Finally back home!!!!

Hey everybody, I know it's been awhile, but I am glad to be back at home. There is so much that I could discuss about the past, but I am just going to concentrate on this day forward. Above are a few pics from our Christmas play at our church last Friday night and from the snow on Saturday. Although I will say that we are so thankful for everyone's prayers, thoughts, cards, emails, phone calls and visits. We couldn't have done it without any of you. We have made so many new friends through this process and hope to make many more. We love all of y'all and there is no way that we could ever repay all of y'all for your generosity and love, but we would do anything for any of you that need us.

We are so glad to all be back at home together again. We are just trying to establish a routine. Dustin is back at work and Konnor is at school and doing good (although I will say that he was a little spoiled when we got back home). Kensley is doing very well, she started moving her left side last week and we are looking for great things to happen and we owe it all to GOD and the prayers that everyone has prayed for us. Her left eye is staying at least a 1/4 of the way open all the time now and she can see out of it, but she does see double. Once she can keep it open all the time, we will have to put a patch over the right eye so that the left one can strengthen up. We have therapy 3 times a week and we met with the homebound teacher this week so we are also trying to work that in to our busy schedule. She will meet with her 3 hours a week and then leave us with lots of homework to do. We go back to our follow in Birmingham next Thursday, I think they will be impressed at how far she has come since we left them. They have a great team there and we can't wait to see them all again. We really got close to them while we were there, we thought it was so hard leaving the team in Florida, but the team in Birmingham was as equally as good.

I have realized that my whole life style has had to change since the accident. Kensley requires alot of attention, so that means that my house work gets neglected, but that's not what is important at this time anyway. We all take for granted getting to go as we please and now I don't get to do that. We could probably go alot more than we do, but it is alot of work loading and unloading her and her wheelchair and stress on my back, so if we don't have to go out we stay home. Although I am going to have to find sometime to go get my shopping done, I have hardly gotten any of it done. Its hard to buy for my kids anyway since they need nothing.

We have thereapy tomorrow and Friday and then Kensley we be spending her first night away from home Friday with Mawmaw. I'm a little nervous about leaving her, but she will be in good hands. Me and Dustin have a Christmas party to attend with all of our age group from church, with no kids allowed. Its just a good time for us all to get together and enjoy each others company without having to chase our kids around. We have another family Christmas Saturday in Grant.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

Please continue to pray...

This is Marty, Dustin's sister.

As I pulled the blog up I noticed the last post that Melissa had typed. I remember the whole two months leading up to the Disney trip, how excited they were. I'm sure that never in their wildest imagination they fathomed what was ahead.

I know everyone is probably already aware but to recap:

Dustin, Melissa, Konnor and Kensley were travelling on Wednesday, October 7th from Disneyworld to Gulf Shores where they were going to stay until the weekend. At approximately 4:50 p.m. on Interstate 10, near Holt, Florida the car hydroplaned, hit a concrete culvert and flipped one and one-half times and landed upside down in the median. Dustin and Melissa were trapped in the car and had to be cut out. Konnor and Kensley were ejected from the car. The state troopers stated that numerous people stopped and rushed to them to try to help. Three fire departments were dispatched to the scene. Fortunately, a nurse was right behind them and stopped. She rushed to Kensley's side and worked with her and stayed with her until the medics arrived. Konnor has been telling us about the people that came and stayed with him until they put him in the ambulance and about the paramedics in the ambulance, "David" and "Kenneth" who in his words, "took very good care of me and were very nice to me." Kensley was air transported from the scene first, Konnor was transported by ambulance next, Dustin was air transported and Melissa was transported by ambulance, all to Sacred Heart Trauma Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, around sixty miles from the scene.

Dustin, Melissa and Konnor were admitted to the hospital and released the next day. All are banged up and bruised and cut but are okay. Kensley is in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. She has a traumatic brain injury and has had surgery to try to stop a bleed. Just a few moments ago (Friday, October 9th, around 5:15 pm) Dustin and Melissa saw her doctor. Her latest CT Scan showed no changes. However, this is good news! They believe the bleed has now stopped and what they are seeing on the scan is now just a pool of blood left from the bleed and will HOPEFULLY (pray pray pray!!!!) eventually drain. How awesome is that!?!? She has a long recovery ahead, please continue to pray for her!

Here are our latest highlights:

*The nurse/doctor was adjusting her vent tube and she raised her right hand trying to either make them quit or help them. I'm leaning towards the first. :)
*She has coughed several times, which the doctors say is great.
*Kylee (my daughter/Kensley's first cousin) has been sitting with her singing "Beautiful Day" which is one of Kensley's favorite songs. She was holding her hand while she was singing and Kensley was tapping her fingers on her hand.
*Melissa was holding her hand and Kensley squeezed her fingers.

