It's the small things...

I went to Walmart today for the first time in 2 tennis shoes!!!! I know to some that's not a big deal, but when you have been in a boot for 5 months it is a HUGE deal! I was able to grocery shop, stock up on after Christmas stuff, and look at scrapbooking stuff all in 1 trip! My foot hurts still, I'm thinking it's the tendon stretching out after all that time without any support.

I was also thinking last night as I brushed my teeth how I prayed for God to heal my foot. During our Beth Moore study, I began to pray....well think & pray...maybe by the time the next study rolls around I'll be out of my boot. Well God sure does have a sense of humor. We start the new Beth Moore in 2 weeks! So I guess watch out what you pray for! LOL!

I'm so thankful for my tennis shoes though. Thanks for the prayers and concerns as I'm still on the road to recovery!

So we are hopeful....

Well at least Luke is. I'm about 2 % hopeful, but I have been dealing with a boot for 5 months now. The doctor told me today to wear a tennis shoe. He gave me an insert to put in my shoe and then we went to the New Balance store to buy another insert. I have MAJOR arch support now and it gets all the pressure off that joint but it still REALLY hurts even with the support. He wants to see me in 4 weeks to see how it's going. He said my Sesamoid bone is rather large in that toe and really doesn't want to remove it and the tendon (it would cause problems for my toe...and we don't want that!!!). So for now, I'm out of the boot. That is hopeful for me, as I can now get my calf muscle back....talk about having a chicken leg!!!

I'm ready to exercise again as I used to could walk 3 miles about 3 times a week. Maybe soon I will be up to that again. For now, I'll stick with the shoe and be thankful that God got me out of the boot. I'm also thankful the Lord let someone invent IB Profen...as I ought to own stock in it by now!

Thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement and prayers. It's been a long road, but hopefully I'm on the way to recovery!!! I so appreciate ya'll!!

I'm a little nervous...

So tomorrow is my big day with a brand new foot specialist. I go to see him tomorrow at 12:30 to see what he says about my toe. I'm thinking it's probably going to be surgery or a cast, either way I'm definitely going to need a new boot because mine is falling apart! We'll just pray for guidance and I know the Lord will be there every step of the way with me...literally!!!

A big THANKS should go out to Luke on this blog. He helped me today take down all the Christmas and pack it away in the attic. Some of you may think we are nuts to take it down so soon, but it has been up since November 1st...so it was time. Luke also knows that it would drive me nuts to have to look at it if for some reason I got stuck in a cast. We all know I'm not the great "rester"!!!

I'll keep ya posted on what the Doc says!

I forgot something!

Waffle House Menu....All Star Baby!

Luke, Me, Reed

Mom & Dad

Luke & Reed

Me & dad

Ok, so in my last slide I forgot to post the pics of us from Waffle House. The blog would not be complete without those. Thanks Mom for taking these pics...they turned out really good!

Merry Christmas!

Luke and I had a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by great families. We went to our annual Christmas Eve celebration at church. I just love hearing the Christmas story and seeing all the candles. I think we had 2400 in attendance...it was packed! We all ended up at Waffle House (another tradition) and ate a good breakfast for supper. Reed joined us...as usual. He's always a hoot and always orders a Patty Melt. I say every year I want one of those and never order it...maybe next year! After that Luke and I went to his parents house to exchange gifts. We got some cool clothes and I LOVE my comfy socks! I need all the help I can get in the comfy area when it comes to my boot!

Christmas Day Luke and I got up around 6 am. We opened our gifts to each other. He got a Lowepro bag, a Subway card (because I hate to eat there...yuck!!!), and a head light. He got me the coolest digital portable picture frame, a Paula Deen book, and some new scrapbooking glue. The dogs were ready for Santa to come too! MadisonMurphy kept telling me Santa was coming through the mailbox...but I had to explain that he comes in the chimney...not the mailbox! Anyways...they loved their cookies and their new toys. The cats also loved the laser light we got them...it's cheap entertainment for us!

