Creative Little Ol' Me

sorry still not crafting

2011-04-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

I really should be crafting but I have so much to do with my new home its sick...and all that work that needs to be done has been put to a staggering halt...

On March 18, 2011 I gave birth to a stillborn son...his name was River Lyric, he was 2lbs 9.7oz and was 15.5inches long...we had just a few days prior (Tues. was my OB appointment that gave us the clear on a healthy heart, and healthy baby via sonogram results) so 3 days after having a clean bill of health on our baby...I go into the hospital thinking I was going to be sent home with my worries eased...but found out my thoughts about my baby not moving in the past day or so was to be true...and was induced to deliver him....

I am just beside myself at the moment still...and I really don't see myself doing much anything...not even gardening which is what I really want to do right now even though I have two black thumbs I decided I want a heart shaped flower garden with the tree out front our house in the middle of it...but I dont have the tools much less the know how to do anything like that but I do want to do it...and have been nit picking at it...anyways...

I just thought I would update you all...wish I really could do some crafts as I am needing some down time but I honestly have no motivation for anything even what needs done around here...and all the comments "let us know if there is anything we can do to help" have been realized to be like the common passer by comment "how are you?" just something that people say to be kind...because I have asked for help with my garden...and no one has responded to it...no one really has been responding much to my posts since it happened either...which hurts...anyway...talk to you later
Sincerely,
Rabeka Jo

Triplet Butterfly Wings: Josephine Kay

2010-08-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

Triplet Butterfly Wings: Josephine Kay: "Josephine Kay Drew Sept. 2-3, 2008 She had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and Turner Syndrome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WovdA..."

About CHD and Childrens Heart Foundation

2009-03-23T15:50:00.001-07:00

I thought I would share my information that I shared on my blogtv channel to explain why you should donate to my cause hope it helps...so please help! Come join me and help me raise some money if you don't know what I am talking about cause the chip in is not included in this email...you can visit my profile on here by clicking view complete profile then while in there scroll to bottom find my donation drive blog and there ya go you will see the blog chip in box that you click to donate so thank you for your help and support I will talk to you all later and hope to see you on my blogtv someday soon!

Sincerely,

Rabeka Jo

--
STOP E-MAIL ADDRESS HARVESTING
Protect your family and friends!
PLEASE USE "BCC" when sending to multiple addresses!
PLEASE DELETE ALL E-Mail ADDRESSES WHEN FORWARDING FROM ANOTHER LIST!!

Send your condolences through guestbook signings here for our baby girl we lost thank you: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyjosiekay
And here is a new memorial picture slide show on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WovdAMgY9Hw look at the more from Rabeka Jo and watch the thank yous and baptism video. And may as well subscribe too :) Thanks.

And you can Join me on live web cam at www.blogtv.com/people/froginmythroat I am raising awareness on CHD and raising money to donate in my daughters name to Children's Heart foundation. To keep up with progress sign up to follow my twitter its www.twitter.com/RabekaJo thanks so much!

Fwd: Durbin, Cochran, Space and Bilirakis Introduce Legislation to Expand Congenital Heart Disease Research

2009-03-23T13:02:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined with Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Zack Space (D-OH) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) to introduce bipartisan legislation that increases awareness, education and research into congenital heart disease – a rapidly growing national health problem. The Congenital Heart Futures Act aims to prevent premature death and disability and increase the quality of life for the nearly 1.8 million people in the United States living with congenital heart disease.

"A child is born with a congenital heart defect every fifteen minutes," said Durbin. "Despite the prevalence of congenital heart disease, research, data collection, education and awareness are limited. This legislation will expand research and broaden its scope to help those currently living with congenital heart disease and perhaps, one day, find cures."

"This legislation builds on recommendations by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to support and augment the research being done on congenital heart disease. The research will translate into better clinical treatments for Americans living with congenital heart disease," said Cochran.

"For too long, we have allowed congenital heart defects to limit, alter, and end the lives of the Americans they afflict. Today, we take a significant step in the effort to end the horrible grip these conditions hold on far too many," said Space.

"This legislation would help provide critical information to physicians and those living with congenital heart disease so they can make more informed decisions about their care," said Bilirakis.

