Mary Makes you Smile

LOCK IN

2010-08-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

Well, i am now sitting here at church at 3:43 am watching the teenagers play mafia and at this point nothing is making sense but I am nuts loosing my sleep but having lots of fun. Brianna was the first to go to sleep. We have had plenty of games and a great devo from Steven and wonderful singing if you can just think about early/late singing. Well I had my first day at work today and I just want to say it was the best. This is going to be the best year ever. Our new Librarian is going to be great, she is really sweet and wants the library to succeed. I can't believe that school starts back for the kids on the 11th but the staff is on board now. It about killed me to get up at 5:30 this morning and I am still up and very sleepy.

It amazes me how teenagers can entertain themselves. I am definitely not like I use to be all this tells me is that I am having fun but would love to be in bed right about now. They don't even act sleepy. Sally was here but she decided to leave just a while ago. Now Hannah is here with me and she is sitting in Rachel's lap not asleep still hanging in there. Alex keeps telling me "mom shouldn't you go let her lay down on the couch and sleep and I reply by " "son she isn't sleepy she can stay awake if she wants to and she wants to"

Drive In Movie

2010-06-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Jasmine and I decided to go to the Drive-In movie at Winfield we went last night at the 12:00 showing we left home at 11:10 got there and we were somewhat late but that was ok we were there. It has been years since I had been to a drive in movie. Being late to a drive in movie is very embarrassing, we drive up pay and start to drive in and the man hollers to us a radio station that we didn't hear, so one other thing people park crazy in a drive in movie we had to drive down many lines to finally find a space and I pulled in a space so crooked by people sitting out in lounge chairs in the space next to us, so we park and work with trying to find the radio station so we can hear the movie ( I remember going when I was young and we had speakers to put on the windows) we just couldn't figure it out so I said Jasmine ask the boy outside what the channel is and when she finally worked up the nerve she leans out of the car and whispers excuse me excuse me and I am dying laughing and when she finally gets back in the car I get out and go to the stand and ask so now we were ready to settle down to watch the movie when our windshield fogs up so I ask her if she would get out and wipe off the window so here she goes getting out of the car and she runs around the car and it is fogged up in the inside not the outside Jasmine looked like Spiderwoman running around the car and it was so funny, she gets in the car and the light takes forever to go off and she is almost down in the floor board trying to hide so people want see her and I am dying laughing still, I know I missed alot of the movie but I didn't miss Jacob with his shirt off. I think I like going to the inside movies where there are advantages like.
1. Air condition
2. There is always a parking space outside.
3. The seats are comfortable
4. There is no station to figure out to hear the movie. Thank goodness we would never hear a movie if we had to tune into a radio station.
5. Now let me get started on the bathroom. There was two stalls and they were painted bright red a shock to me a little embarrassing.
I was dissappointed with the movie but had a great time there with Jasmine. We always have great trips together even if it is a short trip. She slept all the way home and we got home at 2:45. Everyone needs to go to the drive-in to appreciate the real movies.

What a Great Day

2010-06-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

This day was great because I slept in late until 12 which I haven't done in forever. I haven't been able to go to sleep for some reason. I have got to say some things I am blessed for today. First of all I am so blessed to have a home to stay in all day. I didn't go anywhere today I stayed home and cleaned Jasmine's room. Those of you that know Jasmine she can be pretty messy, so I thought I would surprise her when she gets home from work and it be all cleaned up. I have succeeded.

I would like to know if people other than me have a problem keeping vaccuum cleaners to work. I have a fairly new one and it quit on me already. Let me add I have had 2 in the last 2 months. Like I said I am counting my blessings because if one way don't work there is always an alternative way, so I got the wonderful broom and there I go sweeping the carpet which takes so much longer but it worked. So I will attempt to get another one if you read my blog please give me an update on a vaccuum that really works now I don't want to spend a whole lot of money but I do want a good one.

I am getting so excited to go to camp on Sunday. Alex and I will be there a whole week. I will not be in the Kitchen this time I am going to be a counselor. I am so excited about this. I love being with the kids you get to have devotionals every night and it is such a growing experience for me and all the others. Going to camp to me means leaving all the worldly things back. There is no TV now if you are reading this and don't go to camp you are probably wondering how on earth do you do it. The truth is you don't even miss it. There is no radio you don't even get in a car for nothing unless your in Hilltop Cabin and the counselor's will definitely ride up and down the hill. Mia and I will be in a cabin together and we will have a great time. Also at camp we get three meals a day which we do sometimes at home what I mean is full meals which is delicious we have the greatest food at camp and it is hard work. The cooks get up at 5:45 all week to get the meals started and sometimes don't get out of the kitchen until after supper, now it is alot of work but it is fun. We get to go swimming everyday I hope to work on my tan hahaha. We also get to play sports oh no I hope I can have oxgyen. just joking. I can handle it. I sure I will be exhausted come time to go home.

My Monday

2010-06-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone that reads my blog. I inherited a kitten and her name is Nala we were at the shop on Saturday and 2 boys came by there and had the kitten and said someone threw the kitten in their yard, so, I couldn't leave it.. She is the sweetest kitten and she has slept all day today. She wants to get right at your neck and just lay there and go to sleep it is so weird. She has a sweet personalty.

When I got up this morning I went to Trussville to meet the towing people. We called Michaels Towing and they said they would be there on Sunday to pick up the car, we called as soon as church was out and they said they would call him back, guess what no call. So Alex called as soon as he got up and asked what was going on and they seemed to not remember he called. I just think they didn't want to come so they didn't. We couldve already had it done but they said they would do it and we waited. But we ended up calling ABC Towing in Trusville they said they would be there at 12:30 so I get there at 12:10 and at 1:10 they still weren't there so I called and they said it would be 15 more minutes so I got smart and went in Target and looked around. They arrived and it took all of 10 min. to load the car and he got a lower rate with this towing company. If you need a vehicle towed DO NOT CALL MICHAELS IN GRAYSVILLE call ABC Towing.

I think my new name for this blogged should be count your blessings because I went to Trusville in Billy's car and it has no air so I decided to think of all my blessings and I counted a bunch and I forgot all about how hot it was outside. I think everyone should take a minute everyday and list their blessings. During the heat i thought about I am so lucky to have air at home. Now let me just say the air at home was out for three days and it was 90 degress in our house. I am thankful for all the hard workers that work in the heat to help people in distress like I was. It is such a hot job and someone has to do it. Thank you to all the heating and air conditioning workers.

I am so blessed to have a wonderful Christian family. I am so proud of them. I don't understand why people judge people. I think people go about judging people the wrong way. My theory is this, I think if people have a problem with you they should not talk to others, they should go directly to the person and talk to them first not to your neighbors.
I am not a perfect person but I don't know but one perfect person and that is God. The Bible says "Judge not that ye be judged" This verse tells me that there will only be one judge and that will be God, not your neighbor, not the people you work with or your friends only God. I am so lucky to be a Christian, A Christian doesn't mean that someone doesn't make mistakes because we all make mistakes, and we should learn from them and not make the same mistakes over and over.

I Am Back

2010-06-12T22:04:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone don't pass out because I am now posting. I forgot my password and Jazz helped me retrieve my password. We had a wonderful VBS it was great. I took the 4th - 6th grade to their classroom every night and of course I had the largest class first night 10 second night 11 third night 14 whoa go 4th and 5th and 6th grade. All the teachers had wonderful prepared classes. The teachers put in a lot of time into VBS. VBS ended on Wednesday and Thursday I had the Youth DEVO at Sylvan Springs Park and yes it was hot but it was great Christian fun.

It has been hot at the Courington's our house air was out and it took the air people 2 days to get here it was 90 inside our house. Billy's air in his car has gone out. My air in my van hasn't been working for a while now, but I am keeping on keeping on don't let a little heat stop you.

It was so nice to have Addi at our house for 2 days. She is back to her normal self. It was so nice to hear her laugh and have fun. She was a trooper in our hot house she didn't even complain. I love being with Addi life with Addi is always fun.

I really won't a summer job. I would love to babysit. If you know anyone who needs a sitter for the summer please let me know.

Alex's car broke down on him in Trussville tonight. I went to pick him up but before I got there I went to Red Robin to eat. Alex was with Daniel and they ate at Jim and Nicks so I had a wonderful Cheeseburger and great fries. I sorta enjoyed being alone for a change.

By the way I don't think I said the air is now working. Billy will settle down and become a happy camper in the Courington house if he isn't happy no one is. hahaha.

My Doctor Update.

2009-09-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today I had an appointment and the doctor told me that my Liver Enzymes had tripled in amount and all my other blood work had doubled. He told me he thinks I could be going through rejection, he didn't have my prograf results back yet so he proceeded to tell me that he would either call me this afternoon or tomorrow to let me know how my prograf level is. If the level is normal then he will have to schedule me a biopsy and if this level is high or changed any then we will have to up it. So we are hoping it will be up. He said the way it looked I could be in rejection. I say I will deal with that when it happens. I will do whatever it takes to keep living. So far God has blessed me with a new Liver and blessed me with good health and whatever the outcome is it will be Gods will and I will conquer it with all my being. As far as how I feel I am feeling tired but that isn't going to stop me I am going to keep on keeping on.

I have to go back next week and give blood again and I have an appointmend on Oct. 14.
I would like for you all to know I am having a Celebrating Life Banquet for me at Sylvan Springs Church on Oct. 10 at 6:00. There should be no gifts it all about being alive and enjoying life. Most readers are my normal readers but if there are friends who read this and want to come please let me know and I will be so excited.
I am so lucky to be where I am today. I am happy, to be here. I wake up and see sunshine not clouds, see work as a blessing not as a headache, see housework as a wonderful chore not a job well this may be pushing it alittle bit but really I thank God everyday for my life.

God has blessed me and I know he will always bless me. Yes I get nervous but I know God is by my side during all my trials. I will keep a great attitude and continue to pray to God each and every morning and night.

I am so proud of my family. My husband works every day to provide for us and barely complains (about his job). God has blessed me with 2 great children and I am so thankful they have a huge future ahead of them.

Everyone have a great evening and great day tomorrow. Love Mary

About Time for a new post !

2009-09-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

I have wonderful news my sister called me yesterday and told me she is pregnant. We are so excited and happy to have a new baby in the family. She is so excited, the baby will be due in June and I am glad because I am off in the summer and can help her with the babies Aidyn and new baby.

As others already know Alex left for Freed in Henderson and he is so happy there. I really miss him but I know he is going to be a strong leader for Christ. He has met several friends which I knew he would have no trouble doing. Moving him in was hard but I handled it really well, yes, I cried but not to bad. I cried when I got home and his room was empty but i got over it.

We had a great Labor Day we all went over to David and Susans house and had lots of food as usual. It is always a blessing to go to David and Susans because family is very important and there is lots of laughs, smiles, and when we leave we are very full and you would think you wouldn't eat for two days but we all know that isn't so.

The summer went by to fast. I had a great summer I went to the beach with David and Susan and of course they made everything fun and the food was wonderful. I crabbed and it was sad because I guess I didn't realize they cooked them alive and it was tramatic to me I will never crab again.haha.

Went to camp and had a good time. I love the fellowship we have working in the kitchen it is a lot of work but it is worth it.

Started school and it didn't start so well, I kept saying I was going to get perfect attendance and on the second day of school I was taken off in an ambulance with a fever of 103 and all my stats were off. Well, I was put in and stayed in for 7 days I had a bacteria called Klebsiella how I got it who knows? Needless to say I will not say I am going to get perfect attendance again.

I will update soon. Love Mary

Alex went to Freed this weekend

2009-04-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

When Alex got home and we were talking he said it was weird going to Wal-mart and not having to tell anyone, and I got to thinking about that and decided that would have to be strange because all of your life you have had to tell us where you were at and when you were leaving to come home and now you have no one to answer to. I was worried to death about him but I will say I did make it ok while he was gone. This will be a tough transition for me, letting go and it is not an easy thing to do for me.

I am very proud of him and want him to have a great time while oft to college. And that is what we have children for to raise them and send them off to college and hope the best for them. Alex will be a strong christian leader and will lead lots of others to Christ.

I will have the most adjusting to do.
A. I will have to get use to Alex not being at home at night in his bed, because I like my children being in their own beds at night.
B. I like knowing where they are and when they arrive and when they leave. O.K. yall this is not going overboard.
C. I like seeing Alex everyday!!!!!
D. I can't believe Alex said he was only coming home once a month.lololol
E. Saddened to know I can clean and paint his room when he leaves. NO MORE AUBURN ROOM!!
F. Jasmine has claimed his room closet, she says she needs more room yea right.

guess I will go for now Have a great week. Mary

Alex's 18th Birthday

2009-04-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

I will have to first start off by saying how proud of Alex I am. He is a joy to have as a son and he can just about always make me laugh. It is so hard to believe how fast time flies by it just seems like yesterday that I was thinking "Man Alex has a long way to go till he turns 13, 16 and now he is 18 years old, you parents please take and enjoy each day because before you know it your child will be graduating,and off to college. I am not going to take Alex leaving to colleg easy, it makes me so sad to think that I am not going to see him everyday, to think Alex is not going to be in his own bed at night. My children have always been at home at night, those of you who have been through this may can help me adjust because I am not adjusting very easy.

I am proud that Alex want to go to Freed and his mission is to become a minister. From watching Alex through the years he will make the best preacher because he really cares and feels from the heart everything he says, he really wants to help people learn how to become a Christian and live a great wonderful life in the Lord. When Alex and us went to Ragland and I watched him get up there and teach the class, and lead singing and do the preaching it brought tears to my eyes because I realized that my son is a dedicated man of God and this is what he is best at, and he wants to lead people to God, and nothing will stop him.

Oh and I want you all to know Alex needs a job keep your eyes and ears open. Tennis is almost over and he will definitely need to work for the summer. He don't think so though but reality is time to grow up and start working. hahahahaa

All I want to say is I Love You Alex and I will always be here for you. Love Mom!!!

Heres and Exciting Post Dr.Visit.

2009-02-23T20:09:00.000-08:00

Well, today was great. My visit was wonderful all my blood work but Prograf (I never expect it to be right) was good. He lowered my Prograf and hopefully that will stop the shaking. It is strange he suggested me to try Hypnopsis I know I didn't spell it right for my itching, he wanted to try that before he did anything else, I feel some what funny about that, even though David did suggest it before my surgery and I just never did do it, what do yall think of this idea should I or should I not. He said I don't have to come to the Dr. but every 2 months and give blood once a month WoW look how far I have come in just almost 5 months. God has held my hand through this whole process without him I just couldn't have came this far without him. I am so thankful to be a Christian and part of such a great family. Thanks everyone.

Some pictures of them waiting in the waiting room during my surgery

2009-02-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

I will have to say I am the luckiest person in the world to have such great family and church family. I am so proud of my church family,for those who don't know they called Tameka over to them and took her in as family and stayed by her side while her daughter was having her Liver Transplant. I am the luckiest person in the world to be a part of this family at "SYLVAN SPRINGS CHURCH OF CHRIST"
I know this is a late post but hey better late than never. This is a great post!!!!

