Updates and Such

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth, I just got sick. David too. We have been fighting one thing or another since the fundraiser. Today though, I feel more human and although David is still on the nebulizer, he is doing pretty well too.

Just because I have been out of circulation doesn't mean that life hasn't gone on and time hasn't continued to tick away, so here, let me catch you up.

The fundraiser took a great deal out of me as it did all involved. Several came down sick or simply didn't feel well before during and after. I don't know whether it was just the stress or something going around. Trust me, some of the people that helped out and actually did a great deal of the work were already extremely busy in their own lives, so taking on David's fundraiser was just added stress and complication to their lives. They did it though, bless their souls and I can never thank them enough.

A couple of days prior to the fundraiser, a friend from Texas came up to help. God bless her as I had a ton of cheesecakes to bake and we were getting down to the wire. With her help though, the cheesecakes were baked and delivered on time. On Friday night we all emerged on the church to make chili and get the church hall ready for the next days events. I plated and prepared cheesecakes while others set up the auction tables, made chili and just generally got everything ready for Saturday.

While I was working I started feeling very sick. Circumstances made it so I had to go home anyway and after getting home, my fever shot up and I laid and shook for several hours. By 5 a.m. I thought I might die. It's an exaggeration now, but that morning....not so much. I took a final dose of ibuprofen and prayed alot and by 7:30 a.m., I felt much better and the day began.

The fundraiser ended up being a success as we raised close to $9,000 when all was said and done. The left overs from the fundraiser were used to feed the homeless and David had an amazing time walking around and well.....walking around. There was a lot of space there and he and his walker managed to cover it all.

By the time it was over, we were all fundraisered out but I was so grateful to all who showed up to help and who were so kind as to be a part of helping to Save David's Home. The $9,000 helped to bring our total to about $45,000. It was amazing. The sad reality though was that even though we had raised so much, we still had a lot left to raise and March 31st wasn't getting any further away.

Truthfully though, the Sunday following the fundraiser, I was absolutely sick. God got me through Saturday but Sunday He definitely made me aware that I needed to rest. I had no idea how much stress and frustration that I was going through or how badly I was taking care of myself. I was bound that this house was not going to kill me in the process of saving it, so......I decided to allow myself the time to recharge.

Oh, I may have left out a small detail here. The week following the fundraiser, my lawyer contacted me and told me that my father had a new lawyer. Since my lawyer had not yet talked to the new lawyer, I had no idea whether this was a good thing or a bad thing and what this might mean going forward. I literally almost cried as I just wasn't up for having to slay anymore Goliath's. The next day however, after talking to the new lawyer, my lawyer got back with me. According to the new lawyer, my father is financially not healthy. That being said, he had gotten wind of the fundraiser and the money raised and he was willing to give us until June 30th to finish raising the money which all in all will be $78,000. I had a few questions as to why if he was in such a bad situation I was never made aware of it and also, why he had not put his own house on the market yet as I was originally told this was part of the fix to his problem. My lawyer also asked if since I had to give them a doctors note stating David was actually having surgery, if we could see some concrete figures as to his financial stress. Of course my lawyer was denied which didn't surprise me. My dad is old school where finances are private and I am sure just the fact that his need is out there is embarrassing to him, so no we will not be given any info on that front. I simply told my lawyer that at this point, the "why's" really don't matter. All that matters is, "the what is" and the what is...is what I have to deal with. Oh...and I was also told that I couldn't bad mouth my dad or my brother as I guess they had received some back lash. My lawyer assured him that I had not. I will not, but I am not responsible for the opinions or knowledge of others.

I took this as a huge win in the respect that it gave me time and with that time it gave me a week or so to heal, get strong and then get back at it. I am grateful to my dad for giving me this added time. It truly was a gift. So today I am back. I have my windows open and the spring air is blowing in. I am starting to feel rejuvenated and ready to get back in the fight.

