Finally some results!!

Dr. Michael called today with the results from Janey Beth's blood work. She does have all of the components to her white blood cells needed to actually make antibodies, but for some reason right now they are not doing their job. This is why her IgA and IgG levels are low. Her body did respond to the Pneumoccocal (sp?) vaccination she received as an infant, but it did NOT to the tetanus vaccination. The doctor said that was odd and could be a glitch in the blood work, so we are going for a tetanus shot tomorrow. When we go back on November 19, we will see if her body responded to this vaccination. Please pray it does because I asked what we would do if it doesn't, and Dr. Michael said we would cross that bridge if it presents itself. I don't really know what that means. She WAS encouraged by these results, but JB doesn't have a definite diagnosis besides the IgA Deficiency. Because of this the doctor cannot definitely say she will outgrow all of these deficiencies. We are going to take it one day at a time with JB, stay on the Biaxin and do regular checks on her levels. We are NOT going to do any special treatments unless she starts getting sick more frequently. The upcoming cold and flu season will be a test to her body, but I am confident that she will "pass" with flying colors!!! Thank you all so much for your prayers. We truly felt them these past 2 weeks during the waiting.

Way too much alone time...

This is what happens when you leave a 16 month old with a forgotten chocolate cupcake on the kitchen table!!!!

We Love A Parade!

Thursday Sara Glenn's Peewee Cheerleader Squad was invited to ride in the Winona High School Homecoming Parade. The theme was a Disney Homecoming, so our girls went with the whole "Making Wishes Come True" part of it. We had Chris's truck washed and made cute signs for the sides and back of it. Tiffany even made his antenna look like a magic wand since each girl had a wand they waved around while they cheered and threw candy from the back of his truck. It was so much fun!!! I have totally gotten way to into all of this, but it brings back such great, fun memories of when I was a peewee cheerleader. All of these girls are so excited, and we have our first game Monday night at 6. More pics of that to come! One more tidbit about SG.........SHE MADE THE HONORS CHOIR!!! The showchoir director decided to have an Honors Choir to travel with on special performaces, and SG was one of I think 5 fourth graders that made it. God has blessed her with such a sweet voice, and we are so proud of all of her accomplishments.

Nothing a Little Glue Won't Fix!

Sunday afternoon we were at the high school for Sara Glenn's peewee cheerleader practice. We had not been there five minutes, and Emmy Lou fell on the concrete hitting her forehead on a jagged rock. Sure enough it was worth a trip to the ER because even though it wasn't long it was very deep. She really didn't cry much until they took her temperature RECTALLY, and it was all over with after that. Really, who can blame her? This is our second accident in less than a week. Thursday about 30 minutes before the Winona High School Homecoming Parade JB tripped and ran into the corner of our kitchen table with her mouth. Her bottom teeth made a huge whole in her lip and actually went through her lip. Not much you can do for that, and it has already started to heal and look better. Needless to say, it's been an eventful week!

It's Sneaker Time!!

Today we went "sneaker" shopping as JB called it, and I bought her some leather Keds. She obviously had other sneakers in mind. You know, the kind that light up and honestly are the tackiest things Wal-Mart could ever sell. Everytime we go there she asks me over and over to buy her a pair that "glow" when she walks. I always tell her they are out, such a lie, but it works. Today she happened to find them herself and proceeded to put them on and walk out of the store in them. So now we own a lovely pair of these Disney Princess glowing sneakers. It's not enough that her teacher at preschool thinks she only has 1 dress since it's the one she wants to wear every school day and honestly these days it's not worth the fight. My new philosophy is going to be: As long as she is clean and her hair and teeth are brushed, it's OK!!!

Update on JB

In December of 2007 Janey Beth was diagnosed with IgA Deficiency, and we were referred to Dr. Christie Michael with LeBonheur's Pediatric Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonology Group in Memphis. We went a couple of weeks ago for a 6 month recheck on her immunity levels. The results were her IgA deficiency has gotten worse, and now her IgG level (immunity found in your blood) is very low. They had us come back last Monday, and they drew 6 more tubes of blood for extensive testing on her white blood cells maturity and the cells within them. They are also trying to see if her tetanus and pneumoccocal (sp?) immunizations as a child worked. We have been off and on the antibiotic Biaxin since January, and now HAVE to stay on it to prevent her from getting an infection of some sort since her body cannot defend itself right now. Depending on the results from these tests, we will either go back to Dr. Michael to get a "gameplan" together for JB, or she will refer us to St. Jude's Immunology Department for further help. There is a treatment for this, Praise the Lord, and it's called IVIG. Basically, once a month an IV would pump immunoglobulins into JB to help build up her immune system. The problem is once you start these treatments, they are lifelong. Janey Beth does NOT act sick since she has already gotten three spankings today and is jumping on my bed as I type!haha Her activity level and appetite are great, and she even weighs 35 lbs. which is very good for her age and having this immunodeficiency! We walked the dog 1 mile yesterday, and she was ready to go another. She doesn't seem sick, but there is definitely something wrong with her little defenses inside her body. We would very much covet your prayers during this next week and a half. Our prayer is that we can diagnose and quickly start treatment for JB depending on the test results. We do NOT want to start the IVIG unless we have to but are thankful that it is available. I will definitely update as soon as I know more.

