The Exorcist

My sister swears I should have named her Ragen because there are times, like on Sunday for instance, that she displays behavior as if she were possessed like the child in The Exorcist...

I know you can't tell from the picture but this sweet little freckled-face smile developed a condition much like the possessed soon after this photo was taken.

She hates medicine, any medicine. She gags, she cries, I'm really not looking forward to the whole tonsil removal in a few weeks!

We decided to take her to Children's Hospital's ER Sunday to have them examine her foot that had been pierced with a 3/4 inch piece of wood last week. It had some white skin around the puncture spot but it appeared more white was developing inside, and I feared infection. The doctors agreed. They needed to open the area to drain any fluid out and clean the area really well.

Apparently the bottom of the foot is a difficult area to numb. They put the standard topical cream on to do it's job, they were gonna spray the foot with an additional numbing solution, give her a nose spray that would help w/pain and then give her a shot in the foot. She refused the nose spray. That was her big mistake.

As they began working she screamed to the top of her lungs "You're KILLING ME". Her beet red faced tried to bite me as I held her upper body down. Saliva ran down her chin as she continued to belt out in protest. She saw the scissors unfortunately as they began cutting away damaged skin. I felt bad for the child but felt bad for the doctor too as I unclenched B's fist that was wrapped around her jacket. I shouted apologies but until they finished she screamed, she shook her head from side to side and if you looked close enough, you could see her head spin all the way around.

Whew, when it was all said and done, her foot was cleaned, bad skin removed, and no more foreign objects were found in her foot. With that said, she has not had any of her antibiotic they said she needed three times a day. I've tried everything I can think of to get it down her. It doesn't matter the form it's presented in at this point, there's no way she'll take it. She can't swallow the pill due to her gag reflexes and she can taste the powder and she'll taste the liquid too no matter how we disguise it. So all I can do is keep it as clean as possible, and pray it heals without further complications.

He's Still Workin' on Me

When I get a chance, I'll start another blog for all my church stories, apparently, Imma need one...

I adore the church we visit. I feel so happy once I leave there even if I've spent most of the service in tears. I listen to people speak about their lives, people I've never met before, but the passion that comes from their heart that ultimately breaks their speech apart as they fight back tears, is so moving. I needed church today. I'm weak. I'm physically weak from the hard labors of completely re-doing our home inside and I'm emotionally weak from the strains this puts on us as a family but hopefully we will finish and all be able to rest, relax, and enjoy our neat and nice home.

I have prayed more this last week than I think I ever have before. There are certain qualities I struggle to possess at times such as patience and He has got me through a really tough week. I LOVE that when I show up to church, the preacher gets on his knees, he cries his eyes out and admits, he don't have certain qualities either. I watched three little girls sing a song about how He is still workin' on them, and I cried. I left there with the assurance I needed. He's Still Workin' on Me...I'm so glad He is.

Oh Sheet!

So we got to the condo down at the beach and my Mom went to the grocery store to buy the essentials like bread, cereal, milk, and beer while we took the kids down to the beach. It felt awesome down there, it was late in the afternoon, and we spent several hours just watching the three little ones enjoy the sand and ocean and eventually moved them up to the pool area.

Mother had fought the crowds of Wal Mart and finally returned with a van load of groceries. There were six of us total and I can tell, she had no intentions of running back and forth to the store.

We finally got everyone situation in the rooms, got groceries put away, kids showered and we were exhausted. It was about 10 o'clock and well beyond our bedtime! When we decided it was time fold out the couch for one of the children, I asked a question. "Has anyone seen any extra bedding or sheets?"

No one had and we began to search in a desperate panic. We searched high and low and only found a blanket (which went straight in to wash) but no sheets at all. Poor Mother spoke, "I'll just go back to Wal Mart and buy some."

She offered to take my daughter and I was thinking that's one less kid for us to watch reluctant but agreed. The remaining folk went onto the balcony and told ghost stories. I had my son and his little cousin so scared. Their wide eyes hung on my every word as I told story after story. Lightening crashed and thunder roared. Rain drops fell and forced us off the balcony back inside. After driving through a monsoon, Mom finally returned and she had sheets, and my daughter. My child took off her hearing devices and said, "I'm going to bed!" and she was asleep within 2 minutes.

We patiently waited for everything to finish washing and drying and my sister decided to sit next to Mother on the couch. When she did, she raised up and said, "What was that?" She lifted the cushion behind her and pulled out a pack of unopened sheets...PERFECT. We three adults burst into laughter and we were frightening the children.

We went to bed LATE early in the morning thinking we'd sleep til at least 7 a.m. but I was awakened by my bedmate at 5:30. "Mama! I had a nightmare!!" And it was all my fault for telling those horrible stories to those poor children.

