I don't think waiting is all that hard for me. I usually find ways to fill my time, even if it is just a good book to read. But these past two weeks have redefined waiting. After my last post, I did have to go to the ER, and was diagnosed with a kidney stone which was lodged in the ureter. I followed up with my urologist, the only one in the area, and scheduled a lithotripsy (sound waves blast the stone into tiny gravel that are easier to pass). Since I had come down with a bad cold and had lost my voice, he also prescribed an antibiotic to make sure I didn't develop any other nasty bugs before the procedure. Unfortunately, I had a severe reaction to the medication and ended up hospitalized. Since then, my heart has been racing. And racing, and racing. While I was in the hospital, the doctor placed a stint to make sure my kidney could continue to function. Lithotripsy was rescheduled, and home I went. The tachycardia did not go away, though, and a subsequent EKG proved abnormal (inverted T waves), so lithotripsy was cancelled again.
So here I am. Two weeks and I still have a stone. Thankfully, oh so thankfully, I have no pain. My pulse seems to be returning to normal after 1 1/2 weeks of racing. Hopefully, I will find out soon what the new plan is. And hopefully, we can wait until after thanksgiving.
As to our Thanksgiving study--we finished Leif the Lucky and started Columbus today. We should finish Columbus tomorrow and next week we will read Pocahontus and If You Sailed on the Mayflower. We are also using a globe to trace the routes that Leif and Columbus took and a dictionary to look up unfamiliar words. And The Usborne Book of World History has been a great resource with this unit study.
When December comes, we will begin our Christmas study, which always includes reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
More drama in our family. I have a genetic defect called medullary sponge kidney disease. It's not as ominous as it sounds, although some people do seem to have a terrible time with it. People with MSK have deformed kidneys. The drainage tubes in the kidneys have small pockets where urine collects and turns to stones. I have hundreds of these pockets in both my kidneys and hundreds of stones. I know; it sounds like I'm exaggerating. But my doctor said there were too many stones to count. I used to joke that my x-rays looked like I had been hunting with Dick Cheney. (An x-ray of my kidneys shows tw oval areas of what looks like buckshot!) Some people have chronic kidney infections, constant pain, and other problems. I am truly blessed with sporatic pain, and so far only one kidney infection when I was 11 years old. (I wasn't diagnosed until I was 38 y.o. Most people aren't diagnosed until their first kidney stone. I probably had my first stone when I was 18, but they didn't do any x-rays or extensive testing, just sent me home with an "I don't know what's wrong with her, probably in her head" look.)
Thursday I had another kidney stone, large enough to cause severe pain. The only reason I even want to write about it, though, is that I have to tell you about my sweet children. Around 8 p.m. that night after about 3 hours of unrelenting pain, I lay down on our bed. Before that I had a heating pad and rice sock (tube sock full of dry rice heated in the microwave) and sat in a chair or paced the house. By this time, I had reached the point of wanting to go to the ER. I made calls to arrange that, knowing I would probably be there HOURS if not days. Then I just lay there. Praying. Oh, how I prayed.
Then my sweet children came in to ask if I needed anything. They re-heated my rice sock, brought me water, and then began to sing the most beautiful songs. Noah sang "Good night, sweet Mommy, flush that stone right down the drain." Jonah sat on the bed and held my hand, and Gracie sang "Silent Night". What an amazing prayer meeting we had. They got ready for bed, and we had our evening prayers. Again, they prayed for my healing, and as they prayed the pain subsided GREATLY. Within an hour, I passed the stone!
I love my children and my dear husband. You're probably wondering what he was doing?! He so hates to see me in pain and feels completely helpless. He's really good, though. He makes sure I have what I need, reheats the rice sock, brings me water, stays close enough that I can tell him if I need anything, but doesn't hover. He prays for me, and reaches out to our friends and family to ask for prayer. I had prayers going up all over this country. (Just before Mark's heart attack, we joined Facebook at the urging of one of his brothers. We thought it would be a good way to stay in touch with family and share pictures. It has turned into a blessed prayer ministry. When we need prayer, we share our requests--our "friends" are limited to family and friends, no strangers--and friends post their prayer requests. So many people we have been able to pray with, so many old friends we've found, and so many relationships built with family that we saw only at reunions and so briefly, then.)
