Yesterday was Jeff and my 19th wedding anniversary. We did not do anything. I am kind of down right now physically and some mentally. I guess I am trying to rush healing a little bit. But, I have to say that I do feel so much better than I have in a long time. I find myself being more aware of my bodies needs and I think this has made me realize the destruction that I had given this temple of Gods. But I am well and I am thankful to be able to share another year with Jeff and the kids. Most of all, I want to be in tip top shape for the trip to Georgia in November for the arrival of my new great Nephew Jeffery Jay. I am so excited for this and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my sister and family. I have not spend a holiday with any of my family for some time. I think the last Thanksgiving with Charlene was when we were little. I can not remember. I did get to spend Christmas with my mother in 1999. That was my last holiday with her. I am so excited though and I just want to be on the mend. So thanks for those prayers and I hope all of you have an awesome week. Love Tanya

Update

Well, yesterday Jeff took me to see the surgeon who had done the procedure last week. When I left the hospital on Friday, Dr. Grass had told me that when I seen him on Tuesday, he would probably have to open up the wound at the bottom and clean it out from the infection and re staple it. So, yesterday, Jeff and I went to the doctor and he came in and looked at the wound. He started to press on my belly and got gauze and long q tips. After a while and four gaze pieces later, he looked at me and said, wow, that was not what I had expected. He then had the nurse pull out ever other stable and he said it looked good. He did not have to reopen it or re staple. He wants to see me next week, but he is really impressed about how healthy it looks. It is God, he has healed me and I tell ya, I have not felt so good in my life. I am eating well, I get to walk around the block today and I am up cleaning my house. I even got to sleep in my bed last night. I have been sleeping on the over sized chair in our living room. I have been so blessed to have such a wonderful group of people around me. I have talked to my dad every day and my sister every other day. Plus, Jeff's family has been so awesome. I have been healed and now that I look upon the last two years of health problems, I wonder if this was part of God's plan. He needed to rid my body of this infection. I really believe there were lots of signs, right side pain every once in a while, bowl problems, an over sized uterus, etc. I am now healed and I am looking at some different roads to take. I have been praying for guidance and I have seen things different. Thanks for your prayers and I am so glad that I am here to write this to you. ha ha. Love Tanya

The Climb

I really prayed about this before I posted it, but I have to tell ya that I believe in my heart that God uses many people to talk to me. This is no exception, Melanie and I watched this movie, which I believe has a really great message. But it was this song that really brought tears to my eyes. I assure you that Miley does not talk about God, but as I was hearing this song, I was visualizing my walk with God. And one thing that is stated is that it is not about what is on the other side, it has everything to do with the climb. I believe that in all paths that I have taken, it was that I find it all joy through my trials, James 1:7. As I was going through that trial or path, I was growing closure to God, letting Him change my life. The refiners fire as it is put so many times in the word. And He is my only hope to see the other side, but I guarantee you, that I will not be the same person on this side of that climb as I am on that other side. It was just an awesome song and although I am not a big Hannah Montana fan, I find it interesting that we are all seeking something and if we look hard enough and just except the journey we will realize that all road will lead to God.

What a week I had

Well, I have to tell ya, I never know what life will throw at me and this is a dossier. Early Sunday morning of last week, I think that was the thirteenth. I woke up with aching stomach mussel's and vomiting. I thought at first twenty four hour flu or maybe I pulled stomach mussels from the lifting the boxes of books the day before. I stayed down all day and I had a heating pad on. I also noticed that I was running a low grade temp. It was not until Monday when it all would come to a head, I woke up Monday with sharp right pain. I did a few things and the pain become more intense. About eleven o'clock in the morning the pain was so intense that it caused me to be light headed, sweaty and I threw up everywhere and the the pain shot to my right side to the back area. After this moment the pain dulled down and I took a bath and went and layed down on a heading pad. Periodically, I took my temperature because I felt so cold. It would read, 99.3, 99.5 then it shot to the 100's. By six o'clock it was 101.3. I decided that it was time to do something so I called Jeff's mom and dad and they took me to the ER. Well, I had an acute appendix attack and later on I found out that it had burst, that eleven o'clock time was when it happened. So they rushed me in to surgery and found out that my whole abdomen area was infected and my right side ovaries and Fallopian tube. They kept everything except the bursted appendix and cleaned me out. I have to tell you this may sound so intense, but the whole time my constant was God and he showed me every step of the way that he was with me. One of the ER nurses was my old boss, the nurse that took me to surgery was a dear friend Lori Lewis and she was with me the whole time. The very next day God gave me strength to get out of bed right away and start walking around and doing my own tasks. He gave me nourishment even though I was just eating ice chips for two day and he got me out of the hospital sooner than the doctor had anticipated. He was the one who held me up and he even spoke to me while I was in the hospital. He told me things before they happened and it helped to take away discouragement. This was a busy week and I am so glad to be home with my family. I have been home since Friday, but today was the first time I felt comfortable enough to type. I have also been babysat extremely hard to not bend and clean house. What can I say, it is hard not to do things around the house. God is good and I am on the mend, I feel even better than I did before I went in. I think I have been sick more than I know, I am more energetic and I feel stronger now.

