Happy 20th Birthday J'Dee

Happy 20th Birthday to such a kind, caring, and loving son! Although he is such a rough and tough cowboy who loves the outdoors, he always has time to love a niece or nephew or take time to help out when ever I may need him!

 I am so thankful for such an amazing son and the many blessings he brings into my life!
WE LOVE YOU J'Dee

Grandma Day..Best day of my Week!

So I decided that I wanted to accomplish a few goals each week and depending on my health I would choose the days I felt the best in order to accomplish these goals:

1. Have a Grandma Day once a week. Where I take the grand babies and sent their parents away in order to spend one on one time with them.

2. Family History Day: Work on my ancestors and prepare names for temple work.

3. Video/slideshow Day: Create videos and slideshows of my children, grandchildren and family    vacations.

4. Scrapbook Day: Organize room and start to complete my kids scrapbooks. (Just keep it simple) Remember pictures are the most important part!

5.  Service Day:  Pray about and find someone to serve today…

I write these 5 things on my schedule at the beginning of each week and depending on how my health is that day I choose to work on one of these items in order to accomplish my goals!

Now this is all in addition to being a mom, wife, daughter and grandmother to all of my family!

And believe me some weeks I might only accomplish two of my goals if I am lucky! (but grandma day is always one of them)!

Although I would like to complete all my goals each week I know that it is always just not possible because life happens and you need to be there for the people who matter most in your life!

I have to remember to keep on trying and not trying to be perfect!!

Here are a few pics from one of my first grandma days!

Taking Shaniah to see Shania...

Today was a very fun day that I was able to share with my daughter Shaniah and her friend Sammy. Sammy is like a second daughter to our family as well. These two girls love Shania Twain the country music singer.

Shaniah Twain is 49 years old and has been signing for many years. I am not sure if my daughter Shaniah only loves her because she shares the same name with her and thinks I named her after her or if she really loves her music… Actually I think it a little of both But nevertheless it was an excuse to spend time with my teenage girls!

When my hubby and I were trying to decided upon a name for our fourth and final child my husband mentioned that name. I knew immediately that was what her name needed to be!  I just loved the name and it was an indian name that meant, "she is on her way." Shaniah my daughter has always been on her way and began when I was pregnant. When I was pregnant I went into pre-term labor with her at only 5 months along and with a ton a bed rest I was able to keep her cooking until she was almost full term… only two weeks early. I knew from that time that things were going to be only up from there!! haha!

I had such a great time with these girls. They wouldn't let me drive, made sure I wore my protective eyeglasses, and that I stayed in the dark as much as possible. They were so cute and I loved, loved, watching them have so much fun! I think I took more pictures of them two having fun than I did of the concert itself!! haha

What fun memories that will last a life time for each of us! I am so grateful they invited me to come alone with them to enjoy the fun!!!

EXCITED FOR THE CONCERT

They can't contain their excitement

Yelling when Shania Twain came out for the first time!

Shania Twain

Me and my Shaniah

Waiting….

The three of us having fun!!

Mothers and Daughters

I am so grateful for my daughters! I love them so much and do not know what I would do without them! I am also very thankful for such a wonderful role model and loving mother that I have. I know that I would not be where I am today without her!

My hope is that I can be as good of a mother as my mom and grandma's have been! I am grateful for the close relationship I have with each of my daughters as well as my own mother and I hope to be able to continue that special bond for many years to come!

This video is a special reminder of what we need to do as mothers and as daughters and if we both do our part we will create lasting relationships that will continue to grow.

I am so grateful to be a daughter and a mother!

Huge Lessons….Still Learning the Hard Way!

Today I learned a huge lesson on just what this Marshall Protocol can do to you mentally and why. It has been a really tough week for our family. My daughter Shaniah had school sports commitments and was unable to teach so my daughter Kaylee needed me to watch her babies while she filled in. My 91 year old grandmother has not been doing well and her prognosis does not look like she will remain on earth much longer. My son J'Dee has come to us wanting to move in to our basement apartment, which needs a huge remodeling project done. He is willing to help us with that but still seems to cause me a lot of stress even though I am really trying to not let it.

