There is a Life After .....divorce, bankruptcy, being estranged from family, death of loved ones, indeed change .......... It is a very different life.
Some of the aspects are good, very good in fact. I have found that I am strong, resilient, calm, and that Life does indeed go on. I have also found that some of the aspects are difficult, sad, heart wrenching even but they are mine to bear.
       I will grow each day, love big and forgive often....

Counting Down

So i guess with facebook i haven't kept up with the blog........
Today i'm very lonesome for family and friends. A big case of the felling sad blahs........
BUT ;-)
We are looking forward to the birth of our 2nd grandchild!!!!!!
Eloise Mae will join big brother Will on June 22nd. Brian and i are so looking forward to be in Seattle for the big Event! Counting down.

Happy 4thof July

Whew!!!!!! Busy busy Year! Thanks for all your prayers this year has been full of some scary times but also many many blessings.
Brian had his pacemaker implanted in January, that was my last update and it has been crazy since then.
Brett made us over the edge excited and happy when he asked Kelly to marry him!! She accepted, Yeah!!, and they have planned a destination wedding to Mazatlan Mexico for the 14th of August. We get to spend two weeks all together with friends and family.
The wedding is getting close and we are so excited.
Quite unexpectedly his younger sister Mary passed away in February. She lived in Spokane so we went up to Washington with Kim, his older sister, and we cleaned out her apartment. We were able to donate everything even food to the domestic violence program. Normally they don't have the space to store furniture and just take household goods and clothing. We were blessed to be able to move Mary's furniture and belonging right into and apartment of a young mother who left a violent situation with the clothes on her and her children's backs. It was awesome to be able to provide in tragedy- a fresh start for a young family.
We ended our time up north by going to Seattle to be there for Will's 1st Birthday!!!!
I think it was what the Dr ordered for grandpa! We are so blessed to share that time with Brianne, Scott and Will. Thanks to Mike and Kathy, Scott's parents, we had a lovely place to stay and a wonderful time with family.
Back home we waited for Brian to form scar tissue around his pacemaker leads since that stubborn A-Fib was still causing havoc.
In the meantime I busied myself with helping with several weddings and proms doing over 29 different alterations!!!!!!
Brian's leads finally healed enough for him to undergo his hopefully last surgery, an Ablation. The surgery was done May 21st and during the 7 hour procedure he had leads threaded up from his thighs into his heart and the tissue around the vessels in his heart were cauterized to form scar tissue to prevent the electrical impulses from jumping from the vessels and causing the chaotic havoc that was leading to the A-Fib.
The great news is that he has been in regular sinus rhythm since surgery!!! The answer to many many prayers. He is getting stronger and feeling better everyday! We are looking forward to Brett and Kelly's wedding and spending time with family and friends. Grandpa is ready to make pancakes for Will and take daily naps with him.
Love and Blessings to all

Hi!!!!!!!

Hey everyone it has been FOREVER since I have updated my blog. I guess this has been a VERY BAD year for keeping in touch. I thought it was time to let you know what has been going on since the last update of Will's Birthday.

Brianne and Will came out for a visit in May. It was the best gift a grandma could get for Mother's Day. Brian's Mom got to see her little Great Grandson while she was still able to visit and hold him. it was a very special visit and Will was a trooper to be such a good traveler for his mommy.
Brett graduated from Tabor College in May. We are very proud of our Business & Marketing Man.
Go BlueJays!!
He is now working for Coke as a product merchandiser. He works hard 6 days a week and on his limited time off spend lhis time with his very special girl, Kelly. They met at Tabor and we love her to pieces. She works in a Drs. office and wants to be a physicans assistant.

I had surgery in June on my throat to dilate my esophagus I guess trying to swallow thru a straw is not the best!! I was able to travel to Seattle in July for the Annual Dental Convention. It was a super visit, part work back at Dr. Rossi's but mostly fun. I also got to see Brianne, Scott and Will before I headed home. Always amazed at how much he is growing!! I am blessed to be a granny.

