New Seasons

With the beginning of fall coming soon ~ I thought it would be a good time to update this blog that I had all but abandoned.

I just deleted a draft that I had written in May about "Being Behind."  At the time it felt like such a struggle to be ill for over 4 months - and I was completely frustrated by how much school work Alexis didn't get done and how much work I needed to do around the house.  I questioned if I was ever going to come up with the strength to feel normal again.  It was a rather depressing (to me) post, so I chose to make it go away.

Well, four more months have come and gone…  I still struggle with all of the above, as I have continued to have health issues, but I am gaining on everything now and that has helped my attitude tremendously. 

I am thankful to be in the process of regaining my health.  After lots of allergy testing I found out that I am allergic to most every grass and  weed  that grows locally, as well as lots of trees and other foliage.  Among many other things I am also allergic to dogs, horses, aged food (molds) and yeast.  For the next 2 1/2 months I am on the mother of all diets.  I won’t go into the details of what I can eat except to say that it is very little.  The good news is that after gaining a horrible amount of weight due to 5 rounds of Prednisone, the pounds are now melting off.

The good thing about a summer break for students is that you can make a fresh start when you begin your school year.  We started out great for about 2 days ~ when  both Alexis and I came down with a yucky bug.  When it was over for her, sadly we were behind again.   However, something fantastic happened this year…  Alexis is now at an age where she can comprehend our system and has worked very hard to catch back up.  We can see the light at the end of the tunnel again.  That has been very encouraging to both of us. 

As far as my house goes…  Well that’s an ongoing battle.  Every day I try to do something to gain ground and with our older 2 children in college ~ I am able to spend more time doing this.  Every day I try to do something to make a difference around here.  Yesterday I cleaned out the inside of my refrigerator.    I guess some people might think it’s strange that a clean refrigerator makes me happy, but since I spend so much time in my house – it makes me feel so much better! 

Speaking of new seasons!  The big one for us is that we have only 1 child home right now.  Both David and Amanda are enjoying the college life and thankfully at the same university!  We wondered how that might work ~ so far very well!  David has done lots to help Amanda – from picking her up at a volunteer location when she suddenly became sick, to buying books for her that she needed but didn’t get when she should have.  Amanda on the other hand, has shared her meal plan with her brother ~ she knows how to keep him doing favors for her.  I miss them both terribly!  I am looking forward to seeing them soon for family weekend...

Amanda the Sailfish!

Amanda's 18th Birthday!

Alexis' 1st day of school!
Another 1st day of school picture

And the Final Answer Is...

10 Weeks
3 Doctors
3 Rounds of Antibiotics
2 X-Rays
2 Prescriptions of Cough Medicine
2 Types of Inhalers
1 CTscan
1 Round of Prednisolone
1 Worn out Mama

Blahhhhhh!!!!!

I have no idea what the difference is between Bronchilitis and Bronchitis, but according to the Pulmonary doctor, this is the unofficial name for the flu virus that they forgot to include in the flu shot this year.  I wish I could get indignant with the flu shot makers, but I never got the shot.  I never  intended to get the shot.  I hate shots.

In addition to having Bronchilitis, the doctor believes that I acquired viral induced asthma.  He is not diagnosing me with asthma at this time.  He did caution me that sometimes when viruses trigger asthma, you may continue to always have asthma.  I am hoping this is not the case, but am so thankful that I am finally feeling better.

The doctor also had a chance to see my CT scan.  He agreed with the primary care doctor that the "nodule" may be scar tissue from this virus or another one that I had earlier in my life.  It was a relief to hear him say that, as there were many days that my imagination ran wild with fear.  He concurs too that I should have a follow up just to be sure though.

As much as I want to complain and feel sorry for myself, I have to stop and remember that there are so many people who are far more ill than me.  When I look at the part of me who can still enjoy my family, and my time homeschooling my daugher, I genuinely feel thankful for what God has given me.

5 Years Ago Today - My Mother went to be with Jesus

My Mama way before I knew her...

