Prayer Request

My family is in need of prayer. I won't go into any details as some things need not be made public (even prayer requests), but just ask that you keep my entire family in your prayers, God knows what is happening. Thank you.

Why I Hate Mondays

We have a 2003 Ford Windstar. Yesterday we were on our way to Wal-Mart to buy groceries when all of a sudden the RPM's went up and the van would not go. We pulled off the side of the road, and then it started going again. Apparently it will go as long as you keep the speed below 40 mph.

Stanley called his dad and asked him if he would sell us his 2003 Taurus and let us pay for it with income taxes next year, otherwise we would be without a vehicle and I would have no way to school. We are still plan on fixing the van, as it has a great motor, it doesn't use a drop of oil, but times are hard right now and we do not have the funds to put another transmission in.

We stopped by his parents house to get the car, and I went in to check on my mother-in-law. She had a stroke two weeks ago and her blood pressure has been running high. I checked mine to be able to gage how accurate her monitor was. My BP usually runs 100-110/60-70 so when it said mine was 110/78 I knew it was pretty accurate. She checked hers and it was 201/100, I immediately told her how dangerous it was for her BP to be that high. She said it had been higher than that and nothing happened ... my father-in-law had tried to get her to go to the hospital over the weekend and she wouldn't go.

I told her she was a ticking time bomb waiting for something to happen, and she needed to call her doctor or go to the hospital, I pleaded with her. I called her doctors answering service and they said to go to the emergency room, so my father-in-law took her, and she is still there this morning, but she may get to come home today. They got her BP down to 170 over something, that's better, but it is still way too high.

Please pray for my MIL, pray that God will direct her doctors to make some good changes to her BP meds and it will start keeping her in a normal range, otherwise she could have another stroke, or even a heart attack.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Austen's insulin pump was delivered via UPS today ... PRAISE THE LORD! Talk about an answer to prayer, and a 5 year prayer at that. It just goes to show you that it is all in HIS time and not ours.

The box was huge and contained everything we could possible need for a while. It even has a device that inserts the IV cannula into his belly fast so that he doesn't have to do it manually. AND it came with a blood sugar monitor that sends the readings to the pump, is that cool or what?

They calculate that he will use 20% less insulin with the pump, and he will definitely get better control. We just have to be diligent about keeping snacks on hand and a Glucagon kit in case he goes too low. But WOW! After 5 years, he finally has the pump!!!! I'm so EXCITED!!!! We just have to wait to use it until we go to the dietitian and get taught how to use it and she has to set it up for him.

I'm amazed at God's mercy and grace, His love is awesome!

Counting It Down

We have two exams left in the next week of nursing school, and then we are out for the summer. Medical micro will continue thanks to our lovely professor who always changes things on us. Our last lab exam is now on May 11th ... PFFFT!

The pump people called yesterday and they are shipping out Austen's insulin pump. It sure took them long enough!!! It should be here in a few days and then we have to go see the dietitian for her to set it up.

Now ... it's my bedtime, I have worked out for a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes and I'm dog tired :) Have a blessed sleep!

When It Rains It Pours

Please pray for Stanley's mom. She had a stroke in her sleep Tuesday night, woke up Wednesday morning not feeling well, had a headache and blurred vision, but did not let anyone know. Stanley's dad came home from work Wednesday afternoon and noticed her acting funny, checked her blood pressure and it was very high, so they took her to Western Baptist. She is now on the 5th floor awaiting tests to see why she had the stroke. (probably the high blood pressure).

The stroke was in the back of the brain in the area that controls vision. She still is having vision problems, and has a hard time thinking about things. She does know who she is, where she is, and what happened though, so that is good. Praise God it isn't any worse than it is.

If you have a stroke, you have a 3 hour window in which to reverse the damage. She was well past that window, so God must have been looking out for her.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Well we took Tanner to see Dr. Swain in Murray. He said that the lump was not anything serious. It is a hormonal thing, like male boobs, that should go away on it's own, but he is still going to monitor it to be safe. He said that he could remove it if it became bothersome or embarrassing for Tanner, but that it was harmless. I am so very thankful for this news because the radiologist made it sound like it was really bad. I know many of our friends at our old church have been praying for him, the family has been praying, and a lot of my school friends, so I am so thankful that God heard these prayers and everything is fine. God is so good!

