Ya either like it or ya don't! We loved this!

We Went, We Saw, We Conquered!

We went to the American Girl Place yesterday! Girls day all the way! We started off by going to lunch at Ruby's, where my lip got stuck in my straw. They make some strong shakes there so be careful. We then went to the "Place" where we shopped and watched a show in the theatre. This place is so massive! Analiese told me today that she felt like she was one of the dolls in there. It is so neat how they cater to the needs of the doll! They even have these doll hooks in the bathroom. You can hang your doll on it while you do your deed! Yes I took a picture of it. I had to be a tourist. It was a fun day and we all got to be little girls again. Analiese and Rachel are two wild little ones. We listened to them sing the songs from the show all day, on the way there and home. Whew! They were a little bummed they didn't get their dolls hair styled at the salon (2 hour wait for doll hair), but we promised we would go again soon. That is our fun thing we did!

Christmas Day!

So every year we end up having a total of six Christmas gatherings to go to. Somehow we manage to enjoy all of these within Christmas Eve and Day. At the end of it all Manuel and I end up saying that next year we are just going to stay home all day. Well this year is the first year I still wanted to do all the mad rushing and fitting in time to see all of our family. Having such a hard year has made me want to be with my family more than anything.

Somehow we managed to see my Granny, Nana, cousin Mazie and Uncles Henry and Keith at my mom's house Christmas Eve. It was only for awhile but nice to see them. We then went to my sister in law's house in Thousand Oaks and had Christmas Eve dinner and also exchanged gifts there. It was a real fun night. My poor Isabella was sick though. Poor thing could not stop coughing and spent most of the time on my chest.

Christmas Day was to be another busy day of family gatherings. However, we ended up staying home all day! Analiese and Isabella were so sick that there was no way we were going to be able to do anything. My dad, mom, and brothers ended up coming over for breakfast and stayed until the afternoon. It was so nice to have my family here. My little Analiese was in bed by 6:30 and Isabella followed shortly after. My mom and I made a prime rib dinner, YUMMY. Manuel and I were relaxing together on the couch in our pj's by 8 o'clock. We didn't get to go to our big family gathering in Moorpark and I was real sad about that, until Manuel reminded me that this would be our first time missing it in nine years. I must say it was nice to be home all day. Even though the girls were sick they were able to enjoy their gifts. I loved watching them play all day. They seemed to be on the road to recovery but then it all went downhill after 4 o'clock.

Today we are still on the road to recovery. Lots of liquids, meds every four hours, and plenty of rest. We are sitting here watching The Sound of Music. I am praying that they get better today because tomorrow is a big day. That you will have to hear about later. So I hope your Christmas was full of joy and of thanks for the true meaning of Christ's birth. We praise His name Jesus and thank Him even for the colds we've all had because it kept the focus on what we needed most this Christmas, our family together.

Never too old

This is one of Analiese and Bella's great-grandmothers, Lita
Lupe! She is 90 years old and had never gone to see santa. This is all she wanted for Christmas. She was so happy that she just talks about him all day. She tells of how he told her she was so beautiful and how he kept kissing her cheek. She was as happy as a child! Too cute! A great reminder that no matter what goes on in our many years or short years we are never too old to enjoy the small things in life.

I'm sick!

I am sick! I don't like it at all! I am taking a medication which is an immunosuppressant and it has helped a lot of my Rheumatiod/Lupus symptoms. However, it can cause your immune system to be low. Which means I am more prone to viral and bacterial infections. I went to the doctor today and the good news is it is not strep throat. As if getting sick weren't punishment enough, I have had larengitis since it all started Friday. I think my family likes quiet Mommy. It was so weird, I was talking on the phone with our friend Glenn and all of the sudden my throat and head started hurting. It hit me that quick! Within an hour and a half I could hardly speak. I tire even more easily, it hurts and I cough a lot. I have also been having a lot more muskoskeletal pain, not fun. I can't take much to help because of other med's but my doctor did find a cough medicine I could take. So I will sleep good tonight! We are hoping it doesn't become a bacterial infection in my lungs. We'll see. Four days of not talking is boring!

Don't forget to read what I posted below, it's new too! Love you!

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

I am happy again! Did you know there were programs to recover images off your Compact Flash card? Well Amy saved the day with her Lexar program. Real cool!
So let me get started on my fun thing we did.

