Cruisin' to the Bahamas

So...

Earlier this month, Jahi and I went on our first vacation together, a cruise! We cruised to the Nassau, Bahamas. It was a great time! I think I've convinced him that cruises are the way to go for vacations :-)

A gorgeous shot of Nassau, Bahamas from the ship that my babe took!

My favorite part of the trip was: going with Jahi! corny I know, but it was so much fun with him!
Jahi's favorite part of the trip was: the day at Sea 

Atlantis, in Nassau Bahamas  (photo by: me, or maybe him... or so he says... haha)

My favorite part of the Bahamas was: getting to just explore without having to be back on the ship in a rushed time frame (our cruise ship stayed overnight in the Bahamas)
Jahi's favorite part of the Bahamas was: the water and the tour guide

On the ship with the beautiful ocean behind us (photo by: me)

My scariest part of the trip was: going on vacation with my boyfriend... lol. It was something new and I was hoping we wouldn't hate each other by the end of it.
Jahi's scariest part of the trip was: he hates flying, but says nothing was scary 

HIM (isn't he so Handsome!!)

HER (confession: the heels were killing me!)

Elegant Night on the ship!














At the end of our trip, Jahi even talked about going on another cruise from New Orleans next time!! Which I'm super excited about because I've always wanted to go to New Orleans. I'm hoping this trip will be in 2016!

The best part of this trip was that it couldn't have come at a better time. I had been incredibly stressed and overwhelmed with some unfortunate incidents at work, and while I've never been a fan of missing work... I needed this vacation and it was amazing to be able to relax and have a great vacation and take a much needed break from working!


I was happy to be able to go to the hospital to share some of these pics from the trip with my dad. He smiled really big and was really happy to hear all about the trip :-)


Hope everyone has had a great Holiday season so far!!

Have a blessed New Year,

In Him,

~LaKrystal~

Dad in the hospital

So... I've been thinking about writing this post for weeks... So here goes...

Most of you know that my dad has been in the hospital for 4 weeks. 4 weeks in the ICU. 4 weeks of my mom working remotely from the hospital. 4 weeks of my little sister doing all of her homework in the hospital. 4 weeks of hospital visits from my other sister in college and me.

So about maybe 8 years ago, my dad started getting "sick"... this means that he started to not be himself. What some of you may not know is that he had his own growing small business then. He was the lead security guard at our church then. And he was a typical, okay he was a bit controlling lol, dad back then. His muscles had started to get weaker and weaker over the years.

Fast forward to 2011 when our family took a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Lots of tests were done. Summary= Multiple System's Atrophy. They described it to us as a form of Parkinson's where your muscles begin to degenerate. He was given 6-8 years to live.

Fast forward to January 2012. He's in Providence hospital with liver and kidney failure. And I'm driving back to KC from Manhattan EVERY weekend through May that year to be with my family. This was a rough enough time already, and it was VERY discouraging that my principal at the time was not understanding or supportive at all. Made for a terrible school year for me.

Some quick background... Something that most people don't know, is that my dad is actually my stepdad. And we haven't always gotten along. He was overly controlling and overbearing most of my life, and I felt like I had to fight to "earn" the type of love he gave to his actual daughters (my sissies). I felt like he was never proud of me. It took many years of prayer and asking for God to heal the "daddy void" in my life because I felt like my biological dad didn't care- since he lived maybe 30 minutes away my whole life but hadn't seen me since I was 4. And with my dad/stepdad that this whole post is about- there were lots of other factors with him being overly controlling.

Okay back to the hospital in January 2012. My dad is in the hospital bed- Providence hospital in KCK... and he asks me to come in. I ask my grandma to stay in the room with me, because all of it's really hard to deal with. And for the first time in my life- my dad starts crying really hard and tells me that he's proud of me. He says that I make really good decisions and that he is so proud of everything I've done and accomplished in my life. This was huge for me!

Dad gets well enough to go home and is in out of the hospital all of 2012... In May 2012, I put an offer on a house in KC. I move into my new house in KC in August 2012 and start a new job and again dad says he's proud of me!

I want to take a moment here to honor my mom and my sisters. For the last many years, they have selflessly taken care of my dad. And I mean, literally lifted him up day after day. Held him up day after day. Fed him day after day. Literally EVERYTHING. My family is AMAZING! Sometimes when people complain about certain things in life, I have to literally hold my tongue, because they have NO IDEA what it's like to go through some of these things my family has been dealing with for years. I am grateful for my sisters and especially my mom because even when I was away in college, they did everything. And for those of you who think you know my mom- you have literally no idea how strong she really is. She. Is. Amazing. She's the strongest person I have ever met in my entire life.