Going forward, the fundraisers are still in the works. We have a beirock dinner fundraiser at Laurie's Kitchen on April 7th, a quartermania on April 8th (place TBD) and an upcoming 20% fundraiser night at Mulvane Pizza Hut and possibly a 20% fundraiser night at a restaurant in Wichita. I also plan on doing a cheesecake fundraiser after David's surgery (if his recovery allows). So I have not given up. I am still going to Save David's Home and I am still in the game. I just needed to get healthy.

Also, David's surgery will be April 10th at 7 a.m. at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita. I ask for continued prayers for the success of saving David's home and for a successful and beneficial surgery for David. Your prayers have gotten us so much farther than I ever dreamed and I have no doubt with their continuation.....we will go all the way and David will be happy and healthy in "his" home.

I also want to thank all of you who have helped, attended, worked behind the scenes, given and also those who have prayed. You all have no idea what it has meant to David and I. I can't thank you all enough and I will be paying it forward for the rest of my days.

Thank you all and have an amazing day!

Thank You

One thing growing up that my mother was a stickler for was manners. You addressed your elders as ma'am and sir, you said Excuse Me when passing someone in an aisle and in every instance of asking you said Please and when given, you never failed to say Thank You! It is a show of respect and appreciation and those lessons were drilled into my head from birth.

Recently in my world, there has been a great deal of asking which I always start with a huge PLEASE. I try to make the please as big as the ask and trust me, my current ask is beyond huge. I have also tried to follow up every give, whether it is the promise of a prayer, a share, volunteering to help with our fundraiser or a financial donation with an even bigger than huge THANK YOU!

I am sure this will not be my only blog of thanks in this whole ordeal, but I want everyone who even gives David and I a good thought for the day to know how much that means to us and yes....thank you! 

I have so many people to thank, even thus far. I am so appreciative of all the people who the minute they heard our story, started sharing it on social media. I am grateful for every donation that has been given and every social media share of the donation sites, the t-shirt page and the information that Davids page posts. There is also Shirts Plus, the t-shirt shop who put up a t-shirt page for David and who is making the t-shirts. Also Matt Orsman and Sara Stone who designed the t-shirts. I want to thank the friends, neighbors and family who have donated to us not to mention the complete strangers who simply saw a need and out of the kindness of their hearts gave to us. I want to also thank whoever thought of the idea of sending our situation to the Ellen Show and all the others who jumped aboard the train and also sent something in to her. We all knew it was a long shot but you all knew that a long shot might be our only chance. And all of you who have shown up at fundraiser meetings, offering your time, resources and effort to help create this fundraiser in a limited amount of time. To all who have sought out auction items and all who have offered auction items, we are beyond grateful. And finally, to the little coffee shop Jane's Landing here in town that lets us convene our meetings whenever and has even stayed open past closing to accommodate our group....we are so grateful.

I know there are so many more of you who have jumped in with ideas, advice and help in all forms. There are also many who have come in under the cloak of anonymity and given and to each and everyone of you....I hope you know that I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope that I also tell each and everyone of you each time you do something....thank you. I know I have been pretty exhausted and sometimes things slip through the cracks, but I sincerely hope my manners and gratitude are not one of those things.

Also, some of you may know and others may not, that for many years, I have had another blog called: Life With the Incredible Mr. David. This blog has chronicled David's life through the years, illnesses, surgeries and triumphs. If you are interested in knowing more about David, this is the place to go. I bring this up because yesterday David had a pre-surgery appointment with his PT. The details of what we learned about his upcoming surgery and recovery are covered in my latest post Spinal Surgery and Stuff, so please feel free to snoop around his blog and read all you like. And if you do.....thank you for dropping by.

#savedavidshome
#fightfordavid

2014....Thank You

So here I sit on this last day of 2014 and I am reflecting. Of course I cannot reflect properly without being in my pajamas with my hair uncombed and a cup of really good pumpkin flavored coffee. Check! Check! AND check!

It is not lost on me that at this exact time last year, Z and I were sitting in the surgical waiting room at St. Louis Children's Hospital, praying that David would be undergoing his last hip surgery and that 2014 would be the year he walked. He has walked. He is doing well and hopefully, our prayers of that day will continue to be answered.

