some favorite paintings and artists

"Cafe Terrace at Night" by Vincent Van Gogh

I'm not sure what it is about this painting I love so much,

but it makes me want to visit that little cafe!

"Lady Agnew of Lochnaw" by John Singer Sargent

So many incredible works, but this is by far my favorite by this artist.

"Laura" by Kathryn Walker Richardson

This amazing portrait was done by my art teacher from "way back when." How I miss painting and being her student! Talk about inspiration! She's just absolutely amazing!!

Brown Bear is 12!!

I've been wanting to write blogs of praise for individuals in my family and I've decided to start with my oldest nephew since today was his birthday. I will refer to him as "Brown Bear" since that is his nic name :-) Brown Bear was the first of 8 (soon to be 9) nephews and nieces to be born. He is very loving, encouraging, helpful, and protective of his siblings and other family. One of my fondest memories of Brown Bear was when he was much younger (probably about 3 or 4). Brown Bear loved Jesus from a very young age and would often talk to others about the Lord. I remember so vividly when he marched-up to me one day and said, "Jesus loves me. He's in my heart. He can be in your heart too if you just ask Him." What an awesome little guy! To this day, I think Brown Bear has a place in ministry. Whether it be leading a church family, or being a missionary of some sort. He has such an incredible heart and I'm so excited to see where God leads him :-)

I love you Brown Bear! You're such a wonderful young man. I'm so proud to be your aunt!

"let me wipe your nose" and "ewwwwwww"

Well, it seems the Lord has pretty much healed Jenna of her cold! She no longer has any rattling in her chest, nor has she coughed all day. There's still somewhat of a runny nose, but we're on the homeward stretch! Poor Joshua's still battling away though; thankfully, I stocked-up on Tylenol Cold and Runny Nose before they yanked it from the shelves. It really helps him hold-off on coughing long enough to get a good night's rest.

Well, Jenna saw Dr. Tuggle this morning. He looked at her abscess and immediately grabbed a suture removal kit to get to work. However, he said it was still hard and not ready to drain *gag* So, he wants me to keep it clean and dry. Apparently when it's ready to come out, the suture will work it's way out and the abscess will just dry-up and fall off *gag*

Jenna received her 4-month shots today as well. Poor kid :-( She had to endure someone digging around on her stomache, and then shots! She did just fine until the medicine was injected :-( Poor baby! She hollered for quite sometime. Although, I think her neices who joined us were more traumatized than Jenna! They both covered their mouths and Jenna cried. I thought for sure they were going to cry too!!

Well, that's going to have to be it for tonight. I'm too pooped to keep on typing! Someday I'll talk about something other than just family stuff, but that seems to be all my life revolves around right now :-D Love you all!!

sniffles and formula

Well, both of the kiddos have snotty noses and congested coughs :-( Poor babies! Joshua moped around most of the day until I finally found cold medicine. It was in with the other medicines...imagine that! Once Joshua had a little bit of cold medicine in him, he perked-up and started bouncing off the walls (which is what he normally does). Jenna smiled despite feeling icky, but did sleep quite a bit. Her abscess is going to be examined by her surgeon tomorrow morning. Can't wait to have that behind us *bleh* Not looking forward to taking Joshua with me to the appointments, but I don't have the heart to pawn off a sick child on anyone! Jenna's also getting her 4-month-old shots tomorrow :-(

The day I really dreaded arrived today. I ran-out of frozen breast milk! So, Jenna's GI doctor has put her on Similac NeoSure. It's mostly for preemies and under-weight babies, but it's suppose to be super gentle on the stomaceh and that's what Jenna needs; so what if she gets some more chub rolls along the way...I love chubby babies! I had to buy the liquid form since the powder form tends to clog in feeding tubes. Thankfully I won't have to supply it for but a week until Walgreen's Home Care starts supplying it for us and our insurance picks-up the tab *sigh of relief* 32oz (which she goes through in less than a day) of the formula is nearly $8!! Can you imagine?? Yikes! Praise God for His provision!

