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

“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

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

Finally........

The flier is at the printers and we actually have an online copy. I will be adding a link over in the sidebar soon so it can easily be found.
http://silentangels4me0.tripod.com/FallFundraiser2009.html

I did removed the contact information on purpose for the online version. In the event you would like to help be it from afar or locally I can be reached at meals4wheels@yahoo.com If you don't hear back from me in a timely manner you can also contact Tammy at crazymamma1966@hotmail.com
I will do my best to get back with you as soon as possible but please remember Jophie does keep us quite busy :0)

I do have a 2 lists compiled of the items already donated as well as what we still need. If I wasn't so tuckerd out I would have added that information to the bottom of the flier. Hopefully, it can be included in the next few days.

Jophie is still doing well...All smiles of course and we sure like that! :0)

The time has come for yet another steroid reduction......UGH! I so hate these but, I can honestly say the last drop saw very little of that nasty Roid Rage. We saw a bit but nothing compared to what we have seen in the past and for that we were all quite thankful....

Now let's just pray the next reduction goes as smoothly as the last. I'll be sure to let you know when I put my brave pants on and begin the drop. Lets just keep this between us though K? Jophie does tend to get all bent outta shape when we take away his drugs. :0)

Omgosh! It's almost 7 a.m which can mean only one thing......I've forgotten to take my benadryl and here I sit pretty as you please totally oblivious to the world waking up around me...

Guess this momma is heading towards the bed. I must try and catch a few Zzzzz's before Lora gets here......

At least one or two ;)

Trina and Jophie

I'm pooooped..........

Tired
Tuckered
Beat............

Mentally and Physically

You get the idea........

We've had sooo much rain lately that it's been next to impossible to get the grass cut. It seriously had turned into a jungle......Today I managed to wrangle that jungle into submission. It only too 4 1/2 hours. Usually it takes me about 1 1/2 hours which gives you an idea of how out of control that mess was........I'm sooo glad to have that taken care of. At least I can mark one thing off my list.....

There's so much going on that I honestly have no clue where to even begin or end. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around some things let alone actually yanking it from my brain to here...

We still haven't gotten paid....I was supposed to have heard something today but was unable to get in touch with the person who "supposedly" has that information. I'll try again tomorrow.

Have I mentioned lately how much our government sucks right now? Maybe its only been the walls who've been hearing my ranting and raving? No matter it's still a mess and we're right in the thick of it all.....

I'm not comfortable just yet with telling all but soon if things turn out as we fear this momma is gonna be spewing like Old faithful!

I'm eating bacon by the way......Random

Random is my life lately....I'm seriously all over the board. Good luck following me....LOL

Jophie is doing well.......All smiles as usual with only a few of his normal little "blips" along the way..... Soon we have to do another steroid reduction. I dread it like always and have been putting it off...Bad Momma...I just hate hate seeing that Roid Rage! It's evil I tell ya just plain evil but, we have to muddle through the madness to get to the good on the other side......It's so worth it :0)

Jophie hasn't had much outdoor time bacause of our funky weather. We're hoping that's gonna change soon. We have a Little Tykes sprinkler ball we are dying to let him try. Water is such a "no no" but he loves it so much and I think we've covered all the bases to prevent anything from going wrong. Now bring on the sunshine!

Jophie hangin' out under our little shade tree......


Look how relaxed he is....


He loved it under that shade tree. You'd be surprised how tiny that thing is if you could actually see it in real life. It sure gives a lot of shade though! He could have stayed out longer but it was time for Lora to leave.

Jophies 4th annual Fall Fundraiser is coming up. I'm really excited about the whole thing as it's completely different than what we normally do.

We are having a Hog Roast/Fun day! It's set tentatively for Sept. 19th. The venue is pretty certain but we are just waiting on a verbal on that one. I'm working on the flier but still need that venue before they can go to print.

So far we have The Hog Man who will be roasting the hog and making all the food. The Hog has been donated. We have inflatables donated. We have tables/chairs donated. We have Port-a-Potties donated and you know you gotta have those! :0) We have a ginormous tent donated. We have 2 sheet cakes donated. We have one "very well known" place donating but I can't say what that is just yet.

There is also going to be Horse shoe and Corn Hole Tournements. A softball game. Games for the little ones/Face painting as well as the inflatables. Lots of yummy food! Pulled Pork Sandwiches/Brown/White Beans/Cornbread/Hot dogs & Sauce/Pop/Sno-Cones/Cake/Cupcakes along with other deserts. We hope to have balloons but we're still working on that one. Anyone locally have connections that could help there?

We also need themed baskets for auction/raffle. Lots of them. So far we have one from England coming(Thanks Tia!) One coming from Texas(Thanks Naomi!) One more I can't mention just yet. The good thing is we have several weeks to gather these as well as the other needed items.

We're waiting on phone calls back on a few things and have a bazillion more to make. Lora and I are going to sit down tomorrow and make our lists. "DONE" and "NEEDS DONE" and/or "Waiting to hear back"

We are going to need help as in "bodies" to help with the games/Inflatables/organization ect...You get the idea. I'll be able to take some pictures but Jophies nurses and I will be all swapping off taking care of him throughout the day/evening so someone taking pictures would be ever so helpful.

If you would like to help be it here locally, from afar, Providing a themed basket, Donating a desert, Donating any of the items we are still needing(I will post that list as soon as we get it organized), Any connections you may have to help with needed items/donationse ect.....Please just toss me an email at booboo2003@roadrunner.com or for those who have my number just phone me. I am quite busy with Jophie so I will be adding contact info of others who are close to us and will be helping.

One thing to keep in mind. If you are local and plan to help or stop by please do keep in mind that Jophie is VERY IMMUNE COMPROMISED and visitors are VERY limited. Visitors with ANY COLD SYMPTOMS or illness at all are NOT permitted to come in. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but Jophies life depends on me following these very strict guidlines.

Did I mention the best part yet? The whole Hog Roast/Fun Day Benefit is FREEEEEE!

Yep! You read that right its FREEEEE! We will be taking donations at the entrance so all donations are appreciated but no worries if you are unable to donate. You just come right on in and have fun! :0)

One more thing to talk about.....

I have a few "new" things to add to Jophies donation section as well as a "Jophies Closet". (More on that later.)

For now I have these......

Blankie Buddies...Holiday Themed for starters

Pumpkin..


Kitty..


These are infant/toddler size at around 10 inches perfect to snuggle with and small enough to drag along in the carseat. I am working on a larger size for the school age child. The twins are 7 and actually loved them and would have taken them home in a heartbeat if given the chance.

If you are interested the infant/toddler blankie buddies are $12.00 Each plus shipping. You can use the donation button in the side bar. Please include "Blankie Buddie" as well as which one you would like with your order.

A quick thank you to those who have purchased cookbooks and a special thank you to Louise. You know what its for and although Thank you seems so inadequate it's truly from my heart. I'd like to thank all the "Little Elves" who seem to be leaving elf prints all over my house. Me thinks they are working overtime as Christmas is still a ways off ;) More to come on the "little Elves" saga.. :0)

Id like to also thank all my friends and family who have prayed for us and just offered a shoulder during these trials. Please do continue as it's still a very scary and uncertain time. I try not to dwell too much on it but reality tends to slap you square in the face totally ruining my Narnia vacation. Yep! I do often look in the closet for Narnia! :0)

And with that this momma needs to go. Lots to still do before my head can even think about hitting the pillow....

Trina and Jophie