So that is a brief synopsis of my week!! I know that might not sound much to a normal person, but I found out the hard way that trying to deal with lives everyday struggles while on the Marshall Protocol can be very challenging!

Early on, distress can and does exacerbate symptoms. Patients with better coping skills and support do better. As one improves, one experiences less or no distress in response to stressors.              MPKB.org


Not only did I see how stress can make all my symptoms worse I also found out just how light can cause huge mental issues due to the brain while on this protocol.

The past two days have been extremely emotional for me. I have seen huge mood swings ranging from non-stop tears to anger and blowing things out of proportion.  My family has noticed it because I am never normally like this. Last night I turned to the MPKB.org for answers.

I have been dealing with all the physical symptoms from this protocol over these past three months; chest pain, headaches caused from light, dizziness, shortness of breath, and fatigue. But the mental symptoms reared its ugly face this past week and I would have to say it was really hard for me to see it myself. It took my family telling me numerous times that something else is going on with me!

So tonight I took to the MPKB.org website and searched for answers. I found out exactly why this was happening to me and what I needed to do to change it!

FIrst I found out how light can really flare up mental symptoms while on this Protocol. I found that when the eye is exposed to light is goes through the nerves to the amygdala which stimulates portions of the brain which causes significant neurological symptoms. Below is a direct quote about what symptoms are caused from sun or artificial light when it enters the eyes while on this protocol.

"This stimulation of the brain causes many of the neurological symptoms that are so bothersome to individuals with Th1 inflammation. Neurological symptoms include fatigue, irritability, aggressiveness, lack of concentration, brain fog, loss of memory, poor judgement, confusion, anger (Lyme rage), mood swings, anxiety, inattentiveness, poor problem-solving, fear, neurosis and even psychosis.


This past week I would have to say I seemed to be more relaxed about wearing my glasses as it was such a crazy and busy week for me. And boy did I pay the price these past couple days.


I also found a section on how to mange mental symptoms associated with the Marshall Protocol. I learned the following!

"The short-term consequences of not wearing adequate eye protection will be an increase in neurological symptoms caused by stimulation of the Amygdala in the brain. These neurological symptoms include fatigue, irritability, aggressiveness, lack of concentration, brain fog, photosensitivity, transient loss of memory, mood swings, confusion, anxiety, anger, neurosis and even psychosis."

Once again I learned another lesson the hard way. In fact, when I was researching this protocol earlier on in this process I don't even remember (brain fog) haha, reading about the mental symptoms because I guess at the time I wasn't having any of them. I think this is in part to being very diligent about wearing my glasses both inside and outside all of the time.'

So this week I found the importance of not letting the little things slip as they can lead to big consequences later!!! I know I must stay positive, surround myself with my loving family, do my part and stay out of light and WEAR MY NOIR GLASSESS at all times, and not allow stress to aggravate my symptoms to be worse than they already need to be!!  

And most importantly really upon my loving Savior who has helped me and will continue to help me  through it all!!

Louie's Blessing Day!

Today August 2, 2015 our little grandson, Louie Robert Powers  was blessed today!  He is such a sweet, loving, little baby boy! We were so grateful to be a part of his big day! How thankful I am for him in our lives! He truly is another tender mercy from the Lord to our entire family!

We went to his blessing at their church and then to our daughter, Kaylee's house after for a luncheon. There were many family and friends there to support them on this big day. Here our a few pics from this fun day!

Grandpa and I with our Baby Louie

Is that a smile???

J'Dee and Madison 

Grandma's little guy!

What a cutie!

Smiling for me!

The Happy FAMILY!

Sammy and Niah (Best friends with Louie)

Great Grandpa and Grandma of GGP and GG

Look at those cute ears and big beautiful eyes!