Here Comes The Bride!

Hello my dear friends. I have a very special post for you tonight. I wanted to share with you my sweet daughter Christi's wedding pictures that were taken by guests and shared with us until the photographer develops all of hers. Some of these were also taken by my son Chad so please enjoy!
Not sure if I can put them all in the right order but will do my best.

On April 18th she married the man of her dreams and the man I have always prayed for her to spend the rest of her life with. Paul and Christi dated in high school and were reunited several years ago.
The love they share radiates in these pictures.

Texas weather is so unpredictable and on this day it was a 90 percent chance of rain and had rained every day that week. The storm clouds were moving in very fast and I was getting very nervous that her dream of an outside wedding would be ruined.

Much to all of our surprise though it rained all around the venue and we remained dry for the ceremony.

Their Pastor Scott Payne added very much to this prefect day. His words calmed me down many times during the ceremony when I thought I might burst into tears. Paul anxiously waiting with him for his Bride.

Paul has two children by a previous marriage and this is his darling Audrey who was the Junior Bridesmaid.

 Here I am being escorted down the isle by my grandson Bailey. Doesn't he look so handsome and grown up. He turned eleven in February and it meant the world to me that he walked me to my seat.

 Here comes the Bride.  My sons Clint (left) and Chad (right) walked their sister down the isle. I had to do everything not to let the tears flow.

Christi looked radiant and her brothers so handsome in their gray tuxedos. The closer to the alter all three of them were teary eyed and so was the groom.

Watching Paul at the alter waiting on them made me realize how lucky the happy couple were to be so in love and starting their lives together.

Look how happy Christi is here.

 And now their husband and wife! The joy I felt at this moment and still feel is unbelievable.

 After the ceremony somehow we ended up in the back yard where we posed for a number of pictures before moving inside for the dinner and dance.

 

 One of my favorite photo's of the day was this one of Clint, Andrea, Kaci and Bailey. I have so many pictures to frame now and we haven't even seen the photographers yet. haha

 Clint, Bailey and Chad.

 We moved inside for the reception. I loved the tablecloths Christi ordered for her tables. They were prefect with the flowers.

The florist was from Austin and she somehow had every flower that Christi wanted for her big day.

 The cake was really pretty and just as good as it looks.

After a delicious dinner the happy couple danced the first dance.

I have to tell you they would not stop kissing. haha

Bailey and Kaci sharing a moment together!

Kaci with Uncle Chad. My granddaughter is growing up!

I think Chad managed to walk around and take pictures for me of several of the guest. Here is Paul's lovely Mom Donna and Step Father Larry. I hate I don't have one to share of his Father and Step mom. Hopefully in another post.

You have seen these ladies before in previous post. I would of been so sad if they had not been there  to share this special time with me. I grew up with them in La Porte and we have our girly weekends about three times a year. Ruby, her husband Jeff and Bonnie. Great picture! 

My precious sister-in-law Linda (sister to Ruby and Bonnie) and my brother Billy.

My four brothers and myself. From left to right Doy, Gary, Billy and Tommy. So happy they all were there to celebrate this day.

Chad with his best friend Jimmy. Jimmy is like a son to me and I love him dearly.  

It was a day for great friends to be together. Janie and Sharon who I share lots of good times with.

My oldest son Chad. Another picture I love. 

Of course I had to pose with the beautiful bride.

I now have four wonderful grand kids. Paul's children Audrey and Bryan along with Kaci and Bailey.

How lucky Grandma Yellow Hair is to have these four in her life.

Of course there was a dance.  Bailey was kind enough to dance with his grandma. I have to say I spent hours watching Bailey and Kaci dance. They entertained everyone there. The moves those two had and of course I didn't have a camera to capture them but I am sure the photographer won't disappoint me there.

This is Kaci and her mom Andrea I believe doing a line dance.  I have a feeling Andrea has been teaching her babies to dance. haha

I have to end this with the Photo of the night! Clint was doing a dance off with Bailey and Chad captured the moment for me. I wish someone would of video this because it was priceless.

Sorry for such a long long post. I have never shared this many pictures in a post ever. It has taken me hours to do it and this ole grandma feels like she has participated in a dance off.

I have been taking good care of myself. I love all of your comments and appreciate your prayers. Some days are rough but I still have some good days and I enjoy them as much as I can.

You are so special to me and with out you this disease would be too hard to do but knowing I have such support has really been a true Blessing to me. 

God is so Good and he let me enjoy this special day one that I have waited on for years and now he has let me share it with you.

