Wishing You All A Merry Christmas

Well in light of Cymmone being crazy a week ago, the girls and I decided to make a video of a song to represent Cymmone. This is our way of sharing in the holiday spirit with you all. Yes, they were on Eggnog that morning!

Christmas Before Christmas

With Cymmone being forced to go to her Dad's house starting 2pm on Christmas day this year for the Holidays, we had to improvise. So we changed a what we normally do. I had the entire week off, which was really nice. So everyday from Sunday to Christmas Eve, the girls got to open a present I picked out for them to open. Well, they pretty much ended up picking, I just said no if it needed to wait till Christmas.
I wanted the girls to be able to have playing time with their toys before Cymmone had to go. So here are a few pictures of what they opened before Christmas Day.

The Pink Pig

So there is this Pink Pig. I am not really sure the story behind it, but it used to be a cool ride at a department store back in the 50's. It used to circle the roof of the store and give you a birds eye view of the toys to buy. It was interesting to say the least. So we went up to the Lenox Square Mall to Macy's, where the ride is now located. It was just another one of those crazy things we did. Then we went and viewed the lights at the Life College not to far from there. All in All, it was a great night. (when SeKoixa put on the Pig nose, Cymmone started laughing, and commented how she now looked like her dad's wife, we laughed so hard people looked at us funny!!)

Cymmone is NUTS!!!

Cymmone has a clumsy complex, she takes after her dad. She trips over everything, she is lazy, she does not like to clean up, and she leaves one sock on at night ( even if I put her to bed with two on), she even leaves the cupboards open. She is so accident proned. I am always telling her, "Cymmone, be careful, watch out, don't hold it like a delicate flower." It has pretty much become a part of our weekly routine, taking Cymmone to doctors. HA HA. Well ok, monthly routine.

So this time, she decided to rest her head on this huge barbie castle ( I uploaded a picture of what it looks like, don't ask me whose kid that is, I have no clue. ) When she rested her head on this piece it broke off, and flipped up and busted her in the face. It knocked out her baby tooth, which needed to come out, and ripped her gum open, slashed a hole in her mouth, and cut her lip and it swelled up pretty bad. She was bleeding everywhere.

SeKoixa, she flipped. She started screaming and crying and running through the house like someone had murdered her sister. Only a reaction you would see in the movies. It was too funny. So I had to send her to her room so Cymmone did not freak out with all of the blood.

Thank God the tooth was a somewhat loose tooth that needed to come out. But when it came out, her gums were ripped. The bleeding would not stop, and I was not sure if she would need stitches with that large gaping hole. So we took her in. Thank goodness they said she would be ok. One of these days she is really going to hurt herself. Poor kid. So here is a before and after picture.

SeKoixa Performs at Truetts Grill - Chick Fil A

SeKoixa and a few of her school choir members performed at Truetts grill on Dec 16th. The choir has had a lot of opportunities this year to perform for many people. She also had a school performance, and a performance for the old folks home across the street from the school.

Here is a picture or two for you.

SeKoixa Performs for Morrow City

SeKoixa is quite the little singer. She has joined the school choir. They call them the McGarrah Wildcats Singers. This year they had the opportunity to perform for the Christmas in the Park in the city where we live.

The name of the city is Morrow, GA. http://www.cityofmorrow.com/ is the website if you are interested in reading about where we live. We have lived here for two years now. Great little city. So anyways.....

The school choir performed a few Christmas songs. The thing behind them is what they call the singing tree. You climb up in it like a grand stage. It is interesting, it lights up to the music and such. Very fun to see. After we were all done we headed over to get pictures with Santa Claus. Cymmone was not with us this weekend. Then we headed over to help out at the booth for our Church. We sold hotdogs and gave out hot chocolate, and SeKoixa passed out candy to all the kids who came by. It was freezing cold outside, but we had a great time.

Here is a video of one of the songs.

