Well, never a dull moment here at the Cunningham House...

Last week, on June 9, my daughter Allie woke up and experienced another seizure. Now these are benign, rolandic epilectic in nature, which means they occur upon waking from sleep, usually last no longer than 3 minutes, and the patient outgrows them by age 13 or 14. They tend to cause no harm but are scary to go through. Allie's seizure was pretty textbook that day, and her history shows that this occurs every 6-7 months.  Unfortunately she had another seizure yesterday...Father's Day, and this one was more atypical in that she didn't really come out of it like she usually does. Her left side remained numb, even when she stopped convulsing, and she had a petit mal seizure even after we got her to the Emergency Room. They put her on a loading dose of meds right away to stop the seizures, and we stayed overnight in the hospital. Fortunately, she's doing remarkably well now and is back to her old self, but will remain on meds for about 2-3 years, especially since she's going through puberty. She slept really well while in the hospital, and that's the key to this whole condition....she needs quality sleep; so hopefully that will continue. I'm just praising God for protecting her and for guiding us through this whole ordeal. I had to reach the point where I surrendered everything to Him and let Him take over because it was too much for me to carry and handle on my own. I'm so glad I did because putting Him in charge was exactly what needed to be done. She woke up, knew exactly where she was and why, and declared that she was better and ready to go home! The nurses got such a kick out of her.

So, as you can guess, I'll be a little busy with Miss Allie for a bit, and will have to take some time off from blogging. I'll be posting every now and then as things settle down. Thanks so much for keeping the four of us in your prayers, and if there is anything, no matter how big or small, we can keep in prayer for you, please email me and let me know...it is a good thing to have people praying for you, believe me, I know! Here's a couple of verses from Psalms a friend gave to me today. I love this...

"If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter,
No evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling"
Psalm 91: 9-10

xoxo

More Celebrations...

Little Big Girl just celebrated her 11th birthday. Man, the time is FLYING by!!  Her class party was the day before so Mandy and I baked 30 cupcakes, (enough for the entire 5th grade because my little lady thinks the "No Child Left Behind" law should also apply to birthday parties!), and off we went for Allie's class party. Then we surprised her on Wednesday (her actual birthday) at dismissal time with a bunch of balloons. She was so excited. Fun times...

Well today is also a very special day...16 years ago today, at 4:00PM, I married the most amazing man on earth. Happy Anniversary sweetie!!!

Wednesday Stamper

So this week's Wednesday Stamper theme is flowers, and you'd think this would be a cinch for me, right? Well guess again...I was stumped big time...I kept cutting and pasting and stamping..then I would throw everything out and start all over again. I was getting really miffed because I couldn't find the stamps I was looking for (I have issues about putting my art things back where they belong) so after an hour of trying, I gave up. As I was cleaning up and getting ready for bed I came across a piece I started a while ago (remember that coupon book I got in the mail?) and sat down with it for a bit. This is the final result...with a wee bit of stamping here and there.  I can't remember where I found this poem, but it goes like this:

The Beauty Of A Woman

The beauty of a woman
Is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
Or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,
Because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,
But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
The passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
With passing years only grows.

---Anonymous

I want to thank all of you who take the time to stop by for a visit. It's so great to hear from you and hang out with you for a bit in cyberspace; and it's always a thrill to see what you're up to as well. Thanks again and God Bless:-) xoxo

                                                                                                  

TGIF

Whew! It's been a crazy week!

Big Girl is finished with 8th grade and has celebrated her 14th birthday!   Happy Birthday Mandy...I'm so proud of her. After being homeschooled for two years she adjusted incredibly well to her new environment and made Honor Roll for three straight quarters. Mandy's school offers a mentoring program for new students wherein upperclassmen take on the role of Big Brother, or in our case, Big Sister, to an underclassman. Here's our Big Girl (on the left in the brown dress) on Awards Night with her "Big Sister", Chelsea (who graduated Cum Laude this year, thank you very much!).

Little Big Girl is also in full swing. Here she is celebrating her communion class graduation with her friends Madelyne and Emily ...and she was the shining star in not one, but two class plays! There are 2 fifth grade classes at her school and they both did the same play...Guys and Dolls (without all the "grown-up" parts, as Allie would say). The girl who had the same role as Allie in the other 5th grade class could not be there for her class performance, so like the trooper she is, Allie stepped in and played both roles. The kids were so dang cute! 






And guess what? I received two magazine comp copies the other day...I had 2 cards published in Take Ten, and my "Little Women" mini book was published in Gallery. Pretty cool mail surprise!
   

 

In Remembrance...

Memorial Day is the time for Americans to reconnect with their history and core values by honoring those who gave their lives for the ideals we cherish.

More than a million American service members died in the wars and conflicts this nation fought since the first colonial soldiers took up arms in 1775 to fight for independence. Each person who died during those conflicts was a loved one cherished by family and friends. Each was a loss to the community and the nation.

Sadly, many Americans have lost this connection with their history. All too many Americans today view military service as an abstraction, as images seen on television and in movies. For a growing percentage of the American people, Memorial Day has come to mean simply a three-day weekend or a major shopping day. Families might still gather for picnics, but for many of them, the patriotic core - the spirit of remembrance - is absent.

Memorial Day, like the military itself, is largely cut off from its historic meaning for many Americans. They have forgotten what the military stands for in the nation's history. We in this country owe a great debt of gratitude to those who sacrificed their lives so that we could live free. We can start to pay that debt by not forgetting, by remembering what they did and what they stood for.

Listen to these words by Charles M. Province:

"It is the Soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us Freedom of the Press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us Freedom of Speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the Freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial;
And it is the Soldier--who salutes the flag,
Who serves the flag, and
Whose coffin is draped by the flag--
Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

Adapted from the Special Events Speech Series of the US Army

THANK YOU TO ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE US ARMED FORCES. MAY GOD BLESS YOU ALL…

A little musing...

My Visual DNA (this is really cool!)

http://dna.imagini.net/friends/swf/widget.swf

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Thanks to Lea and Cheryl for the link:-)

Secret Dreams

Sometimes I need to do quick, simple, projects just for fun, or to prime the pump. I barely had an hour to complete this very simple little board book for an online contest, and although more could have been done to it from an artistic standpoint, I still like the results.  The whole idea was to show off the papers, so inking, painting and distressing would have defeated the purpose! Love these beautiful papers from Marah Johnson's Love Struck line...all the images are copies of John Waterhouse paintings. xoxo