How many times have you wished you could rewind the clock just a bit---a couple of minutes, a few days, even a month or two---and change the way you handled something? Do you find yourself wishing you could travel via time machine back several years and warn your earlier self about __________ (fill in the blank)? That's the situation our family finds ourselves in right now.
For several months now, Amanda and the rest of her senior class has been raising money for their Senior Trip. For the first time ever, the seniors would be allowed to go on an Alaskan cruise for their final activity as high school students, and everyone was excited. Chad and I were at first reluctant to even allow Amanda to plan to go because the price seemed astronomical (after ballooning a couple of times, it finally settled at just under $1,000), but there were lots of fund-raising events that would help with the cost, and Amanda was able to raise the money without pitching in any from her own pocket. This was a sticking point because she needed to be saving what she could preparatory to entering college in the fall. There were a few seniors who had opted out of the trip for differing reasons, but most were really excited about going. The dates for the cruise were announced to be May 18 - 25.
There were several hurdles to jump concerning proper documentation and paperwork involved in allowing our minor children to accompany Bro. Jon and Mrs. Whitney Minge on the cruise. I take the blame for not getting the ball rolling earlier on this. I "thought we had plenty of time" to get what we needed, which was a government-issued ID card (since Mandie does not have her driver's license yet) along with a handwritten letter from us, her parents, stating that we give permission, blah, blah, blah. I thought we could just run down to the local Dept. of Licensing and get her ID card in a couple of hours, so I put it off until the week before the cruise. When I checked the website to see what we needed to bring for proof of identity, I discovered that we could get a paper copy of her ID card but not the real card---that would arrive in 7 - 10 days. At this point, the cruise was a little over a week away. Bro. Jon, Chad, and I all made tons of phone calls, trying to discover if Mandie would be allowed on the cruise with just a temporary ID card. Amongst the three of us, we probably made around twenty calls to various people, offices, and organizations. (Bro. Jon was directed to call our DOL, Canadian Port Authority, and---get this---even Homeland Security! All this for an 18-year-old to go on a Senior Trip!) No one would give us a straight answer, but the general consensus was that a temporary ID should be sufficient to allow Amanda to board with the others.
Amanda asked her father to go with her to the DOL to get the ID card, since, as she said, "Dad is more authoritative than you, Mom." True, true. In other words, if there are any unforeseen snags, Dad's the man to go to! So, last Wednesday afternoon, Chad and Amanda, armed with her birth certificate and Social Security card, went to the DOL to get her official ID card stating that she is who she has been for the last 18 and a half years! And may I just stop here and say how ridiculous it is that someone who is born in these United States has to go through more steps to prove they are who they are than someone who has entered this country illegally. There is something seriously wrong with our government that is supposedly designed to serve us, the people, when we have to provide three different forms of identification in order to obtain an identification card! And that, only after having filled out the proper forms and waiting a couple of weeks. (Picture me throwing up my hands in disgust.)
Anyway, about an hour and a half later, Chad and Mandie returned to the school, obviously upset. Mandie's face said, "I'm trying not to cry, so don't ask me anything." Chad just came out and said, "It's the wrong birth certificate." How do you have the wrong birth certificate for one of your own children? As it turns out, the birth document---with an official-looking seal and signatures and all---was just from the hospital, not from the state. For 18 years, we have held onto a birth certificate that was really just a pretty piece of paper. The lady at the DOL was very blunt when she stated, "This is just a souvenir from the hospital." We tried contacting the Indiana office of certification to maybe overnight a copy of her birth certificate but were told that if would take up to seven weeks to receive it. And we have no family in the area who could possibly walk in and receive a copy to overnight to us. Soooooo, that was that. End of the line.
People have been very sympathetic, but it boils down to this: we put it off too late. If we had only started this process a couple of months ago, we would have discovered the glitches in time to get her ID card and allow her to go on the cruise. But, these are the hard lessons of life. Amanda asked Bro. Jon if she could let someone else go in her place, and he was able to get the name changed on the reservation so that one of the other seniors could take the trip instead. I hope they have a great time and come back with lots of pictures to share. No matter how you spin it, this week is going to be hard on Amanda. We're trying to come up with some fun activities to help with the left-behind feeling; we'll see how that goes. Amanda definitely has displayed a forgiving spirit and is deliberately not blaming anyone, and for this I thank her and the Lord.
Enough tragedy..........on to comedy! Friday night, the high school drama class put on their Spring Play, written by the students and performed with great flair. It was a comedy, a farce about old Rome, except Caesar liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and his band of Roman soldiers was less than well-trained! It truly was alot of fun to enact and watch. Mandie played the part of the younger sister who got to watch her older sister being prepared for the role she would play as wife to some great man (which meant dieting ruthlessly, standing for hours for dress fittings, and watching her tongue) while the younger sister got to wear whatever she wanted, eat whatever she wanted, and say whatever she wanted. The plot twisted to reveal the fact that the reigning Caesar had had his older brother and family killed so that he could ascend the throne. However, the soldiers had recently captured some dissidents sailing in their waters, one of which turned out to be the daughter of the nurse of the older brother's wife and infant son. The son was now grown into a young man and able to reclaim the throne in his father's name. And all lived happily ever after........even the former Caesar who, though imprisoned and enslaved now, could eat as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as he desired! We had a lot of fun watching the play and laughing at the various silly scenes, and it seemed like the actors enjoyed playing their parts, too. Bro. Minge, our principal who recently took over the play production, was rather relieved to have the performance finished at last; props preparation and rehearsals and such took up so much of his time lately. We held a bake sale afterwards to help balance the costs of decorations and costumes, so everyone got to stand around and fellowship for a bit.
And now, we enter the final sprint! There are only two weeks of school left in this year. Parents are pushing their kids to do their best on their finals while at the same time trying to fill out book order forms for next year. Students have been going crazy just thinking about the thrills of the upcoming summer break. Teachers have been doing their best to keep hold of the reins of the class and conduct their students to a safe and successful finish. When the final bell rings at 12:35 p.m. on Friday, May 31st, there will be great rejoicing from the student body and heartfelt sighs of relief from the teachers!
I need to go now; church is starting soon. God bless each of you as you live for Him.
Philippians 4: 13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Dale's latest adventures
Where to start? So much has happened in this past week and a half that, if I were to recount every bit, this blog would be fourteen pages long! However, I'll try to give you some idea of how our days have gone lately.
Last Tuesday (April 30th) was Ashley's 12th birthday. We still had school, of course, but we allowed Ash to invite a couple of friends to come home with us afterwards for a small party. Ashley had decided she wanted to go walk around the mall on her birthday; Chad very kindly offered to take them so that I could spend some down time recuperating from the school day while simultaneously cleaning up the house and baking Ashley's birthday cake. Chad and the girls (Amanda included) were gone almost two hours and came home in great spirits. The girls said they spent nearly an hour in Claire's, and, since Ashley had some birthday money with her, she got to purchase something for each family member (except Dad and Dale who don't want something from Claire's anyway!) plus lots of fun stuff for herself. When they got back, we had Ashley open her gifts and ate cake and ice cream, then let the girls play around some before taking them home. Ashley seemed to have a good birthday.
