thoughts from me

Dear Stalker {Thoughts From Me}

April 1, 2017 by Dana

Dear Stalker,

I am truly impressed that you are so consumed with my life that you took time to read through 700 blog posts to attempt to find some dirt on me. Let me help you out. There is none.

I love how you thought sending a few screenshots of a public blog would destroy my relationship and make him second guess our marriage. He won’t. It won’t.

See what I have written here I meant. I meant that I loved my ex when I was with him. I meant I enjoyed our life and how God had indeed blessed us. I was meant to be with him in that season of his life as he healed from his ex-wife and I received the greatest gift from that. So did my now husband: we were blessed with our son.

God places some people into our lives for a season and we are there to learn from them. And I did learn from him. I learned what I wanted in my husband and what

I would never again put up with.

When the time in my life was right, God brought my husband into my life. It was the worst point of his life and the point he needed me most. And God knew he needed me as much as I did him.

God has blessed me at every single point in my life, including this one. And he will continue to be on my side because I believe in His love for me and my family.

My husband has never lied to me and I have not lied to him. After all, these posts you thought you’d upset him with and use to destroy our happiness are public and open for anyone to read. However, I only know one person so consumed by us that they’d drag up a post from 2011!

Thing is my husband knows my heart. He knows my past. He’s dreamed of me even while loving others and it was me all along his heart longed for. He is happy with me. He’s changed his life for me and for my children. He stands beside me and gives me strength when I need it.

And I do the same for him. I am the woman his exes could never be. I am the woman who was made by God for him. I will stand by him and never give up.

You don’t have to like what I post here or anywhere else in my online following. It isn’t written for you but it is left unblocked for you to easily stalk us as you have been doing. This blog is for me and my followers. It’s for my personal friends, family and life. It’s not here to please you.

Stalker, I wish you enjoyed your own life as much as you do ours. I wish you would embrace the love and happiness that God has graced upon you. I have my entire Facebook following praying for you. I pray you find help with your consumption in knowing our life. I pray you also find real help for your obvious depression and possible bipolar disorder. You deserve the same happiness we have. Stop hiding behind your excuses as to why you stalk. It doesn’t take a lot to see how unhappy you are.

But for me and mine. We will continue to live the life we have, to allow God to bless and grow in our family as we’ve been doing for the past two years.

I thank you for shutting my husband out and giving up on him. It gave him the chance to find real, true love. I only hope you can do the same in time.

God bless and much prayer for you,

Dana Lambert – Hodge

And Then Life Changes Again {Severe Anemia Awareness} {Thoughts From Me}

March 30, 2017 by Dana

I’ve been busy and haven’t updated. I know I’m terrible to just leave you all hanging. So what’s happened?

Well, I had my doctor’s appointment and ultrasound on Monday to prepare for surgery. Do you know what my ultrasound showed? Not a darned thing! There were no cysts on my ovaries which is awesome because I’ve never had cysts on them. There was no fibroids or damage showing to my uterus Scar tissue seen on camera was normal. My uterus was normal. Everything was NORMAL. My uterine lining was slightly thickened in the middle which can simply be caused by my time of the month and did not worry my doctor.

So with all this new knowledge in my mind, I asked the doctor was surgery my ONLY option. He replied that to stop the bleeding completely, yes it would be but if the bleeding was controlled by the med he had given me and it continued to remain controlled we could wait on surgery. He said we can do the meds for a few months and see if they help. Then I can come off of them and see if the bleeding has stopped. I was more than joyous at this.

He decided to do an uterine/endometrial biopsy to make sure that I don’t have cancer. After he did it, he took a look at the sample and said it looks normal for a women of my age who is still in child bearing years. But the sample will tell the story, if I do have cancer or not.

If I have Cancer, then of course the uterus comes out immediately. If not, we discuss the options at a later time. My instinct tells me I am fine and that my insides are healthy. If they are healthy, I wish to find other options for my treatment and have them remain where they are at.

