A Special Surprise!

During my time at the hospital with my dad, I was so touched by my friends that reached out to me and my family. Some friends were with me at the hospital, some called to check on us daily, and some prayed for us from afar.

One evening when Shannon stopped by to check on daddy and me, he came bearing a package. It had frog stickers on it, so I knew immediately that it must be from a bloggy friend. And it was! It was from Tracey at the Grace Comes By Hearing blog. I was so surprised and tickled. When I first opened the package up, I noticed that it was full of cotton balls.

Shiver.



Since the envelope was full of cotton balls, I had Shannon pull out the other contents.......

There was a sweet card, some gum, a chocolate bar, some frog iron-ons, and last, but not least, there was a little kit to assemble a frog puppet.

Shiver.

Tracey had also sent a separate card that played music; I loved it!. (I wish you could have all seen Allie's reaction to that. It was so funny! She simply does not care for the musical cards.) :)

Tracey, if you are reading this, thank you so much for taking the time to put this package together for me. You made Shannon and me laugh out loud with all of the thought that you put into this gift. What a special surprise!

What you did means so much to me and my family; you are such a blessing!

“Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.” ~Richard Bach

I will be at my parent's house each day this week, so that I can just keep an eye on my dad while my mom is at work and help him with any thing he may need. If you don't see me around Blog Land as often as you normally do, don't worry, I will be back around to blog stalking everyone on a regular basis very soon.;)

Once again, I want to thank each and every one of you for the sweet comments and prayers for my family. You are all such a special group of people.

My cup runneth over.

Philippians 1:4
"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy..."

F.R.O.G.

When I was recovering from my recent back surgery, Yvette sent me this little package of "happies" to cheer me up. :)



Thanks, Yvette!:)

Yvette loves to tease me with frogs, because she knows how much I dislike them.

I put the Fozzie Bear that she gave me with my Fozzie Bear collection. (I have issues.)

The little frog key chain (which by the way when you squeeze it, it makes the funniest sounds) I decided to use as a Christmas ornament. I thought it would be a nice reminder every year of Yvette's unbelievable kindness to me.

Sigh.

But the little bag full of colorful plastic frogs, I had no idea what to do with.......until now.

Since several bloggy buddies pointed out to me that "frog" in the Christian world stands for "Fully Rely On God," I decided to use these disgusting little colorful frogs as a reminder for me to do just that.



So, I placed them in different spots around my home, so that I would constantly be reminded to focus and fully rely on God, as opposed to focusing on the circumstances that are happening around me and only relying on myself or others.

Here is one of the frogs at my computer desk....



On the table beside the couch....



In the kitchen....



In the bathroom....



(I'll just need you to ignore the hair on the sink. Thanks!)

I even hid one in the laundry room....



And last, but certainly not least, I placed one on my bedside table. That way I would see the frog when I first wake up in the morning, and it would be the last thing I see each night as I go to sleep.



As long as the frogs stay out of my toilet (click here to read about that nightmare), I think I will be okay with them all over my home. ;)

Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;"



Thank you, Dianne, for this beautiful picture.

Our Allie Girl

Yesterday, Shannon called me around lunch time to tell me that he had heard from the vet's office.

Long story short, Allie's heart is not strong enough to withstand any kind of surgery procedure, and she has a build up of fluid in her lungs.
The vet wants to put her on some heart medication for the rest of her life. The purpose of the medication is to try to strengthen her heart which will help to get rid of the fluid in her lungs.
If the medication is successful, then they could do the surgery to repair her ACL. If the medication is not successful, all they can offer her is some pain meds to make her more comfortable walking around with the torn ACL.

The vet told Shannon that if he had not brought Allie in with this ACL problem as soon as he did, that she would have been dead within two months due to her weak heart, which is causing the fluid to build up in her lungs.

Needless to say, I am devastated, as is the rest of my family.
Allie is such a big part of our lives, and the thought of her being in pain and/or losing her is heartbreaking.

I know some people in life think, "It's just a dog. Who cares? You can get another one."
But to us, Allie is a part of our family. We all say that she is the favorite person in the house. If we were in school with her, she would be voted "Most Popular," or "Class Favorite."

She is so loving. I say all the time that she is like a toddler forever. You know how toddlers always want to sit on you, kiss you, have you rub their hair, love on you, etc.? Well that's how Allie is. If I go out to get the mail, she is thrilled when I come back inside. She misses me when I am not with her. She cries at the door when we all leave the house to go to church. And every night when Shannon gets home from work, she behaves as if she hasn't seen him in years.:)He is greeted with a full on love fest! (And he loves it!) :)

Yesterday, in my post, I shared about the gift of humor, joy, and laughter that God gives us all.
It is very difficult to find much humor, joy, or laughter in this current situation, but I am trying. I want to focus on the joy and the laughter that she has brought into our home. Allie has been such a blessing to our family.
I just want to enjoy every minute with her. I want to laugh at the funny things she does. I want to pet her until my arms fall asleep. I want her to lick all over my feet while I watch television. I want to love her like she loves me.