This last year has presented my family with a lot of hard times running the gamete from physical to emotional. We have upped our ER/hospital frequent flyer miles, I have had to use my "outside" voice on a few people in several situations and I have had to spend a great deal of time fighting against the machine. There have been tears, frustration and at times I have even wished for those little kid days where I could just pull the covers over my head and hibernate until.........

Yes, this has been a really tough year and in some ways it has remained that way right up until this very minute. I posted on facebook the other day that I was kicking 2014 to the curb and never speaking of it again, because on that day.....that was all I could think to do to move forward. Then someone posted, but what about the good memories?! It stopped me in my tracks. There were good memories!!!! In fact, there were some amazing memories. More over that, once again.....I was put in the position to see the extraordinary kindness of others. While 2014 had some rather sucktacular moments, it also was filled with the generosity of others. That is what I choose to focus on.

In 2014, I literally had to beg for help. It was at one of the lowest points in my life. Amazingly though, people who had their own struggles came out of the woodwork to help my family. Some who helped knew me and were in fact, close to me, while others only knew me from fb and still others didn't even know me at all. Because of them, my family was able to survive. Then there were those who gave of their time and skills. The summer was filled with individuals who worked all day and then spent their evenings in my backyard so that David could have a pool to do his therapy in. It was no small task and there were several weeks where these individuals had 14-16 hour days because they went from work straight to my house and stayed until late digging, building and giving David the pool and deck of his dreams. It was a success all the way around, as in no time after starting his pool therapy......David was kicking and strengthening his legs and yes....walking with his walker.

So.....it occurs to me as I sit here typing, that in retrospect, I have a great deal to be grateful for and that 2014 had many more bright spots than I originally gave it credit for. I think rather than dwell on the tears, I will just focus on the events and people that helped us, made me smile or flat out changed my/our lives for the better. To all of you who helped us, even in the smallest way......I thank you. For all the people who flooded our lives and made sure we didn't have to face the difficult times on our own.....thank you. To those that built us up, had a kind word or were just there to listen when all I had were tears and inaudible sobs......thank you. For those of you who laughed with me, sat around the fire with me and maybe even shared a drink with me......thank you. To all of you who prayed for us......thank you. To the doctors and nurses who fought for David, worked with David and helped to make sure that David had the best of medical care on each and every ER/hospital stay.....thank you. To the EMS who have earned their own frequent flyer miles coming to my home this past year and transporting......thank you. For those who labored in my yard, showed up at the drop of a hat to fix things and who helped me to save what little money I had......thank you. To all of you who helped us financially.....thank you. To my old friends who never left me, my new friends who this year has brought me and those that don't even know us but lended a hand anyway.......thank you. For my church family, my biological family and my hand picked family......thank you. To those who have bought cheesecakes and who continue to buy them knowing that is my income......thank you. For those who continue to be there for us and check up on us......thank you. You all know who you are and I hope you know that you have made 2014 a better place for my family and I because of your presence. Thank you!

I guess that 2014 held much more than just a few tears. After all.....I/we are still here and I am sitting in my pj's drinking pumpkin coffee and blogging about the positives. I would say that is a pretty good ending to any year.

Before I finish this final blog of 2014.........I would like to wish you all safety tonight and a wonderful.....peaceful......joyful, New Year! See you in 2015!

Thanking Soldiers.....and Welcome to Monday

I would like to begin today's blog by thanking our military. They do so much and honestly....get so little in return for keeping us safe and making sure that our freedom stays in tact. Last night....it was proclaimed loud and clear that Osama Bin Laden had been killed and that his body was in American hands. Much of the media talk was about credit. Was it the Bush Administration who deserved the credit or the Obama Administration? Possibly it was a joint effort? Wrong on all accounts. Neither administration should take the credit. The credit belongs soley to our military. If not for them.... Bin Laden would still be at large.

