It's Not Your Grandma's Cookbook

TERIYAKI CHICKEN STIR-FRY servings: 4

Yes, this is an easy one and I really should not be adding it here, but sometimes in life you need simplicity.

Ingredients:
1 lb. pre-cook teriyaki chicken (Costco brand is my favorite.)
16 oz. bag frozen stir-fry vegetables
1 c. of your favorite teriyaki sauce
4 servings of couscous, rice or noodles
sesame seeds
Directions:
Cook chicken according to package, than cut into 1 inch cubes. In a large skillet, add cooked chicken, frozen vegetables and ½ cup of your teriyaki sauce; cook on medium heat covered. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until heated all the way through, stirring occasional. Meanwhile, prepare couscous, rice or noodle according of package.
To serve, divide couscous onto four plates, top with stir-fry; then add the remaining sauce; prinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Pictures This Week

I am really behind here, but here are my pictures from last week.

DAY 16 - DAY 22

My Life

I have neglected my blog during the last week. I could give you many excuses and reasons, but the real reason was a phone call I received from a relative that felt I was revealing too much of my personal life. So tonight I am going to explain why I started this blog.

First, it is a way for my old friends and family to stay current on my life. To see pictures of what’s going on in my life and the different things I am involved in. I am not good at staying in contact with old friends and my family. I am very much a “what is in front of me right now is what I am focused on and thinking about” person. Being far away from my family is difficult for me, and this was a way to communicate with them.

SIDE BAR, just a little family history. I come from a small family. My mom lives in western Washington with her amazing husband. My dad lives in eastern Washington with his amazing wife. My sister is in Nebraska with my niece. I am also lucky enough to still have grandparents. My Grandma Pauline lives in eastern Washington but is at my mom’s house a lot throughout the year. And last my Grandma & Grandpa Rinker live in eastern Washington during the summer and Arizona in the winter.

Second, this blog was a way for my new friends and family to learn more about whom I am and were I came from. Yes, some of it is very personal and revealing. I felt like I was in a place in my life where I was hiding from my past and making sure nobody would know anything about me.

So going forward, I am not going to hold back. I will apologize in advance to anyone who may pick up an offense to what I say but the reality of it is, this is My life.

It's Not Your Grandma's Cookbook

LAST NIGHT’S BREAKFAST

This is a great breakfast casserole that I got from my mother-in-law. This recipe is made the night before and is super easy. The side column is a more health version.

Ingredients:
8 slices of bread, cubed (use whole wheat bread)
2 lb. ground sausage or bacon (use low fat ground sausage)
2 ¼ c. milk (use fat free milk)
¾ t. dry mustard
¾ lb. grated cheddar cheese (use low fat mozzarella cheese)
5 eggs (use 3 eggs & 2 servings of egg beaters)
1 t. salt
1 can cream of mushroom soup (use low fat cream of mushroom soup)
Directions:
Night Before:
Crumble sausage and brown. Divide cubed bread, browned sausage and cheese into half. In a large casserole dish, place the first layer (bread, cheese, sausage); then repeat another layer with the remaining bread, cheese and sausage. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat eggs, than add milk, salt, mustard and soup. Pour over the layers of bread, cheese and sausage. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day bake at 325 degrees for 60 minutes.

She Shoots, She Scores!!!

This last Saturday I had the parental privilege of watching my daughter play her first basketball game of the season. Let me start by saying that the last two years have not really been basketball, more of a lets chase each other on the court and throw a ball around. This year she is on the 3rd & 4th grade team and has real basketball rules to follow.

Watching her line up against the other team (they still have to play man to man), I was signaling (moms you know what this means) to her to stop biting her nails. Then it hit me, she is really nervous for this game. I decided to have the talk about how it’s just for fun and it really doesn’t matter. Just learn the game and have fun. She was good then.

I was not good however. I always told myself I would not be one of those moms yelling on the side at their child to do this and do that. Well people I was and it was BAD. Jay happened to be videotaping the game, after listening to myself I was horrified, and poor Jera. She was probably very confused, here is her mom yelling at her and just a moment ago I told her it was all about having fun. We were sitting by Russell Halverson, whom has a daughter on the team. I kept asking him questions about her skills and abilities. What she should know and be doing. Please remember that he is also the varsity girls coach. He would politely answer me; now after looking back I can only image what he was thinking about me.