McRae Update

Lately life has been SO busy that I haven't had time to update our blog. I am going to give a run down of what's going on with each of us.
CHRIS: Football is under way and the Jags are 1-1! We won BIG last week against Montgomery County 41-6 and play J.J. McClain this Friday night. Chris loves JZ George and the kids, but is having a hard time keeping up with teaching five 8th grade science classes each day. This area is also state tested, so he has been a little stressed about making sure he is REALLY teaching these kids what they need to know. SG is loving the fact that he brings home 3 1/2 hours worth of papers to grade each week! It makes her feel like a "real" teacher. Chris is also about to start a new Sunday School class at our church in October and is excited about that.
SG: Sometimes we wonder if she actually still lives with us!ha She is extremely busy with school, show choir, soccer, friends, etc. They had a soccer camp this past Saturday, and she loved it! She is playing up this year on a U12 team and is pumped about being on Lexie's team. We have Open House tonight at her school, and she has AMAZING teachers this year. SG is still taking piano from MayMay and is moving right along in that. Peewee cheerleader starts soon, so honestly she is rarely here.
JB: Preschool is going great! They are learning so much! She comes home with at least 3 papers everyday including writing and listening skills work. Her teacher, Ms. Barbara, does so much in the short 3 hours that she has them. She has learned the Lord's Prayer and the Pledge of Allegience already. Dancing as you can guess is what she looks forward to every week! She has mastered walking up Miss Claire's driveway in her taps without slipping down at least 4 times. She loves Sunday School with Jacob and Miss Marla at church and says at least once a day "I love living in Winona with MayMay and PaPa".
EL: Our little Lou Lou has become a serious climber! She can climb on top of the piano, kitchen table, computer table, all of our beds and pretty much anything else that would give you a heart attack. We can actually understand some words she is saying now: "uh-oh", "bye bye", "ooooh" for the cow, "dug" aka dog, "baby" and "puppy".
Me: We just started Sunday School classes at our church for children, and I am teaching Sara Glenn's age class. Right now it's just she and I, but we hope to have some more come next Sunday. We are using John Piper's Children Desiring God curriculum, and it's AMAZING!!! I joined Junior Auxiliary and am going to be SG's cheerleader sponsor. I honestly take a nap everyday with the little two just to gear up for the afternoon and all of the activities. ha
As you can tell, life is busy right now at the McRae house, but it would be so boring any other way!

We Love The Coach!

J.Z. George had its 1st Annual "Meet the Jaguars Night" last Thursday. Tiffany and I loaded up all of the girls in their MSU cheerleader suits and went over to check it out. We are very fortunate that J.Z. George has the same colors as State, so Tiffany and I decided to get a 2-for-1 deal and buy MSU outfits for both games. We had their picture taken for an ad in the football program before it started, and it turned out pretty good. Janey Beth has decided that she is a "real" cheerleader and does NOT understand why she can't be on the sidelines with them. She actually had an all-out fit that required Toachy to come over and talk to her to get her to calm down. The cheerleader sponsor, Miss Blaine, was so nice, and she let JB stand with them during warm-up, obviously after she witnessed the fit. She's also going to let JB cheer a little with the girls this Friday night during the first home game. When Janey Beth cheers, she doesn't say "Go, Jaguars!" or "Go, Boys!" or even "Go, Toachy!". No, she says "Go, cheerleaders!". I guess she got it honestly because I cheered from 4th grade to 12th grade. We do have our first home game Friday night at 7:30 against Greenville O'Bannon H.S., and hopefully it will be the first victory of the season!

#1 Fan of the Cheerleaders! haha

Toachy's very own cheerleaders


So in her element!

Not the actual ad picture, but a good one anyway

20 fingers and 20 toes!

