ONE YEAR

One year ago, I lost my dear granddaughter, Amber Dawn..She was taken to be an Angel with the Lord!
Here is a poem that I borrowed from another blog...

"I'm Spending Christmas with Jesus this Year"

I see the countless Christmas trees

around the world below

with tiny lights like heaven stars

reflecting on the snow



The sight is so spectacular

Please wipe away that  tear

For I'm spending Christmas

with Jesus Christ this year



I hear the many Christmas songs

That people hold so dear

O', the sounds of music can't compare

with the Christmas choir up here.



For I have no words to tell you

of the joy their voices bring

for it's beyond description

to hear the angels sing.



I know how much you miss me,

I see the pain inside your heart.

but, through our memories so dear..

We're never far apart.



I can't tell you of the splendor

or the peace here in this place

Can you just imagine Christmas

with Our Savior.......face-to-face.



I'll ask him to light your spirit

As I tell him of your Love.

Then I'll pray for 'One another'

As you lift your eyes above.



So please let your heart be joyful

and let your spirit sing

for I'm spending Christmas in heaven

and I'm walking with the king.

Sanford, Florida

Hubby and I rode the Motorcycle to a small Historic town, Sanford, Florida....its about 45 miles from our little town of Titusville...It was such a Beautiful Day today and we knew this would be the last chance to ride until after the holidays...
We love to eat at a German cafe there, altough, I do not really like most German food....I always get a salad or the Chicken Salad, which is what we both got today and it was as good as usual...They only use shredded chicken breast blended with Mayo, celery, apples and pecans.....YUMMO.....its served on a huge Crossiant along with chips and veggies...I ask hubby to take some pix with his cell phone..some are sorta fuzzy, but they had mirrors painted with Christmas Murals.....they were so pretty and we sat outside and listened to the guy playing his gituar.

I just loved this Fairy lamp that was in the window of an Antique Shop....click to enlarge

Another beautiful lamp, we went inside and the Fairy Lamp was 100.00 and the shade was 65.00.....little expensive for me, but it was pretty...

Isn't this aqua candlestick pretty....

Look at this toddler piggy rocker....Cute

Being silly

Hubby and i went to shopping center in Viera, Florida today@ The Avenue...they had some pretty decorations...
Me with ivy reindeer, isn't he the cutest thing with his legs crossed?

click to enlarge...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving today.........I am thankful for all of you and my entire family and friends....

In Memory of Amber Dawn

Today would have been Amber's 12th Birthday! My lovely Granddaughter passed away last year on Dec. 30th, 2008! She is in heaven with our Lord and Savior ....she loved making people smile, We miss her very much...
I have been thinking about her a lot..This picture was taken in June, '08.....

Florida Gator..

Hubby and I went to a cookout for his dept at work yesterday, we saw this guy when we were leaving......thre were 3 of them but this one was the biggest of the 3 and the closest....

Click on photo to get up close and personal....lol...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROD!

I love you so much, you are my solemate and loving Husband!
I have had a great time so far today, celebrating this day with you!
Here's hoping for many more birthdays together..
Love,
your loving wife.......

What Happens in Heaven!

I wanted to share this, i just read it on another blog, My Vintage Studio
http://myvintagestudio.blogspot.com/


WHAT HAPPENS IN HEAVEN


I dreamt that I went to Heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels... My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, 'This is the Receiving Section. Here, all petitions to God said in prayer are received.' I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.
Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section.The angel then said to me, 'This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here, the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.' I noticed again how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery to Earth.
Finally at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. 'This is the Acknowledgment Section,' my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. 'How is it that there is no work going on here?' I asked.'So sad,' the angel sighed. 'After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.
''How does one acknowledge God's blessings?' I asked.'Simple,' the angel answered. "Just say, Thank you, Lord."
''What blessings should they acknowledge?" I asked. If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of this world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. And if you get this on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who has that opportunity. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness. You are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation . You are ahead of 700 million people in the world. If you can attend a place of worship without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world. If your parents are still alive and still married ..you are very rare. If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair. Ok, what now? How can I start? If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all. Have a good day, count your blessings, and if you care to, pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.