This is a funny picture because Alex met her at the elevator and wheeled her in because she had her foot surgery that Friday and she just had to come up to the waiting room to be with everyone.

This is funny Aidyn never has anything to do with anyone, but he loved Addi and as you can see Addi liked trying to hold him.

This is a waiting room picture, can you believe all the people? If you will look closely by Mia you will see Tameka the baby's mom and you will also see the red wagon behind them that is what she came here with, she is trying to hide in this picture.

In this picture you can see Tameka a little bit but not much.

This is a great picture of Katie and Mia. These are two beautiful people, I love them so much they are so special to me.

Look at Hannah and Daniel their smiles tell it all, they are beautiful.lol Hannah survived the waiting room during my surgery.

Now Phyllis looks like she is just so happy and having a great time.

NOw just take a look at Susan and you just can't be sad here, she is in the waiting room and waiting on me to get out of surgery and is as happy as can be.

My hubby was worried to death in this picture I am sure he is texting everyone he knows to tell them I am in surgery.

This is my best friend and her husband look at the look on her face she looks worried to death. She is the sweetest friend she has been happy and sad with me through this year it was rough for the both of us.

This blog is dedicated to my mom!!!!

2009-02-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, my mom has been gone for three years today, I would like to say this was a very sad day for me. Susan couldn't have said it any better, I long to hold her one more time, To just see her beautiful face and the memorable smile she shared with everyone. You know every day wasn't a sad day while she was in the hospital I can remember sitting at her bedside and her looking at me and she just started rubbing my hair and saying "how pretty it was" no matter how sick she was she always said something nice and I am sure my hair was a mess.

My mom was always thinking of others the day she went to the doctor in Oct. I had taken off to go with her and she called me and said they changed her apt. I said "Ok I will just go to work" needless to say they didn't change her apt. She knew she was going to get bad news and when she got there they told her she only had 4 months to live afterwards her and dad went to Avondale Park this is where they spent a lot of their days and dad said they hugged and cried and she asked him to promise not to tell us because she wanted life to be as normal as it can be, how selfless can this be. This was really hard on my dad to handle this news by himself but he granted her, her wish.

I remember when she came home Pam and I were giving her a bath and we heated everything, her bedsheets, her covers, every towel she had (no kidding) and we bathe her and when she got out we immediately started covering her with all the hot towels and she sat in that chair and said "I really like this, yall can do this all the time and she gave us a little smirk and that was enough satisfaction for us.

You know the feelings never change, the love never fades it just gets stronger in my heart, the yearning to be with her is very strong and I look forward to seeing her in heaven when it is my time to get there, there is never a day go by that I don't have a memory of her. There toward the end she started telling people that visited her that you were either on her prayer list or her love list where that came from I don't know but that is how she felt. I remember one night I was at their house and dad mom and I was outside and dad looked up and saw a bright star and he asked my mom to come over there with him at the steps and they stood there and made a wish. At night when I look up at the sky and see all the bright stars I think of that moment and say a prayer and thank God for all the wonderful memories I have and for giving me these memories and lots more.

Sorry this is a sad blog but I had to do something because my heart was aching and sometimes blogging makes me feel better.

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR MY DAUGHTER

2009-02-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to believe that my only daughter is 19 today, where has time gone? It just seems like yesterday she was born, a helpless little girl who solely depended on her mom and dad for everything. From the time she was born she had a smile on her face and some things just don't change because still today she carries that beautiful smile every where she goes. When Jasmine decided it was time to walk there was no stopping her she was walking and running everywhere and still some things don't change she is still running and walking everywhere she never stops always on the go. I am so proud of her, she has been the daughter I have always prayed for and there is nothing I would change for her.

Jasmine is a wonderful christian, and dating a wonderful christian young man, from the time she could date she started out dating a christian and has stuck with that. Jasmine has been so grown for a while now she works, goes to school full time and still makes time for everyone else. She may get discouraged at times but she gets over it and goes on with life and the smile is back in no time. I hope to post some pictures later.

We love you Jasmine and Happy Birthday. We are proud of you in every way.

2009-02-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

Wonderful Weekend

2009-01-12T21:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, I would like to tell those who read my blog about my weekend even though the ones that read my blog are the one pretty much doing the same things I did how funny is that but for those bloggers who are not with me often here is an update.

On Friday evening we had the honor to go to Paul's/others National Board Certification reception and it was so great. It is always nice to have family that cares and will support you. Family is so important because as I was sitting upstairs with all the others I got to looking and we had almost a whole isle filled with just family for Paul. Paul worked hard and we will probably never know how much effort he put into this but I know from watching him it was no easy task. So CONGRATS TO PAUL WE LOVE YOU! Afterwards we all went to the Fish Market (which isn't my favorite but I can always find something like Chicken in something like Pasta). And again all the family went there also the fellowship, the laughter and the talking is so addicting that you hate for the evening to end. This family has such a strong bond and I am so thankful to be such a part of it. I love you all very much and I enjoy each and every day with all of you.

Saturday was not that active of a day, I slept sorta late and enjoyed it so much. I stayed home and just hung out there. I have started playing Bingo on Yahoo and it is so much fun, I called it the I'm to old to keep up with the cards. I couldn't believe it was such a challenge, but for me it was.

Sunday is always such a great day for me and my family. We went to church and church is such a safe place to be. David always has such a great uplifting lessons. After church we went home to eat. We ate steaks, corn, salad, and peas it was great just all of us sitting at the table with each other. These occasions are getting rarer and rarer. I cherish my family so much, I enjoy every minute we have when we get it. Then we went to see mawmaw and pawpaw and I would like for everyone to please say a special prayer for the both of them, mawmaw is very sick. She is such a precious person and all her life she has done for others unselfishly. Pawpaw has been having some breathing problems so please remember him he seemed to be doing good today he was talking non stop. After church we came home Theresa and James was at the house and they had brought homemade Chicken soup and it was the best soup ever. The visit was good and we laughed and laughed about everything.

Monday Billy had a dr.apt at 8 and everything seemed ok. We both had an eye apt. and Billy's eyes were the same which surprised me and my eyes well just let me say they had changed big time. I am not getting new lenses because in Oct. my insurance wil cover almost all of new frames in Oct. so I am going to wait till then to get new frames.

Oh by the way Billy and I went to see the movie TWILIGHT I am not going to say much about the movie but I will tell you it is just wonderful I loved every bit of it, I was so shocked that I liked it so much. But please everyone go and see the movie.

Guess this is long enough. Mary

Christmas udate and much more

2009-01-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

Hi! How is everyone doing? Great I hope! We are doing ok except that Billy is now sick, he has been throwing up and not feeling so well, he has the chills and can't seem to get warm, he is so worried about me getting sick but I feel like I will be ok someone has to take care of him.

Ok, Christmas was great, I was so happy to be able to get up and fix our BIG Breakfast for the family, everyone got to our house about 10 and the food was good. Christmas was different in many ways number one was Kim and the kids didn't make it because they were all sick and I tell you what I missed them so much and so did everyone else my house was not the same. Paul came by and ate and off he went, he went home to care for his sick people. And I really felt great, I made it just fine and I am so thankful for that, the Lord has blessed me so much in so many ways. So Kim and Paul can't wait till next Christmas and yall can't leave until midnight lol.

We spent New Year's Eve at Roebuck Pky Church of Christ with Daniel and his youth group. Mark drove the church van and several went from our church. Daniel had games and singing planned and of course there was food and it was delicious. We had singing which started about 11:30 and we sang in the New Year, all I can say is the singing seemed a little off for some reason I just couldn't put my finger on it and I wasn't even singing real loud.haha.

I didn't really make any New Years Resolutions but I did set me some goals reasonable ones. 1. Always remember God gave me everything that I have and never take things for granted.
2.Wake up everyday and say a prayer and go to bed every night with a prayer.
3.Say I love you to my family as often as possible more than I have been.
4.Wake up ready every day to make the best of every minute of the day. Don't take anything for granted.
5. Live life to the fullest.
6.Make a call to someone who is sick,or in the hospital or is just down and out.
7.Let every one know that I am a christian by the way I live and I want to be a good example to those who know me and those who are getting to know me.
8.Never forget where I got my second chance of life, GOD, THE DONOR, THE DONOR'S FAMILY I want to always say a prayer for them life has got to be hard.
9.I want to try and help my father as much as I can or as much as he will let me. Because I want him to meet me in heave with my mom standing beside me with open arms. I truly believe that it is never to late.

I guess I am going to end this I hope you are not to bored with my posting but it is the best I can do for now. Take care and I hope everyone has a great New Year and I hope all your dreams come true.

Love you all Mary.

New meaning of Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T16:39:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, as I sit here I was thinking what an amazing Thanksgiving this year is to me. I sit here in my living room with the tree blinking ( I know it is early but why not this year our living room tree is white and it is very beautiful) My mind gets to thinking that I am the luckiest person in the world to be here to day.

1. I am very thankful for the donors family, I can't imagine how they feel this year at Thanksgiving, my heart goes out to them each and every moment I am alive. I know they have got to be so proud of their child for saving 9 peoples lives and mine included. Sometimes this is so overwhelming to me all I can do is cry, because I know how it feels to loose someone you love so dearly. I just wish somehow they will find a way to have a good Thanksgiving.

2. I am thankful for my husband every since my surgery he has been there for all of my needs and sometimes I know I have ran him all day long and he never complained. Over and over he would say "I am so thankful you have this new liver so you can finally feel better." Just having him by my side the whole time has been a blessing in itself because I really needed him mentally and physically. Billy is the sweetest husband, and I am so thankful that he was brought up in the church. Billy is my counselor, my support when I am having an outburst of tears, he is my best friend someone who will always laugh with me and cry with me. He is able to pick me up when I am feeling down. Thank you Billy.

3. I am so thankful for my wonderful children. God has blessed me with wonderful christian children. I watch them grow up and date christian people and it makes me so happy that we as parents have done something correct in raising our children. I can imagine how scared for the whole year and fifteen days that I was sick because the unknown was the worst feeling and that is a lot for teenagers to cope with. I am so proud of them while I was in the hospital. Here's an example Jasmine came by one afternoon and I was crying because the nurse had come in with all my medicine to show me how to administer it all by myself and I was scared to death that I wasn't going to get it right so Jasmine crawled up in the bed with me for about one hour and a half and she went over and over it with me and it wasn't as bad as I had thought. There wasn't a day go by that Alex didn't give me a hug and ask me "How are you doing today mom?" and give me a kiss on the cheek. The day I had my surgery started a whole new life for me, my family and I held onto each other and bonded so thick I didn't think we could get any closer. I am Thankful for two.

4. I am thankful Kim and her family. Kim and her family have done so much for me. Kim is a wonderful wife and mother and best friend to me. If it wasn't for Kim I don't know if I would've gotten my IV meds at home lol. I love you so much for just coming over when I needed a friend to talk to and just hanging out with me. The children did wonders for me they always put a smile on my face and that is what I needed the most. Also thank you Paul for being there for Kim when I had my surgery the things you do are not unnoticed. I am so glad that Kim has you and you are a great guy. Thank you

5. Susan and David I don't know where to begin. I want to say yall mean the world to me and I am so thankful to be a part of your family yall have always accepted me from the start and that has always meant a lot to me. Susan thank you for saying on the day of my surgery "Mary is going to get her surgery today" and when I got the call I called you and you were as beside yourself as I was that is what family is all about. Thank you for all the prayers you sent out for me, thank you for the smile you gave me the day you and David came to the hospital when I was in that meeting about my medicine I remember looking down the hall and you were sitting in the chair down there with the biggest smile on your face ever. David you mean the world to me also. I am so thankful to have such a strong christian man that I can depend on if there ever is a problem. Oh I also heard that you cleaned the bathrooms wow David that is love for a family member there thank you so much. Thank you for all the other you did for us I want say what but I think you know what it is. Susan thanks again for putting all of the time and effort into cleaning my house this goes to everyone who helped I don't want to leave anyone out. I want to thank you Susan and David.

6. This goes out to Katie and Josh and Hannah. Thank you so much for everything you do for me all the prayers, smiles, and help during my time of healing. I know that times have been hard for you all but I know how strong christian people you all are and that God is definitly going to help you through all of these hard times. Hannah is so sweet and I love hearing her say Mary her smile is so bright that wherever she is she lights up a room. Josh I love you so much you mean the world to me. I am thankful for you and your family.

7. Daniel and Mandi thanks for coming and visiting me. I got so many cards from your congregation and getting them made me feel so thought of and thankful. Your christian work has been so powerful in my life that I know you have so much to share to christians your talent is endless. I am thankful for the two of you.

8. I am thankful for my sister. She has been there through thick and thin. We have shared so many tears and even more laughter. I am thankful for my nephew he is the sweetest baby even though I don't see him as much as I want to. I can call Pam anytime and she would be there, there are no limits when it comes to me and vice versa. Thanks Pam

9. I am so thankful for the small things in life which are a.That there are doctors out there that God gave the knowledge to do the surgery I had. b.I am thankful to be alive. c. I am thankful to have a warm bed to sleep in at night. d. I am thankful to be able to look outside and see the trees, leaves which have been beautiful this year, the leaves on the ground, the sky and think of heaven and how I hope to one day be up there with my mother to just put my arms around her and say 10000 times how much I love her and miss her. e.I am thankful to have been brought up in the church.

10. I am thankful for my brother, nephews, sister, and last but not least my dad. I saved the best for last. I miss my dad so much he is always on my mind and I pray he will wake up one day before it is to late. I will never give up on him because I know what kind of man he can be because he was that man for 41 years. Dad has put us through so much and I know that there is nothing God cannot do so whenever he is ready to intervene he will. My dad is a very sad man and just doesn't know how to cope with life so he goes about it in all the wrong directions. He is going to have to figure it out all on his own because there is some things we can't do for him. I am so thankful for all of my family I just pray that they will all one day wise up and see how important it is to have God in there life. It is very hard being the only one in our family that is a christian I just want so bad for them to be in Heaven with me and mom one day.

Well, I hope that I didn't leave anyone out I tried to include everyone. I Love you all and to all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING. MARY

2008-11-25T16:38:00.000-08:00

update on Jaterkeria

2008-11-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

I called her mom this evening and Jakteria is still in Childrens Hospital and she has a infection called cvr her mom told me that is would be like a cold to normal adults but she has to stay in the hospital to keep her blood work checked and her levels have still been high. Talking to her really made me nervous this evening, she also said the nurse said that it is a possibility that the donor could have had this when he passed away and I was even nervous after hearing that but I am trying to keep my spirits up but today has been a challenge for me I think I have cried for about four hours today, I am assuming that it is the steriods that i just finished today and on a fun note Kim assembled my med. and after it she took out my IV and I called the nurse and told her she didn't need to come out today today that if she would just call Tammy and tell her she left her bag here and she can come pick it up tomorrow and she said just fine because she lived in Springville and that is a long way to have to travel just to get my IV out and Kim did as good as job as any of the other nurses.

Rachel I got the book you suggested and it is a very good book I am enjoying it so much it is so interesting, this is going to be fun and I am looking forward to doing this project with the group. I am already on page 100 and it gets so much better each page.

