A Bit Of A Scare!

We  a bit of a scare on Tuesday.  Shad had been complaining  a little of stomach pain since he got home.  Then he had a sharp pain and said it hurt to pee.  Well after just having such a horrible kidney/bladder infection myself, I took him to our Urgent Care thinking it would be a quick in and out since we were having Steve's going away party that night......   Well I should know better by now!  The doctor did a quick test that was negative and then examined Shad.  He turned to me and said that he thought it was Shad's appendix!  I was shocked speechless!  That doesn't happen too often. 

So we were told to go to a Hospital.  I wasn't sure which one to go to so I called our pediatrician and he told us to go to Tampa General as it was really good for things like this.   Jon came home and we hustled to get there.  Luckily it was a slow day and he was seen almost as soon as we got there.  They did an ultrasound rather than a CAT scan to begin with to see what was going on.  He had no markers for appendicitis BUT he had a belly full of poop!  So we got to go home with laxities.  Let's just say he didn't get much sleep that night as the meds worked well.  He is fine now and we are so grateful that that was all it was that we just laughed about it!  WHEW!!!!


Later I was telling a friend about my reaction when the doctor told me that he thought it was Shad's appendix.  The way I've dealt with scary situations is to get really quiet and have no reaction till it is all over THEN I fall to pieces if there is a reason to.  That's how I was when I was told about Sam, and when the accident happened, when my aunt who raised me died..... I have my reaction hours or days later.  After the accident, I had ran to the scene and there are pictures/videos of me just standing there, stone face and white as a ghost.  It was hours before I fell apart but when I did, it was rather spectacular!  I tend to throw up and pass out....but after everyone else calms down.   I felt like fainting when the doctor told me about Shad.  But I managed to take some deep breathes.  The thing with the little kids, it's not so upsetting to them if you get all upset but of course it would be to Shad.  But Shad is so strong and wasn't at all freaked out. 

Anyhow we all got through it and everything's ok!

Steve's party got rescheduled:) 

We've been busy around here getting ready for college and the start of the school year next week for everyone else.  It's good that everything is changing all at once and we'll be busy.

Hope you are having a less eventful week than we did!!!!!

Letting Go

All my chicks are home!   Shad had a great time at Nationals, especially since his group won 3rd place in the nation.  They had a nice condo to stay in with lots of pools and got to spend some time at the Orlando attractions too.  But he has said over and over that he was glad to get home:)  That just warmed my heart.  We missed him and all of us felt incomplete without him here. 

Of course in less than a week Steve is leaving for college.  Honestly I'm not sure how Shad or Sam will handle it.  Shad and Steve have grown so close in the past couple of years.  It's funny to see them go out together, big, bearded Steve and little Asian Shad... more than once people have thought that Steve was Shad's daddy.  They go to movies together, theme parks, kayaking and out to eat.  Steve has been able to give Shad a chance to do things without all the little kids going along. Shad adores Steve.

And Sam.....he'll go and sit in Steve's room and play while Steve is watching tv or playing video games.  He goes to Steve for comfort and there are times only Steve can make him happy.  The ONLY word outside of Mama Daddy and No that Sam has ever said was "Steve".   He doesn't say it consistently but has said it before.   He also adores Steve. 

Those boys are going to be a mess. 

And then there is me!  Steve is more than a son to me, he is also my close friend.  Oh don't get me wrong I can yell at him but we are close.  We fuss at each other then five minutes later we're over it and going out to eat pizza :)   (Actually I probably will lose weight with him gone!) 

Steve was the glue that held Jon and me together at one point in our marriage.  There's a formal  picture of the three of us, with Steve in the middle holding both of our hands.  It's so symbolic, I don't like the picture but Jon does.  It reminds me of a rough time in our lives.  But it is true, our love for our son held us together through some hard times. 