There are over 30 types of congenital heart defects, which occur when the structures of the heart are malformed, missing or in the wrong place during development. Heart defects are the most common and most deadly form of birth defects, affecting nearly 1% of births (approximately 36,000 a year). A child is born with a congenital heart defect every 15 minutes. These defects cause congenital heart disease—cardiovascular problems caused by the birth defect.

In 2004, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) convened a working group on congenital heart disease, which recommended developing a research network to conduct clinical research, establishing a national database of patients, and creating an outreach education program on the need for continued cardiac care. Today's Congenital Heart Futures Act builds upon the NHLBI's recommendations by:

Increasing public education and medical community awareness of congenital heart disease through a comprehensive public education and awareness campaign carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC);

Developing a National Congenital Heart Disease Registry at the CDC to track the epidemiology of congenital heart disease;

Creating an Advisory Committee on Congenital Heart Disease within CDC to provide expert information and recommendations regarding the development and operation of the Registry and other matters;

Promoting the coordination and expansion of the NHLBI's congenital heart disease research, including a focus on causation; long term outcomes; diagnosis, treatment and prevention; longitudinal studies; and barriers to care.

While, there is currently no cure for congenital heart disease, modern medicine has made major advances in treating heart defects in newborns. In 1950, a child born with a congenital heart defect only had a 20% chance of surviving, but today that number has increased to 90%. Due to the increase in childhood survival rates, the population of people living with congenital heart disease increases by an estimated 5% every year.

Survivors of successful childhood intervention, however, face life-long risks including heart failure, rhythmic disorders, stroke, renal dysfunction, and neuro-cognitive dysfunction. The estimated life expectancy for those with congenital heart disease is significantly lower than for the general population – age 55 for those with moderately complex heart defects and 35 to 40 for those with highly complex defects. Less than 10% of adults living with complex congenital heart disease currently receive recommended cardiac care, and many are unaware that they require life-long specialized health surveillance.

Ashley A.

Heart Mom to Parrish Archer (HLHS, Stroke survivor) born 5-22-08

www.ourlittleheroparrisharcher.blogspot.com

Re: Invitation from your friend Rabeka Drew

2009-03-19T02:44:00.001-07:00

Earlier, Rabeka Drew sent you an invitation to play on
Winster.com but hasn't heard from you yet.

By playing together, you and Rabeka can help each other win prizes faster.
Rabeka has arranged for you to start with 700,000 points towards your
first 1,000,000 point prize, so you don't have far to go.

To respond, click the following link (or cut and past it into the address bar
in your browser):

http://www.winster.com/secure/landingRaf.jsp?act=signup&mf=true&rid=1273370&promoCode=v-r1_raf_rid-1273370_email-rabekadrew.tinktinkfrog@blogger.com&fn=Rabeka Drew&em=rabekadrew.tinktinkfrog@blogger.com

Thanks for helping!

You received this message because Rabeka Drew (rabekajo@gmail.com)
invited you to participate in this promotion.

If you do not wish to receive messages from Winster, please email
unsub-int@winster.com with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

Rabeka Drew has invited you to join Winster :)

2009-03-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

Rabeka Drew has added you as a friend on Winster

Is Rabeka your friend?

Please respond or Rabeka may think you said no :(

Why join Winster?

prayer request thank you

2009-03-04T12:49:00.001-08:00

Julia's Daughter Sarah Jan who is 10 months old needs prayers, she just had open heart surgery Friday...they found fluid and blood in her lungs and she is fighting a fever. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Sincerely,
Rabeka Jo

--
STOP E-MAIL ADDRESS HARVESTING
Protect your family and friends!
PLEASE USE "BCC" when sending to multiple addresses!
PLEASE DELETE ALL E-Mail ADDRESSES WHEN FORWARDING FROM ANOTHER LIST!!

Send your condolences through guestbook signings here for our baby girl we lost thank you: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyjosiekay
And here is the memorial picture slide show on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZU14IOSA6I look at the more from Rabeka Jo and watch the thank yous and baptism video. Thanks.

And you can Join me on live web cam at www.blogtv.com/people/froginmythroat I am raising awareness on CHD and raising money to donate in my daughters name to Children's Heart foundation. To keep up with progress sign up to follow my twitter its www.twitter.com/RabekaJo thanks so much!