Allie has brought so much joy into our lives; she is a gift from God to our family.
And we love her.

Proverbs 3:13
Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,the one who gains understanding.

I don't pretend to understand why God allows so many things to happen to us all at once, but I do know that everything that He allows in our lives is for our good.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart;do not depend on your own understanding.



Thank you for praying for me, my family, and for "Our Allie Girl."
God Bless,
Amy:)

F.R.O.G.

Hello!
I am writing a post today just to let you all know how I am doing.

But before I talk about me, I want to take a moment to thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts and your prayers. I am blown away at the way blogging friends rally together to lift someone up in prayer to the Lord. I feel like I am a member of the most amazing Christian Blogging Group in the world; what an honor!

My surgery went very well. Long story short (and in layman's terms) a piece of one of my discs about the size of your thumbnail had broken off and fallen down inside my spinal cavity, and it had landed on some nerves. And those nerves led down to my right foot, hence all of the pain.

My foot is much better now, but needless to say my back is hurting now from the incision.
I cannot sit up for very long, and just walking to the bathroom and brushing my teeth is very exhausting.

I ended up having to spend two nights in the hospital, because I was not at all ready to go home that first night. I was so sick at my stomach from all of the drugs, and trying to get up out of bed to use the bathroom was very painful.

On a lighter note, I got several compliments on my hair! Of course, I was heavily medicated when I received them, but I enjoyed them all the same, amen? :) I was glad to know that while I was wanting to throw up and begging for more pain medication, my hair was looking great! (Thanks, Melissa!) :)

You know the old saying, "When it rains, it pours"?
Well, it has been pouring for a while now at our home.
I don't say this to complain, or throw a pity party, but right now, we are really struggling.

The last year and half has been just one thing after another. We have been challenged emotionally, financially, physically, and spiritually.
When we returned home from the hospital Saturday, Shannon discovered that our living room television had died (for good), as well as our cordless phone, and right before bed that evening, he noticed that our basement floor was covered with water. Apparently the air conditioner was blocked up. (I don't know these terms, but you get the idea.) Shannon and Matthew sucked 10 gallons of water off of the basement floor. He finally got that fixed for the time being and was able to get some rest.

Monday Shannon took the day off of work again, because I still needed so much help. And he had to take our favorite baby girl, Allie, to the vet. She had been limping around, and we knew something was wrong. Well long story short, she needs surgery. But the vet will have to do an EKG to make sure that her heart is strong enough for surgery, because if it is not, he will not be able to operate on her. She has torn her ACL(I think is what Shannon said), similar to a common injury for football players.

Shannon will probably be taking her next week to have this procedure done, God willing.
Right now, I am physically still very weak, but emotionally, my heart is broken. I so badly want to curl up with her on her rest pad and love on her like I've always done, but because of my back, I can't. And she wants to get in bed and sleep with me like she's always done, but because of her knee she can't.

I feel so helpless right now, and my heart is broken. She is so special to our family, and here she is hurting, and I can't even help her.

I've cried out to God so much these last few days; and yesterday, He gave me a couple of verses.

Psalm 4:4-5
Be angry and do not sin;
on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still.
Selah
Offer sacrifices in righteousness
and trust in the LORD.

I thought that it was so interesting that verse 4 says, "on your bed."
God speaks to us right where we are at, amen?
He also told me to, "be still." Orders from the Great Physician Himself.
Staying in bed and being still are not things that come naturally to me. But I am trying to follow God's and the doctor's orders. I know these orders are for my physical health, as well as my spiritual health.

And I am supposed to do these things while I trust in the LORD.
I do trust Him, however, I am just so overwhelmed right now, that sometimes I lose my focus.

Last year, while we were going through so many difficult situations, I became so frustrated and angry at God, that one day, I just cried out in anger at Him. I then opened my Bible, and this is what He said to me:

Exodus 14:14
The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.

Or as it says in the NIV:
The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

I've noticed a pattern: God tells me to be quiet and to be still. He is fighting for me and my family; He does not need my help.

Thank you all again for you thoughts and prayers on my behalf. I have received many e-mails and cards in the mail. One card in particular, from Jenny, really touched me.

Jenny loves frogs. And, as most of you know, I do not. In Jenny's letter, she had drawn a picture of a frog, and over the frog were these words: "Fully Rely On God."

I guess now I will never look at frogs the same way again. Instead of being scared when I see one, I will now be reminded to rely on God, fully!

I'm sorry I have been unable to read any of your posts lately. I am still unable to sit up for very long. But, as soon as I am able, I will be catching up with all of you. Until then, thank you for your prayers and thoughtfulness.

Psalm 46:10a
Be still, and know that I am God.

God bless,
Amy. :)

P.S. I want to thank Matthew for typing most of this for me, because I am not able to sit up long enough to type it all.