We, along with her medical staff, think these things are excellent signs. The news is getting better and we are sooo excited!

Also, the latest updates are being broadcast on facebook. There is a "Praying for Kensley" page that has been set up and Kylee Rogers is updating numerous times a day. We know not everyone has a facebook page but for us, that is the easiest and fastest way to update. If we are away from the laptop we can update via phone. If you already have a facebook page or want to get one, you can try this link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=163181429364&ref=share or go to facebook and search for Kylee Rogers and send her a friend request.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EMAILED, CALLED, TEXT, COMMENTED, BEEN HERE, SENT THINGS, ETC. YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO EVERYONE!!!

Please continue to pray!!!!!

Marty

WE'RE OFF!!!!!

Ok we are fixing to leave....we are all packed and the car is loaded up. The kids are so excited, just hoping the drive goes well. We are taking Suzie's car, mine is not in that good of shape and as a matter of fact it died on me this week, I had to go buy a new battery. Hope we make it at least by midnight. Not sure if I will get to post any, but I will try to if I can. Should have plenty of pics to share....see you all real soon!

It's Almost Here!!!!

Well it is almost here! We only have 4 days left until we leave for Disney and I have so much stuff to get done this week, but it will all be worth it. Dustin still isn't really excited about going, but hopefully he will enjoy it once he gets there and sees how excited the kids are. I know he can't wait to see Minnie and give her a big ole hug....lol! I will try and take pics of the girls outfits and post them for y'all to see.

The weekend was good, let me start by saying that wasn't yesterday a beautiful day? It was so nice outside. Friday night of course we had a singing at Higdon and I think there ended up being about 8 or 9 groups with some specials thrown in, but I have to say they did really good on time, it was over by 10 our time. Saturday I went and took the dreaded CPC coding test, not sure how I did, it was pretty hard. Saturday night we went to the funeral home, I didn't know the lady, but have heard wonderful things about her and she was a member of our church, but hasn't gotten to come in several years. Sunday Dustin had to play at the funeral and afterwards we went to Red Lobster for some endless shrimp or should I say Dustin did and he sure did enjoy it and so did the rest of us, I love those biscuits. Church Sunday night and then to Santa Fe with the family afterwards.

The kids are doing great, we got Konnor's progress report last week and it was all A's. He is doing so good this year. And of course Kensley is just reading away, it amazes me how much she can read, she picks up on words that I would never dream she could read. We always kid that Kensley is going to try and take over her teachers job. I was informed today by her teacher that Kensley told her she would bring her something back from Disney so I guess I will be buying her something while we are there. :) More to come in the next few days.

PICS

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids waiting for the bus and getting on. They loved riding, the first thing Kensley said when I got home yesterday was could they ride again. Although when they get a little bit bigger they will be begging me to take them rather than riding the bus. :)

We had a great weekend, very busy as usual. Friday night NH sang at Claysville. I had to take Kensley to Hazel Green to a sleepover and then drive to Claysville, so needless to say I drove for what seemed like hours that night. Saturday morning it was back to Hazel Green to pick Kensley up and then it was just sort of a lazy day. Dustin had to go practice for a funeral that afternoon and then we went over to Joe and Drea's along with Scott and Josie. I don't know about the guys but us girls had a good time just sittin and chattin. Doing a lot of catching up, we don't get to be together and just hang out a lot, we are all so busy, we had a great time. Thanks Drea for having us. Sunday Dustin had to go sing at the funeral and me and the kids stayed home and they watched movies all day while I cleaned the house from top to bottom, even baseboards. I love the smell of a clean house, I always say that once I get it that clean that I am going to stay on top of things, but somehow something always happens and my plan fails me. Church Sunday night and out to eat at Logan's after church with Marty, Lee, Kylee, Kade, Justin, Alicia and Harley. Back to work this week, guess I will go to practice with Dustin tonight. More post later.

"The Bus"

My kids have been wanting to ride the bus in the mornings and I figured it would work out better for me anyway, so we are going to give it a try this week and see how it goes. Normally me, Jen and Kyle (my inlaws) take turns taking the kids to school, well with the detour on the way to Gurley it takes me over an hour to take the kids to school and get to work and a lot of times I was late, so since the kids we interested in riding the bus in the mornings why not let them. The only downfall is that they have to get on it at 6:45, but it's only about 15 min earlier than what I would leave if I was taking them. Although I now have to get up before Dustin and get my shower so that I have enough time to get everything done, but that's ok. I just come straight to work once they get on the bus, so I may consider changing my hours from 7-4 now. I'll let you know how it works out, they are probably going to want to get in the bed earlier now, which works for me. :)

I'm going to be preparing this week to take the certified coders test. It will be Saturday starting at 8 and lasting for 5 hours. Please pray that I can pass it the first time. I do not like taking tests, especially ones that are going to last that long.

