Our Life to this point.

1996
June - James and I met whilst working doing door to door sales in Brisbane, and started going out on a week later on the 7th of June.

July - We moved in together 4 weeks after we met. From the very start we seemed to have a connection. We were living with James's sister Anna and her 2 boys Brodie and Jordan, in Mitchelton. Around this time James got some work with the Health Insurance Commission but had to stop due to getting glandular fever.
October - We then moved to Wilston.

1997

January -We became engaged.

April - I started to study Childcare at Southbank TAFE and found out I was pregnant,

July - I started working at Yakka as a clothing machinist. James wasn't able to find work. We moved to Goodna so I could be closer to work at Dinmore.

November - We were behind in our rent and got an eviction notice, we then moved up to Kilcoy, in with James's parents.

1998

January- 19th Joshua James Black arrived a day early weighing 7 pounds 15 ounces. He was the most amazing thing to arrive in our lives.

February - We ended up moving to the Sunshine Coast to Maroochy River Resort.

April - James started to study at Nambour TAFE doing a Certificate in Hospitality. But he still had periods of time where he would get sick regularly.

July- 11th, the day before James's birthday we got married in Woodford. When we met, James was about a men's size large. But as time went on the weight slowly pack on. Our eating habits weren't that bad so it was really hard to work out why this was happening. We also weren't doing very well with our finances. James and I both had credit cards before we got together and as we both weren't very good at paying them we ended up with a bad credit rating. Once this happens you tend to bury your head in the sand and tend to not be as careful about paying your bills on time. As a consequence of this we would get phone bills and not pay them. We decided James would go bankrupt as we thought this was the answer to our problems cause everyone seemed to want their money at one.

December - I fell pregnant with our 2nd baby but sadly lost it when I was 8 weeks pregnant.

1999

June - We then tried again and fell pregnant. As we were living in a 2 bedroom unit, we didn't think this would be big enough so decided to move. After checking out prices of places to rent we decided to move to Caboolture. Before moving I sat down and wrote all the things we wanted to have in our life. One was a car, another was that we would move into a place that would have great neighbours, we would find a great church.

November - we moved into Simmons Street in Caboolture, I was 6 months pregnant. I was happy to be able to have this baby at Caboolture hospital as it was really great with Joshua. Whilst living in Simmons St we bought our first car, a Datsun 200b which needed to be put back together and done up. This and moving into the duplex saw that what I written down had actually come to pass. This became something that I believed could happen. James was un employed at this time.
2000

March - 15th Nicola Jayde Francis was born weighing 5 pounds 14 ounces, 8 days early.

When Nicola was around 6 months old James got work as a night Auditor. This was the first time he had done this type of work and found it very stressful because of the female boss. It was very hard for James to get the right amount of sleep and it was about 6 months later that James ended up having a break down. He also ended getting very sick. We didn't really think much else at this point about what else could be effecting him.

2001

I ended up being diagnosed with postnatal depression, when Nicola was around 1. I feel that this was due to the fact that James was working night duty and I would have to try and keep the kids quiet around tea time so James could sleep before he had to go to work at mid night. I ended up participating in a research project called the Wellbeing Project. Out of this I found out about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. It seemed to be the answer for my depression. It dealt with issues I had from when I was a child.

September - I found out was pregnant with our 3rd child, due on 30th July, 2002. We also ended up getting a new car, a 1987 Ford xf Falcon.

November - We ended up moving into a housing Commission House in Lina St Caboolture.

Around this time James got a job at City Bank in the Call centre. He loved it at first. It seemed he had found something he really loved.

2002

August - 4th Matthew William Guilar Black arrives into the world, 4 days late weighing 6 pounds 10 ounces.

2003

January - Joshua started Pre-school at Morayfeild East State School
April - James ended up having a breakdown due to the stress of working in the call centre. He decided to quit due to having the breakdown. Because we were living on a credit card due to James being paid month to month we were then behind because we couldn't catch up that month. This just added to the stress.

June - We end up moving out of the housing commission house because it was too small and we were having problems with the neighbour over the back. We move to Maddison Crt in Upper Caboolture. James goes out to do strawberries with Sue. We changed Joshua to Minimbah Pre School.

