BEACH VACATION

Well...we just got back this past weekend from our annual family vacation to Garden City. We had a wonderful time and as always I have hundreds of pictures so I'm having to pick and choose what I like best to blog about. The pictures that I'm posting right now are of Will playing in the water...he played more in the shoreline this year and liked to yell "BIG WAVES" as they came towards him (it was so cute)....he also stayed in the shoreline b/c he could do this himself...he's Mr. Indedpendent these days so he liked doing a lot of things on his own! :) He also spent a lot of his time digging holes....he loved this so much!

GARAGE ORGANIZATION

Well....when Rick sets his mind to getting something done...he does it! He decided a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to get the garage organized (we've been talking about it for months) so he went out and bought lots and lots of wood and eventually after some changes during the building had to buy some more wood and began his project! It probably only took him a couple of days to complete this project in between having to go to work and having a little "helper" help some of the time! :) He designed the cabinets himself and I'm going to brag on him right now....he did a phenomenal job on his garage cabinets and here are some pictures to show off his work!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE.....

It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog and am hoping to get back to it again soon! I've been having some "personal/medical stuff" that I've been dealing with lately and haven't felt like doing much other than going to work, going home and playing with Will some, hanging out with Rick, taking care of the house, and getting to bed so I can go to work again the next day! :) We were just on vacation last week and hope to "blog" about that some but in the meantime you can check out our family website (Will's page) to see some beach pictures at www.rickandmarypapp.org!

Wanted to give everyone an update on everything that I've been seeing so many doctors about lately:

I've had a great deal of fatigue and problems with my eyes (drooping eyelids) - we have seemed to have traced the start back to b/n 1997 to 1999 - the fatigue has worsened over the past year or so and the eyelids have become progressively worse over time. I started seeing an eye doctor in 2002 about the drooping eyelids but never really came to a conclusion at that point as to what the problem was so just stopped seeing the doctor. Last year or maybe the year before that...can't remember...it's all running together now :), my vision became a little harder to deal with, especially since I work on a computer all day long, so I went to Lens Crafters just to see if I needed glasses. He couldn't get a read on my eyes and said that there looked like there was something wrong with the retina so he sent me on to Palmetto Retina Center in Columbia, SC. I saw the doctor there a few times and did some testing and they sent me on to another doctor in Columbia and after she looked at me, she determined that she wanted to send me to a specialist that she recommended in Augusta, GA at the Medical College of GA. So...I started seeing a doctor there and did some more tests (some very painful ones and some not so bad), had blood work drawn, had a muscle biopsy, etc. and have been put on many different medications trying to help what they thought was some type of mitochondrial myopathy. A couple of weeks ago I went back to my doctor in Columbia to do some more extensive visual field tests and she took pictures of my eyes to send to insurance in hopes of them covering me for surgery on my eyelids. After looking at all of the "data" that has been collected she has determined that I have what is called Kearns Sayre Syndrome. I don't really have any details yet other than what I have read on the internet....hope to find out soon from her what I'm really dealing with. The good news is is that's it's not heriditary and the doctors in GA feel like it's become "benign." So....keep praying that things keep "looking up" and that I can keep hanging in there through all of this! All of the doctors appointments have become quite tiring and of course dealing with a little one year old .... who's about to turn 2 doesn't help! Thankfully, by the grace of God I'm making it through all of this! :)

As long as insurance decides to cooperate, I'll probably be having surgery on my eyelids towards the end of the summer/early fall! Waiting to hear back from the doctor about this so I'll keep everyone posted on when things are going to happen!

Thanks again for all the prayers....I appreciate them so much and they are very much felt and needed!

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LOOK-ALIKE COUSINS

OK...so a lot of people tell Elizabeth and myself that Will and Emma have a very strong resemblance to each other and I myself, have to agree! :) I've put up some pictures of Will and Emma (couple of months apart in age in the pictures) and wanted to see what everyone else thought???

HOMECOMING 2007

We celebrated our 222nd year as a church this past weekend with our annual church HOMECOMING! It was so much fun visiting with friends that I hadn't seen in a long time and even with people that I see all of the time! It was even more special b/c Matt Kimbrell preached (one of my best friends growing up) and did an amazing job....it was a wonderful day with family and friends! The church had a balloon release and all of the children had a wonderful time with that but many of them didn't want to release their balloons...including my child! :) Here are some pictures from the day:

A NIGHT WITH THE KIDS

We had a night with the adult "kids" and little ones also this past weekend in Rock Hill at Elizabeth and Ben's house...the boys and girls played with the Wii and the kids had fun watching them. :) They also had some fun hanging out with each other and watching some videos and running all over the house. I posted a few pictures of the evening:

WILL AND EMMAI

Will loves his little cousin, Emma....I believe he's ready for her to get bigger so he can play with her more than he already does! :) This was a cute picture of the two of them sitting together in their seats....they look so sweet!

HANGING OUT WITH UNCLE KENT

These were some cute pictures of Will and his uncle Kent going to get the newspaper this past weekend when we were in Rock Hill for a visit...they were too cute not to add!

MOMMY'S MOTHER'S DAY GIFT

Rick and Will gave me my Mother's Day gift early this year....it's a membership to the zoo!!! We went the other weekend and had a wonderful time....Will loved seeing all of the animals and kept telling all of the animals, "Bye y'all!" It was so cute...he's becoming quite the little southern boy! We also headed to Fuddrucker's after the zoo and the "balloon guy" made a dog for Will...I added a picture of him playing with it once we got home. Can't wait until the next trip to the zoo...Will and I will be going with my mom, Elizabeth and Emma while the boys take a trip to Atlanta for Kent's birthday....he's turning 25!!! I'll have more picutres then but for now...here's some from the other weekend:

WILL AND DADDY DO YARDWORK

Will likes to help his Daddy in the yard whenever he gets a chance...here are a few pictures of them out in the yard and of Will using his lawnmower that his uncle Ben and aunt Elizabeth gave him for Christmas: