Almost 2009!

Can it be that another year has almost come and gone?

Zach leaves for school tomorrow. It doesn't start for another two weeks, but he needs to get "advised," and he wants to continue searching for a job! Thank goodness!

We got some "bad" news on Saturday. I'm sure most would not consider it bad but Jay and I were both disappointed - he got a letter from his hepatologist. His blood work showed that he was "better," so he moved down the list from a 21 to a 17! What a shock! He knew he was feeling better (contributes that to not working) but to move down was just unbelievable. I know that sounds strange, but we feel it explains why we haven't gotten "the call." He does feel pretty good right now and it's weird to find ourselves wishing that he didn't. We're feeling a little sorry for ourselves, but trying to remember that without a new liver, healthy is better!

I can't believe that 2009 is only 2 days away! Seems virtually impossible. What my mother always told me as a child is incredibly true: The older you get, the faster times goes by!

My wish for all is a happy and prosperous new year, blessed by family and friends.

Love to all!

Merry Christmas to All...

Christmas 2008 will be here tomorrow...finally! I love this time of year, although I hate the insanity of the shopping! Thank God I can do most of it online!

Its been a terribly long year, and the last month or so has been even longer. I guess each day that passes as we wait for "the call" makes it seem like an eternity. Its really not and I need to remember to be grateful for each day.

My "baby" is home, my mom and brother are both healthy, although we're missing Daddy very much. Monday was his birthday and that day is particularly difficult for me. We always enjoyed spending our birthdays together...it's weird not to have any other December babies to share it with! Jay is doing as well as can be expected. His brother is recovering from open heart surgery and doing well. His other siblings seem to be doing well.

I hope for all of my family and friends the warmest of holidays and the merriest Christmas ever. I hope you all get everything you want, but mostly, I hope you're surrounded by family and friends that love you as much as I do!

Merry Christmas to All!

Love,
Karen

Disappointing Saturday

Yesterday was disappointing - our Wylie Pirates (AHMO!) lost to the Katy Tigers in Houston! We didn't get to go to the game, but our friend Doyle opened up his bank conference room to us, the Wilsons, the Lawsons (and Kimberly), and the Burks for us to sit in comfortable chairs and watch the game on a projection size TV screen! What a hoot! THANK YOU DOYLE FOR THE USE OF THE ROOM AND FOR THE AWESOME NUTCRACKERS! Who would have thought a nutcracker could look like a Pirate???? And the food - WOW can we set a table! I am so incredibly proud of the Pirates and the job they did this season! Here's a link to let everyone know how AHMO got started:

http://www.hsgametime.com/dfw/videopage-306.html?nvid=314843

Now, hopefully our lives get back to some sense of normalcy as we wait for Santa to arrive (yes, once again Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!). Jay is feeling somewhat okay, although he appears to be worse each day. I think not working is a downfall, but he just couldn't do it anymore. He was incredibly disappointed yesterday, after waiting 30 years for another State Championship, but the good food and even better friends made up for it. We sure missed the Coopers, but we know they did extra yelling for us!

We celebrated my birthday on Friday night at Kyoto in Rowlett - I love that place! The food is so good and I love to watch the guys cook! The Wilsons and the Coopers joined us for a great night! Thank you so much Craig and Ramy for dinner - it was delicious!

We will miss the Wilsons over the next two weeks while they "go home" for the holidays. I can't imagine what we're going to do without them, and especially what we're going to do without football! An extra 7 weeks of football will only help to make the wait shorter for next year! WE DO LOVE OUR HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL!

Tomorrow is my Daddy's birthday - can't believe he's been gone almost two years. He would have been 85! So hard to grasp!

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and getting ready for the stockings, the gifts and the food! Love to you all,

Karen

Happy Birthday to Me ...

Well, its true - another one has arrived! Not that I mind - I really don't. I love all the emails and cards I get! There's just something to be said for being remembered! One of my friends at work brought a cake in for me, which is yummmmmmeeeeeee!

We're still waiting for "the call," but we have big plans for the weekend - tomorrow night we're celebrating my birthday at Kyoto (Japanese restaurant); then Saturday, one of our football buddies (THANK YOU DOYLE!) has offered up a conference room (with a big projection screen TV) at his bank for us to watch the Wylie Pirates crunch the Katy Tigers in the final high school playoff game! The Wilson's, Lawson's and the Burks' will be joining us - what a great time we're gonna have! Food will abound and the insanity will be loud and proud! I just hope we don't all get arrested by the Royse City Police Department - they may not understand just how noisy Wylie Pirates fans can be - AHMO!!!!!!!!!

I hope the holidays continue as the last few days have been - the only thing that would make it better would be to spend it at the hospital! Praying for peace and love for all and health for Jay!

Karen

Things Just Keep Getting Better

Well, well, well...

I just opened an email from my friend Dianne (standing next to me in the blog picture of "the girls"). It had the most beautiful powerpoint presentation in it - I'll be forwarding it to all my email buddies today - it will make your day.

Then, I get an email from our Cafe (in the building) and we've been having a food drive for the North Texas Food Bank. All you had to do was bring in five canned goods and you were entered to win a turkey, or pies, or several other prizes. I won the turkey!

What an amazing day! I think I'll just bask in the glory of it all!

The Insanity Continues...

CHRISTMAS IS ONLY 9 DAYS AWAY! I'm ready - thank goodness! Frankly, even though Christmas Day is my MOST FAVORITE day of the year, I hope I miss it because Jay is in surgery! Weird thought, huh?

He has a doctor's appointment today and he got the "reminder call" last night, but I was talking to him when his phone rang and he saw the "214" number and he said, "This could be it..." I think we were both disappointed that it was nothing more! That's even weirder!

We've been getting some huge blessings the past couple of days - two of our football buddies have offered to stay home with us to watch the game on TV! Just incredible! We are all H-U-G-E football freaks, so for them to give up their day on the field to watch the biggest game of the season is just unbelievable!

We're celebrating my birthday Friday night - at Kyoto - a Japanese restaurant. I'm very excited!

Zach is home - my mom and brother are both healthy - Jay is doing pretty good despite not working - had dinner with his siblings this past Sunday night - LIFE IS GOOD!

Happy Holidays and warm blessings to all!

Ahhh, a little rest for the weary!

Our beloved Wylie Pirates won the semi-final championship yesterday against the Copperas Cove Bulldogs!!! AHMO! Now it's on to the state championship game next Saturday in Houston against the Katy Tigers. Jay and I won't get to go to this game unfortunately - "against doctor's orders" to be that far from Dallas. That is probably one of the most painful moments we'll experience this football season - to watch our football buddies go to the game, while we stay home to watch it on TV - could it even remotely be the same??? NO WAY!!

But we're grateful that Jay is still so healthy that staying home, and being available for a transplant should the doctors call, is still our option! Our buddies will yell and scream just a little louder for us, GOD BLESS 'EM ALL!

Christmas is just around the corner (only 12 days, but who's counting). Zach is home for the weekend (whoo hoo!), the Pirates won again (AMHO!) and I have a shopping list (not finished shopping, but at least I have the list!).

I want to send out warm thanks to RAMY, CRAIG, DOYLE, GINA, DIANNE, ROBERT, BLACKMAN, LITTLE DAVE, AND OUR REDHEADED KYLE for all the love and support you've given us this football season - we are blessed by your presence in our lives and will always be grateful that we have each of you! Football season, winning or losing, even is better because each of you are in it. Rock on in Houston for us, NO TEXTING ALLOWED, and bring us back footballs, towels, and a CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!!!

Love to all!

Hearing from Friends

The best part of the holiday season is hearing from wonderful friends and being surrounded by a loving family. We are blessed.

Jay started his long term disability yesterday. Admittedly, I've fought this from the very beginning because I was afraid for his mental health, but his physical health is so much worse than it has been, that his choices had become few. He's no longer able to make it at work until noon despite their support of giving him very little to do. He's also possibly beginning to show the signs of encephalopathy. The doctors have also increased his diuretics which cause severe cramps again (bring on the pickle juice and bananas!), and he's now on a "maintenance" antibiotic to ensure no infection starts at all.

Our blessings continue and we're grateful for every one of them!

I hope that each of my family and friends have their Holiday Wishes come true!

End of a Long Weekend

WOW - what a weekend! Friday night was the Holiday Party for my department at work. We had it at my boss' house - what a blast! We are some crazy people! Saturday, the Wylie Pirates defeated the Cedar Hill Longhorns 31-21 and we move on to the State Semi-Final playoffs this Saturday in Waco against Copperas Cove - AHMO! Yesterday, we had our annual Sims Family Christmas (my mother's side of the family). It was great to have such a good and fun weekend.

Life gets back to "normal" today as we continue our wait for "the call." Jay is going to talk to his work today about going out on Long Term Disability. He's no longer able to work a full day, no matter how hard he tries. They've been wonderful to him - giving him options to do different jobs that didn't require so much energy, but its really still not helping. I think he'll be better off physically, but emotionally, I'm not so sure. We'll see where it all leads.

Zach was home this weekend - that's always the best part of a weekend! He was here from Friday afternoon until late yesterday and it was awesome! He takes his finals this week and I believe he'll come home late this week. I'm not sure how long he'll stay, but home for any length of time is good for me!

Santa's Train Comes to Town

I just can't believe that Christmas is only 23 days away! Santa's Train is coming to Wylie tonight! I sometimes wish Zach was still small so that I could enjoy the joy of Christmas in his little eyes again. There's just nothing like seeing the magic take over a child!

