Life has taken me on a very crazy ride the past 3 years! Now that life is slowing back down I need to reconnect with everyone. My email was hacked years ago, my cell phone fell in the pool and I lost all of my contacts, and I can't remember my old passwords for fandom sites. I suppose Livejournal may be the only way to find my long Lostbuddies. Anyway, if you want to reconnect, I am alive. Love to all!

Here is an update on Lexi. It was truly a very tough day for us both. We saw her neurologist today, who wanted to admit her to the hospital for "encephalopathy lupus". Dr. Richards said that because Lexi has lupus we need to be very aggressive to make sure we find out what's going on to cause the seizures, memory loss, and the twitching. She wants her to have an EEG, an MRI with and without contrast, and another neuropsych consult since her cognitive dysfunction symptoms are progressively getting worse. When "hospital" was mentioned the looks on our faces had Dr. Richards stop in her tracks (she saw Lexi's fear and my reaction to Lexi). She then commented that she would go consult with Lexi's other docs for a few minutes and come back with a plan (her neurologist, rheumatologist, dermatologist, and gastroenterologist all work together in the same practice). She returned with an alternative that won't require hospitalization (at least not right away). Basically, Lexi will report to the hospital on a Friday night to be fitted for EEG equipment and then be sent home. We will report back to the hosipital to have the equipment removed the following Monday. Although the neurologist said the hospital test would provide the best, most detailed results over a three day stay, they were willing to give this plan a go first and try to avoid the hospital stay altogether. She did comment that a hospital stay is likely if they are not able to get all the info. needed through the weekend monitoring.
We are now just waiting to be contacted by the medical providers as they set up all this testing. I'll keep you all posted on the latest.

When Grandaddy died in Spring my brother and I flew to Tennessee together for the funeral. During the flight we began talking about recent movies and he insisted that I have Lexi watch "Taken". We watched it this AM on pay-per-view (I made Lexi set aside her cell phone for the movie) and I was soooo glad my brother pushed the subject. I honestly think all teenage girls need to watch that movie! Besides, Maggie Grace is in the flick and she does an awesome job! I was truly impressed.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0936501/

Hellooooo you all everybody! Just wanted to drop a line and let everyone know that Lexi will be going in for her 3-month lupus check on Tuesday. I'll post an update on her progress and a long overdue Long update (tee hee) as well! I miss you all and I'll be back online again regularly very soon. I truly hope to get the chance to see some of you at D*C (if things work out in my favor)!

For those of you that Facebook....I have decided not to continue with that account much because a lot of my students are on there and able to link into my posts, comments, pics, etc. I'm not informed enough to know how to filter that stuff from them, so I think it's best not to use that account much. Make sense?

Blowing kisses to you all! Miss you!

While watching Lost tonight I screamed outloud. I was thrilled, elated, electrified.....thus, I screamed outloud with immense joy that could be heard around the world! (yes, that was me) My LostLife is now offically reborn. Thank you God!

that is all

Hello You All Everybody!!!

I know I've been absent so long, but I'm still alive and kicking. I've missed lots of birthdays and important updates, and most of all....I have missed all of you, TREMENDOUSLY! Things are starting to get much better in exil-land so I hope you are ready to see me around more often. I'll post a huge update soon....so much to tell you all. In short, my life has done a complete 360 about 360 times. Talk about dizzy...SHEESH!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone. Much love to Lana and Trevor for the card (I love all the pics of your beautiful family!!), as well as Mel in Philly! Thanks for remembering me!!!! Hugs and kisses for all of you...you are not forgotten! I miss you all sooooooo much.

I love you all!!!

