Please Pray

If you read this, please pray for Ellie Skees (see link at right). She's 8 years old and has been fighting cancer, and since Wednesday she's been fighting for her very life due to complications with infections, chemo, and radiation. Please pray for her parents, John and Sarah, and her little brother, Ethan. They could use every prayer!

Leapin' Lizard

Yesterday, I went out to plant a lavendar bush. When I went to water it, there was a cute lizard peeking out of the spout of my watering can. I shook him out, filled the can (lizards all over the hose) and continued my chore.

Back inside the house, I kept feeling something strange at my waist. Have ever worn something with a thicker band of elastic and tried to roll the elastic down, but it keeps rolling back up? That's what it felt like.

I finally lifted up my shirt and pulled down the waistband of my sweats, and there was this little lizard face peering back at me. I'd like to say I calmly grasped the lizard and gently released it back outside, but that's not what happened.

"EEEK!!!!"

I tried to flick the thing away from me but didn't see it. I stripped off the pants, shoes, and asked Kelly to "Help ME!" laughing the entire time.

There's now a note on our dry/erase board that reads, "Tyler, there's a lizard in the house somewhere. Feel free to escort him OUT."

When will I sleep again?

Having to miss my son's performance during Battle of the Bands last night --

Disappointing.

Staying up until 1:30 am while he went over all the details with me --

Priceless.

Sleep's overrated. I'll sleep when I'm an empty-nester. ;-D

Everyone who was at Battle of the Bands says Evangelin did an amazing job! I could have told them that, I hear them practice every Wednesday in my living room. I'll get to hear/see their full show next week when they play a concert at Trinity Baptist. Josh invited me to bring the whole AWANA JV, so here we come!

I'm thinking I could possibly catch a nap Saturday or Sunday. If not, I'll just have to sleep during my next English class . . . .

Glenna Meets Paramedics

Glenna had quite a thrill Wednesday when she finally got to meet the paramedics who helped her! Will (Left) and Chris (Right) invited her to the firehouse and gave her the grand tour of the three year old facility. Note the other firemen in the background, sitting in the truck!





Here she's touring the trucks. When you call 911, they instantly read everything being said on their truck's computers. All the dialogue prints out on the screen, so they knew that Glenna's arm was
"grotesquely angled." Since the 911 call was placed on a cell phone, they were able to pinpoint her exact location on the GPS system.




Here she's relaxing with them in their lounge area. Will sat in the chair and it instantly fell over, so he's trying to keep it balanced here for the photo! They have a TV in here with X-box; we brought them a thank you basket with crossword puzzles, sudoku, treats, etc, since we know firemen usually have quite a bit of down time. They work a 24 hour shift followed by two days off. This particular station has three shifts; A shift, B shift, and C shift (these guys are B shift). Each shift has a separate pantry in the kitchen. They go to training and classes, and chores are scheduled on certain days, so if their shift lands on floor scrubbing day, they scrub the floors, etc.



It was all so very interesting! They even showed the computer room where they wrote up the report on Glenna's arm, the speakers where the alarm went off when 911 was called, on and on. They usually wait to go to bed until after 11:00 pm, because almost nightly they receive a phone call from RDV sportsplex!



We're watching the Liebert's dog for them while they're on vacation. He's such a cute little guy! He's very much like a toddler, though, and we're constantly chasing him down, taking things away from him, getting plastic out of his mouth. Our schnauzer plays with him for a while, but then he goes into his kennel to get a break from him.

Hobbs is the fuzzier one. :-) I love schnauzers and hope to get another some day, but it has to be when I have time to devote to training! Jack is such a great dog, but Hobbs has brought back to memory all the things destroyed when he was a puppy (including one of each of Glenna's shoes).

The Funniest Thing

I have declared myself to be on Spring Break. I should have had a US History class today, but 3/4 of the students went to Tennessee to compete in a Bible Bowl competition. Go Team!

So, I took a shower this morning, and THAT'S ALL. I put on some comfy clean sweat pants and a clean t-shirt. (Don't ask me why I'm emphasising the fact they're clean. I don't put on dirty clothes . . . anymore.) I brushed out my hair and let it hang, figured the cyclical red bumps on the end of my nose could use an airing away from make-up, and put on my glasses. Presto!

Then Glenna asked if we could go to Blockbuster. I also needed to stop at Publix, so we hopped in the car.