ATTN: Acknowledge Dept . Thank you Lord, for giving me the ability to share this message and for giving me so many wonderful people with whom to share it.I thank God for everything, especially all my family and friends!!

Beautiful Nests from "Barb"

At the beginning of summer, before my surgery, I won a giveaway from Barb @
Treasures of the Heart Blog....http://treasuresfromtheheartgifts.blogspot.com/
She hand made the nest and in the first pic, she sent the lovely white glove with it too....It was a surprise that I got when I got home from surgery....Barb, sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted, but health was first....I dearly love these ...Please go visit her, you won't be sorry...



AND, to my surprise, I got another box in the mail and there was another nest from Barb..well, I was shocked as I knew there was only one showing for the giveaway, but you see, Barb chose another winner and thought this one was going to her but I got it....She told me to keep it and I didn't have to send it back...That was the sweetest thing....When you get to her blog please leave her a loving comment.....Oh, She sells these and a lot of other really gorgeous things that she makes or does a re-do on them.....


Please click on pics to enlarge and see the close ups, they are awesome..

Check him out!

Check out my Great Grandson's 1st Haircut....I think he is just precious...

Therapy!!!!!!!!

Hubby and I went to NC to visit my family this weekend.It was such good therapy for me, I think anytime you are sick, you want to be around family.My hubby takes wonderful care of me, but I just needed to see my family..I felt so good too, no pain the whole weekend, but I did have a few times where my energy level dropped very quickly and I had to lie down and sleep for a while..........................................
.....My Daddy is doing so well and is driving again and Mama is happy about that too. My children and grandchildren came Saturday and my best friend Dianne came too..We had a great time..Daddy had made bar-b-q and b-b-q slaw and sauce, it was sooooo good.. Mama made potato salad and cooked a big pot of pintos and corn bread...We had a feast......My sister made waffles a couple of mornings and others she cooked us eggs the way we each liked them....We ate the whole weekend, everything was great...

We had fun playing Bananagrams, even my Mama played...My niece is just too good at spelling though....lol....
I got to see my friend, Ginger and her family before they left for their trip to the lake....her kids have grown so much....

I will be going back to the doctors this week and see how the inflammation around my heart and in the lungs are doing, I hope its all gone....

my Saga Continues...........

Well, my never ending saga continues, went to hospital for bloodwork and chest x-rays, while they were getting blood, I blacked out and then starting throwing up....they sent me to ER.....ughhhhhhh....My blood pressure bottomed out, i got to feeling ...better and they let me go home....going to cardio dr tomorrow to get BP meds adjusted.

Re-lapse again!

Monday morning I got up in a lot of pain and ended up back in the Er and admitted to hospital again...I had fluid on my lungs and around my heart, but the worse of them was the left lung...They tapped that lung and drew off a lot of fluid and I stayed in the hospital until Thursday evening.....I am feeling the best I have felt since the surgery and praying the Lord has me on the road to re-covery this time....

All prayers are appreciated!
Brenda

Complications

I am having some complications from my heart surgery....Last week, I started getting short of breathe and ended up in the ER and admitted for 5 days...I got home Sunday but had to have oxygen at home with me....It seems during surgery, my diaphragm got pushed up into my lower right lung, causing it to partially collapse. Also, I have some fluid in the lungs and around the heart...But, I have been doing much better since being home....I am doing the breathing exercises and my lungs are doing much better.....Going for test tomorrow to see how the heart fluid is doing....

Prayers are still and always appreciated!

My Surgery

Hi everyone, So sorry it has been a while since I posted...its been a busy summer....
I had my heart surgery to repair my mitral valve on June 30th....I was at East Carolina University Heart Institute @ Greenville, NC.....Dr. Chitwood did my surgery and I was in the hospital for a week...Went to my youngest daughter's house in Wilmington for a week and then flew home to Florida....It seems like everything is beginning to Wake UP now and is hurting more than when I first left the hospital....I had a rough time in the hospital too, but with God's help and the help of my husband and daughter, I made it....they took turns staying with me around the clock, my husband stayed at night and then my daughter stayed during the day...I couldn't have gotten through it without them...All of the Dr.'s and nurses were very good, a couple of nurses that were exceptional....
My husband stayed with me most of the week I was at my daughter's and then he drove home and made me a flight to get home 3 days later....I could not have handled the 10 hour drive in his truck....
my husband took pics of me while I was in the hospital but I do not want to show them here....as you can imagine, they are bad....with all the tubes and IV's everywhere...