So for now, the surgery is NOT HAPPENING! Meds are happening and I’m totally ok with that. I’ve had no bleeding since starting the meds except mildly after the biopsy was done. And yall this is the mildest period I’ve had in a long time now, so I’m very happy!

My thought is that maybe I am indeed in perimenopause or even menopause and that’s the cause of the bleeding. But only time and testing will tell.

Monday, I also saw my regular doctor and we discussed my constant tightness and pain in my back. She felt it and said I was definitely tense more than I should be so she issues a mild pain med and muscle relaxer for me to try for a month to see how that works for me. If it’s not worked well then she will issue xrays for me to see what’s going on back there.

At this point, the pain is so intense that any time I do physical activity I’m left in so much pain I can barely move. This is not normal for a 37 year old and I told the doctor I just want to know what’s wrong. I don’t wish to take tons of medication I don’t need. I truly just want to know why I feel as I do. So hopefully, we can find those answers by working together.

On a joyous note, Donald and I got married last Thursday. Today makes it an official week! We told very few people and decided spur of the moment to get it all done and over with. We do plan to have a wedding later but we wanted the legal and stressful part done for ourselves. We are so happy to know that we are following what God has planned for us together and for our family! The kids were excited to know Mommy and Daddy are married as well.

Don also bought himself a little truck this week for a small price. It’s a great vehicle for him to work with and carry off our trash. I’m really proud of all he’s done to change his life and ours as well to make it better. We’re only headed upwards from here.

Him getting a new truck means we can find seats for the van for me and the kids so we can officially have a family car again. This is another great thing! I miss our family adventures and can hardly wait to begin them all again soon!

So this is our end of March update. This is where we are in our life. Looking forward to the future and our love and life together as we continue on this journey.

God bless,
Dana

Busted Laptop {Thoughts From Me}

February 20, 2017 by Dana

The most important tool for a blogger and reviewer is the device they use for writing their posts. When something unforeseen happens to that device, the blogger’s world spins out of control. Material things should never be important but when your career depends on that device it becomes the most important thing you own.

Today my laptop screen bit the dust. I turned it on to find the screen completely busted because someone carelessly stepped on it even though they were aware it was where it was at the time. And this wasn’t a little person but someone who had sense to look and see where it was, who knew it was where it was kept at, who knows I use this laptop for my blogging and photography careers.

So this post is coming to you from my busted laptop via it’s tethered computer screen. That’s right, my portable laptop has now been downgraded into a desktop. It’s been suggested the repair cost to fix my poor sweet Karolina could run around $300. So now I’m torn between simply repairing her and replacing her.

Now to find the positive in this: I’m thankful I can still access my computer files since many of my reviews are stored on this laptop. I’m thankful I can still access my photos which I recently saved and stored on here. I’m thankful I can still manage to write my blog posts and reviews, one of which will be coming tomorrow or by Tuesday at the latest. Not being able to do these things was one of my major fears in finding my computer damaged.

I pray for God to make provisions for me to either fix my screen or buy a new laptop as soon as we are able. I’ve been looking at a few for the kids but my personal computer has major needs that theirs do not such as a monitor that projects clear imagery for photo editing and storage for using programs that we need for both reviews and photo editing. Whatever happens though, I’m just thankful for being able to still use this computer for now with my desktop monitor so I can do the things I need to.

Now I’m off to bury my sorrows of the day with some junk food and a movie of some kind. Until the next time…

Blank Thoughts {Thoughts From Me}

January 24, 2017 by Dana

Sometimes I come to blog and I wonder what to write about. I have no idea where to start. I have no idea what to say. So I just sit and wait, hoping an idea comes to me. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.

Lately, I have had a hard time coming up with content to share. My brain seems to be shut off. Or perhaps there’s just too much inside to be able to truly bring it together so that my writing makes sense. Either way, it just leaves me going in circles and coming up empty.