This past week Natalie who is one of my very best friends from high school was in town from California visiting her mom. Natalie is 22 weeks pregnant with TWINS, a boy and a girl! Many of you have heard me talk about Natalie and my other h.s. friend Samantha, and it's always so much fun to get to visit altogether when we can. We went out to eat at Jake and Rips in Grenada Wednesday night and laughed so much!!! The three of us were inseparable when we were growing up and definitely have some stories to blackmail each other with. haha Saturday we hosted a gift card baby shower for her, and despite all of the rain, we had a great turn out (almost 60 people!). She obviously can't travel back to California with a ton of bulky gifts, so gift cards were perfect for her. Natalie won't be back to MS until after Cade and Kara (cute names, huh?) are born, but I can't wait to get my hands on those two precious little babies in the spring. Love you, Natalie!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Grimlins?

You know, I should have known that when you buy a house that is over 100 years old there are going to be constant problems! I have been so behind on my laundry lately, so yesterday I washed about 6 loads of clothes. Last night I noticed that the laundry room light would not turn on and the washer and deep freeze were not working. The weird thing is that the dryer DID work. Talk about strange! It has happened once before, and we thought then it was because the washing machine shakes that part of the house to China and back when it is in the spin cycle. Of course Chris immediately claimed that I was overloading the washing machine, so I tried it with half a load. Guess what?! You got it...still shaking. Chris took the entire washer apart last week and decided it needed to be balanced. He's very handy to have around.haha But it happened last night again. Turns out that our house is "wired weird with grimlins", a quote from the electrician. I obviously don't understand electrician lingo, but it was a burned out something or other under the house. To the tune of $65 the grimlins are gone, for now. No telling where else they will show up, though. Stay tuned for "Return of the Grimlins."

HELP!

So I am a little challenged sometimes when it comes to blogging...I need to know how to make a website address come up blue so that all the reader has to do is click on it to go to the webpage. I have also noticed on other blogs that when something or someone is mentioned I can click on their name (it's blue), and it takes me to their blog. HOW DO I DO THIS?!?!?!

Recipe Blog

I just happened to come upon this blog that has some great sounding recipes! I was looking for the delicious Heath Bar Apple Dip recipe that Haley Warren made for our church going-away party and found this blog. The Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce sounds so good! Check it out if you have a chance...www.yummyrecipefinds.blogspot.com

Broadway, Here We Come!

Just a little update on Sara Glenn...yesterday she tried out for the Showchoir at her school and made it! It is made up of 4th-6th grade students with an Honors Choir for smaller performances. Lexie is in it, so SG decided to try out. I was so happy to see her overcome her fear of being in front of a crowd performing by herself! It takes a lot of confidence to stand in front of your friends and sing a song! She had been prepared to sing a High School Musical song, but the director asked her to sing "This Little Light of Mine". I picked her up after the try outs, and she was all smiles! It blesses me so much to see how God is growing Sara Glenn. She is truly a blessing to us and is changing everyday.

NO TEARS!!

Today was Janey Beth's first day of three year old preschool at Moore Memorial United Methodist Church. Her teacher's name is Ms. Barbara, and the class has 8 girls and 1 boy in it. It took 30 minutes last night to pick out what she was going to wear, but it sure made getting dressed this morning a lot easier. We have been talking about how much fun school is because she tends to cry when I leave her anywhere. That does amaze me since she is so outgoing and independent, but she is very attached to me. I was so relieved this morning when I saw how excited and confident she was about going to preschool. She marched up those steps, hung up her backpack and sat in her chair without so much as a whimper! YEAH!!! She even gave me a hug and a kiss, and then whispered, "Remember I get Old McDonald's chicken nuggets, french fries and a sweet tea if I don't cry" I did forget to mention that I bribed her! haha

Visit to Tupelo

Yesterday I went to Tupelo to clean our house and more importantly have lunch with all of my friends that I miss so much. We ate at Atlanta Bread Co. which was pretty good except that my food tasted like hot lava!! I am NOT a fan of spicy foods, and this pasta was very spicy yesterday. I honestly didn't care where or what I ate as long as I got to see everyone, and I did. Jane Clair, Leigh Ann, Candace, Whitney, Marty and Sarah were able to come. Emory, Adam and Graci stopped by the house on their way out of town, so I could visit with them a while. It was a great day, and Sarah and Candace helped me get the house all fresh and clean again. Then Sarah and I headed to the much missed mall for some much needed shopping for our new house. It was so much fun, and I plan on visiting alot more!!!

Fancy!

As I was diligently posting about JB's first day of dance, she obviously thought it was time to get "fancy" as she puts it. She also said she needed more eyehairs a/k/a eyebrows. So...I obviously should post during naptime!

Dancing Girl!

