I'm back :)

LOL Dont know if anybody even checks back here anymore. I have been sooo bad about keeping this up-to-date. I'm sorry. I will try to do better but I doubt it lol. It will probably stay pretty sporatic due to my busy schedule but I will try. We have had a whole lot going on in our lives- besides the norm we've had a death of a close friend, the travel to the funeral which was in TN, and my surgery on my neck.
Many of you may have heard of all the surgeries that I have had on my neck due to a recurring infection. Well, I was finally referred to a ENT doc who specialized even more with the neck. Praise the Lord! He seemed to have a better idea of my problem then any of the other docs. After it had gotten infected for the 4th time this past winter, he decided to try a special x-ray which was actually a CT scan with some extra features. To make it simple, some dye was injected into my neck at the exit site; then a CT scan was done. He decided to do an exploratory surgery to try to remove the abnormalities that he found. Well, I had the surgery a little over a week ago & am so glad to be back in the land of the living. I slept most of the week away due to recovery & the vicodin that the doc had me on. Well, I went to the doc yesterday & had the drain removed and he also explained what all he found during surgery. There was a whole on the side of my voice box which he cauderized in hopes that scar tissue will develope. There was also a little sac filled w/ vegetation (so like some food had accedentally gotten in there somehow lol) somewhere in a cavity in my neck. Plus the 2 tracs that they had found during the CT scan were removed and found to have "big cells" in them which didnt belong up in my neck. Not sure what all that means except that the doc found a few dif problems & is in hope that he was able to fix the problem. So now instead of one large scar I am going to have 3- one large one from the incision, one small one from another incision to get one of the tracs, and the whole from the drain. I'm just gonna be all decorated now lol.
Well, enough about me lol. My family is doing good. My parents & Hannah just got back from the funeral up in Tennessee and Hannah has been fighting either a cold, strep, or the flu ever since they got back. Little Charity is growing like crazy & copies us all the time so we have to watch what we do lol. William started his own business a lil while ago & is trying to get that up & running. Daniel is completing his junior year & of course is as smart as ever. Mom & Dad are just staying busy w/ whatever.
We still have a lot of animals around. Its like the strays find other strays & tell them that we'll feed them lol. We have 2 kittens, 2 or more cats, 2 dogs, & 1 horse now. Talk about a big food bill lol.
Well, I'll try to get some updated pics up soon. Take care ya'll!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I will be making a conscious effort to wish everyone a Merry Christmas this year ... My way of saying that I am celebrating the birth Of Jesus Christ. So I am asking myl buddies, if you agree with me, to please do the same. ! And if you'll pass this on to your buddies, and so on... maybe we can prevent one more American tradition from being lost in the sea of "Political Correctness".
To one and All...

ORH Mexico Trip Part 1

Missy, Carrie, & I

Me & Sarah- we were both the "nurses" for Doc Waller. She was basically my assistant bc she had never been on a trip w/ us nor had been on the health field yet.

This is a picture of the courtyard of the church where we stayed while there in Ciudad Victoria.

Here we are at the church service on Sunday.

Here we are counting pills out for pharmacy.

Sarah, Carmen, & I. Carmen was our interpreter on the 1st day of clinics.

Dr Waller in his "office"

The waiting "room"

Kelley- a fellow Texan :)- checking this lady's blood sugar.

Dr Marcos in his "office" w/ Kelley.

I was given the opportunity to assist Dr Waller in a surgery.

Our optometrist- Marco Polo & his two assistants- Sarah & Alisha.

Triage

Our pharmacist for the trip- Mrs Waller

Dr Rosa & Mary her nurse.

Couldn't resist getting a picture w/ this cute lil girl.

Me w/ the Panamanians :) (remember them from the Honduras post? :)

w/ the Evangelist's wife Mrs Alfaro

While waiting for our bus to arrive we played some games w/ the young people of the church. Here we are playing "Diggity-diggity stick"

Diggity-diggity stick again- this game was super fun!

This game was "Quemazon o Revolucion" or "Burning (as in fire) or Revolution"-
this was another really fun game.
It was alot of fun getting to interact w/ the young people of this church
& to learn games from another country.

No we haven't dropped off the face of the earth :)

Just in case someone is actually coming to this blog & looking for updates, I have not forgotten. I just was released from the hospital from antibiotic therapy because of my neck infection or whatever it is. The docs still don't know what it is or what has been causing it (for those of you who don't know, I have had 7 surgeries total already related to my neck problem). The doc is trying to avoid surgery so he has kept me on antibiotics but so far it hasn't really helped much since it has actually seemed to get bigger. So I go back on Monday to have him check it & probably run more tests. Please pray with us that either the docs can figure out what is wrong/causing the problem or that God will heal my neck!

Pics of lil Charity

This is the sight that greeted Daniel & I when we came back from working @ the ranch.

She decided that she was going to drive the truck for me lol ;)

We kids gave our dad this exercise machine for Father's Day & his b-day combined.

Here lil Charity decided to try it out.

It's hard work!!!

Summer Pics- Fun w/ Renes

Here are some of the pics of our activities w/ the Renes. Some of our activities this summer included going to Six Flags & taking them to the ranch where Daniel & I work.

Sorry these pics are not in order but here is the group getting ready to head into Six Flags!!! :)

Tabby doing her fav activity ;)- talking on her cell lol.

Mrs. Rene was the driver/chaperone of the Six Flags outing.


Priscilla & I in the van on the way down to Six Flags.

Perfect expression for what we all were feeling :). Thanks for the great pic Nate :)

Priscilla, Tabby, & I decided to be a lil goofy for these pics. In this first one, Tabby just couldnt keep a straight face :)

Here we go!

Daniel, Priscilla, & Peter in the back of a truck at the ranch.

Daniel & Peter- the hard-working boys.

Tabby, Me, Mrs Shoemaker (a general's wife), & Priscilla- at the ranch house

Tabby on one of the horses- Kasey/Foresight

Priscilla on Vesta.

Just another pic of us three girls.

Summer

Well, sorry for not putting updates on here. I have been majorly busy w/ our friends the Renes, the horses, applying at two major universities, & going on another medical missions trip to Mexico.
So our missionary friends the Renes have been staying with us for the summer to get aquainted w/ their mustang and to try to get stuff for their ranch. It has been nice having them help take care of all the horses since I have been doing the majority of all the work myself but they are leaving very shortly to go back up north so I am enjoying the help while I have it :)
I applied to the nursing school of the University of Texas in Austin & Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi and was accepted into the TAMUCC :) I am soooo excited because their nursing program is available online so I can get my nursing degree w/o leaving home :)
Also, this summer I received a call asking if I was available to go on another medical missions trip to Mexico. Previously, I had not planned on going this year because of the lack of funds but the Lord provided and I was able to go to Ciudad Victoria, Mexico. Plus, next week I will be going on a mini medical missions trip to Honduras (its only a weekend trip w/ 2 docs, a nurse, & me- a student nurse). I am soo excited for this opportunity that the Lord has opened up for me!!!
I will try to post pics as I am able. Hope ya'll had a great summer!