It is definitely Christmas time!!

Just a few pictures we took recently at our annual visit to Opryland hotel. We usually go there after we eat Thanksgiving dinner. A visit to santa, and some photo ops for Christmas card pictures.

What I am Thankful for

I have been thinking a lot about this lately and feel the need to blog on this subject. Sometimes we take things for granted and don't appreciate people or things we have in our life.

I think we all can be a little bit more kinder in the world to everyone whether we know them or not.

I am thankful for My God
for my family
for my job
for my health
for having lived a good life
for my friends
for being able to have a wonderful hobby (scrapbooking & photography for those of you who don't know).


This year will be the first of many holidays I will spend without my Mother and I miss her dearly. I had her in my life 52 years and she lived a good long life. But I cannot forget all the other people who will celebrate the holidays without loved ones they have lost through sickness, war or other circumstances. I just want to say I am grateful and thankful to have had Mom with me all these years. I have my memories and that will get me and my Dad through the holidays.

Well, as I sit here crying I would just like everyone who reads my blog to think of something to be thankful for. I know the world is crazy and times are hard but at least you woke up this morning and were breathing. So go and do something nice for someone whether you know them or not. Because if everyone did just one nice thing a day the world would be a better place.

Hugs and
Take Care
Remember to do something nice everyday and be thankful

Always Terri

She's 17 already????

She is 17 already when did this all happen?

Today my granddaughter Alyssa turned 17! Where did all this time go? It was just yesterday I was holding her and cuddling her cute little bundle. I don't feel old enough to have a 17 yo granddaughter! Alyssa, her Mom, and I all enjoyed the day in Nville shopping and eating out lunch at olive garden.

Love you Little Lissy
Always Memaw

A visit to the Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual visit to Jacksons Orchard on Sunday and I wanted to post some of the pics with the boys. Alyssa didn't get to go so we will have to make one more trip back up the hill. We have been going since she was a baby (11 months old) and she is now soon to be 17! So you will see some more pumpkin patch pics again with her in them!

fun times & cute projects

I had a fun time this weekend with my scrapping buddies! Here are some of the projects we did, Bard did a great job! Here they are:

Mom is in heaven resting

My Mom is at peace now. She passed away on September 25, 2008 in her sleep after a long painful night. I am glad that I had the time to spend her last days with her it was a very spiritual journey for all of us.My sisters and brother, Dad, and my oldest daughter and two nieces and great nephew were all there to take care of her and comfort her and my Dad. She relived my birth and told some amazing stories that made us laugh and cry at the same breath. My Mom was a very special women to a lot of people she had a heart of gold and was very stern when she needed to be. We had a wonderful memorial service for her and my Dad wrote this poem for her the day after she passed.

JUST ANOTHER LONELY DAY © 9-25-2008 L.V. DABBS
SITTIN’ HERE… ON THE COUCH
LOOKING OUT…THE WINDOW
AND..I KNOW…I KNOW…
YOUR LOOKING DOWN AT ME…
WONDERING HOW…, HOW…
I’LL GET ALONG..
WITHOUT…YOU …AND…ME…
COME THE DAWN…
I RISE AGAIN…
SEE YOU EVERYDAY…
AND PRAY…PRAY..
THAT WE’LL MEET AGAIN..
TIL..THEN…, DARLIN’…
GOOD MORNING…AND
I’LL GET ALONG, SOMEHOW…
I WILL… LOVE YOU…
FOREVER…AND EVER…


He couldn't read it to me without crying which made me cry too. After several tries of reading it to my brother & I and having us crying, he asked me to read it at the service. He couldn't get up in front of the people and say it so I did with my siblings beside me. Needless to say everyone was crying then 61+ years of having someone there to talk to whenever you needed or wanted something is a very long time.
So treasure your loved ones and please take care of yourself go to the Dr. and find out what you have don't let it go. You are cheating yourself and loved ones out of quality of life. Take care and THANK YOU to everyone for there thoughts, prayers, calls, and encouragement and just for being there for me and my family through this difficult time.

Love Terri

Mom is home now.

For those of you keeping up with my Mom and her recent illness and hospital stay; she was transpoorted home on Saturday by ambulance. She slept most of the day Saturday. My Dad was a wreck on Sunday taking care of her. I seriously thought he cannot handle this. But I will give him a lot of credit for what he is doing and it breaks my heart that I cannot help him as much as I would like too. By Monday he seemed to settle down (my Dad that is). I could hear it in his voice how tired or stressed he gets. I actually talked to my Mom Monday and she told me that she was hungry and they weren't feeding her! My Dad had just told me she ate breakfast but apparently it wasn't what she wanted. It was quite funny it was like she was telling me that they were not feeding her. My Dad asked her what she wanted and she wanted a italian beef sandwich from the hot dog stand we like to go to. So Dad went and got her a sandwich. She needs to eat she has lost weight and needs to get strong again. I think my Dad has determination to make her well again and he will accept nothing less! I am one of those who have to wait and see and can not get my hopes up until I see for myself. Hoping and praying for the best here is all I can do right now. I call Mom & Dad daily to get and update. Today she sounded good but she has to stay in bed for 2 days the blod thinner has her blood a little thin trying to regulate the right dosage. So again thanks for the prayers and phone calls and notes of kindness it means so much to me that words could never describe it.

Hugs Terri

Well good news I think???

Well good news I think??


