PUZZLE

Hey All! See if you can find the name of your blog in the puzzle below! Aren't I just full of fun stuff this week? LOL! All my favorite blogs are listed (hope I did not leave anyone out :( )

BLOG FRIENDS


E W E P O I O T G R D Y S Y L E C F
C H C J Z O L H P O U O G C O K I A
M I N U U A D G Q S S J O Z R A T M
M G A L Q X E I Y E T H R H I C T I
O H M I H Y R R U O B T F B S P A L
U N O E D C T T S F U I H H B U S Y
R O R A E K H E I S N W T T L O E D
R T Y N S D A G U H N N I U O S I O
E E R M U Y N S I A Y O W R G O N I
D S T Y O M T I B R H O G L S T N N
H N N L H X H H K O O M N E P A U S
O A U I S U E Z L N S E I Z A M N I
U N O F I H C D G M T H C A C O F W
S N C E L Y H L B A A T N H E T L G
E Y S S L F E Z T Y G R A G T Y H P
G K F M E F E Z M Q E E D I D S A E
V I F A K Q S G V P Y V K H V Y R Y
V M H W U Y E R E N R O C S A E P B



COUNTRYROMANCE
DANCINGWITHFROGS
DUSTBUNNYHOSTAGE
FAMILYDOINS
GETRIGHT
HAZELRUTH
HIGHNOTES
JULIEANMYLIFE
KELLISHOUSE
LORISBLOGSPACE
NANNYKIM
NUNNIESATTIC
OLDERTHANTHECHEESE
OURREDHOUSE
OVERTHEMOONWITHJOY
PEASCORNER
ROSEOFSHARONMAY
TOMATOSOUPCAKE

59 words

Touch Typing

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So Crystal over at http://www.getright.org/blog/ had this on her blog and I tried it out. The boys and I have been having a lot of fun seeing how fast we can type. Try it out!

How To Excercise Your Faith

1. Recall past victories
2. Reject discouraging words
3. Recognize the true nature of the battle (the battle is not mine but God's)
4. Respond to the challenge with a positive confession (we win battles on our knees)
5. Rely on Gods power
6. Reckon the victory. (the victory has already been won in God's strength)

Bold and Free MEME

So, Sharon over at http://roseofsharonmay.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for this meme. Here is the origin of it:

"Today is one of those days I need to be encouraged. As I discussed in the last post, sometimes I like to say, “It’s great to be me.” Not because I’m so full of myself, but because I’m trying to take my mind off the chaos that is going on in my life and focus on the positive.Like today, I don’t want to dwell on the stuff that’s broken in the house, the rash on my back, the fact I may not be able to get a dog due to my allergies, the wrong person being elected president or that winter seems to drag on and on… Instead, I am going to focus on the positive, the reasons why “It’s great to be me.” I started this a few years ago and every time I said, “It’s great to be me,” it reminded me to count my blessings so I am going to list all the reasons I can think of why it’s great to be me at this very moment. This is an official Bold and Free Meme. "Please go visit her blog and see 15 reasons why it is great to be Jan Parish!

I think it is wonderful that we all have blessings to count no matter how small they might seem to others. So here are a few reasons why it is great to be me:


It is great to be me because - I have a wonderful fun and loving family. I am very close to all of my boys, my husband and my parents.


It is great to be me because- I had the most wonderful childhood ever. My parents raised me in a Godly home. They got along great. No fighting and drama in our house! Mom always let us play and be kids and we did not have a lot of household responsibilities. I was able to go to a Christian school. We were not rich, but we sure were happy.


It is great to be me because- I have an easy job with good pay! What more can I say-can't beat that!


It is great to be me because- I have a great sister who I know will always be there for me. If I need to call her at 3am she will answer (and I have done that). If one of the kids is at the ER, she will be there. She would give me the shirt off of her back if I needed it.


It is great to be me because- I have a nice house that my husband, Sandy and I and our boys have nearly rebuilt with our own hands. It is far from being a mansion but it is so satisfying to know that we have done each little thing ourselves. My mansion is not on this earth :)


It is great to be me because- I have a superb circle of friends who although I have never laid eyes on them, they make me feel like their shoulder is always there for me to lean on. Yes, that is all of you blogger friends!


It is great to be me because- God has allowed me to experience so many things in my life so far. Some of them have not been easy but these experiences have made me the person I am today.


Well that is enough for now. I would like to tag anyone who stops by to read this. Please let me know that you will participate so that I can stop by and read all of the great reasons you have to be you.

