Benefit update........

Sorry for the delay...

I'm busy busy working on trach collars and honestly still trying to recoup from the weekend. I can't seem to get enough Zzzzzzzzz's still!

Everyone had such a good time at the Benefit. The weather was beautfiul. The food was DELISH! The little ones played and played till they couldn't play no more. We had lots of familiar faces who always come out to support Jophie and we had a few new faces which was nice to see.

More love for Jophie ;)

The Smoker and the YUMMO food! Isn't it funny how men tend to congregate around meat when it's outside and on an open flame? LOL


Inflatables for the kiddos. Still not sure what they all were looking at?


Lots of Baskets for Auction. A HUGE thank you too all my friends who donated baskets be it local/from afar and yes even from across the pond! :0) The baskets were what made this event successful and will be included in Jophies Fall Benefits from now on.


EVERYBODY wanted this Tim Hortons Basket! See the big clothes basket to the left? That bugger was bought/money donated then tossed back into the auction to be resold a second time. YEP! That was fun ;)


This little guy was quite the popular fella too also being bought then tossed back to be resold for a second time. I just LOVED him! He was jointed all over making him ever so cute as he flipped and flopped around as though he were the real Tin Man. A local friend from Danny/Tammys church made this little guy. FanTABulous job wouldn't you say? ;)


There was lots of Cakes and other desserts. So much so we auctioned off a pie and one of the cakes that hadn't been touched! I'd show you but it was gone before I even knew it! LOL


And this little ole apple pie brought 18 dollars! Who woulda thunk? ;)


I tried ever so hard to get my grubby paws on one of these little blobs of orange deilishishness. The inside was an ever so moist orangy mound of heavenly filling coated with an even more delish orange bliss...Ahhh I think I have drool coming from my lips!! Before I knew it all that was left were traces of orange icing around the mouths of all the guilty parties! Sue you must make some more so I can try them! LOL


And of course we have all the bidders trying ever so hard to look uninterested while giving only the "slightlest" little wave of their paddles so as not to let the other bidders see just how badly they wanted some of these items. They weren't fooling me! LOL
The auctioneer was hilarious making for a fun auction and he donated his time to boot!




One thing I didn't manage to get a picture of and I'm kicking myself now was of the KIDS ONLY auction. It was absolutely ADORABLE! Those little ones thought they were soo big! Laynie ended up winning a huge mini washtub stuffed full of toys. Laynie picked out one toy she had been eyeballing for herself and then unselfishly turned around and gave every kid something from her loot because thats just Laynie. Way to go Laynie for sharing! ;0)

I did manage to get a few pictures of the kiddos playing some games

The Ducky Game...Sorry bout the pumpkin faces. Seeing as I didn't officially get permission to post full face views, your gonna have to just imagine how cute those little faces were. One thing I CAN assure you of is each and very one of them had the same look as Lexie on the right hand side! Oh please please please pick my number! hehe


And then there was the Hula Hoop Contest

See this little fella?


He Hulad and he Hooped and Hulad and Hooped till there was no Hula or Hoop left in any of the kids. In other words he BEAT THE PANTS off of them all!

The girlies especially were so disgusted! LOL

Trust me when I tell you ALL those girlies stomping back had the same "disgusted" look at Laynie! LOL


He is NOT still spinning that hoop! YEP! Lexie is still disgusted that a little boy was Hoopa Loopin them to shame! LOL


The bigger kids men played Cornhole and Horseshoes


Whilst three of the itty bitty ones conspired and made their escape while no one was looking then raided the prize box and ran! LOL


It was a fun day, everyone there had fun and in the end thats what counts

We didn't have the turn out we were hoping for but those who did come were there out of love for one small boy and because of them we now have reached a new level towards our goal.

Click on over to the Meals 4 Wheels page to see how much our little thermometer has climbed. Granted it's not going to buy his vehicle just yet but this momma is not in the "giving up" business.

We WILL succeed! Just not today :0)

So as not to leave anyone out. We want to thank every single person who had an involvement in the events of that day before/during/after/locally/from afar/and abroad! ;0)

Jophie and I thank you from the bottom of our little pea pickin' hearts! :0)


Trina and Jophie

The BIG DAY!.........

It's here!

Well not full yet but it is officially Saturday at nearly 4 a.m......I'm just heading to bed but wanted to remind everyone.

If your local and have nothing to do we'd love to have you..

All my other friends in cyberland thank you so much for what you've done to help make this possible.... ;)

Many pictures of the day tomorrow evening but for now this momma needs to really catch a few Zzzzzzzzzz's...

