Well, I haven't posted anything since May - and that's because our life has really been a whirlwind of chaos since then! We put our house up for sale - and it sold in less than week!!! Not what we were expecting - testing the waters was one thing - but to have it go that quickly was a real shocker. So, we leased back for the month of July and found a house to rent in Sugar Land - about six miles from where we used to live. The house is okay, but it's definitely not my dream house. We bought a one acre lot in a subdivision called Royal Lakes Estates. It's kind of "in the country" without really being in the country - you wouldn't even know the place is there unless you're out driving and looking for it. It has a stable for horses - if you have one and want it to have a fun place to live. We aren't planning on a horse right now! There are apparently lots of kids and the homes are lovely.
We were hoping to start building in October, but due to some delays it will probably be November instead. The whole reason for the move was to get in a better school district for the boys - if we didn't, then we would be paying for private school for both the boys. So, we decided to put that money into a larger house in a better school district instead. Anyway, here we are in a rental house for the next 10 months to a year. We're starting to settle in. I still miss the house, the yard, the pool, and my neighbors, but I guess it's time to start a new chapter....
September has been a really bad month...I can honestly say that September 2008 has been one of the worst months of my life. Read on, and you'll find out why....
Perdy 
We lost our sweet girl Perdy on September 7th. She hadn't been feeling well for quite some time - and I'm sure she hung on as long as she did because she knew how terribly we would miss her when she was gone. Our wonderful homeopathic veterinarian and friend, Dr. Happy Babbish, came to our home to help Perdy pass. She has been cremated and we will be taking her ashes with us to our new house and burying here there when we move.
We are so thankful that she is no longer in any pain or discomfort. Thanks to our friend and animal communicator, Myra Logan, we have been able to talk to Perdy and we know that she's in Heaven and that she can now move everything and she's very happy. She gave us so many wonderful times and memories and touched the hearts of so many of our friends and family. We miss her so much. Thank you all for all of your well wishes and prayers for her over the past year. It has been gratefully received.
Perdy introduced us to all these wonderful people...Through her illness and our quest to keep her as comfortable, healthy, and happy as we could, we were able to meet some absolutely amazing and wonderful people that we are so blessed to now have in our lives. I'd like to give special thanks and acknowledgement to these folks for all they did for Perdy -
Myra Logan - (
http://www.myralogan.com/), is an animal communicator and intuitive consultant who we first met with in June of 2007. We were referred to her through a friend of mine - Kim Winkler - thank you Kim! Myra was able to tell us how Perdy was feeling, what she liked, disliked, her needs and gave us the names of a fabulous holistic veterinarian who would come to our house and work on Perdy. Myra, through her experience with her own pets, also told us all about raw food diets which led me to -
Tracey Rentcombe, who owns and operates a raw meat dog food store in Houston called Bones2go (
http://www.bones2go.com/) provided us with a great raw meat diet and dietary supplements for Perdy that kept her with us much longer than she would have been on an ordinary "kibble" diet. I highly encourage any of you who have animals to consider a raw meat diet - it's amazing at the changes you will see in your pet - and she delivers on Wednesdays!!!
Dr. Happy Babbish - is one of the most caring, loving vets and people I have ever met. She has really been a blessing to us. Perdy absolutely adored her and loved it when she did acupuncture and energy work on her - she told Myra that Happy always made her feel warm and relaxed. She prescribed great supplements that really helped to improve the quality of Perdy's life without causing further damage to her vital organs. It meant the world to our family that Happy came to our home to help Perdy pass so that she didn't have to be taken to a cold, unfamiliar veterinary clinic in her final moments. Because of this, Perdy was at home surrounded by her family on her bed that she loved, just like always. If you're interested in a phenomenal vet for your animal(s) that will come to your home and take care of them - contact me for Happy's info - you can also see a documentary on her that was done by Houston PBS at the following link -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6085528386718952918Karen Free, Francis Campone, and Sara Shah - All of these wonderful people are healers located in Houston and Austin. Francis has been training Karen and Karen has been training Sarah and all of them provided healing work to both Perdy and me during our last few months. I firmly believe that without them, Perdy would not have held on as long as she did. They provide healing services at no charge - they use the gift that God has given them to help others whether people can afford it, or not. They have given many people and pets miracles and I have been a grateful recipient. The work on a donation only basis and you can find out more about them at
http://www.francisthehealer.com/ - Please note that they primarily work on people - not just pets
Little Friends Pet Memorial - Perdy passed on a Sunday night, and as much as I thought I would be prepared for it, I really wasn't. We were so fortunate to find a service here in Houston called Little Friends Pet Memorial. After Perdy had passed, they came to our home and picked her up. They were very respectful, caring, and compassionate, and I will always appreciate that. Within one week, they returned Perdy's ashes to us. I would recommend their service to anyone who is losing a pet - you can find them online at
http://www.littlefriendspetmemorial.com/A New Nanny for the BoysWe also had to hire a new nanny for the boys this month. Deicy, who
has been with us since Clayton was 4 months old, gave us her notice and said that she needed to find a job that would pay her more and that wasn't quite as draining on her energy. Cole is A LOT of work! So, in the same week we lost Perdy, I also had to find someone new to take care of our boys. We miss Deicy, but we wish her the very best! That said, with the help of my very dear friend, Abbey, we were able to find a new nanny very quickly. Her name is Liliana Bernal and she is 31 years old and has 2 boys whose age is one month apart from Clayton and Cole! She is from Mexico originally and she has lots of family here in Houston that are helping take care of her boys while she works. She started on Monday, 9/22/08, and so far everything is going really great! There's so much worry in trying to find the right person to care for your children when you can't and I'm happy to say that I think we made a great choice.