My family and I went to see the Lion King at the Pantages Theatre! It was the most awesome night ever! I am one big kid and just get so excited at things. This to me was the coolest night ever! We started off by going to eat at Micelli's in Studio City. When I made reservations here I thought it was going to be your typical Italian restaurant. I was mistaken! It was so beautiful inside! It was dark but well lit with old street lamps and Christmas lights. It felt as if we were sitting in a courtyard in Italy (I pretended). There is actually a whole outdoor scene inside with faux building and arches. I just loved it! As if the scene weren't enough, as we sat there the sound of the piano started echoing through the restaurant and then we heard this man singing loudly! It was our waiter! All of the waiters at one point or another sang, one even singing Jingle Bells in a dog bark, too funny. It was very entertaining and interactive! Obviously I highly recommend it!

Then we drove three exits down to the Pantages Theatre. I hadn't been there is so long. It is so beautiful inside, it feels as if you are walking into a 1940's scene. I could picture everyone wearing elegant gowns and furs(me pretending again). The Lion King was awesome! It is so detailed! I loved looking over at Analiese and Bella mouths open wide in total awe of what they were seeing. The music, choreography, and costumes were out of this world. Well worth the money! Analiese and Bella are still walking around with the PlayBill. It was nice to do this with our family. I am so in love with them right now. I know that sounds funny but I do love them all so dearly. How many kids can say they have gone to a play with there Great Granny!

I AM SO MAD!

I am so mad right now! I was just about to write about the wonderful night we had last night. I was so excited to do this. I went to download pictures of all that we did then the computer tells me I have no CF card in my camera. I look and there is one! I go in to view the pictures on my camera's screen and it tells me I HAVE NO IMAGES!!! WHAT? WHERE DID THEY GO? I am so mad! So I will go throw my fit else where, pray, get a grip, then come back and be positive.

I know some of you out there may be thinking "this is why I still use 35mm film". Right about now, I agree!

AAAAHHHHHHHH!

DECEMBER???

I must say I can't believe it's DECEMBER! I would be surprised if anyone else out there said they weren't surprised by that news. Did the bible ever mention that our days would become shorter and our years would go by faster? My goodness! How am I going to remember to write 2007 on checks or signatures? Just a month ago I wrote 2003 on a check! Yeah, I think that proves that I am in denial.

Well I haven't been doing much blogging lately and I am sorry. I know these ramblings tend to get a little long so I am sorry. The good thing is that they will always be on this site so if you get bored this is the one time you can actually turn me off! Well we finally did meet with (the real) Dr. Lynch. This is the transplant surgeon at UCLA. If you have read some of the stuff from before you know that my care was transferred over to his side of the hospital. I was to meet with him in order to begin the transplant process. So in the time of waiting to get in to see him I once again had expectations. I was doing my best to hold onto the comfort of the Lord and give him all of my fears. In doing this I guess I started to hope and actually thought that this was the end of this part of the road. Meaning the solution was before me and that within a certain amount of time I would be on the road to recovery. I must say GOD'S PATIENCE IS AMAZING! I honestly don't think that HE acknowledges ADD(attention deficit disorder) because if HE did HE would no longer have the patience to keep reminding me that things happen in HIS time! I constantly am being reminded that HIS time is not on any physical or mental time continue um. Dr. Lynch explained ALL of the realities of a double lung transplant, and I will be honest none of them were good. He explained to us that he can't guarantee anything, which we knew, but that he doesn't see that this will have a good outcome. The transplants would be a real hard thing to recover from and that the recovery process is not days or months yet years, the rest of my years. He said that he would like to hold off as long as possible but doesn't know how much longer my lungs can. My age is the reason it is so scary to go through with this and apparently the waiting period is only about 1-6 months for a lung transplant. He said that if he were to have seen me walk in the room without my file in front of him he would think that I was a perfectly healthy person. He said "you are happy right now and able to watch your family grow. I can't take that from them. I owe it to your husband to hold off as long as I can". I appreciate that. I know the power of God and I know that if I didn't have him in my heart, and hadn't accepted Him as my Lord and Savior I would be really sick. My body is sick but HE is my pain management and that is why I can do the things I do. That is why I can be happy! Some people don't understand that. All I can say is when you know medically they are shocked at how well you look on the outside and know how horrible you are on the inside (last Nov. I was about 43% lung capacity, now I am at less than 30%) you can't deny God's work. I have had so many people tell me that I need to be healed and need to pray for healing. I now feel comfortable to say what I have been wanting to say to those people. I only know after hearing the testimony of a very brave woman yesterday. Her courage showed me that it is okay to say "DON'T YOU THINK I WANT TO BE HEALED"? So I have to wait. I have to be ready for God's will, not mine. I have to remember that because it is so easy to allow myself to want it to be better now. The good news is that I can still saturate the oxygen that I am getting, this perplexes the doctors and me. I will continue to be monitored on a very close basis and when and if I continue to decrease I will be put on the list.

This is cute!