Build a Bear Workshop

Saturday Melanie, Cara and I went to Des Monies to drop off a van full of book to the Iowa Right to Life. Every year one in the spring and one in the fall, the IRLC has a book sale. All the proceeds to the sell goes to Pregnancy centers all over Iowa. If you would like to hear more about this story go to here.








After we dropped off the books and did some other errands Cara, Craig and I took Melanie to build a bear. Melanie received money from my parents for her birthday and she wanted to do something special with it. So we took her to Jordon Creek Mall, I loved this mall.

Here is Melanie picking out the bear that she wanted. She choose this cute little tan bear. They had so much to choose from. I was so impressed with the selections.


Here the build a bear worker is filling up the bear with stuffing, Melanie is actually pressing the foot pedal to let all the stuffing in her bear. It was interesting.












The worker had Melanie do several things, I am not sure what she is doing in the this picture. Melanie is doing some kind of dance or something.









In this picture Melanie is warming the heart, rubbing the heart on her face and several other fun activities to get the little heart a pumping before they place it in the bear. I wonder, does God hold each one of our hearts before he places it in our chest?


Now Melanie is going to shop for some clothes for her new bear. She pretty much knew what she wanted before we got there. So she is focused on what she had planned.












This is Craig helping Melanie with the bear. There was so many items to choose from. I could not help but feel overwhelmed. Just imagine how a small child feels. WOW.

Melanie almost has her little bear dressed. He is coming along really good.





Well, look it there, I would like to introduce Mario Ross, She was so excited about this little guy. She had loads of fun, but she is not done yet.










Now she had to get on the computer and type in his information for the birth certificate and to register him in the build a bear website.

These workers are singing happy birthday to Melanie and Mario. It was pretty sweet, then they place her bear in a box and the birth certificate and they were off.

Here is Melanie all smiles about her new friend and making him. This was one special birthday for her. She is now really excited to have a new little friend. Melanie also was able to spend the day with cousin Craig. It was so neat to see the oldest grandchild hang with the youngest. They sure love each other. All in all, it was lots of fun and she paid for all of it herself. She loved it.

Happy 12th Birthday Melanie

"I Love you every minute of every day, my beautiful daughter"

I looked at you today

and saw the same beautiful eyes

that looked at me with love.

When you were a baby

I looked at you today

and saw the same beautiful mouth

that made me cry when you first smiled at me when you were a baby.

It was not long ago that I held you in my arms, long after you fell asleep and I just kept rocking you all night long.

I looked at you today and saw my beautiful daughter no longer a baby, but a beautiful person with full range of emotions and feelings and ideas and goals.

Every day is exiting as I continue to watch you grow and I want you to always know that in good and in bad times, I will love you. And that no matter what you do or how you think or what you say, you can depend on my support, guidance, friendship and love every minute of every day. I love being your mother. by Susan Polis Schutz

Melanie, you are so sweet and I am happy that you are twelve today, but I am sad, because you are growing so fast. So I plane to enjoy every minute of every day with you and love the growth that you will do. Love you so much from Mom.

I came on my blog tonight and I was a little surprised by the last date that I posted. It seemed like the time just slipped away. I guess I just have not had much to talk about. I have been in the word much and the Lord has been showing me some awesome directions. I hope that I will be able to share it soon. But until I am ready, I am going to post some pictures of my kids. Enjoy. These children are my nieces Jasmine, Brooke, and our son Luke and our soon to be twelve year old daughter Melanie.

This is a picture of our son Luke on his official birthday and mom. I look really tired in that picture.

This is a picture of my little girl Melanie on her first day out of the womb. I am not sure, but she does not look to happy about this. And do not ask me why I am holding the nose plug, I can not remember that far.

This is my mom Dorothy Mae. She actually lived with Jeff and I for a short time. It is the last picture of her that I have. This is Christmas and Jeff's parents house. I am not sure when this was taken, but a couple of years after this picture my mother died, very suddenly. We were not that close, I have to say, it was mainly because I wanted a fairly tale mother. Mom is not without her faults also, but I could of thought differently. I realize now how much I love her and I miss her so deeply. Her birthday is this month and I have been thinking about her much.

This is Luke and Melanie on Easter. I have to tell you, I am so blessed to have two children that love one another and they take care of each other. I love the way they help each other out and they are always kind to each other. They are the best of friends. I love this picture, Luke told Jeff and I when I found out I was pregnant that he knew the baby was a little sister. He was so right.

This is my last picture. This is a picture of my sister Charlene on the left and myself on the right. See, my mother loved Christmas. That was the time in my life where I seen my mom shine. Almost all of my pictures are of Christmas, I miss that about her and I tend to carry on her tradition. See, Christmas is more to me than just packages or music. It is Jesus, and most of all family. I love ya Charlene, I know that you are reading this on face book. I am so glad that you and I are working on a better relationship and I hope and pray for our present and our future. I hope all of you enjoyed the pictures, they are dear people that touch my heart always. God bless you.