Guess I will go and please everyone pray for the little girl Jakeria she and her family needs it very much. Love everyone Mary

UPDATE IF YOU NEED A GREAT NURSE CALL 1-800-KIM

2008-11-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

THE CRITICAL CARE NURSE CAME TO MY HOUSE FRIDAY AND I WAS I NEEDED SOMEONE ELSE TO BE HERE BECAUSE I COULDN'T DO IT ONE HANDED SO KIM SO GRACIOUSLY VOLUNTEERED TO BE THE ONE. WELL, KIM HAS ADMINISTERED MY SOYMEDRAWL NOW 2 TIMES AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD'VE DONE WITHOUT HER. SHE HAS TAKEN ALL DAY ON FRIDAY AND ALL DAY TODAY TO ADMINISTER IT, IT TAKES AT LEAST 1HR AND 20 MINUTES TO ADMINISTER IT AND THEN TO DO ALL OF THE UNHOOKING TAKES A FEW MINUTES AND KIM IS WONDERFUL AT IT. I APPRECIATE ALL THE TIME SHE HAS TAKEN OUT OF HER OWN TIME TO COME HERE TO HELP ME. I HAVE GOTTEN TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME WITH LILA AND A LOT OF TIME WITH LEVI AND HE HAS REALLY CRACKED ME UP, HE IS THE FUNNIEST PERSON TO LISTEN TO TALK HE SAID SOME REALLY FUNNY THINGS TO SAY TODAY I DIDN'T THINK I WAS GOING TO QUIT LAUGHING. NOW I WILL SAY ONE THING LILA AND LEVI ARE VERY ACTIVE AND I DON'T SEE HOW KIM CAN STAND UP FROM BEING WALLOWED ALL OVER HER YESTERDAY AND TODAY I TRIED TO HELP AND I DID SOME WHATEVER HELP I COULD WHICH WASN'T MUCH. BUT OVER ALL SHE WAS GREAT.

I WILL BE TAKING MY LAST IV TOMORROW AFTER CHURCH. TODAY I GOT UP PRETTY EARLY AND I DIDN'T THINK I WAS GOING TO MAKE THE PAGAENT AND I DID. I WOKE UP FEELING PRETTY WEAK MAINLY WITH A HEADACHE (WHICH IS CAUSED FROM THE STERIODS)AND I WAS VERY EMOTIONAL AND CRYING BUT I DECIDED THAT I WASN'T STAYING HOME ALL DAY BY MYSELF, SO I PUFFED IT UP AND GOT UP AND WASHED MY HAIR AND BILLY FIXED IT AFTER HE DID ADDI'S HAIR AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL, AFTER HE FINISHED WITH HER HAIR I DID HER MAKEUP AND SHE WAS PRETTY GOOD WITH THE MAKEUP AND SHE GOT A LITTLE RESTLESS WITH THE HAIR. SHE LOOKED VERY PRETTY ON STAGE BUT I THINK THAT SHE THOUGHT HER DRESS ITCHED HER A LOT. SHE DID GREAT AND WHEN IT WAS ALL OVER SHE DIDN'T CRY AND KIM TOLD HER THAT IF SHE WAS GOING TO CRY WE JUST WON'T DO IT NEXT YEAR AND SHE REPLIED THAT SHE NEEDED TO BECAUSE SHE NEEDED ANOTHER CHANCE TO WIN. I THOUGHT THAT WAS SO FUNNY. MIA, TINA, AND SYDNEY AND BILLY AND I WENT AND KEPT UP WITH LILA AND OVERALL SHE DID FINE AND AFTERWARDS WE WENT TO HABERNOS AND ATE AND THEN OFF TO HOME SO MY VERY OWN SPECIAL NURSE TO GET MY MEDICINE STARTED.

GUESS I WILL GO FOR NOW BELIEVE ME IF YOU NEED NURSING ASSISTANCE PLEASE CALL KIM KELSEY SHE IS THE BESTEST. LOVE YOU ALL MARY COURINGTON

ANOTHER UPDATE FROM DOCTOR

2008-11-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

HELLO EVERYONE, I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE ALL OF YOU THE WEDNESDAY DOCTOR UPDATE. ONE OF MY COORDINATOR'S CALLED ABOUT 6:30 and proceeded TO ME THAT MY PROGRAF LEVEL HAD WENT UP FROM 19 TO 20 AND WHAT THIS MEANS IS THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RUN 3 DOSES IN 3 DAYS AND WHAT THIS REQUIRES IS THEY ARE NOT GOING TO PUT ME IN THE HOSPITAL LIKE THEY USUALLY DO WHAT THEY ARE GOING TO DO IS SEND A NURSE OUT TO MY HOUSE AND HOOK UP A IV IN MY ARE AND IT. THEY WILL DO ONE DOSE FOR THREE DAYS IT TAKES ABOUT 40 TO 55 MINUTES TO DO. JAKTERIA IS NOW IN CHILDRENS WITH THE SAME PROBLEM BUT SHE WILL HAVE HER LAST STERIOD TONIGHT AND HOPEFULLY GO BACK TO THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE. THE MOM CALLED ME TODAY AND TOLD ME THAT HER BOYFRIEND GOT FIRED BECAUSE HE HAS BEEN OFF SO MUCH BEING WITH HIS FAMILY. SHE ASKED THE SOCIAL WORKER IF SHE COULD HAVE TWO MORE MEAL TICKETS AND THE SOCIAL WORKER TOLD HER THAT HE SHOULD LEAVE BECAUSE THE TWO OF THEM DON'T NEED TO BE THERE AND HE SAID YOU MUST NOT UNDERSTAND THIS IS MY FAMILY AND I AM NOT LEAVING THEM.
I FELT REALLY WEAK AND BAD LAST NIGHT BUT I WAS SO PROUD OF ME BECAUSE I MADE MYSELF GO VOTE JAZZ AND BILLY AND I ALL WENT TOGETHER AND I WAS EXCITED AND MY DARLING JASMINE WAS VOTING FOR THE FIRST TIME AND I WILL SAY I GOT A LITTLE TEARY EYED ABOUT IT. I AM VERY PROUD OF MY JAZZ SHE IS THE SWEETEST YOUNG LADY AND WILL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU.
I AM SO THANKFUL FOR ALL OF MY CHRISTIAN FRIENDS. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE FOOD AND THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS. GOING THROUGH THIS TRANSPLANT HASN'T BEEN EASY BUT FRIENDS HAVE MADE IS EASY FOR US BY ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR US. THE FOOD HAS BEEN WONDERFUL. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WOULD DO IF I DIDN'T HAVE YALL IN MY LIFE. COMING HOME TO A CLEAN HOUSE MEANT THE WORLD TO ME. I KNOW HOW YALL SURVIVED THAT IT WAS A BIG CHALLENGE, BUT YALL SURVIVED AND I AM THANKFUL BECAUSE NONE OF YOU HAVE TALKED ABOUT ME I DON'T THINK.
I LOVE YOU ALL AND HOPEFULLY SOON I WILL BE UP AND GOING SO I CAN HELP SOMEONE MYSELF.
I LOVE YOU ALL MARY C.

another update

2008-10-28T19:10:00.000-07:00

Ok I finally got the call from the doctor and he said the biopsy showed mild rejection so he raised my prograft from 5 to 7 and raised my predisone 4 to 5 he said hopefully getting my medicines regulated this will fix my problem. The doctor I seen is so rude I told Dr.McGuire
I did not want to see him anymore. They put me to sleep to do the biopsy because I could not handle the pain because of my scar from the surgery so didn't feel a thing.
I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kim and I love you so much. You have done so much for me during this trying time in my life going through this without you I just don't think I could have done it.You are the best christian, wife, mother and friend anyone could ask for and I love you so much Thank You for everything and I love you and your family can't wait to see all the kids.
In Christian Love Mary

just a rock in the road for me

2008-10-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I will have to say that my visit this morning sent us in a loop. He said that my blood work had doubled since Friday and he was real concerned about it. The doctor practicneer came in and he said out of the blue that your new liver has pbc like your old one had and immediately Billy said I want to see Dr. McGuire or Dr. Dubay he said he was not leaving until we saw one of them and Beth my coordinator came in and right behind her was the doctors and he said if pbc comes back in your new liver it will be between 10 to 15 years later not this soon. He said that other doctor had to much knowledge and didn't know how to use all of it and I said I don't want to see him again and he said ok.
Dr. McGuire said if I am rejecting the Liver there was several treatments to do. 1. They could put me in the hospital and run a heavy dose of predisone in me for like 2 days. 2. They are going to have to really work with getting my medicines all fixed and that could take a while.
I had to be at the Kirkland Clinic at 2:30 today for the ultrasound and tomorrow I have to be at the surgery floor on first to have a liver biopsy. The biopsies I had before they found out what was going on with me was rough and it hurt but he told me that he would sedate me and I wouldn't know what was going on which made me feel better about it. When they get these results back they should know what is going on with me it may take a couple of days afterwards but he said they will find out what is happening.
Love Mary

another doctor update!

2008-10-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well, surprisingly everything went great. You will not believe what the doctor did today, I got my stales out and the doctor asked Billy if he wanted to get them out and Billy was up at my bedside like lightning and I am not so sure of this. The doctor came over and took two staples out and handed Billy the tool to take them out now let me tell you I was a bit uncomfortable the funny thing is when he showed Billy how to do it he left the room and never came back as he was leaving out of the room I was saying please doctor don't you want to stay in here and supervise him and he said "No he will do just fine and I said that is a matter of opinion. Really he did fine and he really felt like he had done something, a few times it was painful but all in all it went pretty smooth.
The doctor said my gloucose level was high and he said that some people become a diabetic but he didn't think I was he just hasn't gotten the medicine right yet this could take a while.
I asked the doctor about when he thought I could get out and he said whenever I felt like it as long as I was very cautious that meant if I go anywhere I cannot touch anybody, shake their hands because this is where the infection always comes from. I know yall are all saying "She better not go out anywhere just yet" I agree, I still am not up to traveling much so I will be in for at least two more weeks and then I will go out for short amounts of time.
I want you all to know I am the luckiest person in the world to have so many friends that really care for me. Having Christian friends is what has given me the strength I need to push myself to heal and heal fast.
Everyone who came to clean my house I give a big THANK YOU and I have keep it clean believe it or not, all of you put several hours into helping me out that really words can't explain how I feel about you. And whoever cleaned my refridgerator 'WOW'
it sure did need it Thank you. And those of you who fixed food for me and my family it has all been wonderful. The only thing is I haven't been able to find the salt substitute that i need for my food Thank you! Remember you all cannot talk about me my refrigerator was in such bad shape just remember that i had a great excuse all I use to do is sleep.
You know I am now up past 11 a lot. I was surprised the other night when Jasmine and Alex came downstairs and was so excited about me still up, now Billy was already asleep. It amazes me at the small details that mean a lot I am bound and determined to not miss anything anymore. I have enjoyed being able to just lay up in the bed and watch Television. Sally has been coming and staying with me because Billy is still insecure about me being home by myself right now. Here is my and Sally's routine she comes in and she will crawl in on Billys side of the bed and I am on my side and there we are watching tv and sleeping. Now yall remember that Sally has an injury also her foot is still hurting her so we are healing together how fun is that, we really look funny but hey it works. Then around lunchtime we get up and eat a breakfast or lunch whichever is the time we get up. It has been nice having someone over in case I do need something now I try to do things myself but I am not overdoing it.
Love you all Mary

Mary Smiles Again

2008-10-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody, This is Mary back from the dead I thought that was funny since it is almost Halloween. Guess what I've got the best Christmas, birthday, anniversary and any other occasion you can think of present "A NEW LIVER". Two weeks ago today after one year one week and fifteen days I got my Liver transplant and I am an amazingly different person not only do I think that so does everybody else.
Thanks to all of you and your prayers I have had the most successful experience. My doctors and nurses at UAB was sooooo good to me, when I went to the doctor for blood work Monday he said I made his day because I looked so much better than I had on Friday. The doctor came in to examine me and he kept looking for something at my stomach and I asked "what are you looking for" he answered I am looking for a drainage tube and he was so surprised that I had none, everyone comes home with at least one tube. I told him I am nothing like any of the others I am a fast track Liver Patient.
I have the best Christian friends any one could ever have. Guess what everybody the house is still clean and not messed up "YET" I am so lucky I would like to take a moment and be a little mushy. Without any of my friends I would not be this relaxed and I would feel like I needed to push myself to get well faster than I was really ready. All I can say is THANK YOU and I love you all so much.
I don't know what life was like after 5 because I would sleep so much before my transplant and now at 11 my eyes are just getting a little tired and I love being awake and just talking to my family and even friends, I am so happy and now there is a smile on my face almost all the time. I am back everyone me and my old self well really a new self.
When I came home I was so scared because my stomach was so sick all the time and I had lost 10 pounds since I had come home and the doctor took me off of my Cellcept and now my appetite has come back with a vengeance all I want to do is eat I can't even believe it. I have been saying I can't wait to really want to eat, because before I ate because I knew I had to eat and now my body has been craving food. Today I got up and had 2 scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast which is good for me because I usually don't want breakfast. And about 12 my stomach told me that I was hungry so Sally and I heated up some potato soup I ate a big bowl of it with lots of crackers and then Lee Ann brought some Butterbeans and fried potatoes and I ate some potatoes with Ketchup and that was delicious and after church Jeanette is sending us a plate from church and I am ready for the food.
I talked to little Jatkerias mom (I am not sure that I spelled the name yet) As I talked to her we got to talking about winter and she was saying Jatkeria didn't have any long sleeve pjs because they had to leave in such a hurry and she couldn't get things she needed. So Billy is going this weekend and buy her something warm she wears she said a size 4 toddler. Jatkeria's mom said they are all going to the Ronald McDonalds house real soon sometime this weekend and she was happy about that. The baby is doing great Everyone listen to this she got her staples out yesterday Monday and I have mine all the way up till Friday and I couldn't believe she got hers out I tried to get mine out again yesterday but he said no not till Friday, so I didn't say another word, so Friday is the day for me.
The doctor told me that my blood work went from 3. something to 19. something and he had never seen any blood work go so drastic I was concerned about what all that meant and I asked did this mean anything about rejection the Liver and he said no if a person rejects a liver they never make it home they reject it in the hospital, and he said if you reject a liver it's not because of the liver it is always because of infection he said infection causes rejection and that is why I am going to be very careful in the winter and for awhile I will have to stay inside because he said there is a lot of germs out there and it would be very easy for me to catch one because of my surgery site and. He said everything was going wonderfully not to worry about rejection and even if I did reject it there is so many other medicines left to use that he wouldn't even worry about it if it happened but he is confident that it will not happen so I left there happy as a lart whatever a lart is. My made up word.
I hope I have updated a little more and I will update some more later since I will have the time. I will be off work till after the first of the year because people have donated me enough days so I can stay at home as long as I can and recooperate
but i am sure i will be going back after the first and that may be half days for just a while I will wait and see and not be in a hurry, everyone I have enjoyed being at home and relaxing. You would think that I would be relaxed but before I had my surgery I would sleep a lot but I never got rested and I already feel better..
In Christian Love Mary Courington

NEW FROM MARY!!!