So today I am just resting. We will be celebrating Jonah's 11th birthday with my parents this afternoon. His birthday isn't until the 16th Nov., but my parents will be out of town. He's kind of excited. He gets an early birthday and then we will celebrate his birthday at home on the day.
And I'm counting my blessings!!
"Where's Grace?" I asked.
"She's in the back, counting how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop.'
A few minutes later, here comes Grace. So how many licks does it take to get to the center of the tootsie pop?
She forgot!
We survived yesterday's storm. I'm really not sure how hard the wind blew or how much rain we got, but several large trees in town were up-rooted. Roofs were damaged, and signs blown down. Our very old, 60 foot oak tree split down the middle and half fell over. The tree grazed the house, took out our tv antenna and pole, which actually saved the roof and the boys' room. The limbs from the tree were within inches of the bedroom window. Limbs were on our porch so that we couldn't get out the back door. The tree is laying across the dog run and over another tree. The dog house may or may not be smashed. I don't know because I haven't been able to see it because it is under the tree. Only a small portion of the house was damaged. A 20 foot long 2 x 6 from the eves of the house fell down. Otherwise, our house is in great shape.
We spent the morning and a small portion of the afternoon, until it was too hot to work, cutting branches and hauling them to the curb. We have worked so hard but there is still so much to do. We still can't get into the dog's run, although they have had no trouble getting out. They are spending time on the back porch. I found them in the front yard this afternoon and enticed them into the back with promises of treats. When I tried to put them in the run, Miracle climbed a fallen tree limb and was sitting in the tree just above my head. I think I know how they are getting out!
Grace and I were at church when the storm began. We herded the children into hallways. Everyone was very calm and the storm passed. Only then did I find out that portons of the roof on the church and the roof on the Family Life Center had been peeled back. (We were in the FLC.) There were pieces of the roof, large sections of metal, blown down the street.
Now another powerful storm appears to be moving toward us.
I have pictures of the damage and will post those ASAP.
There are websites devoted to rating service providers. How well did your handy man do his job? Did the roofer complete the work on time and on budget? Even doctors and dentists are being rated.
Today I'm rating customers.
There are some mean, nasty people out there, and cashiers and service providers have to turn the other cheek. But it's wrong!!!
Yesterday while my husband was helping a man add cash to his pre-loaded debit card, the man insisted on adding more money than corporate policy allowed. After calling his help desk and receiving confirmation of the rules, my husband informed his customer that he could only add a certain amount. Long story short, the man walked away after abusing my husband verbally. The customer's final zinger---You're just jealous because you don't have as much money as me!
Can you believe anyone would have the gall to say something so obnoxious?
I thought I had heard it all, but later that evening another employee was told by a customer, "I don't want to see your ugly face." There had been NO interaction between the employee and customer. The customer just walked by, looked at my friend and said that.
I don't understand how anyone can act that way.
When we first began homeschooling, we were privileged to hear Chris Davis from the Elijah Company (now Homeschool Market Place) speak at a homeschool conference in Arlington. He made some excellent points about homeschooling that have stuck with me through the years.
Most important in the success of your homeschool is your mission statement or statement of purpose and your goals. Obviously, everyone who homeschools will wants their child(ren) to learn academic skills and an agreed upon (by society) set of knowledge/facts. But we homeschool for a variety of reasons.
Some people choose to homeschool so that they can tutor their child and provide individual help and an individulaized educational plan. Others choose homeschooling to protect their child from bullying or to infuse a Christian worldview into their lessons. Our purpose and goals effect our curriculum choices as well as how and what we teach. If we know our purpose and goals, we can choose our curriculum more wisely and I believe, be more successful.
MISSION STATEMENT/STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
So, why do we homeschool? We believe that God called us to a lifestyle of learning. He called us to keep our children at home and to teach them not only the 3 Rs but about Him. Deuteronomy 6:7 tells us "And thou shalt teach them (the Law, God's Word) diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." And in Deuteronomy 5:33 He reminds us "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess."