Deep Thoughts from the Blakely Kids

We had about a 40 minute drive to the Dentist this morning and the kids were being soooo good I was anticipating a complete riot at any moment. I try to encourage independence and give the kids some breathing room so while they are in the backseat of the car not bothering me, I totally ignore them I listen to their hilarious interesting perspectives on life in general.

Brook began by asking if I would give them their battery chargers for their processors (hearing devices) when they get big and move out. She then starting telling Gage she HAD to marry someone who could hear. She said, "Babies cry at night and I won't be sleeping with my implants on so he'll have to do all that!" Gage replied, "I'm not getting married. I'm gonna be too busy. And I'm not having kids, it's too much responsibility! You have to feed 'em and all that. They cost too much money and I'm bored just thinking about it!"

Brook said she was definitely having kids! "I'll have to leave 'em with someone else though...like Mama 'cause I'll need a break. I'll have like 10...or maybe not that many..."

HELP ME NOW!!

She better find a good back-up sitter is all I gotta say!

The Water Slide

So my mother took me and my sister (and the little people that live with us) to the beach this weekend and someone had the great idea to take the kids to Waterville USA while we were down there. That's a huge water park/amusement park. For five hours we played, we swam, we drove go-karts, we traveled the Lazy River...

At some point in my delusional-heat stroke kinda mentality-I look over at my sister and point to these big (non-kiddie) water slides and say "Hey, if any of the kids wanna go down those, I'll take 'em...or you can if you want." She looked at me like I'd just slapped her kid and she proceeded to cuss me out. I guess she didn't wanna go (she's even more scared than I am of heights!)

Okay, I can do this. I opened my mouth and asked this question..."Hey, who wants to go on those big water slides?" My son wasn't interested at all but two little girls, ages 6 and 7 excitedly say "I wanna go, I wanna go." So we went.

The first deck leading up to the slides wasn't that bad. At this point we were only about 20 feet in the air. As we waited in line, we chatted about which slide we wanted to go down. They had three different colors leading down and we all picked a different color so we could go down at the same time. Then we went up the next set of steps and I felt weak. Don't look down, don't look down, keep talking to the kids, distraction distraction DISTRACTION!!

My knees were weakened by the altitude and all I could think was, "Do it for the chill-ren! Do it for the chill-ren!" Someone bumped into me and the two inches I moved seemed to have me falling 50 feet down in my mind. My back tingled as my mind accepted the fact that I was gonna fall to a sure splat. If anyone else bumps me, I may throw up.

The kids were waiting quietly at this point as we neared the next set of steps, the final set...I wanted to ask if either of them had changed their minds but said nothing. Saliva ran down into my mouth and I fought hard to make it up those final steps with my hands and knees shaking. The kids walked over to their slides, as I did mine and we waited for the cue to go down. The lifeguard watched over the edge and now that I can't see the bottom, it isn't so bad.

She gave us the thumbs up, and I saw both girls go down so I had to GO! I hopped in my slide and I started laughing. I have a nervous laughter that begins when I'm on scary rides such as a 4-D movie theater when you sit in a seat and feel like you are IN the movie! I knew this laughter wasn't a good sign. It's almost like one of those evil scary movies when the killer has been caught and is about to die, but all he can do is laugh out loud! Very weird I know but I usually laugh until tears start rolling from my eyes. I'm laughing and screaming "Oh [insert un ugly word of your choice] Oh [insert an ugly word of your choice]" as my body is shooting down this RACE TRACK at speeds I never imagined. I'm laughing, I'm crying, I'm throwing legs up, arms up, I didn't care who can see me from above, logic told me to grab on to the sides and I will slow down!!" But I could not. It was so slippery and my only option was to reach the bottom at speeds I can't control. I'm sliding, and turning so fast, I can't see what's coming up around each corner, will I go up or down, sideways, and WOOOSH. The end. I didn't even have time to hold my breath as the water shot straight up through my nostrils and punctured my brain. I'm confused, I'm still laughing and I feel exposed. I try to pull around on my swimsuit to make sure if anything was OUT THERE, it would be covered as soon as possible.

Anything that was hanging out at top was okay now so I step over the edge of the slide, see the girls doing the same and I breathe from my mouth and reach around to the back and try to cover what's back there. I don't feel my suit but I knew I was wearing a one-piece when I got on the slide so I find it hard to believe it all came off. I finally found the suit which had been transformed at the end of the slide to a thong and we are all okay.

I tell the girls as I gasp for air and stumble around that "I didn't like that at all. I was horrified!" My sister's child looked up at me and with chubby cheeks said, "Val, I wanna go down the pink one!" So with that, we all walked right back over to the steps, and began our climb to the top.

