Journal Entry #2

Today is Sunday, June 4, 2017. Its been a little bit of a stressful week, which always seems to be the way when you return from vacation.

Last Sunday my tire pressure light came on and we discovered on Monday that we had a slow leak on the front drivers side. Donald came home Tuesday and aired it up around 6:30pm and by the next morning around 6am it was down to 10psi. So I made an appointment with Goodyear to have it looked at on Wednesday around 1pm. The girls are always so good when we go there and super patient. We are truly blessed with good, good girls and I am so thankful for that. I think we get spoiled and expect them to be perfect all the time, so when they do have a 'moment' we tend to get frustrated. I often have to remind myself that they are still children and are going to whine, pout, cry, and not listen sometimes. Anyway, we weren't able to have the tire repaired so we were going to have to get a new tire. Donald thought it would be a better idea to just go ahead and get all new tires so they will all last the same amount of time. So, we did. Donald was able to take off work around 130pm and come to pick us up so we wouldn't have to wait for three hours. It all worked out well and I am so thankful we are able to take care of things like that without having a lot of hassle.

On Tuesday, May 30th, we found out that my Uncle Kenneth passed away. He is Pa's brother and had been in a nursing home in Burkesville for several years. He had been having to go to the hospital the past few weeks and receive blood transfusions and he recently told Pearl that he was so tired and done with struggling with his health. His body was failing, but his mind was always sharp. I wasn't super close with him, like I was with Reid, but it's because he had been sick since I was little and I havent gotten to get to know him well since. He was the sheriff in Cumberland County for 2 terms in the late 80s and he also worked at the hospital. Mawma cracked me up, because she told me he was the most handsome of the Brewington brothers. She said when he was in his Sheriff's uniform, he was 'good lookin'! His funeral was Friday, June 2nd and he was 86 years old.
http://www.balloustotts.com/obits/obituary.php?id=644385
Scott drove Mawma down for the funeral and Mawma said that Aunt Gertie isn't doing well at all. She said she doesn't think she'll be here with us much longer. She is shaking uncontrollably and is super frail. Mawma wants to go down and stay a couple days and visit with her before it's too late. I told her I would love to drive her down and maybe mom and the girls could come with us. We could stay at the Alpine.

Also, in the past couple weeks, Dwight has been dealing with a lot of health issues. Around the middle of May, he had a stroke and they discovered that he has multiple artery blockages. He was sent back home to do therapy because they couldn't do surgery. Then this Wednesday, 5/31, he had a blood clot and he went to Audubon and then to Norton's Brownsboro. While he was there they thought he had another stroke and they also did emergency surgery to try and clear a little passage for oxygen to make it to his brain. They discovered that pretty much every artery in his body is 100% blocked. So they were having to keep his blood pressure high so it could make it through those clogged arteries and also so it wouldn't clot again. Papaw went to visit him Friday and said Dwight is having 'spells' or 'episodes' which they think are because the medicines are all causing problems with each other. It's so hard because there pretty much is only one outcome for Dwight. It would take a miracle for him to get well enough to go home and have any sort of life. I know that God can do all things and if it is His will for Dwight to live, then he will. However, it is likely that he doesn't have much time left. I always feel such guilt during these times, because I could have shared the Gospel with Dwight a million times and never did. He always kept to himself and always seemed either drunk or mad about something, so unfortunately, I kinda avoided him. I have noticed that since Anderson has been born, Dwight had softened a bit and seemed more aware of what was good for Anderson. As of today, he is still at Nortons and they said they are going to have to call in hospice for him. We know what that means. Basically, they're just trying to keep him comfortable and there's nothing else they can do for him.