Dale, however, did not enjoy quite all of Ashley's birthday because.......he took quite a bad fall on the sidewalk after school. He was heading for the van as usual---we try as much as possible to let him walk by himself whenever he feels like it to encourage him to feel more comfortable walking on his own---and had gotten about halfway down the sidewalk when he tripped up on something (maybe just an uneven spot on the cement), and down he went! I was only about three paces beyond the door---too far to help---and Amanda was standing by the van and could only watch as he toppled over. The bad news: Dale's head bounced off the cement hard enough for us to hear it. The good news: Amanda said it looked like Dale tried to twist as he fell so as not to land face first. This is actually really good! He was able to keep thinking enough throughout the fall to change his trajectory somewhat. Unfortunately, he still landed pretty hard on his left side, bruising himself and scraping up the left side of his face above the temple and on the ear. How he managed to scrape both the front and back of his ear, I'll never figure out! Dale wound up with some raw, bleeding patches on the side of his face and ear, a lump above his left eyebrow, and a bit of a headache. His scrapes colored nicely into a seriously black eye, and his lump slowly seeped down to swell around his eye, leaving him looking alot like Rocky! I told Amanda that his face was exactly what movie makeup people try to reproduce to make it look like someone has been in a fight---except, in Dale's case, the sidewalk won. When someone asked Dale what happened to his face, I told them that we couldn't afford a coat of many colors for our favorite son, so we gave him a face of many colors! Yeah, yeah, just kidding.
As if this wasn't bad enough, on Thursday, the very day Dale had a neurology appointment, he fell again---this time landing completely face first. He was walking in the gym and stepped on a small pebble which caused him to lose his balance. Our preacher was nearby and told us Dale leaned forward, trying to regain his balance, and almost had it before pitching forward onto his nose. Of course, this resulted in bleeding from both nostrils, a small lump on the bridge of the nose, and four painful bite marks on his tongue which proceeded to bleed profusely. All of this happened just before lunchtime which means the entire high school witnessed Dale's pain and tears. Most everyone responded with sympathetic looks and offers of help or just turning away and pretending not to see Dale cry. It took a while before Dale could manage to eat lunch, for obvious reasons. Then, within an hour of Dale's tumble, we had to leave for his doctor appointment. Poor guy! What a face to present to the neuro doctor!
The neurologist was pleased to see Dale and, during the course of the visit, put Dale through some simple tests to determine how well Dale is progressing in his comeback from drowning. Some of these tests the doctor had done before with Dale, like following the doctor's finger with just his eyes and tapping various rhythms with his hands, and some were new, like trying to walk heel to toe and trying to walk on his tiptoes. This was hard for Dale to do, but it gave the neurologist a better idea of how Dale's brain is working now. Something interesting: the doctor had Dale stand and close his eyes; then he pushed lightly on Dale's shoulders and arms to try to cause him to lose his balance. The result surprised the doctor---instead of losing his balance easily because his eyes were closed, Dale retained his balance with no effort, like we would. The neurologist said he thought Dale was taking alot of visual cues to help him balance and walk, which would perhaps explain why he falls sometimes. However, Dale's balance does not seem to be altered by loss of visual cues. This is both good and bad; if his balance was being affected by his sight, maybe we could take certain steps to fix that. Since this does not seem to be the case, Dale is kind of "on his own" still.........needing to control his balance and walking every single minute. But, Dale is doing well, disregarding the falls he takes occasionally. He just gets up and tries again, even bloody and bruised!
The verse I chose for the end of this blog is a good lesson for us all but especially descriptive of Dale!
I Corinthians 10: 12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Apt, don't you think?!
Last Tuesday (April 30th) was Ashley's 12th birthday. We still had school, of course, but we allowed Ash to invite a couple of friends to come home with us afterwards for a small party. Ashley had decided she wanted to go walk around the mall on her birthday; Chad very kindly offered to take them so that I could spend some down time recuperating from the school day while simultaneously cleaning up the house and baking Ashley's birthday cake. Chad and the girls (Amanda included) were gone almost two hours and came home in great spirits. The girls said they spent nearly an hour in Claire's, and, since Ashley had some birthday money with her, she got to purchase something for each family member (except Dad and Dale who don't want something from Claire's anyway!) plus lots of fun stuff for herself. When they got back, we had Ashley open her gifts and ate cake and ice cream, then let the girls play around some before taking them home. Ashley seemed to have a good birthday.
Dale, however, did not enjoy quite all of Ashley's birthday because.......he took quite a bad fall on the sidewalk after school. He was heading for the van as usual---we try as much as possible to let him walk by himself whenever he feels like it to encourage him to feel more comfortable walking on his own---and had gotten about halfway down the sidewalk when he tripped up on something (maybe just an uneven spot on the cement), and down he went! I was only about three paces beyond the door---too far to help---and Amanda was standing by the van and could only watch as he toppled over. The bad news: Dale's head bounced off the cement hard enough for us to hear it. The good news: Amanda said it looked like Dale tried to twist as he fell so as not to land face first. This is actually really good! He was able to keep thinking enough throughout the fall to change his trajectory somewhat. Unfortunately, he still landed pretty hard on his left side, bruising himself and scraping up the left side of his face above the temple and on the ear. How he managed to scrape both the front and back of his ear, I'll never figure out! Dale wound up with some raw, bleeding patches on the side of his face and ear, a lump above his left eyebrow, and a bit of a headache. His scrapes colored nicely into a seriously black eye, and his lump slowly seeped down to swell around his eye, leaving him looking alot like Rocky! I told Amanda that his face was exactly what movie makeup people try to reproduce to make it look like someone has been in a fight---except, in Dale's case, the sidewalk won. When someone asked Dale what happened to his face, I told them that we couldn't afford a coat of many colors for our favorite son, so we gave him a face of many colors! Yeah, yeah, just kidding.
As if this wasn't bad enough, on Thursday, the very day Dale had a neurology appointment, he fell again---this time landing completely face first. He was walking in the gym and stepped on a small pebble which caused him to lose his balance. Our preacher was nearby and told us Dale leaned forward, trying to regain his balance, and almost had it before pitching forward onto his nose. Of course, this resulted in bleeding from both nostrils, a small lump on the bridge of the nose, and four painful bite marks on his tongue which proceeded to bleed profusely. All of this happened just before lunchtime which means the entire high school witnessed Dale's pain and tears. Most everyone responded with sympathetic looks and offers of help or just turning away and pretending not to see Dale cry. It took a while before Dale could manage to eat lunch, for obvious reasons. Then, within an hour of Dale's tumble, we had to leave for his doctor appointment. Poor guy! What a face to present to the neuro doctor!
The neurologist was pleased to see Dale and, during the course of the visit, put Dale through some simple tests to determine how well Dale is progressing in his comeback from drowning. Some of these tests the doctor had done before with Dale, like following the doctor's finger with just his eyes and tapping various rhythms with his hands, and some were new, like trying to walk heel to toe and trying to walk on his tiptoes. This was hard for Dale to do, but it gave the neurologist a better idea of how Dale's brain is working now. Something interesting: the doctor had Dale stand and close his eyes; then he pushed lightly on Dale's shoulders and arms to try to cause him to lose his balance. The result surprised the doctor---instead of losing his balance easily because his eyes were closed, Dale retained his balance with no effort, like we would. The neurologist said he thought Dale was taking alot of visual cues to help him balance and walk, which would perhaps explain why he falls sometimes. However, Dale's balance does not seem to be altered by loss of visual cues. This is both good and bad; if his balance was being affected by his sight, maybe we could take certain steps to fix that. Since this does not seem to be the case, Dale is kind of "on his own" still.........needing to control his balance and walking every single minute. But, Dale is doing well, disregarding the falls he takes occasionally. He just gets up and tries again, even bloody and bruised!
