Funny Stuff!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)

Muffin Odyssey

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)

Oreo Chocolate Chip

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
A Har

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)

Green Tiger

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)

Louise Grand Rapids

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)

Har Ai

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")

Blue "Mocha Punch"

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)

James Ralph

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy)

Plumeria Licorice

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )

Kay Philip

God is Great!

Well, over the summer, my husband and I have been going through some great trials within our church. Its nothing that I want to go into detail over, as I want to keep this blog public. But, just to put it mildly, God is putting us through His fire...the refiners' fire. I know that the purpose of this is to draw us nearer to Him and to grow together, and believe me, its happening!
In addition to all of that, God is dealing with me on some personal issues. To be quite honest, I am an extremely judgmental and critical person. Its not something I let show through, although, I'm sure it does show at times. I don't like that. Its ugly. That's a very ugly side to me. God is definitely refining me.
I always thought I was "okay" because no one could see my sin - my thoughts were my own, and rarely would I make these thoughts known, if only to my husband. What joy for him, huh? But lately, I've been convicted -God has used my husband (as lovingly as possible, let me say my husband has not been pointing his finger at me and shouting, "SINNER!"). He has been very kind and loving, but by hearing some of what he has said, I have thought more deeply about my actions, and I've realized the error in my ways.
I grew up with a judgmental and critical parent. He was a musician, (and let me preface, not ALL musicians are this way) -and very critical of himself, he still is. But, that attitude carried over to me -and also was laid heavily upon my siblings.
I don't want that for my children. I don't want them to wonder, daily, "what's Mom upset about today?"
So, God is refining me. I am most definitely in the fire. And it hurts. It doesn't feel good...but God is making me better, right? I trust in the Potter. He is my creator and he knows me best!

Things (and people) that bring me joy!

This post was inspired by one of my dear internet friends - I decided its a good idea to name many (obviously not all!) of my blessings!

• I love spending time with my husband, and I love how me makes time for me and our kids -in the midst of a VERY busy week!
• I love my little boys' sweet smile
• I love how my baby girl ALWAYS wakes up happy. She is ALWAYS smiling...and is an easy-going, go with the flow, kind of girl...much, much, MUCH like her Daddy!
• I love how my husband can get me laughing when I AM being too uptight!
• I love the cooling of the temperature in fall!
  
• I love getting ready for the holidays!
• I love warm and cozy sweaters and jackets in the fall!
• I love the way the house smells when I baking or cooking something yummy in the oven!
• I love the look on his face when my little guy finds out that he is going somewhere with Daddy (or that we're going to see his grandparents!)!
• I love how Connor LOVES to be around people -especially other kids! And he says, "hello" to everyone he meets!
• I love the sound of my kids playing.
  
• I love how God takes care of us and encourages us- even when we don't know what's ahead for us.
  

Well...I may continue this post for later...but this is "enough" for now!

Tag! You're it!

TAG YOU'RE IT
This came from my sister in an email this morning. If you view this, you have to do it. Then, send me a message back, so I know you did it!

Two names you go by:
1. Aimee

2. Meme (by my son) LOL

Two things You are wearing right now

1. coral colored polo shirt

2. my favorite blue jeans

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Spend time with my family.

2. Keep in touch with friends, old and new, via the Internet

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. A nice digital camera to go with our lens from our "old" camera.

2. A breadmaker (I haven't mastered the technique of the "by hand" method.)

Two favorite pets you have had/have
1. Xena - American Staffordshire Terrier

2. Muffin - a flame-point Himalayan

Two things you ate(or drank) today:
1. Coffee

2. French Toast sticks

Two people you last talked to:
1. Connor
2. Ben

Two things you're doing tomorrow
1.Taking care of my kiddos

2. Going to church

Two longest car rides:
1. Port Byron, IL to Clarks Summit, PA

2. Port Byron, IL to Washington, DC, NYC and Fitchburg, MA

Two favorite holidays:
1. Thanksgiving

2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages:
1. Mocha Punch (YUM!)

2. Mountain Dew (although I can't drink it too often because of the caffeine level!)

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY

Another story about my boy

So, there was more stuff that happened on Saturday (Daddy day). Connor apparently found himself a little girlfriend, a little blond haired, blue eyed girl whom he fancied quite a bit! Ben told me as he was watching Connor...he "passionately" (put his little hands on her shoulders) kissed the girl...like 6 times! Guess he's been watching Daddy kiss Mommy! Haha! I'm going to have to keep an eye on that one!

Overheard

Okay, so Saturday was a "daddy day" -well, more like a "daddy afternoon"! Anyway, Ben came home and said, well, we're on a new road to Independence with Connor. He is becoming Mister Independent!
So he went on to tell me about his experience that day. He took Connor to a softball game of one of our teens'. Nearby, was a playground, and so Connor of course wanted to go and play! They got to a certain point, and Connor stopped Daddy, and patted the ground where he wanted Daddy to sit...no closer!
So, Ben kept one eye on the game, and one eye on Connor. He is only 2, you know.
He overheard some older kids talking...they wanted to play "Pirates" -and they asked Connor if he wanted to play. And, they kept asking him what his name was. Well, Connor has a limited vocabulary. So, he was either saying, "ball" or "kitty" -probably his two favorite things! So Ben overheard the kids saying, what's wrong with him? Why can't he talk?
So one of the girls brings Connor over to Ben and says, what's wrong with him? Why doesn't he say his name?
Now, please don't take offense to what I write here, as its certainly not politically correct, but straight from the mouths of babes. Ben said, he can't really talk because he's only 2!
So, the girl starts walking back to the other kids and says, "he's not a retard, he's only 2!" (Connor may look 3 or 4 years old to others, between his big boy haircut, and his bigger body...but he's just my baby!)