I appreciate every prayer that went up for me and hope you will continue to keep me in your prayers as I recover..
Thank you
Brenda

Update for my Daddy

My Daddy came home from the hospital yesterday, he and my Mama went to my sister, Renee's house....The equitment he needed arrived yesterday and he and Mama are settled in for a while...An RN nurse will come today and schedule his inhome Therapy.....This makes me so happy that he is improving as much as he has...Now, I think I can go through my surgery without worrying so much about him..

I am still in Wilmington, NC at my daughter, Christie's......
She will drive me up to Greenville this evening (about 2 hours away) and my Hubby, Rod, left Florida this morning and will be driving straight up to Greenville, NC....I have missed him so much and will be very happy to see him..
Tomorrow morning, I will go for my pre-op at East Carolina University Heart Institute.......
Christie will drive back home and Rod and I will drive to Madison, NC to spend the weekend at my sister, Renee's house....Then, I can see how well Daddy is doing...
My sister said she thinks that my parents have agreed to let them build an apartment onto their house for them....I really think it will be for the best also..

Thank you to everyone who has said Prayers for my Daddy and for me, we still need them, Please....

My surgery is Tue. the 30th...not sure if I will post until after that...
Hugs
Brenda

HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY, MY LOVE

June 24, 2006 was a Beautiful and Magical Day!...Our wedding took place outside my sister's home with a light breeze blowing and the birds were singing their praises of joy...

I Love You, Rod, More and More each Day !

This is the 1st anniversary that we have been apart, you in Florida and me here in NC..........

You are the kindest, most generous man I have known.
I Love that we "GET" each other and are right there if either one needs something...You have spoiled me to a life I never had......Calm, No Stress, Gentle...these things in you make me happy.
I look forward to many more Wonderful Years of Marriage with you...

Can't wait until Thursday night to see you.

Your Loving Wife!

My daughter, Christie,came up to Greensboro for Father's Day and to pick me up...I really hated leaving Mama and Daddy, and I cried as soon as I got out of daddy's room, but I know that I need these few days to rest up before My surgery....But, I feel terribly about leaving everything for my Sister and BIL to do...We have talked Daddy into going to Renee's(my sister), when he leaves the hospital..They have a huge great room and have already moved some things around to accommodate whatever Daddy might need....and My BIL drew up plans to build an apartment on the end of their house for Mama and Daddy...At first Daddy said NO....but I think he now realizes it would really be for the best for him and Mama and for my sister and her DH too..... Daddy is improving and the panic attacks have calmed down, but Dr said still give him xanax, until he gets stronger..The nurses have been walking him a couple of times a day for the past 3 days...with a walker of course....We are hoping the insurance with approve him to do re-hab there at the hospital, they should know today....Nursing homes were not an optional,again, unless they could find one where all the re-hab patients were in a separate wing from the Nursing home patients...
So I will be here in Wilmington, NC with my daughter, her DH and sons until Thursday, Christie will drive me to Greenville and Rod will drive up there on Thursday from Florida...I have to be in the Heart Center for pre-op @ 8:30 Friday morning....