Janey Beth had her first dancing class yesterday at Miss Claire's School of Dance in Winona. Miss Claire and her mother who passed away several years ago taught my mom, my sister and me dancing! Wednesday JB got a special treat...She got to spend the whole morning with her MayMay and Momma all by herself! We took her to Greenwood to get her "tapping" and ballet shoes and leotards. We even took her to the Illuvian (sp?) Hotel downtown for a very fancy lunch, and she was great! She of course wore her tap shoes and leotard the rest of the day, so hopefully we don't have to refinish the hardwood floors anytime soon! She was slipping and sliding all over the place and thought it was hilarious. I don't really know how Miss Claire is going to do it with 10 of them in tap shoes at the same time. haha As you can see from the pics, dancing is definitely going to be her thing.

Some more firsts...

Monday Emmy Lou got her haircut for the first time. She actually did good and only got a very little bit snipped off the back of her hair. I hate the mullet look on little girls, so I am trying to help her hair grow from the top. Miss Julie cut all three girls hair, so it was an eventful morning. Sara Glenn and Janey Beth also had dentist appointments yesterday (Friday) here at a Family Practice. Thank goodness Tiffany is the new dental hygenist at the clinic because it was JB's first "real" cleaning and checkup. Both girls got great reports, and JB was very brave. That's all she talked about all day, how "brade" she was. She even told the Sonic lady who delivered our drinks! haha I forgot to take my camera to either of these events, sorry!

Summer = Watermelon

Tonight Tiffany and I packed sandwiches for the girls and headed to Carrollton for some football practice watching and watermelon eating. (Of course I forgot to take my camera.) To give you a little background on the school where Chris is coaching, it is a Carroll County High School that was consolidated several years ago. Every night after practice Chris has to run a bus route to get the kids home up to 25 miles away from the school. Most players do not have cars or parents that are willing to pick them up from practice. There was a survey done on the players and out of 35 only 5 had male figures in the household living with them. These boys need these coaches and football alot more than football needs them. Tonight after a long Saturday practice we had watermelon waiting on them, and OH MY GOODNESS I have never seen boys tear into some fruit the way they did. Of course our girls loved it too and came home very sticky and dirty. It was such a simple treat for the guys, and they really appreciated it.

Bathtime fun!

Lately bathtime has become an all out party for Janey Beth and Emmy Lou. JB wants as many cups as she can get in the tub and most of the time you can swim in the bathroom by the time it's all over. Here are some cute pics.

And school starts!

This past Wednesday Sara Glenn started fourth grade at Winona Elementary School. I really can't believe she is 9 almost 10 and in the FOURTH GRADE!!! She loves her teachers, classmates, school, the boys (Ha), basically everything about it. Her very best friend our cousin Lexie walked her in Wednesday morning because having your mom walk you in is just not cool anymore. It could have hurt my feelings, but at this point in her life, being embarrassed is the worst thing ever. So Lexie walked her in and off they went. Hair in ponytails, wearing matching school uniforms, backpacks on with their names monogrammed on them and SO EXCITED! SG has loved being in Winona and loves school so much. All day Emmy Lou walked around with one of SG's old lunchboxes on her arm I guess pretending she was going to school. It was so cute! It won't be long before I will be posting about her first day.

Go Jaguars!!!!

Last Saturday night we hosted our first J.Z. George Football Coaches Cookout. All of the coaches were able to come and even the principal and his wife. We had a blast, but I forgot to get out my camera until the very end. I didn't get a picture of Coach Daves and his wife or the principal, Coach Gant, and his wife. I did manage to get some pics of Dicenzo Miller, who Chris has hired, in rare form. For those of you who don't remember Dicenzo, he played football at MS State from 1998-2001. He is at our house all the time, and JB calls him her "buddy". I told him I was going to print off the picture with him in one of JB's hats and get him to autograph it for us. haha Chris is very blessed to be surrounded not just by great coaches but also great men. We look forward to a great season at J.Z. George!
GO JAGS!!!!

Such a blackmail picture! haha

The infamous Abercrombie and Fitch model, Coach Queen

Defensive Coordinator Coach Bobby Bass and his wife, Tiffany

If you can't win with this staff, we give up!!!

Tennis Anyone?

Wednesday night Sara Glenn and Sissy went to play tennis. Sara Glenn was so excited to spend some one-on-one time with Hattie Frank, and they had a really good time. SG's tennis game has improved alot, and she hit some great shots. Afterwards they went to get ice cream at Sonic, rode around listening to music and watched movies until 1:30 in the morning at MayMay's house. What a fun night!

You have to look the part!

On their way to play!


