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Tribute

Nannie Louise (Masey) Hollingsworth went home to be with the Lord on March 30, 2008. She passed peacefully into the next life with her family by her side. She was preceeded in death by her husband, Roy Edwin Hollingsworth, and a son, Roy Charles Hollingsworth. She leaves behind a daughter, Nana Diane Laboucane, of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada, and a son Nathan (Glenda) Hollingsworth of Pueblo, CO; eight grand children and twelve great-grand children; and numerous family and friends. She will be sorely missed.

Update...

My mom called me around 12:30pm yesterday to tell me they were going to move Grammy. We went up to be with the family for the evening, and get her settled. Grammy has been moved from the hospital to a Hospice center. It is a very nice place, with room for all of us to be with her. It is quiet and peaceful, and the staff are such wonderful, caring people. The Lord has blessed them with a special gift. (I'll write about that more later) She's been taken off everything except the oxygen, and they are giving her pain medicine to keep her pretty sedated so that she is not having all the involuntary movement. They have told us it will not be long, her blood pressure is very low, and she is not getting any nourishment, no IV's or anything. She looks like she is in a peaceful sleep, and has been unresponsive since Tuesday. She is basically in a coma now, it's up to the Lord how long before He calls her home. We are kind of expecting it to be sometime Tuesday, since it will be exactly three years since my Granddad passed away on that day. My dad is taking this really hard. Please pray for us all...

More yummy food...

With everything going on, I hadn't had a chance to post these yummy looking pictures! MMM!!!

Chicken Fajita Potatoes...

& Carne Rellanos with Cilantro Lime Rice...

Some family pics...

We took family pictures the other day with my family, and thought we'd share some with you! :-)

Update

G took me to see my grandmother yesterday. She is in critical condition, is not good at all. She is not lucid, she moans and tries to talk, but much of it is not understandable. She did open her eyed for about 30 seconds the whole time we were there, which was about three hours. The doctors still don't know for sure what's wrong with her, they only have conjectures. They think that one of the blood clots may have broken up and a part of it made it to her head, too small for them to detect with the CT-Scan or MRI. She is not presenting with "classic" stroke symptoms though, all her motor skills are fine, it's just her cognisance that has been affected. And while she's "awake" she is in like a dream-like state, and has seizure-like movements constantly. It wears her out and then she'll still for a while, that's how we know she's sleeping. It is very emotionally draining to watch it. She would respond to my brother more than anyone this afternoon, but even that was minimal. My prayers are somewhat split at this juncture. One, that God would make her well, but two, that he would just end her suffering. Your continued prayers at this time are much appreciated.

Prayer request...

My grandmother (the only one still living) has been in the hospital since Thursday. The doctors don't know what's wrong with her. Most of the time she is very incoherent, not knowing where she is, or what day it is, and when she talks it's quite nonsensical. They have done a slew of tests, but they can not find anything wrong. They did find blood clots in her lungs, which are due to her inactivity (basically she gets out of bed and sits in her chair all day, only getting up to go to the bathroom or go back to bed), but that would not cause her current mental state, and there are no signs of any nerve or brain damage in any of the tests they have done. They are even saying she will not be able to live on her own anymore, that she will have to go, at the very least, to an assisted living facility.
G and I are going to go see here tomorrow. I don't want to look back someday and say, "I should have gone..." Even thought there are bad feelings and memories from a few years ago, she is my grandmother: the one I grew up down the street from; the one I ran away from home to (one afternoon my dad was mad at me and I ran down there to avoid getting a spanking :-) the one who I was close to; told my secrets to; and the one who taught me how to make pecan pies and apple crisp; and I love her still. And now that we live farther away I don't get to visit often. I pray the Lord will bless us with at least one more visit, if not many more for years to come. Please pray for her...

Getting fancy...

We though it was about time to update our site a little. Hope you enjoy it!

Yummy Recipes

Here a copule of yummy, easy dinners we've had lately! Thought you'd enjoy- and I even have pictures to show you! :-)

English Muffin Pizzas
Pretty much what they look like, put sauce and your favorite pizza toppings on top english muffin halves and bake til cheese is melted!


Hot Roast Beef Sandwhich
This was something new that turned out pretty good.
I cooked the beef roast in the crockpot all day on low (added 1 can of broth), it was falling apart when I got home from work!
Then I took about 1/2 cup of the broth and about 1 cup of milk and put in in a pan on the stove, started heating it. While that was heating, I took about 1/4 cup broth, 1/4 milk and 2-3 tablespoons of flour, combine to make a thin paste. Add some of the paste to the heating broth/milk in the pan. Let it come to a boil, it will thicken, if not thick enough, add a little more of the paste. If it gets too thick, add a little broth or milk to thin out. Salt & pepper to taste.
Then I toasted sliced bread, put it on the plate, put some of the roast on top and smother it! I served it with green beans- you could also put mashed potatoes on the "sandwhich" before smothering it.

New Arbonne Promotion!

