God is in control

I can't tell you how many times this past week I have had to repeat the phrase, God is in control. I feel like the only things I have had to blog about lately have been negative. Unfortunately, this week has been nothing short of being full of negative news and I decided today that instead of writing yet another blog about everything that has gone wrong this week, I would turn it around and tell you 20 things I am thankful for. (I had to limit to 20 because I could go on all day!) Chad and I are very blessed to have each other as well as good people surrounding us. God is in control.

I am thankful for (in no particular order, just as they came to mind):

1. Marrying the best man that God put on this earth for me-Chad.

2. Wonderful family that love us and want to spend time with us.

3. Amazing friends that know us and love us anyway!

4. That my husband and I have jobs.

5. That my husband and I can pay the bills (mostly!) Haha

6. That we have a roof over our heads.

7. That we have clothes on our backs.

8. That we can afford to feed ourselves every day.

9. A mom that not only wouldn't let breast cancer tear her down, but won't let MS do it either.

10. That we live in America where we can believe freely.

11. That my husband and I could be on crutches the same time and know what each other is going through!

12. Our Angel and Biscuit that make us smile every day.

13. That I am educated and anything I don't know about I can just look up on the Internet!

14. Common Sense

15. Love

16. Forgiveness

17. Humor (because who couldn't use a laugh every now and then?!?!)

18. That I live in Texas and can see most of my family any time I want because my wonderful husband knows how important it is to me and lets me go every time.

19. The small things in life.

20. That God truly is in control.

What a week!

So I would have to venture to say that this past week had to be one of the worst weeks of my life and I have has some pretty bad weeks before. I was on call for work this week. You may be asking yourself, "Isn't she JUST and office manager and executive assistant for the president of a small company in Richardson?" Funny thing...I said the same thing! So then you might ask yourself, "What was she on call for?" I would then say something silly like TECH SUPPORT!!! Now you might ask yourself, as most educated human beings would, "Why would an office manager/executive assistant/do everything that everyone else doesn't want to do/dump on me your extra work/CFO-no really, I do the financials too/I work my butt off for this company- be doing something as important as tech support when she isn't exactly "techy"?" GOOD QUESTION!!!!! I am still trying to figure that one out. But apparently it is ok to make a "rule" in a company that every employee has to carry the support phone for the company for a week because for some INSANE reason our company thinks it is wise to offer car dealers 24/7 support, even if it means putting somoene like me on the phone for a week. I won't even get started on the brilliance of car dealers-not to mention the fact that we service the entire United States. In other words, we service every time zone. Sounds fun doesn't it?

So, for this week I have been woken up from a dead sleep at 1:30 am, 6:30 am, 7:00 am on Saturday, yes, I said Saturday, and have had calls into the night up to 9:30 pm. I have to fill out a form for EVERY phone call that comes in regardless of the issue. Even if a dealer calls me to shoot the crap for 10 minutes because it is raining cats and dogs in Virginia at their dealership and they have nothing better to do, I have to fill out a form. I then have to e-mail the form to our support department, which might I remind you I am not a part of, so that they can address the issues the next day. I also have to call a developer or a support person that is SUPPOSED to (and I stress the word SUPPOSED) have their phone on them and actually answer it so that people like me that get the calls and have no idea how to help these poor souls can actually call them back and give them a solution. Sounds easy right? Not so much.

Saturday alone, my day started at 7:00 am to the phone ringing with a dealer needing support. Ok great. I call the person that is supposed to help me and he is great. I have to give big props to Ray. Most of you don't know who Ray is, but he was my savior on Saturday. He answered my call EVERY time I called him on Saturday and he talked me off the ledge a couple of times too! I would have committed suicide on Saturday if Ray wasn't there to help me. However, there are some people in our company less dependable. And when those people choose not to answer their phone when they are the ONLY ones that handle those issues, it gets a bit frustrating. 15 calls I had on Saturday between the hours of 7:00am and 2:45pm. NON-STOP. I had people calling me while I was on the phone with other people. I had calls coming in when I had one on the line, and one on call waiting. Do people think that those of us that are not "techy" people can handle things like this? I literally wanted to sit there and just cry the rest of the day by about 11:00 am. I honest to God wanted to cry every time the phone rang, and in most cases every time the phone beeped because I was already on the phone with someone else. By 3:00 pm I had to plug my phone in to the wall beside me at the computer because my cell phone had run out of battery.

I sat at my computer from 7:00 am to 4:30 pm not getting up for water, to change out of my night gown, to get food, or to speak to my husband who was literally a room away. Between phone calls it was all I could do to get 1/2 way through a form before the phone would ring again. Just when I thought I couldn't take any more, at about 4:30 pm I got up from the computer for the first time since 7:00 am and I walk around the corner of my house and this is the face I see looking back at me.