back to the ER

Well, this morning, Jenna's incision looked even worse :-( So much for the "skin irritation" theory! Thankfully, there wasn't much of a wait and we got in pretty quickly. Just as I thought, it's an absess (sp?). So, we got a prescription for an ointment...$35 co-pay!! Yikes! We're suppose to go and see the surgeon who did the operation on Tuesday *sigh* Thankfully God's in control *handing over the reigns...again* So the cream is suppose to help cause the sore to open-up *gag* Hopefully whatever's in there will drain out and Jenna won't have to deal with too much pain *cringe*

Another interesting happening today...

I was out in the front yard talking with my SIL while my oldest niece was inside playing with Jenna. My niece came out and informed me that Jenna's mic-key button had come out. Argh! Thankfully, it isn't a painful experience for her...or at least, it hasn't been in the past. We always have a spare, so I put the new one in *bleh* I really have to hold back the gags when I do it. I'm not one of those people who does well with wounds, blood, etc. And to think I use to want to be an EMT! *hahaha*

We have our new hand-me-down furniture in place :-) My parents gave us an entertainment center, television, mission-style futon, dvd/vhs cabinets, shelves, and some misc stuff yet to be gone through. So, needless to say, I have TONS of cleaning to do! We passed on our hand-me-down leather sofa to my brother and SIL and they passed on their hand-me-down sofa to our other brother and SIL. It's kinda fun rotating furniture :-) I'll miss the comfy sofa, but it will be nice to have someplace to sleep when we have family in from out-of-town *hint, hint* They can have our comfy pillow-top and we'll take the futon *HINT, HINT*

Alright, I'm beat! Time to hit the hay! Love you all!!

praise God and holy cow!

Praise God! I received a phone call yesterday from our Missions Director. She is bringing us a check today from various people in our Church. I'm so embarrassed! It's so hard to be on the receiving end of a blessing sometimes. I know I blew it last week at Church when I confided in a friend and said, "This month is going to be so tough!" I didn't mention that it had to do with finances, but I think she must've caught the drift. How do I thank everyone? How do I even show my face? I'm embarrassed!!! Please share any advice you may have on how to thank everyone and how to not feel like I should put a paper bag over my head!! In the meantime, I'm going to continue praying that God would help me with my pride. My SIL informed me a while back that my attitude towards receiving blessings is one of pride. It took me sometime to see it, but she's right. What a stinker...I know where you live (right next door)!

Time for the "holy cow" segment...

Well, yesterday as I was changing a mondo-explodo diaper and clothing, I noticed Jenna's incision looked puffy, red, and was warm to the touch. Of course I couldn't have noticed it while her pediatrician's office was still open! My SIL took Joshua next door with her and I loaded-up Jenna to take her to Children's Hospital. I was concerned that her Fundoplication was perhaps coming undone or she had contracted some type of nasty infection. After waiting for 4 hours, we finally got in to see the doctor. Thankfully, they seem to think it's just skin irritation *big sigh of relief* I packed her diaper bag to the brim though, just in case we were looking at an overnight stay.

Jenna had a rough night. She woke a couple of times in the night with a snotty nose :-( This is the first time she has caught anything since she's been home. Hopefully it's something that will pass quickly. If not, we already have an appointment scheduled for Tuesday for the dreaded 4-month-old shots *doom, doom, doom*

Hmmm...everyone in the house is napping except me. I think I'm going to give-in and crash along with them :-) Until next time!

dexter johnson fund

After wasting time griping and complaining to myself, I decided to start listing God's blessings and that quickly cured my grumpy mood.

Dr. Smith's (Jenna's maxillofacial surgeon) office called the other day and let us know that we have been approved by the Dexter Johnson Fund! What does that mean? That means Jenna's surgeries will be paid for!! Praise God for that :-) We also got a letter in the mail from our insurance saying they're willing to work with us even though we went with a surgeon out of network. So, hopefully whatever the fund doesn't cover, perhaps our insurance will :-) Yay!!!