I Will Survive!

That is one of my favorite songs ever and thought it was a fitting title to keep encouraging me during these trying times. I don't have much time right now to gather my thoughts and considering how exhausted I am they probably wouldn't make much since anyways, but I thought I needed to at least do quick recap of what has been happening. I know many of you are showering me with prayers so I wanted to update you all and also to ask for some more prayers and thoughts.

First of all I made it through my grandmother's viewing and funeral on Thursday and Friday. It was very emotional not only saying goodbye, but also seeing so many family members. You see, none of my parents brothers or sisters ever left the little town where they grew up so when we go to visit we see EVERYBODY! It is tiring seeing everybody and talking about why were here this time just made it even more so. It was really hard not having Dave with me since he is my solid rock, but we had agreed it would be better for him to stay with the kids in Delaware. Of course, I called him over and over and he talked me through the hard times so it worked out.

Friday was busy as my grandmother's funeral was at 11 am and my brother and I had a flight out of Detroit about an hour away at 2:02pm in order to get him to his high school graduation. Everybody was telling us how we were cutting it really close, but I just figured that God and my grandmother would see that we got on that plane if it was the last thing we did. We did end of making the plane and even had about 20 minutes to spare to get some food for lunch. We did sit in the LAST row on the plane, next to SCREAMING baby, but by golly we made it back to Baltimore. Traffic wasn't bad and we then made it back to my parent house with 45 minutes to sit down, eat dinner, and get ready for the graduation.

Friday night was a big night, but it was nice to have something to celebrate after the past two days. My brother graduated with a certificate of merit so he got to wear a gold cord and I was so proud of him. The service was nice, but very long especially for Dylan and Zoe. The hardest part was when the graduates all stood up front, facing the audience, and the speaker asked all the parents to stand up. Then they did the same for grandparents. That was tough knowing that my brother didn't have anybody standing for him and he even mentioned it a couple times that night. My brother Dan and his wife were there with their daughter Sofia and then my family so at least he did have some family with him. I know it was hard for him and my parents though that they couldn't be there. I took plenty of pictures though and will post about the graduation soon.

Saturday was pretty relaxing as we all just hung around the house. We put up graduation decorations for my brother, ordered some crabs, and just enjoyed being at my parents house. Of course, I got the role of mom though as I did laundry, dishes, and cleaned up. It was a pretty good day though!!

Sunday then took another unexpected turn as my parents decided to come home early since my mom was not taking the funeral very well. The grandmother was for my dad's mom (my maternal grandmother died when I was 11), but considering my parents were married when my mom was 16 my grandmother was pretty much my mom's mom too. To respect my mom's privacy I am not really going to go into much information, but my mom was admitted to a hospital last night for a few days. It has added more stress to everybody lately and I have been currently staying at my parents house with my dad. It looks like she will be in for a few days and since we can only visit during one hour an evening I am going to go visit tonight and then head home. My brother and dad should be okay for the next two nights and then I'm planning on coming back on Friday.

This week is teacher checkout at school so I am hoping to get the last few things finished for summer vacation. I have had a few teachers call to tell me they are taking care of some of my paperwork for me...THANK YOU!! I am hoping between Wednesday and Thursday I can get it all done. Thursday is also my birthday and it would be nice to just be at home to go out for a nice dinner and just relax a bit before returning to my parents.

It has been a rough week...probably one of the worst I can remember, but I know that I WILL SURVIVE. Dave has been here with me the past few days and that has helped immensely along with having my kids around to shower me with hugs and kisses. Thank you for all your prayers for me and my family. We can definitely use as many as you can spare!!!

Until next time...