Steve grew up when Sam was born.  He was 8.5 years old and went from being an only child to having a baby brother with extreme special needs.  His "new" normal became me picking him up from school and going back to the hospital.  He did his homework in a little lobby off the NICU.    From the beginning, Steve was amazing.  Not once did he complain or grumble, he always treated everything as an adventure.  He handled things amazingly well.  At the time we were just walking through such a all consuming valley, we didn't even realize how well he was doing.  Looking back, it's almost unbelievable how Steve just "rolled with the punches"

He had so much change during that time.  We moved twice, his dad began pastoring and we adopted Shad.   Again Steve stepped up to the plate.  The only time he got really down was when we moved from the house we'd leased for years to the prison.  He and I cried together about it.   BUT to be honest, he did have some bonding issues with Shad.  Shad was a two and a half year old who drove Steve crazy and vice versa.....   There were a few years of sibling rivalry!!   But as Shad grew older, they began to relay on each other and now they are very close.

During the girls adoption and our time in Ukraine, Steve was wonderful.  He had a good time but also gained many new experiences.  He handled himself great during that whole trip. 

When the accident happened, Steve was only 16 years old!  The day of the accident, he was at the Ronald McDonald House with Shad and Sarah.  No one was sure of what was going on, there were police, tv stations/reports/helicopters, EMS, Fire, and tons of on lookers.  Steve took charge of the kids, not knowing what was actually happening.  For several hours, he thought Jon, Sam and Selah had all been killed.  The staff of the RMH told us that he stayed calm and took great care of the kids.  He didn't upset Shad or get off schedule with Sarah.  When I finally could get back to them, he handled the news with grace and understanding beyond his years.  To this day I feel bad that I didn't get back to him quickly but I just didn't think about it. 

The past three years, he has been a rock.  He and Shad gave up their room and slept on the floor of the little kids' room until June when we moved to our new home.  He never once complained.  He's helped out so many times in so many different ways. 

I appreciate all of that, but when I'll miss the most is just sharing the day to day life with my son.  I miss saying good night to him, and having all my chicks under the same roof.  I enjoy Steve. 

He's not going far, just 45 minutes away but this is the start of the letting go process.

So we drop him off on Saturday, the funny thing is I have to pick him up on the following Wednesday and he'll spend the night at home so he can go to an early ortho appointment.  Boy I was so glad when they made that appointment LOL!!!!!   He'll be coming home some weekends and of course we can pop over and have lunch with him.  But it is still going to be different. 

Many of my friends will be sending their kids off to college this year, in fact some of them are sending them off to the same college as we are. Some are coming from great distances and won't see their families until Christmas break.  I keep reminding myself that it's not far and to stay strong and not to be a cry baby.

And Jon?  At first he "poo-pooed" my feelings....but the other night he broke down crying when I had some Halloween stuff out.  He said it reminded him of all the things we've shared over the years with Steve.  Now he is afraid he's going to boo-hoo the worse next week.   

Bittersweet is the only word for it.  We are proud of the boy we raised.  We love that he is going to our Alma Mater, we know he's going to have wonderful adventures and will grow in many ways.   In fact, I'm quite jealous of the adventures he'll have.  College was so fun to me.  I want him to have all of that but I want him with us too LOL!!!!!!  When Steve was the most tentative about going to college I was very much in favor of him going, now that the reality is just days away it's a bit harder.  But I feel like he has made a good decision.  We let him make the decision whether to go to SEU, continue at the community college, begin a career in law enforcement....all had positives and all had negatives.  We felt we could support him 100% whichever decision he made.   We didn't rush him or try and interfere, it's been interesting to watch him make the decision for himself. 

So pray for this little family that we won't grieve too much!  I did tell him that I was going to enjoy his room, tv etc......LOL  Sometimes my husband snores way too much!   I have to think of the positives like having my own escape room :) 

He has some fears/reservations, but I think he will do just fine and have a great time.  I feel like he's been preparing for this moment all his life.  PLEASE pray for his finances.  He has a grant and a few scholarships that covers about half of his tuition.  He will be working but even with that, there is no way for him to make enough to cover everything.  He is eligible for loans, but we are hoping he won't have to go that route.  He's been so faithful for all these years, I just feel like God will make a way for him. 