The verse I chose for the end of this blog is a good lesson for us all but especially descriptive of Dale!
I Corinthians 10: 12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Apt, don't you think?!
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Who'd have thunk it?
Well, well, will wonders never cease? Dale's teachers have gotten in the habit of putting Dale's tests and quizzes in my teacher in-box once they have recorded the grade. This ensures that they don't get lost somewhere in Dale's backpack (or the garbage can); plus, I usually have to sign and return them since the grade is usually a failing one. BUT.........last week, Dale's English teacher put a grammar quiz of his in my box. When I pulled it out, to my surprise and delight, Dale had received an 88 % B- on this grammar quiz! Whoo-hoo!!! Then, to make things even better, his teacher had written at the bottom: Dale got the highest grade in the class! WOW!!! I was thrilled, my husband was quite proud, and Dale's sisters praised him briefly before questioning him as to why he couldn't do that all the time. This was definitely an uplifting report for all of us, Dale especially. He just sat there with a lookon his face which was part pleasure and part "no big deal"---typical of a junior high boy!
The rest of our children are doing fine in school. Emily is trying really hard to win one last gold star so that she will receive the honorable title of Star Student in 1st grade. This is not a one-person-only acheivement; several of her classmates have already reached this level and she wants to be one too. Ashley is chafing at the bit to be an official junior higher. She's still plugging away at sixth grade work though. Junior League Volleyball games will start soon, and she is over the moon excited about that. Dale's grades have shown us that he will need to repeat the eighth grade next year. This will help us see if extra review of the subject matter helps him retain the information and reproduce it on tests better or if we need to rethink the rest of his education. Katie is doing well, especially in Algebra II. She struggled so much with Algebra I and truly feared she would spend this year in math absolutely miserable, but the teacher has been patient and Katie has been willing to say when she doesn't understand something---thus her grades have been much better. She's been taking biology as well; just this week they dissected a pregnant cat. You should have seen the softened looks on the guys' faces as they talked later about handling the tiny unborn kittens. To my third graders, the whole subject seemed gross, but the 10th graders enjoyed it. Amanda is eagerly wrapping up her high school experience and looking forward to college in the fall. Her next activities include Senior Pictures, Senior Trip, Commencement Exercises, Youth Conference, and then COLLEGE! This is going to be a crazy, action-packed, tear-filled summer.
Ashley's foot has healed well. She wore the special shoe for about a week and a half. The day her father found her in the backyard jumping on the trampoline, he told her to start wearing regular shoes again. The swelling went down rather quickly, but the bruise remained for quite some time. I think she still has a purple stripe along the bottom of her foot.
A few days after Ashley's incident, Amanda rolled her ankle and had to wear her special brace for a couple of days until it felt better. She has bad ankles anyway---probably because, when she injured them initially, she wouldn't stay off them long enough to heal properly! Then, a day later, Katie's bad ankle started acting up; she broke it a couple of years ago and every once in a while it causes a bit of pain. Katie is still wearing her brace for PE and such, but she's getting better. I guess either Dale or Emily are next in line to injure a foot somehow!
Chad signed himself and me up for workout sessions at our local gym. I confess: I was furious at him at first, but I've come to enjoy going and exercising. Then, we went and did the same thing to Katie! She and I have been going together most afternoons. A couple of days ago, we met with a trainer who holds classes and agreed to attend her class two days each week. Well, that first day is today. I'm once again really upset at the idea of having to go to this class, but I'm willing to give it a try. I know I don't have to keep going if I don't like it, but I'm doing my best not to go in with the attitude of "I'm only going to prove I can't do it." I know I need to be more healthy in my exercise regime, my diet, and my attitudes which is why I'm going to the gym in the first place. I'm just terrified of having someone stand over me and bark orders! As if that's what the trainer will do!! Like I said, Katie and I met her on Tuesday and spent nearly an hour talking; she doesn't seem to barking type. I'm sure things will be fine, but that doesn't keep me from being VERY nervous.
Gotta go---class is about to resume. Have a wonderful day!
Isaiah 40: 10 - 11 "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."
The rest of our children are doing fine in school. Emily is trying really hard to win one last gold star so that she will receive the honorable title of Star Student in 1st grade. This is not a one-person-only acheivement; several of her classmates have already reached this level and she wants to be one too. Ashley is chafing at the bit to be an official junior higher. She's still plugging away at sixth grade work though. Junior League Volleyball games will start soon, and she is over the moon excited about that. Dale's grades have shown us that he will need to repeat the eighth grade next year. This will help us see if extra review of the subject matter helps him retain the information and reproduce it on tests better or if we need to rethink the rest of his education. Katie is doing well, especially in Algebra II. She struggled so much with Algebra I and truly feared she would spend this year in math absolutely miserable, but the teacher has been patient and Katie has been willing to say when she doesn't understand something---thus her grades have been much better. She's been taking biology as well; just this week they dissected a pregnant cat. You should have seen the softened looks on the guys' faces as they talked later about handling the tiny unborn kittens. To my third graders, the whole subject seemed gross, but the 10th graders enjoyed it. Amanda is eagerly wrapping up her high school experience and looking forward to college in the fall. Her next activities include Senior Pictures, Senior Trip, Commencement Exercises, Youth Conference, and then COLLEGE! This is going to be a crazy, action-packed, tear-filled summer.
Ashley's foot has healed well. She wore the special shoe for about a week and a half. The day her father found her in the backyard jumping on the trampoline, he told her to start wearing regular shoes again. The swelling went down rather quickly, but the bruise remained for quite some time. I think she still has a purple stripe along the bottom of her foot.
A few days after Ashley's incident, Amanda rolled her ankle and had to wear her special brace for a couple of days until it felt better. She has bad ankles anyway---probably because, when she injured them initially, she wouldn't stay off them long enough to heal properly! Then, a day later, Katie's bad ankle started acting up; she broke it a couple of years ago and every once in a while it causes a bit of pain. Katie is still wearing her brace for PE and such, but she's getting better. I guess either Dale or Emily are next in line to injure a foot somehow!
Chad signed himself and me up for workout sessions at our local gym. I confess: I was furious at him at first, but I've come to enjoy going and exercising. Then, we went and did the same thing to Katie! She and I have been going together most afternoons. A couple of days ago, we met with a trainer who holds classes and agreed to attend her class two days each week. Well, that first day is today. I'm once again really upset at the idea of having to go to this class, but I'm willing to give it a try. I know I don't have to keep going if I don't like it, but I'm doing my best not to go in with the attitude of "I'm only going to prove I can't do it." I know I need to be more healthy in my exercise regime, my diet, and my attitudes which is why I'm going to the gym in the first place. I'm just terrified of having someone stand over me and bark orders! As if that's what the trainer will do!! Like I said, Katie and I met her on Tuesday and spent nearly an hour talking; she doesn't seem to barking type. I'm sure things will be fine, but that doesn't keep me from being VERY nervous.
Gotta go---class is about to resume. Have a wonderful day!
Isaiah 40: 10 - 11 "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him: behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."
Saturday, April 13, 2013
If it's not one, it's another!
That about sums up how Chad and I feel right now. I'm sure every other parent in the world with more than one child can relate as well. If it's not one child getting hurt, it's bound to be another.