One thing he did say will stick with me on my journey through the next many years of competitive sports. “Don’t say anything during that game, just cheer her on.” From now on I will be reminding myself if this quote and that it is just for fun!!!

PS. She did make one basket and was very proud and excited!!!

Addiction

Yes, I will admit, I am literally addicted to diet pepsi. There is not a 12 step program to break this addiction. Every now and then I tell myself, “okay Laura it is time to stop. You can do this, it’s just soda. You have broken worse habits.” But it seems every time I lose the battle and start back up. There really are no excuses; it is a choice I am making.

I will open up my private world about some past habits/addictions. Starting very early in my life I knew I had an addictive personality. It has created events that do not leave the best of memories.

Boys would be my first major addiction; always trying to find one to save me from the lack of having my dad in my life. The boyfriend I had all through high school was my first addiction. We had a very dangerous, violent relationship. There were drugs, sex, weapons, alcohol, abuse, and police almost on a daily. I think you can get the picture. I know looking back, it was one of those relationships people looked at and said “why does she stay with him” or “one of them is going to kill the other.” At the time I can say I believed 100% I couldn’t live without him. It took my dad, restraining orders and moving out of the state to break that addiction.

The next addiction would be drugs. Coming off my relationship in high school moving straight into another one with a guy that I didn’t know doesn’t put you into the right frame of mind. I found I was using to function with daily life and trying to coupe. I cannot say I ever had a moment were I hit rock bottom, but at some point I decided I wanted to take control of my life again I moved in with my sister in a different state.

The third addiction I am not ready to talk about yet, but lets just say my amazing husband Jay, changed my life.

Currently I like to say that God is my addiction, but I don’t think addiction is the right word. He has put me in a place to learn about him and turn to him for everything in my crazy life. He has made me stronger to deal with this “addictive personality” and not allowed it to control my life any longer. Someday I hope to help other young girls that are in “bad” relationships, but that is not Gods plan for me right now.

In closing, my “addiction” to Diet Pepsi does not seem so bad. But it really is a habit I would like to break, so I will continue to pray about it and listen for the right time.

Pictures This Week

DAY 8 – DAY 14

This week at a glance.

The bits and pieces of our life.

EATING OUT

We are still working hard at our weight loss, not as hard as we were this last summer but we are still on plan. With our busy lives, we find that we are eating out more that we like. Eating out has always been one of our down falls, so I have come up with a few things that help us when we have to.
• Ask for a box to go before you receive your food. Once you receive your meal put half your meal in the box and set it aside to take home. Most all restaurant meals are double sometime triple the needed serving size.
• Plan ahead; if you know you will be eating out, look at the menu ahead of time online. Plan your meal out before you go, then DO NOT look at a menu. This way you will not be tempted to order those items you crave the most, but don’t need.
• Share a meal. Again, restaurant meals are WAY more than one person needs. Share a meal with your spouse or someone else at the table.
• Order off the kiddy menu; only when there is no age limit.
• Plan your day around this meal; eat less throughout the day knowing that you will be eating out.
• Portion control equals palm size, watch how much you are putting into your mouth and control it. LOL
• DO NOT drink your calories. Stay with water, this will also help you feel fuller while eating less.

It's Not Your Grandma's Cookbook

VANILLA CUPCAKES :-) serving: 12 cupcakes

In my adult life, I realized I had not made cupcakes. I decided to give it a try for Jera’s birthday. I must say they turn out pretty good. (Side note: I bought the frosting at the store; we will have to wait another day to make frosting.)

Ingredients:
½ c. unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
¼ t. salt
½ c. milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, and then beat in the vanilla. In a separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. On low speed, add flour mixture and milk. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 18-20 minutes, check with toothpick if needed. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

WHY I LOVE BEING A TEACHER

Never in my childhood or early adult life did I believe I would become a teacher. When telling my testimony to my students the other day about how I became a teacher; I decided to write down a few reasons why I love what I am doing.