We knew, even before we had children, that God was calling us to a different life and that we would homeschool our children in seeking His will. We didn't think we could effectively carry out our life purpose without homeschooling. There are only 24 hours in a day. If 8 are spent away at school and 10 are spent in sleep, that leaves only 6 hours for eating, playing, bathing, chores and God often gets shoved into the leftover spaces which are few and far between. We wanted God, His Son, His love to infuse our lives and our family. We felt that only through homeschooling would we have the time, the freedom to allow this.
Deuteronomy 5:33 and 6:7 summarize our statement of purpose for our homeschool, our goals follow from there, and our curriculum choices reflect our purpose and goals.
GOALS
First, what I want of my children, more than anything else, is that they accept Christ as their personal saviour. By this I mean that each child, individually and when they are ready, acknowledge that they have sinned, believe that Christ died in their place so that they might be forgiven of their sin, and confess with their mouth (and their actions) that Jesus Christ is Lord. Nothing else I teach will amount to a hill of beans if they don't KNOW the Lord. The greatest mathematician, the wealthiest businessman, the most successful surgeon is lost without Jesus. Our lives may stretch 80 years or more, but eternity is forever.
Second, I want to teach them a Christian worldview. As they grow up and live their lives, I want each of them to make their decisions based on scripture. I want them to know that abortion is wrong because God says thou shalt not kill. I want them to know that we should feed the hungry because Jesus told us that whatever we do for the least of these we've done for him. I want them to choose a profession not because it will make them lots of money (although that would be great since they could take care of me in my old age) but because it uses their gifts and talents and brings glory to God.
Third, I want my children to discover how God has gifted them, to develop these gifts and talents and to use them to God's glory. Even though they are young, I can see certain gifts and talents in my children. Noah and Jonah are great artists, though with incredibly different styles. Noah's art work is bold, confident, and involves numerous superheroes, some we've heard of and many he has made up, along with stories for each. Jonah's art is precise, careful. While he also draws superheroes, he also loves drawing scenes and has a detailed memory which he can put on paper. Grace loves all animals and is developing her art, but at present her talent seems to be in ballet. I don't know if they will "make a living" with their art/dance, but I do want them to use them to God's glory, meaning I want all that they create to point people toward the Creator and glorify Him.
CURRICULUM CHOICES
I will explain our curriculum choices and also how we homeschool and what our day looks like in another post.
I am sad because my neighbor died today. We weren't close. We were the kind of neighbors that wave and say hello. Friendly. We've been neighbors for nearly 14 years. We rejoiced with him when he got married and at the births of his three children. And now we grieve with his wife and family.
It hurts more because I know that there but for the grace of God go I. Mark lives because God granted us more time. Yes, we had great doctors, hospitals, medicine, surgery, but given his blockages, there is no known reason, other than God's amazing grace, that he lives and that we were able to celebrate another Christmas, another Easter, another anniversary. I'm sure I will spend the rest of my life trying to understand why God spares one and takes another.
I am so incredibly thankful for the gift of more time with Mark. I am so incredibly thankful that my children have their father. And I am so, so terribly sad for my neighbor's wife and children. God help them. And God give me the words and show me the ways to help.
A few minutes ago I could hear my children in the living room. They were gasping and screeching in horror.
"What are you watching?' I asked. We don't have cable and usually they are good about turning their heads during inappropriate commercials on those rare occasions when we do watch TV.
I couldn't help but laugh when I heard the answer, "A cooking show!"
The chef was cutting up a raw chicken.
Last week is one for the record books, and not just because President Obama took the oath of office for the President of the United States. (And that is another blog in itself.)
On Sunday, both of my grandparents were transported to the ER for treatment of an intestinal virus. As they were in quarintine I initially did not visit, not wanting to risk bringing something home. But on Tuesday Great Grandma took a turn for the worse, so I rushed to the hospital to see her. Surprisingly, by Thursday evening she was well enough to return to the nursing home, which is still under quarintine.
