Still growing!

I guess the majority of you guys know that I have a 'broken back'. We decided last month that it's time to straighten my snake of a back on up! The short version of my story is that I was diagnosed with scoliosis when I was a freshman in high school. I went to get fitted for my homecoming dress and the lady who was fitting me told Mom that my hips weren't lined up. I went to Dad's office, took a picture of my bones, and sure enough, I was crooked. I believe at the time, the degree of my curvature was only about 25 degrees but I honestly can't remember. I went to Jackson, got a mold made of my body, and came home with 'Bartholomew', the back brace. It was just the worst... at first. It was made of hard plastic that was about 1/4 inch thick and had holes drilled through it so it wouldn't be so hot. In the back, it came down to the middle of my bottom, and the top was right under my chest, which was like the ultimate push up bra and made me super self conscious since I was an awkward 14 year old! I sat up so straight, it was comical. Everyone would walk by me and 'knock' my brace because it sounded like knocking on a piece of wood. There was no hope for blue jeans looking normal and I wore t-shirts all the time because I had these weird tiny boobs shoved up right under my clavicle! Much to everyone's amusement, when I took the brace off, my entire torso was polka dotted from all the drill holes. Lord knows. Now, writing it out, I'm super proud of myself for retaining any self esteem during that time! I made braces look like NO BIG DEAL! It could be worse! You could be the "awkwardly straight, polka dotted, plastic girl'. :) How have I not gotten therapy for this?!

I was instructed to wear the brace for 23 hours a day. I hated it at first. I was locked in this contraption and couldn't move much. Eventually I got used to it and learned to take comfort for how it supported me. When I was able to stop wearing it, I missed it when I slept. Ole Bart had become a part of me and I was sad to see him go. (But I got over the sadness super quickly because NORMAL TEENAGE LIFE AGAIN!)

2014 X-Ray: Curve at 48 degrees

2015 X-Ray: Over the 50 degree curve (I'm not sure the specific degree) 

It's time to add new parts now, and I'm ready for the new version of me. We talked about the impending surgery last year and I wasn't at all ready. I was terrified and spent the better part of the year mentally working through every possible sad feeling of what this surgery would mean. I'm thankful for this worrisome year, because now I have dealt with those thoughts and they are behind me. The Lord was gracious to give me this year so now that the time has come, those fears aren't fresh or valid.  They have been weighed against the good and concluded that pain is not worth ignoring. 

Now, I am honestly excited to get this fixed. I'm praying that there are no complications, but I've had time to speak with so many other scoliosis patients that have had successful surgeries and pain free lives because of it. Now I am a cheerleader for all the good that will come from this! 

What is going to happen: from what I've read, they will take pieces of bone from a cadaver and fuse these bones to my spinal chord from my chest down to the 2nd to last vertebrae. (diagram below) 

They'll add these screws and rods along the full length of the curve to stabalize my back until the fusing process is complete, which should take 2-3 months. I'll keep the rods in my back though, they won't be removed once fusion is complete. 

This picture with the screws showing does make me want to gag a little. Blech. I guess I'll have about 20 of these in me by the end and that feels scary! 

Dad says I'll be fine. They are just going to fill me full of tinker toys! 

For the time being, we are making fun of my ailment, because what else can you do? I imagine I'll be like the bionic woman who will be able to run with lightening fast speed since I'll be full of magic titanium rods! The doctor said that I'll be taller after the surgery to which all my friends groaned and threw their hands up because OF COURSE the tall girl would get to grow taller! How unfair! :) 

Plus, I get to take a month off work, can't pick up anything heavy, and have post op instructions to 'get outside and walk as much as possible'. Y'all. This is going to be great! 

(All kidding aside, would you all be so kind as to pray for the doctor's and nurses hands and me during surgery and recovery? I'd be so grateful! Thank you! Also, surgery isn't scheduled until January 8th, so we have plenty of time to prepare!)

Easter 2015

(Easter post that was saved as a draft and just finished up! I've never been good at being on time. Why start now?!) 

My pictures are a bit scattered because they were pulled from two different cameras. If I had extra time, I'd rearrange them into good order, but the program for getting posts up is not easy on quick simple tasks like rearranging photos (ehhhem, blogger.)

On a more grateful note, our Easter consisted of spending most of our time in fields full of wild flowers. Just absolutely beautiful. 

Dad has re-roofed the barn now. It looks very nice, but I miss this old barn roof.  It had been patched so many times.  In the end, it probably had 15 different colored patches on it and was truly beautiful. I liked the old barn roof because metaphorically it reminded me that life doesn't have to be shiny and perfect to be beautiful. The patchwork of doing the best you can turns out beautifully as well! There's something, full of character, being pieced together that is equally as gorgeous! Maybe that's a stretch of a message to get from a barn roof, but who am I to be picky about the origins of my life lessons! :)

The wisteria was in bloom during Easter... and shortly thereafter, honeysuckle. London and I spent many hours sniffing the air and deciding that heaven MUST smell like wisteria and honeysuckle! Glorious!

Picking flowers in paradise. I love it here. 

Mom and Dad's neighbor, and friend's of ours, came over to die easter eggs with us! This is Ethan. He usually doesn't talk to me much but we went swimming at their house a few weekends ago and he talked my head off! I was so thrilled about it! He is such a sweet, kind boy so I'm glad we're friends now!  :)

Barry's family came over Sunday morning for church and lunch. What a beautiful clan! 

My heart swells looking at this picture. I love all of them so very much! 

Pretty...

Goofy...

Silly.

Egg hunting later in the day. He found the golden egg! 

And he found all of my favorite eggs! 

Archie asleep. He's not the least bit reserved about getting TOTALLY comfortable when it's time for a snooze! 