Check out our "Guestbook Giveaway" on our Arbonne website! Click here to see what it's all about! :-)

Cheesburger Rice

One of our "new year's resolutions" has been to plan our meals out so we can better plan our shopping trips. We are trying to do one big shopping day in Pueblo (Sam's club for better prices) and just supplement a couple times a month for fresh produce & such. We got of to a rocky start, mostly because we haven't been home to use the menu :-) but I think I'll get the hang of it.
Anyway, we forgot to get a main ingredient for our planned meal on Monday, so I had to pinch-hit, and came up with this recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! :-)

Cheeseburger rice:
1lb ground beef
2 cups cooked rice (your favorite variety- cook according to package directions)
1 can tomato sauce
2 tbsp yellow mustard
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled bacon (I used the Hormel packaged bacon crumbles- they are pre-cooked- if you use fresh just cook it first and then crumble it on top)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown hamburger in skillet, drain. Combine tomato sauce, mustard & 1/4 cup ketchup. Mix rice, hamburger and tomato sauce mixture together. Put in oven-proof casserole dish, cover with remaining 1/2 cup ketchup. Top with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is crisp. ENJOY! :-)

New Beginnings

“Tell us, Tomorrow”

Two wise men were walking down the road of Time, saw Tomorrow approaching dimly in the distance. They shouted, “Tell us, Tomorrow, what are you like? Shall we fear you or feast you?” And Tomorrow answered, in tones that sounded clearly through the mist “ Come to me neither with anxiety nor procrastination, but with faith and hope and with Today’s work well-done. You can not know ahead what I am like, but when you reach me, you shall see me through the eyes of what you are.”
Esther Baldwin York

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." John 14:27 (NASB)

Happy New Year!!!

We are looking forward to all the wonderful possibilities the Lord has in store for us in 2008! It is not without its anxieties, as I face another surgery (which even with insurance – we aren’t quite sure how to pay for it) as well as countless medical bills from my previous surgeries when I didn’t have insurance at all.
But we are both blessed to be able to work and have good jobs (even if there are days we don’t want to go back there for anything) the Lord gives us strength to get through it. :-)
We have also been blessed to launch our own Arbonne business, and are anxious to see it grow this year. We hope to be able to get to a point where the Arbonne income will allow me to quit my job and stay at home when we start our family.

For now though, our family consists of two wonderful “puppies” that keep us occupied at home, and we are looking forward to some fun weekend excursions this spring and summer to take them on!
And we are looking forward to visiting family several times this year as well!

We have had a good start to our lives together and are looking forward to our first wedding anniversary in April. We are especially thankful that we found each other, and are looking forward to strengthening our relationship together and especially strengthening our relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our prayer for you, our friends and family, this year is that you too will find a stronger relationship with those you love, and with Christ Jesus- our precious Lord. He has given us another day, another year to be thankful and to worship Him! What an Awesome year we are going to have!!!

Christmas Highlights

G and I were lucky enough to get to celebrate Christmas twice this year. We celebrated in Pueblo with my family on Friday night before, and then got up on Saturday and drove to Clearwater to celebrate with his family.
Here's some pictures from Friday with my family.

"Are we there yet?"
Oreo and Jonah enjoy riding in the car- we took them to stay with Grandma & Poppie (my parents) while we went to Kansas.


The bugs. :-)


"Is Santa coming???"
My mom made stockings for our puppies to hang with their puppies' stockings.


This is one of my favorite gifts we got, from my brother & sister-in-law. We are going to hang them in our kitchen.



Then we got to celebrate Christmas on the day with G's family in Clearwater. Only his sister and her family were missing.

The nieces got lots of cool things!


Ellie got a Go Diego Animal rescue set, and Addy got a really neat scrapbook kit from aunt K.

Here's Jayme opening here Christmas ornament that I had lots of fun shopping for! "Fra-gi-le" :-)



Here's B opening his really cool TV trays (my shoulder is still suffering after affects of all the painting! :-)


All the brothers got these really neat helicopter fliers with launchers. Here is G playing with his new toy. :-) B didn't get to play with his too much- it broke after only a few launches- but he had to help G get his off the garage roof!


I also got some very nice gifts from my wonderful husband- my two favorites are my flannel lined jeans and my new purse! (Ellie and Addy like my DVD "The Grinch who stole Christmas!)


All in all it was a good time, tiring but good.
We are so very thankful to have lots of family to celebrate and visit with. But it is nice to come home too.
And Oreo was sooooo happy to see us she got up and danced! :-)

Thank You

DEAR GOD:
I want to thank You for what you have already done. I am not going to wait until I see results or receive rewards; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until I feel better or things look better; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until people say they are sorry or until they stop talking about me; I am thanking you right now! I am not going to wait until the pain in my body disappears; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until my financial situation improves; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until the children are asleep and the house is quiet; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until I get promoted at work or until I get the job; I am going to thank you right now. I am not going to wait until I understand every experience in my life that has caused me pain or grief; I am thanking you right now. I am not going to wait until the journey gets easier or the challenges are removed; I am thanking you right now. I am thanking you because I am alive. I am thanking you because I made it through the day's difficulties. I am thanking you because I have walked around the obstacles.
I am thanking you because I have the ability and the opportunity to do more and do better.