On Tuesday we also learned that although Mark did well on the stress test, the tests show that something is wrong with his heart. More tests are needed, but since they are invasive and carry risks of infection and cardiac arrest, the doctor wants to take a wait and see approach. His blood pressure is good and his energy is fairly good. So here we are.
Thursday I took Noah to the dentist because he has a cavity. We are going to get a second opinion because this dentist thinks he needs a root canal since he is in so much pain. Strangely, Noah has NO pain at all, so I'm not really sure what the dentist is talking about.
While we were at the dentist, my dad watched our younger two children, while my mom sat with the Greats at the hospital. When we got to their house, Dad was feeling ill, cold, clammy, racing heart, weak. We called 911 and he was transported by ambulance to the ER, where he was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia.
At that point I had 3 close family members in the hospital. It was a rough day, but Dad was discharged with medication and a follow up appointment with the cardiologist the next morning. He has quite a few tests and consults scheduled for the next two months.
Great Grandpa, though, became terribly agitated, since no one was available to sit with him. He has not been eating, and his blood is thinning even though he has been given Vitamin K shots to stop this. A friend and I took turns sitting with him on Friday and were able to help, although he remained agitated at times. He is reaching toward something and talking, though I'm not sure what he is saying. I saw my other grandparents and Mark's grandmother do this just before they died. It's as if they see the door to heaven and all their loved ones waiting for them.
Yesterday he was transported back to the nursing home with the hope that he might begin eating. If not, hospice will be called. (His liver and kidneys have been failing for some time and he has a serious blod clot that will not dissolve.) Both my grandparents, who are 96 and 97 years old, are so ready to go to heaven. And when they were able to, talked about nothing else.
And that's why I'm glad it's Sunday. The first day of a new week. A new beginning. I need that.
Mark did well on his test and experienced no chest discomfort, even when running on the treadmill. The doctor even came in and observed the test, and then told Mark all was well. We have another appointment in a few weeks, but I am relieved. It's nice to have this test done and to be reassured that his heart is functioning well and there are no sudden blockages.
Maybe normal is really around the corner.
Mark has been experiencing some chest discomfort over the past few weeks. It has been mild and gone away quickly, but his doctor is concerned. Mark is scheduled for a nuclear stress test on Wednesday. And he was prescribed nitro. tablets for an emergency.
I pray that nothing is seriously wrong, but that they will be able to tell us why he is having angina and that they will be able to fix this easily!!
I feel like we've been through the fire and I so don't want to go there again. And I don't want to borrow trouble and imagine the worst. I am afraid, but I do not want to allow fear to take root, to be a part of our lives. I have been able to be thankful in our trials and for our trials. Now I'm ready for the trials to be over and to have a quiet, normal life, whatever that is.
God has been so good to us, and I want to "be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication make my requests known". He has shown us how faithful He is. He has met our every need, even when we were unaware of the need, even when we haven't shared the need with anyone but Him. I will trust Him. I will NOT be afraid.
OK. I took the stress test (previous blog entry). And yes, I am stressed. 
No surprises there.
Mark continues to heal and is doing better. The pleurisy continues to plague him. I think plague is the appropriate word here. He feels better most of the time; he's getting around well; but still has pain when he breathes deep first thing in the morning.
We continue to be blessed by God through so many dear friends and family. Any time I look at our list of bills to pay, or our fat folder of medical bills and insurance statements, I determine that I will pray about it and put it out of my mind. I will not worry. And God provides. I am so thankful to so many who have helped us with groceries, gas, and living expenses. God does provide, but it is through His children.
If Mark continues to heal as is expected, he will be back to work by the end of the month. Maybe not full time, but at least working some. He has some vacation time left, which will enable him to work part time for a month or more.
We hope to be able to switch his cardiac rehab. to the town where he works. (We're driving close to an hour each way three days a week for now.) If he is able to switch, the therapy will be less intensive/less supervised and will not be cardiac rehab. but cardiac reconditioning. Sounds like semantics but it really is a big difference. In the rehab. a nurse monitors his EKG while he exercises and they take blood pressure and pulse every 10 minutes. EKG monitoring is not available with cardiac reconditioning.
