Update

I talked to my doctor's office this week, and just now have a minute to let you all know what the biopsy results are.

To put it simply, I have exactly what they thought. "Mild dysplasia." Results can come back as:

Normal
Low Dysplasia
Mild Dysplasia
High Dysplasia
Cancer

So, praise God we got it before it turned into "high dysplasia" or cancer. It can go from mild to high or cancer in a matter of months if left untreated, so I am extremely thankful that God put it in my head that it was important to be seen.

It's not great news, but isn't horrible news, either. Great news would have been for it to be normal. The hope is that he got all of the abnormal cells with the original biopsy. Time will tell. I go back in 4 months for another pap and I pray that it will be normal. If it is not normal (is the same or worse) then more evasive procedures will have to be done to remove more tissue. So, for now, the plan is to simply wait, be rechecked, and pray that a normal result follows. I will let you know!

To change the subject, please visit Shelley's blog to read about Baby Brooks that was born prematurely. He and his family need our prayers.

New Feature

You may notice the new picture of the cute black lab on the right hand side of my blog. This is the section that you will likely be seeing several dogs over the coming months that are all looking for new, and permanent homes. You can click on the picture of the dog to find out more information about him or her, and to find out how to complete an adoption application. Live out of my area? That's okay! Dogs can be adopted out to nearly anywhere, so if you fall in love with a cute face, let me know.

Another Foster Adopted

Well, Ruth has already gone to her new home! A great family that lives on 80acres down our road saw her and fell in love with her. I got an email from someone that saw her on the pet adoption websites that really wanted her, and I had to tell them she was already adopted! I am a bit surprised she went so quickly. The bigger dogs can be really hard to place... she's just so gorgeous, people couldn't help but want her.

So, now we're down to just our two dogs again! That's so weird! I'm enjoying a few days just spending time with them before I go get another foster. I saw a very pretty white male dog, looked like a shepherd mix, at the pound last week. If he's still there, I think he'll be the one I'll be bringing home.

Amanda posted on her blog that a big Chihuahua hoarder/breeder was shut down in NM. Once they get some more info on those pups and dogs, we might be fostering one or two of them. I have a hard time with the smaller breeds, for some reason. It takes me a while to realize they're dogs, too. lol I'm so used to big labs and dogs of the sort.. a tiny lap dog takes some adjusting for me!

So, Moss Dog Rescue, Adoption, and Rehabilitation Center is going quite well! ;)

True Story

I am in Wal-Mart this morning, buying those circle stickers to put prices on for our church's rummage sale this Saturday morning, when a complete stranger started a conversation with me.

While looking for some boxes of brownie mix (for our lunch at church Sunday) a woman, probably in her late 50s, started remarking on the high prices of the products on the shelves.

strange lady - "I've never seen such prices! This is crazy!"

me - "I know, I hope the gas prices going down will trickle into lower food prices soon."

strange lady - "So, what do you think about the Presidential Election?"

me, surprised at the question, - "I'm not sure. I like them both, and don't like them both, depending on the issue."

strange lady - "Well, I'm voting for McCain. That Obama... there's no way a black man is going to be able to run this country."

me - stunned silence

strange lady - "You know that those other countries don't like him. They don't like him because he's black... he'd ruin us!"

me - trying to be polite - "Well, have a good day! I better finish my shopping!"

YIKES! Do people today STILL think this way? Wow... what a thing for someone to say to a complete stranger! For all she knows, my husband is black! I just walked away shaking my head.

Am I the only one that has almost forgotten that Obama is even black? He's just become a household name for most of us... and I guess the issue of his race isn't something that my family (immediate or extended) has talked about.

Am I a magnet for crazy people or what? I swear... when I go into public places, people just seem to feel free to tell me all kinds of things, good and bad! Maybe I need one of those "bad attitude" shirts, that I hate so much, to wear the next time I need a loaf of bread....

Things You Can Use As A Weapon

He may look sweet, but this 15 month old has learned how to turn seemingly innocent looking items into very dangerous weapons. Some of his favorite things to use as objects of torment are:

*His Hands

*His Feet

*His Head

*A Hairbrush

*Tinker Toys

*Puzzle Boards

*Sticks

*Sippy Cups

*Blocks

*Bowls

*The Remote Control

*The Phone

*Lunch Boxes

*Anything that he can lift and swing - striking an innocent victim.