So, also on Wednesday 5/31, Judy's new granddaughter was born. Her name is Madelyn Grace and she is super chubby and adorable! Judy and Lenny drove out to St. Louis to visit everyone on Thursday, 6/1. They were having a great visit until Friday afternoon, 6/2. Lenny walked down a couple blocks with Jason to get Kaylee at the bus stop. When they came back, Judy, Kaylee, and Lenny were outside when Jason went inside to check on the baby and Sarah. As he was coming back outside, he saw Lenny twitching and starting to topple over. He immediately called 911 and ran outside to catch him. Lenny was falling over on top of Kaylee and Judy was trying to hold him up and get  Kaylee out. Lenny wasn't breathing and Jason did CPR and several friends and neighbors came by to assist until the EMS arrived. Judy said she knew Lenny was gone, even before the EMS arrived because he had lost his bowels. Also, his ears were extremely blue. They worked and worked and were able to get a pulse, not no real heartbeat. They had to take him to the hospital to pronounce him dead. It is still such a shock to everyone because he had no signs, or none that he communicated, that he was having any problems. I still cant hardly believe it now. They are still arranging to have him transported back to Kentucky and David and Papaw went yesterday to bring Judy and her car back home. We went down to be with her yesterday. She is doing OK, but I don't think it has truly hit her yet. She is trying to work out the details and arrangements, so she probably hasn't had time, or taken time to really let it sink in. She keeps saying she "has to stay strong" and I agree to a certain extent. But I don't want her to bottle it all inside and make herself sick. She stayed home alone last night, to mine and Nancy's protests, but she said she was just going to go through pictures and then sleep.

During all this time, the girls have been dealing with colds. Stuffy and runny noses, coughing, diarrhea and vomiting...

Needless to say, we didn't make it to church today. I HATE missing, but I was worried about Anna going for an hour car drive after just throwing up in her bed last night. Also, she was still running a fever. I was going to have Donald and Elizabeth go alone, but Donald was super tired this morning. I was also supposed to take Donna Bailey's graduation DVD, but I will have to let Mom take it to her. Also, Papaw had a shelf for us to pick up and use in our garage, we were supposed to get that today...
But the girls have been singing Bible stories to each other this morning and singing, "We praise You, Lord!!!" I have been feeling a little overwhelmed this morning and had a upset stomach. Liz, Vicki's mom, share the lyrics to Near the Cross on fb today and I have been praying those words over and over today.

Journal Entry #1

I have been thinking about journaling for several months now, but never have. 

Mawma has been telling me since the girls were very little to write down the cute things they do and say and keep a record of them because I will forget it in fifty years. Boy, was she right! I know there are so many things I should have documented and never did that I would love to reminisce about now and even later in life.  

I also started thinking seriously about journaling after Sue Vaughn, at church, mentioned keeping an answered prayer journal. She said it will amaze you how many answered prayers you have to thank God for everyday. I shared this idea with Mom and she agreed, but I have yet to begin keeping one...

Then today, while on the way to Goodyear in Frankfort (to repair a slow leak and my tire, which resulted in 4 new tires) I heard David Jeremiah on the radio sharing about journaling and how much of a difference it made in his life. He shared some practical points about not just writing your thoughts down, but also going back and reviewing your journals at the end of each month or every 6 months. He mentioned how he could see patterns in his prayer requests and answered prayers and also gained so much perspective on how God was working in his life. 

So, I thought that I could finally take a hint and so here I am. Journal entry number one!

At this very moment, 12:17am, June 1, 2017, Elizabeth has a stuffy nose and a cough. I have given her zarbees nighttime medicine, but lavendar on her feet, and in her diffuser, put a mixture of coconut oil, lavendar, and peppermint oil on her chest and she is still awake coughing and peeing and coming out of her room to see what I am doing... She went to bed at 8pm, but is wide awake now. I don't know how she has so much energy... I am ready for bed. Especially because I have to get up at 5:30am when Donald goes to work. I am having a hard time getting Elizabeth to truly listen and follow directions. She is a very good and sweet girl, but she expects to get her way and do what she wants all the time and I am trying to NIP IT immediately. I dont want her to turn out to be ungrateful and hateful, when I know she is not truly that way.

Answered Prayers:

• Safety with a slow leak in our tire
• Ability to pay for four new tires
• Donald able to come and get us from goodyear
• home, cars, healthy children
• hard working, christian husband
• loving parents and grandparents
• ability to be a sahm
• amazing vacation to orange beach with safe travels to and from

Prayers:

• Donald's job situation (either get hired at toyota or get a good job that will allow us to move closer to family - build dream home on Richard's property)
• Anna's kidney reflux
• Donald's health
• Cornerstone Christian for Elizabeth?
• Elizabeth's cold/allergies
• Me, to be more patient with Elizabeth and Anna and teach them, not yell at them