I'm back!

Happy New Year!! 

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in so long! I've started probably 20 or more posts, but haven't been able to finish them or post them. But, I'm so close now to finishing an update on all that's happened since my last post in May! 

I will post that update in the next couple of days, so be looking for that! I've missed blogging so much because it's really therapeutic for me, and I hope it helps other people as well! 

I just got home from the hospital because I had a procedure done today to try and figure out the cause of some problems I've been having. I'll explain more about that in another post! 

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm back and will start posting regularly again! Thank you so much for you prayers, support, encouragement, patience, and understanding! It means so much to me!!! 

I would love to hear from you to see how you all are doing and if you still read my blog! So if you want to, you can leave a comment on this post and let me know

how you're doing and if there's anything that you need prayers for! I would love to pray for you! 

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Surgery This Morning

This morning at 9:30 I had another abdominal surgery (my 4th) and it all went well! The surgery was scheduled a little over a week ago, so thankfully they got me in fast because I've been in a lot of pain for about a month or more now. Sometime, hopefully very soon, I'll update as to why I needed another a abdominal surgery and where we are going from here. We are hopeful about some new options we have. But tonight I just wanted to let you know all know that the surgery went well and there weren't any complications! I'm doing as well as expecteded after abdominal surgery  

Thank you so much for your prayers! Please keep praying for my recovery from the surgery! 

Hope you're having a great week and have a peaceful rest of the week and weekend!

Finally an update!

I'm so sorry for not posting sooner. Thank you so much for being patient with me. I hope I haven't lost any of you because I haven't posted in so long. I've started probably over 20 posts and just haven't been able to finish them. I'll explain why in my big update post, which I am almost done with. I'm hoping to finish it today, and if not today, then tomorrow. I'm really trying to get it done today though. I really, really miss blogging, but there have just been things going on that haven't allowed me to finish the posts that I've started. I REALLY appreciate your emails to check on me and make sure that I am okay. They make my day and I absolutely love hearing from you, especially those of you who I haven't heard from before! So thank you so much for the encouragement, prayers, and emails to check on me. So how am I doing? I'm doing okay, just worn out and like I said, I haven't been able to finish all the posts I've started, which is very frustrating. My brain has been very overwhelmed lately, more than normal, which makes it hard to blog and figure out how to put my thoughts into words.

I had to go to the ER last weekend, while my parents were out of the country visiting missionaries from our church, for severe abdominal pain and we found out that I have more endometriosis, but I'll explain more about all that in my big update. Because of the endometriosis, I've had to have my pain medicine increased, and have also been put on Valium because my abdomen is so tight and swollen from the endometriosis. Because of my pain medicine increase and the Valium, I feel out of it which also makes it difficult to express my thoughts. But I'm slowly making progress. One step at a time.

These past several months I've been so frustrated that I'm still sick and missing out on a lot, and now I'm even more frustrated that the endometriosis is back and causing a lot of pain again. I've already had 2 surgeries for the endometriosis and tried several medicines to stop the endometriosis, but it's not working and our options aren't very good ones, but we're not giving up and we still have hope, but it's so frustrating. I'm trying to stay positive and remember that God is carrying me and my family through all of this.

The past several weeks, the sunrises and sunsets have been incredible. They make me stop and realize that GOD, the same God that makes these breathtaking sunrises and sunsets is holding ME in His everlasting arms, and promises that He has great plans for ME, and that through His son's sacrifice on the cross and because I accepted Him in baptism for the forgiveness of my sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, that one day, when God calls me home, I will be safe in His arms forever! And God promises all of this to everyone who believes in Him accepts Him in baptism! When I look up and see these sunrises and sunsets that take your breath away, I'm reminded that I can say "It Is Well" because one day in Heaven, all will be well, and I will be healed from this disease that is destroying so much and causing so much pain. It reminds me of such a great old hymn that we sing in church.

"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives!"

This first picture was the sunset right as we were leaving the hospital last week when I had to go to the ER for severe abdominal pain, when we found out that the endometriosis is back. I was so upset but felt a peace when I saw the sunset.

Beautiful sunrise one morning

The sunset Saturday night. This picture is not edited at all! How great is our God?!

