
Hello, I am Sami and welcome to my blog. For a few weeks now, I have been feeling some really big "growth spurts" inside of me. I am 30 something wife, mom/stepmom who has always put her children first. As of this year one of our sons will become an adult, two of our children will become teens and one will become a preteen. While I will continue to make my children a priority I must put my husband and our marriage first. I will also focus on bringing the woman within me out. I look forward to this new chapter in my life in order to watch our children grow into responsible adults, to love and cherish my husband and to be the beautiful, confident woman God created. Please join me in my journey and always feel free to comment, offer advise, or just say hello!
Hi Sami .. good to be back from Africa and love your site

Sorry I have been gone for several days. We were hit with another winter storm late Wednesday night that continued through Friday morning. The kids were out of school Thursday and Friday. I didn't end up going into work on Thursday myself. I was watching the news and the roads and traffic looked horrible. My husband did go into work. It usually takes him 30 minutes to get to work and it ended up taking him 2 hours!!!! That kind of stuff is not for me. I did venture out late Thursday afternoon because Hylari had a hair appointment. We just took our time and the roads were not too terribly bad by that point. When we got to the salon they had told us that everyone cancelled their appointment for the day. Hylari's original appointment was at 5:30 but I called around 1:30 to see if I could get her in any earlier. By the time we got there around 2:00 they told us we were their first and only appointment for the day. They were going to close the salon down as soon as Hylari and I left. It was fun to have the salon to ourselves. Hylari got real pampered. We got her hair highlighted and her eye brows waxed! She was a real trooper getting her eye brows done but says she is never going to do it again. I hope she changes her mind because they look really good!
Here is a close up of her hair. Note since she got contacts last week she finally gets to wear sunglasses which she thinks is the best thing since sliced bread!

Hylari's Great Grandma on her dad's side of the family passed away last Wednesday. She had been in hospice care for the last 3 weeks so her death was not unexpected. She was a creative, crafty woman and we are so honored that Hylari had her Great Grandma in her life for 12.5 years! These pictures are the dress we got Hylari to wear to the funeral. We are planning on her wearing it as her Easter dress as well but with pink leggings (if needed ...weather wise).


Then while I am on the subject of pictures I will throw a few more out here:
Brock with his Science project. Can you tell how interested he is in having his picture taken?

This is what happens when you coach basketball for eight 12 year olds and they get under your feet and you end up falling down. My poor hubby!

I can't believe I am posting this one. But I am actually using it as motivation for myself. This is me and the dog relaxing after one of AJ's basketball games. I am so disappointed in myself in the weight I have put back on. I am starting my exercise routine again. I don't know if I ever posted a picture or not but those are my new glasses.

Here is my girl receiving an award for being on the Principal's Honor Roll. The blonde headed lady in the flowered dress is her principal. She is such a beautiful woman.

Then last but not least some flowers my girl gave to me:

Now onto really important stuff....like Jaxon! Jaxon had a second liver transplant on Friday and he is doing absolutely wonderful!!! Thank you for ALL of the prayers. After they removed the first transplanted liver the doctors noticed it was incredibly hard and they said it would have never worked right. Within hours of receiving the second liver his coloring of his skin was absolutely beautiful! He is a nice shade of pink now. He is swollen a bit but the amonia levels in his body are normal and he was able to go #1 which means his kidneys are functioning on their own! Wahooo! They did hook him up to dialysis once they verified he could go on his own. They want to get the extra fluid off of his body fairly quickly. Although he is still sedated he is starting to move around which is a good sign. God is so good!
I got a new book over the weekend. It is called May the Best Man Die by Deborah Donnelly. I didn't realize it at the time of purchase but there is all kinds of books in a series about Carnagie Kincaid who is a Wedding Planner. I am already half way through it. The good thing is they are only $6 so I can keep on reading them. Since I did not know it was part of a series I am not sure where this one falls. I was looking at them on Amazon over the weekend but didn't look too hard because I didn't want to read the experts from the books in case it would ruin this one.
I must be off for now. I have something weighing heavily on my heart that I will probably share later on this week.
Have a great one!