October - After the finish of strawberries season, Matthew was 15 months old, I decided to try and get some work. I approached all the different childcare centres to see if anyone would give me work. I was able to start a trainee ship at a Caboolture Child care centre.

November - I found out I was pregnant.

December - On the 8th I ended having another miscarriage. I didn't think that this would happen again. It devastating especially being so close to Christmas. I was still working at the child care.

2004

February - I fell pregnant again. This was rather scary because of having lost the last baby.

May - I found out I was pregnant and started to bleed. Luckily the pregnancy continued. James started to work at packing strawberries.

July - I was 20 weeks pregnant and started to having a very stressful time due to the Director of the centre. I ended up being so stressed that I quit. I was able to work out at Strawberries as well.

December - 10th, being 10 days over due I was booked into be induced but the baby had other ideas and decided to come a few hours before I was suppose to be up at the hospital to be induced. By 9:11am Samuel Jaimieson was born, weighing 8 pounds 10 ounces.

2005

February - Nicola started prep at Tullawong because Minimbah wasn't offering it till the following year. Because we didn't want the kids going to 2 different schools we decided that to change Joshua over to Tullawong. By the end of the first week Joshua decided that he didn't want to go there. So life became very difficult for that term. He refused to go to school and would run away. In the end we decided to take him back to Minimbah. By term 2 everything had started to settle down.

May We decided to go back to strawberries as it seemed like a good way to catch up with all our debts. So I would only work till school finished and then go and pick up all the kids who were in 3 different places. It was very hectic.
November - We finished strawberries again. James would constantly get sick and feel totally exhausted after doing the season. He was also continually putting on weight.

December - The owners of our house so we have to move. We find a place in Creasthaven, Everglades dr. It is really nice.
2006

January - I ended have an time where I was bleeding for about 6 weeks. I thought that I may have fallen pregnant again but it didn't show up in the tests. From that moment on started having constant diarrea and doctors were at loss as to what it could be.

May We again decide to do strawberries but this time decided to get someone to come into the house to look after the kids. At first it went ok but after a while Joshua started to play up. He didn't like the person who was looking after them. We were also working 12 hour days.

September James ended up getting really sick and had to stop working. I decided to try and finish the season but after only a week found it very stressfull and ended up having a break down.

October After Samuel I was the biggest in my life up to 80 kgs. By October though due to the constant going to the toilet had started to loose weight and I was finding hard to eat fatty food. I also thought that I had really bad IBS as had previously been diaognosed with this but it had never been that bad. In the paper there was an add to go on a trial for a drug to help with IBS. So I applied and was accepted. They did a colomoscopy and it didn't turn up anything so they came to the conclusion that it was definaltly IBS because everything else had been ruled out.

December We ended up having to move again even though we had just signed another lease. The owener was having a problem with the real estate. So the real estate found us another house to move into a week before Christmas. It was in Parkridge Av the same estate as Maddison Crt, I ended up having to clean on Christmas day.
2007

January I was now doing the trial for a couple of months. Whilst on the trial I was suppose to be taking birth control so as to not fall pregnant. But was a bit naughty and was not taking it. As a consequence ended up falling pregnant with our 5 th child. James ended up getting a job at Woodford prison in the Stores. I also became apart of an advisory committee which was trying to develop a Peer Support program for breastfeeding mums to help support pregant mums through to 6 months of age.

February I informed the people in charge of the trial and had to cease doing it. I was now wieghing about 65 kgs when I fell pregnant. So I had lost about 15kgs just from going to the toilet constantly.

April I ended up having to go up to the hospital at 8 weeks and 12 weeks for a threatened misscarriage. I wasn't too stressed as this seemed to be normal for me in my pregnanicies.

June At 26 weeks pregnant I had a show and went up to the maternity ward to make sure everything was ok. They said it was but I could go into early labour. I had also started taking antidepressants cause the kids fighting was really getting to me. It was suppose to be pretty safe in pregnancy but could lead to early labour. James was constantly having time off due to getting the flu. He was about the biggest he had been in his life. He weighed about 150kgs. It was hard to work out why cause he was doing lots of exercise and was eating ok.