 I am thankful that my brother and I were with my mom as she parted from this world into the arms of her Savior.  It was the most heartbreaking experience I've experienced.  I adored my mother, and will love her forever.  Knowing that she is in heaven, and that I'll see her again one day, gives me reason not to dwell on the sadness of loosing her.  I would prefer to take this day to remember the most special woman I knew.

Born on my mothers 34th birthday, she would tease and tell me that she gave me her birthday, and that she would stay forever 34.  I would joke with her and tell her that I was the best birthday present she ever got.  Actually though, she was the gift to me.  I am truly blessed that she was my mom. 

Ever since I can remember, I enjoyed spending time with her.  Just having her near me was a comfort when I was little.  In some of my earliest memories, I recall that when I was maybe 2 or 3 years old I would sit on her foot and curl my arms and legs around her leg tight while she would tote me from room to room doing the dishes and who knows what.  It was great fun and I was content being close to her.  She gave me lots of hugs and kisses and often told me that she loved me.  When I started school, she was a room mother, assisted in my Brownie troop, and went on many field trips with me.  I loved every minute of it. 

After I grew up and moved over 1,000 miles away from my mom and the rest of my family, she and I kept in close touch by telephone.  If things were not going right in my life, I knew I could pick up the phone and call her.  She would be a listening and sympathetic ear who would encourage me as she was giving me moral and common sense input. 

After David and I were married, with our 1st 2 children just 17 months apart,  my head was spinning trying to manage them as infants and toddlers.  My mother, who through life experience could see a bigger picture than I could, was often amused as I shared the latest antics of my children,  She  would tell me to remember that these are the best and easiest years of my life, and they go fast.  I sometimes questioned that opinion, but as I look back I realize how accurate that statement was.

She loved my children and my sister’s children, and would listen to whatever they wanted to talk about for hours on end.  My son, a sports nut, would tell her every bit of trivia that he currently knew while she sat and listen attentively the entire time he spoke, as though he was speaking pearls of wisdom.

My mother spoiled our family.  She understood that the way to my heart was through my children.  Maybe she was that way too.  Every time she did something for them, it was a gift to me.  I loved and appreciated her so much for that.   On several occasions, she bought season passes to the Disney parks for herself and all of us.   When we lived in South FL, we would all stay in a fantastic hotel near Disney that was super kid oriented.  She would make sure that we (the parents who were always in a rush,) took time for the kids to have fun playing in their pool, playing bingo, karaoke, face painting, arcade games  and more.  The hotel was a vacation all in itself, adding Disney to it was over the top bliss for our children.

She spoiled us all at Christmas with lots and lots of gifts.  Some years she spent Christmas or Christmas Eve with us.  When my brother and sister-in-law moved to the area ~ they brought my mom to live with them.  After that, we began a new tradition of going to their house on New Year’s eve and having my side of the family’s Christmas then.  Regardless of where or what day we celebrated Christmas with my mom, she gave the kids and all of us an abundance of joy through her love and thoughtfulness.

Speaking of gifts…   The biggest gift of all that my mom gave me was to share about her faith in Jesus Christ.  Though life was messy during my childhood, and going to church was often sporadic, I believed in Jesus from an early age.  I knew He was there, and I knew He was with me.  I prayed and trusted that my prayers would be answered.  But until I became an adult my relationship with Him was one of convenience to me.  My mom knew this, and had many talks with me about her rock solid faith.  She didn’t talk to me as though she was better than me because of her faith.  She spoke words of love so that I would understand what I was missing, often setting me straight when my heart would wander.  If she was ever disappointed with me (at times she had completely valid reasons to be,) she never showed it.  Instead she always, always gave me her unconditional love.    

Once someone I highly respected told me that the Bible is fallible.   It just so happened that it was around the time that my mom was coming for a visit.  When the subject came up, I told her what I had heard.   She paused for a moment and said, "Just what part of the Bible do you want to believe is inaccurate?"  I was puzzled.  Then she said  "That is like calling God a liar."  Ouch!!!  Mom rarely minced words.  I still was unsure though ~  But she backed her belief up with scripture.  When I thought about it, and prayed about it I could clearly see that she was right.  How could I ever tell my children to obey this part of the Bible and believe that part of the Bible, but the rest doesn’t count.  That is an inconsistency that would make my children doubt their faith, or worse yet, doubt the Lord’s omnipotence.  I am very grateful that the Lord placed my mom there at a pivotal time in my faith.
   