Recalling a hard time...part 2

Anyhow, we later took Connor down to Iowa City for an appointment with the specialist. She was great. But, she didn't really have any news for us. She just wanted to monitor his white counts for a few weeks, and then see us again. She did say that, most kids with this disorder, do not look so healthy! They usually get sick many, many times a year -and Connor had not had ONE ear infection -which is quite common for kids with Neutropenia! (Praise the Lord!)
With another visit -and no upturning white counts (as she had hoped for), she scheduled a Bone Marrow test. Connor did great...probably better than me! His back was numbed for the procedure, he wasn't "put out" but was a bit "out of it"!
They found that, like the specialist thought and hoped, that this was the only part of the bone marrow that wasn't functioning properly. No leukemia! No cancer! We were so relieved to hear that.
But amidst our joy, I couldn't help but wonder about the life that my little boy would live. With a diagnosis of Severe Chronic Neutropenia -I wondered if he would be able to attend school with others, if he would have to have shots regularly...if he would be sick all the time.
Well, over the past year, he has had 2 fevers -in which we have taken him to the ER, per our doctors' instructions. His blood is checked and then he gets a shot of this super-duper antibiotic -Rocefin? and is pretty much good to go. It is troubling to me, each time, but Ben keeps his cool, as we pack up the babies and drive to the ER.
With our last visit to the Children's Hospital, we found that Connors' white count has been coming up! Hurray! She "predicts" that if he continues to improve as he has been doing, he should have a normally functioning bone marrow by the age of 5! She thinks that he just has an immature bone marrow, for whatever reason, and its not functioning properly. I am super-stoked, yet, we are trying not to get our hopes up at the same time!
God is good, all the time. Although I try my best not to freak out, with each cut and bump, its difficult. I don't want him to get another infection. I want him to stay healthy. But I must trust. Trust in God, that He is going to take care of Connor. No matter what.

Recalling a hard time...

Last night, I was just thinking about how God has taken care of me and my family. You see, just after my son, Connor, had his first birthday, I noticed something on his finger. It was a bump. I really didn't know what to think of it at first. It didn't seem to be bothering him, so I waited until Ben came home and showed him.
We initially wondered, could it be a broken finger? So, just in case, we called our family doctor, who happened to attend our church. It was after hours, so we called him at home. We described the situation, and he didn't seem to know what it was either. So, he said, if it doesn't get any better -or if it gets worse, call my office in the morning for an appointment. Well! The next morning, his finger was HUGE! So, we called and got an appointment for early afternoon.
The hours couldn't go by fast enough. I was worried. No, I was SCARED out of my mind! What was wrong with my baby boy?
So we went in, and the doctor, who is normally rather laid back -had this look on his face that made both Ben and I cringe. He cut open the "wound" and when no puss came out -like he was expecting, he excused himself from the room to make some phone calls. Okay, that's what frightened me.
He came back and told me he had called two doctors. One, a pediatric hematologist in Iowa City -a childrens' hospital. And two, a bone doctor from the local hospital.
He wanted us to take Connor to the ER immediately, and the bone doctor was going to meet us there.
Needless to say, all of the doctors were baffled...they didn't know what was going on with him. They took Connors' blood for a test -and then proceeded to insert an IV for antibiotics into his arm.
They admitted him. Connor fell asleep in my arms, as we waited to be moved upstairs to Pediatrics. Ben and I were stressed to say the least. No one was giving us any answers as to WHY my dear son had this infection, or what type of infection it was.
They moved us upstairs, and I stayed the night with my boy. Ben went home to get some sleep...no sense both of us having a sleepless night -and I needed to be with my boy. I needed him, probably more than he needed me at that time.
The nurse came in about every 2 hours to do something! Check his temp, restart some antibiotics, give him Tylenol, etc. At one point, his temperature was up to 104.something! When the nurse told me that, she said, that's good -that means his body is fighting something. I felt like saying, lady, why in the world would you tell a young Mommy that her baby having a 104 temp is good! That's just not right!
Anyhoo...this nurse did EVERYTHING by the book, coming in to clean out the garbage -in the meantime turning on the light, making noise while Connor and I were trying to sleep. He would JUST fall asleep and within a half-hour, in came the nurse! For the first 2 days, we had different nurses on each shift. I was really hoping for the second night, that we would have a different nurse for the night shift....but, no such luck!
During the first night, Connor was not sleeping. No matter how much I tried to nurse him, he wouldn't fall asleep -and he was so uncomfortable. So, I asked the nurse to look at his arm -where the IV was. His entire arm was swollen! Poor guy, that's why he didn't want to sleep. Well, they need to reinsert the needle somewhere else....and it was between his foot -or in his head. I hoped for the foot, but the nurses said it would be "easier" to put it in his scalp! Well, they were WRONG! They had me lay over his body, and comfort him, as they wiggled that needle around the veins in his scalp. I cried as he sobbed. That was tough. They told me that usually the Moms don't stay around for that -because its so difficult...but, I couldn't leave my little guy alone through that. NO WAY!
Anyway, after the blood tests came back, it showed that Connors' white count was down. Our doctor told us that it should be going up -in order to fight the infection. We needed to find out why it was doing this.
Well, we spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital. That was TOO long. At the end of our stay, they told us that they believed Connor to have a staph infection. And, that's normally something that is on our skin -at any given time, but for some reason, Connors' body reacted to it. I began to think about the state of my home -and how I am not the best housekeeper...blaming myself for not having a cleaner house for my little pumpkin to crawl around in...but that wasn't it, we later found out. That experience taught me a lot. We could have lost not just Connnors' finger that week, we could have lost our little boy. I learned to have so much compassion for parents' of chronically ill children. I cannot IMAGINE how parents function long term under those circumstances. It was so hard to watch my little boy sitting in his hospital crib, with needles sticking out of him.
I'll continue tomorrow with more...