This sunset was just after it rained, so the storm had just cleared and turned into a beautiful sunset!

I'm working on an update to post so it'll be done in the next couple of days! I've just been exhausted since my grandma passed away 11 days ago. I didn't realize how much goes info planning a funeral. For about a week, we didn't get home until very late after being gone all day to plan the funeral, so we are all very tired! Some nights we didn't go to bed until 3am! But we are doing okay, just missing my grandma a lot. It still doesn't seem real to me most of the time. But I'm so thankful that she's safe in Heaven with God, not hurting. I'll post a real update as soon as I can, which should be in the next day or two! Hope you're having a great week so far!!

My Grandma, Anita

"May 1, 1930 - Feb 15, 2013 Edmond Anita Jackson Hall passed away February 15, 2013. She was born in Madison, GA to S.E. and Lois Jackson on May 1, 1930. Anita attended Stetson University the fall of 1948 and then transferred to Harding College in Searcy, AR in the fall of 1949. She married Elmo Hall on August 10, 1951. She and Elmo became members of the Memorial Road Church of Christ in the spring of 1977 and have remained active members until her death. She is survived by her husband, Elmo Hall, of the home; two daughters: Janet Hall, of Edmond; and Teresa Wilguess and her husband John, of OKC; two grandchildren, Victoria and Landon Wilguess; brother, Harold Jackson and his wife Lois, of Sarasota, FL, and their three children. The family will be available to greet friends during visitation, Tuesday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. at Baggerley funeral home. Services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, February 20, 2013, at Memorial Road Church of Christ, with interment to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery."

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/oklahoman/obituary.aspx?n=ANITA-HALL&pid=163165941#fbLoggedOut

Like the obituary says, the visitation with our family is tonight and the funeral service, followed by a graveside service is tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for all your prayers and words of encouragement during this difficult time. We find peace and comfort knowing that she is with God now! We also love hearing memories about her so if you have one, please share them with us! We love hearing them.

My grandma is in Heaven

My precious grandma (my mom's mom) went to be with Jesus in Heaven tonight. She is HOME. "She has fought the good fight, she has finished the race, she has kept the faith" 2 Timothy 4:7

My Parent's 24th Anniversary!

Happy (late) 24th anniversary to the best parents in the world (Their anniversary was yesterday)! I don't know what I would do without them. They show us how to live for Christ every day and they've sacrificed so much the past 6 years that I've been sick-they never gave up when doctor after doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong, they took me across the country, looking for answers and did what they had to do, even when that meant going to a clinic that doesn't take insurance and is all the way across the country. That also meant that my family has had to spent a total of 6 months (spread out over 4 years) apart while my mom and I were in Nevada while I was getting treatment at the clinic where my Lyme doctor is. My dad and brother had to stay home so my dad could work and my brother could go to school, while they tried to maintain some normalcy since life has to go on, which I know wasn't easy when they know I'm sick enough to need treatment across the country and they can't be there to know how I'm doing. But my parents do what they have to do, and they've sacrificed so much. They've sat in the hospital with me too many times to count, feeling so helpless but never leaving my side, and comforting me as only parents can do, telling me it will be okay, even when they aren't sure if it will be. They've become close to being a nurse and doctor as they have to make big medical decisions on their own since my doctor is across the country and no one here knows about Lyme. My mom gives me shots, accesses my port for me to do IVs at home, and stays up way too late researching possible treatments all over the world, hoping for a cure for this disease that has invaded our family. This disease has changed our lives, brought many tears and fears, but the most important thing that my parents have done in our lives is made sure that we know that God hasn't changed and that we will praise Him always, even in this storm, because this life is temporary. Illness and trials like we are experiencing can break a family and cause them to be bitter toward each other and God, but because of my parents faithfulness to God and them teaching my brother and I, by example, how to live for God, these trials have only brought us closer together. We've learned that God does give you more than you can handle, BUT, He doesn't give you more than you can handle WITH Him. Because of that, we've learned to completely rely on God because He never changes, and we've learned to cry out to Him. My parents are incredible and I'm so thankful to God for them! "If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. We’ve been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we’re not demoralized; we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we’ve been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn’t left our side; we’ve been thrown down, but we haven’t broken. So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever" -2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18 (MSG)