Need to "De-stress"...

It's time to get ride of some stress. Between my daughter's illness, work (this is the craaaazzzzy time of year), my mother (whom I love dearly, but she is coming to visit - more on that later), and just generally life... I try to run or walk, to de-stress but need something extra. My husband bought me a gift certificate to the Ponte Vedra Inn and Spa and i will use it this summer. If you haven't been there - I'll give you all the details in another post! It's fabulous and truly self-indulgent. However for just an in-between stress reliever, I go to a local accupuncturist. OK, I was a little skeptical to begin with. However, it is wonderful! I fall asleep on the table and don't even know where I am when I wake up! I can't even feel the teeny-tiny needles and I mean, they are tiny. Then afterwards, she gives me a mini-massage and fixes me some super-yummy destressing tea and I'm on my way. She is not only an acupuncturist, but a Chinese medical herbalist and I've been given tea for sore throats, allergies, even to help me sleep! Our neighbor used every fertility remedy imaginable, and this acupuncturist helped her get pregnant in just a few months. I'm not saying that it works for everyone, but I definitely feel less stressed after 60 minutes.

Forgot to Tell You - We Need Prayers Again...

I forgot to explain why I've been away several days away... My sweet daughter has been back in Shands/Gainesville. They've finally diagnosed her with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This is the 5th time that she has been hospitalized since October and the 4th time that she has had surgery. We've been burning up the miles between here and Gainesville. Shands is an excellent research hospital and the docs there have been conferring with Ohio State University which is the leading research center for EDS. She will need another surgery this summer to help make her left knee less unstable. One of the main problems that EDS causes is joint instability and sublaxations. She could suffer trauma to a joint at any time and her knees seem to be bearing the brunt of the trauma. She was a soccer player before, so this has been particularly hard on her. Please continue to pray for her!

Memorial Day Thank You

Our family will be spending some time with my father-in-law tomorrow as he is a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He flew P-3's (submarine hunters) for the Navy and we are so proud of the job he did defending our country! He is a retired officer and a proud 89 year old veteran. He never allows us to forget the men and women who have given their lives fighting for our country's freedom. No matter what position you may take on the war, we are currently in, or wars we may become involved in, there are always men and women who defend our freedom everyday - both home and abroad. A big thanks to them and a special memorial to those who have given their lives for the special freedoms that we have in this country!

Tomorrow we will also have our yearly neighborhood block party - so I hope the weather holds. We've been under a "tropical wave". Today, we had a fair amount of sunshine and I actually got to wear my sunglasses for at least an hour. Hooray!

And So it Continues...With No End in Sight...

More Rain... Jacksonville is slowly becoming flooded. Our street isn't as bad as this picture depicts, but I. Am. Sick. Of. Rain. Period. Our poor little doxies don't like the rain either and they will run out, do their business quickly and run, like fire, back into the house.

I actually tried to pull my hair up into the semblance of a ponytail today. I have a chin-length bob... it looks more like a pony "dot". And a frizzy one at that. How much longer is this rain going to last, does anyone know? Some of the students at our school walk up to a mile and a half to get there and I feel the most bad for them. They are litle ones and many don't have raincoats or umbrellas. It breaks my heart to see them at dismissal. I hope this rain doesn't last much longer....

Too Rainy and Chilly for this FL Gal!

We get rain in Florida; lots of it in the summer. You know, high humidity, equals rain. However, we usually don't get nor'easters in May... It is CHILLY today! The high was in the '60s. I know, that's warm to some people in the north, but if you live in North Florida, it's COLD. I'm used to weather that is 20 degrees warmer. Even my doxies were shivering and standing by the back door whining to come in this aft. They didn't even run to the front door when I asked them if they wanted to "go for a walk." Instead, they just peered out under their cover. That's an idea... Under the covers and watching DWTS tonight!

Good News!!

Very good news! As of Tuesday, we are no longer seeing the pediatric floor at Shand's Hospital in Gainesville. Our daughter was released - Praise God - although there may be some additional surgery at a later date. Although she is not a little one, they still put her on the peds floor this time. She has alternated between the peds floor and adult ortho floor each time she has been hospitalized. We feel very blessed and thank so many people for their prayers and thoughtfulness during this stressful time! (The ceiling tiles, that children painted, are beautiful though). Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the doctors, nurses and wonderful hospital personnel who helped us at Shands!

Please Pray....

The second reason why I've been gone so long is because I've been shuttling back and forth to Gainesville... My daughter has been at Shands Hospital following knee surgery. She had some complications and has been there for almost two weeks. I don't want to go into everything, but I can tell you that it's been exhausting and I'm running on empty right now. She is expected to make a full recovery, but it's been slow progress and she developed an infection at one point. We have been so thankful for the outpouring of thoughts and prayers from so many friends and family!

Been Gone Too Long

I know that I'm new at getting back to this, and I'm sorry... I have a reason though. Actually several reasons! First of all, my husband's daughter had a baby!!! So we've been a little busy making sure that this "little man" has had enough love