On the way out of Blockbuster, I noticed a well dressed man getting out of the car next to mine. He looked at me and looked like he wanted to say something, but I looked down. When I looked back up he was still looking, so I said hello.

"Hello! How are you?" he smiled.
"I'm well, thank you!" (It bugs me when people say "I'm GOOD." I always use "well.")
"You LOOK well, you know it?" he replied, still smiling.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, look at you. You're outside, not a lick of make-up on, and a naturally beautiful woman. God bless you!" he said, his smile widening.
Laughing by now, I gave back a "God bless YOU!" and chuckled all the way to Publix.

Probably won't go to the store without at least covering the blotches on my nose again, though.

Too Sweet!

The paramedics who helped Glenna when she broke her arm stopped by today! She's going to be SO disappointed that she missed them. They were shopping for their supper at Publix and decided to come by to check on her!

They gave me directions to their station. I'm going to take Glenna by on Wednesday, since they had offered at the hospital to sign her cast once she got one. John and I just thought they were being nice, but they were serious!

Nice to know nice people are still around!

Dementia

I just found out my father has been diagnosed with dementia. He's in denial about it, and in fact refused to tell me. His wife's daughter-in-law sent me an email and requested I call.

My grandmother, his mother, had dementia, and he hated that about her. Now it's ironic that he has it, too, though Grandma's was brought on by a brain hemmorage. I hate that it's a 21 hour drive to get to him in Arkansas! He says he's happy in AR, but here's not anywhere near where I could help out. I called him on the phone and he never said anything about it. :-(

Update

After a three hour wait at the orthopedist, we were thrilled to hear Glenna will need no further surgery! The bones are still in place. They put a hard cast on her, and she returns in 3 weeks. Hooray!

We're so thankful. We're thankful for so many, many things through this!

1. For God's watch-care over us.
2. For our friends and family who pray for us, and who take the time to make cards and gifts for Glenna.
3. For the tax return that should cover anything our insurance doesn't.
4. For John's timly installation of a shower head with a spray hose!
5. For the bathrooms downstairs finally being repaired!
6. For the right orthopedist on duty that night in the ER (we've been finding out just HOW good he is through others).
7. For Glenna's speedy recovery! She's now going her second day without any pain meds or dizziness!
8. For Glenna being able to move her fingers. :-) The only one we're a little concerned about is the thumb, but the ortho today was able to get her to move it correctly, and now she has instructions to keep practicing.

I could go on and on!

Broken Arm

While I have a moment, I thought I'd jot down info on Glenna's broken arm.

Tuesday night she went to music practice as usual with Dad. Kelly and I were determined to do some much needed house cleaning, so we stayed at home (Ty was at work). I received a phone call around 9:30 from Mark Liebert, saying my little girl had broken her arm and an ambulance had been summoned. I didn't even ask questions, just said I was on my way.

Since I was "practically in my jammies," I rushed around to get dressed, put the dog away, etc. My beautiful daughter, Kelly, stopped me by grabbing both of my hands, took a deep breath, and then began to pray for her sister. I am so thankful she did that! It was exactly what I needed. Her prayer was so sweet I began to cry . . . not because of Glenna's arm, but because I realized my Kelly had a REAL relationship with her Abba Daddy. My heart was so full! I was instantly calm.

We arrived at the church to see all the grim faces waiting for us. The ambulance and paramedics were already there. I went into the Fellowship Hall and saw my little girl on the ground with her arm at a gruesome angle . . . she had broken both ulna and radius bones in her right forearm, and they were almost at a 90 degree agle. Glenna's fingers were blue (no circulation) and they had given her nitrusoxide (sp?) to help her breathe since she was hyperventillating. I was so thankful John didn't try to take her to the hospital himself. When this happened to Ty, Patty was able to slip a book under his arm and tie it with a t-shirt so I could take him myself, but there was no way we were going to move this arm ourselves. (Patty wasn't there, LOL! We tease her that she would have duct-taped it and sent us on our way. Margaret B. suggested the ambulance.)

As soon as Glenna saw me, she asked if her sister was there, too. I took one look at the arm and decided I didn't need to look at it again. I stayed at her head and kept her calm while they braced the arm and got her fingers pink again (whew!). Between gasps Glenna told me her "Green Monkey" (a gift from Allie and Kelsey Linduff when Glenna was 5) was in the JV room, so he was immediately fetched. We've decided we need to write an adventure story about Green Monkey . .. . Green Monkey Goes to the Hospital or something like that! He rode with her on the stretcher, stayed with her through x-rays, was tucked next to her side when they sedated her and set the arm.