2008-10-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

HELLO EVERYONE THIS IS MARY!!!! I AM DOING VERY WELL. TODAY THEY STARTED TEACHING ME HOW TO TAKE MY NEW MEDS, THIS WAS ALL QUITE EMOTIONAL, AND STRESSFUL FOR ME. I WAS SCARED AT FIRST ABOUT FORGETTING HOW TO TAKE THEM. BUT JASMINE SAVED THE DAY!!! LOL!! SHE SAT DOWN AND WENT OVER AND OVER AND OVER MY MEDS WITH ME TONIGHT. AND YAY!!! I FINALLY GOT IT.
THE DOCTORS SAID THAT I HAVE FAST TRACKED EVERY EXPECTATION THAT THEY HAVE HAD FOR ANY LIVER TRANSPLANT PATIENT. THE PT CAME TODAY TO WALK ME AND SHE COULD NOT BELIEVE THAT I HAD HAD A LIVER TRANSPLANT, SHE SAID THAT EVERY PATIENT SHE HAS WORKED WITH HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY SWOLLEN, AND I WAS THE FIRST ONE SHE HAS HAD THAT HAD NO SWELLING. SHE WAS IN TOTAL SHOCK!!!!SHE WALKED ME UP SOME STAIRS WHICH WASN'T THAT BAD, AND BACK TO MY ROOM. SHE SAID THAT THAT WAS ALL THE PT THAT I WOULD NEED, BC I WAS SUCH SHAPE.
I HAVE ONLY HAD A LITTLE ITCHING WHICH WAS CAUSED FROM THE MEDS. I AM REALLY RELIEVED! NO MORE ITCHING!!!!!!!! THE DOCTOR SAID THIS MORNING THAT HE THINKS I CAN COME HOME ON WEDNESDAY. THAT I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR PRAYERS, CARDS, MONEY, FOOD, AND FRIENDSHIP. YOU ALL MEAN THE WORLD TO ME. LOVE YOU ALL, MARY

LATEST UPDATE!!

2008-10-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone its Jazz again with another update on mom! Last night they finally got her in a regular room with no specific visiting hours!! YAY! Alex, dad, Zac, and me are VERY Happy about that!!! Anywho mom is doing very well with her new liver and today, is trying to rest a little bit! She has been very emotional today but the doctor says that it is normal with all of the side affects of the new meds that she is on! I am so thankful for everyone who has came and sat with us throughout this trying exhausting time for us all!!! I appreciate it so much!! It means alot to us!! thank you all for your support and prayers! Its working!!! I'll be sure to keep updating soon!!! LOVE, JASMINE

VISITING HOURS!!

2008-10-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

THE VISITING TIMES ARE 10:30am-11:00am, 2:30pm-3:00pm, 4:30-5:00pm, 8:30pm-9:00pm! Dad seen mom this morning and said that she was NOT ITCHING!!! YAY!! We are relieved and most of all mom is too! Dad said that mom was talking up a storm and doing great! I'll be sure to update later!!! TTYL JASMINE

UPDATE!!!!!

2008-10-10T06:48:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!
This is Jazz again! Good news to everyone mom did great during the transplant!!!The doctor said that it only took them 4 hours to do the transplant and that she was doing excellent! He said that mom had a new BEAUTIFUL LIVER!!!(lol)Dad, Alex, and me are doing good too! We all got to go up and see mom last night at about 12:15 or 12:30pm something like that i'm not really sure because i was so exhausted and had passed out asleep in the floor!When we got back there they had already taken moms breathing tube out and she was breathing on her own! She even had her eyes open talking about how she was hurting and saying her famous words of "I need something to drink" lol THATS MOM!!! But it was only because she had the breathing tube in for such a long time during surgery! They have certain visiting hours to visit during these first few days after the surgery I'm not sure what they are right now but I will try to blog them later for mom! First of all Alex, Dad, Mom, and I would like to thank everyone who came and spent a really long day of waiting with us, it really made it a whole lot better!! I was a nervous wreck but it would've been even worse if all of you weren't there to keep us company! I love all of you so much and want you to know that we are so lucky to have WONDERFUL christian friends and family to be there for us! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Well i'll try to keep updating throughout these next few days! LOVE, JASMINE

TRANSPLANT TIME!!!!!!

2008-10-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone this is Jasmine I'm posting for mom today! It is 2:41pm and mom is in the prep room getting ready for the transplant. If you didn't know mom got the call around 1:45pm yesterday and told all of us to be here art 4:00pm and that they will do the transplant in the morning around 9:30! So we loaded up and came over to the hospital. Dad stayed with mom and the rest of us went home to stay for the night to prepare for a long day spent at the hospital! We arrived around 6:00am this morning and have been here ever since.We will be in the SCIU waiting room on the 7th floor if any of you would like to come visit. The quickest place to park would probaly be in the 4th ave. parking deck and come straight up!!! I will try to keep you all posted as the days go by. Please keep us all in your prayers! we appreciate it a lot! LOVE EVERYONE, JASMINE!!

My Doctors update

2008-09-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I hope and pray the time is almost here. Wednesday Dr. McGuire told me that he hope it will be next week for you to receive a liver. Alex asked me was I scared, I told him I am not scared but I am anxious, excited, and happy about it all, now when the call comes I will then probably be real scared, I have faith in God and I know he will take care of me and the donor's family.
It is very hard to think that someone has to die to be able to save my life, it is hard to find words to express how grateful I will be not for just now but for the rest of my life. It is an amazing thing to be a donor, I have been a donor a long time, I was a donor before I needed a transplant. IT really makes me sad, and I will have to pray I can be strong after my transplant just thinking that someone just saved my life. I have been on the list for a year and really God has blessed me somewhat of a normal life. I would not know what it would be like to not itch, the doctor told me that he did one other surgery where the person itched like me and immediately when he woke up his itching was gone, that itself makes me happy I Can't Wait. I don't know if some of you understand about the itching. Your liver filtrates the toxins out of your body and my liver isn't the toxins are getting into my skin which causes server puritus, none of the medicines worked for me. I met a man at the Liver Walk last Sat. who had PBC and I got to talk to him and it was amazing, he said his itching was so bad also but the doctor put him on rifphamin and his itching immediately stopped I wasn't that lucky I was on it and had a reaction to it, like flu like symptons and it turned me alittle jaundice so there went that idea and he wasn't even on the list yet I felt bad for him also proud for him not itching.

Thanks Mary

Saddness I feel

2008-07-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone how are you doing. I have been better. Well, Sunday I had to go AGAIN to the UAB emergency room because of my itching, while I was in the triage room the nurse was asksing me all kinds of questions like, How bad is your itching? Have you ever had any bad thoughts like injurying yourself? ( You know this itching gets so bad sometimes I just don't know what to do with myself I have never thought of suicide or injurying myself but I do feel very close to going crazy.
I feel like my life is just passing by the emergency room just gives me a adavan shot and 2 adavan pills and this has put me out of sorts for 2 days now. I slept all day on Monday and have been very drowsy today.I thought I was ok yesterday and went to get my medicinea at the pharmacy and here goes my adventure, I backed out of my driveway and went straight through the stop sign without stopping and just kept ridding on the opposite side of the road I was so thankful that no vehicles were coming I was so lucky I made it to the drugstore and back home, later I thought I was ok and took Alex to Mia's and made it ok I guess. Now the sad part is Billy said we need to talk to the doctor about me driving this episode was different because I had all that adavan in me but Billy and the kids all say that I drive somewhat like that without that medicine and just on my butorphanol. This bothers me tremendously because I am so worried don't won't to hurt anyone else and if the doctor is to say I don't need to drive until my transplant when I get off of this medicine then that is exactly what I will do but I hope he doesn't tell me that. I am so tired of being tired and dragging around and I worry about saying the wrong thing, going the wrong way, looking goofy by slurring my words while talking which is happening more often than usual, going to the mall with Billy and him saying "Mary where are you" I know this sounds kinda of funny but this is my life and it is making me feel sad everyday.
Please remember me in your prayers I go and see the the transplant doctor on the 14th of July. Mary

My upandate for Doctor

2008-06-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

I called the doctor today and they are going to do a EGD on me Junr 24th at 12:30 they will run a light down my throat and what that will do for my itching I don't know and the nurse didn't know either something has to be done because the itching just wont quit. So please remember to pray for me.They have done several transplants in the last couple of weeks and she said I was moved up but she didn't have the paper in front of her to tell me so yea me. Moving up is a plus for me.

fun day at the park

2008-04-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of my children at the park. They were suppose to be Jazz senior pictures but the white eyeliner just didn't work I must have used my medication before doing her makeup but there are several great pictures here so here are some to share.

thanks

2008-04-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Paul for my update on my blog. I tried to be creative on my own and I deleted everything that was there. So Paul saved my blogging life. Thanks everyone for coming to Alex's party last night, we had a great time and the food was great. I will post some pictures later of different activities so be patient with me. Love Mary.

events of the evening

2008-02-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

Last night my car quite running I had to have it towed. MY friend Teresa and LIndsey came to wait with me because my flashers had quit working so they parked behind me and guess what her car also quit her battery went dead so James had to come and buy her a battery I was stranded for 2 and 1/2 hours on the side of the road. I just talked to the auto shop my car is at in Graysville and my motor has died, can you believe that I was just beside myself luckily it is income tax time and it is going to cost 1750.00 to get it fixed can you believe that. I can't. I thought well what can happen next? and really things could be worse. We were stranded on 78 highway and it was raining and I got really sick there. I didn't think I was ever going to get home. I got home about 9:30. Alex is going with Teresa and James and Caleb and LIndsey to Gatlingburg for the cyc retreat I hope he has a great time he needs to get away for awhile. I won't to get away for awhile but I sorta am in a bind I cant' go anywhere. We called the police to come help and we were told that there was one police and he was working a wreck and maybe when he was finished he could come and help us. Bryant Nabors ended up coming by and blocking off the road so James could try and jump off Teresa's car which didn't work. But anyway all is well Mary

Happy Valentines Day and Anniversary

2008-02-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day. I would like to say to all the blogging world that my anniversary is on Valentine's DAy and I will be married for 21 years and it has been the best 21 years of my life and no life isn't a bed of roses but I have the best husband in the world. My husband is going through alot with me being sick and his parents being sick that I applaud him at how well he is holding up. Billy knows how to make a smile come on my face when I am not feeling well and he knows just what to say to me to make me happy. Even though life has been hard for the last 2 years with my mom having been sick and my dad acting like he doesn't have any sense and Billy never let me down not one time he stayed at home while I stayed with my mom and kept some normalcy at our house and I am so thankful for that He held my hand through the heartache of losing my mom and without him I would'nt have made it through like I did. Having a husband that is so loving and caring and considerate and so thoughtful of someone other than himself means the world to me. I love him with all my heart and I look forward to spending another 20 years or more with him. HE is my light when the tunnel is dark he is my sunshine when the sun is shinning and he is my SWEETHEART!!!!!

Doctor's update

2008-02-07T06:34:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone how are you doing. I hope you are not getting tired or bored with my same background but I do not know how to change it Help Paul. Well, the doctor told me yesterday that usually from the time you are put on the transplant list it takes 6 8 months to get a transplant March will be 6 months and May will be 8 months and he said there has been 2 other people who itch like me and immediately after the surgery the itching stops that was music to my ears that will be a blessing to me sometimes I think I need to be committed. Oh let me vent a little. My doctor called my coordinator and I heard him say "addictive Personality" I said did they say that I had a addictive perosnality? and he said the pharmacist said that and that made me real upset. The doctor just laughed and I didn't understand it and I told him that sometimes I take two puffs at a time and he said that is no big deal and I am not addictive to it. Because it is the only thing that seems to help some and I am not going to change anything but add one more bottle for you a month. After my surgery I will not need any of that medicine and I am so thankful.
Mary

Snow

2008-01-19T17:03:00.001-08:00

The picture that is at the bottom by itself I took looking outside my bathroom window the picture looks a little leerie but it is pretty. I so much enjoyed playing in the snow with Levi and Addi, the excitement on their faces was worth my hands freezing off and my nose running. Kim made us some snow cream and it was great I have pictures of Levi eating the icecream and he has the bowl up to his face and you can't see him it is really funny I will post those later. Addi is at my house now and she is up there with Zac Jazz Alex playing Monoply she has no clue but she is hangin in there with the big dogs. My cat Boots had to have some surgery on his leg and is staying inside for now until we get his staples out and addi is scared to death of him she said his leg looks scary and it really does so we have to walk her around the house if boots is near her it is so funny. Today is such a great day the snow didn't last long but the memories will last a lifetime I am like Addi this is the best day ever. I love you all and thank God I have such a wonderful family like you. Love you all Mary

2008-01-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

hello everyone I hope you enjoyed these pictures Our snowman was the best ever it took us a long time to make that wonderful snowman.Levi and addi and lila were great today. Playing in the snow with them was such a great day for me. Love you all Mary

winter still

2008-01-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

hello winter snowin

2008-01-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

Youth day at Haleyville

2008-01-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

We had the best time. There were 275 that attended and the singing was great and the classes were wonderful and the fellowship was out of this world we met a lot of new people. Here are a few pictures hope you enjoy them.

more pictures

2007-12-26T08:16:00.003-08:00

Hannah is beautiful What a great family.

Jazz got this green coat from

Zac and as you can see she is

so proud. Now I don't know

what Alex is doing in the

background.

Addi is so fun. Just look at

that smile.

Brianna and Sally and Robin

all came Christmas

morning and hung out for

a while and we enjoyed them

so much. Look at Hannah

she is just great and we all

love her so much. Look at

those pj's.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

hello everyone just look at
cuties this was real late at
night and Levi is so happy.

Now what is Christmas

without beauties, look at

Lila's eyes she is so alert.

We are sorry that Hannah

isnt' in the pic. we will take

one with her later Love you

Hannah.

They are so happy and

Levi loves his picture to

be made.

Here is my nephew

he is precious I love being

around him.

My dad just doesn't know

what to think of him. I know

dad is very proud of this

"Little Man"

Levi just loves Oranges

he ate two but as you can

see he just sucked the juice

outof all of them. He is so

much fun.

Jasmine loved her Money

tree. It really turned out

great. Jasmine's smile is what

Christmas is all about.

Now everyone just look at

the hairdo haha. He loved his

money tree also

Well the festivities are all over and I am sorta sad. lol. Everyone came over to my house and as Addi said yang yang "This is the best Pajama party ever" Addi is the best she makes you feel so special over the smallest things I fixed Macaroni and Cheese yesterday and she was so excited all she talked about was how wonderful it is and that my mac and cheese was even better than her moms lol and that my mac and cheese was famous. Levi just hung out and was the best boy all day his smile makes life great he really knows how to lighten up a room. Jasmine was coming out of her room and she was bringing Levi out and he started sorta crying and he came down the hall hollering she purshed me she purshed me (pushed) it was so funny Jasmine behind him saying no I didn't no I didn't. Now for Lila we never heard a peak from her she smiled and smiled at eveyone and it just made my heart smile she is the most content child ever. And Hannah was so cute in her pj's I got to lay down with her while she napped. I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking I would miss something with everyone in my house so I laid down with her for a while and then I just had to get up with the crowd.We went to see mawmaw and pawpaw and as I was leaving I told everyone to stay and not leave we would be right back I didn't want to come home to a "empty house " Christmas blues" Mawmaw and pawpaw seemed ok. Pawpaw seemed better than mawmaw so everyone please pray for them. When we got home they were all there and I was so happy.

