Being thankful

Today, as I’m watching the gentle rain, I am thankful.  Now my beans might not die.  I might get more peppers and squash too.  And I am reminded that God blesses us in ways that we most often don’t even recognize, or if we do, we don’t often acknowledge.

Today I am thankful for my daughter’s health.  Today there are parents who are grieving, crying, worrying, and praying over their daughter.  Lauren, a 15 year old local young woman, is currently recovering from surgery to remove an ovarian tumor.  At 15.  The family will be travelling to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to seek treatment for Lauren.  Please, say a prayer for this family…and then go hug your own child.  And be reminded of the many blessings in your life.

I wanted to give a quick shout out for some of the benefits being planned for Lauren.  If you’ve never travelled for medical treatment, either for yourself or your child, you just don’t know how expensive it can be.  Since we’ve been travelling all of Jonah’s life, with much more travel over the last 2 years, I know how expensive it is.  So if you can, drop by one of these benefits and make a donation.  It doesn’t have to be a large donation…if everyone who reads this could donate just $5 or $10—think of what a blessing that could be in Lauren’s life!  Come on….for the price of one fast food meal, you get the chance to BE a blessing in the life of a family who is in crisis.  What a great way to end your week!  So, here is what is planned so far.

Car washes this weekend, both Friday and Saturday.

Friday at Arby’s on 54 and Grandy’s on Frederica St.  All donations are accepted, even if you don’t want your car washed, this is a GREAT time to make your small donation. 

Saturday at both Ritzy’s locations, on 54 and Frederica St. (Wal-Mart donated soaps, buckets and sponges).

Next Saturday August 9th is the Corn-Hole Tournament at Johnny B’s.  First place winners will receive a pair of Corn Hole boards.  Registration begins at 6 pm and the tournament begins at 7 pm. Entry fee is $25 per team.

The next Saturday will be a benefit concert and silent auction at Johnny B’s, at 7 pm.  That is August 16th.

Lauren’s family, know that there are people who care, who are praying, who are donating, and who are supporting you every step of the way.  I know exactly how important that support is during a time like this, and have been exceedingly blessed by my family and friends.  Thank you God today, for good friends, good family, and the blessings of each of them in my life.

We are here, enjoying what’s left of the summer.  We (Larry and I) are planning on surprising the kids with an overnight trip to Nashville this weekend.  Sarah loves the mall, and Jacob loves the Bass Pro Shop.  And the little ones just love being on the go.  So, everyone should have a good time.  We’re having a problem finding a suite in a hotel large enough for us all.  So, for the first time, we might just have to get 2 hotel rooms.  That is so wrong…and one of the reasons we don’t stay in hotels when we vacation.  But, for one night, we can do it.  We’re going to check out the Children’s Science Museum while we’re there.  It’s been several years since we’ve been there, and Levi doesn’t even remember it.  That should be fun.  They just opened an interactive space exhibit, where they simulate low gravity.  Now THAT sounds like fun, and I’m certain Moms can participate.  Don’t ya think?  For safety reasons?  Or just for fun…..whichever, I just wanna do it too!

All of the plans are in place for Jonah’s trip to Cincinnati.  Please, keep us in prayer.  This is a very stressful time for us right now.  I’m feeling the stress….and am hoping that this fun weekend will be just what we need.  All of us. 

We’re here.  Waiting.  Wondering.  Praying.  Enjoying the blessing of the rain. 

So tell me.  How has God blessed YOU this week?  I was blessed at the gas pumps, since gas had gone down over 25 cents per gallon since the last time I filled up.  That’s crazy, and a subject for a whole ‘nother day, and I digress.  But God is good.  He is working.  What’s He doing for you?

Anji

PS  WordPress is having an “issue” with their photos.  Some of mine are missing in action.  I’ll be replacing them soon…so just bear with me.  Just my luck….open my blog and they immediately have technical issues… : )  Oh well, keeps me on my toes!

Trust, slowing down, and smelling the roses

One thing that Jonah has taught me is how to slow down, look around and see the beauty of the world around me.  Sometimes we get so busy, and so rushed, that we just get through the day.  When we fall into bed at night time, we can’t even begin to name a single special thing about the day.  And Jonah has taught our entire family to just stop, smell the roses, and enjoy each moment.