Fw: u tube link (this girl lives in Wichita and it dying, help spread the news ty)

2009-02-19T00:48:00.001-08:00

a friend of mine is friends with this family and they ask for all the prayers they can get. I can't imagine doing something to make it to where my daughter don't get something and then it back fires like this...tell all the moms out there who have teen daughters tell all the moms out there who have children and want what is best for their children...raise awareness

Below is a u-tube link that Shannon Sent me. Gabi's best friend made it. Sad to watch. :(

Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2009 5:32 PM

Subject: scschrag sent you a video: "Gardasil - The Damage is Done: From A Best Friend's View"

help center | e-mail options | report spam

scschrag has shared a video with you on YouTube:

Gardasil - The Damage is Done: From A Best Friend's View

Yes! Me, a 16 year old best friend of Gabby's, made this Gabrielle Swank, is the most amazing friend that I could ever ask for. I made this video to help raise awareness for the side effects Gardasil holds. Gardasil has dramatically changed Gabby's life, and I want to help get the message out about getting this vaccine off the market. Go to this website to sign the petition!!!!: www.nvic.org Once up to 30,000 signatures, you can help save a girl's life.

© 2009 YouTube, LLC

Memorial Fund in Josephine's Memory will you help?

2009-02-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

Help me raise money for Children's Heart Foundation by clicking the link below I appreciate it :) It will be donated in Josephine Kay Drew's Memory, so thank you for helping me raise money for a great cause so they can research more on Congenital Heart disorders effecting children, and thank you for passing the information around so we can raise as much as possible. Thank you for your time and your help with this. No matter how little a donation, every little bit helps. So thank you for helping me. If you don't trust Chipin for some reason you can send through paypal to rabekajo@gmail.com and put a personal note saying for Josie's memorial donation and I will add it to the donation drive happily. Thank you all for your help :)

Fwd: FW: HELP SPREAD AWARENESS

2009-02-14T03:13:00.001-08:00

My baby was one of the lost CHD Angels, so help me by forwarding this on thanks I can be found on live shows if you subscribe to be notified when I get online you can come and talk to me on a video where I am talking to you in a room at http://www.blogtv.com/people/froginmythroat and you can also visit my youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/RabekaJo Thank you so much for your support, I really could use subscribers on youtube to help me become a partner with them and get paid to post videos...and I would so appreciate it and I do subscribe back if you have a channel too :) My baby girls story is on my youtube channel in a picture slide show. I appreciate all the support in my efforts to raise awareness. I lite candles for warriors, and angels and a few angels I know, including my mom who died from Skin Cancer Jan 2009...so thank you it means the world to me if I could get a good crowd on my blogtv. channel. So please pass this info along so I can get the word out. Sincerely, Rabeka Jo

2009-02-06T04:55:00.000-08:00

It is raise awareness of congenital heart defects wear red tell ur friends to look up josephine kay turner syndrome on youtube and watch my slide show for my angel effected by this thanks God Bless! Sincerely, Rabeka Jo

Fwd: RabekaJo sent you a video: "Heaven's Blue Skies (Original)"

2009-01-18T03:41:00.001-08:00

	help center \| e-mail options \| report spam
RabekaJo has shared a video with you on YouTube: A newly found friend wrote and sang a song dedicated to my daughter. Please rate and comment. Thank you all so very much for your support. Heaven's Blue Skies (Original) This song was inspired by an email, I received a couple day's ago. A new friend and subscriber, just lost their baby girl. :c( It's always a tragedy when a child passes. To believer's though, soul's do indeed pass, and with all 'Loved One's,' we'll be reunited, again soon! Until then, 'they' are in good hand's! :c) I'd like to dedicate this song, to 'RabekaJo & Josi' also, everyone else, who has lost a 'little one.' This is something that has also 'hit' our family, and close friends, as it has, many. The Apostle Paul said, that with God, a day is as a thousand year's, and a thousand year's, as a day. So, we're all 'little one's,' in our Father's, eye's! :c) -------------------------------------------- Heavens Blue Skies We didnt have very long together But, we had many hopes and dreams Here, life is, fleeting as the weather And theres little, that is, as it seems Angels will nurture, and guide you, little one On earth... more
© 2009 YouTube, LLC

