Happy Easter

Thanks  for stopping by Easter Bunny.

Mariah and Annie

Great Smiles

The Boys are Back In Town

Thanks right folks the D crew are home safe and sound.Waiting for a few good pics to post so we can all dream of being in the tropical island of Dominican Republic.
Doing a happy dance for Mariah because her spring break started today.
I  am so excited for a date and dance night tonight with my best guy. Look Out Cuban Revolution here we come. www.thecubanrevolution.com 
Loving the sunshine and warm weather. Praying for more.
So excited to be working on a few great work projects.
Hope your end of the week is joyful.

Thankful for Wednesday

Feeling a bit blessed to be me. I have the most amazing opportunity to bring joy to lots of lives. I love teaching and my students are amazing. I love to laugh when they say funny things. I got a good laugh when some one said there GILLS were swollen. I know they meant GLANDS but oh how I chuckled.
Or when they mis pronounce the names of steps. FORTE instead of CORTE. I know they laugh at me constantly but I am always saying and doing crazy things. I love to make them laugh. I believe that laughter is the best medicine.

March Maddness

It seems as if the weekend was here and I woke up this morning and it was gone. I wanted to push pause or rewind I'm not ready for the week.

This is the campus of FGCU.....Amazing.....       

I am loving the awesome basketball and have watched in amazement as Florida Gulf Coast University has gone from an unknown and now with 2 wins are heading to Texas to the sweet sixteen. I have some friends at Duke that are grads of FGCU and had been employed there in the past and I had to send them a text Friday night to say congrats and how this will help put Fort Meyers on the map. I feel a bit of a connection to FGCU because 3 summers ago Drew attended sports camp there. We were spending a couple of months in Cape Coral so that I could work at Dore Designs and I decided to sign Drew up  for some camps. The campus is amazing and if you look at there web site you will see that there is a lake and there are dorms facing the water. How cool would it be to walk out your door and chill on the beach or go for a spin on a boat. The options are amazing and it truly is a hidden secret.
 I was speechless when they won last night and honestly felt that it was history in the making. I can only image what it would be like tonight when the team arrives back on campus and attend a celebration the school has planned for this evening. Go Eagles.....I'm a die hard Duke fan but I am cheering you all the way to the National Championship. Keep Believing....Dreams really do come TRUE!

Friends Forever

Jade, Starr and Mariah

From the moment Mariah arrived in America she has been blessed with many friends. What a great night we had with these 2. Chinese buffet and a spontaneous stop at the park. The trip for yogurt later was truly a great ending to an awesome night.

Missing the Dominican Republic....

Hey Silly Boys Are You Behaving Yourselves?

I started my week with a bit of excitement. One of my students passed out in class and I had to have them call 911. In my 17+ years of teaching at Duke I have not had a student pass out so this truly sent me for a loop. She was in class today and is doing great but that was very unexpected and nerve wracking. Yesterday another gentleman came to me stating that he was dizzy and light headed and I immediately told him to sit down. WOW two days in a roll was a bit much. We got him some juice and he was fine for the rest of the class. Lets just say my break is over and I am into the full swing of things.
My foot continues to give me problems and I feel as if someone is stabbing me with a knife in my arch. I have to figure out how and where to get some relief. I wore my sport shoes yesterday and today and I don't seem to see and feel improvement.

I wish I were in the Dominican Republic. I drove Drew and Doug to the airport Tuesday morning for there 6am flight. I know they are have a wonderful time but I cant help be to be a bit jealous. I am just day dreaming about sitting on the beach enjoying the nice wind and listening to the waves. I hear the weather is wonderful and they are having a great time. Mariah and I are going strong with or normal life of school, gym, work and of course homework. The dogs are missing Doug and are a little out of sorts. Im counting the days until the guys come home but also praying they are safe and sound.
Hope all is well in your world.

Dominican Republic are the WINNERS!!!

 Team Dominican Republic conquers the 2013 World Baseball Classic with a 3-0 victory over Puerto Rico.

Are you watching?

  

                                                The LINE that Touched me the most tonight.

                                 "ALL I NEED YOU TO DO IS BELIEVE IN YOURSELF".

Dancing is something that touches each of us in such a wonderful, amazing way. I truly feel that some                    of  constants this season will be blessed by art  the  of Ballroom dancing. Let the season begin~

THE OSCAR GOES TO

CONGRATS DREW DAFFRON

DREW DAFFRON AND TEAM FOR BEST LONG FILM.

DREW DAFFRON FOR EDITOR OF THE YEAR.

And the Nominees are... DREW DAFFRON AND TEAM....

All videos are in and foreign language students anxiously await the winners for the 2013 Language Department Oscars, which will take place next Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. Each year students prepare videos and skits to further display their knowledge and understanding of their language of study. This year all of their preparation will culminate in an exciting “Night at the Oscars” to celebrate their hard work. The videos will reflect the three languages offered here at VES French, Spanish and Chinese. Out of many videos, twelve have been nominated in the categories best commercial for at the 1 and 2 level, best skit for at the 1 and 2 level, best commercial at the III, IV and AP leves and best skit at the III, IV and AP levels. Click here for a full list of nominees.

“THE” OSCARS (the VES version):  A set of awards given annually for excellence of cinematic achievements. More specifically, this event recognizes the hard work that VES foreign language students invest in writing, acting, directing and producing their very own foreign language films.  

Thanks DUKE...

Right in our back yard.