So here I am, trying to think of what to write and all I can come up with is blankness. Empty useless thoughts that lead me no where. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Maybe the next post will be something worth writing about. For now, this is all I have.

Word of the Year: 2017 {Thoughts From Me}

January 5, 2017 by Dana

FOCUS

It’s been a while since I chose a word of the year for us. Last year we weren’t really online due to not having internet so I wasn’t really able to chose one. This year we do have internet so I’ll be picking our word of the year.

As I’ve thought and prayed over our Word of the Year, I was really torn between two words: Balance and Focus. Balance was my first choice but the more I prayed, the more Focus presented itself. I began to understand that our word of the year should be Focus.

Dictionary.com defines Focus as a noun meaning a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity. Focus is also described as the clear and sharply defined condition of an image. It can also be a verb meaning to concentrate: to focus one’s thoughts and to direct one’s attention or efforts. Synonyms for Focus are: heart, center, core, nucleus.

Our focus this year will be upon each other as a family. As a Mother, I wish to focus more on my children, enjoying the years we have left before they are grown. I wish to focus on each of their relationships with me and Donald, with each other, allowing them to strengthen these relationships in order to better our family.

I plan to focus on finding a way to sustain our family financially as well. I’m not sure where we are being led yet, but I know that God has a plan and my focus will be on allowing God to put us on the path he wishes for us to be.

As a family, we will also focus on strengthening our relationship with God as well. We will continue to pray together, and for others. We will learn more about God’s plan for our family through prayer, and through building our relationship with Him and with one another as well.

Focus is our main goal for this year and Focus we will do!

We are linked up with the Word of the Year 2017 from the Homeschool Review Crew, a division of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!

http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/word-for-the-year-2017-link-up/

Happy 16th Birthday To My Oldest Son {Thoughts From Me}

December 28, 2016 by Dana

Today my oldest child turns 16. Let me start by saying this Momma is in NO WAY ready for that. My sweet BABY is almost a man. I shudder just to think about it.

I can remember when he was a tiny baby, with brown curls and a cherub grin. Everyone who saw him thought he was the prettiest baby boy and yes, some even asked if he was a girl. I didn’t mind. To me, he was the most beautiful baby ever.

The day he was born, he looked like a tiny little wailing alien. He loved to be held and his Grandmother and Papa were always toting him around. He was well-loved by us all.

He was my emergency c-section. His delivery was a traumatic one. The doctors almost lost us both. I remember feeling the pain and feeling myself begin to float as they prepped me for his delivery. I was put to sleep and when I awoke it was all over.

The first thing I saw of my newborn boy was a photograph. I wasn’t able to get out of bed and he wasn’t able to come see Mommy for 6 long hours. His tiny body had suffered so much stress that he had to go into the warmer and be monitored right away. I remember just being thankful he was alive and well.

The first time I held him, I was in LOVE. He was the sweetest little thing. He loved to nuzzle and he refused to sleep alone. I don’t think he slept one time in his crib.

Isn’t funny how I can remember that period of time like it was yesterday? Time passes so quickly. Soon that little baby is going become a man. Time is too short.

I’ve watched him grow every day. I chose to homeschool him because I couldn’t bare to pass these moments that God blessed me with to someone else. Selfishly, I wanted to keep these years all to myself and I am so glad that I have. These memories will last us both for a lifetime.

This young man who has blessed me these past 16 years is like no other. I used to wonder why I had a son first and not a daughter but now I know. He’s been my rock, my supporter, my strength through so many things. He’s quiet and a true peacemaker.

I honestly could not have made it through these past 16 years without this wonderful young man by my side. He’s helped me with his sisters, our home, keep up with everything and just been a friend and a loving son to me all the way. I tell him all the time that one day he’s going to make some girl a wonderful husband. A lucky one she will be and yes, I plan to let her know that!

So here is to my soon-to-be 16 year old. May we continue to enjoy the short time we have left together and many years afterwards. I love you my son – more than you can ever know and I thank God every day for the blessing you have been to my life.