Dec. 26, 2008

2008-12-26T18:06:00.001-08:00

My mom went into hospice today around 4pm her tolerance to the pain is non-existent and cannot take it any longer. She will be there for a few days to a week depending on finding a medication that works to keep her comfortable during her last days here on earth. Their Job is to make her comfortable. They haven't given a time line to expect her to live without treatments to fight the skin cancer. But I am sure it won't be long, since she has given up cause she cannot take it any longer. I pray she does fight a little longer. But the doctors have given up hope to treat her anymore and they won't be progressing her any longer with scans to see how far the skin cancer has gone etc. They just handed her over to hospice and are through with treatments of the cancer. They believe the Chemo from this last time has caused nerve damage in her face and that is what is causing her facial pain. The numbness in the chin and now up just past her lip crease is now numb too is like Novocain when its totally numb but trying to start to come back so its painful part of that Novocain wearing off type feeling in her chin and up past her right crease in her lip....her lip is burning and hurting as well...she is numb so numb she finds herself drooling and when she attempted to eat tonight found her food trying to escape the hole in her mouth. The pain shoots back to her ear and behind her ear and up under her jaw on that right side as well as in the temporal area on up over her eyebrow...but its only existent on her right side which is just weird. That's where her skin cancer has been found. It has spread into her liver as well. They also found a speck of something in her Cerebellum area of her brain but too small to know what it is. So its also in her pelvic bone, her butt, her collar bone, her chest wall, still in her lymph node under her right arm pit, and in her neck. Since its in her liver, its just a matter of time for it to start to shut down and then move on to other big organs. So their job is to make the pain tolerable. She is on a high concentrate of morphine that is dispensed into fatty area of her left arm which the pump will administer 200mg throughout the time span of 3 hours I believe that's what she said and every 30 minutes my mom can press a button to receive a double dose of morphine. It will not allow her to press it until 30 minutes is up so its a safety feature that will keep her from Over Dosing herself. But it will record how many times she presses the button between the 30 min. intervals to tell doctors if they need to up doses or lower doses or add additional medications to manage her pain better. During her stay at the hospital they are monitoring her and see how these medications effect her, and if they need to adjust or do something different. So its a good thing. She is such a homebody though that not even an hour after being there she was ready to go back home. After she is released from the hospital, they will move in a hospital bed into her home for her to sleep on, so that will help...she will also have a nurse coming out once or twice a week and a nurse on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week...so all we have to do is call when something is wrong and they will rush right over and take care of her. They will also have someone come out twice a week to bathe her and change her bedding and everything. So it is a great program and I am thankful for this program being available to help us help her through her last days here on earth. She has given up since the doctors have given up on her. They do not wish to keep track of the progress of the cancer. She feels they won't even treat her if she gets an ear infection or a tooth infection or anything, they are just done treating her all together, but I don't think they are that "done" with her, just they won't be giving her chemo anymore, she said they won't be doing blood tests anymore to keep track of her platelets so she won't know if she is deteriorating or not and I think this bothers her. She likes to know how things are going, and how long she has to live etc. Where the cancer has spread and all that too...so we may try to talk to the doctors to see if they could humor her and do them despite their rules and regulations and keep track of this as a medical study or some other reason they could come up with so they could pull it off, so she can know what she wants to know. She gave me permission to allow them to do an autopsy on her to learn from her when she is gone, so they can maybe help future cancer patients like her. Which I think is noble of her to say yes to. She does not wish for her picture to be taken when she is in her casket, because she had a picture of her grandma in her casket and it just haunted her all these years the image and she doesn't want anyone to have that image in their minds like her...I want to respect this wish, and I will, but not sure if I will pass this information onto the other grievers around me or not. Though I probably will when it comes down to it since she really don't want that. So Anyway, the road is almost over now. And I don't know really how I am going to take all this, but with all I have been through so far, I don't know what else would bring me to my knees...sometimes wonder if I even am living anymore myself. I feel so mindless, and numb. But the tears do still flow, which I haven't been able to tear up for a while now so that's a good thing I think. Anyway, I will talk to you later. Sincerely, Rabeka Jo P.S. Other than this bump in the road our Christmas was the best ever, I know that's weird to say after losing a baby girl, but she really opened my eyes to what I do have and I am so thankful for all I do have. This was the first Christmas I actually enjoyed and looked forward to. I will write more later...I am in a lot of pain from my face so I am going to try to sift through my emails and head to bed.

