My Momma

     I'm sitting here tonight feeling a lot of emotions. It's kind of funny because the roles are reversed but in a good way. In just 2 days my momma, at the age of 78, will be walking down the aisle to receive her college diploma.

My sister and I will be decorating her table and beaming with pride as the daughters, instead of the mother.

 I think back to Oct. 28, 1996, when the dr came out of the OR where momma was having emergency heart surgery and told us she was gone. They were still working with her but the 1% chance they could bring her back she would most likely be in a vegatative state for the rest of her life. Using the paddles 3 times, being 14 minutes without oxygen to her vital organs, they replaced and repaired what they could and now said she had a 20% chance of living. It wasn't an easy recovery but God wasn't done. When she was finally weaned off of the breathing machine and able to talk she told the surgeon "thank you" for what he had done. He had just said to her, "You know we lost you."  The surgeon looked at her, pointed to heaven and said, "Don't thank me, Thank Him"  They couldn't even give her a time of how much longer she had to live because they said she shouldn't have lived. (The drs weren't even able to find enough good veins to replace all the bad one's and she had a diseased heart) In Oct. 2014, it will have been 18 years. Momma took care of daddy, who was paraplegic, until he passed away in 2000, finished high school and graduated at the ACE headquarters in TN, pastored a church, went to Israel, and is now graduating college. No one need ever tell me that my God is dead or that He isn't still working miracles. My momma is a miracle and I thank God everyday for her. I never want to take for granted how blessed I am to have Geraldine Francis as my momma and that God allowed me to see, first hand, that He still works miracles today.

Proud of my college girl :-)

My momma amazes me. She has so much spunk and more get-up-and-go than most young people and she's 75 years old! I am so proud of her. She was so worried about her finals this past semester. I spent the night one night and got up early to quiz her because she was concerned about how she would do. She is on her second year and the kids at the college love her. Anyway, the pictures below are the results of some of those finals. :-) Of course I had to sneak and take these pics. She just doesn't understand why I'd want to post things about her tests and such on facebook. To her it isn't that big of a deal that she's going to college, why, people would think she's silly. :-)

She has inspired me and once my daughter gets a few years older I want to go back to school. I just hope I can do half as good as she is doing. I am so blessed to have a momma like her. Below is this years school picture! Isn't she lovely? :-)

Blogging and other stuff

You know......I love to read people's blogs! I like watching the videos they put up to show you how to make crafts. Love finding new recipes. Enjoy seeing decorating ideas. But......I have become so lazy about doing my own blog! I've learned lots of new techniques in stamping and scrapbooking that I could share. I actually have......on my cell phone! lol Take pics, send 'em to my niece. But then I have to take that itty bitty card out of my phone, put it in my SD card, put that in the printer, wait for it to come up, save them, sign into my blog etc. etc. Like I said......I've been lazy.

Well, I'm gonna try to remedy that! I HAVE succeeded in some of my goals for the year! I have several dr. bills paid off, I'm getting my savings up there, I lost a few (ok, very few but it's still a loss) pounds, and I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff and still organizing. If I'd just quit moving large furniture and then moving bones out of place I would probably have a lot more done!!

I'm actually getting my scrap/craft area fixed up and Chris said he'd put a ceiling fan in! I'm loving it!!

Here's momma and Judy getting ready to fly off to Israel! They had a wonderful time! Prayers sure got thru for momma as she was able to do most everything. Walking for miles, up and down steps, and she'd like to go back! :-)

So proud of a very special nurse, who is a wonderful friend! She won an award in the "Salute to Nurses 2010" nomination! I was asked to write a letter and here it is.........

Donna Austgen: “Salute-To-Nurses” nomination for 2010

It is my honor to nominate Donna Austgen for the 2010 "Salute-To-Nurses". In 1984, when I was 15, I was in an auto accident that splintered my right femur. I was in the hospital and in traction for over 2 months. My bones just wouldn't heal and we were looking at surgery and possibly the surgery not even working. Donna was a bright spot in each and every day that she was there. As a teen who had never been in the hospital, having to have someone help bathe me and do so much for me was not easy. But Donna made me laugh and put me at so much ease, that I was bummed on the days that she had off. She didn't only take care of me, she spent time with me. We talked and laughed as I recorded us on my "tape player", she explained things about procedures on our movie camera, and so much more. She was so wonderful, not only to me, but also to my family. I cannot explain what her fun and laughter and wonderful care did for a very scared 15 year old girl.
6 years later Donna was the nurse who did the pregnancy test and told my husband and I that we were going to have our first baby. Many times she's spent time talking with me on the phone and sent me cards. How many nurses are still in contact with a patient 25 years after taking care of them? Donna genuinely cares for others from her heart! I cannot think of a more deserving person to nominate for this award.

I could make this a super long post but.......I think I'll save some for another day! Hopefully, before two months go by! :-)