In this case, it was Ashley. Our fourth child (third daughter), Ashley is very active, always running around doing this or that. This week saw the beginning of Junior Volleyball practice for grades 3 - 6, so Ashley and her friends have been all excited about that. Then, yesterday just as school was about to end, Ashley came limping into my classroom, holding onto her friend Emma's arm. Ash was in tears and obvious pain. I looked up from my desk where I was trying to grade my students' health tests while they were clearing the classroom and getting it ready for Sunday school. Seeing the look on Ashley's face, I immediately asked, "What happened?" She stammered out that she had been playing basketball and had been going after the ball when she came down on the side of her foot. I thought she had rolled her ankle, so I sat her down in my desk chair and pulled another chair over to prop her foot on. She was in quite a bit of pain, crying and begging me not to touch her foot.
I had no choice but to divide my attention between Ashley's injury and my departing students. Thankfully, they all realized she had been badly hurt and, for the most part, sat quietly waiting for their parents to pick them up. This process took about fifteen minutes, during which I alternately comforted Ashley and smiled a goodbye at my students. I looked at Ashley's ankle which didn't seem to be swelling but sent Katie for an ice pack anyway. It was only when Ash said, "Mom, the ice isn't on the right spot" and pulled off her sock that I realized the real problem. She had a growing lump about halfway down the top and one inch from the edge of her foot. This lump was extremely painful to the touch and looked highly unnatural, to say the least! Anyone who looked at it had one thought---she broke a bone. I resorted to asking help from a higher authority, in this case, Chad. I called him and described Ash's injury, how she sustained it, and what he thought. We decided that I should head home ASAP in order to show him her foot and get his decision on whether or not to have it checked out. Please understand: if she had injured her ankle, we wouldn't have thought twice about how to treat it. But I had never seen an injury like that before, so I was unsure how serious it might be. I was so glad Chad was home and could give his opinion.
First, we had to get Ashley in the car without putting any weight on her poor foot. This proved to be an adventure! I pulled the car as close to the curb as possible so that we could use the side door of the school to get Ashley out. Amanda elected to carry Ash out the door, down three small steps to the parking lot, and heave her through the open van door, all in the pouring rain while avoiding the mini mud slide that always collects by those particular steps whenever it rains. Once inside the van, Ashley had to maneuver herself over to the other middle seat in order to be able to prop her foot up on the first seat. What confusion! By the time I had turned off lights, locked cabinets, and closed my door, the kids were in gales of laughter, Amanda was acting like she was driving home, Katie had somehow crammed herself into the storage compartment in the "way back" of the van, and Ashley was more than ready to just go.
Once we got home, Chad came out to look at Ashley's foot and agreed that she should have that looked at by a doctor. He got on the phone to the consulting nurse offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, obtained her advice to have Ashley taken to the ER (apparently Urgent Care wouldn't be able to do x-rays), found out which hospital was on our insurance plan, and wished us well on the next leg (pardon the pun) of our journey.
Traffic was fairly light; we got to the ER in good time. Amanda came with us which greatly relieved my mind as to how to get Ashley into the ER without putting any weight on her foot. We had been advised by the consulting nurse to use a wheelchair for Ashley, but I was unsure where to find one. As it turns out, they were parked right inside the foyer! There were not many people inside waiting for attention, so the triage nurse called Ashley in within about ten minutes. She took Ash's vital signs and ordered an x-ray, then sent us back out to the waiting room to await the ER nurse's call. That took another twenty minutes or so. Once Ashley was established in the bed and her information entered into the computer again, the real wait began. A nurse popped in occasionally; the doctor made an appearance; an x-ray technician stopped by to take pictures of her foot and joke with Ashley. Meanwhile we watched at least four elderly patients wheeled in by paramedics, and, while we felt for these poor folks, each stretcher wheeled past meant that much longer we would have to wait for the doctor's pronouncement of Ashley's condition. When a nurse came in to fit Ashley with a comfortable supportive shoe, I kind of figured that she hadn't broken anything or they would have wrapped her foot securely before putting on the "boot." It still took another twenty or thirty minutes before the doctor breezed in to assure Ashley that nothing was broken, just sprained. I had never before heard of a sprained foot! I knew you could sprain your ankle or wrist but not your foot. At any rate, getting the x-ray was the right call just in case there was a fracture. So, four hours later, we left the ER with Ashley again being carried by Amanda (I think Mandie likes to show off her strength!) out to the waiting van. The nurse had given her some ibuprofen to help with the swelling and pain; now all that remained was getting some much-delayed dinner!
Praise the Lord---today Ashley's foot has been much better. The swelling has gone down a bit; the large lump is gone because the fluid has dispersed across the foot more. There is a lovely bruise on the top of her foot, but that's to be expected. The real challenge is going to be keeping her off that foot for at least a few days in order to allow it to heal properly. Ashley is like Amanda in this regard: stubbornly refusing to listen when we tell her it's not healed yet nor will it heal properly if she doesn't keep it off of it. She'll need this healing time if she doesn't want to keep re-injuring that same foot; plus, she'll not want to have problems with that foot the rest of her life, so she'd best listen to advice!
Tomorrow is Sunday again and we get to go to God's house. What a privilege it is to attend services as many times as we want each week! We don't have to hide our worship of God; we don't have to suffer persecution in order to serve our Lord. We get to freely walk into the church house and sing praises to Him and hear His Word preached. May we ever thank God for our freedom in this and other areas.
Psalm 122: 1 "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."
I had no choice but to divide my attention between Ashley's injury and my departing students. Thankfully, they all realized she had been badly hurt and, for the most part, sat quietly waiting for their parents to pick them up. This process took about fifteen minutes, during which I alternately comforted Ashley and smiled a goodbye at my students. I looked at Ashley's ankle which didn't seem to be swelling but sent Katie for an ice pack anyway. It was only when Ash said, "Mom, the ice isn't on the right spot" and pulled off her sock that I realized the real problem. She had a growing lump about halfway down the top and one inch from the edge of her foot. This lump was extremely painful to the touch and looked highly unnatural, to say the least! Anyone who looked at it had one thought---she broke a bone. I resorted to asking help from a higher authority, in this case, Chad. I called him and described Ash's injury, how she sustained it, and what he thought. We decided that I should head home ASAP in order to show him her foot and get his decision on whether or not to have it checked out. Please understand: if she had injured her ankle, we wouldn't have thought twice about how to treat it. But I had never seen an injury like that before, so I was unsure how serious it might be. I was so glad Chad was home and could give his opinion.
First, we had to get Ashley in the car without putting any weight on her poor foot. This proved to be an adventure! I pulled the car as close to the curb as possible so that we could use the side door of the school to get Ashley out. Amanda elected to carry Ash out the door, down three small steps to the parking lot, and heave her through the open van door, all in the pouring rain while avoiding the mini mud slide that always collects by those particular steps whenever it rains. Once inside the van, Ashley had to maneuver herself over to the other middle seat in order to be able to prop her foot up on the first seat. What confusion! By the time I had turned off lights, locked cabinets, and closed my door, the kids were in gales of laughter, Amanda was acting like she was driving home, Katie had somehow crammed herself into the storage compartment in the "way back" of the van, and Ashley was more than ready to just go.
Once we got home, Chad came out to look at Ashley's foot and agreed that she should have that looked at by a doctor. He got on the phone to the consulting nurse offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, obtained her advice to have Ashley taken to the ER (apparently Urgent Care wouldn't be able to do x-rays), found out which hospital was on our insurance plan, and wished us well on the next leg (pardon the pun) of our journey.