Thank you God for hearing the many prayers on Tanner's behalf. Thank you for protecting him and thank you for the peace you gave me last week ... I knew it was going to be a good outcome, and it was all because of YOU! You are a great and glorious God and I don't deserve the favor you have shown to me and my family. THANK YOU! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen!

On This Day ...

On this day 17 years ago, Stanley and I got married. We did not get married in a church either time we got married. (we divorced in 1997 and lived together and then we remarried in 2003) We have been talking about renewing our vowels this fall in the church. My original plan was to have the pastor that saved (meaning, walked me to the Lord) and then baptized me and baptized all of our kids, to perform the service. I don't know what we will do now. But I really think it is important for us to renew our vowels in a church, since we both rededicated our lives to Christ after we got married the second time, and since we never had that church wedding.

It would be nice to have pictures and family and friends there ... It saddens me how my plans have been shot down. Yeah I'm feeling sorry for myself. You picture your kids getting married in the church you have known most of your life, and BAM, it ain't going to happen, and it upsets me!

Happy original Anniversary Stanley ... I love you more now than I did then, you are an amazing husband, friend, lover, and father. I am so happy God kept us together!

Surgical Consult

We have a surgical consult about Tanner's lump on Monday at 3:00 PM with Dr. Swain in Murray. Your continued prayers over this scary situation will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

Prayer Request

I finally got the call from the doctors office this morning. Tanner's lump is 1.8cm and is oval in shape with undefined edges (not good), and they said it was an inflammatory lesion and it needed to come out. So they are setting us up with a surgical consult. I am so worried, but he hasn't had this lump for very long, so hopefully whatever it is, it will be ok once we get it out.

Our insurance has changed so we will be paying for this surgery out of our own pockets pretty much, but we got to do what we got to do. Please pray that this is nothing serious!

Update On Pump

Austen has to go to the hospital in the morning to have more bloodwork drawn. He has to have a C- Peptide, which tells the doctor if his pancreas produces any insulin at all. The insurance company is requesting it, as well as 60 days worth of blood sugar logs (that we can pull off the monitor). But from the way I understand it, they are going to pay most, if not all of the cost of the pump (if they agree). The insurance company still has not decided if he can have one yet, that is why we have to do all of this. The doctor and pump company are all on board, but the insurance company is the final say, but I can understand that because those supplies for the pump are extremely expensive.

But I have faith that he will get the insulin pump ... God has protected him thus far, and the pump will ensure he stays healthy for a lot longer. Some people think that if he did everything just perfectly that he would be fine without it, but I don't know anybody who does everything just perfect ... except for Jesus of course :-)

Great Day

Today I was with Hospice for my clinical. A great experience, I truly admire the work they do. I had the privilege of working with them when I took care of a very sweet lady who had cancer. I would actually love to work with Hospice, but I have to have 3 years experience first.

Tonight my baby girl is singing at school. She is in the "Talent Spotlight", she does it every year. She is going to sing Beautiful by Christina Aguilera ... I haven't heard her sing it yet, so I am going to be pleasantly surprised. I cannot wait!

Now I think I am off to take a nap. I want to be well rested to hear my baby girl sing. She sings like an angel, and uses it for God's glory ... God will do amazing things through her.

Feeling Blessed & Confused

A lot of people did without power, heat, hot water, cable and phone during the ice storm here in Western Ky. We had heat and hot water, and got power back after 5 days. The interesting and most blessed thing that came out of it was that during this stressful week (on most people), I was fairly relaxed playing cards with my kids and my family that stayed with us after the storm.

My kids learned how to play spades and rummy, and it was really cool to spend that quality time with them. They really seemed to enjoy it too, and I am hoping we can do more of it once things go back to normal and we all get back into our normal routines.

God is good all the time, and it is when you do without that you realize how truly blessed you really are.

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During the storm I was a bit taken back by someone coming to my house asking me if they could buy drugs off of me (my pain pills from my recent hysterectomy). I was so shocked by this that all I could do was lie and say I had flushed them, when I probably should have called the police instead. This is someone with whom I am fairly aquainted with, and who should know better. I have decided that I need to keep my distance from this person but pray that they get the help they need.

If you know me at all then you know that this goes against my beliefs, morals, and values. Look up the word anti-drug and you will see my picture. I'm still very upset by this and clueless of what to do.

