Pneumonia: 2 - Our Family: 0!

Kevin started coughing yesterday, a presistent dry cough. Today more of the same only progressively worse, retracting and grunting. So I took him in. His O2 sats were 90-92 but he was working to breathe. PA said it sounded like pneumonia on the right side. He was slightly better after a nebulizer but not clear. Didn't do a chest x-ray, but he started him on antibiotics. He thinks we caught it at the very beginning stages.

The only thing that gets me is that he prescribed Omniceph, completely diregarding the BIG RED ALLERGY sticker on Kevin's chart that says Kevin is allergic to Keflex (and should avoid all cephelasporins!)!!! Good thing I caught his mistake before I left the office! Heavens, the last thing my poor sick little boy needs on top of pneumonia is to have a severe all over body rash because the man wasn't paying attention!!!

At least we got Zythromax, once a day for 5 days, instead of an antibiotic that is 3 times/day for 10 days! I need as little as possible to remember these days!

Just One More Day.

My excitement and nerves are increasing with each passing hour. Tomorrow morning at this time, I will be dragging my night-owl rear end out of bed and getting ready to take my firstborn, my only daughter in for what is probably the second most important (maybe third) procedure of her life, so far.

A heart catheterization for the placement of an Amplatzer occluder to repair the Atrial Septal Defect in her heart. That was a mouthful, wasn't it?

I've stated before that I am not a worrier by nature, and I am at total peace trusting God no matter what the outcome. As a mom, this marks the 8th surgery/procedure requiring anesthesia that I have sent one of my babies into an OR for. Sad to say, but it's kind of "old hat" at this point. Though the seriousness of this particular procedure ranks near the top of the list, I trust the doctor and more importantly, I trust God.

I had a talk with Letha the other day to tell her, to the best of my knowledge, what she could expect to have happen tomorrow. She's not so happy about having another IV put into her arm, since the last one required 2 attempts and caused much bruising. She seems more at peace about it than last time we talked. We did also discuss the possibility of the occluder not working and how that would result in her needing surgery. I know the chances are slim, but I feel we need to be prepared enough to have thought about it. Yesterday she was very quiet and not quite clingy, but more snuggly than usual, so we'll see if anything comes up this evening as time draws nearer.

So, why am I so excited? Because I believe that my daughter will be able to keep up with her brothers,

out-skate her nearly 40 year old mother,
and have more energy to do the things she loves to do! (Cooking, not eating! lol!)

I can't wait!!!

Prayer for Stellan.

It seems that interest here in praying for Stellan has dropped off significantly. I'm OK with that. There are SO many, many bloggers holding prayer for Stellan and that's what's important. I'll still be praying and if you're reading this and you want to join me, just leave a comment at any time on any post. But, I will be resuming my normal (read: sporadic) blogging activities.

If you want to join others click here.

And to keep up with Stellan's progress you can click here or on the "Praying for Stellan" button on my side bar.

Those of you who visited here and participated in all those hours of prayer, thank you. I know it made a difference. May God richly bless your faithfulness and generosity.

Round the Clock Prayer for Friday.

This week has been a rollercoaster, hasn't it? Getting Mck Mama's tweets on my phone has made me drop to my knees and cry out to God and other times breathe a sigh of release and thankfulness. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Friday AM
12:00 -

1:00 - Karina, CO

2:00 - Christine, MI

3:00

4:00

5:00

6:00 - Jaci, TX

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Stacy, CA

9:00 - Tim, TX

10:00

11:00

Friday PM
12:00

1:00

2:00

3:00

4:00

5:00

6:00

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Stacy, CA

9:00 - Tim, TX

10:00 - Penny, OH

11:00 - Penny, OH

Round the Clock Prayer for Stellan.

----- Updated to add hours through Thursday as well ----

The idea just came to me, since Mck Mama's update a few minutes ago to organize a Round-the-Clock Prayer vigil for Stellan. There are many, many followers of Mck Mama's blog. Would you commit to spend ONE HOUR in prayer and worship to ask our awesome God to intervene in Stellan's life another time?