To think, we're not even close to age 2 yet...

Filling you in

I sat on posting this or not over the past few weeks, and especially the past two days, but I finally decided that I can.

To make a long story short, an abnormal pap smear test result resulted in me going in on Tuesday for a more invasive exam. Unfortunately, the exam did reveal an area of "concern" that required a biopsy to be taken and sent off for further testing to see if it is cancerous or not. Thankfully, I am faithful with going to my OB/GYN yearly so we caught this (whatever it may be) very early. Even if it does come back as cancer, the hope is we got it so early that the biopsy itself took care of it. If further treatment is required... then we'll just cross that road when we get to it. No need to send myself into all of the potential "what ifs" just yet.

For now, my prayer is it comes back as a "false-positive" and I can go on with life as usual with simply having to go for pap smears every few months for a while.

I am nervous, but I know that whatever the outcome - God has me. He's got it under control now, he had it under control before I knew about it, and he'll have the future under control as well.

So, please pray for my peace of mind as I sit and wait for the results. Hopefully I'll know something next week. I will keep you all updated - but for now, I'm going to think positively that the worst is over.

Memories

As we were coming home from an outing last week, Clayton and I heard a few songs from "back in the day" that made us start thinking back to all of the songs, movies, and TV shows that always remind us of each other. I thought it would be fun to share some with you all and have you share some with me!

Movie: City of Angels - 1998

Clayton and I had been dating for a while, and this was the first movie we ever saw together. It was a great movie, but can I tell you how embarrassing it is to boo-hoo in front of a boy on your first 'official' date with him? Sheesh!

Just for fun - Titanic was the second movie we saw together.

Songs: This could be quite a list!

Unchained Melody - The Righteous Brothers version.
I believe the year was 1999... it was the first song we danced to at Clayton's Senior Prom. It is still my favorite song to dance with him to today!

The early songs by the Dixie Chicks like I Can Love You Better and Wide Open Spaces. They came out in 1998 and though Clayton wasn't thrilled about my new and obsessive love with the Chicks, he was sweet enough to go out and buy their first CD for me anyway. Now that's love!

Anything by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Credence Clearwater Revival. They were the first two concerts we went to together, and we still love listening to the old school music when we're driving around and the kids have all gone to sleep. It reminds us of all of the time we spent riding in that great ford pickup truck of his, singing horribly to all of the songs.

I could go on and on... some of our other memory filled bands are Stroke 9, Barenaked Ladies, and almost every single "oldies" group or singer out there. Clayton's dad is a huge fan of the great classics and so each time we traveled together somewhere, we spent all of the time in the car listening to the Oldies stations or the CD's his dad had. Those were some really fun times! His dad is the first person I had ever heard say, in regards to a slow love song,
"This is belly rubbin' music."
Translation for you youngin's - "This is a great song to slow dance to!"

We still say that when slow songs come on the radio.

TV Shows

Some of the TV shows that we watched together were pretty tasteless, but simply hilarious to us back then, if I can be honest! Some of the most detestable would be the ones on MTV like The Tom Greene Show and Jackass. In all honesty... for some reason.. those shows still crack me up today.

Friends was one of my favorites when I was a teen and I will always remember how Clayton hated it so much, that he simply refused to watch it. Yes... even with me.

Cops - Oh yeah, like anyone is surprised that our entire lives togther have been filled with cop stuff. Before he could do it in real life, we watched it together as if we were doing homework for his dream career.

Since we dated long distance, we rarely got to watch TV together, but these few shows always found a way to show up when we were around each other.

I'd love to hear some of you and your spouses memories! Think back... WAY back for some of you!

Ruth and other doggie news

This is Ruth! She is approximately 2 years old and is a 66 pound white lab. She is BEAUTIFUL! She is in desperate need of a gentle, patient, and loving home. Her previous home was full of abuse and neglect and has left her with a lot of fear of people. We have had her for two weeks now and she loves our children, our dogs, our cats, and me! She is still afraid of Clayton, but his lack of time to spend with her is the reason. Even with him not being around her very much, she is much better around him than she was.

