Beauty 4 Moms

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Pin It Now! For almost a year this site has seen my ideas about beauty, family, relationships, money, and my faith in God but now I'm going to get a little more up close and personal.

I want to tell you about my grandmother's struggle for her life and the financial mess that is left behind.

November of 2004, Jewell underwent open-heart surgery to replace her mitral heart valve. 5 years later, the doctors have discovered that she has Mitral Valve Regurgitation which means that her heart valve was nearly detached, infected, and causing numerous other problems. She underwent surgery at Cleveland Clinic on Monday, November 22, 2009.

Numerous doctors straight out refused to do the surgery because they didn't think her survival rate was high enough to risk it. The longest that any doctor gave her to live without the surgery was 3 months! The family was shocked, heart-broken, and lost looking for an answer.

Finally, one doctor was willing to do the surgery but we had to wait for him to come home from a conference he was speaking at. While we waited for the doctor's return Jewell was in and out of the hospital with an infection, pneumonia, and even swine flu! Eventually Jewell was transported by ambulance to Cleveland Clinic to wait for the doctor's next opening.

The day arrived when she was to go to surgery and we were all a wreck. Family from all over drove in to stay with her the day before and share what may have been our last moments with her. We had a good time laughing, sharing, and taking pictures (all of which we do each time we get together). The morning of the surgery was solemn as we all said our goodbyes and waited, waited, and waited for the results of the surgery.

Praise the Lord! Oh, praise the Lord! She made it through the surgery better than the doctor had expected. She has experienced a lot of highs and lows since the surgery but the doctors feel she is making good progress. The week before Christmas she was sent back to her hometown in WV to get further rehabilitation. She has been able to remove the trache months sooner than the doctors thought and she doesn't need the speech therapy they thought she would need. Just this week the doctors have allowed her to start eating pureed foods and they've removed the feeding tube!

Why am I telling you this?

Jewell, is one of the strongest, amazing, most faithful women I know. She can beat this; with God's healing and help, they can beat this! Buuuut, while she is unable to work her retired and barely mobile husband, Jim is left without enough income to stay warm, keep the lights on and keep fed. Donations of food and money have been given but not near enough. Jewell's out of pocket medical bills are going to be outrageous! She (the family & donors) had to pay $1800 for the ambulance to drive her from Cleveland Clinic to the hospital in WV she is at for rehab. Why didn't her insurance cover it? Because it wasn't a necessary trip, they would have paid to drive her to a local re-hab center in Cleveland but they only paid the first 5 miles to drive her back to WV.

While Jewell was in Cleveland for those 2+ months family members took off work, took short-term disability, gave up all of their Christmas, a good bit of their savings to be there and help comfort her. Now, the family doesn't have much more to give emotionally and nothing left financially.

This is where you come in, I would love to have something to give her from my blogging friends!

You can help out in three ways:

-Donations can be made. I'm looking for sponsors to help match the donations, so if your company or a company you know would be interested in that please have them email me.

-Cards are very much appreciated! Each card, flower arrangement, or gift she gets puts a smile on her face. Nothing fancy is required but if you feel led to write her a note of encouragement I would love for you to do so! (Address below)

-What we need mostly is prayer. To my knowledge, I know of several small towns and churches that are praying. Friends old and new, and complete strangers are praying. That’s exactly what we need. Pray for her to make it through. Pray for the family to remain strong. Pray for her to keep up with the difficult rehab. Pray for her husband to come to know the Lord and be strong during this trying time.

Cards & packages can be sent to:

Jewell Siders

PO Box 189

Tad, WV 25201

Regular updates on Jewell can be found at CaringBridge.org/visit/JewellSiders

Thank you for letting me share my burden and letting me lean on you during this time. I’m not as strong as she is.

Pin It Now! This is awful exciting! A fellow blogger, Erin Chase who blogs at 5DollarDinners.com now has her own cookbook! You can pre-order The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook today and it will be released on December 22. How cool is that? To put icing on the cake, tell Erin that you pre-ordered her cookbook, she'll send you a free eBook "The $5 Dinner Mom Holiday Recipe Pack".

Congratulations, Erin! I'm so excited for you!

Pin It Now! MomDot is having a Blog­gers & Tiaras con­test. The win­ner gets a Tiara and the title of “Super Ulti­mate Grand Supreme Coolest Blog­ger in the Uni­verse”! How awesome is that? There are even awards for the run­ners up. This sounds like a ton of fun and I've decided to enter! The con­test will begin next week and I'd love to have your support. : )

1) Name, BlogName, Twitter

Ashley, Beauty4Moms.blogspot.com, @Beauty4Moms

2) Have you ever entered a pageant before?

Ummm, does prom queen count?

3) Do you have any special talents we can look forward to?

I can lick my elbow. No, really I can!

4) Name your top 5 favorite sites to visit on the net..no, you do not get brownie points for putting momdot.

No brownie points but I'm saying it anyway, MomDot

Beauty4Moms

Facebook

Craig’s List

Etsy

5) What is your favorite thing to do when you are not blogging?

Crafting (scrapbooking, painting, etc)

6) Whats your dream vacation?

Cabin in the mountains with just my husband.

7) What blogger do you look up the most to?

Oh, there are so many it's hard to choose! Trisha from MomDot, Thrifty Decor Chick, Victoria from Life Starring the Kids & Me, & Cher from Love Actually.

8 ) If you could be on the cover of any magazine, which would you chose and why?

I guess I dream small because I would pick a local magazine, Triad Women. I admire them for always featuring strong, motivated, and entrepreneurial women.

9) Tell the truth…you want a tiara, don’t you?

Of course!

10) What is your definition of blogger success?

When people say that they love to read my blog! If I can help make a woman's life "more beautiful" then I've achieved my goal.

Ashley