If you leave a comment with the hour you can commit to, I will add your name to the following list. For now I will set it up for the next 48 hours, and we'll go from there. All times will be in Central Time zone, since that is where Mck Mama lives. Please leave a comment with your NAME, STATE (or Country), DAY and HOUR that you will be in focussed prayer for Stellan.

*** Additionally, don't be afraid to sign up for an hour already taken, we can definitely have more than one person per hour. And, please feel free to spread the word and link to me. If anyone knows how to make a button for this post, I'll be happy to add it! ***

Monday PM
8:00 - Brianne

9:00 - Jessie, KS

10:00 - Candice, KS

11:00 - Valerie, AL

Tuesday AM
12:00 - Reese, WA

1:00 - Karina, CO
Angel, WA

2:00 - Kim, BC, Canada

3:00 - JD, Canada

4:00 - Liz, MN
Courtney, MI

5:00 - Jess, SD
Melinda, NC

6:00 - Jess, SD

7:00 - Deb, WY
Kelly, ID

8:00 - Kristin, AL

9:00 - Laura, FL
Dani, CA

10:00 - Leslie, TN

11:00 - Amber, NC
Liz, GA
Michelle, TX

Tuesday PM
12:00 - Laura, FL
Sarah, Canada
Jaclyn, TX

1:00 - Kelly, MI
Marianna, GA

2:00 - Michelle, TX

3:00 - Janelle, OH

4:00 - Liz, NH

5:00 - Alycia, TN

6:00 - Ami, PA
Purejoy, TN
Michelle, TN
Amanda, TX

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Tiffany, TX

9:00 - Brianne

10:00 - Hoosiermama, IN

11:00 - Melissa, GA
Joy, AL
Justlori2day

Wednesday AM
12:00 - Jennifer, OH
Justlori2day

1:00 - Karina, CO

2:00 - Diana, Netherlands

3:00 - Kristina, MS
Stacy, CA

4:00 - Liz, MN

5:00 - Morgyn, IN

6:00 - Jess, SD
Christina, FL
Jaci, TX

7:00 - Kelly, ID
Mae

8:00 - Sarah, CA

9:00 - Dani, CA
Amy Lynn

10:00 - Sarah, GA
Jaci, TX
Meg

11:00

Wednesday PM
12:00

1:00 - Brandi

2:00 - Lisa, MS

3:00 - Jaci, TX

4:00 - Rachael, TX

5:00

6:00 - Penny, OH

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Melissa, GA
Todd, CO

9:00 - ProfessorSteve

10:00 - Alyssa, OK

11:00 - Jessica, LA

Thursday AM
12:00 - Dody, AR

1:00 - Karina, CO

2:00 - Diana, Netherlands

3:00

4:00

5:00 - Jamie, TX

6:00 - Felicia, NC

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Marie, IN
Pam, AZ

9:00 - Joy

10:00 - Deb, AL

11:00 - Marie, IN

Thursday PM
12:00 - Liz, NH

1:00

2:00

3:00

4:00

5:00 - Kaylan, GA

6:00 - Amie, OK

7:00 - Kelly, ID

8:00 - Renata
Courtney, MN

9:00

10:00

11:00 - Kaylan, GA

"Not Me!" Monday - POSTPONED

Mck Mama is at Children's Hospital with her baby, Stellan, who is having a major heart problem right now. You can read about it at "My Charming Kids".

Mck Mama has a beautiful blog with a huge following, but she's as down to Earth as they come. She and I have e-mailed back and forth many times over the last few months, and she feels like a dear, dear friend. Please, lift her and Stellan to the Lord today as they come to mind.

Tackle it Tuesday on Thursday!