I am wearing a scab on my elbow from the frantic fight I put up on my way down trying to grab on to something...anything. I will forever laugh now when I see a water slide.

Sorry Mista Ossifer

A friend's Facebook status reminded me of this story...sigh.

One day, a few years ago, I had went to town as I always did on Saturday mornings to see my family. Now I grew up in this town, and had moved just outside the city limits when marriage and children led me in that direction. But I assure you, some of the same (now older) cops still remained on patrol. Nothing against cops, many of my school-mates were now cops and several had and do still serve on this force. THANK YOU! Most of you do an excellent job!

However, on this random Saturday, I drove my mini-MAMA-van thru this small town. Kids were screaming, probably fighting, and all I had on my mind was getting to my Mom's house so she could deal with them for a while. I needed a break. In my crazed desperation, I payed no attention to my speedometer. BIG MISTAKE!

Before I knew I knew, I was driving up a small hill and when I reached to top, there he was. He was heading in the opposite direction of me...and the lights came on. He must have been extremely busy that day because he stopped me right there atop the hill. We both remained in our vehicles and he rolled his window down, as I did mine. The kids got quiet and he spoke...

"SLOW IT DOWN!" I admit I was a little taken back, but before I knew it my mouth opened and words came out..."Geee, how fast was I going?" I said in my best smarty pants voice. Remember, I was in desperate need of a break and well, I didn't need any attitude from anyone else...he just caught me at a bad time.

With visions of seeing myself on the next episode of Cops, I heard him answer, "35!!!!!!!! Slow it down! Consider this your FREEBIE"

I was borderline laughing that I had been pulled over for going 35 mph but continuing my smarty pants remarks despite the Angel on my shoulder trying to advise me to let it go...I said, "Wow, 35? I am so sorry! What is the speed limit?" as I looked with obvious intentions to prove there was no sign anywhere, he replied "It's 25 right here, just slow it down!"

I looked at him and slowly spoke with confusion "ooookayyyyyy, thank you." And I now I always enjoy telling that story...."Oh yea, well I got pulled over going 35!" lol

But I Don't Want To Be Deaf

Today was our first day back in church. We used to go every single Sunday but our tiny old church lost its congregation and we all went our separate ways so we have sought after a new one. My idea of church is a small country church (Baptist or Methodist) with lots of songs, a great preacher and a child-friendly congregation and atmosphere. We found it.

As we sat down on the pew, we were automatically welcomed and saw friendly smiles flash our way. Today, it was just my daughter and I and she found a classmate to sit with, I joined them. As we burst into song, I heard hands clapping, feet stomping and people patting the back of pews as we all sang. I heard just the right about of country whine in the voices from behind...it was beautiful.

The preacher had us turn to a verse in our Bibles. He read it aloud and that single verse spawned a 45 minute sermon. He stood on the piano bench, he walked down the aisle, he got down on his knees. His voice was so loud at times, I could feel it bounce from my rib cage. He was full of enthusiasm and he assured us, "This ship ain't goin' down!" He talked about WHO should be Captain of our vessels and WHO is there when the water is rough, WHO is guiding us safely and WHO leads us and WHO stays with us when we feel like we are sinking.

I actually found myself shaking my head, getting carried away with the preacher's voice. I found myself crying when the beautiful little girl (almost 4) sitting on our pew sang OUT LOUD the words to a song that I had to read from a hymn book. While visually impaired, she may never be able to see the tiny words of the book but she's already received them through her heart. As tears filled my eyes at the beautiful sight, her mom told me she loves that song and sings if all the time at home. Her little voice could be heard over all others, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of that.

On the way home, Brook asked me how God makes babies. Luckily He gave me the proper words for her 7 year old mind. She then turns to me and says, "Does God make people have syndromes?" And again, he filled my mouth with just the right words. Without hesitation, my voice slipped over lips and answered the tough question.

"Yes. Sometimes, God decides that certain babies are going to be different than His other children. He decides to make them weaker in some areas and stronger in other ways. He decided you and Gage would be deaf." She quickly interrupts, "But I don't wanna be deaf. It's hard to hear!" I reply, "But He made you extra special so you could teach others. Had you not been deaf, so many people would not have learned about hearing loss, patience and understanding. God decided your ears wouldn't work but He's made you stronger in a lot of other ways."

She understood what I was trying to tell her. She now knows that God is the Captain, He is in charge and He sails the ship.

A Violent Ride

Ok, consider this your disclaimer...too much information headed your way!

First of all, I blame the teachers who didn't call me to sub today which forced me to show my face at Lady F's spin class. I knew that she would likely be in a violent mood today since the Alabama tornadoes not only took out her power for a few days, but since her husband works for the power company, he had to leave her for a few days as well. I knew that those of us who showed up today would be like sitting ducks with targets on our foreheads since she's had some disturbance in her daily schedule. I got as far away from her as I could.