It's strange (or actually perfectly normal and expected, but so unwanted) that as time goes by, I find myself much more emotional over what has happened. I am more tired than I've ever been and prone to bursting into tears for absolutely no reason. I don't have trouble sleeping, I don't wake up worried or anxious, but I 'm still tired and don't get much accomplished, other than what absolutely must be done--like feeding the hungry masses and cleaning up the kitchen. Oh, and the laundry!!
I am so HAPPY when I get out of the house, even to go to the grocery store or library, just to see and talk to people. (This is not to say I am not happy at home, just enjoy the interaction when I'm out. And since Mark works for the grocery store in an adjacent town and knows many of the people who work here, it is a blessing to hear how loved he is, to have people ask about him and really want to know how he is doing.)
When we are at the hospital for cardiac rehab., I see people who were helpful or kind in those first few days of Mark's heart attack and bypass, and I want to run up to them and tell them "Thank you". And I have a few times. I enjoy my time with Mark, the driving to appointments, walking through a parking lot, running in Kohl's for warm-ups for Mark's rehab. Every moment seems so precious and sometimes so fragile.
I guess that is really a blessing--to see life and each moment of our life as precious and fragile. I don't want to miss a minute worrying over anything temporary.
This song has been running through my mind a lot lately, especially with the stock market problems, the election and campaigning, and just all the "stuff" in the world.
I'll leave you with this thought:
I feel as if I've been gone ages. Not from home, just from blogging. I thought summer was supposed to be slower, more relaxed. Although we haven't "done school", we've stayed incredibly busy.
We have enjoyed the lakes; visited with friends, including precious friends from Tennessee; had our first non-relative sleep over; attended dance camp (Grace) and art camp (Jonah); fought off a yucky virus (that took almost three weeks since everyone took turns and it lasted a week for each of us); went to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time (where we caught said yucky virus); went to a homeschool conference (me); celebrated my dad's and mom's birthdays; spent a week with my grandfather so my parents could take a vacation; and celebrated Mark being named Partner of the Year at the place he works.
Our summer projects included a garden, which died from too much rain then too much heat. Currently, we are attempting composting with worms. It's been over a month and those worms are still alive and doing their business under my kitchen sink. Yes, that's right. Under my kitchen sink. But so far they have stayed in their little home, they don't smell, and it looks as if they are really making good dirt.
We bought a DVD at the homeschool conference that teaches children beginning HTML and web design. And all three children have successfully created their first web pages. We also discovered, or I should say THEY discovered Windows Movie Maker on the computer and have learned how to make short stop action animation films.
Grace has read her first whole book and her second. Jonah still hasn't shown much interest, shall we say NO interest, in reading but he does practice with me without too much protest. Noah, on the other hand, has taken off. He loves to read. He just finished a C.S. Lewis book called Pilgrim's Regress and is asking for more exciting reading material. Exciting as in fighting dragons. He is listening to Pilgrim's Progress which I downloaded for free from the Gutenberg Project. Unfortunately, I downloaded only Part I. So I need to look for the remainder of the book. I guess it's good to have them asking for more.
So if anyone knows of some exciting dragon fighting books appropriate for 11 almost 12 year old boys, I would appreciate any help.
We have been so busy lately, hence no blogging. But along the way, we have fallen into the habit of watching videos and playing online (pbskids, lego, etc.) much too much. Cutting back is always harder than going "cold turkey" so we've decided to have a TV-Computer Free Week. (With the exception of writing this blog.)
This is a great week for our endeavor, since Vacation Bible School begins on Monday. (The public schools let out last Thursday.) Our VBS is at night, so I decided to plan crafts and activities for our days. Today we went to lunch and Wal-Mart to buy some craft supplies (corn husks, moss, raffia, and a bag of shells). We were also going to buy parrafin wax and candle wick material, but we couldn't find those, so we'll be putting off that craft or finding another way to do it.
