Happy New Year!

There is a story that goes along with this picture. The making of the card was quite a roller coaster ride. Here's a quick run down:

Waited an waited for a good deal.

Found out I had to wait a week instead of one-hour to get the cards.

Got an e-mail from another store having a big sale.

Got an e-mail saying that the cards were ready to pick up a few days early.

Found out that I chose the wrong store to have them shipped to.

My father-in-law picked up the cards and shipped them to me.

The "cards" weren't cards at all nor were the pictures of anybody I recognized!

Jon made lots of phone calls.

Printed the cards at my local store.

They didn't turn out!

Re-edited the cards to be New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards.

Finally picked them up and got them in the mail.


I'm pretty sure I will start a lot earlier this year and do a whole lot of double checking before I place my order!

Anyway...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas/New Year's With The Grief's

On New Year's Eve, Jon's whole family came down for a visit. As you know, his parents, Ken and Jeanie, live in Kansas. His brother and his family live in Virginia, so we really don't get to see them very often. We decided that we would celebrate Christmas with everyone together instead of shipping gifts. It was so fun to see everyone and have Christmas all over again!
Luke loves his pillow pet! So cute!
Brother bonding!
When we all lived near each other we loved to play games together, so it was great to hang out at the table and play a game! We even let a few kids join in!
Waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square. The nice thing about living in the central time zone is that the ball actually drops at 11:00pm local time! We could watch the ball drop and then call it a night. But we didn't! We waited up until midnight and watched it again.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :)
Three beautiful Grief girls!
The cousins were all happy to just be together!
All of the Grief's!

We had a great time all being together! It stinks to live so far away from all of our families! The good thing is that when we all get to see each other, it makes the time that much sweeter!

Happy New Year

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I'm a little late. Better late than never, right! I'm not sure why I've taken a bit of a blogging break, but I'm back!

The first two weeks of 2011 have been pretty uneventful. I'm certainly not complaining! Do you remember how last year started for us? Here's a refresher. Ugh...I just re-read that post and can almost feel the kidney pain now! Thankfully, I haven't had any more issues. I had hoped that the kidney stones were not an indicator of how our 2010 would turn out, however, it was quite a medical year! That may have been a little bit by choice. Since we not only met our deductible, but also our "max out of pocket" for the year, we decided that anything that needed to be done or could be done, had to be done in 2010! Check this out!

January
I had kidney stones.
Jon had the stomach bug.
I had the stomach bug.
Abby had the stomach bug.
Luke had multiple ear infections.

February
Luke had more ear infections and croup.

March
Luke finally got tube in his ears and his adenoids.

April
Jon had a little procedure... :)
Luke had another ear infection! (Even with the tubes!)

May
NOTHING!

June
Ben broke his foot.
Luke had yet another ear infection!
Ben was sick. (Nothing major)

July
Abby got her new teeth!
Luke had a little boy procedure...

August-November
NOTHING!! Can it be?!

December
Abby had a sinus infection.
Ben got his tonsils and adenoids out.
Jon had some minor, harmless moles and a cyst removed.

Whew!! That was just plain crazy! We really did have a good year! We just tend to refer to 2010 as a "medical year"! Our prayer is for a healthy 2011!!

Happy New Year?

I'm not so sure I can say that it has been a "happy" new year so far. I know things could be drastically worse, but so far, I just haven't made it to the happy part. Just in case you have no idea what has been going on around the Grief house, I will catch you up. (Hang in there, it's long...) As you may have seen in a previous post, we went to Oklahoma City over Christmas break. That trip had it's issues, but we really did have a great time! The day after we got back it seemed as though the bottom started falling out. Luke had a fever, Abby said her ear hurt like she had an ear infection and she had a fever, my brother in law had an awful cold, Nolan, my nephew, had a cold. The next day more of us felt crummy, and the next day was even worse. My visiting family ended up leaving early due to feeling lousy! It's no fun when no one feels well! I was so sad to see them go, but it was completely understandable. We didn't have any plans for New Year's Eve this year and that turned out to be a good thing. We went to Wal-Mart just to get out of the house for a bit, but Ben couldn't manage to walk through the store. Jon took him out to the van and I very quickly got what I needed and rushed back outside. By the time we got home, Ben rushed into the house and got sick. YUCK!! New Year's Eve turned out to be pretty uneventful at our house.

Ben watched movies in his room so that his germs would be separated from the rest of us.

Jon dozed in the chair while feeling a sore throat coming on.

Abby was my trooper! (Yes, she is awake in this picture!) She was determined to stay up and watch the ball drop in NYC! We were so bummed at 10p.m. when the local news came on! Normally we watch the ball drop at 11p.m. central time and go to bed. That wasn't the case this year! I decided to go blog while Abby watched some Disney Channel while waiting for the ball to drop. Finally at about 11:55p.m., Jon woke up and Ben came out of his room (We left Luke asleep. Some things are better left untouched!) and we all watched the ball drop together. Then we went to bed. Fun, huh?

