Dodge's, Daycare, Diagnotic Medical Tuition....and other prayer requests.

I haven't blogged since we got back from the beach b/c it's been craziness in the McEver household. We got back on a Saturday and as most of you know, my acceptance letter was waiting in the mail!!! Yay!!!

HUGE, HUGE blessing to us. Again, I'm continually amazed at God's blessings for our family.

While we were on our vacation my sneaky little gallbladder started giving me fits again. We found gallstones on accident during another routine exam, and my doctor advised me to have it removed before they started bothering me. My reasoning? It doesn't hurt- why have surgery to take it out? Plus I was in school full-time and I really didn't want to take time out of the classroom. You students of Mr. Nichols know what I'm talking about- each week rolled out a lab quiz and a med term test- it's no joke! So we chose not to do anything. Then slowly the symptoms started coming. I have no idea how to describe it- it kind of feels like a claw in your chest that pokes you sometimes? I've heard others say it's in their shoulder or back, but mine was in my chest. I could mainly deal with it, b/c the cleaner I ate, the better I felt (thanks Advocare!). Wouldn't you know that I ate fried shrimp at the beach and that's all it needed to go cuckoo. After a few nights of "the hook" coming out to play, I was done. I knew it was another way for God to say- "Get it out now while you're not in school." I met my surgeon the Tuesday we were back and had it out Friday. I was told it was out-patient surgery and easy-breezy. Wrong!

 

No that's not a fuzzy maternity shot. That's how my belly looked for weeks after the surgery. Ugh. They put air in your stomach to give them room to get to the gallbladder and it's the strangest thing to feel like you just need to burp but can't (sorry, just telling it like it is). My post-op was last Thursday and they still are restricting me from lifting more than 20 lbs. Easton weighs 32. I think that's been the hardest part- I want to hold my baby! Try to count how many times a day you pick up/hold your baby....it's a lot, right? I'll have Easton lie down on the floor with me, or I'll crawl in bed with him, but I'll be glad to actually pick him up again.

Before the surgery I had about 2 days to visit some daycares and meet with my financial aid office at school.

Y'all.....I'm having a hard time with the thought of leaving my baby. Every place I visit is fine, it's just not home. Heath and I toured a couple together and neither one of us likes the idea. Not much else I can say on this subject.

My financial aid trip didn't fare much better. The WHOLE time I was working towards applying, I knew how much the program would cost and assumed I'd get a student loan. I *almost* wish I could have seen my face when the financial aid officer informed me that no, Athens Tech doesn't participate in student loans because they're a technical school and the fees are much more reasonable than a traditional 4-year school. True, but we don't have $12,000 just the same. They don't accept HOPE for the program either and I've just hit a huge stumbling block with the news.

Just because the devil wanted to mess with my head some more, my car's been dying. Ha. We knew that was coming too, I was just praying it'd last 2 more years. All you car people reading this- it tries to die only when I'm turning? Like I'll slow down to make a turn, and as soon as my tires turn, it just shudders and turns itself off. Anyone know what that is? It did it to me crossing traffic, getting on 85, with the boys in the back. I turned on a green light with a break in the traffic, and it died. Thankfully I had enough momentum to make it to the grass, but it scared the macaroni out of me. Any turn! Take a drive-thru for example. Nothing but a big circle, right? My car died 3 times in the Starbucks one last week. They probably thought I was crazy...or ghetto. Your guess as to which one is true.

SO- here's my BIG OL' LIST of prayer requests:

• I have got to find a place for Easton. And get used to the idea.

• I'll need a car sometime in the near future. My Dodge with 190K miles ain't gonna kick it for much longer. This is not a "can't make up my mind on which one, b/c I have so many options," this is a "we're broke and can't afford a car payment while paying for daycare and tuition." So if anyone has a Grandma with a Buick sitting out in the driveway that she doesn't need.....!

The next request is where I'm ready to see God work BIG things- hope you'll stick around reading the blog so I can tell you what He does! I can't see it yet, but I'm sure He'll show me in His timing. It's just not my timing, b/c of course, I'd like to know right now.

• Tuition. We 100% relied on getting a student loan to not only cover the cost, but also some of the living expenses, i.e., daycare. Want some scary numbers? Cory's after-school care will be $30/week. Easton's will be around $120/week. That's around $600/month. I obviously won't be bringing in income while going to school, so we have no clue where we'll get that. Tuition will be around $12,000 and Pell should cover around $9,000, so there's only a $3,000 difference there. When you start adding $600/month to it though...