BTW, his major is Broadcasting. He has an amazing, rich and deep voice.  We joke around about his doing voice commercials.  He is interested in many aspects of broadcasting/media mostly behind the scenes.  He already has registered for classes and is taking some interesting ones.  I'm even jealous about the classes, I loved going to class. 

My how times have changed, we waited in long lines to register for classes.  In fact I know a couple that met in line their freshman year, and got married when they graduated and are still married LOL.  I told him the story and said that doing it all by computer just cut that chance out for him :) 

Well we have a busy week coming up.  Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.  Personally I may pull the covers up over my head!

TRUMP

First I have to brag on Shad!
The percussion group he is in, Rhythms of Grace won THRID place in National Fine Arts!  They got a superior status also.  The five of those kids and their director Rodney Probasco put in hours of work.  Three of the kids, including Shad were new to the group this year. 

 

 

 

Shad will be home tomorrow and we've missed him but he's had a good time.
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Well you know it's been quiet around here......so let me stir up things!

Donald Trump

What do I think about him?  I find him totally refreshing even his "mean" remarks. I love that he doesn't apologize or kiss anyone's butt, he doesn't run up after people and try and curry favor either.   Personally I'm so tired of politically correct people that I like when Trump says something that is NOT PC!  You have no idea how I HATE PC!  PC is not something I do.  But the majority of the world does and it drives me crazy.  I know people who believe strongly about certain things but they don't have the backbone to tell anyone else (but me it seems)  Political Correctness makes my skin crawl.  I hate it in any arena, from politics to church, wherever it shows it's ugly head.  One of my friends recently wrote on FB that I would never be accused of being politically correct!  LOL  And that's true. 

He dished it out to Rosie but she's a big girl and can take it after all the ugly things she has said of him and others.  This newest statement about Megyn Kelly could be taken several ways, the first time I heard it, I really didn't think he meant her period.  It's a statement that could have been made to a man.  People get so crazy today, they want to censor and read into every single word that is spoken or in this case tweeted.  Now he could have meant it the way some are taking it but so what?   (BTW, Megyn interviewed Jon and me years ago when we had bank robbers living next door to us) 

It seems that the media wants to portray Trump as part of this "war on woman"    I'm funny, I'm pretty traditional as far as roles go BUT I also worked a career job for years in the criminal justice field.  I didn't expect to be treated any different than a man at work.  When some woman can dish it out and works in a cut throat business, then they need to suck it up and not be expecting people to handle them with kids gloves.  So I'm not at all about a "war on woman"   There was some statement Trump made about a contestant on his show being "on her knees"   I'm guessing that that is being made into a sexual reference because she is a woman.  He could have easily said that about a man NOT in a sexual way but just meaning he beat the person out. 

I have no idea who I will vote for in the election.  I like Trump's brashness but truthfully he doesn't make me feel "safe" He didn't answer all the questions in depth but none of them really did.   But I LOVE LOVE LOVE how he has the Republican establishment bleating out dire statements about no one voting for him while his numbers are double digits above anyone else in the poles LOL!!!!!!

Just know I will NOT be voting for Clinton LOL!  And I will have to start drinking IF I have to vote for another dang Bush.  I've said I'm not voting for him but if it's between Bush and Clinton I might have to-YUCK!

 Ben Carson is just wonderful in so many areas.  We actually got to hear him speak a few months ago and he is fantastic.  Rick Santorum I like, just bought his book today, "Bella's Gift".   Ted Cruz I like, Mario Rubio is sooooooo cute :)   And he helped us to expatiate the girls' adoption. 

But Trump is the most fun!   This election year will be long, at least we have someone stirring up the pot!  Could you see an election between him and Biden????   OMG- the two of them would make so many gaffes!!!   Actually an election between him and Clinton would be fun to watch too.  She's such a loser in so many different ways. 