Just talked to my Dad tonight. He was at the hospital today talked to the Dr. and Mom might get to come home by Sunday. Yeah that is my birthday! She developed a blood clot in the calf on the right leg and she started swelling up. They took her for an ultrasound and seen the suspected blood clot. She was started on Coumadin and the swelling started going down the next day. Today was day 2 of Coumadin, not as much swelling my Dad said. She is being a picky eater and the Dr. told her she has to start eating better to get stronger.

My Dad has decided that he wants to take care of her at home for her last days. We don't know when that will be, but Dad is tired of seeing her in pain and them poking, and moving her all around. He calls it beating her up. My Dad hates nursing homes and does not want her or himself in one. So he decided yesterday he was going to get a nurse to come to the house and a hospital bed and commode set up for her comfort at home. My brother and I don't think he can handle her by himself like he thinks. But you know he has had her around for 61 years and it is hard for him to let go! I can't help but keep thinking of the movie The Notebook here. I have a DVD of it but can't bring myself to watch it right now because I don't want to bawl like a baby! I have done enough of that the last couple of days!!! So who are we to tell him he can't do what he wants to do!!! Besides he turned 81 yesterday and he's my Dad!

So keep the prayers coming and thank you again for everything it means alot!!! Some days I just couldn't put anything on the blog because I would be crying and couldn't see to post! So again thanks for all the kind words and prayers. I will keep you all updated as I can.

Hugs Terri

Updates

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. My Mom has been moved to a rehab hospital as of last Tuesday. She is better in some ways but will never be her old self again. We found out with all the stuff she has going on ( prolapsed uterus, tumor on her ovaries, mass on her hip, MRSA, and she also has severe dementia) she will not be able to have surgery for any of it because she is too frail and would not come out of surgery. So it is sad to say she will have to suffer with pain. My Dad is holding up well for now getting tired. He does not want to accept the fact that her mind is not right because sometimes she knows you and sometimes she is a child again. This is the hard part for me, because when she gets to come home in a couple of weeks my Dad is her primary caregiver. I don't think he wants to admit that she sometimes doesn't know who he is even. His Mother had Alzheimer's and didn't know him at all and he took that very hard. My Dad turns 81 on Sept. 9 and gets around very well. My Mom & Dad celebrated 61 years together on Feb. 8. Last June (2007) we all got together and they renewed their vows for a 60Th wedding anniversary party and all the children and grand and great grands were all there! We have wonderful pictures thank god after that my Mom's health has went down hill. I seen her for her birthday in March and she looked bad, but when I went a couple of weeks ago and seen her in the hospital she looked very frail she is down to 106 lbs now.

So thank you for all the prayers, thoughts and words of kindness they all mean so much to me that everyone cares. Please keep them coming. My Mom is a very strong person but it is in Gods hands now.

Hugs Terri

Back home now

I arrived home last night after leaving monday to go to Chicago for my Mom. Mom has been quite sick this year with a series of things. She hasn't been to the Dr. in so many years she is really lucky as far as the health goes she is 83. She has a bad infection that has gotten in her blood stream, this was caused from her ureter being abnormal since birth. I can remember all my ligh her complaining about backaches. Apparently her right kidney sits on her pelvis, causing it to become twisted and clogged after all these years. The clogg lead to a very high grade infection called uroseptic. She also has a prolapsed uterus which could have caused this to happen to the kidney. not sure at this point. She had atrial fibrialation when I walked in her hospital room the night I drove there at 3 am. they moved her to CICU on Tuesday morn. She has high blood pressure too. When you go into ICU or CICU it is an ILLinois state law to be swabbed for the MRSA infection now. She tested positive for this which freaked us all out! We had to all wear gloves and plastic gowns before entering her room, I even stayed one night and slept in a plastic gown and latex gloves that was not a good night! Because of the infection she is talking crazy stuff and it is scary! I don't think Mom will ever be the same her mind has been deteriorating a little at a time I have noticed in the last 8 months. She had a stent put into the kidney on Wed. or Thursday. Then they came in yesterday the urologist cleared her, the cardiologist cleared her, the infectious disease Dr. said about 2-3 more weeks on the antibiotics. Then the bad news she the gynecologist came in and said that in the ultrasound and cat scan they seen a tumor or growth on her ovaries so she has to go for a MRI and ultrasound today (mon). i really didn't want to come home and hate being this far away when my Dad needs me so much. This is one of the hardest things for me to go through seeing my Mom suffer and my Dad trying to take care of her and being afraid but yet so strong. She can be very mean to my Dad and the nurses trying to hit them and pinching me telling me to knock it off and she was going to report me for making her eat her lunch. Sometimes it is funny and all you can do is laugh and sometimes it upsets you when she starts acting mean or talking crazy. Thanks for everyones support and prayers it means a lot and we will all need many more. If you read all this thank you and God bless you

Good Morning

Friday, August 8, 200

It is such a gorgeous morning already the weather is great!! I just returned from the gym and did a little housework. Now I am off to run errands and check Best Buy on the status of my computer!!! Having there loaner laptop makes me realize just how long I have done without mine!!!!! Much too long!!! I am looking forward to getting together this weekend although I won't be there very long should arrive around 11 ish and have to be to work at 2! I won't have to worry about taking half the house with me and DW won't have to worry about how much room I need!! LOL
Hope you all have a great day enjoy the weather. I will see you all soon!!
Hugs Terri
posted by terri d @ 6:50 AM 0 Comments

i finally got this together

Hi everyone don't laugh at my new blog!!! Just wanted to say HI!!! See you all on Sat. and by the way I was told tonight we are working!!! Go figure!!!!



Hugs Terri