P.S. Can you believe we are suppose to get snow in Austin at midnight? That means the whole city will shut down. Yeah for a snow day!! (A snow day means I get to catch up on LJ)

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Ghost   Life has beat you into a mere shadow, and you have little to gain or lose in the world. Quiet and introspective until roused, when you become a scarier, poltergeistier thing.
Incubus/Succubus
Sorceror
Vampire
Werewolf
Demon
Cthulu Spawn
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Thanks to everyone for keeping us in your prayers! Lexi is still having a difficult time with leg pain and has little energy. She had to drop her Spanish I course because doctor's appts. were interfering too much. She was sad but didn't want to continue because she was slipping further and further behind.

My job starts Monday and I'm hyped. The thing is that I'm totally crazy for putting even more on my plate right now. But this job was sort of put in my lap so how could I refuse? It's part time....I teach 4 classes from 10:30-1:30 then I work with 2nd grade until 4:10. I usually pull back in my driveway around 5 PM. I'm still spending mornings at doctor's appts. Our October is pretty booked then things should slow down.

Please don't forget about me just because I'm not around as much.

Much love for everyone!

Chris

Lexi's Lupus diagnosis was confirmed with a biopsy and ANA test. She's been really sick now for 2 months so life has been a real chore these days, mostly for her but as you know....a mother is only as well as her sickest child and only as happy as her saddest child. Her biggest obstacle right now is lethargy and leg pain. She's missed some school which is a bit scary since she's taking three high school classes this year (she's in 8th grade). Still, she's keeping up. We're going to tour Texas A&M over Thanksgiving break. She's determined to be an Aggie. She's a strong girl for living in Austin and daring to go to A&M. *hee hee

This was Lexi at the beach when her face started falling off. It's healing, so no worries.

TJ has discovered girls. My word, has he discovered girls. Or should I say the girls have discovered him. They won't stop calling. It's ridiculous. He's always been a great student and suddenly he's now struggling in math. Well, I guess he is a cutie...



Lia turns 9 tomorrow. *sigh* We had a really fun hotel sleepover party Friday night. Good Times!



Many thanks to all of you who posted b-day wishes for me. I have just briefly checked out LJ and want to let you know that I will catch up soon and do a worthy post...promise. Oh, and I must express my gratitude to 1oldmanfan for looking out for me during Ike's fury!

Oh....I was just offered a teaching position and I accepted. I'll be working with 1st-3rd grades as a literacy instructor beginning next Monday. I'm so excited!

*must go to bed now*

Love to all!

I took my Girl Scouts to South Padre Island for our annual beach trip and while we were there Lexi's face started falling off. I don't know how else to describe it...pieces of her skin just started coming off. I took her to the Dermatologist today and they were perplexed (as usual) but really think she has Lupus. They took a biopsy and put two stitches in to close it up. It looks like we may finally get a definitive diagnosis for our girlie. The picture doesn't really show the severity of the spots, but you'll get the idea...


Here's just one pic of some of my scouts, including Lexi.



I have to go work up at school for a bit and then I'm off to take a 4 1/2 hour teacher certification exam....and Lexi has Open House at school tonight. Yikes! What a busy day. I'll post more beach trip photos soon.

Thanks to all of you who voted for my video...it's not too late and I really need your vote if you haven't voted yet. See it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9AJ7Gaow50 and post a text message for my video if you can.

I love you all!!!!!

I need your help please! My video was just accepted to a contest my university is hosting. The top prizes are scholorships and I REALLY need some financial help. I finished my video, but didn't use the theme song I wanted to after reading in the rules that copywrited material should not be used. You could really help me by voting for my video and asking all your friends and family to vote too.....

Dear Friends and Family,

The video submission period for the WGU Video Scholarship is ending soon. Please take the time and visit my video, vote and leave a comment. The voting to select the finalists ends August 23, so get your votes in soon to ensure I’m included. Clicking on the star rating on my video on YouTube counts as a vote.

You can view my video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9AJ7Gaow50 . If you have an account with YouTube, log in and vote for my video. If you would like to sign up for an account with YouTube visit here: http://www.youtube.com/login

Feel free to visit http://www.wgu.edu/contest to learn more about the contest.

Thanks! I love you all!