We went to Mom and Dad's that morning for Christmas. Mom and Dad got us a new surround sound system which will be cool in the living room. Mom loved her new BIG prints of Sadie and Mertis. Mom framed a cross stitch piece Dad made some 26 years ago...he did so well the front looks as good as the back!!! Dad was shocked I scanned 5,000 of our family photos for him. I think he was even MORE shocked to learn I did all 4,000 of them 1 at a time. Then, Luke explained to me that my scanner would do more than 1 photo at a time....so the last 1,000 were really fast!!!

Dad also bought Guitar Hero for everyone to play....what fun that was! We don't need to give up our day jobs as some of us aren't that great being rock stars! Mom and I fixed an awesome Christmas day meal of Pork Roast, Dressing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Dressing, Corn Casserole, Green Beans, Orange Fluff, & Chicken and Dumplings. She made 4 pies too! It took us all day to fix it and 15 minutes to eat it!!!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus's birthday.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Luke and I had his family over for some Christmas fun this morning. Brunch began at 9 o'clock and I think we ate for a good 2 solid hours! We had so much fun. I love having a house full of people, hearing everyone talking, and hearing the laughter...it's wonderful! We passed around gifts....I made ornaments for everyone (thanks Lisa!), cookies galore, and even Alicen's Bon Bons. It was a great time! Thanks everyone for coming!!!

A Funny Conversation

Sometimes you just have funny conversations...ones that just make you laugh! Here's one Luke and I had while driving in the car. We have been listening to David Phelp's Christmas CD which is AWESOME!!!! I highly recommend it!

Me: Singing, singing, singing....

Luke: "So, when do you think he's coming back???"

Me: (thinking to myself....how would I know!!!)..."I don't know....no one really knows when Jesus is coming back...how would I know??? (I mean we are listening to Christmas music after all!!!)

Luke: laughing and shaking his head. "Not Jesus, David Phelps!!!"

Me: "OOOOHHHH, well I have no idea about that one either!" I again turn the music up and we go back to listening!!!

Somethings just make you smile!

Branson Landings & More

Joe's Place!

My Coconut Shrimp

Luke's Shrimp Platter

We were sooo cold!!!

Pizza Chef Menu

Cute little place

Our Garlic Cheese Bread

Me & the Christmas Tree

Luke and the lights

Our Pizza

Yesterday was FREEZING in Branson. I cannot begin to tell you how cold it was other than when my eyes would water and the tears hit my jacket they froze in droplets on my jacket!!! We ate lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Luke had the Shrimp Platter and I had the Coconut Shrimp. We were stuffed afterwards...I guess we really did enjoy our lunch! We shopped around the landings and then we decided to drive around Branson.

Since it was getting dark we decided to go to Hollister for supper. We love the Pizza Chef in Hollister...it's a little pizza joint and their pizza is too good! We ordered their garlic cheese bread and a Chicken Alfredo Pizza...YUMMY!!! All in all, we had a great time in Branson...bought a few things, ate a LOT, spent quality time together, and celebrated Jesus's birthday...what more could we want! Thanks Luke for a great weekend!

Fudruckers

My Bacon Cheddar Burger

Luke's 3 cheese burger

Just plain old Me

Oh Lukey Pookey!

Fudruckers

So I found Luke's pics from last night's dinner! We had a great time...but I am still freezing in these pics! The food was good and I LOVED their sweet potato fries!!! Thanks Luke for dinner and pushing me around!!

Branson Again??

Yes, Luke and I are in Branson again! We simply LOVE this place. We got here yesterday afternoon and stopped for a great lunch at Bandanna BBQ. I'm not really a BBQ person but this place is too good! We decided to go to SDC last night as opposed to tonight. The high here today is 25 and the low is supposed to be between 3 and 8 degrees!!! Last night was cold enough!!!

I have a wonderful hubby who doesn't mind pushing his wife in a wheel chair. I have to say since I've had my boot on (5 months now) I have yet to use an electronic wheelchair...and I'm so thankful for that!!!

