Saturday, June 30, 2007
Almost Sunday
When Karen found out it was getting hard for both of us she said "Mom, I have another computer over at my house that I am not using. Would you like me to bring it over and hook it up, so, both of you can be on line at the same time"! I said, Yes! That really sounds like a wonderful idea!
I thought she meant next week or longer but,low and behold, when Kelly and I got home from "Wally's World" here she came with her MAC and they worked on getting it going for quite a while. It turned out the cable cord was to short so we are still sharing the same computer! One of these days they will get a longer cord.
Karen works for a company and designs Websites and ecards for their retirement services. She works from home sometimes. That is why she had a extra computer! I really think we our going to love having two computers. I can remember when we didn't have any computers! We are Blessed for sure! But more then just having computers! Having a family that wants to bless their Mom is even better!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Happy News!
Nancy loves it when Carrie comes, because she always comes by each and every day with some kind of a little treat for her! Nancy likes peach tea from Sonic, so everybody tries to get this for her one time or another. When my son in-law Aaron is here(he is Carrie's husband), he goes to Sonic and get her a hamburger and fries and a tea! and she loves it!! He always tries to get her this, before she asks for it and it's always so much fun to see which one will win!
While Carrie travels here, Aaron and John will leave on the 4th to fly to Ecuador on a Missions trip.
I was able to fly down to Ecuador in 1987 when John was born. He turned 20 in May and Grams can't believe it has been 20 years since I was down there!! They lived there for a few years before moving to Guadalajara. Quito is really a beautiful city and I did see some of it. But my job was to take care of baby John and that is what I did! He got a rocky start so I sat up each night and rocked him and took care of him!! (no pun intended) Carrie would stick a movie in the VCR and I have always said I have never watched so many movies in my Life!!!!! Oh My!! I was totally in love with John but I was sure tired of movies!!
Okay, I digress! Back to Carrie... If my friend Jackie is reading this she will LOL for sure! When I try to tell a story they say I go around Jacob's barn to tell anything!! It just that I don't want to leave anything out that you might need to know!!
Please if you remember pray for a safe journey for both Carrie and Aaron this coming week. I would appreciate it a lot.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Rainy Afternoon!
She is a Blessing!
This is also a good time when it is dark and gloomy, to curl up(I don't curl up so good anymore!)with a good cosy mystery! If you have time, go over to Cindy Swanson's Notes in the Keys of Life and read about the Christian books she recommends. I think she even knows some of the authors or has interviewed them on her radio show. I hope I got that right! Okay, I think it time to go read!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Away we go the the Doctors, yet again!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The Day After Nancy's Birthday and the Rockin' Girls Award!
She loved her presents the family got her, but she was so tired out by the time she opened them she didn't have much to say! Through the years we have learned not to expect a warm and fuzzy response from her. We just love her and give her our love and gifts no matter how she responds to us. Later at 10:00 pm, she got up from resting and started putting on her new clothes and seeing all her gifts and was bouncing off the walls! That how it goes! and if she never responds like we would like, we just keep on keeping ON and loving her, Praise God! Several years ago Karen gave her a TV for her room and she said, "OH",and that is pretty much all she said! Last year Karen gave her a new TV and I got her a DVD player and she Loved it, so we never know! If you are new to my blog you can look at the side column and see lupus, "Nancy's story about lupus" and it will fill you in.
How about the awards yesterday! Thanks again Melli, I have found a whole bunch of new friends this way. I love that!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Rockin' Girl Blogger Award
Wow, Melli selected me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! Was I ever suprised!! Here is what Melli had to say "I am actually brand new to reading Grams blog - but it has caught my attention in a big time kind of way, and I really think I want to share her with others! And she JUST had a great-grandbaby this week - so I think you should run over and congratulate her!!!" She said very kind words about me. I'm a brand new blogger and it's fun to see people are reading and enjoying my blog. So, I'm suppose to pick five other rockin' girl bloggers. Because there are so many wonderful blogs out there, this was hard to do. Here are the ones I've tagged.
Cozy Reader
Jane has a heart for God and a heart for missions. If you love to read books, then her blog is the place to go.
Daddy's Roses
Joan has a lovely blog. It is always full of interesting ideas and information.
Notes in the Key of Life
I'm new to Cindy's blog. I just found it a couple days ago. She is very, very creative.
Yellow Roses Garden
She loves her cat, flowers, and photography. I hope you enjoy her site as much as I do.