And to all of my family and friends - Sherry, R.J., Larry, Mom and Dad, Robin, Kathleen, Abbey, Robyn, Trish - you know who you are - thank you all, and I love you very much for all of the support you've given me - thank you for letting me lean on you while I haven't quite been myself. It means more than I can say.
Hurricane IkeAnd as if this wasn't enough in the course of one week, we also got hit by Hurricane Ike. We, fortunately, did not sustain much damage - just a lot of trees down and the electricity went out. We got our electricity back much sooner than most of our friends, so we had some fun days of sleep overs and meals together while everyone was waiting to get back to their own homes with electricity!!! This week, most of the people I know have electricity back, but there are still plenty I don't know who don't have power yet. Please say a prayer for all of those who lost their homes and everything they had to this storm - they will need all the help they can get in rebuilding their lives. And also say a prayer so that these poor folks with no power get their electricity restored soon! Clayton and I pray for them every night!
And at last, thank God, September is almost over!I met with Myra for a session last weekend and I have to say, I feel like things are finally starting to come back together now that they had all fallen apart. I have a more positive outlook on my career than I've had in a long time and I'm actually looking forward to the future instead of living in the past as I've been for the past few months. I guess it's like "they" say, when one door closes, another one opens....keep your fingers crossed for me!
MY WONDERFUL BOYS!I certainly don't want to miss the opportunity to brag on my fabulous, amazing boys! Clayton has started back to pre-school for 3 days a week and he's loving it - he is my social butterfly and loves being with other kids. He is still taking Spanish lesson
s 2 days a week and is speaking much more fluently in Spanish than ever. He reads everything and he's not even 5 years old! His teach was amazed and said that she was going to have to let him read to the other kids so that he could keep improving his skills - now writing his name - that's another story! But he'll get there! He's a video and computer game fanatic - but he knows he's only allowed to play games that are rated E for Everyone - not E10 - because he's not 10 years old!
Cole is a bundle of energy, a barrel of laughs, and a whole bunch of trouble all rolled up into one! He definitely has a personality of his own and he's going to do what he wants or die trying - sometimes I think he's making me old, fast! But I guess I wouldn't have it any other way! He knows that he can flash that smile and get out of trouble pretty quick, although it's not working quite as much as it used to! I can't believe how big he's getting - just se
ems like a few weeks ago when I had him! He keeps us hopping all the time - he climbs everything, pours everything out he can get his hands on, empties every box he can find, and anything else he can think of - he's all boy!
Anyway, I'm very blessed to have them both and I love them and their Daddy. James, by the way, is doing fine, too - September took another toll on him because he lost his Grandma Kincade one week before we lost Perdy. He's been a rock for me to lean on - I don't cope with things quite as well as he does - I guess it's good we have that Aries/Cancer thing going on - we're supposed to balance each other out - maybe that's why we've been together 14 years - married 12 years and have two beautiful children together.
We are now looking forward to Halloween trick or treating, making caramel apples, cookies, banana nut bread and all of those other fabulous fall treats! In addition to Thanksgiving and seeing all of my family in Arkansas - and Christmas - we're going to cut our first live tree this year since my trees are 9 feet tall and the ceilings in this house are only 8 feet!!!! There's a lot to look forward to and I'm ready to get back to having fun and living! I hope you all will do the same!
Love, April
ryone has been asking about the house and how it's coming - so I'm attaching a few more pictures. I can honestly say I had NO idea how many decisions were going to have to be made in order to get this house built. I should have known, but I guess it just didn't register. It's exhausting - and I'll be glad when it's finished! We're still supposed to be in by no later than mid-July - we're hoping for the end of June! Keep your fingers crossed!
en I was a kid would be nice, but I guess it's just not in the cards. Clayton had his "Arkansas" birthday party (he's turning 5 next month) while we there. I think he had at least 20 packages to open and got $$$ from Nanny and PaPaw and Amanda- which we are now arguing about him keeping in his "dollar holder", as he calls it, or me putting it in his sa
vings account so it doesn't end up lost! I think I know who'll win that argument.
has been with us since Clayton was 4 months old, gave us her notice and said that she needed to find a job that would pay her more and that wasn't quite as draining on her energy. Cole is A LOT of work! So, in the same week we lost Perdy, I also had to find someone new to take care of our boys. We miss Deicy, but we wish her the very best! That said, with the help of my very dear friend, Abbey, we were able to find a new nanny very quickly. Her name is Liliana Bernal and she is 31 years old and has 2 boys whose age is one month apart from Clayton and Cole! She is from Mexico originally and she has lots of family here in Houston that are helping take care of her boys while she works. She started on Monday, 9/22/08, and so far everything is going really great! There's so much worry in trying to find the right person to care for your children when you can't and I'm happy to say that I think we made a great choice.
s 2 days a week and is speaking much more fluently in Spanish than ever. He reads everything and he's not even 5 years old! His teach was amazed and said that she was going to have to let him read to the other kids so that he could keep improving his skills - now writing his name - that's another story! But he'll get there! He's a video and computer game fanatic - but he knows he's only allowed to play games that are rated E for Everyone - not E10 - because he's not 10 years old!