Silver Dollar City is so pretty. This is our 3rd time to come and see the lights this year. We got there around 3 and walked the park...well I guess I rode around the park! It was VERY cold! We stayed long enough to see the big tree light up and then we left. My toes were hurting they were so cold...and I even had on 2 socks!!!

We ate supper at Fudruckers. Their Fry Dipping Sauce is really good....I think it's BBQ Sauce, mayonnaise, honey, and some mustard. Our burgers were good along with our Sweet Potato Fries. Well we are off to shop some today and hit the Landings tonight!

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

White Christmas is starting!!!

Me & Luke

Amber & Mark

Their tree is so pretty!

Last night we went to Mark and Amber's house for dinner and a movie. Amber and Mark made some good chili, cheese dip, and corn bread. I ate so much!!! We snacked on Chocolate Gobs that I made which really do stick to your teeth. After stuffing ourselves, we settled on the couch with coffee and White Christmas. This is mine and Amber's favorite movie. I always cry at the end...it's just so good! Bing Crosby is simply wonderful! If you've never seen it you must...it's wonderful!!! Thanks guys for a great night. We have so much fun with ya'll! Merry Christmas!

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies!

On the day it iced I decided to bake! I made 4 big loaves of Pumpkin Bread and 8 mini loaves. I also made a TON of sugar, gingerbread, and chocolate chip cookies. These will all be gifts somewhere down the road. For now, they are in the freezer...some little gingerbread men didn't do so hot and are in crumbles in the freezer but that's OK! Now all we have to do is ice them next week! Thank goodness Luke can help with that. I'm also thankful that's a sitting down job as my foot was killing me after baking all these cookies!

What NOT to do in your kitchen!

The other night I made a Pork Tenderloin, Fried Okra, Baked Sweet Potatoes, and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins for supper. I plated our food putting the skillet the fried okra was in-in the sink. I then place the pan of Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins on that burner...keep that in mind. We sat down, said the blessing, and began eating. I really enjoyed my Sweet Potato...and kept thinking how it smelled like browning marshmallows. The smell kept getting stronger and out of the corner of my eye I noticed the pan of muffins smoking! Our kitchen was filled with smoke from the burnt muffins....the burner was still on! So, if you ever take something off a burner, make sure you turn the burner OFF!!! Or you'll end up with these! Not a good smell in the house!

Christmas Party with Friends

Gang's all here!

Mom's pies were TOO good

Me & the beverages

Food Spread

Me & Dad

Saturday night (it was a WEEK of Christmas Parties for us!) we went to Mom and Dad's for a Christmas Party. Mom fixed a GREAT meal: Pork Roast, Squash Casserole, Ranch Potatoes, Green Beans, Rolls, Fruit Salad, Deviled Eggs, and a Chicken Ring. She also made Chocolate Pie, Coconut Creme, and a Kentucky Derby Pie. We were stuffed. Mr. Jim entertained us for sure! The Barkers got to show of pics of their new grand baby....he's adorable! Mr. Herschel and Cindy are such sweet people....I want to try some of his dressing at Thanksgiving...it sounded wonderful! Thanks Mom for inviting us over for a great meal and fun friends! Love ya!

INA Christmas Party

The Capital Hotel

Luke's Self Portrait

Mrs. Flippo & Her Husband Darren (she was my English teacher in High School)...

Wendy and her BIG remote!

Me sporting my game...and the wine the waiter poured me I didn't even want! He just poured without asking!

Me & Janet almost dressed alike!

Amber & Mark

Mark & Luke

Me & Amber

A pose before we left

Friday night we had Luke's work party. We met at the Capital Hotel and had a great dinner! I had never been in the Capital Hotel before and my was it gorgeous. The service was wonderful and the food was pretty good too! We played the game Dirty Santa....and after stealing Mark & Amber's present....we ended up getting stuck with the game Twister (which my little tutor girl loved!). I asked Luke if he thought I could play this in my boot! LOL!! Enjoy the pics! My new shirt I wore I got a steal for at Frontpage in Neosho (25 bucks!)....it was pretty but boy did it have static! I made everyone sick from the static gard here at home!