Faith filled Friday

In January 2017, my at-that-time 29 year old friend faced a difficult decision. Her Cystic Fibrosis was at the point that medicine was just working for short periods of time as she was in and out of the hospital with her breathing problems. It was time to start deciding about a double lung transplant. The only option left. This beautiful young lady faced many struggles, many deep discussions with God and many, many hours of prayers from her and everyone that loved her.

In January 2017, she posted this on Facebook. 

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I have Cystic Fibrosis. I am to the point of my life with this horrible disease that I am in need of a Double lung transplant, at the point I am at I cannot stay well for more than a week without IV antibiotics.......

She overcame her fears and started the process of procedures to get on the list for a double lung transplant. Around mid-July, she was at her all time health low and everything was in place as she was placed on the national register for a new set of lungs. 

The middle of August, just a little over a month after she was placed on the list, we got the church call saying that our sweet Stephanie, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis received the call she had been waiting on. Vanderbilt University Medical Center contacted Stephanie. They had her a set of lungs. She headed right out for Nashville for her double lung transplant.

She finally got in her room and the lungs had arrived. Now began the wait for the doctors to check them out to give the final okay. There was still that chance that for one reason or another, they would not be accepted by the doctors. But she is a lady of remarkable faith and felt 100% sure they would be just right. A little later, they got the word that they were perfect and it was time to prep for the surgery. She showed no fear and had her faith firmly in God as the process began. 

The biggest fear from the doctors were the removal of the old lungs. Cystic Fibrosis can damage them to the point that they are hard to remove and many things are happening during the process that can cause complications. Here were the updates throughout the night from her Mom....  

 A little after 1:00 a.m. - Just got a call from Operating Room. Surgery hasn't started yet still checking out lungs to make sure they are good and will work.

A little after 2:00 a.m. - Just got the call from surgery. Lungs good; it's a go.

A little after 3:00 a.m. - Old right lung out, just starting to put new one in.

Around 5:30 a.m. - New right lung is in, inflated, pink and functioning. Praise God

Around 7:30 a.m. - They are done. Both lungs are in and looking good. She is on a ventilator hopefully for only a short time. Should be a couple of hours then back to her room. They are going to do a bronch before bringing her back. Less than 24 hours since getting the call and she has her new lungs!!

Stephanie was put on the transplant list on the 14th of July. She was warned it could take months or even a year or more. But she and her unshakable faith kept telling us God wouldn't make her wait that long because He knew how bad she needed them. And 5 weeks later to the day, she had her new lungs. . Her friends and family are now declaring August 18th as Happy Breath Day for Stephanie.

She was to be in the hospital for up to 2 weeks. Six days after surgery, she was declared fit enough to go "home" to the temporary apartment that would be near the hospital with instructions she could be there for up to a year. Three months later, with a clean bill of health and many shocks from the medical community, she was cleared to come home to East Tennessee. So NOT a year like they thought, NOT six months like they hoped, BUT THREE MONTHS after a double lung transplant she was back home with new lungs and a new outlook on life. 

Fast forward to this past week, she has done so much in the past two years since she got the new lungs. She has been on bike rides, outings with her family and friends, hiked up the heights of the Great Smoky Mountains. And she has done it all with something she never had before....the ability to breath normally like the rest of us. She had her two year check up this week and passed with flying colors. 

Throughout every moment of this journey her faith has been unshakable, her fears were placed with God. But not for one moment have any of us ever forgotten that wonderful person who had made a decision for their lungs to be harvested so they could help someone in need someday. It is sad to think of the loss someone was suffering when we were all moving forward with great joy. But some family somewhere out there can rest knowing that those beautiful pink lungs are functioning every day and bringing more joy to Stephanie than she ever imagined she would have. 

She was a little baby born with a horrible disease and not expected to live past 16 .... BUT GOD had other plans. Happy 2 year anniversary next week to my beautiful friend, Stephanie. We love you girl!

Miami Trip Day 2 & 3

Day 2 was by far my absolute best experience of the trip. The Go Miami pass had an option for a day trip to Key West, FL. Another one of my dream vacations I thought I would never experience. But 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning found us boarding a bus for a 2.5 hour jaunt down to the Keys.

We picked the first seat which happened to be a table with benches on both sides facing each other. It was really a fun bus ride.

We stopped in Key Largo for breakfast at a little dive that had the best scrambled eggs and bacon I think I have every had. Then we broke out into the Beach Boys song....Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go...

Then we crossed tons of bridges, including the 7 mile bridge as we past through the various keys. 

We arrived at our destination around 10 or 10:30 and it was absolutely beautiful weather. The girls went parasailing. I had no desire to do that but just wanted to walk the island and browse some shops. It took some convincing to get them to go without me. But they had a great time. 

I walked down to watch them take off on their trip and snapped a cool totem pole type picture.

Then this junk shop caught my eye and it was really big on the inside so I spend quite a bit of time in there looking at all the unique stuff.

Outside one store I went to, they had a Big Foot statue made completing out of sea sponges. It was pretty cool.

I walked down the streets of some of the residence and B & B's. It was really quaint. 