Please pray Jophie feels well today. He's a bit out of sorts at the moment. The day looks to be a sunny one! We are so very thankful for that. There several other events happening today in OH, WV, and KY so please pray we have a good turn out and that we are successful!

Trina and Jophie

Among the Thirsty......

New group!

My friend is absolutely in love with this groups new song. I LOVE it an awful lot too so I thought we'd share ;)

Go here:
http://www.amongthethirsty.com/

Scroll to the bottom where you will find a little player.

Scroll through till you get to the song......

"I'd need a Savior"

Quick! You don't wanna miss this one! :0)

Run like the wind and be blessed!

Trina and Jophie

“I'm a Pepper; you're a Pepper”

Wait...I don't even like that stuff :0)

I do however love me some Red Peppers especially when they are FREE!

Nearly 30 BUSHELS!!

So what do you do when you have nearly 30 BUSHELS of red peppers?



Well I'm so glad you asked :0)

You stuff em...


You dice em...


You slowly turn them into Spicey Cinnamon Red Pepper Butter! Yummo!


You run as fast as you can to the grocery store tomorrow to replace used up ingredients so you can stuff more making sure to not forget the ingredients you didn't have to finish the oh so yummy Red Pepper Jelly and Chrismas Relish! :0)


You cut up twenty hundred thousand more into nice little slivers perfect for munchin'....


You donate 26 bushels to neighbors, friends and family......


Then you try desperately to sleep all the while convincing yourself that NO those are NOT peppers dancing behind your eyelids nor are they peppers slowly jumping over fences! LOL


Somewhere in the armpit of Ohio many a redneck are feverishly cutting, dicing, slicing, boiling and baking peppers lest the rot before their very eyes....


Our freezers are filling
Our bellies will be full this winter


We are thankful for this bounty grown by unknown hands given unselfishly asking nothing in return....


On serious note:


3 days
3 beautiful children
3 little angels dancin' around the thrown


Please pray for the familes of these children taken from us much too soon by that evil beast known as Cancer


Heaven must be rejoicing to receive such precious babes!
^Alex^
^Reagan^
^Clay^

Tomorrow Tammy and I go to collect donations that Lora and I worked on Friday. I'll have more details soon. I didn't want to post or update the list just yet as we will know more tomorrow. We are also waiting comfirmation on something very important and necessary for the Benefit. Please pray this works itself out and for the few other things we haven't gotten fully ironed out yet...

Trina and Jophie

A minor surgery........

It was a first of it's kind and that I can guarantee!

Peformed the surgery myself with no anesthesia and quite primitive on the deck with my hammer and nail! The funniest part was the cars going by and almost wrecking as they caught quick glimpses of me aimlessly hammering away at that mannis neck! hahaha

Bet NOBODY has a manni like mine.

Introducing Manni! The one and only special needs manniquin designed specifically with my little neck breather in mind. :0)



Jophies new blinged up medical gear:




Jophie loves his new bling all soft and cozy about his neck :0)


Gotta be stylin' even if you are a neck breather! :0)


If any of you mommies with little neck breathers are interested I'm working on halloween ones right now.

$20.00 each plus shipping

Just toss me an email at booboo2003@roadrunner.com and we'll talk :0)

Please watch for the next update as it will have very detailed information about Jophies Upcoming Benefit. I have updated the list under his flier to reflect recent donations. You can find that information by clicking the "Fall benefit 2009" in the right side bar.

Now I'm off to catch a few Zzzzz's before Lora gets here!

Trina and Jophie

Harvest Moon.........

Ooooooky Spoooooky!


Which can only mean one thing.....

Fall/Winter is coming! Booooo Hooooooo...

I do love fall but winter......

Blah...UGH....Moooooans

I'm not sure about you but I don't even feel like we've had a summer. We've been in the pool 3 times and two of those times the water temperature was under 68! Brrrrr chill! I'm seriously lacking in saratonin which is not a good thing for me heading into winter.

I will say the last week has been wonderful filled with sunshine and blue skies! Tammy tells me we're going to have a loooooong fall so it won't be that bad. My negative attitude tells me otherwise but, I'm hopeful she's gonna be right.

Jophie and I are wingin' it alone this weekend. It's loras off Saturday and tomorrow is Tammys birthday. She did come by this evening to help me change Jophies trach collar and brought along her 2 little sidekicks. Thanks for coming by to help on your day off Tammy and for bringin' the girlies.....You'll never know what a bright spot those girlies put in my day....:o)

I have a bazillion and one things to do which is not a good thing for me. I tend to start twitchin' with the enormity of it all and next thing you know I'm slumped in my chair doing nothing.

Lists do not help.......In fact they make it worse because then I can actually SEE what was once one itty bitty page has now become the entire notebook! ACK!