Strolling by the creek...

 

I can’t even tell you where Jonah was leading Sarah on this day.  But you can tell by the her body posture, the tender way she is holding his hand, and intently listening to whatever he was “saying” that Sarah, too, is learning the beauty in a slower pace. 

Levi standing guard

 

Here is Levi, standing patiently behind Jonah.  Jonah rarely invites other into his world, and on this day Levi wasn’t invited to participate in the rock throwing.  However, Levi took a moment to see the day through Jonah’s eyes…and he too is learning from Jonah.

Soaking up the sunshine

 

Nana and Jonah must have sat on this rock for 20 minutes.  Not doing much of anything, occasionaly splashing in the creek, or studying something fascinating.  Not a lot of verbal interaction happened during this time…but Nana, too is learning from Jonah.  She enjoyed their time together, when Jonah invited her to join him on the rock in the sunshine.  Guess you’re never too old to learn something new….

Sunshine on the water

 

And here is my excursion into enjoying the moment, oblivious to my surroundings.  I took dozens of pictures of the sun shining through the water, reflecting back to me off of the bits of shiny rock lying on the creek bed.  I got so absorbed in my photos that I missed a great opportunity to photograph Nana…as she slipped and almost ended up butt first in the creek….but alas, the sunshine on the water was awfully pretty.  And she didn’t fall completely…so I guess it was worth it!

Today, I’m going to slow down, set aside those “things” that are on my must-do-today list and go see what Jonah is doing.  Just yesterday I was invited to watch as he hauled out every stuffed animal in the house, and seated them all around the TV to watch Bob the Builder with him.  And of course, I was too busy to stop and photograph the moment.  I don’t want to miss any more of those moments…so I’m off to load fresh batteries into my camera, and see if today Jonah will invite me “in”….wish me luck!

Thanks to everyone for visiting this new site.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I’m enjoying it!

Anji

Ramblings….

Several weeks ago Levi lost one of his front teeth.  It was a very prolonged, very dramatic, very over the top time for him.  He refused to let anyone touch it, he couldn’t eat anything at all without making it bleed, and was just generally annoying everyone in the house with this tooth.  But finally, it came out.  The tooth fairy was sick for 2 straight days, and Levi handled his disappointment well.  She (tooth fairy) finally made it to his room on the third night.

A few days later the theatrics, crying, screaming, bleeding began again.  And he lost his OTHER front tooth.  None of my other kids had ever done it that way, but Levi very often marches to the beat of his own drummer.  So, missing his two front teeth, smiling like a goofball….I give you Levi.

Levi, a.k.a. Fang

Levi receives speech therapy through the school system to address his issues with certain sounds.  “S, sh, th, z” are some of the sounds he has trouble with.  School starts in 3 weeks.  If he doesn’t grow some teeth, his speech therapist is gonna have a stroke.  Apparently it is hard to form certain sounds correctly when you have no teeth to contain your tongue.  I personally think it’s cute….his therapist probaby won’t think cute so much as horrifying.  And, when Levi is really excited, talking quickly, it is really a problem.  But, one that he will grow out of quickly.  For now, I’m enjoying it.

One of the younger boys favorite things is taking a bike ride late in the evening.  The heat of the day is gone, the days work is done, and it’s just a great way to end a lazy summer day. 

That’s Levi in the lead.  That little speck in the distance.  Not needing to be with me, be near me, for the moment.  Jonah is the one in his underwear (thank GOD we live in the boonies and the only traffic we will meet this night are our neighbors, who know Jonah refuses to wear clothes), sticking a bit closer to me.  There’s something symbolic about this….and I’ll ponder that another time.