My friend Bonnie does a weekly Tackle it Tuesday weekly post on her blog. Last week she inspired me, but Tuesday I didn't get my task tackled 'til I was too tired to type and too tuckered to try to post pictures, then all the stuff with Letha happened and I didn't get back to it until now.

So here we are. My over-stuffed, disorganized, extremely dirty, kitchen cabinets.

BEFORE:
Note the glasses on the counter that I recently purchased that needed this change in order to find a home!


The mayhem DURING:
Yes, I did get rid of a grocery bag full of unnecessary/infrequently used items! Yay me!

AFTER:Note: Everything has a place and that place is LABLED (thanks to the Dymo lable maker my kids got me for Christmas! Thanks guys!) It's supposed to help them know where to put things when they empty the dishwasher. I can tell you it hasn't worked out completely according to plan.

So far, everyone is having trouble finding food and things to drink from. But, I like the change over all!

Will Anyone Second Me Skipping the Next Two Weeks?

I'm really not the worrying type. Not much ruffles my feathers. I like to think of myself as realistically faithful in hope and hopeful in faith. I wouldn't call myself optimistic. I would say that I just trust that God will take care of things. And He has proved Himself over and over to me.

That said, I am having a very hard time waiting for April 1st. I am fully anxious for this to be OVER! My stomach is in knots and I'm nervous. I want the process to be over with already.

Lord, help me feel Your peace through this.

I'm not scared for Letha. I'm not worried about the procedure. I'm not worried about the outcome. No matter how it goes, or what happens, I TRUST my Jesus to see us all through to the end. I'm simply anxious to be on the other side of it.

Please, pray with me that I will have peace and (though I hate to pray for this) patience throughout the next two weeks of waiting, that I will wait on the Lord.

Wordless Wednesday - SSTTEEERRRRRIKE!

Two fo Tuesday.

Here are two questions with two answers. Audience participation time! I hope you'll comment so I can get to know you a little.

1. Share 2 memories you have of St. Patrick's Day.

2. Share 2 memories you have of going to the ER, whether you or your children.

I'll be back later to post my answers. I've got a request to "go do something" today.

"Not Me!" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not have a dream about my 12 year old daughter being pregnant. OH NO, that would be a nightmare! When she got home from school, I did not use my dream as a springboard to talk to her about sex and teenage pregnancy, and what she could expect from her parents in either case. I did not also talk to her best friend about it, since she was not in the dream telling my daughter to hide the truth from me! My daughter SOOO did not ask me if her father and I would, in that situation, adopt her baby and raise it as our own! I did not refuse based on the fact that her father and I want to eventualy be done raising children so we can have fun. Nope, that was not me!

After spending the night in the ER with my daughter this week, and finding that not only did she have pneumonia, but she also has enlarged pulmonary arteries, indicating a heart defect, I did NOT choose to let my husband and best friend sleep unaware of the news, calling only after they would normally be up for the day. In not doing that, I did not go to bed before my best friend woke but after posting on both facebook and my blog. My very best friend did not later that morning receive a phone call from a mutual friend about my daughter's situation, of which she was totally unaware, because I was not blissfully enjoying the 3 hours of sleep I got that day. And, in fact, I did NOT get a phone call from my best friend just minutes before I had planned on calling her. Wouldn't that make me the most insensitive best friend, ever? I'm so glad that was not me!

Speaking of my best friend, we had planned for her to spend the next day at my house scrapbooking the day away, and she did not end up babysitting my boys for the entire day while we accomplished zero scrapbooking until the kids all went to bed that night. I did not give my diabetic friend SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH as a snack during the few late hours that we did get to scrap together. Heavens, I care more about her health than that. What kind of friend would I be? Nope, that was definitely not me!

I did NOT have a farting contest with my 10 year old son while cutting his hair to see who could make the loudest and longest. I did not lose in the loudest and longest categories only to win in the stinkiest! I did not give my son another mohawk, for the umpteenth time. I'm much more responsible, conservative and couth than that. And I surely didn't post about farting and sex on my blog, not ME!

I thouroughly enjoyed that confession of the things I didn't do this week. Feel free to leave a comment before you head on over to Mck Mama's blog to see what other ordinary folks haven't done this week!

On Being Brave.

I keep asking Letha if she is scared, worried, nervous, afraid. And any other adjectives that might fit the situation of a 12 year old girl facing a hole in her heart and a heart cath. Despite being ecstatic over the wonder of not having to deal with Asthma anymore, this situation is very BIG and SERIOUS for her. After all, she doesn't remember the last time she was hospitalized (at birth for a bowel obstruction).

I remember the terror I felt at handing my 51 hour old baby over to a nurse to be taken to surgery. I remember watching the painful recovery. I remember the tears I cried, the prayers I begged God to answer, the days and weeks of recovery that seemed to pass at eternity's pace. I remember the pain medication that stopped her heart, and the antidote that counteracted it. I remember the day we were finally allowed to take our first precious miracle home. It was a Sunday and we went straight to church. We walked in at prayer time and I walked straight down to the altar and laid my baby there and gave her to God. Something I had done with her picture just a week earlier as I struggled with releasing control of my life and my baby to God's plan. She was the first, but not the last. We have handed over two of our other babies a total of SIX more times for surgeries for various childhood ailments.

She has no memory of any of it.

I expected her to have fear. And yet, she tells me she's OK. I can see that she is holding it back to please me. Oh, little peanut, tell me your fears that I may walk with you through them.

Tonight she packed her backpack to sleep over at her friend's house, and sticking out the top of the bag was the head and arms of a little, pink, hand-crocheted-by-Grandma, teddy bear named "Lucky Bear". Then I knew for sure.

You see, Lucky Bear has been around since the day she was born. She was a gift from Grandma on Letha's birthday. She's named Lucky Bear because that Friday the 13th was the luckiest day of our lives. Lucky Bear was placed in Letha's crib after that first surgery, and she kept watch over our little peanut all the hours that we couldn't be with her ourselves. She is in nearly every picture of Letha during those 23 days, the symbol of a guardian angel.

"Why are you taking Lucky Bear?"

"Because I love her."

"Is it because she was with you after your first surgery?"

"Yes."

"Are you afraid?"

"Not really."
"Sometimes."
"A little."

"Are you planning to take Lucky Bear with you to the hospital?"

"Yes!"

Finally we were able to talk about her fears. She wanted to know that we were going to be there with her. She wanted to know that we would be near. She wanted to know that we would never leave her. She was so willing to face it with a smile for our sake and because we are so excited for the outcome, but so afraid that she would be alone on the journey. She was so afraid that we would let her go into the unknown all by herself.

Oh Heavenly Father. My eyes are open. How often I face my journey with so much courage that I don't bring my fears to You? How many times have I put on my brave facade while I am trembling inside? How often have I tried to hide my fear from You because I want to please You? And there You are, KNOWING that I am afraid, waiting for me to tell You my fears so that You can tell me that you will NEVER leave me. You will never forsake me. You will walk the road with me and help me as I face the BIGGEST obstacles in my life. Even on this road, Lord, I have feared that you would take my daughter from me, that I would have to give her back to you on more than the altar of my heart. Yet You are here, with me now, fulfilling Your promise to never leave me. Amen.

The hospital where her heart cath will take place, we have been there before for 3 surgeries. I happen to know that they encourage one of the parents to go with their child to the OR and wait until the child falls asleep. They keep close contact with the parents in the waiting room through the procedure. And the parents both join the child in the recovery room as soon as possible. I was finally able to tell Letha that we would be WITH her all the way. She will not be alone. It's OK to be afraid. It's OK to talk to me about it. I will love you, hold you and tell you that I will be with you.

My dear, sweet Letha. You are more like your Mommie than you know.

Giddy with Praise!

I'll admit that this morning I started imagining all the worst possible senarios and had a few moments in which I began to unravel. I was reminded to take those fears to Jesus, and got my peace restored, and wait for answers.

We saw the cardiologist today. They did an EKG and an Echo Cardiogram. During the Echo Todd and I could not really understand what we were looking at until we had been looking at it long enough that it finally dawned on us that we were seeing blood flow through the middle of the heart where there were no valves. Hmmm.

The Cardiologist explained it to us in great detail in very easy to understand terms. Letha has a hole in her heart called an Atrial Septal Defect - Secumdum type, LARGE. It is causing secondary issues: Dilated (enlarged) Right Atrium, Right Ventrical and Pulmonary Arteries. The hole is about the size of a penny (18 mm).

The GOOD news, and there's a lot. Her asthma symptoms are all mostly caused by the ASD. Her growth (or lack thereof) is probably due to the ASD. And Fixing it will give her more energy, help her breathe easier, especially during exercise, it will allow her body to spend some energy on growing. There won't be any permanent damage, her heart will be able to recover it's normal shape and the arteries that have been enlarged will shrink some, but she will grow into any other enlargement.

The procedure itself is an outpatient procedure (NO SURGERY! Praise the Lord!). They will go in through a catheter in her groin and place a patch (you can view the kind of patch used HERE. ) The patch is permanent and her heart will grow around it.

We are SO excited! I was quite literally skipping to the car! Honestly, I have never thought to pray about a resolution to her Asthma, and here we are with one! I have never been so excited about one of my children being ill, but this pneumonia has given us a wonderful gift. Even Letha, as we left the cardiologist, said, "I wasn't getting the whole "Thankful for pneumonia" thing until now!" Imagine, the thought of breathing easy and having energy and breath to run and play with her friends.

Thank you all my friends for your prayers! We will be keeping you posted on Letha's progress and her procedure on April 1.

Pneumonia - Blessing in Disguise. *** Updated ***

Rally the troops, we need some serious prayer.

Letha spiked a fever last night of 103.9. After ibuprofen and nebs she felt better and tried to sleep. She was up at 12:30 complaining of pain. Then again at 1:30. I let her decide whether to go to the ER. She chose yes.

At the ER they did chest x-rays and a flu test. Chest x-rays showed a nice big spot of pneumonia. Chest x-ray also showed an enlarged pulmonary artery. And the Dr. ordered a CT scan on the spot. The CT scan confirmed the enlarged thickened artery. The cardiologist that read the scan believes that she has had this condition for some time. He believes it is caused by a heart defect (that we need further testing to find).

The ER ped and I speculated that there could be a hole in her heart that is causing the BP in the pulmonary arteries to be high. If that's the case, surgery could be needed to correct it. It is *possible* that having too much blood flow to the lungs would cause fatigue, shortness of breath and faintness and trouble breathing during exercise. Which are ALL symtoms of Asthma, which we have been treating her for. If that is the case, it's possible that she doesn't have asthma at all. This is just SPECULATION.

As we waited for her IV antibiotics and fluids to ever so slowly make their way into her bloodstream, I snuggled up beside her, gathering her in my arms. She hadn't slept the whole night since she woke at 12:30, she just couldn't get comfortable. I held her and did something I used to do when she used to have nightmares as a little girl. I sang Jesus over her. "Jesus Loves Me (You)", "Jesus, Name Above All Names" and every other song I could recall about Jesus. As I sang just above a whisper, holding her in my arms, she relaxed and slept. And I revelled in the oppontunity to hold my baby sleeping in my arms while my Savior held us in His arms and sang His peace over us. Thank you, Lord, for that moment.

The next few days should be interesting. I will keep updates on twitter and facebook, and will chronolog this here. I'm not a worrier by nature, so we're just going to take this one step at a time, after all, my Jesus is the same today as He was before we went to the ER. (a quote modified from Angie at Bring the Rain!)

--------Not much of an UPDATE--------

The pedi we saw today agrees with the ER doc's assessment, that the pulmonary artery is enlarged and has probably been so for a long period of time, and that it indicates a heart problem. So, he referred her to a pedi cardiologist and got her fit in tomorrow for an appointment! Yeah, no waiting. She will have an Echo (u/s of the heart), and we'll go from there.

He did not, however, agree with the ER doc's choice of Keflex to treat the pneumonia and is switching her to two other antibiotics, and adding a probiotic. None of which is either here nor there for me, except that it was a waste of money to pay for the first prescription.

So, I'll have more news tomorrow late afternoon.

I still feel the peace of Jesus surrounding us. A long time ago, I layed my daughter on the altar (literally and figuratively) and gave her life to God. She's still there because I trust God completely with her life, whatever comes. My God is big enough to heal her and He is big enough to sustain me if He chooses otherwise. I will trust in Him.

Wordless Wednesday - Why So Blue?

A: That's what happens when you make oatmeal with milk from a blue cow!

Two for Tuesday.

OK, so Pam over at You're Gonna Miss This is having several (3 to be exact) giveaways, the third of which is COFFEE!!!! So, pop on over there and leave a comment about how you like your coffee to enter.

-------And, now, back to our regularly scheduled blogram--------

My own teeny tiny blog carnival that I like to call audience participation time! It my way of getting to know anyone out there who reads this blog. (TRULY peeps, you have to participate for this to be a carnival!)

No rules, just answer two two part questions.

1. What 2 things will you miss when winter is finally over?

2. Name 2 of your favorite teachers from any grade.

Feel free to expand your answers, after all, this is about getting to know you!

"Not Me!" Monday.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

This was an interesting week. No matter what anyone tells you, I did not have a jammie day last Monday, Wednesday and Friday last week! I certainly did not twitter about whether to wear a bra to Del Taco. I dress myself and shower on a regular basis. That was not me!

Izaak had a rough week this week. I did not take him out to Del Taco with a fever, because nothing interferes with Del Taco Day, nothing! The next day I did not fail to tell my mom when she visited with my 3 year old niece that Izaak had been sick. I also didn't fail to mention that his eyes had been a bit goobery. Friday morning I did not take my own sweet time going in to get him up because I was afraid I would have to clean boogers out of his eyes, a job I completely abhor. I'm so glad that was not me!

Speaking of Izaak... when I saw him start to make the "I'm-going-to-poo-now" face, I did not ask him if he wanted to poop in the potty. Since I didn't ask that he couldn't have STOPPED pooping and ran to the bathroom, where I didn't undress him and set him on the potty. It's not possible that my baby of babies pooped in the potty. If he did, I certainly wouldn't have my husband pull out the camera and take pictures of him half naked on the pot. And, there is NO WAY I took pictures of his poop in the toilet, NO WAY! That could NOT have happened because my baby isn't old enough. Nope, not me! (I DID however, spare you the gory picture!)

I am not addicted to the Cake Wrecks blog on my sidebar. I do not laugh hysterically, out loud nearly everytime I read it. And I have not begun to start taking pictures of cake wrecks on my cell phone in the grocery store. Last month our church had a "Pie Auction" and there was this beautiful cake there that I did not take about 100 pictures of. I did not take those pictures and eagerly submit them last week in hopes of this happening. I did not shudder in eager anticipation Sunday morning before I logged in to see if my submission made the cut, and did not do a little dance when I saw it 5th picture from the top with my name under it!! Nope, not me!

There are so many, many things that I didn't do this week. But getting those off my chest was great therapy. I hope you enjoyed reading. I love comments so feel free to leave one before you pop on over to Mck Mama's to read more "Not Me!" posts.

Oh Yeah, I Forgot.