Y'all didn't know I was so needy with the requests, did ya? Like I said, I know they're huge requests. I know we serve a mighty God with whom "nothing is impossible" (Luke 1:37) so I'm asking for your help in praying for us! Trying not to let my faith waver. He got me this far, He can work through the details. Trying not to get discouraged or feel like I want to give up. It'll happen. Just don't know how/when/where/why and my Type A personality says it all needs to be in place....like, yesterday.

Destin: Last Day

Rachel was so sweet to call us Thur night and warn us of tropical storm Karen coming in our way, but luckily it wasn't supposed to hit until Sat night or Sun morning, so we were able to stay the whole week. We soaked up our last day before leaving early Sat morning!

 

Wasn't it beautiful? I actually got burned that day (I try so hard not to!) because it felt so good with the wind blowing that I just didn't feel hot and wasn't paying attention.

 

The red flag was out. The waves were something serious. Heath tried to fish at the water's edge but even he was getting tossed around.

 

 



I wouldn't let Cory go out in it, and Heath took Easton out for a few minutes but I didn't like that either. You guys should have seen these waves!

 Precious face. He loved it.

Then we all played safely on the sand.

Finished up at the pool for the day and after eating some dinner at the condo, we went back out so I could try to catch the sunset on our last night.

Or do you prefer a full moon?

Ha! Sorry. But that cracks me up.

Here he's "helping" unload the dishwasher.

We had such a fantastic time! I don't know if it was the time of the year, but Destin in October is pretty remote. There was some families, mainly older people, and we saw a lot of the property owners. We met our property owners while we were there, they came down and stayed in their other condo. Must be nice!!! But seriously, it was very family friendly, very calm and quiet, no crazy waits at restaurants and the weather was beautiful. The condo was about 10 minutes from what I would call "downtown" Destin, which was perfect enough for me to feel close, but not walk out my door and see a bunch of shopping malls. We could eat anywhere and there was a Wal-Mart and drugstore within minutes. The couple who owns the condo was super sweet, and they thanked us for coming and already invited us back for next year. We loved it and will be back to Destin!

Our 5am wake-up call--- LOOK who's awake STILL:

Yep, he stayed awake the whole ride again. Never slept. From 5am-1pm. I slept, Cory slept, Easton didn't. At least he wasn't fussy though? I guess I shouldn't even complain...I just think it's weird. Who doesn't sleep on a car ride? He was perfectly happy and content the whole ride home.

I miss the beach but it's good to be home too!!!

More of Destin, Day 5 & 6

Whew, Wednesday was definitely the sick day. Cory and Easton ran fevers, Heath's back started bothering him and he ran a fever later that night, and after my doctor called me in some pain meds for my gallbladder I just felt loopy & disoriented until it wore off. Definitely not our best day. I tried to go to the beach with them that morning but felt kinda seasick so I headed back home to sleep off the medicine. I hate feeling out of control of my body because of pain pills, so I just started eating vegetables only until we get back home and I can see my doctor. No more gallbladder attacks, ouch!

That day was a blur since I slept most of it. We didn't even go out for dinner. Heath grilled out cheeseburgers, I baked some baked beans and added a bag of chips and called it a meal. I ate vegetables. :)

Thank goodness for Thursday! It was BEAUTIFUL! I felt so much better and so did everyone else. It was the perfect weather- hot, but with a strong breeze so you didn't feel hot. (Now realizing that's tropical storm, Karen). We slathered everyone up and took off!

This is Easton's face when we told him no, we were not "all done" after 10 minutes.

Notice Easton's face- this is where he got his idea.......

This is when he creeps up on the sand castle, when Cory's back is turned......

Demolition sand castle!!!!

 My attempt at some organized pics....

We ate at Bubba Gumps- yummy! It was a really fun atmosphere too.

We happened to stumble across another playground after dinner. We're loving Destin, very family friendly, and this is the 3rd or 4th park we've seen in our short time.

Child cracks me up how he goes down a slide.

WHY these are on playgrounds all over the world I'll never know! Easton falls through them EVERY.TIME.

We found a huge shopping area on the way home and scored when we saw Coldstone Creamery. They have double scoop kids cones for $1.99 and they let us all order that size. Cory leaned back in his chair and said, "Mama, this is perfect. It just doesn't get better than this. Ice cream, palm trees, and my family." Love.

Thankful it gets dark here at 7pm. We were able to take them home and put them down for bed right away.

Today was special for another reason- our anniversary!!! Love you boo.