DREAMING OF SPRING

For some reason I am really ready for spring to arrive this year. I usually like the cold months and hanging out inside the house. I did not get to work in the yard much this past summer so I am really looking forward to it this year. I came across these pictures that Austin took a few years ago. He was about 8 and we had just gotten the camera. He was very interested in capturing what he thought were really great pictures.

Look how many butterflies!
One day I would like to get him a good camera with zoom. I bet he could really capture some great images. Maybe I have a little photographer on my hands! (Well, he is not really little anymore)

GoodBye to Trumble

Our dog, Trumble passed away yesterday. He was the puppy that Austin had picked out years ago. My niece always felt sorry for the pup because he was always trembling, so she told Austin to name him Tremble. Austin was still little and could not talk well and he always called him Trumble, so that is how he got his name. We always said this dog could survive anything and he did go thru a lot. When he was a pup he suffocated in a Doritos bag and my husband had to give him CPR. It was awful. Then when he was older he got hit by an SUV the drug him down the road, but he survived that too. Even this last week as we knew he was going to die, he hung on like a trooper. He was an outside dog and probably did not get all the attention that he deserved, but he sure took care of us. He always let us know if someone was in the yard or if he saw something he knew was not right. He was a great guard dog. He was bad too and we did not let him run free much because he would chase bikes, people, cars, ect. It will be quiet out here now. We kind of live out away from other houses and it is really not the safest area. When I would work in the yard alone I would feel safer knowing he would alert me to someone. Now I will have to be on my guard! LOL!
We will miss you Trumble!

DIAGNOSIS UNKNOWN

I do not want my blog to turn into a big blah blah about my health issues, but because so many of you have been praying for me I would like to explain what has been going on with me. Also, at this point it cannot hurt to put this out there and hope that maybe someone might have some useful information for me.

Lets go back about two years. I had just started a new job and I knew this job would be very easy on me. After a few weeks there I became so tired and run down. My hands and wrists hurt so bad that I could not even make a fist. Then I developed some white spots in my throat. I went to my family doctor and she did some blood work. She checked for mono and step-both were negative. My blood work did show some sort of infection so I was put on an antibiotic. After taking it I was still not feeling better and was put on two more antibiotics, one which was very expensive. (Thank God for the bank of mom and dad!) I still had the spots in my throat. I then headed to the dentist and found out that I had an abscess tooth. I then went to an oral surgeon to have the tooth removed. He felt this was unnecessary but I felt like this was the root of my problem so he removed it. I began to feel better. Several months went by and I was doing fine. Then one day my hands became very red, itchy and painful. I went to my doctor and she thought it was a chemical or food that I had come in contact with. I got some steroids and Atarax, but this thing in my hands kept coming and going. She told me I had urticaria, which is hives and told me to be thankful it was only in my hands. No sooner did I leave her office for the third time that my feet then became overwhelmed with the hives. THIS IS HOW THE HIVES BEGAN ON MY ARMS AND LEGS. THEY WERE NOT SO BAD AT FIRST. JUST ITCHY BUMPS- UNLESS THEY WERE ON MY PALMS OR SOLES.It was so painful to stand or walk. Then the hives became to cover my whole body. I was sent to a dermatologist. He felt like I was having a reaction to some food or medicine. I began to take a constant journal of everything that I put in my mouth. I could not figure it out. One day when I was having a very bad outbreak I headed to the ER. The doctors there were puzzled and even checked me for Lyme disease. Then one day my hives changed. They looked like they were in my blood stream. They were no longer on the surface. THIS IS HOW THEY BEGAN TO LOOK.(No, I do not look like this every day! LOL! Thank God.) I was scared and thought maybe I had become allergic to my asthma inhaler. I headed of to a different doctor. Two doctors saw me that day. They changed my inhaler but could not offer much more help. The sent me to an allergist. The allergist immediately sent me for a biopsy and massive blood work. There were some disturbing things in the blood work, but nothing that appeared life threatening at the time. However, the biopsy showed that I had vasculitis. When I went back to the dermatologist that did the biopsy he just shook his head and said he was sorry. He is the one who kept insisting that it was a food allergy.He was surprised of the biopsy result. He said there was nothing else he could do and I would have to see another specialist. Well, one evening we were watching Dr. G medical examiner and she was doing a autopsy on a woman who died from vasculitis. So I began to research and it was just to scary to read all of that. During this time I was also having some stomach problems. I had heartburn everyday and my food would stick and I would have to throw it up. So off I went to the gastro specialist. I was put to sleep and had a light put down my throat. Diagnosis- Eosinophilic Esophagus. He said this came from a food allergy! He put me on some different type of steroids. Then I began to do more research. During this time my asthma had also become worse. So with the vasculitis and EE and asthma it was beginning to look like I had Churg-Strauss syndrome. That was so scary. As I drove to work the next morning I cried and cried. I was so scared.This would be a life altering disease that could lead to death. I went back to the allergist and told her about the EE diagnosis and that they said it was a food allergy thinking that maybe the hives WERE a food allergy after all. She (and the other specialist) were and still are very insistent that I have some underlying illness. However, she proceeded to test me for food allergies. Surprisingly I came back with a serious wheat and egg allergy. Also I am allergic to rye, cinnamon, garlic, and pork. So for the past three days I have been living on bananas. Lesson one that I am learning- wheat is in EVERYTHING! Why make white bread and wheat bread if wheat is in both of them! LOL! I nearly walked out of the grocery store in tears. Eggs are also in a lot of things you would not imagine. My allergist still does not think that this is the cause of my hives but the wheat allergy could have a lot to do with my gastro problems. I feel ok except when I am broke out with the hives, which is pretty much every other day. Unless you have had chronic hives you can not even imagine what this feels like. It is like nothing I have ever had to deal with before. Your skin just burns and itches and if you try to take a shower the water just makes the burning increase. Most days it is just hard for me to get up and go to work. When my feet are hived it is the worst. I am on so much medication that makes me sleepy. I have prayed so much that changing my diet will make a difference. Of course I am still scared about the vasculitis diagnosis and I guess I will need to go to a specialist for that. Somehow I feel that all of this ties together. My allergist did do blood work to rule out the Churg-Strauss and my numbers looked ok for that. It has been 1 year and 4 months since my first hive episode. I am very tired of dealing with this. Some days I just want to give up. I can cope pretty well if I double my medicine dose and then lay down to rest. When I am active the hives are much worse and resting does my body well. Sandy, my dear hubby really wishes that I was able to quit work until we figure this all out. But this is just not possible at this time.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS. At this point prayer seems to be all I have. I will update you to see how this wheat and egg free diet works for me. It is very difficult considering that I cook for a living and am around food all day. Every night I pray that God will give me strength to not touch or taste the food. It may sound silly but it is hard to make 200 cookies or pizzas and not take a taste. This week will be a challenge, but I feel confident that I can do this!

