Wednesday Update

Well its finally time to come back to reality. These last few days have been somewhat of a haze and I can definetly say I am glad they are over. It has been a hard 2 weeks. I have never lost someone close to me and I can say that it is by far the weirdest feeling in the world. I know that my Papa is in Heaven now but its just so hard to think that he will not be at my Memaw's house tthe next time we are over there. It all feels so surreal. I do have to say I have the most amazing family ever. To see such a huge family come together and be so strong for each other was so wonderful. We each had our weak moments but there was always someone there for you to cry on. My Papa was such a loved man. He had so many friends and I was so amazed at how many people came to show their respects. I never knew he had so many friends. Thanks to all for the love and support. It was appreciated more than I can say! Please keep my Memaw in your prayers still. It will be difficult for her when she decides to go home from my Aunt Dar's house.

On a wedding note, not much has been done lately. We have had so much going on wedding plans kind of got put on hold! I did get in my invitations and my big pictures to display at the wedding! They are WONDERFUL!!! Even better than I could have imaginged! Hopefully this week I can knock out a few more things on my to-do list! My shower that was supposed to be last Saturday got postponed until August 22nd. I have the best bridesmaids! They worked so hard to get everyone notified of the changes. I also have to give a shout out to my cousin MiKael's aunt Deb! She is awesome! On Friday right after Papa passed away, she asked me for my list and started calling everyone on it filling them in on what had happened! She was so helpful and I appreciated it so much! We also have a shower this coming Saturday! Its a little different because its a breakfast shower! Its from 9AM-11AM! Nathan's aunt are throwing it for us and they figured since mine and Nate's favorite meal is breakfast (bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, etc.) they would plan a morning brunch! Its basically just a family shower with just mine and Nate's families. Its a time for them to just get to know each other. I am super excited!

By the way.....only 52 more days until I am Mrs. Avey!! YAY!!!

Love-
Chrissy!

Papa Porter

Today was a very sad day for the Smith family. Papa Porter passed away around lunch time. He will be missed oh so much. It has been a very hard day and right now we are just trying to cope. I know that it is a good thing because Papa was in so much pain today but I still can't help but be selfish and wish he was still here. I just wanted him to pull for 57 more days but his little body was just not strong enough. I just keep telling myself that Papa is in a much better place. He is singing up with the angels and watching down on his beautiful family. Let me tell you I have the absolute best family in the world. They have all been so strong and helpful for the last 2 weeks. I know that so many of them have given up so much these last few days and I am just so proud to say I am part of this family. Please keep us in your prayers. I will post some pictures later.

Love
Chrissy

Quiet Time

So I am just sitting here at the hospital and have nothing to do so I figure now is the perfect time to blog. I have been here since yesterday at about 6:30 PM. Its been one long 24 hours. Papa had a very exhausting day yesterday visiting with his brothers and sisters that came up from Jasper. He got in bed last night and no sooner had he laid down, he started getting sick. He would get sick for about 30-45 min. and then seem fine so we would start laying him down again and the routine would start over. The nurses and doctors gave him every kind of nausea medicine they could to help the vomiting but he would just throw them right back up. At about 3:30 this morning though, our night nurse Brian came in and gave Papa a shot that helped the sickness. It helped him stop throwing up and finally get 2 hours of good, much needed sleep. He woke up again about 5:30-6:00ish getting sick again but after a few minutes, he was much better. He has not been sick so far all day today but it is usually the nights that scare us. Today he was just exhausted from staying up all night last night and not getting any really good sleep for the last week or so. He has taken a few naps today, most of which last less than an hour just because a nurse comes in to give him some medicine or check his vitals or a visitor comes in for him. He just loves visitors! Please keep him in your prayers today. Tomorrow he should be going home to my aunt Dar's house. They said he would probably be going home today at first but that changed so who knows if he will really be going home tomorrow. Hospice was coming to my Aunt's house to meet with her, my Uncle Mike, my Mom, and my Dad to help them go through the daily routine they will have to go through with Papa when they aren't there to help. Hopefully its a smooth transition. I think Papa is just really wanting to be out of the hospital. Hospice will start out coming only a couple of days a week but then as the daily routines get harder, they will come more often as needed. We are still planning on making a schedule for the week on who stays which nights and who stays which days. We plan on having at least 1 if not 12 family members there at all times. This is just the way that Papa likes it. We also do not want Aunt Dar and Uncle Mike to feel like they are the only ones taking care of him. We are all going to pitch in in any way we can.