I got good news today

2008-11-12T00:15:00.001-08:00

I got a letter stating they changed the way donated to science bodies are taken care of and offer to have the ashes returned to the loved ones! So I get to have my baby girl back! I am so excited I had to share! I am so excited! Not sure what we are going to do, keep them for display, spread ashes, bury them, or all three who knows! I just am so excited I can't stop being happy! Of course a plaque for a grave will be costly but my family already has said they want to help do something for us so hopefully that can help pay towards a marker of some sort if its not enough I am going to make and sell purses (I crochet them) and hopefully that will raise enough money for us to pay for the marker in the end. Whether its 10 bucks a month I think they will be happy with whatever we can come up with from month to month til its paid off! :) I am so happy! I can even have a service for her if I want to and its all free and the plot of land is free and I think the bury of the ashes is free too so all we have to pay for is the marker yay! I am so happy!!!!!! Ok thank you for listening to my good news! Have a happy as you can day! Sincerely, Rabeka Jo -- STOP E-MAIL ADDRESS HARVESTING Protect your family and friends! PLEASE USE "BCC" when sending to multiple addresses! PLEASE DELETE ALL E-Mail ADDRESSES WHEN FORWARDING FROM ANOTHER LIST!! Send your condolences through guestbook signings here for our baby girl we lost thank you: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyjosiekay And here is the memorial picture slide show on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZU14IOSA6I look at the more from Rabeka Jo and watch the thank yous and baptism video. Thanks.

I created a group for the families of the donated

2008-11-04T23:21:00.001-08:00

Description of the group: This Group is to bring together the families who have donated their loved one's to science, whether it was their choice or their loved one's choice. I wanted to get us all together and see if we share the same experiences with this heart filled deed that we unselfishly gave to the world of science so future people would be understood better and possibly find a cure or fix for whatever our loved ones passed from. I also want to find out if I am alone with some of the feelings I have about the whole noble thing I did. I also am looking into possibly figuring out a way to have a memorial placed in all towns to have etched names of the donated in the town, so the families have a place to grieve and mourn their loved one lost. If there is enough people interested in such a cause, I want to see to it that something like this can be available to those who do this deed that betters the knowledge of doctors to better help future patients liked our loved ones. I hope this helps and brings us all together and we find we are not alone in our quiet battles with autopsy reports not being sent to us if we desire them. Along with the empty feeling we have when we leave our loved ones with nothing to show that our loved one existed (in the instance of an infants death) aside from pictures and memories. I really do hope it helps to know we are not alone. I look forward in meeting more families who have experience with donating a loved one, so I don't feel so alone. This group is dedicated to my daughter Josephine Kay who died from Turner syndrome and Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome. She lived 19 hours and 34 min. But forever will live in many hearts and minds for a lifetime. This is who is in the picture. Thank you for joining, whether its to support the thought of a memorial wall for the donated so the families have a place of grieving, or if you are a griever yourself of a loved one donated. You are all welcome, just please participate, I know its painful, but I need your help.

<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inthenameofthedonated/join">
  <img src="http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/yg/img/i/us/ui/join.gif"
      style="border: 0px;"
      alt="Click to join inthenameofthedonated"/>
  <p>Click to join inthenameofthedonated</p>
</a>

If the html doesn't form a picture the link to the group is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/inthenameofthedonated If you did not donate your loved one, you too can join to support the effort of trying to get a memorial spot for the families who did donate their loved one. I just need to know the community supports such a thought. Please pass this information on and make it big. Thank you for helping me with my cause. I hope I can get this off the ground and finally have a place to mourn my baby girl, and honor her the way I believe she deserves to be. Thank you for your time and I sure hope I see a lot of people joining soon :) Sincerely, Rabeka Jo -- STOP E-MAIL ADDRESS HARVESTING Protect your family and friends! PLEASE USE "BCC" when sending to multiple addresses! PLEASE DELETE ALL E-Mail ADDRESSES WHEN FORWARDING FROM ANOTHER LIST!! Send your condolences through guestbook signings here for our baby girl we lost thank you: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyjosiekay And here is the memorial picture slide show on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZU14IOSA6I look at the more from Rabeka Jo and watch the thank yous and baptism video. Thanks.