I'm incredibly thankful to God for setting up the transition for me to be able to move back to KC and be close to my family.

Fast forward to the end of September 2014. My mom calls me and tells me that she doesn't think dad's going to make it through the end of October. I'm pretty calm on the phone. But then I went up to my room and cried for a while. I texted my mom back, and told her that I was scared and I didn't want him to die.

A few days later, our family convinced dad that he needed to go to the hospital. He had been in a pretty bad state for weeks. Not eating. Not moving. Not talking. Literally only his eyes would move. It was so sad.

My sped director at work, saw me cry for the first time ever this school year. And I really didn't mean to. I really tried not to actually. I tried REALLY REALLY hard not to, to be honest. But she could tell something was wrong... She told me that I need to talk to someone about all of this and that it would really help... Many people don't know this, but I spend day after day fighting/advocating/teaching little guys with Autism... I spend countless hours above and beyond my teacher responsibilities working to help them experience and understand as much of this world as they possibly can.... and seriously I LOVE those little boys with all my heart!!!! But... honestly- I'm so incredibly drained by the end of every single day that I don't have time to talk about what's really going on in my personal life... I didn't even tell my paras that my dad was in the ICU until my director told me I needed to let them know.  So... anyway.... this is me "talking about it".....

And now... 4 weeks later....  yesterday dad was finally moved out of the ICU!!!!!!!!!! He's still in a high needs hospital room- they said it's the next step down from ICU, but hey, we'll take it.

Anyway- thanks for your prayers. We appreciate them more than you know... And one more thing, I'm a bit guilty of not going to hospital as much as I should. I know that. Just pray for me. It's not easy to sit there and do nothing. I'm a "go-getter" personality... sitting in the hospital room and dad not being able to say much to me, kinda sucks!

Well... thanks for reading. If you would do me a favor please when you see me, let's talk about fun things. Positive things. It's okay to ask me how dad is doing- but I really need some normal, fun things to talk about. Like those awesome Royals! Like how my little guys all participated in the school fun run on Friday and LOVED it! Like how my Amazing momma got honored at church last week! Like how awesome my boyfriend is... he totally makes me smile everyday! Like how it's fall and all the stores are selling caramel apples for a few more weeks- I LOVE caramel apples! Like how my baby sis's volleyball team had an AMAZING season! Like how my sissy in college has an A in her hardest class right now and is working super hard to try to get a 4.0 this semester! Those kinds of things :-)

Feel free to share some of the amazing things God is doing in your life below in the comments :-)

DIY Chalkboard Calendar

Ever since I painted my office/craftroom, I've been wanting a calendar of some type to go above my desk. I saw this calendar on Etsy and the over $60 price scared me!

So I was excited when Living Social offered a deal from www.swaagstore.com for a 6ft blackboard decal for only $8 with $3.50 shipping. This was a steal considering they usually sell these for $39.99.


Here is how I made my DIY chalkboard calendar:

 

1. Turn your blackboard decal over, and measure 4 inch squares for your days of the week, or 8 small grid squares by 8 small grid squares. Use a paper cutter or sharp scissors to cut out your squares.

 

2.  I used small rectangles, size 3 small grid squares by 8 small grid squares, to make my days of the week labels. I purchased a chalk marker to use on my chalkboard. They have them for under $5 at Walmart, or about $5-7 on etsy, amazon, and at Michael's (craft supply store). 

3. I made my month header with a piece that is 8 small grid squares by 45 small grid squares.





 
4. Next I measured on my desired location, the exact center of the space. This would be where the middle of the week- Wednesday- would go, and I could arrange the rest of the calendar days around this middle square.

 

5. And voila, here is my finished product:

What crafty DIY projects have you done so far this summer? I'm always looking for fun, new ideas! 

I. hate. hospitals.

I. hate. hospitals.

Today I was at the hospital visiting my uncle (grandma's brother).

On the way out, we saw a lady my aunt knew from church. She was crying because her daughter was back in the hospital.

My grandma and aunt prayed for her and told her to have faith.

What the lady (about 35 yrs old) said next was the best part of my hospital trip.

She shared how she has faith. And how in her past when she was homeless, she would walk past a house everyday she wanted and would pray for that house. She told us, she did have faith and the Lord eventually gave her that house! And how the Lord helped her become sober... and now she's a recovered addict... she shared a poem she wrote for herself that she prays daily called New Beginnings because that's what God has given her and her family.