More Updates

Hi to everyone, I have more news on my Daddy!..He was doing good with re-hab in the nursing home but where he was, was terrible with 2 women on that hall crying and screaming day and night, we stayed with him all day until we were told visiting hours were over....All the nurses and tech's were pretty good while we were there, but Daddy said the night time ones were not so good....Also, they were not giving him one of his med's that was listed, Toprol, it is a blood pressure med but it was given to Daddy to slow his heart rate down....when we ask about it, they said his BP was too low already and they could not give it to him....I and my Sister, Renee, tried to explain that the low BP was normal for him and he really needed the Toprol for the heart rate....
Well, on Sunday night, he started having Panic attacks and was telling them he needed the med to slow his heart rate..They told him to calm down and that he was causing himself to feel like that.....He said about 2 am, he pushed his light for the nurse, no one came, so he Hollered and Cried for what seemed like and hour to him....when someone finally came he asked them to call his daughter, Renee (my sister)....they waited until 4 am to call her and she told them to call 911 and send him to Cone Hospital in Greensboro...so they did....Renee went to the nursing home and got there as the ambulance did, she knew one of the EMT's and told him what was going on...I called my Mama and she and I went to the hospital....They called his heart Dr...and he ordered his Toprol and after 20 minutes his heart rate come down from 120 to the 60 and 70's...The his heart Dr came in to see him and ordered Xanax for the panic attacks...he admitted him and we stayed with him all day, Renee took Mama home and I spent the night..He would have a panic attack almost as soon as the xanax wore off, but they were good about being right there with it on time...Tues morning, he started doing better and was not having the attacks as bad, he was able to go longer before getting the xanax.......during the night though, he would wake up in a panic, asking Where am I?...I talked to him to let him know I was there and he would calm down and go back to sleep...
my niece, Samantha, brought Mama in and Renee went on to work......I cam home and ate a tomato sandwich and layed down and napped a while, but when I got up, I was sick on my stomach and very tired...Samantha stayed the night and Renee went by and brought Mama home...I was planning on taking Mama this morning(WED), but I was still sick, so my nephew got up and took Mama out there.....Samantha just got home and said Daddy had a good night except when they come in for blood or vitals.....She said a re-hab tech from the hospital came in to acess him and got him to walk a little with assistance, so that is good.....
I am going to stay here at my sisters house today and try to get my tiredness better.....not sue If I will make it out there this evening or not....My sister is spending the night tonight...I didn't want her too because of her job but they are willing to work with her....Plus, I can't let myself get run down before my surgery....
Life sure can be stressful sometimes....I hope you all with continue to pray for my Daddy and me and family....

UPDATE ON MY DADDY

I flew to NC on Sat. because my Daddy was not doing well at all and I have to say, When I got here and got to the hospital and saw him, I really though he was dying and so did my family....He was in such terrible pain.....After all of the tests and 2 team of Doctors checked everything out, they are saying his cholesterol medicine, Provachol was attacking his muscles and causing them to deteriorate...
Monday, God answered our prayers and he started turning the corner for the better....When I got here Sat. , he was not able to walk or even stand on his own, but Monday, he just started looking so much better and started to eat a little, and they got him in a chair, and he did so well on Tue, they said all he needs now is Physical Therapy, so today he was sent to a re-hab center and hopefully they will get started with PT tomorrow and he will continue to get stronger....He is still is pain, but he is able to tolerate it better.... and he still can not get up by himself or stand by himself, but we are hoping that will change quickly...

I am planning on staying here(until its time for me to go to Greenville, NC for my surgery) and helping get my Mama there.....I told the staff this evening that they better get used to us,(meaning my family)because we will be there A LOT.....and making sure he is well cared for.....

I am so tired.....
will try to keep doing updates here..
Brenda

My Daddy

More bad news, my Daddy has been in the hospital in NC since Sunday, they have been trying to find out why he is hurting so bad and they are thinking now that he has cancer of the blood, they are running more test on the protein in his blood and will tell my family what they find...

It hurts me to not be able to be there with my family, My daddy is a wonderful person and a good Christian....I know God is there with him and I am praying that he will not let my daddy hurt, no matter what it means for that to happen....I want him to live a lot longer but not in pain all the time...

Prayers appreciated..
Brenda

I have a Surgery Date!

I finally have a surgery date, June 30th, its a Tuesday......
Hubby and I will have to travel from Florida up to NC on
Thursday, the 25th, I have to meet with the surgeon on Friday morning
the 26th, for consultation and pre-op....I am anxious to get this over
with....Hospital stay is 5 days....So Have a lot of things to plan out now
and get ready for this...I am happy that my family is in NC, some 4-5
hours away and my youngest daughter is in Wilmington, NC, 2 hours away
I am going to be going to her house to re-coup a couple of weeks and Hubby can come back to Florida and try to work until I am able to ride back..