In no particular order:
•The "a-ha" moment the students have when learning. They are priceless to watch.
•Sense of accomplishment, I feel everyday that I am making a difference.
•June, July, August (seriously)
•Lots of laughs and fun with the kids, celebrating holidays, birthdays, field trips, etc.
•Snow days - can't think of many jobs that call you while you're still in bed and say, "stay home, it's too dangerous to come to work."
•Exposure to lots of different types of children with lots of different perspectives on this world
•Can stay as late as you need or leave right away – The school day doesn’t end for a teacher when the bell rings. There is usually papers to be grade, lesson plan, etc., but it can end on time every once in a while when you really want to go home.
•Reward Progress – It may be bribery, but bribery tastes good sometimes.
•Have a Daily Adventure – No one knows what the day shall bring.
•Share in Special Moments – Students love to tell you about their live, accomplishments and just about anything else.
•Student made gifts – The best gift a teacher can receive is a heartfelt card written by a student.
•Valuing the Individual – A teacher is given the opportunity to prove why each and every child is special and has something to contribute.

PS. Another day, I will tell you my testimony on how and why I became a teacher.

Resolutions

WHY NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS - DON'T WORK FOR ME

I have been very unsuccessful at New Year’s resolutions. After some though and research I have come up with why.

1) Most resolutions are attached to the calendar (January 1) - This relieves me of any duty, because I do not have a vested interest. I would probably have better results if I made my resolution on MY birthday.
2) Most resolutions are made to "stop" something. This creates negative thoughts. I will spend more time “thinking” of the negatives – which will just cause more of the same problems.

So, this year I decided to do something different. My “New Year’s Resolution” is to think about positive things that would improve my life.

Examples:
Just for today: I will give thanks for my many blessings.
Just for today: I will not worry.
Just for today: I will not be angry.
Just for today: I will be kind to my neighbor and every living thing.

Every morning I say to myself,” just for today I will ……,” and so far I am off to a good start. Lets hope that it sticks and will change my life for the better.

Pictures This Week

DAY 1 – DAY 7

I was not good about the project 365 were you “have” to take a picture a day showing your life. I have in turn decided I will add photos of events and things happening during the week instead of daily. This way I will not have the pressure of daily photo taking.
(Click on the picture to view it larger.)

Sun 1/2/2011 – My Blog “Scrap of Life”


Mon 1/3/2011 – My 6th Grade Classroom and Students



Tue 1/4/2011 – Jera’s Birthday Morning
Our birthday morning tradition; the birthday girls gets to have cake or this year a cupcake for breakfast.



Wed 1/5/2011 – 1st Semester Publications Class

Courteney, Katherine, Zach, Alexa, Keeley, Kaeli

Thu 1/6/2011 – Jay and His “Rat”


Fri 1/7/2011 – Jays MP3 player


Sat 1/8/2011 – Jera’s Birthday sleep over party.
Jera and her friend Sophia have a birthday four days apart. This year they decided to have a birthday party together with all their friends. They had a sleep over at Sophia’s house.

Jay's View

MUSIC

I will say that Jay is defiantly the amazing writer in our family, but he is unwilling to document our life daily LOL. In return I have asked him to write one blog a week about anything he wants. Here is the first one.

So I am told that I need to write something in Laura’s blog, but she forgets that I (we) are private people. So for the last 2 hours I have been struggling to find something to write about. I have been sitting here listening to some random music on rhapsody, actually it’s all music I have picked so in no way is it random, but the mix of music is random. Here are some of the artists whose tracks have graced my ear drums. Sublime, The Who, Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Areosmith, Kansas, Bob Seger, Cee Lo Green, The Eagles, Black Eyed Peas, Dire Straits, Enrique Iglesias, Little River Band, Boston, Rihanna, Beyonce and a bunch of other stuff. Yes I have an ear for late 70’s early 80’s AOR music. Props to the first person to know what AOR is.

You will have to forgive me if I burst out in song. It’s a habit I have. It baffles Laura how in the middle of a conversation I will hear a few words from a song and I will instantly break out singing that song. I have learned to control this around most people, but have found myself in front of a class slipping in a few lines of music to songs. Most of the kids will stare at me like I am from a faraway place. I will tell them the song and the stares continue as I realize most of these kids’ parents were 10 when the song I am singing was popular. I usually laugh to myself and continue on, however, every once in awhile I will have to stop what I am doing and go listen to that particular song to appease my inner music soul. Movies also have a way of getting me to listen to random music. If I hear a song in a movie that I know, I will usually go listen to that song when the movie is over. Many times I will listen to that song and many others by the same artist for days on end. One particular movie was Reign over Me. It was an atypical movie of Adam Sandler’s but it struck a chord in me. Without going into too much detail, I can say that I could see myself in his characters role if I ever, God forbid, faced what his character did. He listens to The Who’s 1973 Quadrophenia album over and over throughout the movie. As you can guess, I listened to that album for weeks after watching the movie.

