End of school......almost!

My boys only have 7 days of school left! They are totally ready for a break. Kory will be working all summer at the school. And now Kolton will be having surgery and will be recovering all summer. They may be ready for school to start soon again! NOT! I will have to say this year has flown by. I can't believe Kory will be a Junior next year and Kolton will be an 8th grader. Unbelievable!

CONGRATS! to Kory for winning the Sophmore of the Year! With that he earned a $500 scholarship (he will receive it at graduation). YESSS!!!!!! He also won the Chemistry Award. And he made the A Honor Roll all semesters. We are proud of you Kory, keep up the excellent work.
NOW, if you would please finish your driver's ed course!

We are proud of Kolton for making good grades in middle school. He was awarded with high points in reading. He doesn't like to read, so I am very proud of him for accumulating lots of points. He also made the A/B Honor Roll. Keep working hard Kolton, one of these days it will all be behind you!

And, I can't forget Kris, he made it through his FIRST year of COLLEGE! YEAH!!!!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU BOYS AND AM SO PROUD OF YOU;)

Happy Birthday, Karen!

Today is my beautiful brides's __nd birthday. You can fill in the blanks for how old you think she is. She is much younger than me. I wish I had some pictures to post, but I don't have any here with me at work that fit the theme.

Karen, you are the most wonderful, sweetest, incredible, awesomist (?), fantastic, etc., etc. person in the whole world! And I love you very much!

Kenny


PS. The boys (young men) and I are taking her out to eat tonight and are going to lavish her with gifts and cards.

Update on Kolton

We found out Thursday at his Dr. appt. that he has a condition called Coarctation of the Aorta. We were somewhat shocked to find out that he had a congenital heart defect. We never had a hint that something was wrong with his heart. Thank God for allergies! That is why he went to the doctor in the first place. The nurse routinely checked his blood pressure and said it was a little high, asked if it had ever been checked before. Kolton doesn't remember ever having the cuff around his arm. You would think in his 12 years that he surely would have had it checked at some point. Anyway, we had it checked a couple of more times a week apart, with and without his allergy medication. It was even higher than the first time. Our family doctor was concerned and recommended a pediatric cardiologist specialist in Dallas. Me, being severely unlearned in the medical field just thought that they would probably put him on blood pressure medication to lower it! There IS a reason for high blood pressure in kids. If they are overweight or have a kidney problem they might possibly have it. Otherwise, the only other reason would be from a coarctation of the aorta.
He will have heart surgery when school is out. He will be at Medical City in Dallas, we have heard very positive things about this hospital. My cousin from Dallas gave it very high recommendations. So, we do feel confident that we are in good hands. MOST importantly we know the ONE who created Kolton, we put our complete trust in HIM.
Another bit of info that we are thankful for is that the doctor told us there is a window of time, through age 14, that if discovered during this time, recovery is so much better and the heart has not been too damaged. But the older a person is the more damage to the heart. He does have some thickening (the heart is a muscle, to work harder makes it bigger) but it should go back to normal sometime after the surgery. He also has a slight leakage in a heart valve, but she didn't think it would be a major problem.
Kolton has always had leg cramps, aching calves, "growing pains". The doctor asked us when she was explaining it all if he ever had any problems with his legs. I said ALL HIS LIFE! I don't know how many nights I have rubbed his legs to take away the pain. The doctor would tell us it was "growing pains". Little did we know he was only getting a third of the blood pressure and oxygen to his lower body. However, a bar of soap in the bed seemed to help! An old wives tale!
Please keep Kolton and us in your prayers. We have to take him back to Dallas for an MRI before his surgery to make sure there is not any other damage that the echocardiogram could not pick up.
We will keep you posted. Thanks for all your prayers!

God's Promises......

Today was stormy off and on. Pouring down rain in bursts here and there. Early this evening Kory called me and said there was a complete rainbow in the sky. It was beautiful, but I couldn't get the entire rainbow. It was too big and the gray clouds hid it before I could get a full picture. It was still pretty. I love rainbows. I am so thankful I know God and that I can depend on Him... He keeps His promises.
My uncle passed away earlier this week. He lost his life here on this earth, but oh what he gained. I grieve for the family, our family, his kids and grandkids. My cousin has a well written post on her blog. You can read it here. Life is precious.
We leave early in the morning for Kolton's doctor's appointment in Dallas. He meets with a Pediatric Cardiologist, he has had several high blood pressure readings. Then we will be heading to Wichita Falls for my uncle's funeral on Friday. Please keep us in your prayers.

Most Delish:)

Yesterday at work I had a craving for Buttermilk Pie. So.......I went here and found a recipe. I had all the ingredients except the buttermilk. Who keeps that on hand anyway??? It does make a good pie though! It finally came out of the oven at 10 pm last night. It was most delicious. YUM! I have to admit I had it for breakfast this morning too! I know...not good for me:(

Church Work Day

Wow! Did we ever wear ourselves out. This past Saturday, the men of the church met early at the church property to do tree cleanup work. Thanks to the ladies who came out and served us lunch. We cut down trees, dragged them into piles and began the burning process. By lunchtime we were just about ready to drop. Then, after lunch, we got our second wind. Before it was all said and done, we needed our third, fourth, fifth, etc winds. We got a lot done. Pretty soon we'll get our sign up on the property that says: Future Home of Greater Life Church. Hopefully, we'll be ready for a Church-in-a-Day next year. I slept well Saturday night! Sunday morning we were all still dragging. I think you could tell in our service that morning. Things are going well. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Lord Bless!

Please Pray

When you come across this blog, please pray for my uncle, Bennie Hodgson.
He needs a MIRACLE from God.
He has been in the hospital for the last several weeks, just the last few days was finally admitted at Baylor Hospital in Dallas.
He had surgery for an aneurysm a short while back. At the same time found out that he had bladder cancer. They were not able to remove all of that tumor. He now also has a blood clot and his kidneys are not functioning correctly. The doctor's reports are not good. He has been in a great deal of pain.
I know that God is able to heal him and that is my prayer. By His stripes we ARE healed.
I will never forget the Sunday morning when Bennie knelt at the altar and gave his life back to God. I cried tears of joy. He needed God desperately, He had just buried his wife.

Please join us in prayer.

He Did It!

Kris finally bought a car. The old green was on it's last wheel and was sold on craigslist to an unsuspecting person. They wanted an old 2nd car and that is exactly what they got. Kris has been driving the Yukon and draining his account buying gas! So, he is happy to have a car and fill up with $40 instead of $80! Of course he hasn't had his first payment or paid for his insurance yet! LOL!

The cool switchblade key! 2004 Volkswagon Passat

SPRING:) My 4 Favs

I was tagged..........

My Favorite Spring Things are....

*The new buds on the trees.

**The green grass shooting up from the dead, brown, dried out grass.

***The fresh air.

****Sandals & Flip Flops:))

My allergies do not like spring, or fall for that matter!

I tag...............well, since I don't want to have to go to everybody's blog to see if you have been tagged or not, I will just say this is open to ANYONE & EVERYBODY!

HAPPY SPRING Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

70 YEARS YOUNG!

Happy Birthday to YOU,

Happy Birthday to YOU,

Happy Birthday Dear Dad...Pa,

Happy Birthday to YOU!

We love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Maybe Mom will take you someplace besides Mazzio's!

Wishing you many, many more........

We miss you and hope to see you soon.

Love,

Kenny, Karen

Kris, Kory & Kolton