Brian's Mom passed away from lung cancer Sept 26th. We were able to care for her during her last days and she was able to stay home surrounded by her family as she went to the Lord

Brian went to the Phillipines October 11th to be the keynote speaker for the 50th anniversary of the Church of God in the Phillipines. He had a very busy and fruitful week. He came home on the 19th after many hours of travel and was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrilation and Bi-lateral pulmunary embolisms. His heart was in congestive failure and had thrown a blood clot to his left kidney. He spent a week in the hospital to get his blood thin enough to lessen the risk of the clots moving to his brain and causing a stroke. The Drs were amazed that he survived all the travel but we know that God was protecting him.

Brianne and Will came out to check on grandpa for 2 weeks. It was the BEST medicine EVER. Brianne took such good care of us and Scott came out for the week of Thanksgiving. Brian's sister and her family also came for Thanksgiving so we had a wonderful family time.
During that week there was a fire in my office building and we sustainted major smoke damage and had to move out. Thankfully we had an offer to work in an orthodontists brand new office so we missed only 6 working days.

The next order of business was to try to get his heart out of afib, which is an irregular beat. His heart was racing at 100-180 beats per minute but they weren't productive beats. He tried a regimen of meds but ended up having his heart shocked. On Decemember 16th his heart was shocked twice but unfortunatly his rhythm didn't convert. He went back on the 29th and this time his heart behaved and went back into regular sinus rhythm!!! it was a gerat way to finish the year.

BUT...this last friday it was back to the ER because Brian's heart was not beating fast enough!! He had a heart rate of 33 beats per minute which just isn't enough. His Dr. took him off one of his meds hoping that it would respond and beat in the normal range of 65-80 beats a minute. We were sent home only to come back Saturday morning as he was beating at about 35 bpm. He got to spend the weekend being monitered and amazing the nurses that he didn't feel dizzy or icky. Several times they brought the 'crash'cart around "just in case"!!
Tomorrow morning he goes down to Wichita and will have a pacemaker inplanted. It seems scary but we have faith in the care he is receiving and trust that God is in control and placed him in the hands of a very well respected Cardiologist who just happens to specialize in electrophysiology of the heart which is exactly what Brian needs. He gets to come home soon after the surgery and we will let you all know how he is doing. Thank you for your prayers, we love you all.

Hello!!

Playing Rock Band 24hrs before Will was Born!!

So hard to say goodbye to our little family

Brianne was Awesome

So Happy to see our Grandson!!!!!!!!!

Hi Uncle Brett

Already for March Madness!

Sunny day deserves a family walk

4 generations!!

My Favorite photo of Will's beautiful Momma

OK, I must admitt I have been the worst blogger ever. Yikes,,,,,,,so much has happened since the last one!!

Let me see if I can be succinct-

*The most wonderful miracle in our world occurred February 27th at 5:21p.m. When Little William Anthony Prather all 7'13oz and 22" of him joined his awaiting family. Everyone is happy and healthy. Brianne was a tough trooper, after 22 hours of hard labor Will joined his mommy and daddy via c-section. Not how they planned it to be sure, but he is here very healthy, and Brianne is awesome!!! We were able to spend 10 days in Seattle some before and some after Will arrived, never enough time. Brett and Kelly were able to be us also for Will's birth and Uncle Brett is going to be a great Uncle.

It is wonderful to be grandparents. What a wonderful blessing. Seeing Will in Brianne's arms is a vision I keep in my heart to reflect on everyday as I miss them so much.

*I was able to go to Seattle mid January to attend Brianne's Baby Shower!! It was so fun to see her surrounded by love. She made a very fashionable mommy in her 3" heels looking beautiful, while all the time dealing with morning sickness that quit the night Will was born!

*I severed the lateral 1/3 end of my left index finger off. A sewing accident. The ER doc wanted to amputate it at the first knuckle, but with some pleading he agreed to sew it back on. The Lord blessed it because that finger beat the odds and healed, I have full function of it and am regaining feeling bit by bit.

*The Curran Household has battled one bug after an other since November. Ick!!

So in a nutshell that's what has been going on here.

Check out the cutest boy EVER-----!

What Happened to Thanksgiving???