January 1st started with a rude awakening! I went to bed feeling fine and woke up at 4:15a.m. with a pain in my side. I went back to sleep thinking it was just a gas pain and it would go away. I woke up again at 5a.m. and then again at 6a.m. I came out to lay on the couch so that I wouldn't wake Jon up, but I must have been sighing loud enough to hear me from the bedroom. The pain was getting much worse as time went by. Jon knows that I have a pretty high pain tolerance and suggested that we go to the ER. I wasn't thrilled about going, but, like I said, the pain continued to get worse and was beginning to make me nauseated. Plus, what were we to do with our three sleeping children??? (Thank goodness Ben hadn't gotten sick anymore during the night!) Thank goodness for our small group friends!!! Our friend, Jill, was over in no time! We made it to the ER and there was NO ONE waiting!!! I thought for sure with it being New Year's that the waiting room would be full! I think the Lord knew how bad the pain was and that I couldn't wait long! Within 30 minutes I was in a room with Morphine flowing through my veins!! I have to say, Morphine is good!!! I am a fan!! (I wonder if you can be a fan of Morphine on Facebook???) Anyway, after being poked, prodded and cat scanned, it was determined that I had two kidney stones. Number one: 3mm. Number 2: 6mm. The doctor told me that I could probably pass the small one, but once you make it to 5mm, they become a problem. Great! So, I would have to wait until Monday to see the urologist and was sent home with some good drugs.

Saturday: I was still in a pretty good amount of pain. And still nauseous. I laid in bed, slept a lot and got sick a few times...

Sunday: Still in a bit of pain, still nauseous, but not letting up on the pain pills! Now Jon is sick with the stomach bug! I have now decided that the nausea from Saturday was not necessarily from pain, but from the stomach bug that Ben must have passed on to us! Ugh...

Monday: YAY! back to school for the kiddos! NOT! They ended up having a snow day! For three inches of snow! Whatever!! I really do love my kids, but with all that has been going on, I was looking forward to some peace and quiet.
The nausea is gone for both Jon and myself. I was scheduled to go into surgery at 12:30p.m. to possibly remove the stones and put in a stint that would allow my kidney to drain. Well, not such great luck on the stone removal, but the stint is in and the pain isn't nearly as bad! Will have to go back on Wednesday for a lithotripsy procedure to break up the stones. Yay! Another trip to the hospital...

Tuesday: I was really looking forward to the kids going back to school again, but wouldn't you know it, Abby woke up throwing up this time! What in the world is going on around my house?! Oh well, what can you do? We just hung out at home and watched Jon work around the house. He is one amazing man!!! Laundry was done, the kitchen was clean, he took care of it all! AND, thanks to our friends, The Couri's, we had a home cooked meal! THANK YOU!!!

Wednesday: Both kids made it to school! YAY!!! I thought I would be wonder-woman and get all of the Christmas decorations down and put away before heading to the hospital for my procedure. I was on pain meds, so why not? Not sure what I was thinking! But Jon let me do it! I didn't get it all done, and I was completely wiped out, but I got a lot of it done and felt a lot better about it. We went to the hospital with our kids in good hands, yet again, and got those nasty kidney stones blasted!! From what I have been told, the stones are now tiny enough for me to pass without even noticing! YAY!! Now I all I have to do is go into the doctor's office on Friday and get the stint removed! I can't wait for this to all be over!!! Again, an awesome home cooked meal from the Armstrong's! THANK YOU!!!

Thursday (Today): I got a GREAT night's sleep!! The kids are home again due to the frigid temps, but I think that might be for the best today! Jon was finally able to go back to work after a day shy of three weeks off, and since I'm not supposed to be doing a whole lot, I think having Ben and Abby home will be helpful! Plus, I could use them to do a little bit of light housework. :)

I keep thinking about the things that I heard at the Deeper Still conference that I went to just a month ago in OKC.

Kay Arthur: "Rest is the activity of faith for this anxious moment, this test, this tribulation....."

Beth Moore: "It is within me!" Stay faithful!!

Priscella Shirer: "God is able!!" Ephesians 3:20-21 NOW to Him who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY above ALL that we ask or THINK, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory FOREVER and EVER!!!

Great things to think about at this time! I have also really appreciated all of the verses people have been posting on Facebook! I feel like they have been put there just for me! I'm not sure what the Lord has in store for me and my family this year, but I am praying that the start hasn't been an indication of what the rest of the year is going to be like. God is a faithful and loving God and I know that He always has and always will be watching over us and protecting us!