As bad as my week and especially my Saturday had been, this made it all worth it. How do you not smile when you see that? Let's just hope she can do it again in January when I have the support phone again!

I have no time...

I know this may be along post, but I thought this was worth sharing considering that one of my biggest peeves and excuses for everything is that I am too busy or I don't have time. I received this e-mail from a friend and it really made me think about my priorities and focus. Maybe I just read too much in to things or fall for all of the corny e-mails, but this one really made me think about my day and how I need to re-focus some of my "priorities." I thought it was worth sharing.

This is quite an e-mail and so very true as to what's happening to all of us at this very moment!!SATAN'S MEETING:

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said,'We can't keep Christians from going to church.''We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth.''We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior.''Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.''So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ..''This is what I want you to do,' said the devil:'Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection through out their day!''How shall we do this?' his demons shouted.'Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,' he answered.'Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.''Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.''Keep them from spending time with their children.''As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!''Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.''Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.'To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly.''This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.''Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.''Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.''Invade their driving moments with billboards.''Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs,sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes..'Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. 'Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.'Give them headaches too! 'If they don't give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere that will fragment their families quickly!'Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Christmas.'Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about his resurrection and power over sin and death.'Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.'Have them return from their recreation exhausted.'Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead.'Keep them busy, busy, busy!'And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.'Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Jesus.''Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.'!'It will work!''It will work!'It was quite a plan!The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.Having little time for their God or their families.Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus to change lives.I guess the question is, has the devil been successful! in his schemes?You be the judge!!!!!Does 'BUSY' mean: B-eing U-nder S-atan's Y-oke?

John Mayer Concert

Tank of gas in Jame's Accord: $50. 00

2 Tickets to the concert: $70. 00

Parking $15.00

Getting stuck in traffic for over 2 hours on the way to the concert with James & Lisa Burgess: Priceless

Magic Legs

This is my new motto! I went to Dr. K today and he has released me to walk. This is a little more exciting for me today for the simple fact that I figured I would be walking with crutches for a little while as I am getting used to putting weight on my right leg again. Apparently, Dr. K had other ideas and thinks I am Wonder Woman or Sheerah or something because he let me walk right out of his office-no crutches!!!

Yesterday was 6 weeks since my surgery and I have literally counted down the days to this moment. It just so happens that I woke up yesterday with horrific pain in the back of my leg around the knee area. I could have died when I realized that I had so much pain and in the back of my knee. I had no idea how I could have done something from the moment I went to bed the night before to getting out of bed that morning. I went to physical therapy and as I was fighting through tears, the physical therapist was examining the back of my leg. It turns out that I had pulled my hamstring in the process of trying to build my leg up to walk again. We have been adding weight lately to my exercises since things were getting a bit easy as well as the plain and simple fact of holding my leg up while on crutches to walk for 6 weeks straight. Apparently I "stressed" my hamstring which doesn't surprise me since the rest of my body was stressed along with it! So, I cried the whole way back to work thinking that I have waited 6 LONG weeks to finally get to start walking on my own two feet again rather than one foot and my magic legs. Alison assured me that if it was hurting my leg more to hold it to keep from walking on it, then there was no way he would continue with that process. And luckily for the rest of you, only Alison and Chad had to witness the complete meltdown yesterday. But sure enough, she was right. Dr. K said that at this point it was ok for me to start walking on it and actually told me that if I wanted to walk out of his office with no crutches, then I could. So, being the stubborn, hardheaded person I am, I was determined to do so. I think I held my breath all the way to my car!

Needless to say, it is still quite a process from here, but I literally got to make a step in the right direction today. I am crutchless and I can't say that I have felt anything better than the peace of mind that goes with that in a very long time. I still have to wear a new brace that they gave me while walking and I have to continue physical therapy 3 times a week, but from here on out, it is on my own two feet. Woo-hoo!!!!!!

I have had enough!

Ok, so I think I have had all I can take with this injury thing that my husband and I have going on. So, I am just going to let it all out here for a minute. This might offend some people and it might make others laugh. I decided before I started this blog that I am not going to apologize for anything that I am about to say.

I am pretty sure I am going through a bit of depression. There are a lot of factors contributing to this so I am not even going to try to blame this on any one thing. I do, however, have to say this: I have had enough! To be honest, there are several things about this that have contributed to me being in the place I am right now. We will start with the obvious: I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ON CRUTCHES. I can't cook, clean, get dressed standing up, carry groceries in, carry anything in for that matter, feed my animals, walk my dog, upkeep our lawn, upkeep our house, take out the trash, make the bed, wear normal clothes (and by that I mean anything other than freaking sweat pants that I have LIVED in for the past 2 3/4 months), go ANYWHERE without being stared at the whole time I am there, and most of all I can't go shopping. What's the one thing a girl needs when she is depressed? I will go ahead and answer that for you-Ben and Jerry's and shopping. Neither of which I can accomplish without help.