Family is so important to me and ever since we have started having Breakfast at my house it means the world to me I love hanging out in my pj's and sitting around and watching "Dean and Company" with the family this is our family entertainment on Christmas if you have not watched this please plan to next Christmas. They went overboard this year, they could have left some things off.

CHRISTMAS TYME FAVORITES

2007-12-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone here are a few of my christmas time favorites.

1. Christmas Breakfast: I t hink this is our 5 year to do Christmas Breakfast at my house. Well, our breakfast started at 9:30 and the time is 10:30, give all the l ittle ones time to open Santa gifts. Now everyone brings a dish, here is a few things that I fix, grits, bisquits, gravy, peppered Bacon, regular Bacon, Hot sausages, regular sausage, eggs some with cheese and some without, one year the lights went out right before I got the eggs cooked so I got this bright idea to cook them on the grill well, we all sat down to eat (without the eggs) they finally got done after we were all full, it took forever but now it is pretty funny. I also fix a Ham for all of us for lunch/supper with all the fixins. I love it that everyone hangs out in their PJ's even the adults do it.

2. There is no right or wrong to us opening presents if you were at my house during present time you would not have a clue what's was happening, there is so much mass confusion going on people are handing out gifts everyone is talking at the same time noone is really hearing the other but someone always answers, there is paper everywhere you would think someone would pick it up, eventually we get it all up but that is part of our mass confusion the thing is we are all so happy just the way things are.

3. We all hangout and we save the best for last "WATCHING DEAN AND COMPANY" I hope everyone has seen it once when we think they can't get any funnier they top the last show. We all laugh so much. For those of you who haven't seen it here is a brief preview of it, there are ladies singing Christmas songs who are really bad singers and they think they are great so they are putting all they have into their singing. Now they have all the family children involved of all sizes and this part is a "hoot" because they have a hard time with their vocals too. I hope most of you wll tune into to watch it I will post the station later because right now I can't remember the station.

4. Christmas lights I am not that funny about my lights on the tree now Billy is another story. We have a tree down stairs that is just pretty we have all fun ornaments on it and colored lights sorta looks like a kid tree, now the tree upstairs looks like it came out of a Martha Stewart magazine I will post a picture when I get home later. The tree has purple lights all over it, and it has birds and peacock feathers sticking out all over it Billy worked hard on it I put the tree together for him and the colors has disappeared on some of the branches so I put some long branches where the short branches should be and short branches where the long branches should be but to my scare Billy loved the tree it looked so much better really full. So I will probably never be able to do that again. But it is pretty.

hello everyone

2007-12-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone today is finally Friday. I didn't think it was ever going to get here. The kids are wild and it is only going to get worse with us getting out Friday for Christmas holidays. Speaking of Christmas I am not near finished with my shopping, I am jealous of all of you who have finished your shopping, we have bought a few things but not much. I read all of your blogs about how yall only have one gift to buy and it sort of makes me sick.
I haven't even finished putting up our Christmas stuff. We have a tree in the box upstairs and the ornaments also in a box, I know Emily Sanders you are a fanatic about Christmas and you would be crazy if you had your ornaments in a box still, I was talking to Pam and she said she still hasn't finished decorating yet, that you would have a fit. So don't come to my house yet I guarantee you it will all be up before Christmas.
I haven't been feeling to well lately I went to the Doctor Wednesday and he said if I wasn't any better by next Thursday he would put me in the hospital well I am not going to go into the hospital because I know I will feel better soon, my stomach has been sick and I still can't keep any food down I am taking Zantac for it and it does seem to help some but it doesn't seem to correct the problem, so we will see how things go.
Jasmine is so excited about keeping the baby on Wednesdays Pam wanted her to keep him three days a week but we are having to check on her college right now and we aren't sure about the time frame. I want her to start in January for a few classes but we will see. Guess I will be going for now and will blog sometime on Sunday or Saturday if something new and exciting happens. Love Mary

A new aunt

2007-12-04T19:33:00.001-08:00

Pam is going to be the sweetest mom. She loves this little man and can't imagine life without him.

I am a proud aunt of Baby Aidyn Maddux Young, he weighed 7lbs 12 ounces and he was 20 1/2 inches long I think. My sister Pam had a hard time delivering but she is ok and we have a beautiful baby boy.

Look at the proud pawpaw he was so excited to have him here with us. Dad was all smiles and was the happiest I have seen him in a while.

This was right after he was born and just look how tiny he looks next to Steve's hand. I took one look at him and I just know he is going to be something else.lol. He is the sweetest little man.

What Thanksgiving is All About

2007-11-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

There is a lot to be thankful for but here lately I have taken for granted the everyday things in my life that I am thankful for. I promise I will try not to bore you to much.
1. I am so thankful for my wonderful husband I know sometimes I don't tell him how much I appreciate him but believe me IT IS A WHOLE BUNCH.
2. I am thankful for my children I have been blessed with two great kids. Even though they are teenagers they are great teenagers. I haven't had any real problems yet. I am thankful Jasmine has a boyfriend that is a member of the church for those of you who know that is a big wish for moms and dads.
3. I am thankful for my family even though it seems like they have all went crazy I am still thankful for them.
4. I am thankful for my nephew to be Pam's baby is due Friday. But he will probably be late first babies usually are.
5.I am thankful for David and Susan, they have helped us in so many ways. I am thankful for all the Thanksgivings we have been to at there house for those who have been there is so much food. This year we will be hungry because we usually eat with my family for lunch and with Pam being so pregnant she invited Dad over and said she wasn't fixing a whole lot of stuff so there goes the Brasher family Thanksgiving. Susan and David you so sweet, I know we can never repay you for all you've done but believe me I thank God every night for all of you.
6. I am thankful for the trees this year I have never seen them so beautiful.
7. I am thankful for my house a warm bed to lie down in at night, for food on my table, and the smiles on faces that I see all the time.
8.I am thankful for Kim, Paul, Addi, Levi and Lila. The holidays are going to be great we have a new addition and she is wonderful. Kim thanks for all you do for my children they love and look up to you and Paul and they love the kids so much and so do we. You have a great a and beautiful family and we are thankful to be a part of it.
9. I know sometimes I tend to forget to be thankful for my friends especially my church ones. I love and care for all of them.
10. I am thankful for all the prayers and cards that have went out on my behalf.. I know God will take care of me because I have so many christians praying for me and this I am most appreciative for, thank you all very much.
I could go on forever because there is so much to be thankful for.

I have started my new medicine and it seems to help some with the itching but let me tell you it put me in a world of my own. I am going to continue to try it but if it continues to put me in my own world I don't know if it is worth it or not even though the itching is soooo baddd. I love you all and Happy Thanksgiving.

hello

2007-11-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

well tonight the doctor called me while we were out to eat with Susan for her birthday when the phone rang I didn't recognize the number so I called it back and it Dr. McGuire which scared me to death all in all I am tough but I still get scared when the call does come. But he was calling me back from 4 days ago (better late than never) he called me in a new drug called Butorphanol this drug is a narcotic it is a pain medicine that is distrubited through the nasal cavaties. It is used to treat moderate to severe pain that occurs after an operation. This medicine acts in the CNS Central Nervous System. It treats people with migraines also.

Side effects- If You Have Liver Disease Contact Your Doctor. I thought here we go again everything effects the liver also side effects are difficult in breathing, fever, nosebleeds, ringing in the ears, runny nose, sneezing and sore throat.

Common side effects are confusion, dizzziness, dry mouth, difficult or painful breathing, fainting, hallucinations and guess what it can cause ITCHING can you believe this This is the last try before he hung up he said "I hope we find you a suitable donor real soon" I do agree with him there. I am going to try this new medicine we will see how it works. Love you all Mary

2007-11-16T18:56:00.000-08:00

Levi is having a great time at Hannah's b'day party. this may not post right but here is an update.

the big kids had a great time playing with the little ones. This is a late post I know but better late than never. there is more coming.

20 Most Memorable Childhood Memories

2007-10-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about this childhood memory thing Susan started, It took me a while but I finally sat down and did it. At first I thought I can't do this because my memory isn't like it use to be. But as I got started the memories started flowing doing this made me smile, and cry at the same time.

1. I remember when my brother William and I just could not wait for Fridays to get here so we could sleep in the living room and stay up all night and play rummy, I would beat him every time of course.

2. Actually this one is an adult memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Even though at the time I could not believe I was doing it (Bevill Pagaent). I remember my mom coming up to me afterwards and had the biggest smile on her face and she looked at me and said "I knew you had it" I just laughed because a mom no matter what thinks their child in my case adult is BEAUTIFUL! Her smile will forever be inbedded in my heart it was priceless.

3. When my brother and I would make my dad mad he would send us to our room and we knew what was coming we would be so upset that when he opened the door with his belt in his hand both of us would just start running around and around screaming and hollering and he would just stand there until we stopped and then we would get the ABUSIVE spanking. lol.

4. One crazy childhood memory is this ( I know you will all think I am crazy, but it is ok). When we lived in Mulga my brother and I would wake up screaming and hollering everynight because we would see things. One night we both woke up and to our amazement we saw monkeys all of the room not only did I see this my brother did to. haha. My mom and dad would run into the room and turn on the light and nothing would be there. Another night we both woke up to our amazement seeing Indians on the back of our headboard with guns that sent us to a screaming halt again mom and dad came in and saved the world for us. The only night we didn't see anything was Christmas Eve, and this is because we had a silver Christmas Tree and we had one of those color lamps that turned on and it stayed on all night so see I know you all think this is nuts and in a way I do to now but not at the time. ha.

5. When I was young my name was Wilma Dean after my grandmother, I was called Wimpy for years at least till I was 6. When my mom and dad went to register me for school somehow there was confusion mom wanted to call me Mary and dad Wilma and they had put Mary on the certificate and that is when they realized they had been calling me by the wrong name, I am glad because I can't stand the thought of going through roll call at school by Wilma. That would have been torture.

6. I remember not EVER having a birthday party. Don't get me wrong I did not feel deprived because I did get something more extreme than a present. When I would wake up mom and dad would be sitting at the kitchen table drinking their Coffee and the first thing out of their mouth would be Happy Birthday I Love You! and that was all I needed. When I got married I had to get use to having birthday parties. After I was married mom and dad would bring me an angel for my birthday, I have a nice assortment of them now and I would not take anything for them. The thing I miss the most is my mom's sweet smile and my dad's also.

7. When my brother and I would fuss/fight my dad would tell us to go sit on the couch and make us put our arm around each other. He would say if you even look at each other crooked 5 more minutes would be added to our time and of course we had minutes added. We both just knew my dad must have called people over when we had to do this because so many people would come in and out and we would be so embarassed.

8.My first car was this huge Gray Big something. But my parents bought it for me and it couldn't have cost to much. I was proud of it until I had a wreck and never drove it again.

9. I loved going to the grocery store with my mom on Fridays. I would always get a little something.

10. I got a nice Easter dress one time and while we were at church I had gum in my mouth and I started playing with it and I had gun in my hair, all of the bench and all over my dress I did not get to wear that dress again.I couldn't have gum anymore.

11. A fond Childhood memory is watching All My Children with my mom and when Laura died for the 3rd time we both was crying like little babies and we would always say we're not watching this anymore which meant until tomorrow.

12. I loved eating Fried Potatoe sandwiches with my mom and cream potatoes sandwiches with her also.

13. My sister Pam got mad at me one night and left the room and was very quiet and I knew something was up but what happened next was unexpected she came up behind me as I was sitting in my chair and she hit me in the head hard with a High Heel Shoe and I seen stars for a while, but that was ok because I got her back later I was brushing her long pretty blonde hair and got the brush all wound up to her scalp and mom had to work for hours to get that brush out. Go Me.

14. Pam was getting ready to go to the prom and as we were all standing in her room the floor fell in it fell off of the blocks it was sitting on. We thought an earthquake had came through.

15. William and I had to go to Food Center in Wylam on a bike and yes we were both on the bike I rode on the handlebars and he was on the seat. We made it there fine but on the way home was a different story. As we were coming down the hill almost home most people would ride on the sidewalk but no we were on the side of the road William was taking directions from me on the handlebars and I directions were alittle off we hit a car and I was knocked off and laying on the road and William was standing there saying "Get Up" "Get UP" and i am saying no I can't and what comes along but a Policeman I had to ride home with the policeman and William was told to take that bike right home. Well, my dad was mad at me because he said I cost him 35 dollars to fix a little scratch on that womans car.

16. When we lived in Mulga we had a swing set that wasn't cemented in and mom said do not go high but no I didn't listen I went real high and the swing fell over leaving William with a real deep cut in his head the dr. said if it would have been 1/2 inch deeper it would have killed him, I got out without a scratch yea me.

17. I remember that we always sat at the table and ate every meal. We even put the cooked food in bowls and put them on the table not like me I leave the cooked food on the table and we fix our plate at the stove and then sit whereever.

18. My mom and I went on a diet and the diet consists of a 1/2 cup of everything we fixed and the funny thing is we would fix a lot of veg. and when we sat down to eat our plate was loaded girls it is the best diet to go on needless to say we didn't loose any weight.

19. At Halloween we would stay out real late and go trick or treating to people's houses we didn't even know we would get garbage bags full of candy we could eat on it for years. ahas.

20. On one Sat I pushed a lawn mower down Wylam to see if this lady would let me cut her grass so I could buy my mom something for Mother's day present and this lady let me cut her grass and paid me 5 dollars and I went to the florist in Wylam and bought my mom a single red rose and it put a smile on her face it was all worth it.

Yea Lila is here!