I LOVE her faith!!

She asked that we pray for her daughter, Unique Smith. She is 13. Is considered mentally retarded/has an intellectual disability, and has been in and out of the hospital for years now. And today she was rushed in because her appendix erupted.

So today I dedicate my blog post to this mother and her daughter. I pray for strength for this mom. I pray for peace for the family. I pray for Unique that God would touch her precious little soul. I pray for healing and understanding for her. I pray for patient and caring nurses and doctors. I pray that for the least amount of pain possible for Unique and I pray for comfort for her. I know she's probably in so much pain and so uncomfortable in that cold hospital. I pray that God would help her to be comfortable and that she would feel God's presence in the room even when no one else is there. Most of all, I pray for all who interact with this sweet girl. Children with disabilities have a special place in my heart and I pray that everyone in that hospital who even simply changes her sheets will be patient and kind and have extra love for her.


Please comment below and let me know you will join me in praying for Unique and her mom.

~LaKrystal~

Let Me Tell You About This Man...

So...


the past few days, I've been dealing with some "depression" type symptoms...

Everything was making me cry. And I mean EVERYTHING.... Literally every single that has ever bothered me in my life was on my mind, and everything everybody said to me, made me tear up.

So...

I want to write this post to say share what a super sweet boyfriend I have...

Through all 4 days of me going through this stuff, he was there for me. He didn't know what was wrong with me, but he said he could tell something wasn't right.


Last night I was finally starting to feel better and I was cuddled up laying on him watching tv and just playing around being goofy, and he says, "Aww yay, I got my baby back..."

Sweetest thing ever...


Yep, I love that man :-)


Also, it's pretty amazing what God can do... if you take a look at my post last year in June: here, you'll see I was in a really bad place... And now, I have this goofy, loving, sweet boyfriend. I'm definitely blessed! 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to summer!

Waiting....

I started this blog a while back as a way to get my thoughts and trials and tribulations out there. Because I thought that maybe if I wrote it down, someone else might be going through the same thing. Maybe someone could see my struggles and know that they are not alone. And maybe, just maybe, we could pray for each other and help each other through our struggles...

I haven't blogged in a while. Life's funny in the way things turn out. Life is so unpredictable and I love and hate that about it at the same time.


So... to update you all on my life... I've struggled with depression for years. I've struggled with relationships as well.

I've spent the past couple of years spending time praying and trying to find a happy place. 

My job/career/my passion has been just that. I LOVE helping kiddos with Autism and their families. I LOVE seeing their lives change. I LOVE hugging them every single morning and hearing them learn to say my name for the first time, and consequently now the hundreds of times a day now that they say my name :-) (and YES, I answer EVERY single time to help them learn that their words are important and mean something!!). I LOVE these students and LOVE their families. I do NOT love the battles that go along with getting them what they need and helping them make progress, but nevertheless, I do it with everything in me and I do it because I LOVE these kids. They are my heart. 

This year I've been working hard on my presentation of things. At work. In life. When I truly believe in something, I go for it full force. Hence, at work, I tend to be VERY defensive of my kids and sometimes upset a few people along the way of getting them what they need. I've been learning to work on my relationships with others first, and then giving them the info I believe will help my kids..

So now, that I've talked a lot about my job and where I spend most of my time and energy...

I'll update you on my personal life.

About 4/5 months ago, I went on a date. I wasn't expecting anything out of it. You see, I hate dating. I mean REALLY HATE dating. But since he was someone I knew briefly from college, and I knew that he wasn't a murderer or anything like that... I went on the date.

Now, about 4 months later, he's still the sweetest guy ever. We are totally different from each other and I love it. 

So... I've really been struggling the past few years, shoot most of college actually, with settling. Settling just to be in a relationship. Settling in friendships. Settling in my job. Just settling.

I really encourage all ladies to wait. Don't settle. Don't be in a relationship just to have someone. Don't stay friends with someone who isn't putting forth the efforts to be a friend with you.

I can honestly say that I've made lots of mistakes at work with my relationships with my co-workers. Lots of mistakes with my friends. Lots of mistakes in my family relationships. And even lots of mistakes in my relationship with my boyfriend. BUT... I am trying my best to learn from them. From each mistake. And I am grateful that when I least expected a relationship, I found this man. 

This post is a bit all over the place, but honestly it's a look in at how much I've grown in the past year. I'm grateful that God brought me out of my depression, and is helping me to grow in multiple areas of my life. And I'm grateful for my boyfriend. He's a sweetheart and is definitely a great balance for my life.