It is no secret that our soon-to-be-4-year-old came from one of 5 embryos that were donated to us through our fertility specialist. We had exhausted all our options to have another baby and were unable to get or stay pregnant with our own. It was after nearly 3 years of trying to conceive that a wonderful, anonymous couple donated their extra frozen embryos, choosing to donate them to a Christian couple, us. We call it our pre-pregnancy adoption. We live everyday in thankfulness of how miraculously Kevin came into our family!

Weird? Not really. It seems perfectly normal to us now. Though, I will admit there were moments in my pregnancy that I wondered what in the world I was doing having "someone else's" baby. But the moment he was born, the moment I heard his cry and looked into his eyes, I knew this baby boy was OUR SON. Even so, it's not like I can actually forget how he came to us. It's not that I dwell on it or even think about it that much, it's just a part of who he is.

Having Kevin has been a joy ride from the very first moment.
He's such a beautiful soul. And he's a mystery to us. We have no idea what to expect from him. Who will he look like? What personality traits will he have? Why does he suck those particular fingers? Things that make him unique unto himself. And there are always the comments from others about how he doesn't look like the other children, or us. These things that are uniquely Kevin are also the things that remind us of his origins.
Then one day last week, it happened.

I didn't think it could ever happen to me.

I was discussing with my friend, H (whose son, incidentally, came through donor sperm), all our family history of asthma or lack thereof. And Letha's and Izaak's connections with RSV and asthma. I started stating our kids medical histories, those with RSV, those without. Suddenly, my friend stopped me. Um, Karina, you can't include Kevin in that, remember? He has a completely different family history.

Oh yeah! I forgot!!

What a precious moment to savor and cherish. No, I didn't really forget, it's just that Kevin is naturaly a part of our family.

Friday Fives.

A day to specifically name five things I am thankful for and five things I am in prayer for.

I am thankful for...
1. God's provision for us financially during these rough economic times.

2. God's constant leading and teaching in my life.

3. my children's honesty about who I am and what they love about me.

4. a marriage that is more stable and fulfilling than my mind has ever dared dream!

5. dreams.

I am in prayer for...
1. Jonah. The precious baby that I've never met with a skin disease that would rock any mother's world, and his parents too, of course.

2. Kezia. My distant cousin who recently, unexpectedly said goodbye to her 34 week daughter, Kendall.

3. Emily. My friend who SO wants to be a mom, and is in the process of waiting. Be it ever so short, my friend.

4. Kerrianne. The wife of my husband's co-worker who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. She had surgery this week, and they think they got it all. Neither she nor her husband are Christians, and yet they asked my husband to pray for them because "he has connections" (to God through a relationship with Christ) and they know it. What a profound testimony and awesome opportunity to witness!

5. Many, many, many families that we know that are facing hard financial times, including foreclosures and job loss. Jesus be near.

The Twin Issue Resolution.

By way of explanation since a couple have wondered about the whole coffee thing... We suspect that Tim is ADD, but he has not been diagnosed. Even if we got him evaluated, we are not willing to put him on medications for ADD. By his teacher's suggestion at his last conferences, we decided to try lowering his sugar intake and giving him caffeine. Within days of the addition of coffee in his morning routine, his grades AND attention span were GREATLY improved. By the 3rd week of having a cup of coffee each day before school he brought home his very FIRST good progress report of this school year! So, the coffee experiment had excellent results and the coffee stays!

--------------------------------------------------------------

My mom taught me that kids tend to talk better in cars because it seems less confrontational to not have the eye contact of sitting across a table or living room from their parents. So, the other day we happened to have about an hour's drive home from a birthday party that I thought would be the perfect opportunity for a talk. Initially, Tim got very deffensive about the subject, but he was able to take a deep breath and just talk about things when we explained that he wasn't in trouble.