Feeling Great

Well it has been one month and a day since my surgery and I feel wonderful. That is a blessing for sure! It took a week and half before I did not regret the surgery due to the massive pain I was having, but all is good now ... Thank you GOD!

We have started painting the house. We have lived here for two years and we have only done minor work on it due to me being in school. I felt so good this past weekend that I had to start working on it, and so far it is looking great! I didn't even answer the phone in fear that I would stop painting.

We spent Saturday night at a friend's house playing Rockband (one of the coolest games on the planet if you like music). We ordered out for pizza and sat around talking and catching up, and then I took turns singing and playing the guitar while Stanley did not feel very musically inclined, so he just watched and listened to us. We had a great time! I think we are going to buy Rockband and Guitar Hero World Tour Band so we can jam at home :)

School started back yesterday and so far I think 203 is going to be awesome! Our professors are a hoot let me tell you. I also liked my Medical Micro professor and think this semester is going to be one of the best so far.

Now we just got to plan out devotionals for our family and get closer to God and all things will be great in the Stevenson household!

Sweet Sixteen

Today my oldest son turned 16! I cannot even believe he is now old enough to drive ... time has really flown by! I think he has had a pretty good day, he has his x-box 360, and that is really all he cares about. A few friends and family came by to wish him a happy birthday.

I remember when I turned 16, it was really cool, but I wanted to get my permit and be able to drive ASAP, Austen doesn't seem to really care about getting his license ... I guess I will thank God for that!

New Look - Feeling Blessed

Well I kind of got bored with the solid blue and decided to change things up a bit. I like it but I don't, so I will give it a few days before I change it and see if it grows on me. I hope it is pleasing to your eyes.

I am feeling very blessed today. I have a nice size house, it may need a little cosmetic work done, but it is big enough and structurally sound, so that is good. I have 4 great kids - we joke sometimes about having 4 "terrors" but they are really good kids. They are very open and "mouthy" at times, and that gets them in trouble, but I love it that they all feel like they can tell me how they feel. I also love it that my son who will be 16 years old tomorrow, is more concerned with an x-box 360 than cars and girls. I also love it that my kids are sensitive and willing to help others.

I have a wonderful husband who always thinks of the kids and I before himself. He works hard everyday to provide for us, and he tells us and shows us how much he loves us all the time. I have a great family that I adore and love.

I am able to go to school and follow my dream and God's calling on my life. I am blessed with the best friends anyone could ask for. I know I could call several of them day or night and they would help me in any way that they could.

I just feel really blessed today!

An Interesting Day

Today in clinical I had a blast ... no really, I was so scared but my teacher was there to help me with everything, and when I went to another department, the nurse there walked us through everything we did.

I gave two sub-Q shots in the belly. I de-accessed two central venous ports, and flushed one with normal saline and heparinized saline. I stopped an IV pump, I took two blood pressures, and I documented it all using the Admin RX system and the computer.

I watched people getting their chemotherapy, and that was the two ports I de-accessed. I watched a new needle and tubing get put into a central venous port. I had a really good day!

Then as I was coming home, my husband informed me that my son's glucose monitor was stolen at school, along with his books and homework, and he spent half the day looking for it and trying to get a new monitor. I just pray that the boy that broke his nose did have anything to do with its disappearance, because he was close by when it went missing. I can't believe anyone would be so mean as to steal a diabetics monitor, that is his lifeline literally, it had all of his insulin in it that he needs everyday. Now I am out a bottle of insulin. That stuff isn't cheap!

I just pray that whoever got it, got it by accident and will return it. He was able to get a new monitor, but still, I hope someone did not deliberately take it to cause my son harm.

I'm Tired

Tired because I've been sleeping over at the lady's house I take care of for the past three days, and I don't sleep well when I'm not with Stanley and in my own bed.

Tired just thinking about school starting back up. I need three more months of relaxation!

Tired of my boys eating all of the food in the house ... I will be glad when my grocery bill goes back down!

Tired of the same ole' daily BS!

Tired of people freaking out when we are not at church. We are more faithful about going to church than many of the SS teachers and Deacons!

Tired of not seeing my husband much this week, but I am off today and tomorrow so we will catch up!