Over the years, my mom and I had many discussions about our faith.  Hers seemed to deepen, and mine was strengthened.  I am thankful that the Lord gave me a mother who had a heart for Jesus.

  

Other things about my mom I am thankful for:

• She deeply loved each of her children. 
  
• She had strong bonds to her mother, sister and other family members. 
  
• Mom had a great sense of humor. 
  
• As a single mother, she worked hard at her job to get ahead. 
  
• She genuinely listened to what we had to say, trying to understand what was important to us.
  
• She had a good personality and taught me how to step outside of my shy self and speak to others. 
  
• She was a great encourager. 
• She was the perfect mom for me.

February is Finished!

I don’t ordinarily like to wish time away, but I am so happy to see February over!  The main reason being,  that my son comes home from college for Spring Break tomorrow!  It will be really good to see his handsome face!!!    

I have many other reasons to be thankful that February is behind us.  I am still struggling with a bad cough.  I just can’t seem to get over it.  But, I did get past several concerning doctor appointments, and all turned out well.  If this cough doesn’t begin to ease up, I will need to make an appointment with either my general practitioner, or a pulmonary physician.  My surgeon recommended a couple of doctors, so I will consider doing the later.   After looking at my X-ray’s and CT-scan, she feels that everything looks good, and I should follow the radiologist’s advice and retake the CT in 2 months, so seeing a pulmonary doctor would only be because of my cough.

It is difficult to keep up with our busy schedule when I am feeling healthy.  But, I do tire easily from this cough  It was a struggle to look at the calendar at the beginning of each week to see what I was facing.  However, it's amazing to watch how the Lord worked the details out for me each day.  From field trips that were canceled out of the blue - to extra help from my husband, to friends coming to my resque.  i really need to reflect on the love He has shown me this past month, and etch it into my mind for instant recall the next time I begin to worry or fret. 

I am thrilled to say that even though we had an extra busy month, even though Alexis lost a week of school time, even though I have been sick and had to add doctor appointments to the schedule , even though we had several unexpected things take place this month, Alexis is almost completely back on track with schoolwork!!  I can't tell you how good that feels!  

Give thanks for the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.  1 Chronicles 16:34

Two field trips this week---  One of our Keeper's moms set up a visit to a Butterfly Encounter when the girls were earning their Butterfly Badges.  We also went to a Science Nature Center for some hands on biology!

A butterfly on Alexis' finger

The butterflies were very active that morning

A Science Field Trip!  This not-so-local Nature Center was definitely worth the drive-  The girls are dissecting Owl Pellets here.

Can you think of anything more fun than finding a few rat and bird skeletons?

Our Week in Review

This week was extremely busy.  we kept our schedule intact, and tried to play catch-up with Alexis’ school work.  One big problem with me being sick is that there are no substitute teachers in this house.  We were slightly behind with everything before I got sick ~ If you are familiar with Sonlight Curriculum, you know that it can sometimes feel overwhelming when you get behind in your read-alouds.  We should just skip a book or something, but they are all such great reading material that I find it difficult to choose one to pass on. 

I was still feeling yucky and weak on Monday, but we did school work and tried to go to one of our many activities.  Everything was going as planned as we got in the van to go.  I drove out of our driveway and down the street. (Unexpected Situation #1) Suddenly, the van began to sound strained like it wasn’t changing gears.  I drove up a hill and realized that there was a huge problem.  It acted like the transmission was out.  I promptly made a U-turn and coasted back to our street.  We got out of the van and saw smoke and smelled an electric burning type odor.  I called David and he left work at once – then I called AAA to tow the van to the car shop.  Before they got here, David was home and had figured out the problem.  Thankfully it was not the transmission.  Sadly, it was the compressor to the air conditioner and some sort of belt that goes to it.  I am extremely thankful that we were in my neighborhood when this happened.

