Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

In January, it will be thirty years since my life changed. No, there was no traffic accident that marred me for life; no personal disaster such as a crippling disease; no death of a parent or loved one that so impacted me; no crime committed against me. No, a baby was born. Not your ordinary baby, but one who had gained my love and attention during the forty weeks while she was formed. During that forty weeks, I was able, through the miracle of technology, to hear her heartbeat and see her suck her thumb. My husband and I witnessed a miracle that we never thought would happen. On January 15, 1983, at 11:45 p.m., Andrea Michelle Lane was born. What we thought was a miracle quickly turned into the biggest challenge of my life and forever altered any dreams that I had for her. She was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, and sixteen hours later, the genetic markers were identified and we were hit with the confirmation. The pediatrician who was on duty came in and calmly and clinically proclaimed

There are days, I presume, that you wished that you had never put your feet on the floor. Today is one of those days. After sleeping for eleven and a half hours, I feel like I still haven't slept and have been run over by a Mack Truck. Which begs the question.....how does one know what being run over by a Mack truck feels like? I mean, would there be anything left of a person after being run over? Seriously, if I don't find the humor in days like today, then I am a sorry case indeed. I am still wondering how does a person know what the run over-ness feels like? I mean, we can assume that it is incredibly painful, but....wow...still....I would think that every bone in the body being broken, being pressed flat as a pancake, yeah, that's pain. Every nerve on fire, walking on pins and needles, no feeling in the extremities, head pounding, OK, I acquiesce, the feeling could  come pretty close. Then, there's the pounding headache like someone is taking a sledge hammer to

Apparently, I've been slacking. So sue me. =o) Seriously, its been a busy month around here. Since my last post, I suppose that I've been a little shocked and dismayed at the events of November 6, but I'm over it now. I did manage to go into a two and a half week flare up, complete with flu symptoms that lasted a good four days, but, again, I'm over that as well. Hopefully, this post finds all of y'all happy, healthy and full of stuffing, the bread kind. Personally I had two kinds, bread and corn bread and I must say that they were purely yummy. Chris, Andrea and I went to El Paso for Thanksgiving to spend the holiday with his recently widowed mom. This was the first real holiday without PopPop...I know that his presence was missed. It was strange not having him there, but it felt even more odd to not have my Punky and her family there, even if she hasn't been home for at least two years for the holidays. I mean, everyone else was there, for her to not be the

Well, probably the one of the most close Presidential races on records is now in the history books and the Incumbent remains. For some its a victory, for others, well to be honest, shock, tears and even harsh words are on their agendas. This ought not be so! In Romans 13 , we are encouraged to "submit" to those in authority; 13.   Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God's appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2. So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God..... There are more verses that pretty much say the same thing, that regardless of who is in the White House that we are to pray for him, submit to him (as long as his law does not supersede God's laws), and as much as possible to live peaceably with all men. To have God's children and His People Israel rebel, engage in name calling or grumbling is not where we need to be.  I wil

Tuesday is the day when we do our civic duty and vote for the next President of the United States. I am going to attempt to bring some history to light and will not be posting with the intent of swaying anyone one way or the other. That said.... In 1607, Edward Wingfield was chosen from an offering of seven men chosen in England. The other six men were to be Council for that first Colony. So in reality, America's first President was Edward Wingfield. It was during the ensuing years and up to the early 1700's that it was determined that for the most part only white men who held property of a certain value or land were eligible to vote. Women, "Negros", and Native Americans as well as non-land owners were prohibited from casting a vote. There were rare exceptions to that rule...women who had "come into their own", free black men and some Native Americans were allowed the vote, but those were definite exceptions to all of the rules. Until the Revolution, Colo

Thought I would get through tonight, Halloween, without any tricks and only treats. Yeah, not happening. All this week I've been in a flare up. Most of the time it was mild and just basically annoying, but for the last four days, its been steadily getting worse. Sunday saw my hip and leg starting to go nuts. Monday it felt like I had been at the gym for eight hours doing leg presses. Since then its gotten worse. Normally I would use Icy Hot or Bio-freeze to ease the muscle ache and draw out some of the pain. Even a hot Epsom soak would normally do the trick, but that was not to be the case, as neither of these methods are working. On to plan B. Plan B is heat and either a pain patch (which is my preferred modus operandi) or a vicodin. Since I try to stay away from the stronger stuff that is usually where I head next. Yup, you got it, it was a no-go. On to the vicodin which is usually 99.99999% effective in making it go away. **sigh** To say that I am disappointed is a gross u