2007-10-12T08:01:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone how are you doing? I didn't get to go to the hospital this morning because I have no days but Billy and Jasmine went and they called me every 5 minutes and gave me an update. They said Lila is beautiful and has a lot of hair and is everyone ready (IT'S RED) I have an appointment at 2 and Alex is coming to get me and afterwards we are going straight to see Lila. I can't believe that she is here time flew I think but Kim probably thinks time didn't fly to fast for her. Jasmine said someone asked Addi if she wanted to go to McDonalds with them this morning and Addi said NO can you believe that, she is so excited and so is Levi. Congradulations Kim and Paul on your new Arrival yall are the best parents and have the best children. I will see all of you real soon. Love yall and I am glad that everything went good. Kim remember to use that Morphine pump. Mary

Liver

2007-09-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

hello everyone how are you doing? I am ok. Well, if you have read Susans blog you already know that I am on the "list". It was very upsetting because I had to go through several Psychariatis ( I know I did not spell that right) I had to do a series of tasks like work with blocks and draw a picture and the lady would call out like 20 words and ask me to recite them back to her in ORDER and I could only do a few. Then she said numbers some short and some really long and after a while she said for me to recite the numbers to her backwards and I just could not do it several tasks she asked me to do I couldn't do I felt horrible, I was beginning to think that I was loosing it and all I did was cry and I said "I just can't do this, what is wrong with me?" she proceeded to tell me that the liver puts out toxins in the body and if it isn't working right the simple tasks like these you just can't do" I had been worried about my memory because there are times that I can't remember directions ones that I travel often and I would have to ask "how do I get there" Now it all made a little bit more since to me. I guess I try to think there is nothing wrong with my liver but there really is. I called my coordinator yesterday and asked her was there any medicine I can possibly take for my itching and she informed me that there was nothing, she said she went to a conference this weekend and took my file and there is nothing they havent' tried on me and that is why I am on the "List" So pray it will come soon or I will loose my memory because of all this itching. Mary

hello bloggers

2007-09-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone I have finally took the time to blog again I have missed blogging, I have been reading everyone else's though. I finally finished taking all of my test for my liver. I called yesterday to see if I could do anything for my itching knowing better and the nurse told me "well not really" and that just because I am finished with all the testing doesn't mean I will get a Liver now I told her I know that she said it could be 6 months not very long or 1 year which is still not very long or it could be sooner which she told me nothing I did not already know.
Our new Librarian laid her sweater down on a table today and we had some classes come in to watch a movie and when she was fixing to leave her sweater was gone and boy was she angry, she said I can't believe someone would take my stuff I said "Hey you are working with children here" I found her sweater in the lost and found in the office and she was so happy. I will type later

How was my Friday

2007-08-31T07:24:00.001-07:00

Well we just had a fire drill and I did know where to go for this drill now yesterday when we did the Tornado Drill I was running all over the place because now that I am in the Library I wasn't sure where to go Dr. Maye informed me that I would go to the back of the Library now how convience is that since I was all over the building yesterday it is good to know I will be able to get out of the building when there is a fire and its not good to know that I would have gotten blown away during the tornado trying to get somewhere but I am ready now and my children and I will all be safe during the fire and tornado drill. I am so glad that it is Friday this has been a very long week I am so glad to be off Monday there is advantages to working in the school system off days. I am very upset that they took away all of our October days now we have none no break at all.
Alex is ready for the Auburn season. He got up this morning and put on his auburn jersey and auburn sandals and off to school he goes. He is excited about going to the ball game tomorrow, Daniel is taking him.
Saturday dad my sister and I are going to Gadsden to go and see my aunt and uncle there they have a baby gift for my sister and then Pam and my aunt and I are going to go to the Penny's outlet to shop some. Sometimes they have a lot and sometimes they have not much of anything I hope now that we have a baby to buy for we will find several things. My sister is having a baby boy in November and his name is Aidyn Maddux Young we are all so excited about him arriving I have bought him so many different things already, and so has she and my dad has had a great time buying for him. He has went and bought him clothes and a pack and play and a walker and several other outfits, this has been and uplifting occassion for him and he has had a great time buying for him.

Ok here is the newest update on My Liver

2007-08-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

I went yesterday to get my port out and my thinking was if you put me to sleep to put it in then why not put me to sleep to take it out, but this is to simple, no sleep medicine for me he just snips the sutures and says here we go and I just hold my breath and he pulls it out well, it wasn't as bad as I thought I took it like a man lol. I was very glad to get the port out it was in my way.

Ok everyone here is what is going on with me. Since the Plasma Pheresis did not work ( this was the last thing they would try) they sat us down and had a nice talk with Billy and myself. He said he wanted the transplant ASAP. I will have to go through numerous tests like EKG and lots of blood work and also see a Physciarist ( My brother in law David Courington told me that is not a bad thing I need one of them he was joking of course but it did get a laugh out of me).

My only problem with this transplant is that someone has to pass away for me to get this transplant, I know that this person has a loved one that loves him/her and that hurt is so deep. I still hurt everyday missing my mom and I find it hard to accept that someone has to pass to help me. I do understand that the person is passing anyway but it still doesnt help the fact that someones family just lost a loved one and my heart will hurt for that family even though I will not know them.

The doctor took me off of all of my medicine because it isn't working so why take it, I don't have to see any doctors anymore until the day of my transplant yes I have to have test but I don't have to see the doctor before them because I already have and they ordered the tests. I will have to have an EKG and lots of blood work and after all of this the doctors will meet on Tuesday and discuss my situation and send me a letter to let me know what is going on.

Dr. Bynon is one of the best transplant doctors at UAB and he will be doing the surgery the surgery will last 4 hours not very long and the only thing my family has a problem with is that they will keep me asleep for 2 days after the surgery because some people panic with the respirator and if that happens the tubes could shift and that could puncture the Liver and that's not a good thing. The only thing I ask of anyone that comes to visit me while I sleep is to not talk to me till I can talk back I can't stand the thought of not being able to talk to my freinds. haha. After that I will be moved to the transplant floor for 10 to 14 days or longer and then go home. I will have to be on rejections medication for the rest of my life and on autoimmune medicines for about 4 months and then will be weened off like a baby being weened off a bottle. the only concern with these medications is that some people become a diabetic, I don't eat many sweets anyway.

All of the fatalities are very low like in the one percent and 5 percent so Dr. Bynon says there is no reason I won't swing back in a hurry and get back to a healthy life, it will slow me down some. I will be off work for about 2 months he said maybe I could go back half a week in a month but that depends on the person.

I will have to be where I can just up and go whenever they call me like 45 minutes time frame, they can hold a donor for about that long to an hour this is prep time an all so it will be a quick when it happens and really no preparations.

I want all of you to know I don't want you to worry about me I am fine with this information and situation because I know God is in control and will be with me every step of the way. I can't wait to wake up and NO ITCHING!!!! that will make it worth it all to me so be very excited for me and one more just make sure my family will be ok for those 2 days I am asleep take care of my son and daughter and husband I know they can take care of themselves but I worry about them seeing me and I can't talk to them and tell them I am ok so everyone just tell them for me.

Most of you know Sally Hyche, she is freaking out over this whole thing, she will probably need coached through all of this too but she will be ok. lol.

I love all of you and don't worry I will be great and can't wait to get this new part of my life started.. Love Mary

Hello bloggers its me finally

2007-08-17T13:23:00.001-07:00

Well everyone I am working and working hard. Yesterday when I got home I was so tired that it took me 4 hours to cook and while everything was cooking I was laying my head on the table. We have been doing textbooks for the last 3 days and man is this a tiring job I have never been so tired in my entire life. I cooked went straight to the couch and laid down and Alex was so worried about me because I was also crying because I had been picking up the textbooks all day and had my port hurting real bad, so I decided to go on to bed and wait till Jasmine came home and eat with her later about 8 and I did get up and I felt alittle better I ate and went straight back to bed. Tonight is the youth devotion and I am not really sure what time I am suppose to be at church to escort the children to the park but I think it is 5:30 so if we are late oh well we will get there youth. I can't believe that it is Friday this has also been the fastest week of my life.

American Idol here they come

2007-08-12T19:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone it has been so funny at my house tonight. It is 9:40 pm and Alex decides he is gonna get his attire together he wants to be different well, everything he tried on wasn't different but looked good on him of course he is mine and I am prejudice. He put on a brown sports coat with a nice casual shirt on under and had on jeans looked good until we noticed the hair it was a bit much he had it poofed out and you couldn't even see his eyes really funny looking to me. Well, Joey isn't coming home till about 8:30 tomorrow night Billy, Joey and Alex are going to leave at 1 in the morning to get there by 3 hopefully so they can get in line. I am looking forward to this starting and being over with everyone remember teen patrol lol. He still won't sing for us but hey thats ok I don't want to hear him anyway just kiddin he has practiced some and I have accidently listened to him and he sounded great. I think he got that voice from me his mom just kiddin, Alex plan is this he is planning to stay up all night tonight even though he has school tomorrow so when he gets out of school he will go to sleep and sleep till time to leave yea right, does anyone need him to do some work for them tomorrow afternoon lol. I am excited for both of them and lets remember them in your prayers as they are going to be traveling late. I told Alex if he doesn't make it real far I would make sure when he got home I would start his singing lessons he just laughed. I am going to get him lessons so anyone out there know where I can get someone to give him lessons let me know, those of you who live in the area.

I go to get my 2nd treatment tomorrow at 1 and it will last till 3:45 or a little longer this time. The treatment is called a Plasmapheresis and what this machine does is takes out your blood and purifies it it pulls out all of the impurities in your system I do have high hopes that this might work the one treatment I can't seem to tell a difference at all, the nurses said this normally doesn't work but it is worth a try. If this doesn't work the plan will be to go ahead and be evaluated for a Liver Transplant which I hope to get in May if we can hold off that long. The doctor said it isn't that my liver has worsened but the symptoms have now does that make any since not to me, but not much of any of this makes since to me I am just going through the motions with the attitude that God will take care of me and I know he will.

Update on Liver

2007-08-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today have been very tiring for me. I got to UAB yesterday morning at 5:30 and about 7 they did the procedure I didn't feel anything because they put me to sleep but let me tell you afterwards this thing hurts. It looks like I have and input and output tube hanging out of my shoulder like you could hook me up to the tv and start playing a game. Last night I was so uncomfortable this things hurts even just to breathe but it is going to be ok. Well, today I left work at 12 and had to be at UAB at 1 Dad took me thank goodness. The treatment lasted 2andhalf hours and I did fine until she was unhooking the machine from my catherer and I got to feeling nauseated so on the way home my dad was so nervous because I said dad please pull over and we were in adamsville he pulls over right in front of this hardware store where people are still working and I said dad I can't throw up here go on down the road some so he just had to stop and when I got home I was still sick they said it was because they ran the last blood in too fast but not really normally they run the blood back at 50 for heavier people she said and she forgot to turn it back for me and they think that is what made me so sick or we hope. I will be going next Mon, Wed, Fri, and the next Mon. That will be a total of 5 treatments if there is no difference then we will have a consult for the transplant. Right now I am still itching.

Yea Me

2007-08-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I go to see Dr. Bynon tomorrow at 1, this is the actual Liver Transplant dr who will do my new procedure it got all approved thanks to Pat Gill. Here's what happened yesterday I called Kirkland and ask Dr. McGuire's nurse about the procedure and she was very ugly to me and ask me to call the insurance co and see if this central line would be covered so here I go of course I could not do it because they needed codes which only the nurses and dr. have, so I went to work and left at 10 nothing for me to do and headed to the hospital when I got there of course there was no Dr. and the nurse was gone so for some reason I headed out to visit Pat Gill (Tina's mom) and told her the situation and she got me to the right person the social director. I explained to this lady how ugly the nurse had been to me and even had the nerve to ask me to do her job which I was willing to do. So today to make a long story short McGuire's nurse was on the ball, Dr. Bynon nurse called today and I go have blood work at 12 and a chest xray afterwards and then I will have a consult with the new dr. They will go and put the central line in they think on Thursday and hopefully she said we could have the procedure done on Fri. She said I could have as many as 5 treatments a week until hopefully we get the itching under control. There is light at the end of my tunnel and I am so thankful. yea me. Thanks Pat

My house guest left me

2007-08-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well, Kim and the kids came and stayed some nights with me and when they left on Friday I felt lonely I felt like I had family leaving to go back somewhere that lived far off. Levi brought alot of life into our house he is the sweetest boy and I miss my bed buddy. When it was time for bed him and I would go to Alex room and I would turn off the light and away into sleepy time we went. Addi did her own little thing she is also a light to the world God blessed us with such sweet cousins and we are so thankful to have them in our lives. I really enjoyed being with Levi I learned that he doesn't like WAl-Mart, neither do I sometimes he just threw a fit like I have wanted to do several times while waiting in a line at night where 2 registers are open and 40 people in line so "Go Levi" lol. The floor does look great and I am proud of yall keep up the great work.

My new Liver update.

2007-08-03T16:42:00.001-07:00

Today I was itching to no ends well that is no news to those who know me. Dr. McGuire called me today and informed me that when he gets this procedure approved through the insurance co. which will be next week he hopes I can get it. Yea me. The procedure is a catherer and it will have tubes that run to different veins and I will have to go either 1 time or 2 times a month to have the medicine put in, he said it is like Dialysis but the medicine is different. I will not be sick from this but the itching should STOP! At this point I didn't care what he did as long as he did something. He said that this is the only next step. The other medicine will progress the liver tremendously. He said he will do blood tests next week and check the liver progression and see if there is a big change in my points hopefully not he said but if so we will go from there. This procedure is a one day procedure and I will get a dose of the medicine while I am there. Yes all of this is very nerve wrecking but I know that this doctor is the best and he will only do what is in my best interest, and plus God is on my side and he will definitely take care of me. The Insurance has to approve this procedure to make sure it is needed yea like someone would want to just have this procedure for fun. This is my new medical update that I know all of you are so interested in. haha I hope to get it done soon. He said maybe next week. Mary

Glencoe Back To School Rally

2007-07-29T19:34:00.001-07:00

Hey look at Mandi and Hannah Mandi helped take care of the little ones in the nursery she is great. The BTS was great it was such a uplifting trip. Oh the food was great to.

Levi was the best little man ever. As you see Mandi is the best with children and she will make a great mother one day Oh I can't leave out Daniel making a great father one day.

This is fun, I am so proud of our youth they learned so much and love being with each other. Just look at cheesy Alex.

Now he got a lot out of the speaker. Really he did not sleep the whole time. Just most of it. We kept trying to poke him but he was to far gone by this point.

Of course I had to get everyone by the sign with the shirts that Glencoe gave out to everyone.

This is the handsome fellows of Sylvan Springs Church of Christ. Guys will be guys to get them to pose was a job, they complained "it is so hot hurry" you just don't tell a photographer to hurry. just kidding.

I know everyone thinks ok what is with the sign well those of you who do "SCRAPBOOK" understand these pictures. Hey Tina I will try and make you a CD. I took some with Syd. camera but not much. Keeping the youth involved with other churches not only is uplifting spiritually but they meet lasting friendships. I just noticed Glencoe doesn't have their name on their sign what's up?

Youth Devo Pic.

2007-07-29T07:05:00.001-07:00

Here is just a sample of the night of our devo. We are all in our den and singing. As you can see Levi is the sweetest little man ever. We counted 39 people at our house. It was great.

Look what a g reat first time mom they are both the happiest ever. I am so proud of Katie and Josh. Hannah is the funniest child ever. Thank goodness she loves her picture being made, because when I wear everyone else out with pictures I can always go to Hannah. She will smile at every picture you take of her.

We were all shooting the breeze before we had our devo. We had just ate and boy was the food great, for some reason the tocas tasted better than ever. Look at Jarod see he is a problem getting his picture made so I went straight to Hannah bug. There will be more pictures to come. Thanks to everyone who participated especially Paul our speaker and Alex who lead the songs.

Youth Devo Night.