We also made some crafts using the shells that we bought. Noah made a drill, Jonah made a mountain, and Gracie glued two clam shells together so they look like a clam opening up. We also plan to make shell candles (I hope), a corn husk doll, a hut out of twigs, moss, and corn husks, and a chess set from twigs and shells. I'll let you know if they turn out.
Tomorrow we plan to go hiking and swimming at Inks Lake in the early morning, and then work on our crafts in the afternoon. Tuesday we babysit, so mostly crafts and reading new books by Tomie DePaolo, Big Book of Favorite Legends and Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers. Wednesday Mark has the day off, so we will go swimming at the Slab (on the Llano River near Kingsland) early in the morning. Thursday is Park Day with the homeschool group, and Friday we baby sit again. And of course, VBS every night. I'm feeling tired just typing it all out!
I almost gave up our TV Free Week today, thinking we could just cut back. It was mid afternoon. We had done our crafts. I was feeling terribly tired, needing to rest for a while. The children were asking what they could do next. I almost said, lets just watch a video, but I didn't. After a few minutes, Noah picked up a Hank The Cowdog book and began reading aloud to everyone. It was so nice to just lay on the couch and listen to someone else read aloud. We all enjoyed it very much.
Our day ended with a church picnic.
TV Free Week might not be so hard afterall.
First, I have to apologize to everyone! I'm afraid I've been double posting on some blogs. Terribly sorry. It looks as if the post doesn't go through, so I click post again, and well, oops.
We have a new puppy around the house. We named her, Beulah, after Hank's love interest in Hank the Cowdog series. She is a border collie mix. The cats aren't sure what to make of her. As Mark says, there's been a cold war between them. She wants to herd the cats, or at least play with them. They want to sit in their windows and be left alone.
The other day Tiger was sitting in the window above our chest freezer. He got down to explore the kitchen for a minute, so I took the opportunity to open the freezer to get something out. About that time Beulah came barreling into the kitchen, Tiger jumped straight into the air, expecting to land on top of the freezer, but I had it open so he landed IN the freezer. His feet barely touched the frozen turkey in the bottom when he went straight up into the air again.
There was the sound of kitty and puppy feet scurring on our parquet floor. The kitty got better traction and found a new hiding spot. I almost fell into the freezer laughing. Never a dull moment around here!
Mom: Noah, why are you hitting that tree with a stick?
Noah: I'm not Noah. And I'm not hitting the tree. I'm Don Quixote and I'm fighting windmills.
Noah: Did Stephen McGee (Texas A&M quarterback) quit football?
Mom: No.
N: Oh, I must be thinking of Robinson Crusoe.
Mom: Robinson Crusoe?
N: You know. He used to play basketball with Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs).
Mom: Oh, David Robinson.
My dad recently sent me an email, urging me to check out this website: www.familywatchdog.us.
Enter your zip code to find out if any registered sex offenders live near you.
We discovered that a sex offender has moved into the house across the street and two doors down. Unfortunately, the registry is incomplete, so there is no picture, no information regarding his risk level, and no indication of his crime.
We are now aware of a known danger. However, most child molesters abuse multiple victims (I've even heard 50 vicitms) before they are reported. Some have hundreds of victims before they are ever convicted. Please don't feel too safe just because there are no known offenders in your neighborhood. A nice old man was recently arrested in Austin, TX. The "candy man" had been selling snacks to the neighborhood children for years, and inviting them into his house and molesting them.
I believe the best protection for children is not necessarily to teach them about stranger danger. We've all seen the Oprah-like shows where an ex-cop tries successfully to lure children away from the playground with tales of a lost puppy. Yes, there are dangerous strangers out there. But children do not understand what a stranger is. I still remember walking through the mall with my then 3 year old son who was pointing at people and asking, "Is that a stranger? Is that a stranger?"
We are our children's best protection. We must be discerning, vigilant, and wise.
I covet your prayers for our safety, but also for the safety of all the children in our neighborhood. (I count 11 under the age of 10 in a half block area PLUS a daycare licensed for up to 70 children.)