She Fought Hard

But after a long and difficult battle, my Aunt Norma left us this evening. I'm very sad that she'll never know my daughter. But my heart goes out to my uncle, my cousins and her grandchildren who now have to learn to live without her. My cousin's youngest daughter isn't much older than Tatum and she was very close to my aunt. I expect this loss will be especially hard on her. Thanks for the prayers and kind thoughts as our family deals with the days ahead.

Update

Aunt Norma has taken a turn for the worse and they've called her children to the hospital. She's waiting on a liver transplant and without one they don't think she'll survive the week. It's hard to ask for prayers for a new liver knowing what the cost is to another family. But we're not ready to lose her. So if you're the praying type, I'm asking for some.

Still counting....

Holy crap! I didn't realize that number was so high cuz I've kinda stopped paying attention. I had to count it out a few times before I believed that was the right month. I kept thinking "has it really been that long? That can't be right." But it is. Sigh. Here's to month 45 in the long wait for Mia.

Can-Not-Wait !!!!

Is it bad that I'm already so totally freakin' excited about this and it doesn't even open until June 30th? And yes... I'm very well aware of the fact that I'm only a couple years shy of 40... but I just can't help myself.

*Click on the 4 little arrows in the right corner for full screen.

More Prayers

Remember this post almost a year and a half ago about my Aunt Norma? Well, she's a tough cookie. She battled her way back from that and made it home. She had some major lifestyle changes to deal with but she was home and doing well. She'd have bad days still.... but all in all she was doing pretty remarkably considering everything she'd been through.

Right before Christmas she got a call to go to Pittsburgh for a transplant. Honestly right now I can't even remember everything they transplanted. I think it was stomach, intestines and pancreas. Or partial of some of those. But it was pretty serious. It was done to improve her quality of life so she could some day eat actual food again instead of relying on IV nutrition. Plus the IV nutrition was causing damage to her liver.

She's been in the hospital since that time and has taken many turns for the worse only to rally again. But she's really struggling right now. She's back in ICU. She has an infection, her kidneys are acting up and her liver is failing. She's now on the list for a liver transplant and I believe has made it to the number one postion because her need for a new liver has gotten so significant.

So if you're the praying type, please send some up for my Aunt Norma and her family.

I'm Baaa-ack

I know, I know. It's been awhile. My self induced bloggy break stretched much longer than I anticipated. I just got busy. Was very stressed out. A little depressed. And couldn't find anything interesting to say here. So I stopped trying. Other than some mindless Facebook games and an addiction to RQ, I stepped away from the computer quite a bit actually. So I'm really far behind in reading all my favorite blogs right now. But I'm slowly catching up.

I do appreciate all the blog comments, e-mails and phone calls to make sure I was still alive. No worries. I am. LOL! I knew it was time to get back to blogging when my sister told me my dad asked her if I was okay... cuz he noticed I wasn't blogging. You'd have to know my dad to find the humor in that. He can barely figure out how to work his e-mail (sorry Dad but you know it's true) yet apparently he's a big fan of the blog.

Anyhoo... I was starting to miss the blog and all my bloggy friends. So I'll be making my way back to it. I'll catch you up on all the goings on in my life the last couple of months later though. It's a beautiful sunny day here today. Unfortunately, I have to do my taxes, some laundry, and then finish more adoption paperwork. (Can I just say how SICK I am of doing adoption paperwork?! But that's a story for another day.) If I get started now I might just get outside to soak in a bit of that sunshine we mid-westerners have been missing during one of the snowiest, dreariest, coldest, most miserable February's on record. I think the weatherman said we went like 20-something days with no sun last month. Ugh! I'm so looking forward to Spring!