Music, especially the older stuff, takes me back to memories in my life. I remember the first album I ever got. It was in 1980 when my mother came home for a business trip. Not sure if Corey or Sarah ever got gifts, but this particular time I did. It was the Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” album. I spent hours playing that record. I am sure this is where my love of AOR came from. I think my mom owned half of the albums listed above. I always wondered where my love for music came from. I know my father and mother listened to music but why did I pick it up and run with it? I never desired to play an instrument, but have always loved listening to music. My dream job would be working as an executive at a record label signing new talent, or producing records or a DJ at a radio station. The last job is one I actually had while attending college in La Grande. KEOL 91.7 was the local college radio station. One of my roommates and I decided that we needed to take the FM Broadcasting class and get licenses to be radio DJ’s. We passed and got our very own show. It was the best 4 hours spent; Thursday mornings from midnight to 4am. We were low on the totem pole so we got the worst shift. The best part, we could play whatever we wanted and the station had over 10,000 albums and 20,000 cd’s. Not to mention this was all during the height of Napster. So we had all the music we wanted at out disposal. All we had to do was read PSA’s and every 30mins, top of the hour and at xx.30min mark, we had to read the call sign, “97.1 K-E-O-L La Grande.” This was required by the FCC. The worst part was the 4 hour Chem. lab I had Thursday mornings. Maybe that is why I changed majors to computer science. Or it could have been Physics and Biology that buried me the same term. I digress. I love music. I can sit with my headphones on listening to music for hours on end. Most nights I fall asleep while listening to my mp3 player and will wake up at 4am with the headphones still in. And yes if it’s a song I really like, I will listen to it then fall back asleep. It is safe to say on any given day, there is some form of music piped into my head for extended periods of time. So here it is now well past my bedtime and I realized I have been rambling on here. I also realize that I have opened the window to my private life just a crack. Hope you enjoyed.

The bits and pieces of our life.

THE GREAT MOUSE CAPADE

My husband came home earlier last week to inform me he believes there is a rat living in his truck. I had a chuckle to myself thinking he is going to drive off the road if it shows itself while he is driving. My husband might be “big & strong”, but really he is a big teddy bear who is afraid of rats. I then made sure he understood we will NOT be exchanging vehicles. There is no way you will find me driving down the road with a rat in the car.

After some thought, he told me, he has decided to sell his truck. He just cannot deal with the rat, LOL. After talking, we decided to try and trap it. Once all the garbage and nest were cleaned out, Jay set three traps with peanut butter. Low and behold the next morning the “rat” turned out to be a mouse and was found dead in the glove compartment.

The moral of this story is, if you see a really “cheap” blue Durango for sell, do not buy it.

It's Not Your Grandma's Cookbook

FISH TACOS with PEACH RELISH serving: 4 tacos

On my bucket list is to at some point in my life write a cook/recipe book. I want to fill it with great recipes that are easy and don’t require odd hard to find ingredients. Here is my first recipe.

Ingredients:
Salsa:
1 peach, finely chopped
¼ c. red onion, finely chopped
1 T. cilantro, chopped
1 T. lime juice
½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
Pinch: salt, pepper and garlic powder
Fish:
2 tilapia filets, cut into 2 inch cubes
1 T. taco seasoning
Cooking spray – for pan
8 corn tortilla shells
Aluminum foil
Directions:
In a small bowl combine all salsa ingredients and set aside until ready to serve. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wrap tortillas in foil, place on baking sheet. Heat in oven for 5-7 minutes or until warm. Warm a sauce pan on low-medium heat, spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle taco seasoning on cubed fish. Place fish in pan and cook until done. Place two tortillas together, for four tacos. Divide fish and salsa among the four tacos and serve.

Sports, do I need to say more.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

I TRY to do my best being a coach’s wife, but after the first season, in the middle of the second season and thinking about the third season coming soon; I am wonder when in my life did I become so into sports.