 

Tuesday, I still felt weak – no better than Monday.  David worked at home while I worked on more schooling with Alexis.  Then we were off to our activities in David’s car.  I ran errands to get ready for co-op picked Amanda up from school.  We got the van back and ran more errands for Amanda.  I was quiet worn out by the end of the day and wondered how I was going to get through Wednesday, as that is our busiest day.

Keeper’s at Home and co-op came on Wednesday.  It was enjoyable to be there, not hard – just long.  I am so thankful for friends.  I was blessed to receive a lot of help from a couple of truly wonderful friends who eased my workload.  I have to admit though,  I was downright happy to return home that afternoon.  I basically did nothing for the rest of the evening except reheat leftover Vegetable Beef Soup for dinner.

 

Thursday – Valentine’s Day started off lovely with flowers, a balloon, and a strawberry cheesecake from David.  I woke the girls up and gave them their Valentine surprises.  We dropped Amanda off at school and Alexis and I returned home and had "pajama day."  We got even more caught up with school, and I took a nap while Alexis worked on math.  We picked Amanda up, bought some flowers for the girls to give to their Grandmother and went over to my in-law’s house bearing gifts. Afterward,  I was planning to pick up take out as a treat – but I ran out of steam and came home.  David took Amanda to work and picked up a nice dinner that we all enjoyed.

I am so thankful for my family ~ My husband who blesses and takes care of his family, is always there for me when I need him.  My son whom I dearly miss, but is considerate and calls me almost every day.  My sweet oldest daughter  – who is a very hard worker- Even though she has been feeling ill this week, she stayed a trooper on work overload between her job and school tests and quizzes.  Last but not least… my baby girl – who has written me get well cards almost every day, gives me hugs, and tells me that I am the best Mommy in the whole world.

     

I was still feeling tired today – if I would only stop coughing!!!  I tried to keep a gentle pace so that I didn’t feel stressed, and so we didn’t get farther behind with school.  (Okay I admit it, I am a chronic box checker – and I really wanted to go into the weekend with a peaceful outlook on school next week.)  So...  Here we were, dutifully reading a book on the sofa in the family room ~ minding our own business ~ when  ( Unexpected Situation #2) the lights began to dim and hum.  Then the electricity went off.  There were no storms, so I was a little perplexed, but we went back to our reading.  After a few moments, a power surge began again, only this time the lights were popping, and there were loud booming sounds coming from almost every direction in the house!       I looked up at our ceiling fan because the sounds coming from it made me think that it's light bulbs would be exploding all over us.  Thankfully not though.  However, as I was looking at the fan, Alexis was looking at the TV in the armoire and saw smoke coming from it.  She immediately told me that I should call 911 – and as I did, the smoke began to get thicker.  By the time I finished giving our information to the 911 operator, the smoke was fading.  I still wanted the firemen to come because I couldn’t get a good enough look inside the armoire to see if there was an actual fire going on in there.  (Actually, I didn't want to get too close.).  I was afraid that if I told them to wait and there was a fire – we would have a serious situation on our hands.  Alexis and I did as the operator said, and walked outside.  I called David as we headed out the door to wait for a fire truck, and realized that there were 2 gentlemen working for the electric company digging in my front yard.     All this havoc was finally starting to make some sense.  I walked up to them and described what had just happened in my home and explained that a fire truck was on its way.  They "assured" me that they had nothing to do with it, as they were working on our next door neighbor’s electricity.  I had my doubts, but wanted to be kind and give them the benefit of the doubt as long as they would look into the possibility that they were responsible for this smoking incident.  The fire truck arrived, and 3 nice firemen got out and took a look at my TV and ceiling fan.  I mentioned that the men from the electric company did not think that they had anything to do with our house problem...  The firemen knew better, one of them said that we might find out differently after they looked into it.  Sure enough… it was the electric company who caused the surge.  Both gentlemen came knocking on our door with lots of apologies and said that they had disconnected something that they thought was our neighbors, but was in fact ours.  When they plugged it back in, of course the main electricity to our house was not off,  so we had a huge power surge.  They immediately had their supervisor out here – who was also nice – and he and David went through our house checking everything out.  The following is a list of the items that were ruined:

1 TV 
2 Satellite Receivers
All Lights Around the Pool Area
Pool Pump Timer
Pool Solar Switch
Clock built in to Roll Top Desk

All in all we have much to be thankful for.  We are all safe.  We have our house.  We have all of our appliances, air/heat, computer – I have not backed anything up in awhile.   