This weekend is my shower and of all places to be, its at my Aunt Dar's house. This is where we are taking Papa tomorrow. I told them we could move it to another weekend but they insisited on doing it there Saturday 1) because the invites are out, the cake is ordered, the stuff is bought, etc. and 2) because Papa will really enjoy seeing all of the visitors. I just feel so bad for taking away this time we have to spend with him to do something for myself. Please pray for me to have peace about it. I just know that my family wants to spend every second of every day with him right now, especially with him going home tomorrow.

On a happy note, my photographer is coming into town tomorrow and she is bringing with her my invitations and all of the big pictures I ordered from her for that we are going to set up at the wedding! It just dawned on me that I never posted any of my engagements pictures! When I get home (whenever that may be) I will be sure to get my CD and post some of the AMAZING pictures! In case I haven't said it enough on my previous posts, my photographers are awesome! She does a fabulouse job! Check out their website at:

http://www.photosmem.com/

or her blog at

http://www.photosmem.blogspot.com/


They do an awesome job and are super great to work with.

Well I guess I will lay back here and take a nap. I am super exhausted and am wanting to be all rejuvinated tomorrow for work. Thanks again for all of the thoughts and prayers!

Love-
Chrissa-ma-tino (this is what my Papa always calls me:)

Monday Papa Update

Well I am sitting here at the hospital once again. This time it is with my cousins Shelley, Jarrod, Shelley's husband Brian, their son Kobye, and my Mom. We are just sitting here watching Papa sleep. It is so sweet. :) They are saying that Papa is getting to go home tomorrow. This is good news and bad news. We are ready for Papa to go home because it is miserable being here day in and day out for him. He is so worn out and ready to be home. The bad part is, they are not sending Papa home because he is getting better. They are sending Papa home so that he can spend his last days with his family in a place that is comfortable to him. It makes me so sad to think that I might not get to spend much more time with my sweet little Papa. I wish everyone could just meet him. He is the most special person in the world. If you would, please pray for my Papa Porter and my family. We know that he is going to go to a better place but we are so not ready for him to not be with us. Thank you for all of the love and support.

Love-
Chrissy

Sweet Saturday

Well right now MiKael, Shelley, Brian, Nathan, and I are sitting up here at the hospital with Papa. This has pretty much become our normal routine these last couple of weeks. Its starting to become our second home. We have made some great memories with Papa this week though. Shelley, MiKael and I had a slumber party up here with Papa on Thursday night and had some much fun! Us girls sat up doing to normal girl routine, gossiping, and Papa just sat up in bed smiling and watching us! He is so proud of his family and we are so proud to be his grandkids! Watch later and I will post some more pictures from the week! Also, please just keep Papa in your prayers! Thanks!

Chrissy!

Prayers......

Please be in prayer for my Papa Porter. In March of this year he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He has been in 2 times since then to remove tumors in his bladder. We thought the doctors had gotten rid of them but we found out this week that the cancer is back, this time it has spread to the kidneys and liver. There is also fluid around his stomach that came back cancerous as well. Today, we received the hardest news of all though. Papa will probably only be with us for another 6-9 months. Please pray for him right now and his strength through this whole process. He is trying to stay strong for the family and we are trying to stay strong for him as well. Hopefully he will be going home in the next few days. When he does go home, he will be going to live with either my mom, my Aunt Dar, or my Aunt Nita. It will be a big life change for everyone....one that we are so glad is finally happening. My Memaw is not mentally capable of taking care of my Papa and he decided it was best for his health to come stay with one of his girls. We just love him and want the best for him right now.

