Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!

Craig used to be a closet smoker. He only smoked while he was at work or in his car. He never smoked in our home or in front of us. He smoked before we met and quit before we got married. Craig started smoking again after Fletcher was born. It was kind of a release for him or coping mechanism, I guess. I really hated that he smoked and would randomly ask him to quit. I tried not to nag, but it really bothered me that he was smoking. Well, about two and a half years ago he quit! Unbeknownst to me, he was putting the money he spent each week on cigarettes into an envelope. In February, when we celebrated our tenth anniversary, Craig told me about the envelope and that he was saving the money for the two of us to go on a trip! A few weeks later, we went to a travel agent and booked a trip to Playa del Carmen, Mexico! As I write this, that trip has come and gone, but it was AMAZING! And just what Craig and I needed! We stayed at a five star all-inclusive resort called The Royal. It was beautiful! We were greeted by a Romance Concierge, who was able to set up a romantic dinner on the beach and help us with anything we needed. It was fabulous! Before our trip we decided we didn't want to be tourist, we wanted to relax and just be with each other. We then decided we would spend one day on some kind of excursion. We ended up going to Tulum and Xel-Ha, both places Craig went as a boy. So, that was a fun day filled with an adventure to the Mayan ruins in Tulum, then snorkeling and dolphin watching and such at Xel-Ha. It was so fun! We started each morning with a breakfast buffet, then we'd spend the morning either at the pool or on the beach. Then we'd go have some lunch then take a nap or read or just do whatever we wanted! After relaxing each afternoon we would pick one of the nicer restaurants for dinner! We also celebrated Craig's 45th birthday while we were there. How fun is that?? All in all it was a fantastic trip and I'm so grateful to have such a thoughtful, loving husband! I appreciate him more than he'll ever know!

 The view from our balcony...

 In front of the resort...

 Anniversary dinner on the beach...

Yummy anniversary cake...

 Craig at Xel-Ha...

The Mayan ruins in Tulum...

Craig's birthday dinner at a lovely Asian restaurant...

Port update...

Well, Fletcher's surgery went well yesterday. That kid is so amazing to me! He's such a trooper and oh so strong! I hit the ground running at 4:30 am and was at TCC by 5:30 am. Fletcher woke up in a great mood and was excited to go on an 'adventure' until we walked into Outpatient Services! Man, was he mad when he realized where he was! The surgery was scheduled for 7:45 and they were on time! The surgeon came out after they took the existing port out and told us it wasn't defective but that it had some fibrous tissue like scar tissue around it and that's why it wasn't working. Dr. Tuggle then told us Fletcher's chest needed a break and he put the port in Fletcher's groin on the left side. OUCH! We are praying this one will last for a long time. He's doing really well today a little cranky and I'm sure he's probably very sore. Thank you so much for for being so diligent in your prayers for him and us! Yesterday was a tough day for me emotionally. I don't think I'll ever get used to them wheeling him away to surgery but I don't usually cry and yesterday I cried. I think as he's getting older he's realizing what's going on and it scares him. Yesterday was really weird they didn't have enough beds so we took him back to the surgery holding area in his wheelchair. When it was time for him to go into the OR they kept him in his wheelchair he held out his hand for me to hold it so I did. I didn't realize he thought I was going with him so I had to let go of his little hand and let complete strangers take him away. Heart wrenching! It makes me tear up now as I write this! It's never going to get easier so I'm hoping for less frequent. Again thank you for being the Body of Christ to our family, as Fletcher was being whisked away into surgery I wasn't able to pray right before he went in and I immediately thought about all of you and I knew you all were praying. I had of course, been praying for Fletcher, he just didn't get to hear me pray for him. I think that's one reason why I was so emotional!

so cute!!

We're supposed to have some snow tonight so today I've been busy going to the grocery store and cleaning up the garage so I can park my car in there! I did a little home improvement project on spring break...I painted my fireplace. It looks absolutely amazing. I'm so happy with how it turned out.

before

after

Speaking of spring break, Kayleigh went to Mississippi last week with her grandparents. She had a great time visiting family and hanging out with old friends. We missed her! It's quiet around here without her! Kayleigh leaves this afternoon for Tulsa. She's going to Acquire the Fire which is a big youth rally type of deal. I'm praying for safe travel and for her to have a life changing time, for her to know Jesus in a more intimate way. I'm sure she'll have a great time she's very excited.

Kayleigh waiting in the cold to go to ATF

Maddie is doing great, as well. She's still loving first grade. This week she and a few other kids got to go to the library and check out CHAPTER books. Very exciting! She'll take her first AR test next week. Maddie is also getting ready to bridge over into Brownies. Last night at Girl Scouts the first grade Daisies were able to hang out with the Brownies. She loved it! Now if we could just get her to go by herself and let mommy have a break that would be nice. Her troop ended up selling 8,300 boxes of GS cookies! And we have less than 30 girls! So proud of all of them!