Traffic was fairly light; we got to the ER in good time. Amanda came with us which greatly relieved my mind as to how to get Ashley into the ER without putting any weight on her foot. We had been advised by the consulting nurse to use a wheelchair for Ashley, but I was unsure where to find one. As it turns out, they were parked right inside the foyer! There were not many people inside waiting for attention, so the triage nurse called Ashley in within about ten minutes. She took Ash's vital signs and ordered an x-ray, then sent us back out to the waiting room to await the ER nurse's call. That took another twenty minutes or so. Once Ashley was established in the bed and her information entered into the computer again, the real wait began. A nurse popped in occasionally; the doctor made an appearance; an x-ray technician stopped by to take pictures of her foot and joke with Ashley. Meanwhile we watched at least four elderly patients wheeled in by paramedics, and, while we felt for these poor folks, each stretcher wheeled past meant that much longer we would have to wait for the doctor's pronouncement of Ashley's condition. When a nurse came in to fit Ashley with a comfortable supportive shoe, I kind of figured that she hadn't broken anything or they would have wrapped her foot securely before putting on the "boot." It still took another twenty or thirty minutes before the doctor breezed in to assure Ashley that nothing was broken, just sprained. I had never before heard of a sprained foot! I knew you could sprain your ankle or wrist but not your foot. At any rate, getting the x-ray was the right call just in case there was a fracture. So, four hours later, we left the ER with Ashley again being carried by Amanda (I think Mandie likes to show off her strength!) out to the waiting van. The nurse had given her some ibuprofen to help with the swelling and pain; now all that remained was getting some much-delayed dinner!
Praise the Lord---today Ashley's foot has been much better. The swelling has gone down a bit; the large lump is gone because the fluid has dispersed across the foot more. There is a lovely bruise on the top of her foot, but that's to be expected. The real challenge is going to be keeping her off that foot for at least a few days in order to allow it to heal properly. Ashley is like Amanda in this regard: stubbornly refusing to listen when we tell her it's not healed yet nor will it heal properly if she doesn't keep it off of it. She'll need this healing time if she doesn't want to keep re-injuring that same foot; plus, she'll not want to have problems with that foot the rest of her life, so she'd best listen to advice!
Tomorrow is Sunday again and we get to go to God's house. What a privilege it is to attend services as many times as we want each week! We don't have to hide our worship of God; we don't have to suffer persecution in order to serve our Lord. We get to freely walk into the church house and sing praises to Him and hear His Word preached. May we ever thank God for our freedom in this and other areas.
Psalm 122: 1 "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."
Saturday, April 6, 2013
All god things must come to an end.......
Which, in this case, means our lovely sunny weather has turned into rain showers and our Spring Break is over. Boo-hoo! We had some nice days this past week, and then we had days to make up for lost time. It seems that western Washington has come by its moniker (rainforest) honestly and feels the need to keep up appearances by raining at least every other day, especially if we've had some unexpected beautifully sunny weather for more than two days in a row. I propose that, if Noah needed a place to launch a second ark, he'd feel right at home here!
The rain might be coming down again, but the temperature has not. We're definitely into springtime now with trees and flowers budding, cool mornings and warmer afternoons, and frogs croaking every night. I grew up in North Carolina where we had crickets chirping all hours of the night, so the frogs are a welcome and rather musical change. It never ceases to amaze me that I'll hear some frog sounding off loud and clear right outside the front door, and, when I open it to investigate, I find this tiny creature sitting on the doorstep---or attached to the wall! How can such a minute amphibian produce such a volume of sound? If only I could do that, I wouldn't need to use a whistle to get the students' attention at recess! :-D
Yes, we are sad to have Spring Break ending while at the same time glad to get back to school, knowing there are only eight weeks of school left in this year!!! This attitude produces interesting and varied reactions in the lives and workings of those involved in our school. The students invariably react in two ways: they become increasing agitated with learning and studying as the days get warmer and sunnier---a condition known as spring fever---or they feverishly cram their lessons into their heads, believing that achieving good grades on the last quizzes and tests in a subject will automatically erase all other grades recorded over the last several months. This generally results in a false sense of security in said students who inevitably come crashing back down to reality once they receive their final report cards! The parents react somewhat predictably as well: they, knowing full well that only a miracle from God will enable their child to pass certain subjects, still begin begging the teachers for some sort of extra credit that will boost the final grade of their pupil. I speak as a parent in this respect; I know I should have been doing more during the school year to help my child improve their grade(s), but I get so busy and I keep thinking that there's plenty of time to bring the grade up......until I realize with all the other parents that here we are facing the fourth quarter, with only a few weeks to go until the fourth mid-quarter report sheets go home and parents begin to panic. Some teachers are able to assign already-planned extra credit which will enable the students to earn some much-needed points while at the same time reinforcing what they should have already gotten. I prefer to make sure my students really get the material in class, slowing down in some subjects if I feel the class needs it and offering extra help during classwork time to those who might still be struggling. And, as much as it goes against the grain to say this, there are some subjects that some students are just not going to get. Some students struggle with certain subjects and excel in others. I had one student who did really well in math but couldn't seem to grasp the basics of grammar. They would get As and A+s on math tests and nearly fail language tests. Sometimes, below-average grades are because students just aren't paying attention, but sometimes that's just the best that student can do in that subject. I've learned to pay attention to a student's strengths and weaknesses and work with them to be the best they can be, without blaming them or myself or their parents unnecessarily. Last, there are the teachers' reactions; we fall into one of two categories: either we buckle down and finish the school year strong or we throw in the towel and think, "If they haven't gotten it by now, what is a few more weeks' lessons going to help?" It's easy to give up and kind of coast toward the end, knowing that those who will need summer school are still going to need it no matter how hard you prepare---and those parents who feel that you are to blame will still blame you even if their child passes by the skin of their teeth. Ultimately, yes, the student's education rests on the teacher's shoulders. The parents pay us to impart information to their child, with or without their help. Some parents are wonderful, always asking how their child is doing in school and pushing their child to do their best. Some teachers are wonderful, ready with a listening ear to any complaint the parents might have and willing to go however many extra miles are necessary in order to give their students the best chance possible to learn. Too many of us teachers and parents fall in between those two categories; we teachers don't do our best to teach and we parents don't do our best to support. In a perfect world............
Enough about school! One would think the world revolves around the schoolhouse........wait, maybe it does. Our school is owned and operated by our church, and our personal world does revolve around our church, so---yes, it seems school is important after all!
Easter Sunday was a great day at our church. I hope your services went well and were as spiritually rewarding as ours were. We had a combined service starting at 10:30 a.m. which involved lots of singing, a few baptisms, and a wonderful preaching time spent thinking about Christ's death and resurrection. Having spent the last couple of weeks teaching my students about the gospel, all that Jesus and the Father and Heaven itself went through in those three days (four, if you count the night before) has figured largely in my thoughts. I'm glad we celebrate Easter with a service and music that make us stop our busy lives and think seriously about what Jesus did for us. It's so easy to get used to the idea of His dying on the cross for us. It becomes old hat---kind of like "Yeah, yeah, Jesus died on the cross and rose again the third day; moving on now........" We should never get over the cross, never become adjusted to the atrocities He suffered just on the way to Calvary, never letting Himself give in to the intense desire to just end it all. He kept Himself alive long enough to satisfy the Father's penalty for sin and then, only then, did He give up His life. We should thank God every day for the freedom from sin and eternal death that His death and renewed life gives us.