The foliage in the Keys is so beautiful.

And of course I saw a ton of roosters and chickens just hanging out. 

We did a little "train" ride around the island, stopping off when we wanting and getting back on when we were ready for the next stop. There were great shops and we had an amazing meal. We stopped at the lowest point but it was too difficult to get a picture with so many people around so we got pics of strangers.

And I got to actually see Ernest Hemingway's house. One more thing checked off my bucket list. I would love too live there. It was like an island oasis.

And we went to the very end point of the coastal highway Route 1 at mile marker 0.

We got back to Miami about 9:30 or 10:00 that night and just grabbed groceries and went back to the room and ate. Sunday morning, we loaded up and went to Sawgrass Recreation Park in the Everglades. We took an air boat ride and actually ran into an alligator up close and personal. 

After a quick lunch at a Japanese restaurant (my first time for Japanese and OOO YUCK), we headed to the beach. The foamy water felt great on my feet since it was close to 100 degrees that day.

Spent some time just relaxing in our chairs on the hot white sand.

And enjoying the blue water and the clear skies.

Ended the day with one of the cruise ships going by us as they headed out to see.

Probably the most jam-packed, exciting, fun filled weekend I ever spent in my life. We flew home the next morning. I had a great time but it felt good to get back to my mountains.

I love Miami

 In mid-July, I took a trip with two of the girls from work and we spent the weekend in Miami. What an amazing vacation. This was filled with many firsts for me and knocked off several items on my bucket list. The first and most important item was to fly on a plane. Yes, I am 62 and never been on a plane. So this was an exciting event.  Just boarding and sitting on the tarmac was exciting.

But once we were airborne and I could see our town, it became a reality.

I can honestly say that climbing above the clouds was so amazing and a little intimidating. But I just had about 5 seconds of fear before the beauty overcame everything.

My friend Dee Dee (left) was so helpful and walked me through the whole process. Shea joined us later since she flew out from a neighboring town.

Once we landed and got the rental car, we checked in our bungalow. It was amazing. 

First stop was a little restaurant called Jaxson's and it was amazing. 

You know how restaurants will bring bread or chips to munch on when you wait for your meal? They bring a big bowl of popcorn with your menu. It was awesome. 

 Then we headed for Miami. The buildings are so tall....everywhere....down there. It was beautiful and overwhelming all at the same time. 

We had pre-purchased a Go Miami pass. For $156 per person there are over 20 things you can do in Miami and you have three days to do them. We picked four things to do and they would have cost us $395 had we paid for each place without the Go Miami. It was amazing. First thing we did was to go to the harbor.

We did some shopping and ate. Then our cruise left to tour South Beach. This was our tour boat.

We went all around the waterways and toured Millionaire's Row. So many famous people have homes there that I can't even remember who all we saw. But my favorite and most excited was to see the home and yacht of one of my favorite singers, Alicia Keys. Obviously I had to get a picture of it.

As we toured the harbor, we got to see all the container ships that were coming in from around the world loaded with goodies.

We saw a couple of cruise ships. The Carnival one was so HUGE.

When we got back from the cruise, we actually went on a double decker bus for a night tour of Miami. We sat on the top deck which was open air with no roof. It was a fun, but windy ride. We really enjoyed seeing it by night. The tour was about an hour and a half so we covered a lot of the town. They gave us ear buds which we plugged into the seat and the tour guide told us about everything we were passing. It was amazing and gorgeous. 

Then we headed back to the hotel and had pizza and sat up talking half the night. We all work together so we all know the same people. Never a dull moment with these gals.

And that was just day 1. Day 2 was my favorite day. Come back tomorrow to see what excitement we had that day.

Top 10 Tuesday - fall and Halloween

One of my favorite parts of Halloween is watching Hocus Pocus...as many times as I can. I never grow tired of that movie. Check out the quilt somebody showed. I need to find out if you can buy one like this. 

I have seen the turquoise and aqua incorporated in with red for Christmas. But I have never seen it in with orange and black for fall. I think I really like this.

Remember the $5 tobacco basket I bought? I had some fall stuff in a box and decided to see if this would look okay. I do need a bow for the top corner, but I'm not sure if this is too "busy" and if I just want a smaller wood plaque, I will decide before fall. I would appreciate feed bag on the busy feeling.

Saw this at A.C. Moore. I may just have to go back and get it. I am in love with it. 

I am falling in love with Steampunk stuff for Halloween. This pumpkins tickled my fancy. May go get one.

How cute are these pillows from Lakeside Collection.

Love the little bags as well. 

This whole display is too cute.

I have always loved windmills. This may have to go on my wish list for fall.

And for all those fans of vintage truck decor, check these out.

That's my Top 10 Tuesday ideas for today. Thanks for stopping by.

It is never too early to get ideas

 Fall and Christmas will be here before you know it. You know me, I am already looking ahead for decorating ideas. I am so in love with this.

For Chistmas, I need to start looking for some snowflake Pyrex.

Sunday Songs

We fall down, we get up. We stress. We worry. We feel like we don't belong. We get depressed. We think we are nothing. God thinks we are everything. Believe Him because we belong to Him.