Well we are now down to 12 days until Disney. I have lots of shopping to do before then and I am trying to keep a list so that when I think of something that needs to go with us, I write it down because my memory does not serve me very well. I think that may have something to do with having kids, I used to remember everything, but for some reason after I had kids it started failing me. :) I am trying to come up with as many electronics as I can for the kids to play with on the way down there. If you have any suggestions on how to occupy kids for a 10-12 hour drive please let me know.

Well that's all for today. Hope everyone has a blessed day!!

BLESSED!!!!

I just wanted to say how blessed I am for the family and friends that I have, you all are truly special to me. I am so thankful for the Word of God that we have been hearing over the past couple of weeks and for the Lord coming by last night and blessing me. I truly needed that and he always comes by on time. A special thanks to my husband for standing by me during this trying time, I LOVE YOU!

We had another busy weekend. NH had a singing at Sylvania Friday night and Saturday me and Kensley went shopping that morning and then the kids had a b-day party to attend and then we headed to Hobby Lobby to get some material and then it was church the rest of the weekend. Kaylee came to spend the night with Kensley Saturday night and Konnor sweet talked Kylee in to letting him go home with her so he could stay with Kade. How could anyone resist precious little Konnor....lol!

We have another fun-filled week of work, church and singing Friday night at Claysville. Oh and btw it is only 19 days until Disney!!!!!!!!! Hope everyone has a good week.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well we had a busy weekend. Friday night we grilled at Suzie's house and worked on the Disney outfits for the girls. Dustin worked on getting my window on my van fixed, we had to buy a new motor for it, well he got it apart fine, but he couldn't get it put back together, he was so frustrated. My brother Jeremy came over to help him after they ate and after about 2 hour they finally got it put back together. Marty got our pictures done so here are a few previews.


Saturday I got up early and cleaned and then me and Dustin practically tore the car apart cleaning it from top to bottom at least it's clean though. Then I went back over to Suzie's and we cleaned up her sewing room and worked on the outfits again, we have one whole outfit complete. Yay!!! Only three more to go with only three weeks left until we leave, we are going to have to get on the ball.

Sunday was just church all day. We went to Big Cove that morning and then Huntsville that night.

For Labor Day the kids went to a creek with Marty and the rest of the family and I went with Dustin up to Pleasant Grove to their community pinic. He went to play for the Wright's and they had tons of stuff for the kids to do, but mine weren't there to enjoy it. They did give away prizes at the end and Dustin won a $10 Wal-Mart card and lucky Rusty won the $50 in cash. Me and Miyra didn't win anything, but that's ok we will just take it from our husbands. :)

COUNTDOWN!!!!

Well we are on the countdown to Disney World. As of today we only have 30 days til we will be at the parks. I think I am as excited as the kids are. I made us a calendar to hang up on the refrigerator so that they could count down the days themselves. We are still trying to work on getting Dustin excited about going, but I think once we get there he will at least be excited for the kids. Oh and I know that just getting to see Shonda and Heather G. will make his day too. There are some more going from our church and we are all staying at the same resort, hopefully we can all meet up at least one day and do something together. Jeremy and Melia and their kids and my mom and dad are all going with us. We have never taken a family trip with my side of the family before so I think we will have a blast. My dad is a big monkey anyway so I know he will make it even more fun for the kids. We have made Kensley and Keelie an appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for their birthday presents from their grandmother Suzie. We are supposed to get with Marty tomorrow night and finish the girls outfits for Disney. They are adorable, I don't know what we would do without Aunt Marty.

Well I guess I have ranted enough about Disney, but other than that there is not much going on in our household right now. I do like the fact that we don't have a singing this Friday night though. It is nice to have a Friday off every now and then.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

Keeping up with The Kelly's

I love reading all of these blogs so I thought I would just start one myself. Not much going on with us right now, it has slowed down a lot. Kids are doing great in school, Konnor came home with his first progress report and he had all A's, which is an improvement from last year, he had a really bad teacher and we hope things will be better this year. Of course Kensley is doing great she is way ahead of her class, I just hope she doesn't get bored with things. Dustin just helped finish recording the new cd in rememberance of Bro. Alvie McKenzie, I can't wait for it to come out, I know it will be great. I have just been working a lot of overtime lately hopefully making some extra money to spend on our upcoming Disney trip in a month. We have never been and we are so excited about finally getting to go. If anyone has any pointers for us please share, I know we are going to be overwhelmed once we get there. Well this is all for tonight, hope to get some pics on here soon!