Rosie

Five years ago while in kindergarten, Sydney was in a gymnastics class. She was walking along a low balance beam when she fell and landed on her arm. She was crying really hard and a cheerleader at the gym stopped and gave her a teddy bear to comfort her. She quickly bonded with the bear and named her Rosie.

I took Sydney and Rosie to the ER and ended up waiting until morning for them to see her. They x-rayed and splinted her arm and sent us on our way. I had a feeling something wasn't right, so two days later I took her to an orthopedic surgeon who x-rayed her again. He said that the ER doctor had incorrectly splinted her arm and actually made the break worse. Sydney's elbow was not only dislocated, but also fractured and needed surgery (closed reduction) to realign the bone and close the gap.

The next day Sydney was clutching Rosie when she went back to the O.R. They had done a good job explaining what was going to happen, but it still broke my heart when they wheeled her away.

The procedure went really well. Sydney was casted with a bright pink cast from her shoulder to her wrist in the bent arm position with her wrist almost facing up. It was really cute because Rosie came out with a cast as well.

From this moment on Sydney and Rosie have been inseparable. Every night for the last five years Rosie has been tucked in with Sydney, especially on road trips and sleepovers.

Six months ago, the kids and I took our annual cross country road trip this summer. When we got back we couldn't find Rosie anywhere. I thought she had fallen out of the car at a gas station or was left in the hotel we spent the last night in. Sydney was devastated and didn't sleep well for the longest time. We were all sad for her and said prayers that Rosie would find her way home.

Last week Rick was in Dallas for work and stopped by his parents house. I asked him to search for Rosie. He insisted he already had a couple months ago.

That night I said another prayer and even mentioned her the next day in my fasting prayer. Just as I was sending the kids in my class to their parents at the end of primary I got a text from Rick to check my email. It was a picture of a bear titled "Rosie?" I immediately choked up and couldn't believe he found her!

She wasn't in good shape. He found her at the bottom a toy basket smashed and grungy. I spent a few hours washing, drying, fluffing her with the plans of her being a present on Christmas.

The night before we were to leave for Texas, Sydney was saying how she wanted to bring a stuffed animal. We told her she couldn't, knowing it would make opening Rosie on Christmas morning that much better. Well, the more I thought about how this was Sydney's first road trip without her, I just couldn't make her wait until Christmas.

Rick tucked Rosie under her arm right before we woke her to leave at 4am. When she realized she was holding Rosie she squeezed her tight and smiled the biggest smile.

Just like old times

Rick had put Rosie under her arm about an hour earlier.

It's Rosie!


We woke her to leave at 4am and she had just realized she was holding Rosie.

Heading to Texas for Christmas

Rosie is right where she should be!

Rosie had a great Christmas. We are leaving for our 19 hour trip home in a few hours and I am sure Rosie won't leave Sydney's sight.

House for Sale

Richard accepted a transfer to Miami. The home values in Florida have taken a beating and we are so blessed that Target is giving us what we paid for ours. We are also blessed that Richard is in a position to let us stay here until school is out and I don't have to move Dason and the younger ones in the middle of the school year.

Last weekend we went house hunting. We looked in the Weston area which is really nice. However, we were so frustrated with how expensive the homes were for the condition they were in. Our home here would easily be at least $750,000. After praying and talking about it, we decided we are going to expand our search to Parkland which will be a major commute. The area seems much newer and more like us. With Sydney going into middle school, our number one priority is the quality and safety of the schools. It looks like we can't go wrong in Parkland.

Our Tampa home:

Even though I miss having snow, I love how it's green all year.


Our formal living.


Our formal dining/piano room.. was next on list to be decorated.


My favorite room of the house. This pic doesn't do it justice.


Our family room. I never finished decorating this room. The baskets are filled with toys for visiting children.




Our master bath. The shower is awesome because I don't have any glass to clean. We were going to swap out the lighting fixtures, but ran out of time.


Our backyard is so relaxing. After I drop the kids off at school, I grab a diet coke and a fiber one bar and enjoy the pond view from the patio every morning. I'm really going to miss this.

Please keep us in your prayers that we find something affordable and this all goes smoothly. Like I told a friend, "If you see someone in the corner rocking in the fetal position mumbling incoherently... you'll know it's me."