Here is a picture of my Papa talking to my cousin Jarrod. He is the sweetest little feller :)

We love you Papa!

Why Hello There! My name is Chrissy! :)

Well I have not posted in a LOOOONG time! I decided that it is time to start back up in the blogging world! Things have been soooo crazy with wedding planning and work! Wedding planning has been wonderful! We are down the the final 2 months now and I could not be happier! We are still working on the house too! I am going towards the end of this week to finalize my flowers for the wedding and then its all gravy from there! I am just so ready for September 19th! I am ready to go to F-L-O-R-I-D-A!!! WOOO HOOO!!! I need a vacation like you would not believe it! Nathan and I have been waiting so long and now that its 2 months away we are so overwhelmed with everything! We just never thought this day would actually get here! We have been engaged for 2 long years but I would not change that for one minute! We have had so much fun being engaged but are so ready to be married! You also have to check out my RSVP website at momentville.com/chrissyandnathan! We just set it up and it is super cute! Also, this past weekend we had our first wedding shower! It was the shower that the First Baptist Church ladies planned for us. They really did out-do themselves! We are so blessed to have them in our lives! I have posted pictures below! We have the shower my bridesmaids are throwing us in 2 weekends and then Nathan's family shower and my church shower at some point before the wedding! On August 1st my friends and I are throwing a shower for my friend Christin from high school so that should be fun! These next 2 months are going to go by SOOO fast and I am sooo happy!! I also posted pictures of some of the fun things we have done in the last couple weekends! Enjoy! :)


Nathan and my brother Dalton! They are such dorks... but they love each other :) This was one night at the hospital. We had gone to see my grandpa. Please keep him in your prayers. He has just had bladder cancer removed and they think he may have liver and kidney cancer. We are praying he doesn't though. He is one sweet Papa!

A random picture of my baby Biscuit! She has grown so much , tear :(. I just love her! LOL! :)

This picture has a good story! Me, Nate, Courtney and Justin decided to go fishing/swimming up at Roaring River....well I wanted a picture of us 4 at the start of our journey! Little did I know our zoom was on....that explains why all you can see of Justin is the bill of his hat! LOL! :) Poor Justin!

Justin, Courtney, me, and Nathan in front of the beautiful cove at Roaring River! We had a BLAST!!

Nate and me out at Roaring River! We went up on this very cool look out deck! So pretty!

Nate filleting our fish! YUMM!!! :)

Me and Court :) She is one of my bridesmaids and a wonderful friend!

Me and the Tater!

Me and Court again :)

Me and Nater Tater! How cute is he :)

Me and Court out at the rodeo! I think my camera lens was a little dirty! LOL!

Me and my cousin Amanda! She lives in Owasso, OK so I don't get to see her much but I so love her! We are super close and I love her so much! She is also one of my bridesmaids!

Justin (Courtney's fiancee) and Nathan at the rodeo! Are they just too cute!! :) Justin is also one of our groomsmen! We are so excited to have such great friends like him and Courtney!

The beautiful shower the First Baptist ladies threw for us! They did it in our colors pink, green and orange and it was oh so cute!

Me and my wonderful hostesses from First Baptist! These ladies threw Nathan and I the most wonderful shower! We are blessed with wonderful friends!

My mom, Me and Glinda (future mother-in-law)at our shower!

Ashtyn, me and Courtney at our First Baptist Church shower. Ashtyn is my maid of honor and Courtney is one of my bridesmaids as I said earlier!

I will post more pics of the shower that my Mom got on her camera! These were all I got on my camera! And I promise, next time I won't wait FOREVER to post! See ya! :)

Chrissy