Cymmone's Hospital Visit

Cymmone as you know has been getting a UTI, urinary tract infection about every 3-5 months. The doctors are not sure why. A few weeks ago they said that her left kidney was swollen, so they scheduled her for a screening at the hospital where they had to put her to sleep. We had to be there at 6am, I was so tired. They took her back and allowed me to go while they put her to sleep. I just sat there and held her hand and prayed that it would all be good news.

After the morning was over, around 11am, we were able to leave. There is no damage to her kidneys or bladder from what they could see. She still has to run to the bathroom and has a hard time holding it. We have a follow up in two weeks to see what else we can do. She is on antibiotics for 6 months to make sure she can recover a little. I am so proud of her. She has been so strong through all of this.

She was too cute at the hospital. She wanted to hold her sissy's cat, she missed her so much when she was with her dad during Thanksgiving. She hates not having her sister to play with now. She says she gets ignored a lot. And no one talks to her. She also took with her an etch a sketch. She had me guessing what she was drawing. It was too cute. I hope to get more answers about what is going on with her body. But so far, nothing. Please continue to pray for her, because she is still not fixed.

Nutcracker

SeKoixa did such a wonderful job in the Nutcracker. She was too cute. I had a great time taking off the entire week to spend with her and running her back and forth to the rehearsals. I am glad she had the opportunity to participate. She is so willing to try different things, not sure where she got that from.

Georgia State Capitol Christmas Tree

SeKoixa and I had the opportunity to decorate the christmas tree at the Georgia State Capitol. We had so much fun. We went up just before her rehearsal for the Nutcracker, and spent a better part of the day testing the lights, and fluffing the poinsettas, and watering the tree. The tree is so huge. Cymmone was sad she was not able to come. She went with her dad this year for Thanksgiving.

Happy 13th Birthday Dalon

On November 20, 1995, 13 Years ago I gave birth to a beautiful little boy - Dalon Gerome Gonzalez. He was 1 lb 5 oz. He was 12 inches long. I called him my foot long hot dog. He had beautiful brown and blonde hair, and blue eyes.
He was the most amazing little guy, and such a fighter. He lost his fight in this world just a few short weeks later, but the impact he had on my life is endless.
I thank God for him everyday. Without him in my life, I would not be the woman and mother I am today. So today, I celebrate his life - his amazing life!
It has been hard living here in Georgia, because every year me and the girls would go see him for every holiday. Since we have not been home to Utah since we left, we have not had a chance to go see him.
We never missed a birthday and never missed a Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas, and Easter. You name it, we were there. The girls and I would sing to him, clean his grave site and take him toys.
Cymmone and SeKoixa have teddy bears I gave them over the past few years. The Teddy Bears they have belonged to Dalon. When I saw the movie brother bear, I was inspired to pass them onto my daughters. They both sleep with their bears, and know who their brother is. I am proud to share his story with them, and they are proud to say they have an older brother.

(thank you to my sisters for going down there the past few years and making sure they took him some decorations and allowing me to share in the moment)
Here are the pictures from the past two years.

SeKoixa's Artwork is Published!!!

SeKoixa came home with a book yesterday, and just sat it down in front of me. She said here Mom, read this.

I looked through the book as she hovered over my shoulders, and came across a page which she told me to look closely at. It was her artwork in a book, with her name and everything. It was so cute. I read more about the book and the program. The website is http://www.vsarts.org/ for those who want to read about the program. This exhibit includes pieces created by children attending mainstream to special education classrooms working with VSA arts affiliate schools and centers around the world. The program is geared towards special needs children, but they also work with other children who are interested in becoming an artist. Well SeKoixa, she sure made me proud. I have bragging rights now.