I'm thanking you because FATHER, YOU haven't given up on me.


Wow did I need this kick-in-the-pants! Sometimes I forget to thank God just because. We always wait til the situation is right, or we get what we want, or whatever. I need to make more of an effort to thank God for the hour, and for Him being in control so that I don't have to worry about tomorrow.
"So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" Matthew 6:34 (NASB)

Holly Jolly Christmas

Work Place 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my real Boss and I shall not want.
He gives me peace when Chaos is all around me.
He gently reminds me to pray before I speak,
And to do all things without
Murmuring and complaining.

He reminds me that He is my Source, not my job
He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decision,
That I might honor Him in everything I do.

Even though I face absurd amounts of emails,
System crashes, unrealistic deadlines,
Budget cutbacks, gossiping co-workers
And an aging body that doesn’t cooperate every morning,
I will not stop--- for He is with me!

His Presence, His Peace and His Power will see me through.
He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me.
He claims me as His own, even when the company may let me go.

His faithfulness and love re better than any bonus check
And His retirement plan beats every 401K that exists!
When it’s all said and done, I’ll be working for Him a whole lot longer
And for that I bless His name!

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Colossians 3:17 (NASB)

I am having a hard time of it today at work. And I have to keep repeating this to verse to myself- it is hard to work for the Lord when you are serving ungrateful people, working in a system that doesn't work (welfare system as well as computer system- which has been off-line all morning)and have co-workers who can not be grown up enough to clean up after themselves. I have been praying all morning, and have a feeling I will be that way all week the way its going! I know my memory verse for the week! :-) Hopefully I'll feel better after going to the chiropractor this afternoon...

Have Yourself a Merry Little Chirstmas

Snugle bugs

Here's how we found our puppies sleeping yesterday morning. :-)



They like their new toys we gave them (little chew ropes to play with when they are inside), but even with their own in front of them, they want the other's. :-)
Just like children- they fight and play just like a brother and sister!

And wore themselves out! :-)

WOW!!!

Wow! Wow! Wow! I went to my appointment at the chiropractor and I already feel much better! My elbow & hand are not numb, but my shoulder is still sore- but tolerable now! I have to go back on Monday because he couldn't finish working on my shoulder because it is soooo jacked up! He told me he would make it too sore if he kept going, so will have to wait. He used this new machine called a Pro-Adjuster. It's really cool, and gentle- not like the old maual cracking your back stuff. He said my shoulder and first rib were slightly dislocated and 5 of my 7 cervial and 11 of my 12 thorrasic vertebre were all out of alignment! (kudos to my hubby though- his nightly bear hugs have kept my lumbar vetebre in pretty good shape.)
I still can't believe how much better I already feel! I'm looking forward to Monday to see what a second adjustment brings :-)
WOW! :-)

The “gift” that keeps on giving…

I was in a pretty bad car accident in 1999. The girl hit me from behind so hard that it broke my seat back and I ended up laying down when all was said and done. At the time I was off work something like 10 or 12 weeks because of all the problems I was having; whiplash, couldn’t turn my head, dizzy spells, TMJ. I had them all. Eventually, with the aid of lots pf physical therapy, all the symptoms seemed to go away. I have had an occasional dizzy spell, they did get pretty bad a couple of years ago and I had to go to an ENT (ears, nose, throat) specialist because my doctor thought I had vertigo. The ENT doc said it was after effects from the whiplash, because mine was so severe, the swelling would come & go and mimic the symptoms of vertigo. He put me on a round of steroids to get rid of the swelling, and no problem since. Or so I thought...
Since January, I have been noticing that anytime I tried to lie on my left side, which I have always done, my shoulder would start popping. I could be lying perfectly still and “POP” would go my shoulder. I didn’t think much of it, started laying on my right side instead. Not a big deal. Then, about a month ago, out of the blue, I had a pretty good dizzy spell. I was standing outside my supervisor’s office when it hit, and I hit the floor. My behind was pretty sore (I sat strait down on the concrete floor from a standing position) and then it moved up my back, but I went home took a hot bath and stretched on my exercise ball, and by Monday I was as good as new. Until this past Wednesday, then my shoulder started aching quite a lot, I shrugged it off thinking I had aggravated it by unloading my car full of groceries on Tuesday afternoon. But then yesterday, my hand and arm starting hurting too, and then started going numb!!! That freaked me out! So last night I spent two and a half hours at the emergency room in Pueblo (an hour drive from our home), because I refuse to go to the “hospital” in La Junta (yes its that bad); all for the doctor to say he guesses its from the car accident, it might be a pinched nerve, I need to go see an orthopedic doctor and get an MRI. They gave me some pain pills and a sling and sent me home. So I am sitting here at work this morning, my left arm in a sling, my leg itching where the hives appeared this morning (side effect of the Vicodin), trying to type one- handed (and did I mention I’m left-handed??) and trying to decide which chiropractor to call, because I want to see if they can fix it without any more drugs or expensive tests… What next????

Update- I got an appointment this morning with the chiropractor here in town! I am thankful they could get me in so quickly! I hope this works, otherwise it's gonna be a long weekend with a numb elbow & hand...