New School Year!

School is back in swing and I have some great classes! Most of them are really small! I'm looking forward to getting to know each of my students and praying for them. I hope we all have a great semester!

College is just around the corner!

I've had a crazy week. Yesterday I took my oldest child to freshman orientation at college. Seems just like yesterday we were walking unto kindergarten class. Wow, they grow up so quickly!

So Much Has Gone On

So much has gone on since my last post. Donny is now 6-weeks old and growing like crazy. Susan is becoming a pro at being a grandma. I have been in and out of sicknesses and migraines and so much busy work that I hardly have time to do anything else.
At my last doctor's visit this week, they are now referring me to a neurologist to try to get at the root of my migraine problem. The doctor says that I am on way too much preventative medicine and have my estrogen level so low to try to keep migraines away, that there is no way I should still be having one to two migraines a week and the occasional two to three day migraines. So I'm game for anything that might give me some relief from these migraines and maybe I can learn something that will help Susan, too.
On a sad note, Harris, my uncle passed away a couple of weeks ago. I always looked up to him as a hard-working man who would do anything to help out anyone who needed something. As a kid, I remember him always wanting to play all the games (like kickball, softball, etc.) with us while the other adults were having all their adult conversations. Then there were the numerous cookouts. Lots of good times with his family and my family. My prayer is for Sheldon, Sarah, and their families to be lifted up by God and given strength as they go on with both parents passed on.
On the most recent sad note, Jack, Jim's dad, passed away Thursday morning at the Hospice. After suffering a minor heart attack the week before on Thursday, then another over the weekend, they sent him to Charlotte for a heart catherization. It was at Charlotte that he had a massive heart attack and his body started shutting down. That was when it was decided to move him to Hospice. Jack was a strong man. Eight years ago he should have died. How he made it through the abdominal aneursym when he, for all pratical purposes died on the table, is still a miracle to us all! Apparently it wasn't his time, but this time it was. He and my dad are probably have a fun time together in heaven right now. I pray that the Morgan family will be at peace with this new situation that they have been thrust into and will receive God's strength to help them overcome their sorrow.
Easter is almost here and the most important thing to remember as we approach that day is Christ died for us, so that we can all have eternal life. Let's not take this lightly or let others pass up this wonderful opportunity. It's a matter of (eternal) life and death.
He Lives. . . . . . . . . . .

Little Donny's here!

Steph and Don had their baby, little Donny, on Thursday night! He's cute as can be. Check him out at http://almfamily.blogspot.com/ . I can't believe that my sister is a grandma!! I'm feeling old. Donny and Steph are doing well and coming home from the hospital today. I pray that this wonderful family will be filled with years of blessings. (Oh, by the way, I'm no longer having any trouble from kidney stones. Yeh! I do have a slight cold, but hopefully it will not get worse.)

Still having problems . . .

I thought that this kidney stone thing was behind me, but Monday night my lower back was killing me again. I took the strongest pain meds that I had and they weren't touching it. After getting up and moving around I felt better and always determined to get on into school if possible, I planned on going to school. I felt much better, that is until right before I left for school, when I stopped to use the bathroom. I think I passed a second small kidney stone, almost pure blood instead of urine, and a large amount of trash and blood clots. Well going to school didn't happen. I stayed at home and rested all day. Slowly the urine cleared and I felt better. Today, I finally am feeling like I'm on the road to normal kidney function. I am dreading the future that this paints. Everyone says that once you have a kidney stone, you're destined for more. I have to take the stones to the doctor tomorrow to be tested for composition. If they are calcium, like most, I am worried, since I must take calcium supplements to keep from having osteoporosis. Oh, by the way, keep my niece, Stephanie, and her husband,Don, and their little "Almlet" in your prayers, because he's almost here!

No Fun at All . . .