update and great advise for parents

2008-10-21T00:05:00.001-07:00

Well its been over a month since we lost Josephine Kay and earlier tonight Johnny and I went on our date nite. He talked about his experiences he has had at work (he drives a school bus now for our school district). I been waiting for him to talk about Josie all this time, and he won't say nothing about what happened, how he is feeling about the whole thing, ask how I am doing with the whole thing, nothing. The kids bring her up more often than either one of us. I so want to but figure he don't want to talk about her so I leave it alone.

Being his first daughter, I can see how he may not want to talk about it, since we lost her after all we did to try and save her. I feel as if he wants to just forget I even was pregnant. When we hugged a while back he commented on how nice it was to be able to hug me without having a baby between us, that being the only comment I can recall about what happened.

Jack said the other day to Johnny that he wanted to hide in his heart too (daddys heart), it about brought him to tears got him all choked up. Dylan wonders why the doctors couldn't staple her heart and make her better. Whenever the boy's see an angel, picture or figure or anything, they say there's Baby Josie. I so wanted to give the boys a baby sister, and Johnny a daughter, and wishy washy back and forth on the thought of trying again. Johnny on the other hand is done, he don't want to have anymore, thinks we have enough with the two we have. So I just don't know.

My epidural site is still bruised feeling...they said it wouldn't and said that yeah backs hurt after having a baby, um excuse me? I had four previous births without an epidural and never NEVER experienced this pain. I have a feeling its going to be here for a long time, tormenting me, reminding me of what I went through for NOTHING. I am sorry, she was not nothing, she was everything to me, I fought for her all the way, Johnny ended up regretting in the end of being so distant from us while she was in my tummy, and yet here we are with no baby to hold, no baby to watch grow up, no baby to coo back and forth to, and yet everywhere I look there are babies. I just want to walk up to who ever who has these gifts from God and tell them what they REALLY HAVE...a very rare gift from God. I never really thought about this side of being a parent. How rare it is to have a healthy baby. I mean there are so many things that could and does go wrong in pregnancy, and after birth. I can also see the other end, where frustraighted parents and their little ones running a muck. Being a parent is the hardest Job on earth, and we can't quit and apply for a different job or request to be moved to another department. We are in the parenthood job permanently. You think its over at 18? Once they grow up and are moved out, your house is quiet, yes, and your stress is reduced, yes, maybe your fridge is more full than usual, yes, and its all great for a while. Then their absence sinks in, and you wonder why they never call, you worry about them, you hope they are making wise decisions for themselves, you miss the little things, and most of all you find that your job is far from over, and may have perhaps just begun.

Being a mother who lost two daughters to a corupt system, and a daughter to our maker, I say to all the parents out there. You don't know what you have until its gone, so treasure them even in all the frustrating moments, they will pass, and you will look back on these frustraighting things as funny and wish you would have had a camera to capture the chaos you went through that day. Treasure all moments with your children, and never NEVER take them for granit. (not to say I did, but I was frustraighted with my two daughters and didn't know what to do about the oldests behavior, call it young, call it stressed, call it whatever you like, but I sure could of used some help in knowing how to handle certain situations that sometimes comes up in the life of a parent). Those Angels you have to wake to each morning and put to bed kicking and screaming all the way, they truely are a Gift from God, and what you do with your Gift is up to you, but I suggest taking every little thing they do to test you, with a grain of salt and distract them to the best of your ability. Their job is to get and keep your attention, and they most definately do deserve your attention, every waking hour of it if your able. Yes you have hard days at work, so do they. They fall and scrape their knees, they had a toy taken from them by tommy today at school, they had a classmate call them a mean name that hurt their feelings, one of their friends at school tried to get them to do drugs and they couldn't believe this friend was doing that to themselves, their boyfriend/girlfriend wanted to do something with them that totally broke their hearts cause they KNOW they are better than a piece, I mean the list goes on and on people and its all age groups. Kids are experimenting at alot younger ages with several things that I never even thought about til my later years. Our Jobs are to leave work at work, take it off at the door like an imaginary coat if you have to and leave it on your door step before you walk into your home, and deal with your kids problems. You are their hero so save them from the little stuff now, but when it comes to choices they make let them live out the concequences, but support them through it all, don't rescue them when they done wrong, point out that it was wrong and explain that life has lots of choices and we have to live with the choices we make sometimes.