My husband coaches varsity football in the fall, JV basketball in the winter with his brother-in-law Doug, and in the spring he will be an assistant softball coach with his sister Sarah. Oh, and don’t forget to add, if we do not have enough girls for a softball season, he will be there to help assist coaching in baseball.

Besides Jay, my daughter is also very into sports. She played soccer in the fall (soon to be volleyball, which she is super excited about, because her cousin Kennedy plays), basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring.

I have had to come up with ways that I get to spend more time with my husband during these seasons. During this last season of football, I became VERY good at analyzing the game, almost becoming a coach myself. We spent many hours together breaking down game film, watching football, talking about offense, building defense and creating strength training and cardio routines for the players.

During the current season, my husband is learning the game of basketball himself from whom I believe to be one of the best coaches ever, his brother-in-law Doug. I involve myself by doing the basketball book for the varsity teams and boys JV team. This way I am able to travel with my husband and be around him more.

I have yet to find what to do to help during the last season.

PS: Happy 9th Birthday to my wonderful daughter Jera today!!!!!

Note from a Teacher

RETURNING FROM BREAK

After a most needed two week break, we were back into the swing of school today. I have to admit I thoroughly enjoy my 6th graders this year. It is always fun to see the new clothes they are wearing, the much needed haircuts they got and the other toys they like to share.

On a different note, my new adventure this year is the high school publications class. I will say it has been a challenge for me. Our first due date is fast approaching this month and we still have 24 pages to create, edit, grade and submit. This class was not pleased to receiving all their graded pages, upcoming assignments, and due dates. It truly baffles me to hear them complain and have concern about their due dates when we have had these assignments and due dates since the beginning of the school year.

My husband informed me that I should not worry about it because I will get it done “at any cost”. That would be my down fall, I am very organized and a bit of a perfectionist. I never want or like the feeling of letting someone down, even if it is out of my control.

So, with all of that, I am going to “stop” worrying about it because I know that it will get done!!!

A Word from Above

THE FIVE BLESSINGS


Jay and I are a VERY private couple and do not share much about our lives, feelings, problems or blessings. I am going to use Sundays to share some of these things about us. With that said, here we go…

Since my daughter’s birthday is this week, I thought this would be a great place to start. She is a true blessing from God and our miracle baby. You do need to remember that Jay and I were not Christians during this time of our lives.

It started in September 2001, I was five months pregnant and we had just purchased a new “family” four door car. Jay, Judy and I were driving out to Sarah’s house, why I don’t remember. Right outside of Salem we were stopped at a red light when suddenly we were rear ended by a car driven by a drunk driver going about 60 mph. I was in the back seat on the passenger side, Jay was driving and Judy was in the front passenger seat.

Things that I remember immediately following the accident and commotion. First the extreme pain in the back of my head and why was I looking at Judy in the face, she is suppose to be sitting in front of me. Then Judy YELLING at jay “what the are you doing?”, Jay YELLING back “were just rear ended”, Judy YELLING back “by what a f***ing semi-truck”. You have to remember that we did not see it coming; Jay saw it coming in the review mirror and was able to take his foot off the break. After the yelling, I realized that Judy was in my lap because the front seats broke. This was not the ideal thing, being that the headrest slammed into my pregnant stomach. The pain and cramping started immediately in my stomach.

At this time, Jay was exiting the car to check on the people in the other car. Now if you knew my husband he kept his head shaved and he weighed about 350 lbs. He could be a little intimidating. Once he started walking toward the other car a man exited the driver’s door and started running/walking away down the road into an orchard. Jay becoming very upset and was trying to call 911. I remember Jay yelling at the dispatcher that the guy who just hit us was running away from the accident.

Now, from my perspective. There were people everywhere trying to help us. We were in the middle of a major intersection. People helped Judy out of the car, I remember people pulling on her door to open it. I on the other hand was unable to get out of the car. My stomach and head hurt REALLY bad, and I started to shake uncontrollably. The first blessing; a woman a few cars back was a RN. She brought a blanket to cover me up helping me to stay calm. I then remembered a fire truck pulling up on my left, at the same time the police had arrived. I could not seem them, but I could hear them and their dogs searching for the other driver.