August 29th I was 30 weeks pregnant. I ended up severe pain in my lower back. So I went up to the hospital to get it checked out and I was having contractions. They did a test to see if I would there was a chance I would go into labour in the next week or so and it came back positive. So because Caboolture couldn't possibly take a 10 week preemie I was sent down to the Royal Womens Hospital in Brisbane. This meant James had to take time off work to look after the kids. He had used up most of his sick pay because of the amount of time he had due to being sick so it was very stressful. On the 2nd night in Brisbane my waters broke. I thought that this would mean that I would go into labour in the next day or so but they try and put off delivering the baby when they are preemie so they gave me anitbiotics. They had stopped the labour with blood pressure medication and had given me steroid injections to develop the babies lungs. I began to suffer from aniexty, which I think was due to the fact that they were giving me mild sleeping tablets. I was also not able to see James and the kids due to not being able to afford the petrol. Thank goodness the baby did not come in the week I was down there. At 31 weeks Caboolture hospital allowed me to be able to go there. So I went home and had to check in with the hospital.

September 32 weeks pregnant I again went into labour, this time they were able to stop it with pethadine. Because at home I kept going into labour they decided to have me stay in hopsital and but I was allowed to go home for a couple of hours each day. Monday the 10th I was 33 weeks and I went into labour again but had started to heomarrage. They decided that they couldn't let me continue so because I wasn't dilating they gave me a drip and induced me. That was at 7 pm and by 9 pm Jessica Lee Mckenzie was born naturally 2270grams or 5 pounds. She was taken straight into the special care nursery. James got to hold Jessica pretty much straight away but I had to wait until the next morning. Because I wanted to breastfeed her I started to express by pump every 2 hours. It wasn't too long and my milk started to come in. The next morning I was able to start to put Jessica on the breast to see if she could start to feed. They didn't think that she would cause she was only 33 weeks and the sucking reflex doesn't usually come in til 34 weeks but she was a natural. She only spent 14 days in the special care nursery before being able to come home. She did so well.

2008

June James ended up having more time off due to sickness. Whilst at home he started doing some research on the internet and found some imforatmation about Chronic Fatigue. He rang a support group in Toowoomba. What James explained about how he had been met all the critieria for Chronic Fatigue. They sent him out a list of Doctors who actually acknowledged that Chronic Fatigue actually does exist. We found one at the Sunshine Coast which was the closest to us. After going to an appointment the Doctor did some blood tests and it turned out James still had about 5 of the 6 strains of Glandualar fever in his system. The doctor said it was no wonder he was so run down. We had to go back every once a month. James got time off work.

December James ended up giving notice to work as the Doctor said it could be up to 2 years before he could work again. He decided to enrol in Uni to do law at home.

2009

May I am now down to a size 8 and 55kgs. I still have constant diareah everyday. I have recently done some research and now believe that I am celiac. So I have started to cut out gluten in my diet. This has been helping but it is very hard to cut it out completely when it seems to be in most things and also it is very exspensive. James has also not had much success with helping with the chronic fatigue. He is tired all the time and gets the flu regularly. A few weeks ago my brother Christopher asked if he could come around to see me the next day. I was a bit sceptical because I knew that he had just joined Usana, and I thought ok now he's going to join us up and I thought that there is no way in which we could do that at the moment. James was very wary and didn't really want to be there. The next day I found out Chris was bringing his mentor Greg with him. I thought that I would just listen to what Chris had to say to support what he was doing. I really wanted James to be there as well. Greg turned out to be amazing with what had happened in his life. Well we are now joined up and are now starting our new journey in life. I feel that God has placed this in our lives to help us get better not just in health but in our finaces.

11th May, James has now been taking the reset program for 4 days and has started to have a bit more energy. I have also been taking the full dose of the essentail pack and have found I am feeling a lot better with in myself and have a bit more energy. We have now done up our goals and have found the perfect house that we are going to own. From today on I will try and write a regular blog as to what has been happening with our journey with Usana. I know that people are skeptical about multi level marketing. But I want to show people if you can change your life around the way we are going to that anything is possible with Gods help.