My role as a wife and mother has drastically changed. My daily schedule is very full, never a dull moment for me! My house is no longer as clean as I like it. I am not very good with organization of my time but I guess I do pretty good, all things considered. My schedule for a week normally goes like this: The first thing I do when I wake up is head for the kitchen to make coffee and let the dog out. Then I shower and get myself ready. Get Steve bathed, dressed, help him brush his teeth, wash his hair in kitchen sink, pour him some coffee, and fill his water bottles for the day. I wake the boys up somewhere in the middle of all of this and keep them on track to get them to school on time. We leave to go to work (I have to buckle and unbuckle Steve's chair in the van) and drop him off. I go on to work. At lunch I will pick up our food, go to bank, post office, pharmacy, or whatever else I can. Several nights after work I either have a cub scout meeting, karate, baseball game, or school event. Since Steve can't drive that leaves me to do all the running. I try to cook a full course, healthy dinner but on those nights it makes it hard. I will make something simple, like hot dogs and soup, on these nights. I will cook a full meal if we are at home for the night. After I clean the kitchen I usually sit down for a minute with a cup of coffee. Then it is back up to do some laundry, get clothes ready for next day, help boys if needed with homework, etc. Then I put Steve to bed. Every other night I do his bowel program, which takes about an hour. Then get myself ready and put myself to bed. I have to wake up once through the night to turn Steve on his other side, to prevent skin breakdown. At that time, depending on how much laundry needs to be I will fold a load of clothes while I am up.

We checked into getting some help through a home health agency. Our medical insurance will not pay for someone to come in and help with things such as getting Steve bathed and dressed, etc. The average cost per week is around $400 to hire someone to come in and help us. That left us no choice but for me to do all of it. There are days that by the time I have Steve and myself ready to go to work I am already worn out. The old saying that a women's work is never done especially holds true with me! There aren't any government programs that will allow me to draw any type of benefits to allow me to stay at home to take care of the home and my disabled husband. We must have both incomes, since we have 4 children to support, therefore I must work a full time job to make ends meet.

I really look forward to the weekends. That is when I try to do my deep cleaning (mop, dust, more laundry, bed sheets,etc). I go shopping for groceries and household items. Wash and clean van when I can't stand it anymore (since it won't fit through a carwash), pay bills, water plants. Spring and summer includes baseball games, cleaning swimming pool, and working in flower beds). Chad takes care of mowing the yard! Of course the boys have their list of chores that they are supposed to do, which helps me when they get done. Every other weekend our kids are with their other parent, so Steve and I have some time alone and I get a little more rest and relaxation. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids - but the break does me good! I get to sit down at the computer, which I truly enjoy. Most of the time I can get caught up on my sleep.

I take Karate lessons with my son. This gives me the chance to get a little exercise and fun. I figured that if I had to be there for 1 to 2 hours with him that I might as well join the class. When I am in class I get to go into my own little world. During this time I do not let anything worry me. It is a great stress reliever!

I often have people tell me they don't see how I do it. I have had several comment that they are amazed to see me walking around with a smile on my face most of the time. I see it this way: I made a choice to stay with my husband. I couldn't see myself looking at this man in the eyes and telling him that I can't handle this and walk away. He would go to a nursing home, and he does not deserve that. He has 2 beautiful girls that he gets to see every other weekend and in the summer we have them every other week. He would loose out on that if he were in a nursing home. And why would I want to walk around with a frown on my face? I keep my faith in the Lord. Remember, He told us that He would never put more on us than we could handle. I believe very strongly in that.

Steve used to enjoy working on his vehicles. He used to have a CJ7 that he tinkered with but we sold it. He has a Toyota truck that he completely customized. He was always on the go. We used to go to amusement parks, car races, and 4 wheeling in one of his vehicles. Now he pretty much just stays around the house. He can not stand extreme cold or hot tempatures so it is not very often that he gets outside. When the weather is just right he will go outside for awhile and enjoy watching our kids or the cows in the pasture next to us. Other than that he watches alot of television. We are limited to going to friends and family to visit because Steve can not get into most of their homes. I am hoping that as time goes by and finances improve we will be able to get out more. I would like to start going to the races again and would like to travel to see our family, even if it means staying in a hotel. I feel that I need to get Steve out more often. I don't want him to become complacent with just sitting around the house and wasting away.

Our kids do pretty good. We bought Chad a motorcycle to give him the ability to go to ball practice and to go see his friends. This enables him to go somewhere without needing me to take him. It has been a scary thing but he seems to handle the bike very well. I pray everyday for God to watch over him. The other kids love just hanging out around the house. We have alot of room where we live and they have great imaginations. In the summer the little kids go to a daycare where they go on field trips everyday. They take the kids to the waterpark, bowling, movies, and park. This gives them the chance to go somewhere fun. The boys' dad takes them hunting, fishing, and camping when they are with him. The girls' mom does a good job of taking the girls to fun places. I think Steve and I are doing a pretty good job of raising our kids. I am thankful that Steve is still around to help them grow up in this scary world. He has great advise for them and teaches them moral values that are much needed in today's times.

We have adjusted our lifestyle to make ends meet with our new salaries. We have worked hard to try to keep the house we are living in because it is easy for Steve to get around in. We also felt that trying to move in the middle of all the chaos that we were going through would be too much on us. Because of all of this, it is a real treat for our family to dine out at a restaurant or go to a movie.

Now Steve is staying at home. We bought an exercise machine, the Uppertone, to help keep his strength in his upper body. Before we got the Uppertone he would have to wait until I got home from work to help him with any type of exercise. By the time I got home both he and I were too tired to go through the motions for a healthy workout. The Uppertone is working out great for him because he is able to adjust the weights and use the equipment without any assistance from anyone. This enables him to work out early in the day when he is feeling his best. He no longer has to wait for me to get home to help him, this way he works out more often.

We have a new addition to our family. She is a baby Congo African Grey Parrot. Her name is Sophie and she is the new love of Steve's life. They entertain each other during the day. He is teaching her some of the cutest things. She now thinks she is a duck! You can see some great pictures of her on her website http://parrotlanding.bigbirdworld.com/sophie/index.html

This site will be updated with new information as I have time. There are many more things to share with you. I hope you will return periodically to keep up with us. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our story!

Background Set by Lori's Background Boutique: www.backgroundboutique.com