The conversation in a (rather large) nutshell went something like this: I stated the situation as I understood it. I asked both boys if I was accurate. Then asked each individually what they thought of the situation and how it was working for them. Got some really honest, surprisingly mature, thoughtful answers. Tim, though he said he wasn't asking or expecting Tadd to take care of all his business, he understood that it was unfair for Tadd to do so. And, he even said he knew that it wasn't a good situation for him to learn responsibility for himself. (woohoo!) Tadd understood that, yes, he was getting what he wanted but he was feeling rather resentful of his brother and taking away his brother's opportunity to learn responsibility. Then I/we talked about the problems that we saw with the situation, which they had mostly addressed all our issues already.

Then came the braistorming part of the conversation, even Letha had some ideas. We listened to many ideas, none were thrown out. I told them ideas that my friends had given me. When we had gone through the exhaustive list we (Tadd, Tim, Mom and Dad) chosewhat we thought would work best, which included parts of more than one of the ideas we came up with.

The Solution: Tim chose to get his clothes and lunch and coffee (gotta love the self timer on that contraption!) ready and set his alarm clock the night before. Tadd will let the alarm clock wake Tim and let Tim turn it off. Mom will allow Tadd to walk by himself to school if Tim isn't ready by 8:10. I think Tim has done a great job this week. I think he has been ready to go everyday by 8:10. I'm sure everyone feels better about the situation!

Now, if I could just get them to stop putting holes in the knees of every pair of pants they own! ;)

Wordless Wednesday - A Walk to Starbucks.

Two for Tuesday.

It's audience participation time! This is the day I ask two questions with two answers. And you get to comment to answer the questions because I want to get to know the folks who read my blog. I know there are many regulars out there, so no hiding in anonymity. Come out and play along, don't make me beg!

1. Name one way you are like your mother and one way you are different.

2. Name your 2 favorite things about Spring.

"Not Me!" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


When reading this post on another blog this week, I did not become aware of a lacking in the area of lavishing love on my family and I did not write the word "Lavish" on my hand as did the ladies in that group because I was so enthusiastic about having a reminder on my hand. This is not the first thing I saw in the mirror the next morning: I did not for a split second wonder how one of my kids had written on my face while I was sleeping without me feeling it! Once I realized what had happened, I was not ever so slightly significantly less enthused about wearing the word "Lavish" backwards on my face! I did not try in vain to scrub it off my face and end up spending extra time making sure the remnant that I couldn't scrub off was covered by my make-up! No sir, that was not me!

I did not enlist the aid of my husband to help take those pictures. And (sorry honey!) after seeing both my hand and my face, he was not still completely clueless about what had happened to my face. And he did not have such great confidence in my lack maturity that he asked me if I had tried to write "Lavish" on my face also. He SO did not say that to me!

When heading into Del Taco for our weekly lunch there, my 3 year old asked if, instead of a churro, we could go see our friend "Doughnut Guy" at Krispy Kreme for a doughnut. I agreed, but it was NOT because I consider walking across the parking lot and street with 2 small children in tow to be enough exercise to burn off the calories eating a doughnut would incur. I know better, that was definitely not me!

And finally, this past week I was not so late doing laundry that it was the next week. I did not, while doing said laundry, come across a dirty table cloth that has been sitting, wadded up, in my laundry room waiting to be washed and bleached since THANKSGIVING! Oh no! That surely was not me! I am the queen of laundry and I did not once upon a time have a househelper in Manila, named Luz, that did all of my family's laundry on a daily basis. I did not LOVE having my laundry returned to my closet, clean, pressed and folded (or hung) less than 48 hours after tossing it in the basket. She is not the amenity person that I miss most since having returned to the States. If you ask me, if won't even know what you're talking about, not me!!!

I can't wait to read what you haven't done this week. I feel much better after this therapy session!

More Prayers.

I continue to pray for Jonah. I also wanted to share news I became aware of tonight. One of my cousins recently lost a baby. This lost strikes close to home in that Kezia struggled to get pregnant due to PCOS. She lost her daughter on February 19, 2009 at 34 weeks due to a placental abruption. This was their first child.

Lord Jesus, the pain! Be near.