When she turned on the music and began singing "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna, my suspicions were confirmed...were were in for a long ride. She allows no fans in her classes. (I'm telling you, she is crazy hard core!) She sang the chorus over the mic and I'm getting scared. She glanced at me just as Eminem screamed "my fist through the drywall!!" and my mind starts searching for a happy place. I need birds, I need the ocean, I need something other than this! I could not pull up a happy place to save my life. I'm sweating so bad at this point, it's stinging my eyes and I wonder if I've now reached a point that I'm sweating blood. She's yelling for me not to slow down so I pedal faster, still looking for a happy place. She barks for us to move up and down and up and down all while we are pedalling as fast as we can but all I can think about is how badly my thong is hurting...that's when I realized I didn't wear a thong, I had on big girl panties when I walked in but somehow they were reduced with all the commotion of the violent ride.

I double check with the nurse beside me on her ability to perform CPR and she assures me she can do it. Only 30 minutes had passed and I'm still convinced I'm sweating blood. I look to my other side and mouth the word HELP to Sharonda. She laughed at me.

When it was finally over, I went to the "Landlord". I told her I needed Lady F to sign a waiver so I can write nasty things about her-I tend to fight my battles with a pen because Lady F would totally kick my butt in a real fight...but the Landlord just laughed, she thought I was kidding. I made a few stops around town and chatted with several folks, and then the nausea set in.

I actually thought I was gonna throw up in my drive way. I ran inside and got something to drink and I was fine. I had burned so many calories and my stomach was furious with me for not feeding it well enough. I stepped inside the bathroom to wash the Lady F off of me. I looked in the mirror and I realized I had a black eye. Not kidding! I've learned my lesson about wearing mascara to the gym so now I only wear a tiny bit of eyeliner. I had apparently sweated and smeared it all around my ocular globe...I have got to start checking my mirror BEFORE I go around starting up conversations! I knew it was a violent ride.

Alabama Tornadoes

CRAZZZZZZY weather here in Alabama. It's actually chilly today while it was eerily hot yesterday as we awaited round two of a tornado outbreak. The kids and I had already spent 30 minutes at daybreak early Wednesday morning in the partial, dirt-floor basement trying to stay out of harm's way during round one. Unfortunately, many are still missing here in Alabama after a day long event of dangerous storms and tornadoes. Well over a hundred are confirmed dead at the latest count and thankfully, our community escaped safely, no deaths in my immediate area.

However, many of us are finding lots of things along our roadways and yards aside from downed trees and limbs. As we walked around our yard late yesterday and early today, we found lots of pages from various books, but this seems to be the most fitting, the most interesting...

 A few pages from a small Bible

My child ran to me with tattered pages in her hand. I took the dirty, wet scriptures from her plump, seven year old hands. She said, "What is it?" and I smiled and said, "A gift from God, I can't wait to read it."

We also found a bank paper with a name, a page from Chapter 15 of a history book with The Battle of Bull Run on it....

 We found a Kentucky Fried Chicken receipt, ironically all the way from Calvert City, Ky...not sure how that ended up here, it was a debit receipt signed by the customer, from several years ago...

We also found photos and an old baseball card...

We are very thankful this morning, we are praying for those who weren't so lucky....

If you are interested in seeing photos of the damage in AL, click here.

You can also watch the tornado that we saw live on TV as well ripping through Tuscaloosa (many miles southwest of me) HERE.

School is out again today, the kids are not excited that they will likely have to go a couple of Saturdays to make these days up...but we live another day, to love, to complain, to carry on as 'normal'.

I felt the warm sun on the back of my neck as I hung clean laundry on the line this morning. I was teary as I hung up my children's clothes that I placed on their small bodies yesterday, not knowing if it was all they would have left at the end of the day...

We are blessed.

It's perfectly fine...

It's perfectly fine to tell your child as you pull into the parking lot of her pediatrician's office that they will use pliers to pull that dangling tooth out before they give her a strep test...

she decided to pull it out before we went in, and she got lots of cash for that tooth that literally hung around for over a week...

It's also perfectly fine to pay your children to do housework-even if they are recovering from strep because they want money and you don't like to everything all by yourself anyway...

after all, you need to rest on the patio from all that you DID DO during the week...drinking coffee in your swimsuit, no make-up, hair pulled back wearing extra large shades will be fine for a half day chillout...

but just before the husband comes home, turn on the Scentsy or light some candles so the house smells fresh and clean...jump in the shower, apply make-up and brush through your hair so he has no clue that you've done absolutely NOTHING...

AHHH-it's perfectly fine to have an awesome weekend...hope you all had a great Easter!