Whew.....talk about hot!  It is hot here on the Prairie today.  We finally hit triple digits, posting a high today of 100, and a heat index of 104....

But the nice thing is, the mornings out on the terrace are simply lovely, cause we start out much cooler, low 70's.  Today we had an incredible breeze all morning and I was able to lounge outside on the terrace till about 11:30  and it was wonderful.  We had Bloody Mary's with our brunch and I served it on the terrace as it was delightful this morning.   

But once the heat hits, I find it very difficult to breathe and boy is that when I am glad for air conditioning!!

This past Thursday had an appt. with the cardio doc and I will be wearing a heart monitor this next week for a few days as they check the ole heart out.....I'm hoping nothing real serious shows up on the readouts........I'd like to just be stable for another few years!

As I grow older, time seems to go by so much faster......each moment is so precious, and I try to enjoy each moment just for what it is, neither looking back, nor looking forward, but soaking up the here and now!!!

Hugs,

BEV

Wow, been a while since I have felt moved to put down words in the blog!

Watching MMM's video "My Daddy" got me to thinking.  How very fortunate I have been.

I was blessed with only one child, but I have 5 wonderful grandchildren.

At the time my husband died, I had 3 grandchildren who were extremely close to Grandma and Grandpa.  I remember the last day of Grandpa Joe's  life, they sat around his bed, showing him pictures they drew for him, reading from their favorite stories, and singing songs to him.  As he got weaker they each kissed him goodby and he hugged them.   Then Momma took them home, and my son stayed with me.   A few hours later he slipped into a sleep he did not wake from.

My family, especially my grandchildren, were what sustained me through the depths of grieving and the deep loss I felt.  They surrounded me with love and understanding.

But time moves on and I know that as sweet as the memories are, creating new memories is wonderful too. And I have discovered that you never lose the love you have shared but your heart grows bigger so you can add more love to your life.

I met a widower with one child, same age as my son, and 4 grandsons.  We had so, so much more in common, including having had wonderful marriages and very special spouses.

We eventually married, and since then our family has grown with the addition of two more grandchildren.

Most weeks, we get calls from grandchildren asking if they can come over to visit or overnight with us.  I feel so fortunate that I am married to a man who can embrace my grandchildren as his own.  I also love the fact that his 4 grandchildren did  not resent me taking their grandma's place but have offered me unconditional love from the very beginning.   And our grandchildren have blended so well.........from the start they have gotten along with each other. 
  
We now have 9 grandchildren, ages are 24, 19, 17, 13, 12, 9, 4 , 2 and our newborn Matthew this year.

In fact I think when I first tried blogging, Matthew had just been born, 5 weeks early and with lung problems.  You would never know he had such a rough start to his life.  He is very healthy and thriving and I love that little bundle of joy oh so much.  Actually you can probably tell that I love all my grandchildren with my whole heart.  I am so fortunate that they are close enough to see routinely.   

I love it when we get a call and one of them asked if we would like some company.......we are honest, if we have our own plans we say so, but if we are just home relaxing, we say fine, come visit.  And those unplanned times have been real "gems" in our lives.  

Just thoughts I was having after watching Dunc's vid on the changes going on in his life right now.

Good Morning!

It is going to be a beautiful day here on the Prairie.   Sunshine and a high in the low 50's......Spring is definitely knocking at the door.

We've still got a grandson visiting with us.  Talk about odd hours, he doesn't wake until around noon, not ready to eat till supper time......no wonder he is slim!!  I think his laptop owns him during the evening hours!  

I walked twice yesterday.....I decided the first day of March to start a walking program.  I have a stent in my left descending artery in my heart and exercise is important.  But I really fell off the walking trail this winter, so I'm trying to generate some enthusiasm and get a good habit going again.

I walked for 50 minutes in the late morning, and then another 25 minutes in the early evening.  I hope to do something like that routinely.  From the 1st until yesterday I was doing one walk and gradually adding minutes to it.  I hope to eventually do 60 minutes early and 30 minutes late.

It's interesting all the drama on LV right now.  Trolls are exactly the reason I don't Vlog......I just feel like I don't have the energy to deal with  it....