Did anyone notice in the debates how ALL of them refused to answer the questions directly?  That drives me crazy!  I'd vote for any candidate that would answer a question with a simple YES or NO!!  They answer with the stupidest long answers that make no sense whatsoever!  I feel like dousing them all in cold water LOL!  The interviewer is like " So do you think we should do __________?  the candidate is like " My favorite color is purple and my grandfather was a coal miner and I like dogs...."   Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!   They should have shock collars on their neck and get a shock if they didn't clearly answer the question.  Trump included! 
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Road Trip with Steve again today.  Hey I'm making the most of every minute since we are dropping him off at college in one week from today!  We went to Brandon to get his IPhone fixed and I got to take some stuff to my favorite consignment shop.  We had a really good time going to the mall, eating Chinese and I browsed through the bookstore as he was getting his phone fixed.  Even though we are on a tight budget.....don't let me in a bookstore!  I got one of my favorite murder mystery author's book - Rhys Bowen "Her Royal Spyness"  As I mentioned before I bought Rick Santorum's book "Bella's Gift"  I was skimming it in the store and had to stop as tears were welling up in my eyes.  They express our feelings for our little ones.  It brought me back to the first days of Sam's life and all the uncertainty about diagnosis and prognosis, very moving book.   Also I got Jon a coffee table book on Johnny Cash by Life Magazine.  His dad grew up in the same tiny town as JC and Jon's uncle was a close friends of JCs. 

He deserved a treat cause Jon took care of the kids last night thank God!  We got take out and let Sam drink quite a bit of sweet tea.  Well it was late and he obviously can't handle his caffeine LOL  He fell asleep on me but woke up about 1 am.....until about 6 am.....  He was making his happy sounds...LOUDLY.  Our new house is wonderful but as large as it is, it is so echoing.  So he woke Sarah up.  Both of them managed to wet their beds.  It was a long night for Jon.  I woke up after all the work was done but I can sleep through anything and so I went right on back to sleep!  I'm a great mom and I'll stay up all night with a kid if necessary BUT don't let me go to sleep, then it's like I am drugged!   Both Sam and Steve slept through the night after we brought them home from the hospital.  Of course Sam had alarms on him so when that would go off, it would get me up.  But I was blessed never to have a kid that didn't' sleep through the night till last night!  Sam was very happy just lying in his bed and laughing but  NO MORE CAFFEINE!

Working At The Carwash!

With our son leaving next week, I've been trying to get all kinds of errands out of the way before he leaves.  Today I was determined to wash our vans and vacuum them out.  Since we had all that rain and live on a dirt road....this is what one van looked like

it looked much worse "in real life".  

So today Steve and I cleaned both vans out inside (like getting up all the change, taking out the diaper bags and restocking wiping everything down)  and off we go to go to fill them up for the week and wash/vac them 

That's when our adventure began....
I paid for one car to fill up, then our bank automatically rejected the next payment.  So I went inside....with my hair up in a pony tail, old tshirt and shorts on, old flip flops....I wasn't dressed to go in anywhere!  The guy overrode it and the transaction went through.  I paid for the cars to go through the car wash there since they were so dirty. 

The car wash.....
Steve takes the grey van through as I wait in the blue van....
it doesn't work.  He comes out and asks me to go back in and tell the guy something is wrong.  Guy gives me another code and tells me a "trick" on how to make it work.  I go get in the car with Steve to "help' him.....  it doesn't work.  So Steve tells me to get out and go tell the guy that it doesn't work....we are IN the carwash.  So I dither about opening the door assuming that the carwash will start the second I open the door and I'll get caught in it and end up on the cable news shows.....  Finally I jump out and run out of the carwash and tell the guy it's not working.   He's a funny little guy...so he comes back with me and resets the whole system...  It works!!!

Then Steve decides we should get Subway sandwiches which has a kiosk in convenience store, so while he is taking the other van through, I order us food.  I'm feeling so self conscious in my old clothes, no shower, hair up in a ponytail....of course part of the football team and some cops were there....I'm sure they are all thinking "bless her heart".  

The order gets placed and the card is declined....
30 minutes later I get someone on the phone from the bank that clears it all up, we get our food and drive away.  We had planned on vacuuming the cars out there, but had no cash and couldn't use the card for it since they don't do "cash back"

So then we go to another gas station....It takes credit cards at the vacuum/air pressure machine....YEAH!....  then we start looking around for the vacuum hose....it wasn't there....  this time Steve goes inside and the worker comes out to help us.  She couldn't make it magically appear, some one had stolen the vacuum hose!  the huge hose, someone had cut it off.  For what reason would someone steal that?  So then she went off to call the Po-Po....we left to go eat our food and give up for the day!

