The Blur of October into November

The month of October was pretty much a blurr... but I was able to capture some things on camera!
These horse riding pictures are actully from last weekend, so November! What a great day to be outside! Dale, a friend of Matt's, has several horses and loves it when kids come out to ride! So we took my two nieces up for the afternoon! This is Hannah riding Ginger. Hannah says this is the first time on a horse (although Mommy thinks it's the 2nd). Anyways, she loved it!

This Emma riding Ginger! After she got comfortable on her, she didn't want to get off!

Little K, looking into the horse ring...wanting to get close, but then when we let her- of course she didn't want to!

Kaitlyn happen to fall into this little pile of leaves, and one of Dale's dogs just thought it looked to comfortable to not come and join her, she he just plopped right down on top of her... glad she likes big dogs!

K lookin into the ring again...

This is Hondo, 4 month old Colt of Dale's... Ginger is his mommy... he got a little mad at us i think for taking up so much of mommy's time that afternoon!

A nice October afternoon to get outside; finally Kaitlyn was thinking, I'm sure!

This is K riding her stick horse! She seems to really notice horses all time, and is constantly picking them out in books and pictures and anywhere!

This is K wearing her Phillies T-shirt after they won the NLCS; however, I am not to mention anything else about that whole deal and the World Series and all.... enough is enough I suppose.! hahaha...I shall honor my husband's wishes!

Just hanging with the girlfriends! And, I'd like to add that these babies are wearing Kaitlyn's premie outfits... how sad... she really was that small at one time, how I forget... But at least her babies are not naked anymore! ;)

Daddy even likes to hang with the girlfriends once in a while!

Yup, baby dolls have been a big thing for Kaitlyn these last 2 months probably! She loves to say 'baby" and carry one, or more, around with her, most times now!

So, even though we sort of breezed right over Matt's birthday (sorry babe) as i had just gotten out of the hospital and was staying in Staunton even.... we still managed to capture some good moments here and there! I'm glad Fall has not completely left us already - as it is my favorite season, I look forward to more nice weekends to get out with the family and enjoy LIFE!

October 2009 - Vacation

As I previously mentioned, I was on Vacation for a week in Emerald Isle, NC with my family! It is always a fun time for me to spend with them, and now with Kaitlyn- it is even more fun! She seemed to really enjoy the beach (once she got use to the sand) and all the other kids to play with!
Every year, this trip falls over, or really close to Madison's (cousin to my nieces) birthday- she had a luau party with Japanese Nabe (yummy) and of course K was trying to dress for the occassion (of course it only lasted minutes)!

Aunt Shell hanging with K and some other kiddies down by the water... trying to break her in slowly to the ocean; she is sitting in a pink princess chair that belonged to Sam (cousin to my nieces)- which I might add, K ended up coming home with because she loved it so much!

Granddaddy Rog getting to spend some time with his youngest granddaughter!

This house has a home theater room in it with a stage! The kids L-O-V-E-D it! Several nights they would dress up and put on "A Show" for all of us! They are all quite creative... and entertaining! This is Sam in one of her 'get-ups'

From my bedroom balcony.... ahhhhh.....

From my bedroom balcony looking down at the pool (heated by the way- NICE), which overlooks the beach!

Mom and Dad getting some much deserved rest!

The kids also did a 'spa-day' for us adults one afternoon! Even did hot rock massages! We had neck rubs and back rubs, feet massages and lotion... very relaxing!

The Tiki Hut that sits by the pool and overlooks the beach!

A picture of our house from the beach! I was all the way on the top floor with Kaitlyn... just the 2 of us up there...

Just getting use to the sand, thinking she is starting to like this big play area!

Mommy and Kaitlyn back after a long walk/stroll on the beach!

The 3 granddaughters on the last day- such a great picture I think...

Some of you may be thinking... well where is Matt? As he would say... "Some of us have to work!" But... he is gracious enough to let his wife and daughter go away for a week and be without us... Thanks honey!

V-E-R-T-I-G-O

Well, it has been quite some time since I've posted on this blog. I guess I just kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for one thing and then another.
I kept waiting to be able to sit up and focus, waiting for something creative to pop into my brain, waiting to just feel good for a day, waiting for time, you get the idea! Now... it is time!

On September 29th, I was on vacation with my family at Emerald Isle, NC. A place we've been going now for several years, probably 7 or 8 years by now. It was a Tuesday... Kaitlyn and I had been down on the beach with the other kids playing and hanging out. It was time for lunch, I think... so we came back to the house where the Grandmothers were all hanging out! They wanted to go out, but one little girl was still taking a nap on the couch; i assured them it would be no problem for them to leave, that I was planning on staying in the house for a while and I'd watch Sam and Kaitlyn.

It must have not even been 30 minutes after they left, that I was sitting in a chair and Kaitlyn had dropped something, so I bent over to pick it up, and as I sat back up this overwhelming feeling of nausea, dizziness, and pure wretchedness came over me! My bedroom was 3 flights of stairs up... how was I going to manage this... alone? I'm not sure how, other than through prayer, I made it up those flights of stairs- carrying Kaitlyn- to put her in her crib so she would be safe until someone got home. I laid down on my bed for a short time, but knew that Sam was still alone 3 flights down napping; what if she woke up and got scared because no one was there?! I had to get back downstairs for her and for my phone to call the Grandmothers!

I managed to make it downstairs, got a phone, and made it to the bathroom... ahhh that cold tile floor felt so good! My mom got home just as quickly as she could. I was unable to move from that spot for sometime, and then finally made it to the couch to rest somewhat more comfortably.

We all thought it would be over the next day, as this had happened to me about 10 years ago... unfortunately, it did not pass so quickly... the rest of vacation went by and we returned home on Sunday. On Monday, I had gotten progressively worse and finally decided to go to the ER. I was unable to eat or drink, and dehydrating was a concern. I was in the hospital from Monday until Thursday. All the while, family was pitching in to help take care of Katilyn and Matt- thank GOD for family! I could not have done it without them!

Anyways, today is day 50; and I have come through not being able to drive, not being able to care for my family or clean house or cook or shop- daily life chores, i've dealt with medical doctors and all the drugs they want to throw at a problem, an ENT consult, Physical Therapy, and rehab exercises. I am somewhere between 90 and 95% healed and keep believing that my Faithful Father will finish what He has started and bring me to a full 100% recovery from this Vertigo and Vestibular Neuritis!

There is sooo much more to this story, but I think this is plenty to remind me! :)

A friend of mine prayed that the Lord would show me a Spiritual Truth to all this, and I believe He still is revealing some eye-opening things to me...but one neat thing He gave me is this:

V ictory
E xpressed
R elentlessly
T hrough
I nfinte
G race
O verall

Thank GOD for His Grace and His Faithfulness and His Healing and so much more!