Meanwhile, one of the firefighters was in the car next to me. He was telling me not to move, he was putting things all over me, I could not see any of them because by then I had one of those stupid (but helpful) neck collars on. I just kept telling him that my stomach was cramping and hurt bad and that I could not feel my baby moving. (Which you need to know that the baby moved ALL the time.) At this point, I only remember a few things. First, the firefighters cutting my door off to get me out, I was thinking please be nice to my NEW car. The second, they were getting ready to move me onto a board and I was thinking please don’t drop me I have put on a little weight since being pregnant.

I was in the ambulance, on my way to the hospital with Jay riding in the front seat. I was becoming more coherent in the ambulance, the EMT was trying to give me an IV and after about 3 painful misses he was successful. Then, the second blessing, during the drive I felt my baby move for the first time since the accident. The ride seemed like it took forever and it was very uncomfortable.

Once in the hospital after many x-rays, exams, test and ultra sounds I has left with a lot of pain in my stomach, hips and on the back of my head. I stayed the night in the hospital and was released on bed rest until a follow up with my doctor. A few hours after being home the next day, the cramping in my stomach was increasingly getting worst. I went back to the ER. Upon arriving at the ER and a quick exam an ambulance was called in to take me to OHSU trauma center. They were concerned that there was bleeding internally and that my uterus was contacting like I should be in labor.

Entering the ER by ambulance at OHSU is an experience all by its self. First of all, it is a teaching hospital so there were at least 9 doctors and/or nurses in the room with me. They all started working on me right when I entered and they were all talking and saying things that I did not understand. After about 10 minutes of what felt like to me was chaos, a very sweet woman doctor leaned over me and told me that my might have internal bleeding and I would have to have surgery to fix it. She then told me that it didn’t look like my baby was going to make it and just so I was clear they would do whatever it took to save me before my baby. At that moment so many emotions and thoughts went through my mind. Am I going to die, is my baby going to die, what is happening to me, how am I going to tell Jay any of this and will I get to see any of my family soon. Those were just a few things going through my mind.

I closed my eyes, trying to find a peaceful place inside. I lay there, not praying or talking to God, because remember I didn’t really know anything about him, but now I know he knew me. The third blessing; as I lay there something keeps telling me to NOT believe this doctor and push through this. After more testing a different doctor told me that I will NOT have to have surgery, the bleeding they saw was under control and the medicine they gave me had stopped the contractions. My baby has a chance. They wanted to keep me for observation and told me I would be on bed rest through the rest of my pregnancy.

After getting settled into my room, visiting with my family for a short moment I laid in bed with Jay sleeping on a small couch next to me thinking it will be a miracle if my baby makes it. Fast forward through a not so fun four months, on the morning of January 3rd, my wonderful supportive sister-in-law Sarah said it’s time for this baby to come out. She took me to the mall and we walked around and around and around the mall for HOURS. I was exhausted and still very pregnant. That evening I was visiting my mom and Grandma at my sister’s house. They had just arrived in town awaiting the birth. Little did I know at 9:30 PM while my mom was feeling my stomach my water would break. Of course there was excitement because I knew once I got to the hospital I would not leave until the baby was born. There was still a high concern, because during the accident my uterus was severally bruised and damaged. My doctor and I decided that we would try normal birth before a c-section.

I was in my hospital room all setup and ready by 10:30 PM it was going to be a long wait. I was dilating very slow, but the exciting news was that I was dilating. Around 5:00 AM January 4th I was in-between a 5 or 6 and still moving VERY slow. My doctor told me to rest hoping that it would help move things along. By that evening I was exhausted, after checking the doctor told me I had digressed from a 7 back to a 4. The damaged part of my uterus was not working correctly and if I didn’t make progress soon I would have to have a c-section. 24 hours after my water broke it was decided that I would have a c-section. More than anything I was exhausted and ready for it to be over.

Jera, the fourth blessing. During the c-section, everything went great while they were talking the baby out. Jera was a perfect and health baby girl. But after she was out I started to struggle, I don’t remember a lot of it. I just remember hearing the doctor’s yelling at me to keep breathing and to wake up. After feeling very at peace and comforted, I remember thinking this is not right, I am dying and I am not ready. The final blessing, God let me continue living at that very moment.