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The rain quit and the county has been out grading our dirt roads (that means they've been fixing them and smoothing them out with a plow)  That has made all of us around here happy!  The waters are receding some around us, our yard is almost dried out but not our parking area.  Our neighbor can now use his driveway.  However it looks as if the river is higher than ever today!

Since last week I've not felt good, by Monday I felt so weak, was nauseated and had chills.  I honestly wondered if I was having a heart attack or something.  It felt like my limbs had weights on them.  By Monday night I started getting symptoms of a bladder infection. Thankfully there is over the counter meds and that got me through a miserable night.  I was at our doctor's by 8am the next morning.  Evidently I have a really bad kidney/bladder infection.  I'm on some strong meds and they are helping a lot but I don't have a lot of energy and am still taking pain killers. This was a warning to me to go to the doctor if I feel odd.  Since I didn't have typical symptoms for a few days, it could have gotten really bad for me and I could have ended up in the hospital.  People can die of infections like this and not even really know what is wrong until it is too late.   So don't put off going to the doctor if something is "not right"



Well I hope everyone has a great healthy weekend!!!!!
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No Ark Needed!

We had SUNSHINE today!!!!  The water has not receded in our yard much but it hasn't gotten worse.  Our road was worse today it seemed but at least there has been no new rain!!!  It was great to see the sun creeping through my window this morning.  I feel like we had a good practice run for any hurricanes or problems that could come up. 

Today we had a free day, I got to go out to breakfast with a friend.  Later Steve and Shad went to a movie and I got a little reading in.  Sarah will sit right with me as I read and she usually keeps one leg over mine so I can't get up :)  Sam took a nap- he's been off his schedule since we've moved and he is a child that needs a nap.

Tomorrow Shad leaves for Orlando and the National Fine Arts/General Council of the Assemblies of God.  He is representing the Clantons this year.  Even tho it was close to home, the move, along with Steve leaving for college and our looming September trip to NY- it was too much for us to go.  Of course seeing all the pictures, I do regret not seeing friends there but we just weren't up to it this year.   Shad's all excited.  We are hoping his percussion group will win :) 

Anyhow just wanted to let y'all know we are not needing an ark!

Rain!!!

This is day 20 of rain for our area.  We live about a mile from the Hillsborough River and 1.5 miles from Crystal Springs, that feeds into the river.  Thanks to Angelo's Recycling, who brought in truckloads of sand,  our house itself is high up but our roads are getting really bad!

Yesterday our road was under water in an area.  I am beyond traumatized about water so I stayed home with the kids from church.  That was a first!   Since we live in an area that is plagued with sinkholes, I was not driving through any water that I could not see the road under it!  It's one thing to get myself out of a vehicle, it's another to get the kids out of their car seats and out safely!  We've bought the sticks that will break the car windows from the inside in case of something like that happening. 

Well today it's worse!  Our nurse could barely drive her small car in this morning.  since rain is expected for 3 more days....I called Emergency Management.  We were actually thinking we might need to take Selah to a hotel to be safe.  EM was very helpful.  Originally I had called them per our nursing agency when we came home with Selah.  Basically they told us they had no place for our family due to all the needs.  So they told us to be prepared to hunker down.  With our new house, that is what we prepared for. BUT the nurses can't get in and out, especially the ones with smaller cars.   So the EM guy suggested that the nurses park at our local fire station and they can be shuttled back & to if they need to be. 

I love rain but....this is too much!

Forecast for today



this is our side yard, as you can see the water from the gully is over taking it

 

the picture below is our neighbor's yard, you can see it's coming in our yard.  

 

the neighbor's yard is underwater

 

This is across the street, there is almost always water here, but as you can see from the next picture, it is overflowing out to the road.  