Today is my volunteer day.  It's not much that I do, but it's something I can do.  I help at our senior center on Mondays, I will go up in a bit, and help put together the Meals on Wheels deliveries, and then I help set up and serve for those who come to the Center to eat lunch.  My hubby will be delivering one of the routes today.

This has been a hard winter emotionally at our house and I am really glad to see more sunshine and better weather.  We were both sick quite a bit, and then I got the cancer diagnosis and had the surgery in January.  My husband is recovering from a type of leukemia.  He had a stem cell transplant in November 2003.  If he remains cancer free through this year, they will consider him cured of this cancer.  That's quite a feat, as, at the time that he got the stem cell transplant, he only had a 33% chance of surviving to the 5th year.  So this next November we will be having a celebration, YES!!!

Well enough blogging, got to get moving.

BEV

Well, this will be my second blog post..........and look how much time has passed!  I need to get more consistent!

First and most important, my new grandbaby, Matthew Eric is home now and doing really well.  He had to stay in the neo natal unit for a little over 2 weeks, but his lungs healed, he matured, and he is with his family now.  Hooray.  

And that whole PKU thing was just a mess.........but once the doctor got involved, he was put back on breast milk and that was that.  Seems that the second PKU screening was done while he was on the  IV and the doctor said that made it invalid......the nurse who took him off the breast milk and informed my daughter in law that her baby might have PKU really overstepped her bounds.  There was no order from the doctor to do that........and the doctor sat down and explained why there was no problem about PKU and apologized for the additional agony she put my son and his wife through.  And this doctor did take excellent care of Matthew and all is well now.

Right after my first blog, I got that nasty flu like virus going around and boy it took me a while to recover.  I realize I am 61 years old when something like this happens.........it just takes longer to heal and it can get depressing before it gets better. 

I live on the Prairie-----lots of flat land, which at times seems boring....but the weather can be very interesting at times.  It was 60 degrees a couple of days ago, and now it is 26 degrees and snowing, lol........my hubby said if he saw one more snowflake he would go crazy.......well they are here and I'm waiting for the explosion, lol.  I happen to love snow, winter is my fav time of year, but out of kindness to Hubby, I am not gloating about today's snowstorm.........I am just sitting here at the window and watching those big, beauitful, icy flakes fall from the sky!!


I was widowed with one son, and I met Hubby, who was widowed with one daughter.  Our children are the same age, and Eric has 5 children, Shannon has 4........so I have 9 grandchildren and love each and every one of them!!
Our second oldest, Sean, who is 18 is staying with us for a few days.  We called and invited and he accepted!!  We plan to take him to our fav neighborhood pub today, where we will eat lunch and play the Buzztime interactive Trivia game........he loves it as much as we do, so we always make time to play the trivia game together when he is around.

See I don't let that snow ruin my day, lol!  And I hope you don't let anything ruin your day either!

I really believe this:  BE HERE NOW!   It's this moment that counts. 



 

February 15....

My first online blog.......decided to see how this works for me.

and I wonder, "hmmm, will anyone even see this! or do I even want anyone to see it, lol"!  Okay that brings a smile to my face.

Speaking of faces.......I look at the pic I had uploaded at the time I joined LV......yeah, that pic to the left there.  That's not me anymore.

It was about the only one available in my laptop at the time, so I used it....but then very soon after, I got rid of all the curl.  I had had that same curly style since my son was 6.....he is 38 now, so that tells you I am slow to embrace change, hehehe.  In fact my son said when his wife asked him if I was really going to change my hairstyle, he emphatically said NO WAY!  Guess he didn't know me quite as well as he thought he did.....Loved being able to surprise him!

On a more serious note, I find myself stopping to pray alot during the day and night right now.  My son's child was born 5 weeks early.  Little Matthew has been in a neonatal care unit for 2 weeks now.  He was born with Infant RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome)......he's over that and in most ways is doing well.  Except for one small problem, which could be real big.  The PKU test they give all infants to make sure they aren't missing that critical enzyme or whatever it's called came back negative the first time....which is good.........but for some reason they did the blood stick again and the second time it came back positive for this problem.....so they have done a third stick and we are waiting for it's results.  Takes about 3 days to get back as the test is sent to the State Health Dept in our state for determination.

So I find myself praying about his health a lot right now.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria (PKU)

Well enough for today .