Thank you to everyone who has commented and e-mailed....
and also for the Prayers...
hugs
Brenda

WHAT'S UP WITH ME?

I thought I would post about what is going on with me these days....Many of you know that I am a proud (5 year) Breast Cancer Survivor.....and God brought me through it to be a stronger person....Well now it seems that I will have to have heart surgery....For as long as I can remember I have had a condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse (MVP)....the mitral valve does not close properly, there fore letting blood leak back into the chamber....So, I have had echo cardiograms done for years to watch the leakage, and now it seems that it has gotten bad enough that its putting a strain on my heart....I get tired so easy, I have anxiety attacks..
SO, my cardio Dr said it is time to have the valve repaired...so I have had a lot of test done and x-rays, and last week a heart cath.....the heart cath showed my arteries are OK and not all clogged up, which is really good...

I live in Florida but the best Dr that preforms this fairly new robotic heart surgery is in NC....which is where I am from and all of my family are there but not exactly where he is but they can get there....so I am happily waiting to hear from this surgeon for an appt.His name is Dr. Chitwood and he is @ East Carolina University ......he has a wonderful reputation for doing more of this type of surgery than any other surgeon in the world....Sounds good to me.....lol....

will update later!
prayers are appreciated......
Brenda

A GREAT GIVEAWAY

Deanna is have a giveaway celebrating her 400th post!
She is a Survivor.......please go over and give her some love by
leaving a comment and entering her giveaway..She is giving away this Beautiful
painting..
To Enter, go here: http://deenasstory.blogspot.com/

Funny........4....today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99P4Grmq8vA

Mama's Surprise Party!

This is Mama's cake and pictures, and Mama when she first walked in...She was truly surprised, she thought Daddy was taking her to a fund raiser supper for the Boy Scouts.....he he he.........

This was me surprising her, after she knew the party was for her, she didn't know my husband and I were there....we hid and came out while she was looking at her cake....

This is my husband Rod, my granddaughter in the back and my oldest daughter, Tonya in front sitting..

My youngest daughter holding my Great grandson Juan..

My niece Samantha in front there...and

lots of people

Mama and Daddy on the right there...

Kimberly, my granddaughter and Juan


Me holding Juan....I tried to suck his face off

during the time I could get a hold of him...he is really

sweet and laughing alot..





It was a short time to be there in North Carolina, but I have to tell you it was great seeing my family, and the Spring there was awesome....Dogwood trees were so Beautiful and the spring flowers too...

New baby pics and trip!

This is my Great Grand Son, Juan, he is 8 months old....My granddaughter
just sent these new pics...I am going to NC this weekend, for my Mama's 75th surprise party....and I am so excited to see this little one and all of my family of course.....We will be back on Monday, so I will post more pics of him and family next week....

Mt. Dora, Florida

Hubby and I and several other friends rode motorcycles to Mt. Dora, FL yesterday(Sunday)
Its about 70 miles from our house, so 140 miles round trip...It was a beautiful day for riding....The small town is beautiful with lots of historical feel to it...
We had lunch at "The Gables", which is in an old renovated house......
There was lots of people walking the streets.....

This old house was serving as the Masonic Lodge!

Every one's bikes, ours is the silver one on the right..

The Gables

Beautiful Bougainvillea....

Hubby loves to take pics, I am on the right, my friend Carly is sitting next to me and then her hubby.... , and their son Shawn


Rex on the left, his wife Sonia and friend Charlene!


Brian and Janet!

Happy Easter

HAPPY EASTER!


I hope everyone will have a Wonderful and Blessed Easter!
Brenda

ALTERED COMPACT SWAP

There was an altered compact swap at PID,(Paper Imagery Designs) Carla hosted and swapped them out...I got mine today and WOW are they both Beautiful!
This was a very fun to do..Thanks Carla for hosting....

The one on the left was created by Eileen and on the right by Valerie..

I just love them dearly.....

Here they are opened!

This is the goodies that Carla sent along....and an ATC she made just for me.....Thanks Carla, I will be playing with these soon....





These are the two compacts I altered, not sure who is getting them, but

hope they will like them...

Opened...........