((hugs to all))

sorry so long and i am sure that i left a lot out :(

I am back!

My computer is back up and running. It is so good to be back to the wonderful world of blogging. I have missed all of you greatly! I will be stopping by to check up on all of you tonight.
While I was away something amazing happened here in the south- it snowed! It started to snow Wednesday night and the boys went right outside to play. School was closed on Thursday but by the afternoon it was about all gone. Now it is snowing again today! Wow, twice in one week. UNBELIEVABLE! It is so pretty and this is the view from my fireplace window.

Here are the boys playing! Austin got Aaron right in the face!
Just can't have snow and not play football in it! Touchdown!

They had a great time playing in it. As you can see by this time it was already starting to melt.
Here Aaron is running in for another touchdown.Just thought this was a funny picture. My dear hubby painted our mailbox Tarheel blue. He is from NC and a big fan. It looks so funny seeing the blue mailbox way out there. I sticks out like a sore thumb! But seeing as it was hit by a car twice this month maybe that will help drivers to see it. LOL! Well, I have a lot to update. Tomorrow I will do an update on my health. Thanks so much for all of your prayers.

Computer Issues

Hi, I'm Sondra's sister, just letting you know that she is having problems with her computer and will return to blogging soon. She didn't want anyone to worry about her since she hasn't been well.
She says she is thinking of ya'll always. Hopefully she will be back soon.

Thanks Sara

STILL SEARCHING

I have come to develop this love/hate relationship with doctors. Just as I was about to be at the point of giving up on all doctors-in comes Dr. Lantz. She has become the solid center of this large circle I am wandering around in. Finally a doctor who really listens and cares. Finally a doctor who is willing to go to any length in search of an answer. But are these answers going to be the ones I want to hear? Are these answers going to be the beginning of a long and fearful journey ahead? I am scared, yet I know that God is in control and He knows what He is doing. But, I am still scared. Some days I just want to give up. Thankfully Aaron has jumped in to give me the "never give up" speech. It is hard waiting....waiting for more biopsies...waiting for more blood tests...waiting for your next appointment.....
Psalms 37: 7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him
Isaiah 40:31 But they they wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.