Yesterday morning I got the worst pain on the left side of my back. I couldn't stand it. It wasn't long before I was losing my breakfast and in agony. Tim had to take it to me to the emergency room and I found that I had a kidney stone. After being doubled over in pain, throwing up my guts, and getting scans runned, they gave me a couple of great injections in my IV that did wonders to help with the pain and nausea. Eventually I was released to come home and drink/eat lots of clear liquids, take pain medication and wait for the stone to pass. So far, the stone STILL hasn't passed and I am starving from this clear liquid diet. The pain is much better, because the stone is apparently in my bladder now. I am praying that it moves on out very soon so that I can get some things done, eat some real food, and go back to work tomorrow. This is the first time I've ever had a kidney stone and they say once you have one, you generally are plagued with them the rest of your life. I'm not looking forward to that at all. Anyway, it's not been fun at all . . .

Prayers go out . . .

Wow, what a week it's been! Figuring out final grades for students has taken hours and has kept me up late at night. Not a good combination when I then go to give those lovely State EOC exams that last 3 hrs and all's quiet for all that time. The clock ticks so slowly. I have plenty of time to pray for others in need and there are numerous people on my prayer list right now. Definitely continue to pray for Tricia, Gwyneth, and Nate (see post below) and the other couples, children, and babies they are sending out prayer requests for on Nate's blog.

In addition, please be praying for Brittany and Kyler who were in the wreck Friday. Brittany is out of the hospital, but has a broken arm and ribs, all her front teeth were knocked out and she will have to undergo oral surgery for implants, she has 18 stitches on top of her head where it hit the windshield and she has numerous scraps and bruises. Kyler is still at Carolina's Medical Center in critical, but stable condition.

Continue to pray for Christy Church's family after her death last week from leukemia. Her two young sons and husband must be broken hearted even though they can rest assured that she is with Jesus and no longer in pain. Unfortunately, Christy's mom, dad, and siblings never have received Christ as their Savior and are really hurting from this whole ordeal. Please pray that they will come to know the Lord and her death will have a true purpose and they can rejoice one day with her in heaven.

Elizabeth Dupuy is still undergoing treatments for her colon cancer. Her positive sunshine attitude keeps her going and she is so appreciative of all the prayers that everyone has been sending up on her behalf (she says she can feel them).

Elizabeth Laxton has been in the hospital with heart trouble. They haven't made a diagnosis yet, but she needs our prayers. Her son, Ryan, was visiting at Sunday School on Sunday and let us know that she was not doing well.

Mandi and Jeff are taking Tanner to Baltimore on Wednesday to schedule surgery that will hopefully once-and-for-all rid Tanner's body of this crippling disorder. Pray that God will guide the doctors to find the correct surgery this time so that Tanner can have hopefully just one more final surgery after years of surgeries.

Barry, the head custodian, is having surgery on Wednesday to open up his throat to relieve his sleep apnea. The surgery will be much more riskier than normal because of his heart conditions and if all goes well, he will undergo heart surgery in several months after recuperating from this surgery. The doctor says that he must have this surgery first unless he has a heart attack first.
Pray that this surgery goes well that his heart is strong enough to endure the anesthesia and that the valve will perform as needed. Pray that the doctors will be guided by the hand of God during the surgery.

Check out about Tricia and Gwyneth!!

If you haven't been following the story that is unfolding at Duke University Hospital as we speak, you are missing something truly inspirational. God's Hand is 100% in blessing this faithful couple and their new baby girl born Tuesday afternoon at 24 1/2 weeks @ just 1 lb 6 oz. Sweet little Gwyneth Rose is a pure miracle of God arriving straight in on a bed of thousands of prayers on her behalf that continue to flow. But another miracle unfolds just a few floors away as her mother, Tricia, who needed a double lung transplant for her Cystic Fibrosis (CF) before discovering she was pregnant, fights her own battle to gain enough strength from the emergency C-section and ventilator to be able to actually survive to get the double lung transplant to save her life. The husband and father, Nathan (Nate) has unending faith as did Tricia leading up to the operation. Check out his blog and please join in prayer for their family @ www.cfhusband.blogspot.com I promise that you will come away blessed!

-- Pam