I wonder if we would have received such fast attention if Glenna hadn't been brought in on the stretcher? Granted, we were there from 10 pm to 4:30 am, but there were 6 children waiting for Glenna's bed when we checked out. Ty had to wait in the overflowing waiting room for 30 minutes. When they finally saw him and realized he was in danger of losing his hand, they moved us along. I wonder how long Glenna would have waited?

Everyone we were in contact with at Florida Hospital South was wonderful. They used the live-motion x-ray while they set her bones -- they looked beautiful when they were done. We go back on Wednesday for her hard cast, and we'll find out at that time whether she'll need further surgery or not. This is our prayer! She left in a wheelchair with gifts from the hospital; a teddybear and hair ties and bands.

Mary and Danny Gines were SO wonderful! They came to the hospital with a bag of snacks and water for us. Mary called people for prayer right away. She even sent an email to her parents in Israel, so Glenna had people around the world praying for her! When Mary came, she brought love notes to Glenna from herself and Bekah and Barb Walter. I read them aloud to Glenna and she sleepily mumbled, "I LOVE my church." (Glenna recognized that this is the body of Christ reaching out! Taking care of each other like we're supposed to.)

The difference between Tyler's recovery and Glenna's has been remarkable. Ty's bones weren't even set for a week, and then he had to recover from surgery. Glenna can already dress herself and do most things for herself. She walks around with her arm in the air to keep the swelling down, so the running joke is to say, "Yes, Glenna? Question?" Swelling is our biggest concern. I'll be thankful when her hard cast is on and she'll have even more mobility. They also feel her nerves were stretched but should recover; her pinkie and half the finger next to it felt "rubbery."

I'll try to get a picture of "arm girl" after John gets home, as he has the camera.

JV Games!

I had so much fun with the JV at the Trek 24/7 Games! We placed dead last on our circle, but we had clean runs of every game, great attitudes, and tons of laughs. When line judges come to me after the games to say, "You have some GREAT kids, Coach!" it's all worth it to me, especially when there were some poor sportsmanship displays around us.



















This is us with our gansta "JV" sign. (See it? The "J" and the "V"? I made it up myself.)


I don't know if I've had a better time and lost so badly before! LOL









In Bible Bowl, we were felled by an article and a conjunction; "the" and "and." When Timothy got up to say a LONG verse, I tracked it carefully in my own notebook. To me, he said it word-perfect, but two judges and the quizmaster said he left out "the," so I had to accept their decision. Jessie left out "and" in the Micah 6:8 verse. Those two little words cost us 80 points and first place! We were dropped down to 7th, and our other team placed 6th. It was all so interesting since none of us had ever quizzed on this material before. I was thankful to see I was on the right track for writing questions for quizzing. There were only a couple I hadn't covered.


A very tiring but VERY good day!

Plumbing

I know there are people in other countries who would love to have my plumbing situation.

We have three bathrooms.

The upstairs bathroom is fine, except the kids use it exclusively and I hardly go in there. When I do, I faint, get out the gloves, and start scrubbing! Once in a while they stay on top of it and it's decent.

The other downside is, well, it's upstairs.

Downstairs are two bathrooms; a full bath and a 3/4 bath. In the 3/4 bath, the shower has never never worked. We use it for storage. :-) In the full bath, the toilet doesn't work. For John and myself, we use the toilet in the guest bathroom (and sink) then use shower in the full bathroom (and sink). I can't tell you how many days I've wanted to take a sledge hammer to the wall between the two so I would have ONE complete bathroom. (The only thing stopping me is not knowing if it's a load-bearing wall.)

Today, my darlin' decided to fix the toilet downstairs.

I'm still laughing about it!

He took the toilet completely off and discovered (drat!) tree roots, which means there's a break in the line somewhere. He then went and rented a root-cutting plumbing snake and went to work on the drain. Comically, a few times his rubber gloves got so twisted up in the snake, his wrists were bent inward and he had to holler for us to come and reverse the snake to untwist his hands! (hee hee!). He soon went to leather, which doesn't help with the wetness, so that problem was solved.

Things looked good, water poured down the hole in the floor went down without problems. He told Kelly to go and flush the "good" toilet downstairs to see what would happen.

Bad idea.