God is Good!!! 

While David was making rounds through our house with the electric company supervisor, I went for a mammo.  (Unexpected Situation #3)  I will not go into details, but  "Digital" is the way to go.  The comfort level is a drastic difference from the "old" way.  I was told too, that the pictures are much clearer.  This is the 2nd step in trying to determine if there is something I should be doing concerning the nodule in my lung.  I will see another doctor – who is a surgeon – in a couple of weeks.  She is very good, and I trust her a lot.  In addition to the mammo results, she will be looking at the CT-scan and X-ray.  I am praying that she will be able ease my mind the rest of the way – or guide me to an appropriate physician to look into this further.

As I look back on this week, I am bombarded with reminders of how the Lord works out all of the details big and small, in our lives perfectly.  I have so very, very much to be thankful for.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18    

Be Careful What You Wish For...

2 Weeks Ago

 

I was looking at my calendar for February and realized that in addition to homeschooling, I had something scheduled for every single day of the month until the 29th.  This included field trips, co-op, dance, piano, Keepers, and doctor appointments.  Usually I don’t get unraveled about a heavy schedule, but for some reason, that day I was feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I was feeling very angry at the load that I had put on myself, and was wishing that I could back out of all of it and just stay home for awhile and do nothing but homeschool.

Be careful for what you wish for…

 

The very next day – I woke up and felt like something was wrong physically.  I didn’t have a cold, or a fever, but I felt something heavy in my chest.  As time progressed throughout the day, I began to cough.  This was not the type of cough I usually get.  This was a deep, bottom of a lung, hard to breath, stabbing painful type of cough. 

I waited for a week before I made an appointment with the doctor.  He seemed concerned after he listened to my breathing, and told me that I probably either had pneumonia or bronchitis.  He sent me home with 2 RX’s and told me that if I didn’t feel substantially better in 72 hours I should come back in.  Well, 72 hours came and went.  If anything I felt worse.  so I scheduled another appointment.  This time, my doctor changed my antibiotic RX to a mega strength, and promptly sent me for an X-ray.

I drove straight to the radiologist and in no time I was taken back for my X-ray.  I got an indication from the lady who took it that I may have pneumonia, as she told me to be careful around Alexis because pneumonia is contagious.  However, while I was still there a radiologist read the X-ray and said that there was no indication of pneumonia.  After leaving their office, I got my prescription filled and went home feeling relieved, but perplexed about my illness.  I called David (husband)  and told him what was said.  We both felt hopeful that the new RX would work and life would be good.

(By the way – a little side note here – please don’t tell me that our health care system is broken and that the government needs to fix it.  My private insurance and non-government doctors are working just fine.  Thank You.)

 

About 1 hour later my doctor called me to give me the results (that I had already been given) concerning no pneumonia on my X-ray.  I expected him to say – Good News!  But he did not.  He was concerned that this may mean that there is a blood clot – so he sent me back to the radiologist immediately for a CT-scan.    

                       

By 4:45 Monday afternoon, I was cleared to go home from the radiologist office.  I did not have a blood clot.  I was told that my doctor would be in touch.  When I did not hear back from the doctor right away I anticipated good news.  On Tuesday the antibiotics seemed to be kicking in and I was beginning to feel better ~ I still had not heard back from the doctor ~ so because of family pressure, I called and left a message asking if they had received the CT-scan report.  Wednesday afternoon I received a call back.  They had reviewed the CT-scan report and there is a nodule on my lung.  They recommend that I have another CT-scan in 3 months.  I got off of the phone feeling stunned – I did not ask a lot of questions, because I have to mull things over in my mind before I know what questions I want to ask.  