Sorry this is so long, but I just want you all to know that we as parents have got to calm down, step up to the plate, take charge but gently, and show our kids we care. Talk to them, see how they are feeling, whats going on in their lives, ask if there is anything that they want from you (besides money), listen to them, they so want to be heard, don't argue with a raised voice (I know its hard but if you do, the cycle will start and you know where that ends...a slammed bedroom door and tears). For those of you who have to work alot to make ends meet for your family, set aside a special time for you and your kids to talk (no excuses why you can't talk tonight they need this more than you could ever know, of course you probably do know cause you may have experienced it yourself), ignore the small stuff (stuff that doesnt hurt no one including your child or any other breathing thing), punish the bigger stuff with groundings, loss of priveledges, but don't show violence, it only teaches them that violence solves their problems, and when tommy takes a toy from them and they hit the child, don't scold them if you use violence to punish them, cause thats what you taught them, you can fix this though by stopping the violence all together and guess what? it starts with YOU not the child.

My experience with Yelling, yes it feels good to get the steam out, but really is it nessisary? Why not try to whisper? um yeah I havn't be able to do this yet but I am trying hard to...and believe me once I get this down pat, I will let you know ha. I just want to know if it works or not lol. So let me know how it goes if you are able to keep your voice at a whisper when your kids dumped their toy box and spread it all over the floor you just picked up for the thousandth time in a week!!!! lol...yeah I want to know cause I want to know if this would work like I think it will.

So this turned out to be a post directed towards parents, I have my beliefs you have yours, change my God into your higher power and re-read the parts I mentioned my God in. If you don't believe in anything, thats ok too, just let your child decide what they want to believe, given that its a reasonable belief of good not evil. Those of you who do believe, May God Bless you with all the strengths you need to do all that I mentioned.

You know, with all the violence the human race does apon eachother everyday around the globe totally confuses me. You know why? Because I think there is enough in the world that is going to kill us all naturally without someone coming in and taking life from us. I mean there are deseases, cancers, disorders, virus', natural disasters, and more. There is a long list of each, and still people are killin people, accident or not. Choices have to be made to make an accident happen sometimes. I mean, a guy at the bar is far too waisted to drive, and several people offer him a ride or offer to call them a cab, but they choose to drive themselves home, and end up wrecking or hitting someone and kills them. Another example of a choice influencing an accident would be not having your gun locked up tight keeping it away from your kids, and they take it to school to show their friends their cool gun and BAM it goes off and kills someone/they don't realize what power they actually have and start to enjoy having that power and ends up in juvy or jail for the trouble they caused/they think that their breakup with their boyfriend/girlfriend is reason enough to point it at their head and pull the trigger. Whatever the case maybe there are so many things that could go wrong with not locking up your fire arms properly, if you absolutely HAVE to have them. Anyway my point is, we have many choices in our lives, and what we choose effects us and the world around us. So choose wisely what you do with your life. Everything that we go through, or are up against, we have control to take charge of ourselves, not others, and do something to make things right again. Yes bad things happen that is out of our control, its how we react to these things that effects us and the world around us. So what are YOU going to do about these things? How are YOU going to react to these things done? Ever seen a person smile at you in public? Automatically you smile back at them right? I know that I do, now that my face hurts at every little effort to do so. What do we do when someone flips you off or something? You automatically go into defense mode and you get all upset about it, gee whats that persons problem? Why? Human nature I guess. Sometimes someones attitude they may show to you has NOTHING to do with YOU, so catch them off guard and say "Wow you must be having a horrible day, I hope it gets better for you soon" catch them off guard, put them in check, and make them aware that their experience has effected the outside of them and the world around them.