Water went everywhere in BOTH bathrooms, and we discovered that his aggressive use of the snake knocked a hole in the bottom of the OTHER toilet!
Pondering what we would do for a bathroom at this point, the girls and I had the following conversation.

Kelly: Good thing we found your gardening shovels, Mom.
Glenna: Kelly! That's gross!
Mom: Oooh, good point, Kelly. Of course, it's awfully cold outside to have our behinds hanging out.
Dad: You guys are freakin' hilarious.

Now, he's off to price not one, but TWO new toilets.

:-D

Contentment

There's gotta be something wrong with mornings. Or maybe there's something wrong with late nights that make mornings so wrong? Either way, one of them is the pits.

If I want to have any meaningful conversations with my teens, I have to stay up well past 11:30. I remember my friend Martha being so tired all the time because she had been up until 3 a.m. talking to her teen. I remember thinking that would be so hard to do!

Actually, the staying up part is easy. I love talking with them, hearing their thoughts, laughing at their daily antics shared with me, sharing some of my own. I get wonderful insight on who they are and how they process the things happening in their lives. I come away with such peace because I realize . . . with God's help . . . they're going to be all right. They're good kids, and they're making such wise, yet sometimes difficult, choices. I am blessed!

No, the staying up part is easy.

When the alarm rings, that's when it's hard. I still have one that's not a teen and she wants a part of me in the morning! I have a spouse who tries not to talk to me or, heaven forbid, wake me before my alarm goes off. Sometimes, I'm unable to get much sleep at all and I'm just coming to bed two hours before he gets up (why does God think it's so funny to pair a morning person with a non-morning person?).

My favorite evenings are when I'm tucked in bed with jammies on, and all three kids are piled all over the bed or on the futon in our room. John falls asleep quickly while we laugh and talk, waking periodically to ask why "all these people" are still in his room, add some input, and drift off again. Tyler has us all laughing when he shares the odd experience at the track -- he puts such a humorous spin on ordinary events. Kelly gets us rolling with her witty comments and input. Glenna tries to be a quiet little mouse so no one will notice she's still not in bed, or she gets poked and tossed around by me or her siblings (she LOVES that). We all start to giggle when John snores, wakes himself up with a particularly loud one, hears us laughing, then rolls over while mumbling, "Why are all these people still in my room?"

As for me -- I take it all in and take mental "snapshots" to treasure later. This is MY time with them. There's no one I love to be with more than my husband and my children. I know it's so important to soak it all up before God sends them off for His purposes! My newborn son is turning 18 in April. My baby girl will be 15 this summer. My infant daughter will reach "double hockey-sticks," eleven, in July. I praise God for the women He placed in my life who constantly encouraged me to slow down, enjoy them, and soak it all in. Nothing is more important, nothing has any urgency. I thank God for His conviction to home school so they could be with me even longer! It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the best thing I've ever done.

My house isn't spotless. My desk is a wreck. I feel I always could use more sleep. However, and I believe this is a big however; we are content. God is good.

A Church is Born!

I just received an email from Chad Mankins . . . the Tobo have heard the gospel, and many have come to trust Christ as their Savior! This is so amazing! Chad sent pictures but because his satellite connection is slow, they haven't "arrived" yet. I can't wait to see them!

If you haven't yet, check out the link to "Clay Pots" that I have listed. You must read the entire story from the beginning, it's so amazing! Keep praying for Jason, Chad, Kellie, and Janeene as they now have "infants in Christ" to teach and tend.

WOW!!!

The Backpack

This is the story of the perfect backpack. Or is it?

Ty's taking some classes at Valencia this year, and his favorite back pack, a black EastPak with suede bottom, one main compartment with a smaller compartment in the front, was stolen last year (with his Physics book IN it, go figure).

At the beginning of the school year, I bought him a black JanSport back pack. One main compartment with a smaller compartment in front. It looked JUST LIKE the other one, but no suede bottom, and it was Jansport, NOT Eastpak.

He was less than thrilled.

Evidently, I had purchased an extremely uncool backpack. I gladly offered to take it back to the store, and he accompanied me to look for one.

NO ONE had Eastpak. They just don't, or not THE backpack. You have to order them on line.