We have finalized all the plans for Jonah’s upcoming trip to Cincinnati.  He will be in-patient the entire week.  He is NOT going to like that, and will be bored out of his mind by day two.  There is no way to make him understand that we are there for testing.  He thinks when he’s in the hospital, he must be sick.  So he starts to ACT sick, like a patient.  My plan is to keep him on a daily routine, where he has to get out of bed to eat meals, dress in his own clothes, and just generally try to live his life normally…all while being in the hospital.  I have his school supplies, flash cards, paper and pencils, and will try to squeeze in some educational time each day.  After all, the kid WILL be missing an entire week of school.

I also have my bag full of bribes.  I’m not afraid to admit that I’m not afraid to bribe my child.  First of all, his 3 foot tall Bob the Builder doll will be traveling with us.  He’s Jonah’s best friend.  (There’s something sad and/or creepy about that, but I digress).  Bob will be undergoing the same testing as Jonah.  Bob will also receive a CPAP mask of his very own and will be required to wear it during sleep.  IF, and that’s a very big if, Jonah makes progress and will actually touch or allow us to touch him with the CPAP mask, then he will receive a prize.  I have 9 different prizes.  Please pray that they last us through the week….

So come on and tell me.  What is YOUR favorite summer evening activity?  Do you like to eat ice cream on the porch swing?  Relax with a glass of iced tea and watch the kids run through the yard?  Attack those pesky weeds in the rock garden that seem to defy science by living through a dose of Round-up per week?See who can spit watermelon seeds the farthest?  Run naked through the sprinkler in your backyard?  If you do enjoy that, please don’t tell me.  I don’t really need to know that.  But what is your favorite end to a summer day activity?

Trying to be healthy

So, Sarah and I are on a health kick.  While shopping for school clothes last week I was persuaded to buy a new Pilates video…for beginners.  So last night Sarah and I tried it out.  I wasn’t entirely certain what Pilates was, but I was game to try it.  About 2 minutes into our “thighs of steel” workout, I learned what Pilates was.  It is apparently a little known, ancient form of torture.  Oh, the workout wasn’t that bad.  But watching eight women, whose combined body weight still doesn’t equal mine, bend and stretch their bodies into positions I had previously thought were anatomically impossible…well that was a bit humbling.  So, I struggled along, trying my darndest not to actually injure myself, and by the end of the workout was a sweating, gasping, panting blob of jello.  Sarah jumped to her feet and said “great job Mom!  Tomorrow we’ll work on our abs!”.  Sigh….do I still have abs?

My aunt came over for dinner last Friday and brought us two of the most enormous zucchinis I have ever seen.  I smiled politely and thanked her.  And wondered exactly what I was going to do with it… and then Larry had a brainstorm.  No one in this family would actually EAT zucchini…so we decided to make zucchini bread.  Surely we could mask the nasty zucchini, actually trick our family into eating it, and BE HEALTHY at the same time!!

So we peeled, grated, patted dry the nice zucchini.  We added the trans-fat vegetable oil, butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour.  We were deviating from the totally healthy into the realm of realistic here.  We measured, mixed, poured and baked.  And here is the result of our labors.

Alien bread

I will spend the next 3 days cleaning my oven, to make it suitable for actually baking things our family will eat…like pizza and brownies.  Sigh…who knew zucchini bread required so much head room?!?!?

I will say that the chicken and dumplings last night were fabulous…so my day wasn’t a total bust.  And I’m thinking about touching the chicken that is now cleaned, cut up and resting in my fridge.  We’ll see how that goes….

A day in the life of our chickens….

So, I’m making myself crazy, trying to get this blog up and running.  I don’t know why.  It’s not like I’m suddenly going to have a huge influx of readers or anything…but I want it to be right before I go live.  But, while I’m typing, editing, deleting, and generally making myself crazy just trying to get it right…..life is going on all around us.  So, I wanted to take a break from the construction of the site, and just…write.  Cause, that’s what I like to do.  And it’s my blog.  And I can do that…cause, it’s my blog!

