Gold Rush Cutie

So my little girl is a Freshman at AHS now.  I can't even believe both of my kids are in highschool!! I feel so old! She decided she wanted to try out for the drill team this year instead of pursuing tennis as she did in middle school.  Of course my little dancer made it on the team and she loves it!  It is so rewarding to see her dress in her uniform as I once did when I was her age.  She is so adorable in it!  I am so proud of her. She seems to do exactly what she sets out to do.  She tells me she wants to be a Vet and I truly believe she will be.  She has such a big heart and loves God.  This child began going to church on her own with friends on Wednesday night.  I am so proud of her for doing so but so ashamed of myself for not leading by example on that one.  Sometimes I feel like as much as I encourage her she ends up inspiring me instead!

Driving a little too fast eh?

So here's the thing, Hayden will be officially 16 in January.  I know I know, what the heck?  Yes he will be driving.  Preston bought him a car a few months back and we prepared for the let down of Tj not following through with giving him his truck.  Well it's a good thing we did.  Because well, life happens and that is all I want to say on that.  Hayden is beyond excited to drive and I am beyond excited to let him.  I am so proud of the young man he's become. He is a sophomore now and still on the AHS Varsity Tennis team and making A's and B's on his report card.  I have no idea how in the world I lucked out having two of the best kids. God is sooo great!

My dear sweet sister....

Nikki passed away on June 13, 2013.  Who would have thought she would have gone to heaven so soon. We thought she had more time with us. When the doctors diagnosed her with pulmonary hypertension at 18 we knew that she would have a rough road ahead.  For a 18 year old, the limitations she had would make any other person depressed. Not Nikki. She was so full of life and love. She made the best of things by being a rock for her family. She was always there no matter what we asked of her. She was at every family function, birthday, holiday and even found time to do the same for her friends. She was a true blessing in every way. God has taken one of his best angels back home and we love him for the time he shared her with us. I will continue to miss her daily and selfishly wish she was here with us. Even though she was a sister in law, the "in law" fell off as soon as I met her. She was my sister and I was closer to her than I thought I was. My heart aches for her to be with us, but I know and find peace in, that she is with our Savior.

The only way I could express what she meant to me was writing this:

From the moment I met you,
I could see your heart,
You were so full of love,
Kindness, joy, you stood apart.

You cared about others needs,
Before you considered your own,
You took time to really know people,
You made your heart their home.

Everyone adored and loved you,
For the person you were day to day,
It was easy for anyone,
To love you in every possible way.

You were such a blessing,
To this world you leave behind,
You were a miracle, an inspiration,
For the rest of my life, you are mine.

I will love you and miss you,
Until I see you again,
I won't tell you goodbye today,
I'll keep you in my heart till then.

Car wreck

On May 11, I am driving to drop the kids off half way to see their dad. I am driving down I20, Hayleigh is in the front seat and Hayden is in the rear passenger. All of the sudden I see a SUV on the other side of the highway rolling diagonally onto my side of the highway and I am thinking, wow that is going to be an awful wreck as I also saw two other cars on that side slide sideways. Then I realized this rolling SUV was not going to stop and was heading straight for me and the kids.  I thought oh lord this is it. I am going to die.  I slightly turned my car to the right to take most of the hit if I could, I had a car on my right and a car directly behind me. I pushed on the brakes turned a little to the right and closed my eyes waiting for the impact. Then it hit, pushed me into the car on the right, then hit from behind, then again from behind. My ears are ringing, and my eyes are open but it's pitch black for a moment.  Then I see smoke fill the car. I scream to the kids "we have to get out of the car". Hayleigh is crying, "my stomach burns mom it hurts it hurts". I don't know if it is sliced in half or what but I know we have to get out of the car.  My door is jammed shut, Hayleigh's door is jammed shut, but luckily Hayden's opened.  Hayden only seems to be a little hurt from the seat belt but can walk around. He gets out, Hayleigh crawls through the middle of the car then I do. We are out of the car and on the side of the road. I look behind us and there are two SUV's flipped over, and multiple cars wrecked. Hayden rides with Jessica when she gets to the exit we wrecked at.  They followed Hayleigh in the ambulance to Weatherford to be checked out, I follow in an ambulance myself.  We both end up at the hospital in separate rooms to be checked out.  Tj, Jessica, and Preston are there with me and the kids.  They release Hayleigh without serious injury. They do a cat scan and xray on me and find nothing damaged and I am released later. I think we were all in shock pretty much the whole night. Amazed that out of the 7 cars involved in the accident, every single person, got out of their car after the accident without severe injury or fatalities.  God is great! I couldn't put into words how I felt about the wreck because I was so gracious that the kids and I were alive and not severely injured.  I was overcome with joy and humbled by Gods mercy.  It could have been so different and IS for so many others out there.  I feel so fortunate to be one of the few that survived and accident of this magnitude!

Talk about a close call...

Only I would be the only one to possibly make Nursing school harder than it is.  So the last unit test we had I needed a 90 in order to make a 85 on the Final and pass.  Well I got a 76 instead of a 90.   Of course when I saw a 76 on my MS/Int test it felt like I made a 20 when I needed a 70.  At that point I said "Evie you might as well call it a day and start on plan B".  So I went through my grieving process and still studied for the final knowing I would need a 90 on the Final to pass but the chances of doing so were SLIM.  After a few study groups and a ton of peoples help later, I made a 96 on my Final.  So I have one more semester to pass or make it through...then I can graduate in May.  The hardest part is still to come (NCLEX) but I believe I can be ready to do my best. Lord help me make it!

Really I made a "B" on my Finals!!!

In this program you have to have an average of 70 in class to SIT for the final.  Once you take the final you MUST make a 75 in order to pass the class. Therefore, you can have a 70 average, sit for the final and make a 74, and still not pass the course, therefore, you are out of the program.  So of course I am super stressed to take the finals because of course my average in each class means nothing if I can't pass the final with a 75.  So this semester I had about 6 classes total, 3 of which I had to make a 75 on the final.  Since my average test grades have been from 72-76 at it's best with a few 80's sprinkled here and there, this was quite scary for me.  So what do I do? Pray Pray Pray. Dear Lord, please help me focus on the final, give me the strength and knowledge I need to continue with this course of my life.  So what does he do?  Allows me to make a 84 on one, 82 on another, and 88 on my last.  GOD IS GREAT! So....off to my second year in Nursing school : )

My friend in Nursing school

She found out she was pregnant and had to have surgery this week.  So of course being in Nursing school she was concerned about making it through her pregnancy and school at the same time.  Of course we all were excited and willing to help her get through it.  This past Friday she started having pains, went to the hospital and they said she might be passing kidney stones.  Her doctor proceeds with the other surgery she was scheduled for and finds a huge tumor around her ovary.  So they removed both.  She is still in pain do to possible stones...BUT the baby (her and her hubby's first) is doing just fine through it all.  Thank God for keeping him/her safe through it all.

To pay or not to pay....

Because i got my 401K last year after Verizon, we filed taxes and found out we owed.  After including my tuition etc from nursing school we owe 1,000.00 less. YAY!!