Hootin' Anni
Well, what can I say about hootin' Anni. She has such a fun, fun site.
Happy Birthday Nancy, From Karen!!
Happy Birthday Nancy
Graphics & Layouts
Well, today is the big day! Nancy's 45th Birthday is finally here. Kelly is going to bake her a yellow cake with chocolate icing. She wanted chocolate chip ice cream, too. One of her favorite meals is Sloppy Joes and she has asked to have this for dinner. The last few weeks the only thing on her brain has been, "did I get any cards?" or "did you get me my Birthday present?" Yes, all our friends sent her nice cards and we have plenty of Birthday gifts to wrap. She is so excited!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Just enjoying looking at my great grandson!
I just read the neatest thing over at Melanie's blog. It almost made me cry. When raising babies, "The Days are long,but the years are short"! As a Mother of five grown children,that is SO true! It goes so fast!
Kevin is my daughter Carrie's grandson and Carrie and her husband live in Guadalajara MX. She is sure hoping to be able to travel up here this summer and see her new grandson!!!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wednesday the 20th
Yesterday went well going over to KU! Nancy's doctor and all the nurses signed a Birthday card for her. They all came in the waiting room at the same time singing Happy Birthday! Of course she was thrilled. She will be 45 on Monday, but if you haven't read my earlier blogs, Nancy is my special needs daughter. She LOVES her Birthday with a childlike passion! You can read "More about Nancy" in a eariler blog
This explains all about her.
No new medicine for her this time and the doctors said things were looking good. That is always a good to hear.
Here is a picture of Nancy taken this winter.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday and the Girls are back but no diamonds!
It had rained a lot on Saturday so the fields were really muddy! Their friends had put up the a tent for them already, but the mattress that Karen was suppose to sleep on was not blown up. It would have made too much noise at that late hour to take care of this, so she had to sleep on a thin little mattress and Kelly slept on the ground! Kelly is 28 and Karen is older! Well, at least that's the reason she gave for taking the exercise mat from Kelly!
...but I think 40 is still young! Guess that's a matter of perspective!
On the way home they stopped at a Holiday Inn Express in Eureka Springs, AR. They went on a driving tour this morning before heading out. Kelly hadn't ever been there before. They took in all of the old victorian houses, the location of the Passion Play, the Christ of the Ozarks, all of the mineral springs (boy were there a lot of those), and a couple of cute shops.
Can they pack in a week's vacation into two days or what?
Kelly has some good pictures. She had to be at work at 5:00 this evening so when she isn't so tired she will post some of the pictures and they will show all the mud in the fields and the mud on them! Which is what they found a lot of -- good 'ole Arkansas MUD ... Hot showers were in order first thing! A good night's sleep didn't hurt either!
Tomorrow is our day to go to KU Med Center for Nancy's follow up for her Chemo. She doesn't have a fasting blood sugar tomorrow so this is good. She doesn't like that much!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sunday
One of their supporter paid for us, to have 500 minutes to talk to each other! Wow, and double wow, do we love this, we both love talking to each other SO much ! This is as good as it gets when you can't be together! I called her back and it didn't cost her anything! We talked and talked! She said , John and Brandon and their friends had been out to the poorer parts of the City and have Sunday School on Saturday afternoons for the kids. This week 98 kids showed up!The kids love to sing, so they teach them new songs each week and tell them Bible stories and sometime do pantomime for them. Yesterday, my grandsons had made hearts, sprinkled glitter on them and passed them out to give out to each child to take home to give to their Dad's for Father's Day! I thought this was pretty special. That the grandsons made the hearts and the kids had something to give for Fathers Day. Brandon is already a Dad and he is a good one !Their only child is my great-grandson Mathias who is as cute as he can be! Well, I think so anyway! He was 6 in April.
I had a phone call from Karen and Kelly and they are having a great time! It was HOT, but they are ignoring that and having a good time. They didn't find any diamonds but they heard that someone did!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Ok, their not nuts!
Nancy and me will have fun,too! We are ordering a Pizza from Pizza Hut and now that our town has delivery this is great. Nancy loves pizza and so do I!
Friday, June 15, 2007
Fridays News
You can check out the state park here:
http://www.craterofdiamondsstatepark.com/
They aren't leaving until Saturday afternoon.They will drive 8 hours to CAMP in the heat and rain. They'll dig around in the dirt/mud and then they are coming back Monday morning.
And they have grandiose ideas of finding THE BIG ONE and paying off debt!! Well I guess anything is possible!!