Here is a direct link to the art exhibit where her work is shown http://www.creativeconnections.org/international_art_exhibits/2008_art_exhibit.php

She is under USA and you have to scroll down to find her work by name of the work, "Me and My Sister". If you don't want to do all of that work and go directly to the picture here it is http://www.creativeconnections.org/international_art_exhibits/show_art.php?imageid=2507

Cymmone and her UTI's

Ever since Cymmone was able to use the toilet and speak, she has gotten multiple Urinary Tract Infections. She has one about every 3-6 months. Recently she has stopped telling me when she hurts. The only way I know, is when she wets the bed at night. A few weeks ago I had taken her to the doctors. Apparently she wet the bed at her dad's house over the weekend, but neither of them mentioned it to me.
That is really the only sign she has one anymore. So when I found out, I took her to the doctors first thing in the morning. I had heard enough excuses from the specialists and doctors we were going to, I was fed up. But this doctor, he did not want to hear what I was saying. He kindly wrote a prescription and sent us on our way.
When we went to church on Sunday, I brought her up front for special prayer. There is something about everyone at church praying for her at once, and all 20 deacons, pastors, ministers and reverends. I needed to know what was wrong, and needed God to touch me with the knowledge I needed to put the doctors in the right direction with this.
Prayer - Works! A week later, she was showing signs of yet another one. So about 7 days after she finished the meds the first doctor gave her. When I took her back to the doctors this time, I was just so darn frustrated, because she was telling me how mych pain she was in. I cried and cried at the office. Begged them to please listen to me. This was her 6th one this year. Finally, she said, this is just not right. This doctor said lets get some samples and run some tests, and get her to a specialist.
The specialist they wanted to send her to, was the first one she saw. They chopped it up to being just her constipated. But she is not. Only maybe once a month, and that is not enough to cause all of these problems. So I refused to go there again. Needless to say, the doctor got permission for me to take her to another specialist, who deals with primarly adults. Much older people. But he was willing to do this for me.
When we left the doctors that day, we went back to the church, I needed another prayer for her, I was missing something, I asked God to help me understand the pain my daughter was feeling so I could tell the doctors where to begin. The Pastor was surprised to see me, but took me and the girls to the sanctuary, and prayed for us.
It never occured to me until after the specialist visit today, but my prayers were answered, I just never saw the signs. Let me explain.
I had a pain in my shoulder, I was given medicine, two days after I asked for God to give me the pain so I could understand. This medicine, it caused my kidney to swell, and there was a lot of pain. A lot of pain, for about a week straight, and even up until yesterday. The pain, it is gone now. I can breathe, and sit in a normal position. The meds say that there is a 1% chance I would get a kidney stone. But the doctor said it was most likely not the problem, and to simply wait it out and see if the pain would go away. It just so happened to be my left kidney.
This afternoon I took Cymmone to the specialist, and he was as nice as nice could be. He was pretty upset that the doctor did not listen to my concerns a few weeks ago, and he grew even more concerned when he learned that Cymmones pain was much higher in her stomach area. He did a sonogram and found that her pain was from a swollen kidney.
There are a lot of tests that he needs to run on her. Tests that would make a grown person cry from having them done. He said he would put Cymmone to sleep to perform some of the procedures so I did not have to hear her cry and she did not have to be in pain.
So one more step closer, closer than we have ever been. God will heal her, he will help the doctors find the problem. I hate putting her through all of this, but I can't bear the thought of her losing a kidney or dying because of this problem.
Right now, he thinks it could be reflux in the bladder, and that it could be spitting the infection back up to her kidneys. This happens from having way to many UTI's. Why she is having so many UTI's, well we still have to find the answer to that one. I am starting to think it is something in her diet. Something she does not get all of the time, but every 3-5 months. Some food, something she is eating. I am thinking about starting a log of the food she eats. SeKoixa used to get yeast infections from apple juice concentrate as a little baby. So I am thinking that there is something simple, something like that, something she is allergic to, or that her body can not break down. After all of this, I know God will lead me in the right direction, and bring Cymmone back to good health.
I love my kids, and will do anything for them, anything!

Nutcracker

This year SeKoixa has been selected to perform in the Nutcracker. Her school's choir was chosen to participate. She was hesitant at first, but I told her if she does not try something new she will miss out later on in life. So she tried it, and loves it. She is so cute how she does her dance. We went down to get her picture done at the Ballet Studio, and they fitted her with a Chinese costume. I think it is cute. She will be doing a special dance called the dream. It is something new they are trying.