Which brings me to my next point-I have had enough of asking for help. There is only so long that a person can go without being able to do anything on their own before it starts to eat away at their ego. Supposedly on this Tuesday, I will be able to start bearing some weight on my right leg for the first time since surgery 6 weeks ago. Even then, I will have to work my way off of crutches. I will be able to walk with both crutches for a few days, eventually converting to walking with one crutch, and finally walking on my own. Two weeks ago I got my hopes up that I would already be through this process because the dr. tells me that I would be able to walk in 4-6 weeks. Apparently he didn't really mean the 4- part of the 4-6 weeks and really all along meant the 6 week mark. It gets old after a while having to say every other sentence, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you...." People have got to be sick of helping us as much as we are sick of asking. Our poor friends have taken the brunt of our injury and I feel so bad for anyone that knows us and we are comfortable with right now because they have truly been punching overtime on their friend cards.

To go along with the asking every 5 seconds for help, I think I have had about all I can take of the pet names that people so graciously have come up with for Chad and myself. I think if I have to hear the words, clutz, clumsy, gimp, or gimpy ever again, I will scream. I don't know why people after 11 weeks since my injury still feel the need to call me Gimp or Gimpy, but I think I am going to punch the next person that I hear say those words. Ha, ha, ha, laugh, laugh, laugh, chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...WE GET IT. Along with that, let me clear something up for the world-NO, MY HUSBAND AND I DID NOT GET IN AN ACCIDENT TOGETHER, NO, WE DID NOT GET MAD AT EACH OTHER AND BEAT EACH OTHER UP, AND NO, WE DO NOT SIT AROUND AND GET ANGRY WITH EACH OTHER AND FIGHT WITH OUR CRUTCHES WHEN WE GET MAD. I hope I have eased everyone's curiosity with those three grueling questions that seem to weigh on every person's mind and come out of their mouth with a half smile and a chuckle when we cross someone's path.

The last thing that is really getting to me is that everyone and their mom (including my own) seems to feel the need to be sure that Chad and I are finished playing sports for the rest of our lives. Never again will we play sports for the fear of getting hurt ever again...yeah right. How ridiculous can people be? I get that we aren't getting any younger-thanks for that reminder-but that doesn't mean that our lives have to stop. We are still in our 20's. There are professional athletes that are older than us that if they got hurt, they would get better and go right out there and play again. There are college athletes that we personally know that have had the same surgeries multiple times because they go out and keep playing. If I were in college and tore my ACL and meniscus, would my mom have asked me to stop playing and forfeit my scholarship money? No, she would not have. But since I am not young anymore (thanks for the reminder world) we are supposed to give up everything we love. My boss even asked me to quit playing sports in my free time. So, does that mean that everyone else that I work with has to cut out their recreational activities (and we won't go into what some of those are!)? Why just me? Because I got hurt for the first time in 28 years of playing sports?

And I wonder why I am depressed.

I do want to take a second, however, to say thank you to all of our friends and some family that have been punching that card overtime lately. We have some wonderful people in our lives that have been so kind as to go grocery shopping for us, cook us meals, go with us out to eat and get stared at along with us, tend to our lawn, help feed and give water to our animals, and clean our house. I have to say that I can't imagine what my state of mind would be without our wonderful friends and family. You guys have truly been a blessing to us and you still help us every time we ask for help and you do it with a smile on your face. I am sure we still have months and months of the, " Hey, would you mind..." or, "Hey when you get a minute, could you....".

My favorite nephew ever!!!

Ok, so he is my only nephew, but he is still my favorite. My sister-in-law, Andrea, came to spend some time with us and brought the most precious boy with her. He has grown so much in the past few months since we have seen him. He is trying so hard to crawl like a big boy and he has this move where he is gearing up to try to start crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and sways back and forth. He is literally days away from crawling. Of course, by now, he is probably crawling but we won't see it until next time. I have posted under every picture so you know who my awesome family is.

We met my Aunt Heather, Uncle David, and Aunt Dorothy (my great aunt) at Uncle Julio's in Addison so that they could spend a little time with Kaden before he left. 3 generations of aunts to spoil him. Those are some good looking women if I do say so myself! Lucky kid...

Kaden posing with his two favorite aunts! Isn't he the most precious thing ever with his John Deere shirt on? His daddy would be so proud!

Kaden with is great great aunt Dorothy. She is 88 years old and still loves to spoil her family including the "big" kids. Thank you for a great lunch, Aunt Dorothy.

Kaden with his coolest Uncle David. Kaden was proud of this picture. He loves his Uncle David!

I think Kaden's mommy has gone CRAZY!!!! Do you think that mommyhood has gone to her head already???

Kaden "Smash" McDonald

Kaden loves him some Biscuit. They are best friends every time Kaden comes, and Biscuit always thinks that Kaden is here to see her. They have so much fun together.