Even though she has been so mistreated by humans in her life, she is absolutely a gentle giant. I have not seen one second of aggression in this girl - even when she was very afraid. She loves to be loved on, and is desperate to belong. She now likes to go for walks and she is happy to jog or stroll. I cannot stress enough how incredibly sweet this girl is.

She was just spayed a few days ago and is recovering very well. She is soon to get all of her shots and will be completely vetted before being adopted. As soon as she heals from being spayed, I am going to start some more complex psychological obstacles for her, like taking her to the park to walk amongst other people and strange noises. These things make her want to shut down, and I have to make her face them and learn that she can trust people so that she will be a great dog.

If you are interested in Ruth, email me at pupfostermom(at)gmail(dot)com.

Also, Justin Dreyer emailed and said that a large Chihuahua puppy breeder/hoarder just got shut down. There are MANY puppies and dogs in desperate need of a good home. If you are interested, email me at the same address.

Debate: Animal Testing

Your debate question for the week is:

Is it morally acceptable to use animals for experimental testings for things like vaccinations, new medications, make-up, etc.?

Run Down of Rules:

1. No anonymous comments. Please put your name if you must post anonymously.
2. Debate - don't fight.
3. Stay on topic.
4. Think about what the other side says with an open mind, and have fun!

A week of F-U-N!

We've had two pretty big outings in the past 6 days! On Saturday of last week we took the kids hiking on one of Cane Creek's nature trails. Our original plan was to make the long drive to Petit Jean, but rain in that part of the state curbed that destination. So, Cane Creek it was!

I had forgotten how beautiful Cane Creek Park is. Our nature hike had us wide-eyed with the wonder of the beautiful surroundings God has blessed us with. Creek beds, rocks, trees, flowers, wildlife... all of it can be overwhelming with emotion if you take a few minutes to just really take it in. (Stop and smell the roses... so to speak.)

The kids loved the hike. They climbed numerous fallen trees, sat on every boulder, examined every rock and bug, and eventually began asking, "Are we almost finished?" It was 2.5 miles from start to finish. They were doing great until the last half mile, so I felt that was a success!

Amazingly, we ran into a good friend out there as well! Imagine that. Two miles deep in the woods, the first time we've ever taken our kids out there, and we run into a friend from church that's also there for the first time. It's a small world! He was a lifesaver. I had carried Samuel in the Ergo for quite a distance, once his little legs could go no more, and Clayton had carried him for quite a ways himself before we ran into Michael and he offered his shoulders to hold Sam and finish the trek.

So, Cane Creek was a blast and we will definitely be going back. Maybe in another month when it's cooler!

Today was another big outing. Carter's school had a field trip to Grady to Hardin Farm's Pumpkin Patch! We let Madison miss school and the whole family went to play in the pumpkin fields.

We drove from home and met the classes there. Carter was so excited to see all of his friends coming in the gate! I got some really sweet pictures of him with his best friends.. none of which I can post because I don't have permission from their parents.. but take my word for it - THEY'RE SWEET. It was so neat to see Carter run and play with his pals and then run back to us. I think he was in heaven having both his favorite friends and his family together for a day of running, playing, and pumpkin hunting. Madison kept saying how she was so happy to meet the kids that she's heard so much about from her baby brother.

"Ohhh... so you're Kade! You're Carter's best friend!"

All of our kids had such a good time. We looked at every single thing out there. We read every sign, felt every fur, talked to all of the animals, and even got licked by a brand new baby calf. (I did... yuck!) We found the most perfect pumpkins in all of the pumpkin patch, and had a fabulous lunch with a bunch of wonderfully silly kids and their parents, that are quickly becoming great friends. There was no stress - it was perfect!