Although many throughout the world are rejoicing that this terrorist of mass proportions is dead, I have to wonder what this means. Is the world suddenly a safer place with his demise or are there many others out there just waiting to take his place and come after us with a vengeance? Granted...we cannot fear retaliation when doing what is right....but even being right has it's pitfalls and I do fear that we have not heard the last from Al qaeda. I hope with all my heart that our current administration pulls national security in tightly and keeps their eyes and ears open for some time to come. Perhaps though....maybe this is the beginning of the end for this particular terrorist regime. Maybe the infrastructure will start to crumble with the taking of this leader. This nation can only hope. All I know for sure is....he is dead and we have the brave men and women of our military to thank. Thank you one and all!

And now....on to our regularly scheduled Monday.   
 

Welcome to a new week! And so it begins! I was right Friday when I said I thought the weekend would fly by. It did....in record time. I started cleaning Friday night. I cleaned all day Saturday (at least the part that I wasn't out running) and from the time I got home from church Sunday (after blogging of course), until almost bedtime last night. I am not doing the kiss and promise type cleaning either....I am doing the full on move every piece of furniture, take down every curtain kind. I will NOT leave for MO or any place else and know that I am coming home to a dirty house. I wouldn't enjoy one second of my trip knowing that dust bunnies would be greeting me on my arrival home.

I think I might have mentioned a time or two about how much I hate to clean....and the only thing I hate worse is a dirty house. Crazy....right? A dirty house just drives me to the brink of insanity....causing me in turn....to drive everyone else there. I have been trying to justify hiring someone to come in and clean for me, but I just haven't quite made it there yet. I have several that have said they would do it, but the financial justification hasn't quite hit my complete and total frustration yet. I am sure however....that soon....very soon, the two will meet head on.

Aside from cleaning this weekend, there were other things going on. Z had his Esprit tryouts Friday night and he will know tonight whether he made it or not. Saturday he had state choir competition where they came out with a 1 (the highest score you can get). Z was so excited. Tonight is Catapalooza. It is the high school spring concert. Z has a special act where he does a solo. He is doing The Mortician's Daughter by Black Veil Brides. It is actually a beautiful song and he is being backed up by two really talented kids. I plan on recording it and if my camera skills are good enough...I might just share. Of course....technology and I are seldom friends....so we will have to see what happens. Oh.... and did I mention......I am over half way to being a REAL blogger. LOL I have over 5000 blog views. Take that Miss Blog Snob! Now if I can just get to 1000 postings! snicker

We are now officially in the last month of school. WOW! It seems like school just started and then we jumped to Christmas.....now it is May! If I thought time zoomed by up until now....I best be holding onto my hat because things are really taking off from here. Between the tons of cheesecakes I am doing (graduation, communion and confirmation....with a bridal shower thrown in for good measure), we also have a couple of graduations to go to, finals, the spring play, David's IEP, and getting this trip planned for MO. Throw into all of this finishing up cleaning my house, getting my yard in shape....oh.....and work and I may just have to cut out sleeping until June. I am thinking that is the only way to fit it all into the limited time I have. It makes me tired just thinking about it! Sigh!

Today is suppose to be cloudy and chilly. Maybe not as bad as yesterday....but still not very springy. I know I should quit weather complaining.....because before long it is going to be a 100 degrees with 80% humidity and that isn't going to make me happy either. I am just tired of the drearies. And when we don't have the drearies....then we have 60 mph winds which continue to threaten my fence, my potted plants and all the branches in my already precariously old trees. Of course....this is typical KS weather and being that I have lived in KS the better part of my life.....I probably should be pretty familiar with the hit and miss weather patterns of the state. Still....a few high 70 degree days with only a light breeze and abundant sunshine would be glorious and a great boost to my sagging emotional status. Ahhhh well!

It didn't take much thought when it came to today's video. Number one.....I am a huge Trace Adkins fan....and let's just say he isn't too bad to look at either. I guess you know you have made it as a star when you get to star in a video with the Muppets. This video makes me laugh every time I see it. So have a wonderful Monday as I leave you with Trace Adkins and Brown Chicken Brown Cow!