BLESSED

I'm sitting here with a cup of hot tea, my favorite coffee cake and a somewhat peaceful household. I'm going to try and tackle some overdue blogging. Be warned it may be a long post because I have about a zillion things to write about and I'm going to squeeze it all in one post.This past week has been full. Full of thankful hearts, stomach flu, birthday celebrating and of coarse shopping.

I woke up Thursday morning at 6 o'clock with a sudden need to rush to the bathroom as soon as possible. I spent the rest of the morning watching the Thanksgiving day parade all three hours of it. This was not because I enjoy the parade but more because laying on the couch with my eyes fixed to the TV waiting for the weeble wobbles to make their appearance (they never did to the dissapointment of my 3 yr. old) was all I had the strength to do. I tried to pull myself together to make peas and green beans but everytime I stood up and walked around I felt awful. Thankfully my sister came to my rescue and picked up the vegies and my son so I would not have to cook the food or even worse smell the food. I actually pulled it together enough to go to my moms later that afternoon for our Thanksgiving celebration. Although I didn't eat my usual ample amount I was impressed with my ability to still consume some very yummy turkey, stuffing and apple pie. Not the best day to have the stomach flu but on the bright side I still got to spend time with my family and for the most part it only lasted about 24 hours.

Not even that considering I felt well enough to venture out to the outlet stores at midnight with Rod to get an early start on the Thanksgiving day sales. We thought it might be a little crowded but we were not expecting cars to be backed up on the FREEWAY!! After we sat in traffic for twenty minutes we parked in a park nearby and walked to the shopping center. Most of the major stores had lines out the door with a huge line for Old Navy just to get into the store. I really wanted to pick up a few things at the Gap. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was about 3oo people in line. My husband and I debated taking turns shopping in the store while the other stood in line. We decided no sale was worth standing in line for 2 hours in the middle of the night when you have two young children that will be waking you up at 6 am. We went home without a single purchase. Oh well. The trip was not in vain. At least we can say after 8 years of marriage and two kids we still have some adventure in us.

The next day I woke up to a very appropriate birthday card from my husband along with one of those product RED shirts from the Gap. When you buy one of these products half the profits go to helping women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. The shirt is super soft and I love that my husband gave me the one that says "desired." It's not cheap but if you look at it like your donating half the money to a worthy cause it's worth the price tag. I spent the rest of the day making some decent headway on my Christmas shopping with Emersen while Rod hung out with Rhett. That night we put the kids to bed early, ordered a pizza and watched a few episodes of the Office. Life doesn't get much better than that.

The next day our plan was to drop off the kids at my mom's and go have dinner together to celebrate my birthday. It was a difficult day with several meltdowns, whining, crying and selfishness and Rhett was even worse. When it was time to drop them off I could have gone to dinner at the soup kitchen and it would have been a wonderful escape. I had my makeup done at Nordstrom because I missed my appointment the week before when I attended a trade show there with my mom and sister. I met up with Rod in the mall and we walked over to PF Changs for dinner. I had a funny feeling because my friend was acting kind of strange but had no idea what I was about to walk in on. Six of our couple friends were there to surprise me with a birthday dinner. I was elated. I generally do not like surprises in any form. I'm all about sneaking around and looking at my presents before I receive them. No matter what people may say this does not make receiving the gifts any less special. Not only do I not like surprises I'm just too darn good at finding things out for anyone to pull one off. Well I stand corrected. I was surprised and I liked it. It was great to spend the evening with the people I like the most and feel so loved and celebrated.

The next day we went to church and I decided to do MORE shopping. I think all the celebrating the night before had made me somewhat delusional because for some reason I thought it would be ok to take both children shopping on the biggest shopping weekend of the year with one stroller all by myself. Well sparing all details I survived and even managed to purchase a few Christams presents. That evening I met up with Rod, my mom and sister to have my family birthday dinner at Chez Loma, a french restaurant in Coronado. The food and company were great but I don't reccommend taking a 3 yr. old and 8 month old to a quiet, one small room, upscale restaurant. I guess I was still suffering from the delusion that I can do anything I want regardless of my children. After dinner we walked over to the Hotel del Coronado and saw the Christmas tree and ice skating rink. My mom and sister blessed me with some great clothes that I could never afford to buy. Overall a great evening and a fabulous birthday in general.

Right now as I type this Rod is taking Rhett for his annual echocardiogram. This is a test they do on his heart that is a form of an ultrasound. He has to lie on a bed with electrodes stuck to his chest while a technician watches his heart function on the screen. When the surgeon repaired his heart on his 5 month birthday he had to scrape muscle off a valve which compromised the valve. The surgeon chose this route hoping the valve would strengthen over time rather than do something else where his valve would have to be replaced no matter what. So every year they do this test mainly to monitor that valve. As of last year the valve was still leaking a decent amount but his cardioligist told us he could continue this way without ever needing another surgery as long as it did not get worse. He also said if the valve does start to dialate it will need to be replaced but maybe by that time science will have figured out a way to have the surgery done by laser rather than open heart. So here we are again another year gone by checking to see how his heart looks. The test is so stressful for me because the technician cannot tell us anything. She could be looking at something very serious and life threating and still have to keep this poker face. The very first echo Rhett had done we had an appt. a week later to get the results. However after seeing the seriousness of his condition they called us that day and told us to come in the next day. Now after he has these tests Rod and I just pray we don't hear from them right away. We won't know the results of his test today until January 9. That's ok as long as we don't hear from them sooner. I'm so thankful my husband took care of this so I didn't have to be there. I tend to let my mind wander and usually have an emotional breakdown so this year I thought it would be better if I avoided the test completely.

Growing up sometimes it was hard sharing my birthday with a major holiday. Last year my birthday fell on Thanksgiving which wasn't a big deal but we did celebrate it on another day. This year in a nostalgic way I'm kind of glad my birthday was the day after Thanksgiving. I turned 33 years old and had an opportunity to stop and ponder on what I'm thankful for. I can honestly say I would not want to be any younger or older. I feel really blessed to be right where I'm at and strangly very content. I have a very loving family and with the exception of Rod's side all live nearby. I have amazing friends that feel like family and throw surprise birthday parties for me. I have an exuberant son who yes needs scary tests on his heart every year and may even need open heart surgery someday but right now could not be more full of life, energy and health. I have a beautiful daughter who is easy, and happy (most of the time) and gives me a perfect excuse to go shopping. I have a husband who still surprises me, inspires me and loves me unconditionally. More than anything I'm blessed that I know from experience that Jesus will walk with me through every circumstance. He has carried me through some very hard times in the past three years and has brought me to where I'm at right now.

Here are a few pictures of this past week. Not quite the collages that Brian creates but it's not too shabby either.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!