I spent half of Thursday on the phone with various companies, starting with our new health insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I got lots of questions answered, like how much coverage do we have and how do I access a list of approved doctors and hospitals. Thankfully, we found a nice clinic not too far from our house for regular doctor visits and immunizations, plus we discovered that Dale's neurologist belongs to the same health network! What a relief this is! No more seeing him, then having to transfer the prescriptions he writes for Dale's meds to a different health network pharmacy. Praise the Lord for these conveniences! Dale has a checkup scheduled with him (neuro) the beginning of May. He was supposed to have had an MRI around the end of December which we couldn't do because Chad changed jobs and our new insurance didn't pick up right away. Now we're not sure whether BCBS will cover MRIs or not; that's something we still have to find out because there is no way we can pay for something like that out-of-pocket---nearly $1,000 for the test. That's something to pray about, I suppose, along with Dale's continued memory problems.
Speaking of..........Dale said something tonight that I hadn't realized before. He was upset with his sister for turning off a movie he wanted to watch (it was her day to be in charge of the remote anyway) and had begun even to cry about it in frustration. I sat with him and tried to calm him down, only to hear him say, "And, as usual, I'll forget about it tomorrow! It'll be gone in the wind!" I realized then that his habit of forgetting things is actually frustrating to him. I didn't think he was even really aware of it. Oh, I knew he knew he should remember things for tests better and stuff like that, but I didn't realize Dale knew he forgot things so easily. We get a bit tired of having to answer silly questions (ones we think he should know the answer to already) or reminding him over and over to do something (like fold the laundry or eat his dinner). I honestly didn't think he realized the extent of his own memory problems until it came out with that statement of his. He was really upset about the fact that he knew he would forget the very thing he was upset about! And this made me realize something else: Dale gets really worked up about seemingly small things because he knows he won't remember them later, so maybe he feels he has to put as much emotion and energy as he can into the situation while he has the chance. This is actually a breakthrough for me and us a family into how Dale is thinking now. This will hopefully help us help him deal with this aspect of his recovery and future life. If we remember that he is "making more of this than is necessary" for a very good reason, we'll be more understanding and we'll be able to reason with him better and help him to choose which situations require which amount of emotion. See? Thank You, Lord, for this insight into our son's behavior and thinking. You are always good.
Have a wonderful Saturday and a blessed week to follow!
Psalm 18: 30 "As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him."
Job 23: 10 "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
The rain might be coming down again, but the temperature has not. We're definitely into springtime now with trees and flowers budding, cool mornings and warmer afternoons, and frogs croaking every night. I grew up in North Carolina where we had crickets chirping all hours of the night, so the frogs are a welcome and rather musical change. It never ceases to amaze me that I'll hear some frog sounding off loud and clear right outside the front door, and, when I open it to investigate, I find this tiny creature sitting on the doorstep---or attached to the wall! How can such a minute amphibian produce such a volume of sound? If only I could do that, I wouldn't need to use a whistle to get the students' attention at recess! :-D
Yes, we are sad to have Spring Break ending while at the same time glad to get back to school, knowing there are only eight weeks of school left in this year!!! This attitude produces interesting and varied reactions in the lives and workings of those involved in our school. The students invariably react in two ways: they become increasing agitated with learning and studying as the days get warmer and sunnier---a condition known as spring fever---or they feverishly cram their lessons into their heads, believing that achieving good grades on the last quizzes and tests in a subject will automatically erase all other grades recorded over the last several months. This generally results in a false sense of security in said students who inevitably come crashing back down to reality once they receive their final report cards! The parents react somewhat predictably as well: they, knowing full well that only a miracle from God will enable their child to pass certain subjects, still begin begging the teachers for some sort of extra credit that will boost the final grade of their pupil. I speak as a parent in this respect; I know I should have been doing more during the school year to help my child improve their grade(s), but I get so busy and I keep thinking that there's plenty of time to bring the grade up......until I realize with all the other parents that here we are facing the fourth quarter, with only a few weeks to go until the fourth mid-quarter report sheets go home and parents begin to panic. Some teachers are able to assign already-planned extra credit which will enable the students to earn some much-needed points while at the same time reinforcing what they should have already gotten. I prefer to make sure my students really get the material in class, slowing down in some subjects if I feel the class needs it and offering extra help during classwork time to those who might still be struggling. And, as much as it goes against the grain to say this, there are some subjects that some students are just not going to get. Some students struggle with certain subjects and excel in others. I had one student who did really well in math but couldn't seem to grasp the basics of grammar. They would get As and A+s on math tests and nearly fail language tests. Sometimes, below-average grades are because students just aren't paying attention, but sometimes that's just the best that student can do in that subject. I've learned to pay attention to a student's strengths and weaknesses and work with them to be the best they can be, without blaming them or myself or their parents unnecessarily. Last, there are the teachers' reactions; we fall into one of two categories: either we buckle down and finish the school year strong or we throw in the towel and think, "If they haven't gotten it by now, what is a few more weeks' lessons going to help?" It's easy to give up and kind of coast toward the end, knowing that those who will need summer school are still going to need it no matter how hard you prepare---and those parents who feel that you are to blame will still blame you even if their child passes by the skin of their teeth. Ultimately, yes, the student's education rests on the teacher's shoulders. The parents pay us to impart information to their child, with or without their help. Some parents are wonderful, always asking how their child is doing in school and pushing their child to do their best. Some teachers are wonderful, ready with a listening ear to any complaint the parents might have and willing to go however many extra miles are necessary in order to give their students the best chance possible to learn. Too many of us teachers and parents fall in between those two categories; we teachers don't do our best to teach and we parents don't do our best to support. In a perfect world............
Enough about school! One would think the world revolves around the schoolhouse........wait, maybe it does. Our school is owned and operated by our church, and our personal world does revolve around our church, so---yes, it seems school is important after all!
Easter Sunday was a great day at our church. I hope your services went well and were as spiritually rewarding as ours were. We had a combined service starting at 10:30 a.m. which involved lots of singing, a few baptisms, and a wonderful preaching time spent thinking about Christ's death and resurrection. Having spent the last couple of weeks teaching my students about the gospel, all that Jesus and the Father and Heaven itself went through in those three days (four, if you count the night before) has figured largely in my thoughts. I'm glad we celebrate Easter with a service and music that make us stop our busy lives and think seriously about what Jesus did for us. It's so easy to get used to the idea of His dying on the cross for us. It becomes old hat---kind of like "Yeah, yeah, Jesus died on the cross and rose again the third day; moving on now........" We should never get over the cross, never become adjusted to the atrocities He suffered just on the way to Calvary, never letting Himself give in to the intense desire to just end it all. He kept Himself alive long enough to satisfy the Father's penalty for sin and then, only then, did He give up His life. We should thank God every day for the freedom from sin and eternal death that His death and renewed life gives us.