I was down at their practice session a week ago, and got the pleasure of seeing how hard she is working. She will actually be front and center on the stage. That is what I get for having the shortest kid in the group. HA HA

I hope to be able to take plenty of pictures to share with everyone. During the week of Thanksgiving will be the rehearsal, so no traveling for us this year. We will remain here in Atlanta so she can perform.

Music Workshop @ Church

This weekend was sure a busy one. Being active in our church has allowed our lives to be used for good. The girls love singing in their choir. They had a music workshop this weekend. SeKoixa and Cymmone signed up. I was asked to do the welcome for the concert/performance laster that night. So I had to prepare my little speech.

I went and took some photos of everyone and made a video for the church. The Pastor really enjoyed it. If it gets posted on the churches website I will let you all know.

At the performance Cymmone got picked at last minute for a solo. I wished I had recorded it, but at least I was able to get the rap they did recorded. I will see if I can get that posted soon.

The girls also had to perform on Sunday service at 1045am. They were so excited, because both of them had the solos this week. I recorded this one, and again, they have both been blessed with wonderful voices. Cymmone's voice is just now maturing, and with the time we spend singing, she will be like her sister in no time.

SeKoixa, she really draws a crowd. This time the Pastor jumped from his seat and ran up front to see who was singing. Everyone was amazed and so proud of the girls. I am glad the hours I have put into their singing, and their choir is paying off for them. They really enjoy doing it.

I finally finished my new member classes today, so it is official, I am a member of their church now. I joined right into the Youth Ministry, and also signed up to do the Audio Visual Ministry. I got my first taste of working in the AV department tonight. For the first time in our churches history we broadcasted over AM radio and the internet. I am sure we will do it again, I will be sure to let you know when. Here is the site where you can listen next time.

http://www.reggiegay.com/

The girls were supposed to perform tonight to, but they ended up not making the kids sing. However Reggie put the mic to Cymmone's mouth, so she did get on the radio tonight singing. Only for a few seconds, but it was sure funny. I sat in the sound booth controlling the audio that was streaming, so I did not get the chance to see her, she was just out of the camera's view that I also monitored.

High School Musical 3

A month ago at SeKoixa's birthday party, my friends and I decided we will take the kids out to High School Musical 3 on opening night. The kids were so excited. Each week they have looked forward to tonight. And it was too much fun.

Tyler, Alyssa, Tyranesha, Cymmone, Nichole, and SeKoixa went, and so did their moms, my friends. I have been so lucky to find such great friends who are committed to their kids as much as I am. We are planning on doing something at least once a month to keep the friendship with the kids going, and give us some mommy time together.

Here are the pictures we took afterwards.

Firefighter Challenge

Over the weekend the girls and I went to cheer on Clayton County Fire Department at this FireFighter Challenge event. We had a great time, and learned what it would take to be a fireman. The food was great, and the games and activities were perfect for the little ones. And personally, staring at all of those fine men in the uniforms, well, I think I went for me!!

SeKoixa decided she wanted to do the firefighter challenge for juniors. The course was interesting, and a lot of fun. Cymmone was not feeling the childrens challenge, but none the less, she and I volunteered and assisted in putting back the items for the course the kids had to run. It was cute seeing her pull the dummy back in place for the next person to drag them out of the fire.

Saturday night we went ahead and headed to the fair. We had so much fun. The rides were great, the food was awesome. We even won me a fish. The girls already had one, so I had to claim this one as my own. We named him Pharoh. Cymmone might adopt him if her poor fish dies. Her fish got sick this past week, and we are not sure what is wrong with him. So I feel bad. But here are some pictures for you all.

The New Me

Ok, so back in August I cut off all of my hair. Used to be to my middle back. Most people don't know, so I figured I would post some pictures of the cut, and how it has grown out so far.

Me, just after I moved here, with long straight hair.

Me, after I colored and now have long curly hair

The hair coming off


Me Just after the cut



Me now, with it growing out