooo good! She also brought sweet tea and soda-but-what amazed me was that she brought all kinds of goodies for us too! Paper towels, cookie dough,tons of chocolate candy (the best kind too-kit kats,almond joys,Hersey bars........you all know how I love sweets!), ice cream bars, individual bags of chips (great for the kids' lunches).... . I thought that it was so kind of her to do all of that. I am so humbled by people like her who just jump right in and help others and then go "over and beyond" the norm. I am humbled by how the people, who have helped us, take time out of their busy days to shop and cook, spend their hard earned money to be a blessing to my family. Brett just has so much on him right now-he is having to do EVERYthing right now and I am so glad that making meals is one thing that he is not having to do (my whole family is glad of that-as he can't cook :). Our budget has been better this month since we have not had to buy hardly any groceries! Anyhoo-I just wanted to thank Michelle and everyone else who has been a blessing to us! You are all included in our family prayer time! I pray that God gives you all a 100 fold return!


WOW! That make 2 times today that I have blogged-can anyone tell that I am bored? Believe me people-staying home all day, laying around watching tv and surfing the web for 6 weeks-is not as much fun as it sounds!

BTW-the doc says that the radiologist "misread" my xray-I guess (hope)that means that there is not a tube left in me after all.