I spent half of Thursday on the phone with various companies, starting with our new health insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I got lots of questions answered, like how much coverage do we have and how do I access a list of approved doctors and hospitals. Thankfully, we found a nice clinic not too far from our house for regular doctor visits and immunizations, plus we discovered that Dale's neurologist belongs to the same health network! What a relief this is! No more seeing him, then having to transfer the prescriptions he writes for Dale's meds to a different health network pharmacy. Praise the Lord for these conveniences! Dale has a checkup scheduled with him (neuro) the beginning of May. He was supposed to have had an MRI around the end of December which we couldn't do because Chad changed jobs and our new insurance didn't pick up right away. Now we're not sure whether BCBS will cover MRIs or not; that's something we still have to find out because there is no way we can pay for something like that out-of-pocket---nearly $1,000 for the test. That's something to pray about, I suppose, along with Dale's continued memory problems.
Speaking of..........Dale said something tonight that I hadn't realized before. He was upset with his sister for turning off a movie he wanted to watch (it was her day to be in charge of the remote anyway) and had begun even to cry about it in frustration. I sat with him and tried to calm him down, only to hear him say, "And, as usual, I'll forget about it tomorrow! It'll be gone in the wind!" I realized then that his habit of forgetting things is actually frustrating to him. I didn't think he was even really aware of it. Oh, I knew he knew he should remember things for tests better and stuff like that, but I didn't realize Dale knew he forgot things so easily. We get a bit tired of having to answer silly questions (ones we think he should know the answer to already) or reminding him over and over to do something (like fold the laundry or eat his dinner). I honestly didn't think he realized the extent of his own memory problems until it came out with that statement of his. He was really upset about the fact that he knew he would forget the very thing he was upset about! And this made me realize something else: Dale gets really worked up about seemingly small things because he knows he won't remember them later, so maybe he feels he has to put as much emotion and energy as he can into the situation while he has the chance. This is actually a breakthrough for me and us a family into how Dale is thinking now. This will hopefully help us help him deal with this aspect of his recovery and future life. If we remember that he is "making more of this than is necessary" for a very good reason, we'll be more understanding and we'll be able to reason with him better and help him to choose which situations require which amount of emotion. See? Thank You, Lord, for this insight into our son's behavior and thinking. You are always good.
Have a wonderful Saturday and a blessed week to follow!
Psalm 18: 30 "As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him."
Job 23: 10 "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Celebrate Easter---celebrate Christ's resurrection.
It's so easy nowadays to lose sight of the true meaning of Easter Sunday. When I was growing up, my mom always had a nice Easter basket filled with goodies for us kids to enjoy; Chad and I always get some yummy chocolates and less yummy Peeps for our children. Our family plans to spend part of today dyeing eggs, and tomorrow we'll join our church in our annual Easter Egg Dash held after the morning service. All of these things are fun and traditional, but they do not reflect the reason why we as Christians celebrate Easter Sunday. Jesus rose from the grave---that's why we rejoice on this day. If Jesus had been born, lived, and died, we would still be on our way to hell. He had to rise to prove He had power over death; He had to live again to truly conquer death for all who believe.
Can you imagine that morning when the angel rolled back the stone? Can you imagine the initial disbelief of His friends and disciples when they were told the tomb was empty? This was the Son of God Who had already foretold the events that would take place, and yet, when told of His resurrection, His disciples didn't believe at first. Can you picture the looks on their faces when Jesus showed up in the room that night, proving that He had indeed risen from the dead? I wonder, if I had been present during that time, what would my reaction have been? Would I have believed what Jesus had said? I wonder if I would have, like the disciples, been in such shock that God's Son could actually die that I would have forgotten His words that He would rise again in three days. Surely Jesus expected them to be waiting to for Him when He arose, but they were still so stunned by His awful, tragic death that they lost faith. I'd like to think that I would have held on to His words and been ready the third day to welcome His triumphant resurrection, but I know me. My faith is not strong at times, either. I'm glad I get to look back on that day and rejoice, not live through those days. I'm so thankful that Jesus rose again from the dead, that He didn't just die but lives again. We serve a risen Saviour, not a dead God. Thank You, Father, for creating this master plan to save us from our sins. Thank You, Jesus, for being willing to die such an awful death to save us from an awful eternity. What a reason to celebrate!
Our kids (and I) are rejoicing extra today because we have a week off school next week! This is our official Spring Break, and it looks like we might actually have some really nice weather this time. Amanda already has a job for the week, and I'm sure Katie and Ashley will find some work as well. Dale, Emily, and I plan to laze around and act like we have earned the right to do so! I'm sure we'll do some spring cleaning---the girls' closets definitely could use it---but mostly we'll just be lazy. :-)
Chad has settled into his new schedule pretty well. It's so nice for him to know what each week will bring, rather than having to call in each day just to find out what the next day's schedule will be. God has certainly blessed us with regards to Chad's work and our finances. We have what we need but not more. You know, I'm glad we've never been "rolling in the dough" because I don't think I could handle having tons of money. I am well aware that I don't trust God to supply my needs as much when I've just cashed my paycheck as when I'm waiting for it. God's plan for my life is perfect; He knows what is best for me!
Happy Easter, everyone! Don't eat too much candy or ham!
Matthew 28: 5-6 "And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
Can you imagine that morning when the angel rolled back the stone? Can you imagine the initial disbelief of His friends and disciples when they were told the tomb was empty? This was the Son of God Who had already foretold the events that would take place, and yet, when told of His resurrection, His disciples didn't believe at first. Can you picture the looks on their faces when Jesus showed up in the room that night, proving that He had indeed risen from the dead? I wonder, if I had been present during that time, what would my reaction have been? Would I have believed what Jesus had said? I wonder if I would have, like the disciples, been in such shock that God's Son could actually die that I would have forgotten His words that He would rise again in three days. Surely Jesus expected them to be waiting to for Him when He arose, but they were still so stunned by His awful, tragic death that they lost faith. I'd like to think that I would have held on to His words and been ready the third day to welcome His triumphant resurrection, but I know me. My faith is not strong at times, either. I'm glad I get to look back on that day and rejoice, not live through those days. I'm so thankful that Jesus rose again from the dead, that He didn't just die but lives again. We serve a risen Saviour, not a dead God. Thank You, Father, for creating this master plan to save us from our sins. Thank You, Jesus, for being willing to die such an awful death to save us from an awful eternity. What a reason to celebrate!
Our kids (and I) are rejoicing extra today because we have a week off school next week! This is our official Spring Break, and it looks like we might actually have some really nice weather this time. Amanda already has a job for the week, and I'm sure Katie and Ashley will find some work as well. Dale, Emily, and I plan to laze around and act like we have earned the right to do so! I'm sure we'll do some spring cleaning---the girls' closets definitely could use it---but mostly we'll just be lazy. :-)
Chad has settled into his new schedule pretty well. It's so nice for him to know what each week will bring, rather than having to call in each day just to find out what the next day's schedule will be. God has certainly blessed us with regards to Chad's work and our finances. We have what we need but not more. You know, I'm glad we've never been "rolling in the dough" because I don't think I could handle having tons of money. I am well aware that I don't trust God to supply my needs as much when I've just cashed my paycheck as when I'm waiting for it. God's plan for my life is perfect; He knows what is best for me!
Happy Easter, everyone! Don't eat too much candy or ham!
Matthew 28: 5-6 "And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."
Friday, March 22, 2013
Hooray for spring!
Officially, according to the calendar, spring has arrived. However, judging by the most interesting weather we have been experiencing, I'm not at all sure which season we are presently in. Over the past couple of weeks here in Washington state, we have had gloriously warm weather, scattered showers, heavy mists, and even snow! Yesterday morning there were snow flurries mixed with rain (everything here is mixed with rain!), and again in the afternoon there were quite a bit of flurries. Of course, nothing stuck, but it was pretty to watch. Our temperature has dropped considerably, leaving the house freezing at night but warming up a good bit during the daytime. Who knows---maybe spring is actually here but winter is giving her last best shot?
