Good Sunday

Good Sunday, to ya! How was everyone's weekend? Saturday was the big Legacies (our local scrapbook store) 45% off BLOWOUT!! Can you spell H-A-P-P-Y? That would be me at that sale. I stocked up on tons of cardstock and some must have Heidi Swapp embelly's. I was like a kid in a candy store. I'm always happy when it comes to buying more scrappin' candy. Here's the link to the store: http://www.legaciesscrapbookstore.com/

I picked up Josh from the airport Saturday afternoon. He's gotten so skinny from working so hard out in that Texas heat. My poor baby. Here's a pic of him and his girlfriend taken when we were in Texas earlier this month.

Talked to mom today. She's sounding and feeling much better. Her spirits are up. Tuesday she has an appt. with her Primary Doctor to set up some physical therapy. Thursday she has an appointment with her heart surgeon. Please pray she agrees to have her female problems checked out.

Hope you have a blessed week!

Here's a photo of the littlest grandkids. Back row: Gabe, Lane, Kyle. Front row: Connor and Dezi.

My family, my heart. Here's a photo of Eric, me and Connor taken this past weekend, July 22nd at Mark and Donna's wedding. Connor just turned 3 on June 20th. He sure is losing that baby look and looking more like a little boy. Time sure does fly. Where's the tiny baby I held so delicately in my arms just the other day?

Here's a photo of me taken by my sister-in-law, Patty at Mark and Donna's wedding. I may have to scrap this one. Title: "Me at 42".

Ok. Let's see if this works. Here is a picture of Ryan, my middle son, taken last year
when their team won the championship. Over the past 3 years they won 30 straight games in a row. We're so proud of them.

I made the 1000 mile drive from Texas to Missouri safely last night at around 11: 15 p.m., thanks be to God.

Spent the night at the hospital with mom last night. Had to come home this morning to get some "real" sleep. Slept until 12:30. Now I have a mongo headache. Mom's doing really good. She called and said they might let her go home on Friday. I'm leaving tomorrow to drive back home to Missouri. Haven't told mom yet. I hope she doesn't flip. I'm so ready to get back home. There's nothing more I can do for her. It's now a healing process. When she's well enough, I'll send for her. Friday is the rehearsal for Mark and Donna's wedding and I really need to get back together with the 2 other musicians who are doing the music for the wedding to practice. We've only gotten together once.
Caca and I are going to eat lunch and head back to the hospital. But first, can I vent? It costs $43 for a 5 day pass to park at the hospital. Can you spell, "RIP OFF"! It's bad enough that your loved one is in the hospital, but then they have to stick it to you while you're down with the parking??? Unreal!
Oh, another vent. This has got to be the WORST hospital stay ever!! These stupid nurses rely too much on family members to do their job. First of all, "Hello?, I'm not a nurse! You help her, with all her umpteen wires hooked up to her, to the bathroom!! Ok, we called you for bathroom help an hour ago! How long do you think this poor woman can hold it?? If you don't get in here soon, then you'll have a mess to clean up."!! Then this morning I called the nurse's station for an extra gown and a walker b/c mom wanted to walk. After waiting about 30 minutes, I went out on my own and got the stuff myself. When I walked by the nurse's station, their in there looking at a bunch of pictures someone brought in from home and laughing and carrying on, etc. I was like, "this is why we didn't get our stuff we asked for. they're too busy joking and smoking over here and not taking care of their responsibilities".
I'm going to eat now, I'm hungry. I've been on the phone with 3 different people since I started this email. I hate talking on the phone. Ha ha.

I'm still in Texas. My mom was moved to a regular room yesterday and was told she'd be there for about 3 days and then would be coming home. I'm so ready to be home back to my "normal" life but can't leave mom just yet. Last night, my sister and I left the hospital to eat dinner (hadn't ate since 11:00 that morning as we stayed in the room with her all day until 7:00). Before we even got home, she had left 3 messages on the answering machine at home. She had a panic attack, so we had to drive 45 minutes back to the hospital and reassure her everything was ok. After she finally went to sleep, we snuck out of the room and came home. That was about 1:00 in the morning. Now, as I am typing this letter she just called and wants to know when I'm coming back to the hospital. I haven't showered in 2 days b/c I've been running to the hospital every chance I get to see her, encourage her, etc. People who've had this experience (heart attack, surgery, etc.) say that in the aftermath, depression follows, which is where she's at now, I think. Anyway, my brother in law is getting married this weekend and I'm supposed to sing in it, so I hope I can make it there. The thing is, originally, we drove from MO to Texas for vacation. Then mom had the heart attack, so we stayed longer than planned. Finally my hubby had to go back to work yesterday so he flew back to MO and took the baby with him. So now I'm stuck with having to drive home by myself from Texas back to MO. I'll try to make the 16 hour trip all at once. Travelling with the baby, we had to stop alot and stay the night in a motel. But by myself, I should try to make the trip without many stops. Hopefully mom will get out on tomorrow or Thursday, then I'll drive back home.
I haven't even had a chance to have a really good cry. Isn't that weird? I've put on a brave face for mom. I could see the fear in her eyes as they were taking her to surgery. Just yesterday, she finally got the chance to tell us how scared she was. I wanted to cry then, but couldn't for her. I guess I've been to busy to really think about it, but I can see the 16 hour drive home by myself will be a good time to do all that.
Thanks immensely for your prayers.