 

the water is very swampy

More of the neighbor's yard, there is also usually water in it too

You can see our house on the left, the water is closer!!

we can't get to the dumpster



this was earlier this morning....

backyard

 

 

 We aren't really worried about water getting into the house but more about not being able to leave the house, or get back to it if we leave!   Even the ground that looks dry, isn't.  Where the sod/grass is, the water is there, maybe like a 1/4 og an inch.  You can't walk on it without sinking into the water. 

 

Right this second, it's not raining here but we are expecting more rain soon by the looks of the radar. 

 

 

This is interesting, usually we deal with hurricanes in Florida, where there is a tremendous amount of rain in a short amount of time.   Then the sun comes up and dries it all out.  This has been 20 days of rain for us, it's different.

 

 

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These pictures are from yesterday.  Sarah has on what I call her Ukraine shirt. 

She absolutely hates having her picture taken (that's her other stubborn thing!)  HOW does she know I'm taking a picture?  Seconds before she was giggling until I was ready to take a picture!  Then she got all serious.

 

 

 

Almost a smile in this one!

 

 

Well I hope you are safe and dry wherever in the world you are :)  We're trying here!!!!

 

 

 

Juice Boxes

When I talk about Sarah, I always stress how easy going and pleasant she is...and she is!  BUT she has a stubborn streak a mile long in a few areas.  One of those areas is her drinking.  She absolutely will NOT drink from anything but a Capri Sun packet.  Publix was having a buy 1 get1 sale of another juice box last week so I bought a couple of cartons.  Since we have Sam drinking out of a Sippy cup all the time now, I even got the apple flavor which is Sarah's favorite.  It was a NO GO!  The best I did was get her to take small sips.  So I continued daily for 3 or 4 days to get her to drink from it.  Nope, only a few sips.  So I thought I'd give her sweet tea in a Sippy cup...Nope.  I tried everything, even going back to giving her drink by a large tablespoon and then switching back to the Sippy cup or to the new juice box.  Nope.....  She did let us give her her daily Pedisure shake by spoon)

I gave in!  Today I went and bought her the Capri Sun that she loves and she set down and drank two packets immediately with a smile on her face.  She won!  (btw I get the one that is 100% juice)   

Usually I never give in to a child but when the child is non verbal and not drinking as much as I think she should, I give in.  She always had wet diapers and gets lots of fluids through her food since it is all pureed with additional water or broth.  But I worried about her. 

We think she just likes the feel of the Capri sun packet.  The other juice boxes have very narrow straws, although the sippy cup did have a larger straw.  I actually used a straw from the Capri Sun to put in the other juice box, it did not work!

My funny girl and her preference for the most expensive juice box on the shelf LOL!
But I figure after all she's been through, she can have the darn things!!!!


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Continued Rain......I love rain and even I am beginning to wonder about this!   This morning I almost got stuck leaving our parking area.  The pillows on the front porch all got mildew, and had to be thrown away.   Our yard is full of water, since we have sod (thank you Habitat!) it doesn't look too bad till you start walking and the water covers your shoe!  Hopefully all this rain will just cause the trees and grass to grow and get roots. 

With the move, I've not done a garden, I miss it so much.  I can't imagine how a garden would grow this year, it's perfect weather for one!!!!!

Well the countdown is really on, two weeks from today Steve leaves for college.  Some of his high school friends are throwing him a good bye party tonight.  We are having one the week he leaves too.  (Even tho he'll be coming back a lot LOL)   It's getting way too real!  Yesterday we worked on emptying out the shed at our old house and it has plastic boxes of stuff....probably not the kind of stuff you need to go through when your first born is leaving home in a few weeks!  I went through his baby box...oh my......seems like yesterday.   We always had a sense of time passing us.....I can remember having a conversation when he was pre school about when he would start Kindergarten.  Since we were sending him to private school, we could have allowed him to start a year earlier because of when his birthday fell.  I was all for it UNTIL my husband reminded me that Steve would graduate a year sooner if we did that.  I still remember him saying "we want him with us as long as possible"   So we stuck with Steve going to school at the regular time for his birthday. 

The old saying "the days are long, but the years are short" are true, extremely true! 

Well hope you all are having a great weekend!  Stay dry and enjoy your family!!