Feeling loved

Hello all! I'm just checking in. I've had a long, hard road to walk this past month. I've now recovered from my second (and LAST!) severe allergic reaction following my partial knee replacement surgery. I am now armed with an epi pen in case I ever discover an allergy that threatens my throat.

Enough of THAT!

I wanted to tell you how completely LOVED I have felt this entire time. Without a doubt this is the biggest challenge of my life thus-far, and people have loved me through it every step of the way! I've had meals every other day for three weeks, friends running errands for me, and magazines and dvds dropped off. My dear friend, and newly retired teacher (who was Emma's kindergarten teacher before we joined the home school program) has come almost every school day for a month! Thankfully I'm now able to do a lot more and I survived my first completely solo home school day this past week!

Friends have brought me coffee, cookies, cupcakes, and even a hot fudge sundae in the hospital! When I couldn't eat because my allergic reaction made my lips 3-4 times the regular size, and burned like a hundred bee stings, a friend brought me smoothies for two days. People have prayed and sent cards. Just this week I opened the front door to find a friend bringing me a big bag of Rolos, my favorite candy, on my WORST day emotionally to-date. Yesterday my friend that I order beautiful, fabulous cookies from for my parties, brought me the most BEAUTIFUL fall cookie pop bouquet! They are seriously beautiful, and seriously delicious!

EACH and every one of these things has made me feel SO loved. Don't ever underestimate your kind gesture as being too small. To a person suffering, each and every kindness is a light in the darkness. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Where I've Been...

My lack of blogging over the past two weeks is due to the fact that I had a partial knee replacement on September 30th. It's quite crazy to think that I'm not even 30 yet and I have osteoarthritis so bad that half of my knee was already bone-on-bone. It has been a difficult recovery, complete with a severe allergic reaction to my steri-strips. This has been the hardest thing I've ever had to endure. I've had several (much smaller) surgeries in my life, but nothing has ever compared to this. When your bones have to be cut it takes what your brain has thus-far known as pain, and takes it to a whoooole new level entirely. It has been a huuuge challenge for me to be in bed for most of the day for two weeks, but it's not over yet. Healing from a knee replacement is not a quick thing. For someone who loves to create, the idleness is one of the hardest parts. I have been so blessed with the help/love/encouragement of my family and wonderful friends! I don't know what I would do without each and every one of them! Hopefully I'll be back to crafting and blogging before I know it, although it seems so far away.