I am tired, but I could have it a lot worse, so I'm gonna be thankful for the few complaints I have :)

I hope that you have a great, glorious, and blessed day!

What Do You Think?

I had a disagreement with someone over how to take care of a child who is diabetic/not responsible. I told the person we would just have to agree to disagree because I will not ever believe the way they do, and it's doubtful they will believe the way I do.

It was about my son who is diabetic, and does not think he has to keep his blood sugar under control. He does not show responsibility in taking care of his blood sugar, and therefore eats sugary foods without getting shots for them.

The disagreement came from the fact that this person keeps sweets, junk food, regular sodas, and that kind of stuff around my son when he is in his care, but then expects him not to eat it. He also says he is not responsible for my son while I am in the same building. To me that is backing out of his responsibility, and so how does he expect my son to be responsible if he can't even take the responsibility of taking care of my son while in his care?

His feeling is that since my son can go to the gas station nearby and buy junk food while away from me, that I should not worry about keeping it in his face, and around the house, that I should expect him to be responsible not to eat it. I feel like then maybe I need to buy alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, and while I am at it. a loaded gun, and I will keep that in the house and expect all of my children not to get in any of it, drink it, smoke it, or use it. Come on, we are talking about a teenager, not an adult. Everyone knows that teenagers lose their brains and can't make good decisions over 60% of the time.

Adults are called adults, and kids are called kids for a reason. If I keep a loaded gun around my house and my child accidentally shoots someone, guess what? I go to jail ...WHY? Because I am supposed to be the responsible one. So the same can be said about keeping concentrated sweets, drugs, alcohol, and other dangerous things in the house. If I keep it, and my son goes into a coma, who do you think the doctor is going to blame?

Would you leave an unresponsible child home alone over and over to make them more responsible? You really can't do that. So you don't keep the concentrated sweets in front of an unresponsible diabetic and expect he will eventually become responsible. The adult has to step up and be responsible in this situation. And to me, the responsible thing to do would be to keep concentrated sweets away from a child who does not need it. It is the same with children with allergies. No responsible adult keeps foods their children are allergic to in their face. It is too dangerous.

That's my opinion, what's yours?

Great Times

This past weekend we had a big get-together with some of our closest friends. There were two couples plus my sister and her husband and kids, and then my best friend for over 20 years came with her girls. We invited JL & BL but BL was sick so they were not able to come :( We had a big time! We cooked lots of food, and had a bon-fire in the backyard. It was a great day! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and Stanley and I enjoyed everyone being here!

It was originally supposed to be my best friend and her girls staying the night with us, but then Stanley started inviting everyone over to celebrate me being out of school, and my birthday is the 14th, so I think he was wanting to do something he knew I would enjoy. I love having friends over!

I am hoping soon to be able to host a Sunday School get-together. I would love that as well because I really like all of the people in our Sunday School class. they are good friends too. I would have invited all of them last weekend, but my house is half painted inside and half not painted, so I would rather wait until we finish things up. My closest friends know how I am so I don't worry if my house isn't clean when they come over, but I wouldn't want my Sunday School class to see that.

Oh and my favorite things with the weekend? My sister brought her baby, and my best friend brought me a birthday gift that she said she only paid a dollar for, but it is priceless to me!

I pray that you are as blessed as I am with good friends!

Getting Things Ready

Tomorrow is a big day for several reasons. First we have church, then we have to get stuff together that we are taking to a very deserving family for Christmas. Then we have to go back to church; the choir is putting on a Christmas Cantata that I am a small part of. Then I have to start getting things ready for Christmas dinner.

I am cooking a small Christmas dinner compared to past ones. I am cooking:

Turkey
Ham
Chicken & Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Rolls

My sister and her family are bringing a pumpkin pie and two chess pies. My mother is bringing drinks. My nephew may come with his girlfriend, but he probably will come only with a hefty appetite.

I wish all of my family could be here together, but unfortunately there are people in my family who cause so much "hell" for others that they don't want to be around them at all.

I am looking forward to the food and having my nieces and nephews here ... my nieces are the clowns in the family that keep us all laughing with their jokes and little skits they do. I can't wait.

But most of all I'm looking forward to celebrating my savior's birth and looking back over the year, counting all my blessings and thanking my heavenly father above for all of the gifts he has given me and my family.

I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas filled with all of God's blessings! Merry Christmas!