It won't be to hard for Nancy and me because my Granddaughter Sarah has moved up here from her college town of Springfield Mo. Sarah 's other Grandma has fixed a room up for her and she will be staying there while she is student teaching this fall. It is great having her so close by!She has already called me to assure me that anything we would need while, the girls are gone, on their treasure hunt, she is there for us! She thinks her Aunts are nuts, too!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
More About Nancy
When Nancy started first grade she attend the regular classroom, but it wasn't too long that we got a call from her teacher. She said something was wrong and that maybe Nancy needed to be in Special Ed. When she started special ed in the 60's there was only one class for the special needs kids. The following year, they revamped everything and divided the classrooms up. For the rest of her school years she was in Special Ed.
Nancy had a mental breakdown in 1983. She was diagnosed with paranoia schizophrenia. She was in the mental health ward for a few days. The doctor prescribed medicine that started helping her. She began working at the sheltered workshop in 1985. She adapted to this very well, most of the time. There were days we just could not get her to go to work. Those days were a nightmare! This is how life was for many years.
Then in 2003, Nancy lost a bunch of weight and physically started feeling very ill. We took her to the doctor for blood tests. We waited and finally got the dreaded call back. The doctor's office set up an appointment with an oncologist thinking the worst. Before we could get to this appointment, the status of her health worsened and we had to take her to the hospital. They ran many test, including a bone marrow biopsy, cat scans, etc...The results came back that she had Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. This is the worst form of Arthritis. It is a horrible autoimmune disease that makes ones body believe that their good organs are the enemy. Your body then begins to attack healthy organs. Nancy's started in her spleen and bone marrow.
She was on imnuran for a year and it didn't help. She was not able to breathe and more tests were taken and it was discovered that the Lupus spread to her lungs. In December 2004, she began oxygen 24/7. Then March of 2005, she started six months of chemotherapy. We were blessed with a wonderful chemo nurse who was incredible with special needs people. She still keeps in contact with Nancy.
Our rheumatologist, referred us to one of the best doctors in the area at the KU Medical Center. He began chemo treatments in November and December of 2006. The only problem was that she was given mega doses of prednisone, which only enhances paranoid behavior. So, we have since been going to a psychiatrist who prescribed more of her mental health meds. This has helped not hear voices for the first time in a long time. The psychiatrist told me the reason Nancy says the same phrases over and over is because her brain gets stuck in a groove. I really don't understand what that means, but I know she says the same thing over and over to me all day. My family says I do really good with her, but sometimes I loose it when I've heard the same thing fifty times in a day. Then I feel so bad, but God has given me grace to care for her. I am so thankful for this.
This is where all of you wonderful bloggers come in. I have always been able to go out and about. Seeing folks at the grocery store, post office, and library, but since I crushed my knee and have been dependant on my other daughters to help me out, I have been more or less shut in. I started going out and reading all the blogs. It was like inviting friends over to visit each day. I wrote all this so you all would have a better idea as how to pray for me and Nancy. I really appreciate all your prayers
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Tuesday night
OK, enough about that! We took a lunch out to Caraway Lake, north of town, and of course Nancy saw a snake swimming in the lake! I told her at least it wasn't on the ground! She has talked about this the rest of the day. We did see a beautiful yellow oriole flying to a fence post.
Nancy will be 45 on June 25th and this is all she has on her mind! She usually starts talking about this after Valentine's Day, but this year she did better and it was after Easter! When anyone phones us she always tells them,"My Birthday is coming up!" We have 5 specialist we see and she tells them all, each time about her Birthday! We are use to her but this can be a little hard the first time we go to a new doctor. Most of the time, they handled it ok. Well, her psychiatrist does anyway!! Just in case you haven't read my earlier blog, Nancy is my special needs daughter, who also has lupus.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Super News!
Monday Evening
___________________________________________________________________
OK mom... here you go....
(promise me that this is the last update of the day?!?!) -Karen
I have had some nice comments from visitors to my blog spots. It was exciting to read comments from the people who I have been visiting and enjoying reading all about their families and what they are up too! I am thinking about Flip Flop Floozie and how hot it will be in Georgia tonight! Whew!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Sunday Afternon
Nancy woke up early this morning with the first flash of lighting and the ka-booming of thunder rattling the house! She thinks her oxygen concentrator will blow up and she gets so scared and wants it turned off right then!! All of her Doctors and the nurses have talked to her. Telling her it is safe to run it but to no avail. So off goes the oxygen until things calm down. This isn't as hard now, since she only needs oxygen at night and every once in while in the day time. For a couple of years she needed it 24/7 and then it really was hard when it stormed!!