2007-07-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone that I haven't posted but I have been busy here lately. I am looking forward to all of you coming to my house tonight, anytime we have a gathering at our house it is a special moment I love being with all of you and so does my family. Here is the way my day has been so far. I think I burned my stove up just the front eye I hope, I guess I was cooking to much Hamburger meat for the tocas. I went to Parrish this morning to get the meat because Sons grocery store had the beef on sale. My friend James Kitchen is the butcher there and he is my personal shopper, he will call me whenever they have a big sale. Today I got 10 family packs of ground beef and 20 boneless breast of chicken for 45.00 wow what a buy. I love having a personal shopper. I picked up the meat and headed to the shop to get Billys mom and she was ready to go to the nursing home so out we go, I take her to Sonic and then to the Nursing Home. Pawpaw seemed to be doing great, he told mawmaw how pretty she looked and that her hair looked good and he liked her shirt, that was just today tomorrow can be a completely different story. So I finally get home and start cutting tomatoes, and cooking meat, yes everyone I finished cooking all the meat and it will be ready when yall get here. I still got the onions to go so if my mascara is running down my face when yall get here just understand lol. All the preparation is worth it and I look forward for the night, I will post pictures of the devo later see ay soon. Mary

Being 40 Is Great

2007-07-21T21:00:00.001-07:00

Look how the Bakery spelled my name (Publix) Marry, now I think this person needs to take some spelling classes. The cake was beautiful and was very fresh. The party was a blast and I want to thank all of you for helping with my party, each and everyone of you made this a very special birthday party.

Just look at these decorations. I just love this. I took lots of pictures here. For some reason I was very nervous tonight I know some of you will find this hard to believe but I do not like to be the center of atttention. Now those of you who know me will probable be laughing right now because of this last statement but it is the truth. ha.

Look at my new style. Phyllis got me this and the shoes are great. I love Phyllis she is always so uplifting and fun to be around, she is smiling all of the time. Thanks Phyllis.

Look at my cute little family. Billy had gotten most people to dress old for my party for fun and as you see they did. My daughter seems to think when you get old you will have black under your eyes and wrinkles on your forehead she had put black eyeshadow on her face. Just tell me who looks the best here? Me, Me Me.

Addi was the cutest thing she had on a old dress and had sprayed gray in her hair, she wore a hat and had on glasses that hung on her nose, she was so proud and I am so proud of her. Addi is so special to me I will always be here for her so she can make our life fun and never boring. She always makes us happy.

Hey look at this goodlooking guy, Levi He has the most sweetest smile ever. I love being around Levi even though I am not around him that much I love him with all my heart and I would do anything for him, he makes me feel good the way when he sees you he runs to you and makes you feel so special like your the only one in the world right then. I love you Levi. You make life fun.

Look at this handsome guy, Alex makes a cute old man. Alex brings such joy and fun in whatever he does. He is the best son ever. I am proud of my baby ha just look at him bloggers I know yall are all proud of him to, everyone needs a son like him. hahahah. I love the old man look. Thanks for everything Alex.

I do not know what is going on in this picture, as you can see Alex is acting and I am trying not to act. For some reason I was the only one who looked young at my party. Now I felt great. Girls a little advice when you turn 40 have everyone dress old and you will feel very pretty and young.lol.

Just look at Daniel doesnt he look OOLLLDDD! This was fun fun fun. We had lots of food and everyone had the best time just being with each other that is the best part. The gifts to me are not that important to me the most important is being with my friends, church friends they make me happy and make me feel great, friends like them never send to astray especially the ones I hang with they will do anything for anyone and that is the way christians should be. Thanks Daniel and Mandi. Love you Mary.

Jusl look at my daughter who thinks old people should have dark eyes and wrinkles on the forehead and rollers in your hair, I have never wore rollers like that in my head. She also wore her pink gown for who knows where. Jasmine makes my life fun my children are the greatest but all people think their children are the best. I am proud of her for working hard and helping pay for her car that doesn't run half of the time and when it is running , you can walk faster than it goes. She is a g reat Christian Girl which is the most important of anything.

Now this is a goodlooking group of OLD MEN even the young men look old just look at Joey right next to me with the shorts on and all bent over, this is the greatest, thank you all for dressing up and making me look great. I had the best time. Everyone this is my church family see you can have lots of fun being with your christian family or at least I do. Thank all of you for this.

now people you know I would have to have the women I think the women make prettier old people than the men at least we are not bent over except for Amy in the blue moomoo. I don't know what I was doing in this picture I guess by this time I was tired of pictures. Thanks again ladies for making me look beautiful.lololol. This is one special group of friends thanks for all you do for me mentally and physically. Yall have seen me when I am down and helped pick me up and seen me when I was sad and helped me laugh you are all the best friends ever.

I have the best husband and family and friends ever. Billy didn't decorate in all black he did it in purple and green and blue and it was great. When I was young I didn't have a birthday party ever but you know what I didn't feel deprived, my mom and dad always told me happy birthday and I love you and that was always enough for me I always felt special, yes I love the gifts but that isn't everything. What means the most to me is God, don't know what I would do. My husband and friends worked hard to pull off my party and I appreciate it so much, there were many more at my party that I didn't post their picture I just want you to know how grateful I am for all the nice gifts and food, and for taking the time to decorate thanks to Billy and Addi. They worked hard on the decorations. Addi did a great job keeping everything a secret, I tried to drill her and she shut down on me and would not say a word she was not going to ruin any surprises. Thanks to everyone. Mary

Life as it is today.

2007-07-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

Today is a sad day, because of the Nabors family and the Yeilding family. I just want all of you to know that I am here praying for you all and you will not only be in my thoughts today but days to come. Losing someone you love so much is such a loss, it changes your life in a lot of ways but when that person is a christian it does make it easier for you. This isn't about me but I hope this will help those who have lost loved ones some. I lost my mom which was my best friend, we spent so much time together especially at the end of her life, my mom was a great christian person brought all of us up in the church and taught us right from wrong, the night she passed was not only the saddest day of my life but it was also the happiest. I know when my mom left she was already in heaven with her loved ones. The persons I called were my church family they were there in no time, I do not know what I would have done without my church family. I think my mom had the most beautiful funeral ever. There was no question about it I had to have the church sing, the singing was out of this world, it was so nice knowing that this was a special moment because everything that was said was so true about her. The only thing that helps me get out of bed everyday is I KNOW THAT I WILL SEE HER ONE DAY AND IT WILL BE THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE.Death is not really a sad day it is a day to be thankful for because there is nothing like knowing your loved one is in heaven. I Love you all and I hope to do more for my church family and others.

My sister is the best sister ever.

2007-07-18T20:38:00.001-07:00

I have the best sister in the whole world, her name is Pam and I love her so much. We have always been very close to each other and got even closer when our mom was very ill. We laughed together and cried together. My sister is fun because when we were children she let me put a hot roller to her nose and yes it did put a huge blister on the tip of her nose, I laughed and still laugh occasionally. But she did get me back years later heres how when we lived in Woodlawn she came up behind me and hit me in the head (hard) with a high heel shoe and she still laughs about that, I did eventually laugh after the pain subsided. Also one day our mom was taking me to school and I didn't shut the door good and when mom took off she looked back and guess what she saw Pam holding onto the backdoor, with the door wide open and she was hollering for her dear life, it is funny now but then it scared mom to death of course I didn't know about it till after school so i thought it was another funny moment.
I am so proud of her, I am excited about my nephew coming in November. Leroy (haha) will have the best mom ever, I am there for her and my nephew to come. Pam you are never alone I am here for you. Thanks for looking at my blog, keep watching because pictures of you might pop up soon.

Addi with her Super Cape

2007-07-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Billy made her a super cape and her bear had to have one to. They both have super power. Addi is sitting here at my house watching Americas got talent and when George Bush came on she just burst out into the funniest laugh we had ever heard. She is so full of life and lots of fun, fun, fun.

My wedding Pictures been married 20years

2007-07-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am sorry that some of the photos are blurry. But i got an idea from another blogger that she took pictures of a picture so I thought "I am going to do that. Just look at the Couringtons they are all so cute, the children are all grown up now and married and some have kids of their own.

This is a pretty clear picture of me and my dad, he was so sweet he had just told me "you know you don't have to do this" He was just kidding because he loves Billy he was just being silly.

This picture is so special to me, this is my mom and dad I love them so much. I miss my mom so much and think of her everyday. She was beautiful inside and out. Sorry this picture is blurry, but I just had to put it on my page.

This is my wedding party if you look close you will see Kim,Robin and Pam and David the little boy in the shorts is Josh he hated the shorts at the wedding he didn't want to wear them at all. There is David my brother by Kim.

I love this picture I got everyone in the picture, I am getting a hug from my mom and my dad is in the background just looking at how sweet. I wish I could freeze this moment, they are always so proud of me and love me so much. I had the best mom ever and she will never be forgotten.

hope you feel better

2007-07-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

I just found out that Pam had Gallbladder surgery. I am praying for her to get well soon. You know we never know where we will be one minute to the next. Here's a little advice live each and every day as it is your last. By the way everyone we found one more puppy today so instead of 4 we have 5 and we are still missing one she originally had 6. Yea us.

Crazy

2007-07-16T17:20:00.001-07:00

Ok I just checked it again and what I did earlier worked, Boy this blogging is confusing but I am learning.

Lost It

2007-07-16T17:18:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone I was viewing my blog and I noticed that I had posted the many faces of Alex twice, but the funny thing is I don't know how to delete one of them, so suffer through the pictures of Alex. Paul if you can help me just delete one of them for me. Thank you so much, it is real nice having an emergency blog person to call for help. Mary

new addition to our family

2007-07-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone look what we have. They were born 3 days ago. and the funny thing about this is we didn't even know she was pregnant until the day before she had them. Yes, we do see our dog everyday. Alex feeds Cocoa (the mommy) and takes her for walks. The mommy is part great Pyrenese and I don't know what the other part is, the daddy is full Pyrenese and he is huge he is solid white. I don't think the puppies will be as big as the daddy her first litter the puppy was not very big about as big as the mommy.

The below picture is of the mommy, she is kid friendly and loves to play.

Just look how cute these are. There are 4 here and guess what we cannot find the other two. Alex and I have looked for about 1 hour and still cannot find them. It is a puzzle, we have looked everywhere for them and they are no where to be found. We will be giving these puppies away when they get older, If you want one you will find me at Adamsville Walmart the place where you can give away anything. I kept one of the first litter and I can't keep one of these.

Many faces of Alex

2007-07-16T16:19:00.001-07:00

Alex and his freind Justin they are just in the car entertaining themselves

There is never a dull moment in my household or car. We have so many laughs together. I love my children and husband. Everyone remember to laugh with your children teenagers preteens, just enjoy them they will be gone before you know it. I am dreading it I will miss them so much.

Addi and Levi and Kim

2007-07-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

This has been several years ago but I thought hey I don't have any pictures of Levi I have got to do better and get some recent pictures of him. I love him so much he is precious. and full of energy this is a very rare moment for him to tucker out like this he was wore out.

Addi and Levi are playing hide and seek with jazz and alex.

Hey here I am come find me. He was so proud of himself for hiding really good. He loved going in the same spot every time. This is at mawmaw and pawpaws house it was either father's day or mother's day I am not sure, I am sure it was one of them.

Addi the Athelete

2007-07-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

Addi is the funniest girl ever. Just look at who wouldn't be happy to be around her. She has the best personality. She was great at soccer and all other sports.

Pams housewarming party

2007-07-16T13:38:00.001-07:00

Here is Pam, we are so excited for her and her new residence. Pam is a hard worker and is always giving of herself. She is always smiling and happy. We wish you lots of happiness and hope to soon have a party at your house with lots of food and fun. I want to sit in the chairs and at the table outside and enjoy your beautiful backyard.

She got 2 of these what a nice gift.

Pam was so slow at opening her presents that we found someone to help her, they had a hard time pulling this present out of the bag, after a few minutes the present was out of the bag.

This is Pam's brother in law and he also thought she was going a little to slow so he gets up and grabs the tissue paper and acts like he is helping her through this. Jarod is so funny he loves to aggraviate Pam and anyone who gets in his way.

Youth just hanging out at the lock in

2007-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Just look how happy they are. Steven is just give out and it isn't real late yet.Everyone else is just so happy to be there and happy to be staying up all night. Now let me ask those of you who are reading this, "What do they get out of staying up all night?" I just don't get it I guess it is a young thing. Just look at Sydney and Alex how happy they look and I was thinking what is wrong with them it is to late to look this happy. They have been friends all their life and I hope they continue to be friends forever. My friends church friends are their best friends. They always have such a fun time together. Glad your back Sydney, you know what i am talking about. haha

Sydney is just like her mom special Tina just look at her face. I wish I could help you Sydney but at this point you are beyond help. Bless Rachel's heart look at that forced smile and poor Steven isn't even acting happy, but everyone Steven was fun and happy the whole night. Go teenagers. I love you all. Thanks for keeping me sooo young. Anymore lock ins and I might be to old to participate I do need my beauty sleep ya know. haha.

The sleepy heads of the lock in

2007-07-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Addi gave it up about 4:30 and she played hard the whole time. She never stopped at the park. She played Hide n seek with the big kids. Laurel was the next to drop out into a dream land she also played real hard. Thanks to all of the big kids who included the small ones.

This is Noah, he did not want to give it up but he could not control his eyelids. Now this kid is funny.

Tina section Go Tina

2007-07-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Look at you Tina in the background of this picture. You just think Daniel is sooo funny. I really wasn't trying to get Daniel because I wanted the many faces of Tina mommy of 2

I just love this picture you are so sweet and happy. I just love it when you get beside yourself.ha.I know you don't get out often. We only let you out occasionaly.

Oh how special. Tina I did not know you photographed so well, look at you. You Go Girl. Thanks for staying as long as you did at the lock in. You are a very special friend. Hope Bayley is still doing great.

Our Lock In at church Friday night.

2007-07-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Let me start by saying sorry I did not post yesterday, believe me it bothered me, but I was so tired from staying up all night that I had to get some sleep. I slept till 2 and then got up and out we went. Well, as you can see here is Hannah with her granna and gramps, she was actually laughing out loud, she was the fun of the singing. We were all sing silly church songs and this is how she participated. She is a beautiful girl. I will tell you I took lots of pictures of her because she loves getting her picture took, she will laugh in every picture.

Here is Addi and Laurel at the lock-in well, actually I don't know why we call it a lock-in because we never locked the doors. Addi stayed up all night and finally conked out at about 4:30 let me add morning.

We are all singing and having a great time. Teenagers are big kids too. I am very proud of our youth.

Lock in Tonight yea

2007-07-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight is going to be fun. In the past the youth at Sylvan Springs Church of Christ have had the best time at lock ins. Tonight is going to be filled with lots of activities, not ony is it just to have fun but it is also a spiritual gathering, Alex will have the devotion at 2 in the morning and Joey will do the singing for all of us, not by himself we will all sing with him, and don't let me forget the hide n seek at Pleasant Grove Park when it gets dark, for some reason the kids love this one, also there will be Pizza at about 7:30 and snacks all night. There are going to be games to play. The adults that are staying will be glad when it gets 7 in the morning so we can sleep, us old people have got to get their beauty sleep. Just kidding we are not old we don't have a hard time keeping up with the teenagers and younger youth. I will be sure to post some pictures on my blog tomorrow so you will all witness what fun we had. Thanks for viewing my blog I have enjoyed this more than I thought I would, now my kids cannot get on the computer.