Don't get me wrong....I do make lists but for the normal/basic everyday things NOT all the junk I have floatin' around in my head that needs attention.....

Oh well.....I'm fairly certain something will get done just not all that needs done

Jophie will be fed and medicated
I'll be fed and medicated(If I don't forget) LOL

Guess thats it......

Big list eh? LOL

Trust me you don't want to see the "real list"

Make sure you to click the harvest moon picture so you get the "up close and personal" view of it! You don't wanna miss it cause it's really cool!

OK..Gotta Scoot!

Trina and Jophie

Brave Pants........

Well I finally snatched those brave pants out of the closet. Grabbed a pair for Jophie too :0)

And so it begins...
Another steroid reduction....

Now lets just pray that Roid Rage stays away!

Lacey: You asked, "Do they keep this man on steriods for his lungs?"

Yes to the lungs but also for his adrenal glands.

Jophie has always been given steroids(Usually IV Solumedrol)during illnesses so he was no stranger to them. The first time he went on what I would call "massive" amounts was when he was 7. That hospital stay was around 6 months. All food was stopped at that time and he had surgery to place his Mic-key and the fundoplication.

Infectious disease placed him on massive amounts of steroids to heal his very damaged/sick lungs. He had literally been breathing food/liquid for years but it had has went undetected as he continued to pass all his feeding studies. During that stay infectious disease diagnosed him with Staph E. and Enterobactor not only in his blood stream but IN HIS LUNGS. It was determined the ONLY way for him to have these in his lungs would be if he were refluxing and then aspirating directly into his lungs. He would be diagnosed with silent aspiration/silent reflux after using a more advanced feeding study as opposed to the technique used when he was younger.

The steroids would remain on board as we desperately tried to hasten the healing of his very ill lungs..

Slowly we were able to wean him from those steroids and only during illnesses was he placed back on them withus always able to slowly wean him back to "his normal" until 5 years ago.

Again he was hospitalized for a very long time and once again massive doses of steroids were tossed on board to save his life. That ordeal began in July just over five years ago and I was told he would not come home with us. Once again Jophie proved them wrong! ;0)

Today we are finally nearing his "old baseline". The weaning schedule is a slow process but necessary to prevent dangerous and often deadly complications.

We continue on a path of constant "Increase/Reduction" regimen. We increase(stress dose) during times of stress/illness/surgeries or anything that would cause extra stress on his body. We have to do this because the steroid use to save his lungs and his life has also caused his adrenal glands to fail. Vicious cycle eh?

The adrenals are really imporant(as I've learned from this experience) releasing the hormone needed during "fight or flight" times.

EX: You see a snake at your feet. You FREAK! I know I would ;) Your heart races/your breathing increases/you sweat(This is flight/flight) Your body will then begin trying to "calm" itself unless of course that snake is now crawling on your foot! LOL

But, for example sake lets just say it crawls away at which time your breathing begins to slow/heart rate slows and all systems begin going back to normal. Because of the adrenal damage Jophies body will no longer do this normally so the steroids do it for him. Without them he would die.

As far as the lungs are concerned...

The steroids are still necessary creating a wicked double edged sword indeed!

I finally managed to get "The List" up at the bottom of Jophies flier as well as button linking to it on the sidebar. Much more about that in my next post but for now feel free to look.

Jophies Closet is also up and running but I still haven't had time to toss anything in there. It's photographed and ready I just need some time! There are some really nice items from Jophies closet and even the twins are putting their share in to help Jophie :0) This too has a new button linking from the side bar but you won't see much more than an empty page with a piddly little "test" post! LOL

We're really enjoying this sunshine! The temps have been perfect with gorgeous blue skies! Jophie made it out 2 days so far this week. By Wednesday we all needed a bit of rest so we just let him have a lazy day sleeping so he could catch up. The fresh air and sunshine sure does make him tired! A good tired though.

We did manage a decent fall shoot. I have tons including some more BUG pics! Yes I'm turning into this "Freaky about bugs" photographer. LOL

This momma is pooooooped so for now I'm leaving you with only a couple of my smiley little guy....

Enjoy!




Trina and Jophie

Shave and a haircut..........2 cents!

Ahhhh this was yesterday........ Gorgeous I tell ya with much of the same for the rest of the week!


I'm leaving you with this very short and to the point post with a promise of a much bigger update this evening.

Shave and a haircut! Manicure and Pedicure too!


Nurse is giving him a bath right now and then were headed outside to enjoy this gorgeous weather again today!

Gotta enjoy this sunshine and good weather while we can!

Later!
Trina and Jophie