True Moment Tuesdays: You Take the Good, You Take the Bad....

Update on my appointment...

I saw my Hematologist yesterday.  My blood work has not changed and I still remain anemic and have low blood counts.  I was certain that she would change my chemo, but she decided to leave it where it's at.  Basically, she said that my HES is more under control right now than it's ever been, so that's a huge praise!  The chemo is responsible for that.  However, it's also responsible for taking the good and the bad blood cells!  Right now we've decided not to change anything and to just wait it out and see if my body adjusts.  IF by some chance my counts continue to go lower then we'll look at changing things up.  Right now they're low, but acceptable.

At times I feel like the lady in the photo above...caught in a maze and not knowing what's around the corner or what turn to take next!  The good thing is that I have my family, friends and faith in the Lord to walk the maze with me.  Unlike the lady above...I'm not alone!  :)  So, I choose to carry on!  I may have to slow down a bit, but life has to be lived and I refuse to get caught in the maze of self-pity and fear.

That being said...I will be changing the way I post on this blog.  I know that I've already warned you on that!  Honestly, although I've thought a lot about it, I still just don't know what that will look like yet.  I do know that I can't catch every new deal out there and post them anymore...besides, there are several blogs doing that anyway. I hope that you'll stick around and ride out the new changes with me!
~Heather

Series: Becoming Debt Free...Death Is Not Dying

While writing the series on Becoming Debt Free, I've been going back in my journal and reading past entries I made.  It was my intention to continue this week with something different...  However, I found an entry in my journal that really touched me while working through my grief after losing Kara.  Honestly, it has nothing to do with debt, money or savings and really doesn't belong in this series other than I feel the need to share it with my readers.  In fact, you might even cry if you listen to it.  So don't say that I didn't warn you!

If  you've ever experienced the loss of someone that you dearly love, I encourage you to continue reading.  Here's the exact entry from my journal:

As this year draws quickly to an end I've been reflecting on all the many blessings and sorrows this year has held. With the death of Kara, our family experienced loss in a way that we had never felt or experienced it before. However, in the midst of all the grief, all the loss, all the pain that I was feeling, there was a constant joy that I can't explain other than to say that it was the Lord holding me up, giving me peace and reminding me that "death is not dying."

A few months after Kara's death I was driving the boys across town. The radio was on and I was listening to a testimony of a lady (Rachel Barkey) that had cancer on "Revive Our Hearts." What I heard playing that day has been a huge blessing to me. I just listened to it again a few days ago and felt that I needed to share Rachel's message. It's a message of hope, courage, and faith in the midst of the storm. I hope that you can carve out some time to listen, be blessed and be reminded that "death is not dying..." It's only the beginning of our eternal life with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
http://deathisnotdying.com/fullvideo/

True Moment Tuesday's...

The cells that wreck havoc on my body!  

This has been a rough week for me.  I don't like rough weeks, but unfortunately, due to my disorder, they can't be avoided all of the time.  Right now it's almost 10 a.m. and I'm still tired and could sleep more.  Why?  Because I'm horribly anemic at the moment.  My chemotherapy is showing its ugly head again.  Sometimes I think it's out to get me!  The very thing that I'm taking to help my body is also it's worst enemy in some ways.  Isn't that ironic?

I don't want to bore you with too much medical terminology, but in simple terms here's what's going on.  I'm taking the chemo so that it will lower my white blood count (that's where my disorder is).  In return the chemo is lowering my white AND my red blood counts.  Chemo can't differentiate between the two blood cells yet.  It will be a remarkable discovery if scientists figure out how to make that happen!

Anyway, my red count is super low right now which has caused my anemia.  It's been hard for me to function this week.  I've been tired and very sleepy.  I've had an on-going headache for a few weeks (due to lack of oxygen to the brain), my heart has been racing, etc.  This is all caused by the lack of red blood cells circulating in the body.

So, if you've been wondering why in the world my posts have slowed down over the last several days...now you know!  I'm trying to be very wise with my time and energy right now.  Most of that is focused on my 3 kids and taking care of them and things around the house that need done.  All 3 kids will start school this week so hopefully I'll be able to get some more rest during that time.  I'll also be going to the doctor again next week and I'm sure that we'll be making some decisions then on what course of action to take.  Until then, I'll still be around....just not like I used to be until I feel better again.  Thanks for being patient with me during this time.
~Heather


True Moment Tuesday's (TMT's) are a new feature here on Spot My Eye Savings.  Go here to see what TMT's are all about!

Smelling the Roses...