What kind of English do you speak??

Well, I haven't posted in a while, but here is something I found interesting....I love taking these silly quizzes!
***Your Linguistic Profile:***


55% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

10% Dixie

10% Yankee

5% Midwestern


What Kind of American English Do You Speak?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofamericanenglishdoyouspeakquiz/

A meme for you mommies!

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it’s all about your first born!


1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
Yes. We had wanted to get pregnant the month before we did, so we could tell our Mom’s at Mothers’ Day –but that didn’t happen, but it happened the next month and now we have Connor!

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
We had been married ALMOST 5 years at that time.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
We were excited – Ben didn’t think I was pregnant, but I was NEVER late, but the pregnancy test (even the early ones) didn’t say I was pregnant for 10 days after the first day of my missed period! I KNEW, but waited so impatiently for it to finally register on the pregnancy test!

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
Never

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
I turned 26 just before I found out, and then 27, the year he was born.

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
My period was late –like I said before, I was only ever early, NEVER late!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Ben, and then his parents, at dinner –waited for a special weekend trip to tell my Mom –and then my Dad.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
Absolutely! I hoped and prayed we would be able to tell –I only thought of how horrific (for me, the planner!) to not be able to find out at the ultrasound! LOL

9. DUE DATE?
February 12

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
Not one bit. (Yeah, you all have permission to hate me! But, I’m one to gain lots of weight –so that was my problem!)

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
I didn’t really crave anything –just avoided Chinese food, and couldn’t stand the smell of raw hamburger cooking! Ewww…then dh took me to MaidRite –yucko! LOL Of course, toward the end of the pregnancy –we were getting Whiteys’ ice cream, a lot!
12. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
Nothing really…just hated working where I was –may be paranoia, but once they found out I was pregnant, they tried REALLY hard to get rid of me!

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILDS SEX?
Boy

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
I did –up until the day he was born, and then I thought, what a precious child, how could I even think this?

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
About 45 pounds (he weighed 7 lbs 11 oz of that)

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes - a few of them. Two before he was born, and one afterwards.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew about it ahead of time.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
No.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Silvis, IL – Illini Hospital

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
14hrs, from the beginning of the induction to when he arrived.

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
My husband

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH?
My husband, my ob, a bunch of nurses, and my Mom was there too

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
Natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
Just something that they told me would take the edge off –it DID NOT, and then by the time it was “okay” for me to have an epidural –he was all ready to make his appearance, and too late for one! Ugh!!! It was a long night!

27. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH??
7 lbs 11 oz

28. DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS??
Nope.

29. WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Connor Isaac

30. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
2 years, 4 months & 14 days

*MOMMIES, Its always fun to talk about our first born...now its your turn to try the survey*

Joy and Roses

I wanted to start this blog with explaining what my purpose with this blog, and why I named it the way I did.
I want my home to be a place of Joy. I want my children to know our home was filled with joy. This doesn't mean that everyone in this house is always "happy". No, joy is something different. Joy lasts much longer than happiness -it is something deep within my heart that keeps me going every day. I have joy, because I believe God exists. I know that He sent His only Son to die for me and for you. This, is what I want my children to know. That, even though there may be hard times, fun times, silly times, challenging times...there is joy.
The roses part is, well, I love roses. What girl doesn't? Anyway, its a reminder to myself to "STOP" and smell them. I am the type of person who, wants to get from point A to point B - NOW! But, that's not living life! That's sprinting. Life is not a sprint -its a marathon. Life is meant to be enjoyed, or savored, like a fine piece of chocolate!
And, this blog is for my family and friends -and whoever may stumble upon it. We no longer live close to our families, so this is the best way to keep EVERYONE updated! I also will share what God has done for me and in my life, and hopefully that will encourage you to keep on carrying on! God bless!