Neglecting my blog!

I am so sorry I've been neglecting to update!  Things have been so crazy around here! 

In January we had a health scare with my youngest.  He's been having random stomach aches for the past 3 years, and had a diagnosis of IBS.  Well, when he had the same old stomach ache in January, I asked him to tell me what the pain felt like.  Low and behold, it was EXACTLY what I had with my gall bladder!  Who would have thought that a 12 year old could have gall bladder problems starting at age 9??  Well, certainly NOT his doctor, who kept telling me I was crazy (not in those words obviously).  So after many appointments and finally finding a pediatric gastroenterologist who actually believed me, he had his gall bladder removed in February.  Dr. Tvetenstrand (the same doc I had for the gastric bypass and gall bladder removal) said that he'd never seen a gall bladder so full of lesions on such a young person.  THANK GOD I went through all that back in December, or my baby would STILL be suffering with the extreme pain!

Now that we have Brandon's health crisis over, we're dealing with more issues with our oldest son, Devan.  He had a kidney transplant 8 years ago.  Unfortunately his kidney function is declining.  It isn't at critical levels yet, but we're watching him very closely.  He's scheduled for many tests over the next few weeks so we should know more when they are completed.  Please, if you pray, I'd really appreciate it!

Now for a stamping update!  As many of you know, the Syracuse regional was canceled due to adverse weather.  While making my swaps, the punch I was using started getting really stiff and hard to use. I decided to check out my other punches and see what I could come up with.  This is what I did....

Believe it or not, these are made using the Butterfly punch!  Here are the directions:

• Use butterfly punch and cut two pieces using Whisper White or other light colored cardstock.
• With Stampin' Write markers, color edges of butterfly wings.
• Spritz both sides with water, and scrunch the butterflies wings together
• Let dry slightly
• Glue the punched pieces together to form flower.
• Punch 5 petal flower using green cardstock (Certainly Celery and Old Olive are my favorites)
• Repeat spritzing process to make the leaves
• Glue to bottom of flower
• When flower is completely dry, color centers using Summer Sun and More Mustard dots.

You can then add these wonderful flowers to cards, boxes, pin backs, or anything else you can think of!  They are very easy to make, and the possible color combos are endless!


Now on the weight loss front.  I am now 6 months out from surgery, and happy to say I've lost 128 pounds!  I'm just 2 pounds away from being under 200!  I'm so excited!  I'm wearing a 14 regular in pants, and a large shirt!  I recently sold my 3X Stampin' Up sweater I got at convention and bought it in a large!  I am SO STINKIN' EXCITED!

Here are the latest pics....

I am finally feeling full of energy, and just enjoying life again!  Saturday morning it was nice enough here in northeast PA to finally walk outside.  I took the same route I had been walking before the surgery.  When I got to my usual turn around spot, I went right on by!  I ended up walking over 5 miles!  If you would have said even last fall that I'd be doing that, I'd have said YOU WERE CRAZY!  I even jogged part of it!

I still have about 40 lbs to go to goal, but I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Still having occasional issues with keeping certain things down, but it's getting better all the time.

Thanks to everyone for your continued support.  I couldn't do it without you!