Great visit with the orthopedic doctor today. Fractures are healing and she should be ready to start flipping on April fools day. Oh, that happens to be our anniversary. I have been to many different parts of Dukes campus but had not been to the Lenox Baker Children's Hospital. It was seemed like it was weathered a bit but had lots of character. I loved the location and easy parking lot building access. Especially when you have a kid on crutches. We spoke about her tumor a lot and he reassured us that it is not affecting her now and we will keep a watch on it. I am in search of more answers and have plans to explore some alternative medicine options. Did I mention how much I love living in such a progressive area.

Spring Break 2013

Dreaming

As of Friday I am on spring break from Duke for a week. I totally feel like I need a break and time just to slow down and relax. I also would love to get lots of spring cleaning done. I asked a lot of my students where they were going and the responses were amazing. I started to day dream about some of the places. London, Boston, Florida, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Punta Cana Dominican Republic. Gand Cayman,  Aspen, San Diego, New York, Cancun and the list goes on. I am going to imagine that I am on an island in the caribbean sitting under a palm tree reading a novel and drinking a frozen drink. Day dreaming of quiet, calmness and peacefulness where I only hear the waves. Hey why not its my break and a girl can always dream.
PS -- Mariah is calling me to lay with her. The day light saving time  doesn't seem to be working for her. She can't seem to fall asleep and needs me to "pat" her. Oh how I love this girl.

***BE-DAZZLED SHOE ***

AMAZING

CHECK OUT THE BLING

Look what Federal Express delivered to our house today. We were so shocked that Auntie Dawn was able to bedazzle this orthopedic shoe. I sent it to her on Wednesday and she received it at her shop yesterday and like magic it appeared at our door step today. The rhinestones and designs are amazing. I loved how it has Mariahs name on it.  So wonderful, and thoughtful. We love our Auntie Dawn to the moon and back. You can check out her amazing company here.

Dore Designs go and check out her website. You will see the most amazing latin dresses and ball gowns. Custom made one of a kind just like Mariahs SHOE!     doredesigns.com/ 

Mariah the Model..

St. Patrick theme face panting.

Mariah was the model for Paint Savvy. You should check out there blog. So many creative ideas. So happy its Friday. I have been in the process of working on a new blog. I am so excited to see the finished product. Cool stuff coming your way.

 www.paintsavvy.com 

Great dinner and company..

The Tumor Nonossifying Fibroma

This tumor is not cancer and for this we are thankful. We are learning more about Mariah's tumor and what our options are for her and her future. Gymnastics is probably not the best sport for this defect but we will wait and here more on Tuesday. The UNC doctor recommended that he follow the tumor closely with x rays. This type of tumor is slow growing and has been know to weaken the bone and cause stress fractures. We will hear what Duke has to say on Tuesday and plan from there. Thanking God that the tumor is benign!! I hope to look back at this blog in years ahead and say remember when......

Nonossifying fibroma

DREW EDMOND DAFFRON is 17 years old today...

Foot Problems...

We  were so thankful to get an appointment today at Wake Orthopedics. We saw Dr.Thompson and he was amazing. They removed the cast Mariah was given in Charleston and gave her a big ugly black shoe. She will wear the shoe until we return to see him April 3.
We also confirmed with him what the Charleston radiologist noted and that is a growth/tumor on her right leg above the ankle. I wish I had more to say about this finding but we will have to wait and see. I ask him if it was a bone spur and he said no. I pray that the tumor is benign and all will be fine but we live in a crazy world and I have a hard time not thinking about the what ifs so my stress level is pretty high now.
We are so blessed to be getting an appointment at Duke and UNC and hope that these appointments happen quickly. Two expert opinions.  I will keep you posted. All we can do is pray. Pray for complete healing and strength to weather this season and see the lessons and plan that God  intends us to see.
As I have shared with you before Mariah has a tremendous amount of anxiety and we have told her only that the doctor would like to have his friend look at her foot and leg. Just keeping it light and normal. I hope this is the correct approach and don't want to alarm her in any way.
Wait and see. Not my favorite thing to do.
We are very fortunate to have an appointment with UNC orthopedic oncologist Wednesday morning at 930am. I have read a lot on the wicked internet and have faith that most bone tumors are not cancer. I learned that her tumor is slow growing on the inside of her tibia and that this is a tumor most common in children. I totally wish that I could take her place and that she would not have to go through this.
Taking deep breaths and thinking positive is what I have chosen to do. I have also decided not to mention any thing about the tumor to many people until I know what is what. Having loved ones stress out and worry is not necessary until we have answers.
We were given an appointment at Duke on Tuesday, March 12 at 2pm. Things are happening quickly and we should have some solid answers soon.

AND WE ALL FALL DOWN...

HEY!!

I cant believe this is happening to me

Maybe not all of us, but definitely Mariah.

OH WHAT FUN!!

Kenna,  Riah,  Rae, Ave

Charleston visit with the cousins....

Mariah had a blast hanging out with the cousins. She played most of the evening with Avery. I told my sister that I wished that she lived closer. The perfect night. We had to leave after nine to go to the hotel close to the meet. The hotel Hyatt Place in North Charleston  northcharleston.place.hyatt.com  is awesome. Mariah asked if we could move in. We loved everything about the hotel. I didn't sleep very well because Mariah was dreaming about her routines and kicking, stretching, turning and sitting up a lot all through the night.

We were up at 6 am and had a nice breakfast with the team before we walked over to the North Charleston Convention Center.