Just a heads up that I'll be taking the weekend off.  The medicine I'm on for my HES is taking a toll on me and I need to take care of me and rest...not to mention that all 3 kids start school next week and we have a few more things to get done before the big day!  If your kids are starting school soon let me encourage you to take some time with them to "smell the roses" before the year starts getting busy!  I'll be back Monday!  Happy weekend everyone!

True Moment Tuesday's...New blog feature!

I've been brain-storming ideas for new blog posts for several weeks.  So, starting today I'll be featuring "True Moment Tuesday's"...every Tuesday!

What is True Moment Tuesday?  Well, basically it's anything random that I want to share that's happened within the previous week of the post.  I want to capture those every day things that happen in life and not take them for granted.  I'll try hard to keep things on the positive side, but don't be surprised if I share a struggle or two, or three, etc, etc.  If there's an appropriate photo I'll post that too!  That's what it's about...the True Moments...the real me.

(Photo Credit goes to *CA*'s Photostream - Flickr)  

Note:  These are NOT "my" deer.  If I happen to get a photo of "my" deer I'll post it here at a later date.

True Moment Tuesday:


Earlier this year I decided to plant sweet potatoes in my garden.  I never liked sweet potatoes before until last Fall when my Bible study teacher brought the excess from her garden to class and shared!  I reluctantly took a few, knowing that if I took them I would have to eat them.  It was kind of a challenge to myself!  As you all know, I don't like to waste anything...especially food!
I stared at the potatoes for a few days unsure of how to fix them.  I knew that I didn't want Sweet Potato Pie...yuck!  I decided to saute them with some other vegetables making a Succotash of sorts.  The results.....I loved it!  I still don't like Sweet Potato Pie, but I love my Succotash!  :)


After falling in love with Sweet Potatoes I studied up on them (because I'm like that!) and found out that they're actually quite easy to grow in the garden.  Once Spring arrived and the threat of frost was gone I put some plants out to grow.  It's taken all summer for my Sweet Potatoes to grow.  I went outside yesterday and decided to dig one plant up to check them and see how they were doing.  I had a fairly decent sized potato!  I was so HAPPY!!!  I also admired the beautiful greenery was growing (the vines of the potatoes) making a gorgeous covering over my garden.  


This morning I awoke and took David to football practice.  It was dewy outside.  We saw four cute little deer up the street in a field.  Such a peaceful morning.  When I returned home I went outside to find that my Sweet Potato greenery was almost completely GONE!!!  What in the world???  Then it dawned on me...the deer...those cute little deer ATE MY GREENERY!!!  Yes, there is proof...hoof prints!  Arrgh!  I'm not so sure that "those cute little deer" are cute anymore!


Want to join me for True Moment Tuesdays?  Feel free to leave one of your "True Moments" below in a post or leave a comment on the Facebook page! 

Series: Becoming Debt Free: Losing Kara...2007- early 2009

If you missed the previous posts in this series you can find them all right HERE!

I left off last time describing our adoption of Emalee.  What a blessing it was to finally have her home.  Most of 2007 was spent adjusting to having a new child in the family.  I can't really think of any major events during this time.  

Financially, we were a mess!  We had received a couple of adoption grants to help with our adoption expenses, but they didn't cover the entire cost.  So, we took out a Home Equity Loan on our house to help pay the remaining expenses.  Somehow (by the grace of God I think) we were able to still make our payments.  

In January of 2008 I took on a babysitting job to help with expenses, but it didn't last long.  The parents of that child were traveling pretty far to come to me and they found another sitter that was closer.  Soon after that I started babysitting another baby.  I kept her until school was out.  Her father is a teacher so he was able to stay home with her in the summer time.  My intention was to watch her again once school started up, but my sister-in-laws (Kara) health has steadily declining and I chose to not babysit in case I was needed to help with that.

David and Jacob ~ Florida

David and Emalee enjoying the ocean!

In the Spring of 2008 we decided to take a vacation to Florida!  We were in the mindset that "we deserved a big vacation because we work hard and haven't ever taken a large vacation before."  :)  Doesn't that just sound like America?!?!  :)  I will say that it was fun, but instead of taking our stimulus check and putting it toward bills, we decided to fly to Orlando instead!  

FYI:  It was around this time that I started COUPONING!!!  Too bad there wasn't a coupon for the trip to Orlando! :)

Brian and the kids at Kennedy Space Station

Kara had already had a lung removed earlier in the year due to her cancer.  Things weren't looking good for her.  She steadily declined in health the entire year of 2008.  She was hospitalized several times due to complications and infections.  By Christmas she only weighed around 95 pounds.  We were good friends and it was very difficult to watch someone that I loved suffer in this way.  Her colon cancer had spread to her lungs and esophagus eventually closing off her airway.  She passed away on Valentine's day, 2009, leaving this world behind and entering the arms of Jesus.  

