things that make my life WONDERFUL!!!

  This weekend was an eventful one. On Saturday we had the fall fest at church.  I think they gave away over 300 hot dogs to the community, not counting snacks and sodas!  There were a lot of yard sales from people in the church and the community. The childrens department had 3 of those giant inflated fun houses.  They had a table set up for painting miniature pumpkins, and over 100 of those were painted by children! Add face painting to that and you can see that the children had a blast!  There was also live music.

  So my mother in law in my girls and I all went together.  It wasn't too hot in the beginning, so I was able to wobble around some and check out the childrens clothing with my mother in law.  I watched my oldest daughter having a blast on the giant inflated slide, and she was loving it!  I listened to the men yelling out and cheering their Alabama football on.... I personally dislike Alabama, I'm more of an UGA girl!  It was a lot of fun just getting out of the house and spending part of my Saturday at church with friends!

  Afterwards Anita (my mother in law), the girls, and I went to Wal-Mart.  She checked for an electric scooter for me because I'd already done too much at the church and almost passed out, but for the first time Wal-Mart didn't have one available!  So we ended up with this HUGE wheelchair with the buggy that swings out in front.  Well that part was broken and they had it tied with a Wal-Mart bag!  Well that didn't seem like it was going to work, and surprise surprise, the whole buggy would swing open while Anita was pushing me!  Let me tell you we looked a hot mess!!! But what was hilarious is every time we stopped, Serena (my 5 year old) would run into Anita with the buggy!  Finally we dumped the buggy and discarded almost everything that we had planned on buying due to the fact that it was just too hard to get it all done, hold the wheelchair together, and keep up with Serena!  We did manage to get some dessert foods and my exer-bike!  We were planning on getting a bucket of chicken instead of cooking for supper, and since we were exhausted we were just going to send the guys back into town for it.  But yet again, when we pulled into the yard our plans would change!  It's a good thing we didn't buy the bucket of chicken because my husband had already went home! Now Anita had to drive me home instead of getting out and getting comfy as planned!!! Poor Anita... *smile*

  Anyway I got my exer-bike together while watching the UGA game, and with 2 minutes to go I just knew we were gonna win, but some stupid ref calls (on both teams) totally changed the game and I was left with a disgusting memory of how we lost to LSU with 2 minutes left! So I rode off the frustration on my brand new exer-bike!  It's wonderful and I just know I am going to enjoy using it on my road to recovery and beyond!

  Sunday was yet another day wracked with activity.  I rode my bike 5 miles while I fixed my hair for church!  And today was a special day for me because I sang with the worship team again!  Granted there is a lot of therapy that still needs to be done before I'm 100%, but man was it great to be back up there!  I gave my testimony of what my neurologist said (read the blog before this one) and it felt so great to be able to speak!  Of course there were a few slurred words, and of course I had trouble getting some of the words out, but man it felt so great to just share what God has done!!!  I'm hoping that with continued therapy on my singing this week, that next week I'll be 100%.  That's my goal every week.   I use Sunday's as a timeline/deadline because everything I look forward to doing is usually on a Sunday!  So my goal for this week is to get my leg stronger and either rely on the walker less or simply not need it at all, that would be nice!  With my voice my goal is to speak and sing 100% normal by Sunday.  I make this my goal every week.  If I don't get to 100%, then I will be closer, and the next week is just an easier goal to work towards!!!

  After church we did our usual and went to Anita's, and ate lunch.  Now Anita is not the typical American grandmother, so there is never a huge spread of food ready, but she's a barrel of laughs and it's always a fun time.  So we had fast food burgers for lunch, and then just sat around talking until it was time for Eric and I to go to worship practice.  I realized during practice that my throat began to feel fatigued, but as stubborn as I am, I didn't listen to my body... By the time I left I knew I should go straight home and rest, but I went back to Anita's sat around laughing and talking and using more energy I knew I didn't have, but yet again it is so nice to get out of the house!!!  By the time I got home I was exhausted but my stubborn self walks in the door, changes into comfy clothes, and what do I do? I climb on the bike, press the button for an uphill downhill exercise, and did another 6.1 miles and 30 minutes!  And I'm paying for it today!  My body aches, my throat aches, and I'm still tired even though I slept like a rock thanks to the new meds Dr. Phillips has me on!  So today, I have no choice but to "listen" to my body... because it has decided that every movement I make is going to hurt!

  So this was my weekend.  To some it isn't a barrel of fun, but to me it was wonderful!  Every day that you have your mind to make clear decisions is wonderful. Every day that you are able to spend time in the presence of God with friends and family is wonderful! Every day that I'm getting better is wonderful!!!  I give praise to my Lord and my Savior for each of these things that make my life WONDERFUL!!!