I'm Baaaaackkkkk!

Wow. It's been a while friends. Since my last post, life has been super crazy. The day after my last post, Webb broke his leg.

Yep. Can you believe it?? Dane broke the opposite leg when he was just a little bit older than Webb. He fell out of a chair his leg got stuck and twisted as he fell. His daddy took him to get a cast while I was at a "Farewell Brunch" for a girlfriend who is moving away.

Don't worry. He is handling it just fine. He has learned how to walk on it and although he has a limp when he does, he is managing just fine. I'm a proud momma to see the determination he had to not be "disabled". He wasn't going to let an old cast stop him!

I stick an old sock over it so it won't get too disgusting!

My sister Amanda (AKA-- Aunt Man Man) came in for a quick visit.

She moved out to Texas a little over a year ago and we had seen her once since then. It was nice to get to visit and let the boys play with her for a few days!

Brent's granddad, Pappy, had a stroke while Man Man was in town. His left side was affected. He cannot move is left arm and he is no longer able to take care of himself. He will require care 24/7 from this point on. Right now, he is in a nursing home for the next 100 days for Rehab. We hate that he is there, however, he is required to have this. When he first had the stroke, we were keeping the roads hot traveling back and forth to Cartersville multiple times in a week. We would still be going weekly if we could afford it, but we literally spent about $200 in gas that first week. Eeeeek. It stinks to not be able to see him everyday and to not be able to help my MIL. She is there everyday religiously taking care of him. I know she is absolutely exhausted. We are very close to Pappy. Brent grew up seeing Pappy almost everyday. He played a father-like role in his life and Brent and him have a great relationship. Not only that, my boys adore Pappy. Pappy is amazing, loving, giving, and so much more. Dane would terrorize his house and Pappy would just laugh and laugh. He loved watching Dane and Webb be little boys. They could do no wrong at Pappy's house. I remember one time, Dane colored on his wall with crayon. I got on to him and made him apologize to Pappy. When he apologized, Pappy just laughed and laughed and then "got on to me". He looked at me real stern and said, "That ain't no problem. We can get another house, but we can't get another Dane." I'll never forget that. The fact that he loved my children so much made me love him that much more. He would have his house stocked of all the "bad" stuff that I have NEVER allowed in my house. From the time Dane was a BABY he has had Little Debbie snacks (literally something I have never bought), cookies, chips, crackers, candy, etc on the kitchen table within Dane's reach. Right when we would get there, he would say, "There's some candy in there. Go get you some!" That is all the encouragement Dane needed. Pappy (without me knowing) would give him oodles and oodles of candy and then a Little Debbie snack to top it off. Dane (not used to so much sugar or artificial colors) would be bouncing off the walls. That's when we had to start putting some limit on it. At first, I didn't want him having it period, then I realized that this was something that made Pappy very happy and it was something they could "share" in. When Dane was about Webb's age (18mnts), we were over there and Pappy said, "There's coke in the fridge. Go get that boy one." I remember my eyes got real wide. I couldn't believe he wanted me to give my baby something so horrible! LOL. I kindly told him that Dane only drank water and boo boo milk and that he hated coke. LOL. Then Pappy's eyes got real big. He said, "You're kidding me!" I guess he talked to Connie (my MIL) about that. She called me one day from the store and said Pappy had sent her to get some chocolate milk for the next time Dane was there. LOL. I had her get Dark Chocolate Almond Milk (OMG!!! It's my FAVORITE!!!). After that, there was never a time his fridge didn't have some for Dane and Webb. I keep thinking back to how it was when Pappy was healthy and at home. Every single time we would go over there, Dane would jump up in his arms and hug and kiss him. Webb would even hug and kiss him. Pappy would always say, "Is he tough??" Man, I miss him. I miss that. I told Dane that Pappy may go to Heaven soon (I wanted to prepare him so it wouldn't be too big of a shock when the day comes). I told him it wouldn't be "goodbye" because we would see him again when we go to Heaven. Dane got real sad and said, "Mom, I don't want Pappy to go to Heaven yet. I still want to play with him everyday." I don't either... not yet.

Anyways, just keep us in your prayers--- and Pappy and my MIL.

I went and did my doula training last weekend in Buford!!! YAY!!!!! I am absolutely so pumped to be a doula. I am trained, just not certified. Without certification, I can still practice and charge for my doula services (there is no legislation for it in the state of GA). I hope to be certified by the end of the year. There are a lot of steps I need to complete for that. I am on the ball though and I should have no problem being done by December (if not earlier). One of the things I must do is attend 3 births as a doula. I chose to offer my services for free for those 3 births (since I'm still learning!!!) and also so I would be more likely to get those births under my belt quickly. I am excited to say that one of those births is next month!!!! Whoo hoo :-) Talk about being excited. 

Brent and I went on a date last night. It has been sooooooooo long since we went on one. I had forgotten how nice they are :-) We enjoyed each other's company and just being together. I really appreciate the fact that my parents were willing to keep the boys so we could go. If we had had to pay a babysitter, we wouldn't have been able to stay out near as long and we would have only been able to walk around a store and eat a picnic dinner packed from home. LOL.

While we were out, we were talking about how life has been since the moment we moved into this house. It has been such a rollarcoaster and we can literally pinpoint it back to November when we moved in--- we had some major extended family difficulties, me and Dane had the stomach bug, my FIL got hit by a train, Brent got the stomach bug, Brent got laid off, Webb broke his leg, and now Pappy has had a stroke. That is all in 3-1/2 months time. It's obvious that the Lord is at work. I'm ready to learn what He is trying to teach me. LOL. I know He is using this time to teach us important things and I am not allowing any circumstances to get me down. I continue to trust Him each day and with each trial. I am excited because after the valley, you know a mountaintop is in your future... and boy could we use a mountain.