Easter basket goodies!

I love the Boopster!

Filling the plastic eggs with her candy so that when the cousins came home, they would have candy in their eggs! Her idea and I was proud of her for sharing all of her goodies! 

Playing hot and cold while hunting eggs. can you see it on the window seal? She could NOT find it! Bless. :)

Tux= not a fan of easter.

Here's a quick video of my dad saying the prayer at church. My phone ran out of memory half way through (ARRRRRGGGGGG!!!). I doubt my dad will ever know how impactful it is to his children to watch him live out his faith in such public ways. I'm so proud of my Dad. He's always taught us to be brave and smart. Seeing him act out exactly what he's always taught us feels powerful. Like he is writing an image of himself into our history. 

More post church egg finding and out of order pictures!

I've mentioned before that I love watching my mom's imagination run wild for her grandkids. I know for London, she has been inspired to let the woods come to life because my mom has taught her that they ARE alive!  Every time we go riding, London is looking for new worlds and new personalities that create a cool story. Here is the biting tree... The textured tree looks like he's biting the one growing through it. We have a kissing tree also and Booper found a new find for us this trip....

The slug tree! 

He looks just like a slug, right?! Well done, Booper! You're teaching us all to be young again! 

Three of my favorite folks taming the wild slug!

What a blast it is to all be together. Thankful life knit us closer together instead of pulling us away from each other. The more I hear of family dynamics, the more I realize how rare our family is. A friend of mine posted this caption the other day while home with her family and I loved it:

"Home is where the sky is wide and the laugher is loud. 

Where mothers nurture with food and hearts are ever so sure of each other." 

Exactly. Sure hearts... in full bloom. 

Labor Day 2015

Labor Day: My favorite holiday. 

No presents, no agenda, just the 9 of us hanging outside for 4 days together. I get excited typing about it because I already can't wait for the next one! We've stopped having the hunt at our house, which has it's reasons, but is sad. I miss hearing the gun shots in the morning and wondering how the team is doing down there. It was also always cute to drive down and see 20 gentlemen hands (and charley!) popping up out of camo to wave at you as you drive by! It feels like life in it's simplest, most hospitable, extremely southern form and I love it!

We took the kids for a walk at the Riverwalk and mom wore a tank top with bright flowers all over it. I'm not sure if it was the shirt or her scent, but the butterflies were all over her! I've never seen anything like it!

London and Liz had fun taking front porch pictures of the fam. 

The little one was highly entertained by the photo bomb... 

....and selfies with grandma!

Silly girls!

I had fun on our morning four wheeler excursions (sorry i look like death). I love riding around and looking for things to find. It's like a little treasure hunt because something new and interesting is bound to pop up while we're scooting around the place!

Our friends, the Garrett's, came over for Sunday lunch and hunting so mom took all the girls and too small boys to Friendship Cemetery to explore. Columbus was a hospital town during the Civil War so there are hundreds of unknown soldier grave markers in this cemetery. There's a picture of one below. 

Here's another little ditty about the cemetery: 

On April 25, 1866 the women of Columbus gathered to place flowers of remembrance on the graves of not only the Confederate soldiers at Friendship Cemetery but also the Union soldiers as well. This eventually turned into the nationally recognized holiday of Memorial Day. Columbus, Georgia claims to have founded Memorial Day but Columbus, Mississippi claims to have been the first city to memorialize both the Confederate and Union dead; a fact recognized by the Library of Congress.

LOTS of pics of the kids because I'm still playing with my camera a lot! :)

I like this one!

This was my favorite! Sweet, sweet girl.

These are pictures of the cool memorials we saw. We loved this one. It was placed at the grave of a girl that died in her 20's. We loved the boldness of this lady and the star on her head. Feels like this girl must've had a brave, 'seize the day' kind of spirit in her! 

This memorial is called the Weeping Angel and no amount of pictures can do the beauty of it justice. You get so pulled in by it and just want to sit quiet and grieve with her. 

The angel was placed by the people of my parents church in the mid 1800's after the passing of their beloved pastor. I wonder how expensive ceremonial statues are these days. I wish they still adorned cemeteries like this because it's like walking around an art and history museum. It's a bit gut-wrenching due to all the children buried here, but it also shows such a display of love and honor of family. It was an emotionally stirring day. 

Hundreds of markers that read the same as this one. I wonder who is here. I am so sad for this soldiers mother, who never knew where her boy was laid to rest. Thankful for the hope that they walk streets of gold together today. 

Awkward transition from touching history section to The Dove Slayers!  :) Such a fierce bunch!

Our visitors left later that night after all little people were in bed. The Rhea/Lane adults (minus Chuck because he loves TV and not talking) went to the fridge, grabbed a beverage, and plopped down on the sunroom sofas. We spent the next 3 hours swapping embarrassing stories, life lessons from college, and then it moved into mom telling us stories of Papa. I teared up so many times as she gave us glimpses into his precious life. He was so fun loving! Do you know what his first real job was? A traveling candy salesman. There could not be a more fitting job for my adorable grandfather.
And do you know how he met his wife? He went on a date with her older sister but decided he liked Lottie instead. People did that back in the day. I can't even get a phone call! He got to go on a date with sister #1, then it was totally fine for him to marry HER SISTER! I love it! 

I loved being curled up next to my momma and listening to memories roll off her tongue. What a wonderful, sweet life she's had! 

In NOT obeying the law, we let the kids ride in the way back on the way to lunch Monday. Lala turned around and they were all laying down, watching the clouds through the back window. Umm. They are good for my heart.  

Clear to see why I love it so much.... a beautiful weekend filled with the most beautiful people in the whole wide world. No one distracted with things, all just pining for love from a whole family willing to dish out as much as they can handle. Best. Life. Ever.