Craig is doing well. He's fixing to do a big honey-do project for me. We are in desperate need of a new stove. Ours is original to the house. It's going to be quite a project because this stove is a 'drop in' stove and it's smaller than a normal stove. So he's going to have to cut the counter top to make room for the new one. That's a pretty scary task so he's going to have one of his buddies help him. I'll take before and after pictures when we're all done.


Well, that's it for now. Hope you all have a great weekend! Stay safe!

Girls, driving and some randomness...

I can't believe I haven't blogged since November 30th! We're busy as usual. This is going to be a pretty random post! :) So here goes...

Last weekend I had the privilege to have a little spend the night party with four of my favorite girlfriends! All four of these girls lived here in OKC and in the past two years they all have moved! Two to Arkansas and the other two to Bixby and Tulsa. Well, we definitely do not get to see each other very often but we have all remained very close. So, last Friday night we packed up and went to Bixby, OK. Oh my, I haven't laughed so much in a very long time! We all enjoyed each other so much. What a blessing girlfriends are! We stayed up until 4am and we were up by 8am. We had a leisurely morning and then went and had mani-pedi's! We also had a late lunch where we ate dessert first! Can you believe how dangerous the five of us are? A pedicure in winter? Dessert first? Whoa! We were wild women! You can only imagine what a boost this was for this tired, stay at home mom! Thanks, Carol for being such a great hostess and thanks Craig for making it possible for me to go and have a ton of fun! You're the best!

Love these girls!

Fletcher is doing so well, you guys! God is so good to us! Today he had an appointment with his endocrinologist. Fletcher was taking 7200mg of calcium every 4 hours, every day. He has successfully been weaned off of the calcium supplement completely! Dr. Domeck said that Fletcher's body is obviously absorbing it instead of peeing it away. Way to go, Fletcher! Way to go, God! Do you all realize that last year at this time this very same doctor was telling us to keep Fletcher comfortable and to enjoy him. In other words, he was telling us that Fletcher wouldn't be with us for much longer. Thank you, Jesus that YOU know the number of Fletcher's days, not man! We'll continue to trust the Lord and give Him all the glory for the gift of Fletcher's life! After Fletcher's appointment we were able to head up to the 10th floor of Baptist Hospital and see our fun friends there! We hit the 'gold pot' and were able to see some of our favorite people!

Don't you just love him?

Fletcher has also been working on using a power chair. His little arms are so short that they really have to rig the chair so he can operate it. He needs lots of encouragement so his PT, OT, RT and one of his teachers were there to cheer him on! He sooo worked it and got those women to fawn all over him! Such a player! Here's a little video of our driver...

Boy am I ready for a break from all of the activities that are happening around here. Next week will be the last ballet class, the last Girl Scout meeting, the last Wednesday night at church. No more choir concerts, no more car pool for the rest of 2008! Hopefully we'll be able to really settle in and enjoy all that the Lord has given us. Time to slow down and reflect on this last year. I'm so thankful. I'm just so thankful!

Road trip...

This morning I took a spontaneous little road trip with two of my sisters, Dawn and Kim and my niece Amber. Dawn owns a monogramming store and Kim and Amber work there. So we all loaded up and went to a trade show in Ft. Worth, TX. Now I'll be honest and tell you that trade show was one of the most boring things I've done in a long time. However, the trip to Ft. Worth, lunch and the ride home was one of the best times I've had in a while. When I get together with those three girls laughter is abundant! We laughed until we cried today. So I have made a list of the things we said that made us hysterical throughout the day...

First of all we probably said 'Seriously?' at least 100 times

Dawn: 'He was infatuated with my personality' speaking of someone from high school

Amber: 'Oh I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth' (after her mom's comment above)

Dawn: 'I hate you all'

Amber: 'We're not going to encourage band'

Me: 'We're just in it for the memories, we're not going to make a career of it' (Girl Scouts)

Dawn's GPS: 'Left turn ahead' about 8 times and we went in a complete circle

Dawn: 'We hit the gold pot'

Dawn: 'I hate you all'

Kim: 'Whatever, panty thong monogrammer!' talking to Dawn

Dawn: 'I hate you all'

Dawn: 'Frac job' so funny, though we have no idea what it meant!

Dawn: 'I don't think Jesus likes that very much' she's probably right on that one

I'm sure this is so not funny to any of you but as I type I'm smiling from ear to ear! Poor Dawn she's always the one who says the funniest things and she doesn't even mean too! The bible says laughter is good medicine. My trip today was a great dose of fun! Thanks, girls it was a blast being with all of you today!