Meanwhile, school is starting! In Socorro, NM, I had purchased a backpack to take on the plane so the girls and I could have snacks, books, and my Mom's lap quilts as we traveled. It's a green monstrosity with several compartments, dorky webbing on the front to hold the dorky water bottle, and areas for things like your Swiss Army Knife, cell phone, survival kit, lounge chair. . . you get the picture. In desperation, Ty took this with him to his first semester at Valencia. I truly felt badly for him.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, I went on line and eventually ordered the Eastpak. Black, one compartment with a smaller compartment in the front, and a suede bottom. It was the exact replica of the one that had been stolen, which had never begun to wear out in the four years he used it, and I knew Ty would be happy to have his treasured backpack again.

I waited eagerly for Christmas morning to watch him open it . . . he was thrilled! You could see the sigh of relief . . . all was right in the world again.

Second semester of Valencia begins. We prepare for his classes and auction off our human organs in order to afford his textbooks. I express joy that he now has a proper backpack.

"Oh, I'm not taking the Eastpak to Valencia."

"What?"

"It doesn't have enough compartments. Besides, I don't want to use it for SCHOOL."

Sigh.

New Year

So, anyone have any resolutions? I've given them up. I think I'm finally getting this "live for today" thing down, though I do plan for tomorrow as well.

Today's portfolio day. Report cards and portfolios are due on Monday. I like seeing how much my kids have accomplished so far, but I hate being a slave to the paperwork! Gone are the days where school was for discovery. . . now there must be grades to keep us accountable and proof we've actually done something.

Hooray for McLaughlins!

Thanking God for the safe arrival of Caiden McLaughlin!

Christmas readiness

Trying so hard to prepare for Christmas. I think there's a song by Frank Sinatra about Christmas that goes, "It's the most won-derful time of the year." I've re-written that song many times:

It's the most, stren-uous time of the year
The kids are all greedy
the charities needy
I've had it to HERE!!!!
It's the most, stren-uous time, of the year!

Except my kids aren't really greedy. For that, I am thankful. Ok. . .. maybe Ty's greedy, but he's so darn cute about it. (Yes Allie, if you read this; even when they're 17 you still think they're so darn cute.)

I have two "class" parties to get through tomorrow, then Wednesday we are meeting two students from Korea! I have emailed them, but I haven't heard from them. I'd like to call them, but I've heard they don't speak much English. I'll have to hope for the best.

So students are arriving, and the room they're staying in is a MESS. The bathroom they'll be using is A MESS. The kitchen, from today's class parties, is A MESS. The living room and dining room were carefully decorated by my daughters and look beautiful! I am grateful.

I have not finished Christmas shopping, and I still have things to mail. Ack.

(Did anyone else read Bloom County comics and remember Bill the Cat? He's the one to blame for the Acks.)

ACK!

I know there's a million and one things I'm supposed to be doing to prepare for Ty's graduation, but WHAT ARE THEY??? Arrgh!

Yes, I've started getting his photos together.

Yes, I'm making sure he takes the correct classes.

Yes, I've kept track of everything.

What else? Announcements? Purchase a cap and gown? Plan a party? He turns 18 in April and it's hard to read what he'd like for his birthday. I don't know if he'd like a party or not. :-( He'd probably like to go play paintball.

I feel like I'm holding down 6 or 7 volleyballs under water, and one of them is about to get away from me (the detail I'll have forgotten, I'm sure). Time to Pray!

They've also moved VBS up to the first week in June so the high school can go on a mission trip to Mexico. This means I will be dealing with Ty's graduation, have one week to prepare, then have VBS. I hope it goes well.

Tired

Went to the "Shoot Straight" shooting gallery last night with friends to celebrate Stacie's birthday. What an interesting place! I wonder what would happen if PETA found out about it. Dead animals everywhere. Still, I thought it was kind of cool. . . never realized how large a giraffe was, or how fierce a javalina can look. I should have taken pictures but I wasn't sure if I were allowed.

Here's the group of us. Julie is expecting her 7th child this month! She looks incredible for a woman with so many children, ages 12 to (soon to be) newborn. Her second youngest is 2.

We ate at a restaurant at one of the Disney hotels. It was delicious! Fun group of gals. We always enjoy each other. Ty suggested we go paint balling for someone's birthday, but only a few of the gals liked that idea. I think Stacie, Kim, and Beth Anne would be game. :-)

PNG

This is a picture of (towards the back) Chad, Janeene, and Elijah Mankins, plus their partners, Kellie and Jason Knapp, and their children. They are all serving as missionaries in Papua New Guinea among the Tobo. I have a link to the web blog kept by the Knapps to the right, titled, "Clay Pots." What's happening among the Tobo is so incredible! I highly recommend you read it.