Becky's Sweet 16 and more

Sorry..here are some photos from Becky's 16th birthday party/ John's graduation party.

We had a nice time altho the weather was awful: hot and humid. I stayed indoors for most of the time. Heat kills me! (I have Addison's disease so I have to be very careful of the heat.)

I'm frustrated because Jackie was here last night and today. She is overwhelmed and doesn't know where to begin to put her life back together. This is something that she needs to do...no one else can do this for her. She is struggling big time. SO instead of dealing with things, (i.e. getting a job, going to the doctor's for her infected eyes and for psychiatric medication for her increasing depression, inspecting her car..and on and on and on...) she sleeps on the couch all day. I just want to SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I SHOULD scream...release some of the poisonous frustration that's coursing thru my veins. I'm just so afraid that once I DO scream, that will be the end. I'll probably totally lose it and wind up in some nice padded room in some mental facility.

Let me tell you..dealing with her drug addiction and all of my girls depression is really taking a toll on me and my emotional health. You get to feel so totally helpless because you cannot help your children. It's even more frustrating when they refuse to help themselves.

I'm sorry to be in such a bad mood.

The only happy news today is that Becky is booked for trip to Dar's!! She leaves on Sunday the 10th of July and returns on Wednesday the 20th of July! She'll have such a great time! I wish that I could go but all this trip taking is getting expensive! (My trips with TSPR and both Rachel and Becky going to FL this summer..not to mention our trip to CA in August!

Ok..I'm done ranting for now..Peace!

UPDATE: 10:11pm...Yes, I screamed..long and loud. No one was home so I was afforded this rare opportunity. Do I feel better? No, not really. I cried...hysterically..for about 10 minutes. And I'll probably cry some more before the evening is over. Herman is home from the gym now. Oh the tears he'll see shed this evening..the comforting he must provide..Poor, poor man. You have no idea what you're in for this evening.....

John graduates 8th grade!

John graduated 8th grade on Thursday. I couldn't be happier!

Now I'll have 3 children at the high school: Rachel will be a senior, Becky will be a junior and John will be a freshman!

LET THE SUMMER BEGIN!

More of this and that..

Had to go to the doctor's yesterday. Seems that I have a virus that's attacking my upper respiratory system. Feels like I have asthma but I don't..THANK GOD!! My sister and my dad have asthma and it freaks me out. My sister gets very bad asthma attacks where she can't breathe...just awful. Anyway, I'm on all kinds of sprays and cough medication. Unfortunately the one spray makes me jump out of my skin so I won't take alot of it.

TSPR (the paranormal research team that I belong to) is going to the ParaCon in Stratford CCT today! I'm going even  tho I'm not feeling great. Actually, I'm doing the driving for this. I prefer to drive...a "control issue" of mine..LOL!! We're leaving around 2pm today. We'll have dinner with the guest speakers this evening and we'll stay over. The conference is all day tomorrow. Then another meet and greet thing..I expect that we won't get back home til very late on Saturday night. It should be very interesting and alot of fun!!

Well..I have lots to get done before I leave so...PEACE!

An update about Alyssa, the little girl found drowning

An email from Ali:

"I have the best news! Alyssa woke up during the night. They started weaning her off the drugs that induced the coma yesterday and took out one chest tube. Today everything else was taken out. She can't talk much because her throat is so raw, but she seems fine and talked a little. She actually watched some of The Wiggles today!! She has a ways to go yet, but it couldn't be looking better!

Thank you all for praying for her. I'll continue to keep you posted. Thank you so much. ali "     I thank you...this is a testament to the power of prayer!

Catch up time

I have a few free moments so let's play "catch-up" shall we?

Memorial Day weekend: Rachel and Becky headed to Wildwood Crest with some friends for the weekend. (Yes, I am "that" mother who allows her children a certain amount of freedom and trust..) One of their roommates for that weekend got into a fight with some kids from another town and ran into the room to get away from the fight...followed by the local police department. Everyone in the room was interogated by the police and they took Rachel and Becky in under "protective custody" to be sure that if another fight broke out, they weren't hurt because they were minors. They would only release them to us so this meant a 2.5 hour trip down the Garden State Parkway. Oh, also..the kid that was beating up their friend accidently punched Rachel in the face. She was ok..just shaken up. So this ruined not only their weekend, but we were out alot of money.