Okay. That does it!! I was just visiting Marie Cox's blog and I've decided that I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT!! Well, actually, I decided that a long time ago, but haven't done anything about it. Marie has the cutest photos of herself with her kids and I realized that I have NO photos of me with my kids lately because I'm so blasted fat. I don't want to be remembered as a fat hog, so I don't want to be photographed. I look horrible in all the pictures I see myself in b/c I'm so fat! So I need to lose weight so I can feel ok about being photographed with the kids. I'm just wasting time and memories I could be documenting on photos all because of my weight! Also, sitting in the ICU waiting room at the hospital, there's nothing to do but read the tabloids that are laying around. So I saw an article on Janet Jackson and how, in January, she weighed like over 180 pounds, and now in June she weighs like 120 pounds, has rippling abs, etc, the whole nine yards. I looked at her 180 pound picture, and thought, "that looks familiar. Oh I know where I've seen that fat body before! That looks like me!" So if Janet can do it, so can I, by golly!

Here is an update on mom.

Thankfully, the ICU waiting room at Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas has a computer for public use. Here's a recap:

Early morning, July the 4th, Mom threw up and broke out in a cold sweat. Mom never complains of being sick, so judging by her looks and complaints of not being able to breathe, I knew this was serious. The ambulance rushed her to the hospital. (Thankfully we couldn't get her into the car and called an ambulance instead.) By the time I reached the hospital, she suffered a massive heart attack and flat-lined for 2 minutes. She had to be jump-started back to life. As they were wheeling her to the cath lab for emergency surgery, we talked to her and told her how much we loved her and was praying for her, in spite of her being "unconscious". Later we found out that she heard every word we said but was unable to respond. Remember this if, God forbid, it should ever happen to you.

She had 100% blockage in one of her main arteries, in which they placed a stint. Two other coronary arteries (the ones feeding the heart) were 80% blocked, but were unable to be repaired with a stint due to their location on the heart. She would need a bypass but was too weak at this point to survive the surgery. She came out of the stint surgery ok. By Sunday she was stable enough to be transported to the Methodist Hospital in Houston. Tuesday she underwent triple bypass surgery. Today, Sunday, she is able to sit up, talk, and her heart is now free of the balloon pump, which was helping her sick heart recover. It's been a stressful 2 weeks, but she is now on the road to recovery- thanks be to God. Looking back, it's a miracle she is here today. If she would have been in the Philippines or on the transpacific flight from there to here when it happened, she would have died. If we would have tried to take her ourselves in the car to the hospital, she would have died. She had the heart attack two days after Eric and I got here, so I was glad that we were already here when it happened. All things played to her favor. If she was going to have a heart attack, these were the best circumstances for things to happen.

Hello world. I've found a brief moment out of my hectic life to jump on the blog wagon. I'm hoping to leave this journal as a legacy to my children and if the Lord blesses, their children and so on. I named my blog, "My Miraculous Life", for my life truly is a miracle. I thought about naming my blog, "My Charmed Life", but it sounded to witchcrafty, if that's a real world. I want this blog to glorify God, so nothing occult sounding here.

Back to the miracle part. I am here by God's divine purpose. I was born in a third world country to a woman in poverty, both of us abandoned by my father. I was rescued by the two most wonderful parents anyone could ever have- Javier and Ofelia Castillo. They brought me to this country for a chance at a better life than I could ever have living in the Philippines. And a better, a blessed, a miraculous life, is what I have today. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!

There are many more miracles to be thankful for, but we'll save that for later.

Yeehaw! Hello blog world!!!!