Chickens in the yard

 

Here is a picture of a few of our chickens.  For those of you who don’t know, I had a moment of temporary insanity, whereby I thought it would actually be cost effective for us to raise a few chickens.  A few for the meat, and many for the eggs.  I have four children who love eggs…and the price at the grocery store a few months ago sent me into this moment of insanity.  So, we’ve spent about 3 billion dollars on these chickens…because they had to have some place to live, besides my dining room which is another story altogether, so we built a chicken house.  Not just any chicken house.  It had to MATCH our house and outbuilding….sort of.  Then we needed the fence in the yard….8 feet tall because we had the misfortune of purchasing possibly the world’s only flying chickens, and we couldn’t contain them with the 4 foot fence.  Then we had to build a special feeder, cause they were eating us out of house and home.  Now I can dump in 50 pounds of feed, and forget about it for a few weeks.  Then we had to buy a special waterer, because we may have also happened to purchase the world’s dumbest chickens.  They kept pooping in the first waterer (the cheap one) that I picked up at Rural King.  But today….perhaps the fruits of our labors are paying off.  Two of the biggest roosters met their maker today, and currently I have a pot of chicken and dumplings simmering on the stove.  Tomorrow we’re having chicken enchiladas.  Tuesday we’re having chicken and rice.  Wednesday we’re having…chicken something.  By the end of the week my kids will never want to eat chicken again…

And oh yeah.  We have yet to get an egg.  But we have 22 (make that 20 after Larry’s chicken killing spree today) chickens that Jonah loves to feed, love to run up into my backyard and poop everywhere…and still no eggs.  I’m beginning to think that chicken farming on this small scale may not have been a wise financial investment.  But, the laughter and joy and hours of entertainment we have received just might be worth it.  Assuming that the kids are willing to trade their college educations for the chance to chase chickens through the yard….

I’m off to eat chicken and dumplings now.  I’ll let you know how they taste.  And yeah…Larry had to kill them, clean them, cut them up, and cook them.  After I eat the first one I’ll decide whether or not I’m willing to actually touch them….my chicken has always come to me fresh from Kroger.  Wrapped, cleaned, and restrained behind cellophane wrap.  THIS chicken came to me in a Tupperware bowl, with bits of feather and stuff still clinging to it…held in the hands of my slightly bloody, very sweaty, smiling husband.  THIS is going to take some getting used to….

Changed by a child

This is the story of one family.  From the outside, we don’t look much different than any other family.  But when you start to look past the surface, and when you take the time to really look….we are different.  We have been changed by the life of a child.  Not just my husband and myself…..but ALL of our children have been changed, for the better, by the life of our second son Jonah.

Jonah was born with Trisomy 21…better known as Down syndrome.  Jonah also has many other complex medical diagnoses, including heart defects, lung defects, severe obstructive sleep apnea, hearing loss, vision loss, and more.  Jonah is almost totally non-verbal, with only a few recognizable words.  Jonah has had literally dozens of sedated procedures in is lifetime, including three open heart surgeries, 4 airway surgeries, 5 heart caths, and countless other procedures.  The look in Jonah’s eyes, as he falls victim to the anesthetic gases is heartbreaking….and haunts my dreams. 

Through the years of Jonah’s journey to find health, our family has continued to grow, laugh, love and learn.  There are days that we feel defeated by Jonah’s medical diagnoses…but for the most part, we are just an average, run of the mill family who is trying our hardest to live our lives.  With joy, laughter, tears, boredom and all the expected ups and downs of any other family.  Having Jonah in our midst has changed us in some very positive ways.  My other children are accepting of ALL persons, regardless of abilities or appearance.  My older children can spot a child in a wheelchair a mile away, and generally finesse their way into a conversation with the child.  My husband and I have learned to live for today…and let the tomorrows come as they will.  We have learned that the strength we need to get through the day doesn’t have to come from within ourselves.  We have been granted the chance to watch our children grow, learn, love, and live life with Jonah in their midst.  We have truly been forever changed by this child called Jonah….

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our new blog.  We are excited about getting this blog off the ground, for several reasons.  One is that I can share so many more photos than I can on Caringbridge.  I WILL be continuing to update Jonah’s Caringbridge site, so if you prefer that format, don’t worry.  You’ll still get up to the minute updates on our crazy life with 2 teenagers, a medically fragile child, and a hyperactive 8 year old! 

Leave me a comment, so I know you found us.  And don’t forget to check back SOON for new postings.

 

Anji