I really want to know what happened to Thanksgiving. The day after Halloween the Walmart in town started playing Christmas music. They only played instrumentals so that maybe you wouldn't notice, I did. It was WAY TOO SOON!!

We went shopping that weekend to the mall and everything was decorated for Christmas. All the stores had trees and etc......Even though I promised myself I wouldn't Christmas shop so early, I did. I got all the Sunday School Teachers and Children's workers their gifts because darn it the sales were great. I have NEVER done this before-NEVER!!

At our office we have had to listen to Christmas music for at least 1 week. Agony.

We have poor reception and so many of the other stations are full of static!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Since yesterday I have heard 'Christmas Shoes' at least 6 times. Now that is a heart wrenching song- but OK I am over it!!

The interesting thing about 'Christmas Shoes' is that it was written right here in little 'ole Newton Kansas! Yes indeed. A Bethal College student wrote the song after an encounter at the local Alco. An Alco store is like a KMart. Since Megan graduated from Bethal I am sure the song is near and dear to her heart! :-)

Speaking of Megan, we had a fiasco last night. I went to pick her up at the airport and the drama began before I got out of the car. I got the parking ticket and placed it in a little slot on my dash and it DISAPPEARED. First bummer. Megan's plane had been delayed, a baggage truck hit her original plane and caused a hole-so everyone had to deplane and fly alternate carriers-which would have been fine had her luggage followed her!!! So now we have lost luggage and parking ticket.

In Wichita the 1st 30 min. is free, the 2nd 30 min is $2. When we finally got the luggage situation, located (in Denver) and got ready to leave, the parking attendant felt SO bad in charging us $15 to leave the airport. We paid the $ and I have a ticket in the dash of my car that will probably catch on fire or cause a short.

So I need to remember what Christmas really means and celebrate Thanksgiving with a happy heart. I need to be Thankful for ALL my Blessings. My children, My grandson, My hubby and all that The Lord has blessed us with.

So go buy those 'Christmas Shoes'---But wait until after Thanksgiving!!!

WoW!!!

I have been away for so long I an embarrassed to even try to blog. There really is no explanation---just life is busy!! Oh and I am LAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our highlight was going back to Seattle for Brian to do a wedding for Melissa and Nick. It was a beautiful time to see friends and family. We had a wonderful time connecting with friends at our old hang out Torreros. YUM. The company was awesome and so fun!! It was Brian's first trip back in two years. He was a little overwhelmed but I think in a good way.

Our trip was planned before we knew that Brianne and Scott were expecting! So it was such a treat to spend time with them and try to soak in all the Baby Vibes we could before we had to return home.

Life in Kansas goes on!! No twisters yet, here anyway. Good news that!! We have been BUSY updating the Youth room and the Children's Church room. Sometimes I still dream I am painting. The great news is that we have 45-50 kids coming on Wed. nights!! That's a Praise! Makes all the hard work worth it. Warren and Linda came for a visit right before the open house and true to ministry tradition we put them right to work assembling furniture.

We do have something I never would have NEVER foreseen and I mean NEVER!! 3 DOGS!!!!!!!

Of course you all know about Daisy, she is Brian's baby. Then there is Sadie a German Short hair that he rescued and sent to hunting school (she points the cat?), and one of Brett's friends who stayed with us a bit this summer brought us home Heidi, a Wiemereiner, she is sweet and beautiful. But really 3 dogs---WOW!!

We are anxious for little William to make his grand appearance, approx Feb.23rd. Poor Bri has had queasiness all through out but she is a trooper and Scott is taking wonderful care of his family. I am happy because I get to come up in Jan. for a baby shower and the turn around and come again in Feb.!!

Brett is doing great. He is in his last year at Tabor. He is ready to be done and be out in the workforce. Maybe someone should tell him it's not so great---nah--he'll find out ;-)

He had an awesome opportunity to visit New York with Scott and Bri in Oct. a babymoon! They all had fun and saw the sights. Brett brought home lots of goodies-Tshirt's, several watches, a purse not sure what else but I know that Kelly enjoyed her gifts and Brian his watch, me well :-)

Miss you all. so lame not to stay updated--will try harder--