Love to all,

Maggie

Thank You!

My Dear Sweet Precious Friends I can not find the words to thank you for all your heart warming comments and your many prayers. Your words have kept me going these past weeks. I have to say what I have been through just since I wrote you last I honestly can not imagine doing it without knowing you were there beside me.

I appreciate all of you so much and wanted to update you just a little tonight before I go to bed.

It's only been a month since I was told I have Congestive Heart Failure but if you were to visit me or talk to me on the phone you might think that this has been going on a very long time. Considering how fast I have been going down in the last two weeks I wonder if I have had this disease already for a year or more.

My children were able to find me a doctor at the Heart Institute in Austin and last Thursday I kept my appointment. We were surprised that it was hours before I actually got to see the Doctor. I had been feeling worse every day so was happy just to be there knowing maybe I was going to get answers and hopefully help. He visited with us for a long while and then decided that since it had been three weeks since my diagnosis that something else was happening too so he ordered a Heart Cauterization for the next day which was Good Friday.

The next morning we had to be back to the hospital by 5am and the procedure at 7am. Everyone was on schedule and by 9 am I was back in my room. Praise God there was not significant blockage to warrant any stints. Best news but still no answers to why I feel so bad. The Doctor explained he wanted me to come back on April 14th and he would work on setting me up with a Lung Specialist.

Clint and Chad were with me the whole day and I went to recover at Chad's house since I could not climb stairs. The next morning I woke up sicker than a dog and living in the bathroom for the next 12 hours. Chad phoned Clint and poor Clint showed up with Depends and a package of panties. He told us the story of trying to find the right panties not having a clue what to get me and even though I was feeling awful I did manage to laugh. I told him not even I have ever bought depends and how proud I was of him doing this for me.

Christi came by on her way to meet with the Wedding Venue people and was too impressed with her big brothers.

The next morning my stomach had settled down but I started having bad chest pains that would come and go. I didn't know what to think since I had just had the heart test on Friday and this was Sunday.
After hours of the pains coming and going and then jaw hurting, arm hurting along with my back Chad took me back to the hospital emergency room which was all the way across Austin. It wasn't long and Clint was there too.

In a matter of minutes there were ER nurses and techs all over me. I could not believe how fast they ran all the needed test to determine if indeed it was a heart attack. Thank God it was not but the ER Doctor told me he could not explain the pain in my chest.

He then got brutally honest with me and not sure I was ready for what he was saying to us. He let me know in no uncertain words that what I had was a very serious disease and that I would be sick quite often with it. I told him that I was just diagnosed with it and did not expect to be feeling bad every minute of the day. I have no energy and can't do anything with out loosing my breath or lying down for a while..

He said I would not get better in two weeks, one month or two months. That what I had came with a very high Mortality Rate. I needed to just do what the doctor tells me, take my meds and eat a low sodium diet.

I know it's better to be honest with patients but I think he was so cold about it. Maybe he had a long day and was tired or he felt I was being to naive with my disease.

I left the emergency room feeling really down and went back to Chad's. I managed to sleep some of the night and woke up Monday feeling okay.

What I was trying to explain to this ER Doctor was I knew how serious my disease was but I did not expect to be short of breath not able to do hardly anything without having to lay down to rest so soon into this disease. Of course I guess he thought she must not realize she has probably had this for a while.

So I talked the boys into letting me come back home to the North Forty mainly because my cats had been alone for six nights. Long time and I needed to hold my Tinkerbell. She has not been two inches away from me since last night.

I don't know the future no one does. I do know that I am not going to just give up and let this take over until it has taken over. I will do everything I can to get stronger and if it's not meant to be then I will pray for the courage to accept this way of life and live the best I can under the circumstances.

It does scare me to think I could be a lot farther along than I ever imagined with this disease but until I hear that from a specialist then I have hope.

It's just strange that before my visit to the emergency room a month ago I was working two jobs and doing good. Then all of sudden I can't even walk to the mail box or do little chores.

I hope soon I can write a post that is filled with something funny and not about feeling bad.

As always I knew you were waiting like the dear friend you are to hear what's going on. Right now I am just taking one day at a time. I need to go shopping tomorrow and see about a different pair of shoes for the wedding but I dread having to go. It will be here before we know it.

I thought I would be sharing stories of getting ready for the wedding but life has no guarantees so we all just do what we need to do.

You are the best and I love you. Thanks for always being here for me.

God Bless You!

Love to all
Maggie