As JB would say, "You can do it, Sara Glenn!" She hollers that at all of my parent's tennis matches.haha

Cabinets and Cake!

Wednesday Sarah, Emory and their three kids came for a much needed visit to Winona! Sarah was gracious enough to offer her artistic ability and "antique" my kitchen cabinets, and WOW what an amazing difference it made. It gives them a whole new look, and I love it! I also missed Emory's birthday supper Monday night in Tupelo due to a bad case of strep throat (another story for another day), so we celebrated her birthday with a delicious chocolate cake with buttercream icing from Wal-Mart. The girls were so excited to see everybody, and JB tackled Graci on the bed when she walked in. It was really sweet. I also loved getting to see Sarah and Emory, and even took them on a tour of the big city of Winona. They got a kick out of the fact that our phonebook is about 1/6 the size of Tupelo's, and we could walk to Pizza Inn and pick up our pizzas for lunch. We had a great day and would love for more of our friends from Tupelo to stop through and visit anytime!

Visit from the Elders

Today Rena and Ben Elder came to visit from Grenada, and we loved getting to see them! I haven't gotten to see Ben since he was born, and he is growing so fast. We put a pink blanket on the floor in the den, but Janey Beth insisted that we put his blue blanket on top of that. Funny girl! Already knows that boys don't like pink. It was a great visit besides the fact that my children scared the poor baby to death with their screaming. These days Emmy Lou screams, and I mean very loudly, at Janey Beth when she takes something from her, and everytime that happened poor Ben started whailing. He's not used to the drama of girls. haha On another note, Chris just got in at 9:30 tonight from working in the yard all afternoon. Nothing has been done to it in years, and the poor dog was living in a forest with all of those trees in her pen. We figured out quickly that the yard is going to be a constant project, and it is going to take a LONG time to get it where it needs to be. I am going to start raking tomorrow, so maybe some grass will start to grow. I am also going to take some before and after pics of the yard mainly to look at when we are so tired from working in it! haha Hopefully seeing progress will inspire us! We still miss all of our Tupelo friends and think about you often.

Super Sunday at Aunt Ditty's

Today we all traveled to Carthage to my Great Aunt Ditty's house for her annual Sunday lunch for the entire Flowers/McFarland/McRae/Bourne family. We had a great time and many visitors this year (including Laynee Claire, SG's friend). Aunt Ditty is a fantastic cook and always has excellent food! I love her deviled eggs!!! She always toasts those who have passed away and those who will be with us in the future. JB made a new friend, Hannah. They did not stop all day long, so hopefully she will sleep good tonight. We had a great day of food, fellowship and fun!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Before and After

Here are some before and after pics of the kitchen, guest bathroom which is right off the den and the den. It's absolutely amazing what paint, new light fixtures and ALOT of scrubbing can do for a house! The ceilings in most of the rooms are 14 feet tall, so we say THANK YOU a thousand times to my parents, Chris's parents, Samuel, Misty, Hattie Frank, Miss Cindy and Miss Karen for taking down border and painting a ton. As Samuel told Chris, we picked one of the worst weekends (July 4th) to move, so he and Chris loaded our entire house in Tupelo by themselves. Thanks, Uncle Sam, for all of your "man power"! We were also greeted by all of my family on July 4th who let Chris and Samuel take a break, and they all unloaded the U-Haul for us. I hope to have some more pics of the girls' rooms, bathrooms and our room soon. We still haven't even attempted the guest room, dining room, front entryway, or back hallway. Everybody is sick of painting!!!


Kitchen Before

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After - the color is Tupelo Tree which I love!

Kitchen After

Guest Bathroom Before

Guest Bathroom After

Den Before

Den After

Had to prime and put two coats of paint on these walls to cover up the purple

We also decided to paint ALL of the trim!! CRAZY!!

New Friends!

All of the girls have made friends quickly here in Winona. Sara Glenn always played with our cousin Lexie and Laynee Claire when we visited Winona, so you can imagine how much time they are all spending together now. Chris also hired Bobby Bass whose wife is Tiffany to be his Defensive Coordinator at JZ George. They coached together at THS, so Tiffany and I have been coach's wives friends for a long time. They have a little girl, Caroline, who is 5 weeks younger than Emmy Lou. EL and JB LOVE her, and she spent Friday with us while Tiffany worked. We all strolled and went to the coffee shop for Oatmeal Raisin cookies and juice. The coffee shop is Sara Glenn's favorite place because they also sell Fruit Slushes which she loves! Still miss all of you terribly!

Ready to stroll!!

Hungry and thirsty

Full and happy!

Laynee Claire and SG