On the way home, all three kids passed out from hours of play, I told Clayton how glad I was that we're able to go and do stuff like that now. We went to the Pumpkin Patch last year, when Samuel was 4 months old. It was hot, but I had to hold him in the Ergo the entire time to keep him happy. Changing diapers, breastfeeding, and fussing were a part of the fun we had for those hours. Though it was a great time, and I'll always cherish that day, this year was so much easier and so much more enjoyable! Every now and then I get a pain of realization that my very last baby is growing up, but this kind of day makes any baby itch I ever feel totally disappear. I can't wait to take our kids to the beach, to the mountains, and to the canyons and the deserts! I can actually imagine us going on a really cool and long distance vacation soon. There is so much fun to be had.. and so few years in our short lives on earth to have it.

Favorite Shows?

Is anyone else just in heaven now that there are so many new seasons of shows on TV again? I was curious as to what my reader's favorites are this year.

We keep all of our favorites set to record on the DVR since we rarely have time to sit down and watch them when they come on. Also, we're working hard to not spend too much time sitting brainlessly in front of the television when we could be doing much more beneficial activities.

So, set to record for the week on our DVR are the shows:

HEROES - Clayton and I both LOVE this show. We've been faithful followers of the series since it started and it liked to have killed us when the writer's strike put it on hold for so long. Now it's back, and we make sure to find time to watch it each week.

GHOST HUNTERS - ooohhhh... eerie! We love Ghost Hunters as well. It's such a cool show.. and the stuff they find is just crazy! Makes me wonder who might be looking over my shoulder as I type this...

GREY'S ANATOMY - I can't help it. I love this show. Clayton hates it, so thankfully he's often gone at night so I can watch it after I get the kids to bed.

JACKED - This is a new show.. I'm pretty sure that's the name of it. It's about a task force that only deals with stolen vehicles. It's really exciting and we both love it!

VERMINATORS - Have you seen this show?! It's about exterminators and shows the ins and outs of their job. Wow... it's so disgusting you cannot help but watch!

DEADLIEST CATCH - It's on break now, but it is possibly our most favorite series when it's on. We're anxiously awaiting next season!

JOHN AND KATE PLUS 8 - Another that Clayton simply hates. HATES. He cannot stand this show, the sound of Kate's voice, or hearing more children than our own whining in the background. For some reason.. I cannot get enough of it! When you see someone with two 7 year olds and SIX 3/4 year olds... it makes most people's lives seem quite tame.

That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure there are a few more that we like when we catch them on... but that's a fairly good list. Of course, right now football has taken over our lives. Especially now that the Journey guys have totally corrupted Clayton and gotten him obsessed with Fantasy Football. (thanks a lot!) Now he has an actual REASON to watch every single NFL game that happens across our TV. I finally said to him one evening that after the game went off I was making him sit through a marathon of John and Kate Plus 8 so he could feel my misery.

What are you current favorites and what shows are you waiting in anticipation to begin again?

New Foster

Well, we have been back to the pound and rescued another. Our 4th foster is a giant white lab. She is a female, around 2-3 years old, and was taken from her owners. She was at the pound for over a month before I took her. I assumed someone would adopt her from there, but no such luck.

She is definitely going to be the hardest foster we've ever had to date. I've handled aggression, house training, jumping, barking, destruction of property, and those kinds of troubles, but this girl has deeper rooted issues. She is very VERY fearful. Of what? EVERYTHING.

She loves the fenced in area of the yard we keep our fosters in because she feels safe in there. When not in the fence, she typically has her tail tucked tightly between her legs and her head held down to the ground, as if she's just waiting for something horrible to happen. Any noise will make her want to run and hide. Cesar Millan always says that the hardest thing to deal with in dogs is low self-esteem. This girl is an extreme case of that. I am up for the challenge, though! I'm excited to see if we can turn this dog around and show her how to enjoy life!

She's already learning to walk properly on the leash after only three days with us, and she's never been on a leash in her life. (and she was terrified of that whole experience at first.. just like every experience!) Having a good pack of dogs to influence her has proven to be more beneficial than anything. All of the dogs sleep in the fence together at night, and this morning I saw her finally playing with them. Three days and she finally played. I could have cried watching her wag her tail, bark playfully, and pounce around with the other dogs.

I'll post pictures of her when I can. She is simply BEAUTIFUL.