Our annual school auction is being held today. You know this means that for the last few weeks our staff has been running around madly, scrambling to get donations, workers, decorations, etc. to make our auction a success. Our theme this year is a tailgate party (minus the alcohol!) and the servers (high schoolers) will be dressed as fans at a football game. Miss Caryn Coffey and I are in charge of the nurseries again this year; we took over that job a few years back, and apparently we do a good job.........either that or no one else wants to do it! :-D This year, we only need be concerned with the children ages birth - three years old, although we are keeping an unofficial eye on the K4 - 1st graders room since they are in the same building with us. Next year we might be in charge of the kids all the way up through sixth grade; this idea was presented to us yesterday by one of the main people in charge of the auction, after a particularly stressful day trying to work out last-minute snags that always arise in the undertaking of a big event like this. Caryn and I were somewhat taken aback by the offer but agreed to give it some thought, especially since this would relieve the burden that some of the higher-up people carry. We may change our minds after tonight!
Our family is finally getting over the worst of our illnesses. I still have a lingering cough which causes me to consume scads of cough drops; Ashley got sick last night but she slept pretty well afterwards so I hope it was just a temporary bug. Chad started his new schedule yesterday after months of being a relief driver; his hours are still crazy some days, but at least we know what he'll be doing on each day---and what services he'll be able to attend! Chad has been fixing up a place in our garage for his father who will be moving in with us next week. We don't have a spare bedroom, but we've created a space in the garage with room for his bed, dresser, microwave, and fridge, plus a space heater or two. I hope he'll be comfortable there; Chad has gone to a good bit of effort to make the place seem homey and comfortable. We wrapped up the third quarter of school this week; now it's on to the home stretch! With Amanda graduating this year, there are all sorts of extra plans to be made and expenses to be handled, not to mention getting her ready for college. She wants to attend Golden State Baptist College in Santa Clara, CA, and is already trying to get herself ready to go (although the actual departure date isn't until fall). Life is certainly going to be different without her here! We've gotten used to five children, and she, being the oldest, has assumed a good deal of responsibility around the house. Katie, next in line, will have to take up the slack, I guess! (I say that like Katie does nothing in our house already, which is absolutely false.) Ashley, our third daughter/fourth child, is going into the seventh grade next year, so she is eligible to attend Youth Conference in Santa Clara this summer. She (along with Amanda and Katie) is busily trying to earn the money to pay her way. She does odd jobs for some people and is also selling candy bars to help pay her way. Emily is going to be the only child still left in the elementary classes. She's getting so big now but is still that mixture of baby and young girl. She's missing her two front teeth on top; this makes for an adorable smile but difficulty pronouncing some words! Dale is plugging along, having trouble walking some days and others doing all right. He's resigned himself to having to stop frequently whenever he wants to walk somewhere---something which his father and I (and sisters!) have been at pains to tell him is simply not true. But he's still growing so his arms and legs seem extra long and his steps are not settled into their permanent gait yet. If he were a normal 14-year-old boy, we'd call him uncoordinated and gangly. Since it's Dale, his sisters have come up with all sorts of other names to call him!!! He's got a small moustache growing on his upper lip; I know we need to shave it off, but, frankly, I'm not ready yet to acknowledge that my son has grown up so much that he needs to start shaving! He's only fourteen!!! And I am dead sure not handing him a razor to take care of the matter himself. He'd lop off an ear! We keep teasing Dale that we're going to wax it.
All things considered, God has been very good to us. Especially when the things you consider include our salvation, our health, our jobs, our children, etc.! Our God loves us, indeed, not because of who we are but because of Who He is.
I John 4: 7 - 8 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
Our annual school auction is being held today. You know this means that for the last few weeks our staff has been running around madly, scrambling to get donations, workers, decorations, etc. to make our auction a success. Our theme this year is a tailgate party (minus the alcohol!) and the servers (high schoolers) will be dressed as fans at a football game. Miss Caryn Coffey and I are in charge of the nurseries again this year; we took over that job a few years back, and apparently we do a good job.........either that or no one else wants to do it! :-D This year, we only need be concerned with the children ages birth - three years old, although we are keeping an unofficial eye on the K4 - 1st graders room since they are in the same building with us. Next year we might be in charge of the kids all the way up through sixth grade; this idea was presented to us yesterday by one of the main people in charge of the auction, after a particularly stressful day trying to work out last-minute snags that always arise in the undertaking of a big event like this. Caryn and I were somewhat taken aback by the offer but agreed to give it some thought, especially since this would relieve the burden that some of the higher-up people carry. We may change our minds after tonight!
Our family is finally getting over the worst of our illnesses. I still have a lingering cough which causes me to consume scads of cough drops; Ashley got sick last night but she slept pretty well afterwards so I hope it was just a temporary bug. Chad started his new schedule yesterday after months of being a relief driver; his hours are still crazy some days, but at least we know what he'll be doing on each day---and what services he'll be able to attend! Chad has been fixing up a place in our garage for his father who will be moving in with us next week. We don't have a spare bedroom, but we've created a space in the garage with room for his bed, dresser, microwave, and fridge, plus a space heater or two. I hope he'll be comfortable there; Chad has gone to a good bit of effort to make the place seem homey and comfortable. We wrapped up the third quarter of school this week; now it's on to the home stretch! With Amanda graduating this year, there are all sorts of extra plans to be made and expenses to be handled, not to mention getting her ready for college. She wants to attend Golden State Baptist College in Santa Clara, CA, and is already trying to get herself ready to go (although the actual departure date isn't until fall). Life is certainly going to be different without her here! We've gotten used to five children, and she, being the oldest, has assumed a good deal of responsibility around the house. Katie, next in line, will have to take up the slack, I guess! (I say that like Katie does nothing in our house already, which is absolutely false.) Ashley, our third daughter/fourth child, is going into the seventh grade next year, so she is eligible to attend Youth Conference in Santa Clara this summer. She (along with Amanda and Katie) is busily trying to earn the money to pay her way. She does odd jobs for some people and is also selling candy bars to help pay her way. Emily is going to be the only child still left in the elementary classes. She's getting so big now but is still that mixture of baby and young girl. She's missing her two front teeth on top; this makes for an adorable smile but difficulty pronouncing some words! Dale is plugging along, having trouble walking some days and others doing all right. He's resigned himself to having to stop frequently whenever he wants to walk somewhere---something which his father and I (and sisters!) have been at pains to tell him is simply not true. But he's still growing so his arms and legs seem extra long and his steps are not settled into their permanent gait yet. If he were a normal 14-year-old boy, we'd call him uncoordinated and gangly. Since it's Dale, his sisters have come up with all sorts of other names to call him!!! He's got a small moustache growing on his upper lip; I know we need to shave it off, but, frankly, I'm not ready yet to acknowledge that my son has grown up so much that he needs to start shaving! He's only fourteen!!! And I am dead sure not handing him a razor to take care of the matter himself. He'd lop off an ear! We keep teasing Dale that we're going to wax it.
All things considered, God has been very good to us. Especially when the things you consider include our salvation, our health, our jobs, our children, etc.! Our God loves us, indeed, not because of who we are but because of Who He is.
I John 4: 7 - 8 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
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