Kara, Corey and the kids at Emalee's Homecoming!

You may ask...what does this have to do with becoming debt free?  There were several weeks before Kara's death where we were running back and forth to the hospital eating out A LOT...or eating at the hospital cafeteria.  Even after her death I found myself often in a daze not being able to function as I worked through my grief.  We didn't rack up tons of debt here, but I wanted to include in my series that having some money in savings is what got us through this time.  

If you're interested you can read my posts about Kara HERE and HERE.

Emalee's Room

As much as I don't like it, my baby is getting bigger.  Because of this we decided to finally move her out of the toddler bed and into a twin bed.  Two years ago my neighbor had a very nice wooden toddler bed in their garage sale.  I went down to see how much it was and my neighbor decided to just let me borrow it.  She had decided earlier that day that if it didn't sale she would save it for her grandchildren....which would still be a few years off.

Emalee got good use out of that bed, but I've noticed lately that she's quite long in it when she lays down.  I decided to start looking for a twin bed.  I found one on Walmart.com  that we really liked and with a few discounts I was able to get it for a decent price and shipped free to my local store.

Late last night we had a Mommy/Emalee date night and headed to Target to look at bedding.  We no more than arrived when we "spotted" something very special.  Bedding that had OWLS on it!  Let me clarify that Emalee really didn't show much interest in anything for certain, so please don't think that I MADE her have owls in her room just because I like them!  She's always been kind of easy going when it comes to deciding things. However, she happened to LOVE the owls too!  :)

After we grabbed the bedding we also got a 9-cube shelf for her toys to go in.  Em's room is only 10'X10' so  I'm really hoping that all of these changes will make a difference in her room.  I put her older, smaller white shelf in her closet for her shoes and extra toys to go on.

I also couldn't resist buying the canvas photo pictured below.  Just darling!  My friend, Jeanne, is going to help me figure out some painting on the walls to go with this.  The baby border is going to finally come off!  I'll post pics whenever it's all done!

Here's some pictures of what we got:

Scaling back...Please Read

The photo above is of me with 3 of my favorite people...my children.  As many of you know I have a rare autoimmune disorder.  It likes to wreck havoc on my life from time to time and lately has decided to gear up again!  Because of this, I was forced to take some time this past week to focus on ME.  

I went to the doctor last week and discovered that my chemo is killing too many of the good blood cells along with the bad blood cells.  I'll just be honest and say that I'm worn out.  I'm extremely anemic right now due to this and find it difficult just to do the every day tasks around the house that I NEED to do.  I don't get many of the extras done anymore.  

My doctor has given me some restrictions and for the welfare of myself and my family I've decided to follow her advice.  That being said, I've decided to scale back on blogging.  I'll still be around and post some things that I really like and enjoy, but I'm not sure what that looks like yet.  For now, I'll still teach classes around town so if you'd like to schedule a class give me a holler!  

Until I start feeling better my time and energy will primarily be focused on being the wife and mom that God created me to be.  That being said, I'd like to leave you all with something that happened to me last Fall.

I went to the True Woman conference with one of my best friends...Kristin.  I had a spell last Fall (medically) where I was forced yet again to evaluate my life.  As we were driving down to Fort Worth, Kristin and I talked A LOT!  I was sharing with her how the Lord was impressing on me to look at my legacy.  

Side note:  Life threatening illnesses will force you to look at your life and evaluate it!  :-)

The verse the Lord kept showing me and having me think about was this...

2 Corinthians 2:15-16

 ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.

This verse has meant so much to me over the past several months.  I think that the Lord has used it to constantly remind me of what my primary purpose is here on earth.  No matter what I do with my life, I've learned that I have a SMELL and constantly put off an aroma to others.  I hope that people smell LIFE when they meet me.  I hope that they smell the Life of Christ in me and want that for themselves.  

At the conference Kristin and I were in the elevator with Crawford Loritts and his wife.  He looked at my name tag and said, "Heather...Do you know what your name means?"  I said, "Well, I know that it's a flower."  He said, "My daughter's name is Heather.  It's not just a flower,  It's a fragrant flower that blooms in rocky terrain."

Wow!  Isn't it cool when the Lord speaks to you through other people?!?!  I obviously have some rocky terrain ahead of me with my disease.  I just hope and pray that the legacy I leave is the fragrance of LIFE...Life only found in Christ my Savior!