If a smile is contageous, I don't see why doing good couldn't be contageous too. So go out and do something good for someone and tell them to pay it forward meaning they do something good for someone else and start the wave of good across the globe. Do to others what you want done to you, and yes I know there are people who mooch, take advantage, and abuse your generocity, at times. I have had my share of those. Just be aware of what they are actually doing, and maybe gently point it out to them so maybe they can become aware of how they are coming across to you as, and maybe they will wake up and change. Who knows, we are the most intelegent living breathing things here on earth, and yet alot of us don't know the power we posses or we abuse the power or we use it wisely and change the world around us a little at a time.

I hope this inspired someone, I hope this helped out someone, I hope this is something everyone can relate to, and I hope you tell your friends to read this. Even copy and paste it in a forwarding email and get my views out there so we can all start changing the worlds around us. It starts with YOU so what are you going to do to change the world around you?

Sincerely,

Rabeka Jo

ps. if this touched you or inspired you comment and let me know. I just want to know if I am waisting my time blogging here or not. Thanks for reading it, and for showing me that I did what I intended to do. and for Passing this knowledge on.

Fwd: Notice for Josephine Kay Drew

2008-10-05T10:40:00.001-07:00

Finally got it in the paper, over a month later after she was born and died. Sorry it took me so long, its hard to compact a heartfilled obituary into 7 lines so we didn't have to pay 75 dollars to tell our corner of our world about our angel.

Thank you all for the support through this all.

God Bless you all!

Sincerely,

Rabeka Jo Drew

Message: online obituary for Josephine Kay

Please visit the Notice for Josephine Kay Drew.

http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=LS000118383008X

Click on the above link or cut and paste the url into your browser's address bar.

Thought I would add info about my baby

2008-08-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Well I don't know if you all know but I am pregnant with a baby girl with Turner syndrome and hypo plastic left heart syndrome. You can keep up with us and our journey through the medical world by visiting us at www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyjosiekay and please sign our guest book and let us know you stopped by and are praying for us. I plan to get the book of all the guest book signings and blog entries when the time is right to show Josie how much support her mommy had throughout the whole thing. Mommy's ups and downs, and all the emotions mommy faced while facing the whole thing. So thank you for stopping by and checking in on us there and keeping us in your prayers. Sincerely, Rabeka Jo

a couple more angles that I missed

2008-05-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

lol was rushed in putting these in an email and missed these last two angles...this is the two day 3D puzzle....

What I have been busy doing....a 3D ginger Bread House puzzle OH BOY!

2008-05-14T11:28:00.000-07:00

Two days later and here it is...I was baffled cause there were several extra pieces I think who ever had this puzzle before me had a different puzzle maybe and mixed it with this one I have no idea...but at least I had almost all the pieces missed only ONE so yeah that was a good thing...anyways I enjoyed it I want to do more 3D puzzles now lol...gives me more of a challenge...ttyl Sincerely, Rabeka Jo

update on whats been going on

2008-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

well as you can see I've been making purses and selling them I can make anything anyone can think of and put them on a small purse that fits a small wallet inside it. So if you have a request and would like to purchase one for $7.50 you can either by commenting and I will refuse your information to the comments but keep your information so I can get in touch with you to get farther details. I have a store online and we could do it through that site when it comes time to pay and me to ship. They take alot of time is why its so much. The ones that I used a pattern on (frog and sponge bob) I will take money made from those and donate them to melanoma research as my mom suffers from melanoma and would like to help find a cure. But would have to keep the shipping costs for S&H purposes only. So if you really are interested drop me a line I have to approve your comments so I will just deny the ones with personal information after writing it all down so I can get in touch with you and farther the business transaction. I will send pictures of your item you requested before you pay and agree for me to ship it. Thank you for looking at my site and please check out my store. Thanks Sincerely, Rabeka Jo ps. My hubby lost his scarf somewhere but I made him a new one so I will try to get him to model it so I can put the new scarf at least on here lol.

Wolf Purses

2008-01-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

Wolf purses I made

Dragon Purse

2008-01-02T17:51:00.000-08:00

dragon Purse I made

Strawberry Short Cake purse

2008-01-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

Strawberry Short Cake Purse I made

Bratz purse

2008-01-02T17:41:00.001-08:00

Bratz purse I made