The many faces of Jazz and Addi

2007-07-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Just look at these two can you tell which one is 4? It is hard for me sometimes. Jazz loves being silly with Addi now Alex is in the backseat being cool of course, he lets loose every now and then.Addi got a fortune cookie tonight and it said your wish will come true within a month. Addi was so excited that is all she would talk about on the way home, she wanted to know how long she would have to sleep so when she woke up in a month her wish would come true, We all laughed so hard we were all crying, because she was very serious about her wish.

food food food

2007-07-12T20:46:00.000-07:00

Look what a pig Jazz is. She did not eat all of it but she did put a dent in her food. Jazz is so funny.

My birthday

2007-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

Jazz and Alex and Addi got to crack an egg at the table and Addi thought that it was so funny she laughed so hard afterwards I thought she would bust. As you see you do not have to be 4 to enjoy cracking eggs on a table.

Going out to eat at Ichaban for my 40

2007-07-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone as you see here we went to Ichaban and ate and the food was great. Addi got Terriki Chicken and the face she made when she ate it was very funny she did not like any of the food there. The rice had eggs in it and boy did that gross her out along with the we had already picked out all of the peas, carrots and whatever else was in the rice.

The Big Birthday.

2007-07-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well, all of my friends have been waiting on me to turn 40. There wish has come true. Today is the happiest day of my life, 40 doesn't bother me at all I am just thankful to be here. Well, I don't feel as young as I use to,in a way I am falling apart.haha my foot hurts my head hurts and my teeth keep falling out just kidding, I can't get my hair to do nothing anymore it just lays there like I want to do all day everydaylolol.I can't run much anymore I get out of breath really fast, I have a hard time remembering things like my name, my children, and who is my husband? Authur will probably visit me soon and all of my bones will hurt. I know it sounds like I am falling apart but I am just kidding about all of this. I feel really good and I thank God everyday for giving me another day. One thing I do miss today is my mom would bring me a angel every birthday some were small and some were really big, she knew I liked them so much but I do realize I have a real angel around me now all of the time watching over me and smiling at me and I know she is not in any pain now. That does make me thankful. I want all my friends to know I will not be leaving this world since I have turned 40. (I hope not anyway) I am stronger than ever.hahahaha. My dad called me today and said happy birthday after my sister callled him and told him it was my birthday. Thanks Levi for the call this morning that was so sweet of you I love you so much. Jasmine got me a Lucy tag that is really neat and as all my friends know I Love Lucy. Alex hugged me and said he will have to get me something after he works with Uncle David today and makes him some money. I thought that was real cute. He was up real early and gone with David to get some work done. I am like my mom I don't have to have anything from them as long as we are all together and healthy. I love you all I hope you enjoyed this.

Billy in Gatlingburg on his cell phone.

2007-07-11T20:07:00.000-07:00

Just look how silly we are. Billy is so much fun. He is pretending to be talking on his cell phone. He enjoyed his vacation very much. We had a wonderful time. We never know what to expect from him.

At the Parade on the 4th.

2007-07-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

I took this picture because I thought this child looked alot like Addi. Of course I think she is cute and sweet and precious but this child does have a wig on. And we all know Addi has huge hair and bright red.

Gatlingburg

2007-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

This is my model family. They think they are looking good.

100 Things About Mary

2007-07-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

1. I love my husband of 20 years.

2. I have the sweetest daughter of all, her smile brightens up my day.

3. I love my son Alex even though he thinks he knows a lot more than he really does.

4. I am excited about Jasmine graduating this year.

5. I love being a member of Gods church, when I was baptized it was the greates day of my life.

6. The next best day was the day my children became members of the church. They both got baptized in their Uncle David and Aunt Susan's swimming pool.

7. Breast Cancer scares me to death.

8. The saddest day of my life was when I lost my mom. I miss her smile so much. My mom taught me so much. My mom seemed to always make me feel better when I was down she always seemed to have the right thing to say.

9. I love the thought of my sister Pam having their first child and it's a boy. He is due in November, hopefully he will be here for Thanksgiving.

10. Having Bunyon surgery is really painful. Don't do it.

11. I love Addi coming to my house for the day or the night.

12. I am looking forward to having my 40th birthday tomorrow July 12.

13. I pray that my dad will get stronger as the days come and go.

14. I am so thankful to have Sally Hyche in my life she is the sweetest friend ever.

15. I pray for Mia Wylie and her family because they are going through a really hard time right now.

16. I am not one to talk about myself much and this is hard to come up with 100 things about me.

17. Last year I had to have a Liver Biopsy which proved that I had Primary Bililary Cirr. of the lever.

18. I am scared to death to have a Liver Transplant which I will have to have in about 2 to 3 years.

19.I love helping other people.

20. Saying no to people is the hardest thing for me to do.

21. I have worked with Special Ed. students for 3 years and it is a fulfilling job very tiring though.

22. My husband is the sweetest man ever.

23. My husband works so hard to support us.

24. I pray for my brother William so that he will find God in his life and start living right.

25. I love living in Shady Grove, it is a very peaceful place no one bothers anyone.

26. I am excited that Jasmine is dating someone that is a faithful member of the church of christ.

27. I am glad Alex doesn't have a girlfriend because this way I don't have to take him to buy a gift for her, because those of you who have taken him knows what I am talking about, it takes him hours to decide on what to buy.

28. Church is first in my life.

29. I love to go to camp we have attended camp since the kids were very small.

30. I miss my dad the way he use to be.

31, I am thankful for my husband because when I had my surgery on my foot he got me caught up on my laundry otherwise it would have never happened.

32. I love making people laugh, people being happy means a lot to me.

33. I drink to much coke, I am addicted.

34. My favorite place to eat is the Olive Garden.

35. I have a new job aT Bottenfield this year "Librarian Aide" Go Me.

36. I am very proud of Kim and Paul. They mean so much to me. Kim is always there if you need her and she never hangs up the phone unless she says "I LOVE YOU! Paul is a very hard worker and will also do anything for you.

37.It makes me sad to see papa in the nursing home.

38. Billy has the best family ever. Thanks to David and Susan for being there when we needed them.

39. I love you Levi. You are one special boy.

40. I love the thought that I have two teenagers and a wrecked car. haha.

41. I am very family oriented they mean everything to me.

42. I am very proud of Katie and Josh and their little angle Hannah she is so beautiful and has the prettiest smile ever.

43. I worry about my children safety everytime they leave the house. If something happened to my children I just don't think I could go on living.

44.I love scrapbooking.

45. I love being able to get my hair cut whenever, having a husband that cuts hair is a blessing. If I had to pay for a haircut I wouldn't know what to do.

46. I love to go out to eat, but we need to eat more at home that means me cooking. I can cook but I don't like to.

47. I can make some killer Ciannomom rolls and deathly donuts.

48. I am very proud of Zac Wood he is my daughters boyfriend he treats her so well.

49. We had a great vacation last week. We hadn't been on a family vacation in 3 years and being with my family meant so much. We laughed till we hurt.

50. I should take more time to fix myself up but I don't.

51. I love the fact that after church all the time we take forever to leave. Everyone stays and talks to each other.

52. Housekeeping has never been top priority on my list I hope to become better at it and keep it up.

53. I am excited about Alex going to play Tennis at school this year.

54. My daughter says that I make funny faces right before I laugh but I don't believe her.

55. I like to make up words and meanings for them that cracks up my kids.

56. I love to eat Tomatoes.

57. My favorite color is Yellow.

58. When I die I don't want any talking I just want to write a book and let everyone read the book of course it will be about all the funny things I have done in my life, again I want people to be happy.

59. Going to the funeral home with my dad before my mom died was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do.

60. I say to everyone always tell your mom you love them, talk to them everyday if possible because life is way to short and we are not promised a tomorrow.

61.I love to read. I just started reading books by Jodi Picoult, they are exciting books you need to read one.

62. I do want to finish college.

63. My son Alex is going to try out for American Idol in August. Go Alex.

64. I do like having people over at my house.

65. Children are my life, I love the happiness that children send out, they light the world and send cheer to everyone.

66. Having friends is very meaningful to me.

67. I love going to Lads to Leaders to Leaderettes every year thank you Kim and Paul.

68. I want to work on reading the Bible more and would like to be able to talk to others about the Bible.

69. I have never stayed on the computer so much until I just started doing a blog. It is so much fun.

70. I would love for my brother David to move here and live with my dad that would make things some better at least he would not be living alone.

71. I am thankful everyday to wake up and see the world.

72. Taking pictures is one of my favorite things to do. My kids are getting tired of it though. But I don't care.

73. I wish my husband would paint pictures to sell because he has such an eye for art. He has really done some unique paintings.

74. I want to do more visiting and sending cards.

75. I am not hard to please when I was little we didn't have the best of things but we did have a nice home and a warm bed to lay in at night and on holidays we always had food. Mom and dad always seen to that. You know now that I think of it we did have the best of things I just didn't realize it when I was young. Mom and Dad would do anything for their family. They always showed us love and never a birthday go by that they didn't tell us happy birthday and they love us. We didn't have birthday parties though so when I got married I had to get use the fact of having birthday parties because Billy gave me a party every year. I never felt left out or alone I always knew they loved us they would have done anything for their family and I learned that family is everything from them.

76.I want to make myself stop and sit down and watch a tv show with my family. I want to spend more time just sitting and talking to my husband.

77.I really like the summer more than the winter because winter is drab to me it makes me sad sometimes.

78. I would love to have a clutter free home.

79. I asked Billy out first and we went skating, that was fun.

80. I wrote in my diary that I would marry Billy when I was 12. Not that I would marry him at 12 but I was 12 when I wrote it.

81. I thank God everyday for making that dream come true.

82. I love the Christmas Breakfast we have at my house every year the time spent with family is remarkable.

83. Entertainment at my house on Christmas consists of us all watching Dee and Company and laughing our heads off because it is so stupid.

84. My anniversary is Valentines Day and that is great because I usually get 2 presents. lolol

85. I am easy to buy for and Billy is very hard to buy for. I usually don't do good buying him presents I like to give him money and let him buy whatever he wants.

86. I am proud of Kim, Josh, and Daniel what they have made of their lives.

87. Cooper Green is not a terrible hospital they took great care of my mother for 13 years.

88. The most amazing thing I have ever heard was when my mom had been sent home with hospice and days before she passed I was in there with her and she asked me did I see them? I said do I see what and she said those angels I said where are they and she said they are flying over my head they are red, green and blue and that's when she proceeded to tell me she was ready to go home, this made me very sad but it was such a beautiful thing for her to say. I knew then I would see her in heaven when it was my time to go. I love her so much she means the world to me.

89. I love to watch All My Children, General Hospital, and One Life to Live. Jessica on there has had a Liver Transplant and it is weird to watch.

90, I would like to keep my car clean but that is a chore for me.

91. God has blessed me so much in my life.

92. I have this obsession with irons, I just can't get the right one for some reason. My children laugh at me all the time about it.

93. I hate having to get Alex up in the mornings for school.

94.My family loves to go to Macroni Grill but I can never find anything I like to eat there.

95. I like to sit out on my back deck and read and drink coke.

96. I teach class on Wednesday night at Church and it is so fullfilling.

97. This is how weird my life has been from the beginning. When I was born my dad wanted to name me after my granny and her name was Willie Dean and my mom wanted to name me Mary. So all my life I was called Wilma (Wimpy) until the great day came and my mom was registering me for school and they said they did not have a Willma but they had a Mary Brasher so guess what. I got a name change. I know this sounds weird but I grew up pretty normal with the name Mary. Every now and then my brother will call me Wimpy.

98. When my husband and I got married he decided to get me a car, well it was a car alright. It came from Ensley and it was a yellow straight shift Honda which looked horrible and did I mention I could not drive a straight shift. Well needless to say it didn't last very long and we took it to the auction.

99. I am a great mother reason why is my son and I go to the Galleria at midnight just so he can get that wii game of course it is Football. We have done this for years now.

100. I am a g reat mother because at Christmas we went to Best Buy at Trussville and I wasn't expecting to get a wii and there was people in line outside and I said "what are you doing?" They said getting a wii I was so excited because I was going to get Alex a wii what the lady didn't tell me was not till morning. So I decide to stay all night and boy was it cold. So I told Billy to go get Alex and he can wait with me. Who cares if he knows what he is getting he can suffer with me. So Alex and his friend Justin came and stayed. I got to sit with a lady in her van with the heat on while Alex and Justin sat in the cold. I got to Best buy about 6 and left the next morning at 7.

My children with straight hair

2007-07-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

My daughter has naturally curly hair and it is beautiful, now my son Alex has natural curly hair and on the last day of school several kids at school dared him to come with his hair straight, you don't dare Alex to do anything because he has to prove he will do it. He makes a cuter curly head son. My children are very versitale (I know that word isn't spelled right). He does not wear his hair straight he always goes curly thank goodness.

Indian Creek Youth Camp 2007

2007-07-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

As you can see Camp is great. Sydney and Jazz are dressed like this because of skit night they did a skit they called Gangtas. Sydney has been a part of our family since she was born I kept her when she was a baby so her and my children played together all their life she is the best.

Lindsey, Rachel, and Jasmine have also been friends all their life. They have so much fun being together at camp and outside of camp. Friends you hang with and meet at camp will last forever. We would rather go to camp than have Christmas. You would not believe people at camp and how they act it is funny. Not just the kids act up but the adults do to they act as funny as the children.

Parrish VBS 2007

2007-07-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Alex is acting like he is standing on the Titanic. This boat was set up on the hill at Parrish Church of Christ. Their them was Pirates of the Carribean, they always have the best Bible School and we always have a great time.

As you look to the left of the screen you will see my precious Addi, she is the sweetest girl in the world, she is going to be a strong christian girl one day she loves to go to church and sing all the fun songs and go to all of the different classes.

Sorry the picture is so dark but I just had to put this one on also they were part of our group that went to VBS and I did not want to leave anyone out. Look at Addi her smile is always vibrant, she is such a happy girl and wonderful to be around, she will keep you in stitches.

These are the not in a relationship ones

2007-07-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

We are still at VBS at Parrish and Sydney, Joey, and Alex who are not committed in a relationship and as you can see they are really happy about it.

Vacation Bible School At Parrish Church of Christ!

2007-07-11T09:05:00.000-07:00

As you can see these are the couples that went to VBS with us. Parrish had a very good VBS. We always have a very good time. Just look at Steven's face can't you tell he is having the best time of his life.

2007-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Hey Just have a look at the shaved icies you get in Gatlingburg!!!! As I sat on the street so many people came by just laughing and talking about this huge drink I had. Yes this is the actual size of this. I will have to say I didn't eat all of it but when I got my second one Billy and I shared it and we managed to finish the WHOLE thing. I got peach the second time and grape the first time the flavors are just wonderful and very flavorous.

2007-07-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

I think my children are just precious what about you lol. They are just the models of the future. Someone please see them and book them so we can have some college income coming in. HELP.lol