After the Train, we're going to see a friend's daughter play basketball...well, kinda going to see her. We'll be sitting on the Pirate side and she'll be playing for Frisco, but that's alright! I'll secretly yell for her when she scores!

I hope everyone's dreams for the day come true! I continue to pray for a simple phone call; nothing more, nothing less!

Have a blessed day!
Karen

WHOO HOO - The Wylie Pirates move on to play Cedar Hill next weekend at Texas Stadium. This is the furthest we've been in 3 years (and the furthest we've ever been since we started in 5A play)! Watching the team, and sitting with our football buddies (along with all our little idiosyncrasies of where we must sit - we're not the least bit superstitious!) has been a ball! I do miss my afternoon nap on Saturday though!

I'm kinda grateful the holiday is over and I'm back to a "normal" routine, if you can call anything about my life routine! Still no call from the hospital, but the house is decorated and some of the gifts are bought - so maybe when I finish with all the shopping, we'll get the call!

A.H.M.O.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.

Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE, has to go see Four Christmases!!! Take Kleenex - you'll need them to wipe the tears from your eyes as you're rolling off your chair with laughter! As is always the case, Vince Vaughan steals the show, but Reese Witherspoon certainly holds her own! It is a great movie and a great time!

Love to you all!
Karen

Two Days after Thanksgiving

Can it be that Thanksgiving 2008 has already come and gone? Can it be that the Christmas decorations are already up and the house looks totally ready for Santa Claus? Yes, , there is a Santa Claus!

Today is another playoff round at Texas Stadium - the Wylie Pirates (A.H.M.O Pirates!) take on Arlington Bowie. We're going to the game before because we'll play the winner of that game next weekend, WHEN WE WIN TODAY!

Zach, Ashley and a friend of theirs is supposed to meet us at the game - it'll be good to see them! I hate it when he doesn't come home - better get used to it, huh?

I hope all our wonderful friends had a blessed Thanksgiving, surrounded by family and love!

Karen

Thanksgiving Night 2008

So many things to be grateful for...a fairly healthy family, Mother out of the hospital, Jay doing "okay," and Luby's Key Lime Pie!!! OH YUM!

I am disappointed that Zach didn't come home and not sure why - he says it's "too far to drive." Can you imagine how he'd feel if he were in Prescott, Arizona!? He seems fine though and of course, in the end, that is all I care about. And of course, that he's healthy! I ask for nothing more...he'll be home for Christmas!

Saturday is the Wylie Pirates (AHMO) next round of playoffs at Texas Stadium against Arlington Bowie. I am so excited - is there ANYTHING like high school football, especially when your team is in the playoffs????

I started Christmas shopping today - online of course! I did venture into Wal-Mart (its amazing to me how many stores are open on Thanksgiving Day). It wasn't horrible, but I also needed only 4 things and knew EXACTLY where they were! In and out in 20 minutes! My idea of the perfect shopping time! Hahaha!

Hope everyone that reads this had something to be thankful for today and remembered to send up blessings to the Good Lord above for those blessings. He wraps His arms around me every day and I hope you feel His arms around you!

Love and blessings to all,
Karen

Someone Always Has it Worse

Last night sitting at dinner with Jay, we were talking about good friends and health problems that she has going on - I won't mention names "to protect the innocent." But she has some major health problems and while Jay was describing her latest ordeal - she must now have special contact lenses made (that cost $6,000 which insurance of course, DOES NOT pay for) - or her other choice is to have her eyes sewn shut. How do I lose track of how bad things really are or can be for others?

Yes, Jay needs a liver, but in less than 3 years, he's gone from a 6 on the MELD score to a 21! That's amazing, considering the process. He may even get his liver before Christmas - what a blessed gift!

I should learn to be more grateful for what I have!

Just Discovered Bloggin

Hello everyone and welcome to the Smith Family Insanity - named appropriately for the insanity that exists in our world due to so many things! Jay on the transplant list (and moving up quickly), Zach away at college (and doing well without his mother), Solo (who has turned into the "child" of the family) and me...well, there's just nothing you can say about me!

We're grateful for everything we have and every moment we have. Life is generally good, except for the few things that seem insurmountable when in fact, they aren't! Jay will get a liver and return to a healthy life...Zach will graduate from college (with minimal help, except for $$$ from his mother), Solo will remain my "baby" and me, well, once again, there's just nothing you can say.

I am grateful for everything I have and take NOTHING for granted! I am blessed by an incredibly wonderful family, loving friends and more blessings than any one person should be entitled to! I will add pictures as I get into this, but for the moment, I'm so glad that Angie (one of my dearest friends of all) has turned me on to this!