AARON'S BASKETBALL GAME

Aaron had a basketball game this morning. 9:00am! It is Saturday right? Had to wake up early on a Saturday! Oh well, I love to watch him play. He really loves basketball but to look at his size you would think he should be playing football. He does like football but cannot play due to his severe migraines.

He got very tired out today. They had a few boys out so Aaron was in for almost the whole game. The other team looked like grown men next to our guys and we knew from the beginning that it would probably not be a win for them.
Love how they are all looking to see if it goes in.
Nice dribble!

Aaron had his hands on the ball a lot. He scored 10 points total and had a real nice three pointer from about half court. They did play a good game, but you might not think so by looking at the score board.

OUCH! Better Luck Next Time- Guys!

SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY

It is time for show and tell again! This is hosted by Kelli over at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ Stop by and join in the fun. I would like to show you some more of my retro kitchen. First is my newest item. My sister got this for me for Christmas. It is a toaster and a radio. It is so cool. It looks very retro to me. I love it! Good job Sara!
Here is my retro green fondue pot. Behind it you can see my Sunbeam girl. This is an old window decal that stores would put in a window. I got it from ebay and when it arrived it was ripped so I just put it in a frame.

And then here is my retro green ice bucket with the gold handle. You can also see my juice pitcher that has the old sears catalog prints on it. Can you tell I just love that green color. Some call it 'puke green'! LOL!

Thanks for stopping by for my show and tell!

WES and HIS FAVORITE PRESENT

Wes thinks he got the best present of the year! Aaron and Austin got a big screen TV with surround for their xbox and even they think Wes had the best present! (well maybe not really). Here he is in his new hat waiting for his final gift. He loves that hat?! Crazy! So he ripped open the box with his eyes closed. Aaron got behind him and put the shirt on him.

Then he pushed his head down?! I don't know why but it was funny. He got this shirt that has the guitar from guitar hero on it. See- Wes is the king when it comes to guitar hero. No one can beat him. So I knew this shirt would be so appropriate for him. Now when he is out and about he can practice playing on his shirt.

Here is is doing just that!
All of his friends have begged him for his new shirt and have even offered him money! I bought it online so no one knows where to get it. Maybe when the newness wears off I will tell them so they can all get one!
Now I am just waiting for them to make shirts for Rock Band. Then we can all get one. That seems to be the favorite game around here even for the grown ups.

Happy New Year and Awards

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Well I slept right thru it again! I am never awake to see the new year in. When I was a little girl we would all go over to my aunts house who lived on the river. When midnight came the men would shoot guns and we would blow party horns and bang pots and pans together. It was so fun and crazy, but if my neighbors did that now- I would not be too happy! Guess I am getting old :( LOL!
A few weeks ago Kate over at http://ourredhouse.blogspot.com/ gave me this award.

This award was created by Kelley and you can read more about it here.She says:When the girls and I want to express our mutual admiration in public we say ‘Less than Three’ .
The symbol for 'less than three' looks like a heart sideways, so "I heart you".
How sweet of Kate to pass this onto me! I love reading her blog. It is always so full of variety and I love her pictures. She is in Australia so it is fun to see that she is enjoying flowers and such while we are in the middle of winter. It is neat to know that we are a world apart but just a keystroke away. Who would have ever thought that this internet thing would bring so many people around the world so close together.

I want to thank all of you who have been readers of my blog. It has been such a wonderful experience getting to know all of you and take a peek into each of your lives. When I set out to do this blog I had intended on dealing with issues that face me as a mother of teen boys. I wanted to be candid and honest about some things we have dealt with and will deal with. However, sometimes when I begin to type something inside of me says' what will people think-will this change how they look at you-will they support you'- and many other questions come to mind. I am not saying this because our lives are full of bad things. We are just an average family for the most part. We have dealt with some serious and painful issues. I know that none of our lives are perfect. Each of us have faced difficult times. We ALL have a story to tell. So here in the New Year of 2008 some of my posts may lean back toward the title of my blog 'real unscripted life'. Maybe this year will not hold any great and trying challenges for us- who knows! :)

I would like to pass my award to the following three blogs:

Diane at http://tomatosoupcake.blogspot.com/. She is a single mom of 5 and homeschools them! Wow! what an inspiration.

http://nannykim-nannykim.blogspot.com/. She is a mom of three and has a grandbaby. Every time is see a sock monkey I think of her! Sweet person.

Kimmie at http://overthemoonwithjoy.blogspot.com/. She is a mom of 6 and a wonderful inspiration. She is a true prayer warrior and is always ready to lift up my needs in prayer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!