Sunday of that weekend we went to my cousin's shore house in Tuckerton. We had a great time! Very casual, relaxed time. I went for my very first ride on a jet ski! John went down with us since he is good friends with my cousin's daughter. We brought his friend Matt with us, also. Monday we had a barbeque at my sister's. Nice, quiet time. Just hung out and ate like pigs! LOL

Gettysburg: I had such a great time exploring this place. I didn't think that it would affect me the way that it did. I hope to return one day. It was a beautiful town and park. The "ghosthunting" on this trip was ruined by the crowds of people and the noise they made. We tried but I don't think that anyone got much of anything.

I had a blast at the campsite, tho! The first night we were there we had a campfire and we rolled our asses off! I laughed so hard that I was snorting! We laughed so hard that some of us were in tears and I couldn't catch my breath! I just love hanging out with this group...they're all great people! We had a bit of rain but it couldn't dampen our spirits. And let me tell you...we ate like royalty thanks to Bruce. We had omelets for breakfast, chili for lunch and mahi mahi in a garlic cream sauce over fettucine for dinner!! And my latest junk food craving is for Costco trail mix. Damn that stuff is good!

Well...I believe that catchs me up for now. I'm off to pick up John's music equipment from his friend's house..yippee.

Quick update: The little girl that I asked you to pray for is doing alot better. She's still on a respirator but the doctors are pleased with her progress so far. Please continue to keep her and her family in your prayers. She has a long recovery ahead of her. Also, the boy in the car accident (Rachel's friend) is home from the hospital and from rehab but he is also still in nned of your prayers. He has a very long road ahead of him.

G'night...and Peace!

Rachel and Becky's Prom Pictures

Just wanted to share some pictures with you.

Rachel woke up feeling much better this morning. Last night was pretty bad for her. Her headache persisted all evening and then she broke out in a rash from the medication. Yuck. She made it to school late this morning so she's on the road to recovery.

That's it for right now..Peace!

Rachel..my poor Rachel..

Poor Rachel.

I received a phone call today at work at around 945am. Rachel was in the nurse's office (once again!) complaining that she felt like she was "going to die". I begrudgingly told the nurse that I was coming to get her..because Rachel said that she was too sick to drive the car home. (All the time I was thinking "Why does this always happen on the day that I have to work and Keith is in a bad mood to begin with?!) When I got to the high school, Rachel came out holding her head..in tears. I drove her home in silence, thinking that she was just being super sensitive to a headache.

We got home and I called the pediatrician. (Of course, Tuesday is her day off so I called her office expecting to be told to bring Ray to the on-call doctor..who, of course, was booked with their own patients and couldn't POSSIBLY see Ray today.) Fortunately our pediatrician was on-call today so I left a message for her. In the meantime Rachel told me that she was getting a sharp pain from temple to temple and it was blurring her vision. Of course, bad thoughts go thru my mind...aneurysm? tumor?...so I decide (after waiting 20 minutes for a return call from the pediatrician) to take her to the emergency room. Rachel was in excrutiating pain the whole time...and nauseous to boot.

To make a very long (4 1/2 hours to be precise) story short...They gave her IV pain medication, did a CT scan of her head and decided that it's a migraine. We weren't home 20 minutes before the pain came back. I ran to the pharmacy to fill the prescription for pain...she's taken it twice already. She's not getting much relief from the pain.

Before I forget..Please hold Alisa in your prayers. She is a 3 year old who was found drowning in her pool on Sunday. She is the daughter of a friend's friend. She is making remarkable progress but is still in need of prayers. Also, if you could say a little prayer for Rachel, I would be very grateful. Things haven't been going her way lately. I'm planning on taking her to the pediatrican tomorrow so that I can get a referral to a neurologist.

Sorry to be sharing such "yucky" news lately...it's one of the reasons that I haven't posted lately..you know, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything".  ::sigh::   I just feel so badly for Ray..Something's gotta give SOON,right?!

I still need to fill you in about Gettysburg..and prom..and the trip to Wildwood that wasn't for Ray and Becky. They made it exactly 4 hours before we had to make the 2.5 hour trip down to pick them up...from the police station!! (They weren't in trouble..just in "protective custody".)

I wish our lives weren't like a soap opera...Please...Give us some.......

Peace!