The internet is a good thing – and a bad thing.  The good thing is that I was able to research lung nodules – the bad thing is that I was able to research lung nodules.  Because of the internet, I was able to learn enough about lung nodules to ask the doctor some good questions.  However, because of the information available on the internet, I have great concerns that I may not have otherwise had if I had just kept my head in the sand.

Once I became aware that this may be quiet serious, I lost my ability to relax and trust God.  It was easy to panic.   I wanted to fix this and make it all go away ~ now.  I wanted to control my own destiny rather than allow Him to see me through this process.  I was praying every moment I wasn’t reading or talking to my husband, but I wasn’t "giving" this worry to the Lord.  I knew I had to do that.  It is hard.  But, it is also futile to think that anything I can do is better than something He can do.

As I said prayers with Alexis and read a story with her last night, I was praying silently that He would give me comfort and peace.  I prayed that He would allow me to open the Bible and read something – anything that would make me know that He is with me, that He cares for me, and that everything will be alright. 

The great thing about the Lord, is I am constantly being reminded of how He cares about the details of our lives.  I crawled into bed frazzled from the last few days, opened my NIV Bible and this is the verse that He showed me:

"I saw the Lord always before me,
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will live in hope,
because You will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will You let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the paths of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence."  Acts 2:25-28

I don’t know where this journey of concern will lead me, but I do know that He is with me every single step of the way.  He will give me the strength that I need, and I can rejoice and rest in knowing that.

A Belated Christmas Gift

As part of our Christmas gift to my step-mother this year, we gave her a ticket to SeaWorld.  The ticket had a bonus to it – she could go back another day for free.    David (husband,) Alexis and I also got Annual passes as part of our Christmas.  So… Alexis and I took Grandmum to see Shamu and all the other animals twice in one week.  

Alexis is excited to get through Sea World's Entrance Gate

A beautiful McCaw Parrot perched new the entrance of the park.

1st show we saw - Clyde and Seamore - Very Cute!

Penguin Encounter - It seemed these penguins were posing for the camera!

A Cuckooboroug outside the Penguin Encounter. 

On the way inside Shark Encounter - We encountered a Blow-fish.

We also encountered these Australian Leafy Sea Dragons.  Can you see them?

You can' go through Shark Encounter without watching sharks swim overhead...

It's hard to capture the awesome beauty of this gorgeous Clydesdale when he's behind bars.  :-(

A bonus that we weren't expecting - The Polar Express Attraction was still set up at the Wild Arctic.

Sleeping Polar Bears

The Polar Express attraction was enjoyable.  It even had the scent of Christmas!

Outside Wild Arctic

New since we were last yere - Shamu's Happy Harbor has rides!

A Dolphin at the Blue Horizons

More Dolphins

Alexis took this pic - Great shot!

Pets Ahoy - One of our favorites!  This dog is jumping rope with the girl!

Alexis petting a dolphin for the 1st time...

Alexis and Grandmum feeding a dolphin.

Me petting a dolphin.  Thieving birds grabbed the fish I was trying to feed it...

Notice the Bubble Ring?  It was truly a unique surprise!

Peaceful looking manitee

Baby American Alligators relaxing in the sun.

Grandmum and Alexis preparing to board the Flamingo paddle boats

Photos of ducks were taken while I waited them to finish the paddle boat rides.

This picture reminds me of one of our favorite "Five in a Row" books, Ping!

A Kodak moment...

Another Kodak moment - Doesn't Alexis look tall standing on a rock?

Note:  These posts are being added to a new blog in 2011 - This was one of the last times we were able to see the trainers swim with the killer whales.  It is an amazing site, and although above all we want the trainers to stay safe, we really miss this interactive show.

The trainer was giving this whale a little snack.

A little blurry, but wow!  Spectacular!

This might feel good in the summer, but not in January!  Look at the powerful splash made by the whale's fins!

Great shot of one of the Lord's sensational creatures!

 

 

Alexis and I had a great time at Sea World with Grandmum.  We look forward to going back with her Dad soon!