This is the week that my Grandkids, Jeremy and Sophie are due to have the new baby boy!! When this happens I will post the pictures! Sophie and Jeremy have one daughter Valerie, who will be two years old on August 15th. There are pictures of her on here!! Of course we think she is so cute! We are praying all goes well for her and the baby because they lost their first baby boy who was born and lived about an hour and then went home to Jesus. His little lungs had not developed as they needed to be . The name for this is called Potter disease, I really don't know much about this subject. I would appreciate any one reading this to pray for a safe delivery for Sophie and the baby!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Saturday Afternoon after a Day Trip!
So that is the reason behind the Day trips. I will blog about our trip down to Arrow Rock and to the Capitol of Missouri at Jefferson City this winter! I want to put pictures of all of us enjoying the day on here. I have no idea how to go out to snap shot, get them and put them on here!! Kelly isn't home,she is mowing the studio lawn and she can do this in a heartbeat and so can Karen.
Yesterday, we took off and went over to Napoleon which isn't to far from home. I had never been on their main street and we went by the only building still in use and looks real new and it is their bank. We went right by Waterloo and then drove into Wellington and let Sarah,my 22 year old grand-daughter see what it is all about!! They have a big fair once a year, that is a big deal! I know! I know!! Napoleon, Wellington, and Waterloo!! Napolean met his Waterloo at Wellington...Years ago it was in Rippley's Belive it or Not.
When we left, we could see where the Missouri River had left its banks a few weeks ago and flooded the area. On down to Lexington and driving by all the ante-bellum homes and the courthouse with the cannon ball still lodged in one of the columns. Karen took a picture of a "57" or "58" car that we have to put on here!!
Any one know what kind of car this is?
Then we went across the Missouri River to Richmond. I lived over there for almost two years in part of 53 and 54.We drove by the house we lived in on Thornton Street,and on over to Orrick, Mo I had not been over there in 50 years and we turned around and came home!! We had a lot of fun doing this,and it gets Nancy and me out and about!!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Friday Morning
Nancy's mental condition deteriorated really bad in November when she was on chemo, the Dr. had increased her prednisone so much that she heard voices more then usual and was extremely paranoid and angry! She is usually happy and loopy and fun. Nancy is more like from 6 to 11. She was under a psychiatric care from a wonderful Doctor, who then increased her medicine and for the first time in a long time she didn't hear voices! wow! was this Great! and Yes, we have had prayer many times for her and keep on believing that things will be better ! Praise God, HE has given me Grace to take care of her and for that I am so thankful.
Now back to blogging,I had hardly heard of such a thing and didn't even know what is was all about. I was out surfing when I stumbled onto a blog and thought this is so neat. The very first blog I went to was: windowstomysoul and from there to littleolelady and then sillielizziesrock.
From then on I was on my way...every day I got to be out in the virtual world. It was such a blessing to have an outlet from feeling trapped in the situation.
Thanks be...
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Thursday morning
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Wednesday Afternoon
I have been reading a bunch of blogs this past winter while staying indoors so much with my special needs daughter who will be 45 on June 25th. Nancy was diagnosed with Lupus in 2003. She worked for almost 19 years at the sheltered work shop.
Nancy had 6 months of chemo in 2005 and we had a wonderful chemo nurse who was so good with special needs people. She still calls and checks up on Nancy from time to time and we visit her when we go to that hospital. Since last Oct. we have been in another round of chemo over at KU Med Center. KU is about an hour from our house so we have a drive on chemo days, but now we are in follow up. I have a link to lupus on this blog because I didn't know anything about this horrible disease when Nancy came down with it.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
My first blog
On this blog you will learn about my family, my faith, and my favorite bloggers!
I am a mother of five children. I have four daughters and one son! I have five grandkids and two great-grandbabies, but in just a few weeks I will have three great-grandbabies! My oldest daughter, Carrie, is a missionary in Mexico and my son, Bill, is a Baptist preacher in central Missouri. I have a special needs daughter, Nancy, who also has Lupus. My daughter, Karen, just opened a restaurant called Beach Bums Cartoon Cafe. You will find a link to her webpage on my blog. My youngest daughter, Kelly, works at a library and runs a photography studio.