A Mama Bird

The Forecast: Rain{bows}

2013-04-06T22:18:00.001-05:00

Last night, my ten-year-old son was looking at the weather forecast. When he noticed they were predicting rain for the next day, he said, "It looks like there's a good chance we'll see a rainbow tomorrow."

His words immediately went straight to my heart - straight to the things I've been wrestling with lately. He didn't say it looks like we'll probably have rain. His focus was on the rainbow.

All evening, I contemplated the spiritual applications to what he said. Too often I consider what may lie ahead and anticipate the rain - the trials in life - without considering what rain brings - a rainbow.

Beauty.
Promises kept.

Today didn't bring physical rain, but it did bring spiritual rain for my family - especially for my mom and her siblings. My grandma suffered a serious stroke and is in the hospital.

Rain.

I spent hours at the hospital, in awe of Grandma's strength shining through her weakness and emotions. I looked around the room at all seven of her children with their spouses, and was blown away by the amazing support system Grandma has. I watched her lift her left arm repeatedly despite the damage done by the stroke. I heard truth spoken and prayers prayed.

Rainbows.

This afternoon on the way home, I noticed the dark sky and remembered that it was supposed to rain today. Then I remembered what my son had said, and I wept at God's goodness.

God sends rain. He does. It's hard and painful, and He uses it to wash us, to grow us, to nourish us.

But He also sends rainbows. Gorgeous glimpses of His promise-keeping.

When we look towards the heavens, we will see them. And we will remember that He never leaves us nor forsakes us. We will remember that He causes all things to work together for our good and His glory. Even when the clouds are darkest and we just don't understand, He's using it all for His purpose.

Let that sink in.

The Creator of the universe is using it all for His Holy Purpose!

I see it. Do you see it?

A rainbow.

Book Review: Tell Your Time by Amy Lynn Andrews

2013-04-01T14:23:00.001-05:00

I'm hoping to be diligent about writing up a quick blog post as I finish books this year. This is mostly for my own sake, but I hope that this can be a source of help, encouragement, and/or comfort for those who read it.

Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule So You Can Live Free

by Amy Lynn Andrews

::Number of Pages 46
::Genre Business & Investing/Time Management
::Publisher's Description

An excellent read as you begin 2013, Tell Your Time is a short, practical ebook outlining a straightforward yet effective approach to time management. A book about time management shouldn't take long to read and implement. There shouldn't be a lot of fluff and filler. This one is specifically designed to help you identify what's most important in your life, set meaningful goals and develop a workable schedule so nothing of value falls through the cracks...all within a few hours.

::Favorite Quotes

"The stress associated with a too-full schedule has little to do with time at all; it has everything to do with our choices. Blaming time for our stress is really just a handy way of avoiding discipline. It’s also self-sabotaging and will always lead to more busyness and more stress."

While there are definitely exceptions to this (life with a newborn, dealing with sickness in the family, etc.), I thought this was very convicting. When we over-commit ourselves and our children, we welcome chaos and stress. That's not the way I want to live my life, largely because I struggle to honor God when I add too much to our schedules.

"But it’s not enough to simply ask yourself what things you’d like to accomplish next week, next year, or in ten years (although those are certainly important). Instead, ask yourself what kind of person you want to be. Where do you want to make a difference? How do you want to be known and remembered? What kind of legacy do you want to leave? The answers to these questions reveal your true priorities."

This is so, so good. It's painfully simple, isn't it?

What kind of person do I want to be? At the end of my life, I want people to remember me as someone who loved Jesus more than life. I want people to SEE Jesus at work through me. So today, tomorrow, and the next day, if I allow my schedule to be so busy that I'm not spending time in His Word, sitting at His feet, getting to know Him, how can I expect to leave that legacy? Because I want HIM to be most important in my life, I need to schedule my life around HIM. He comes first. I also need to make sure that I'm not so over-committed that I don't have time to serve those whom God has put in my life.

"Roles are the areas you want to reflect on at the end of your life and say, 'I’m so glad I gave as much time and attention to that as I did. I truly gave it my best shot.' Your roles should not be confused with your activities or to-dos. Roles are who you are; activities are what you do in your roles."

Amy gives great examples of common roles, as well typical activities and tasks within those roles. For example, she encourages you to look at your role as a spouse and come up with activities that will help you be the kind of spouse you want to be. Those activities go in your schedule as a priority, and while some may balk at the idea of scheduling date nights, I'm learning that if it isn't scheduled, lots of times it just doesn't happen.

"Being a stellar home manager is not something I’m dying to be remembered for. I am only interested in a tidy and smooth-running house as much as it contributes to a happy and pleasant home life for my family."

Exactly. I love that this book gets to the "why" of the things we do. Why might it be important to tidy, organize, clean? For me, the purpose is to have a smooth-running and peaceful home for my children and husband, and it's also to create a space that is welcoming to others. This means making time to take care of certain household tasks, but more importantly, it means having grace and setting aside the need for perfection.

::Would I recommend this book to you?
Yes yes YES. This books isn't just filled with great ideas; it's very practical and even walks you through how to create your own "time budget". A time budget is such a brilliant way to get to the source of your busyness. The time budget might show you your time-wasters or that you've been attempting to cram too much into your week, and it encourages you to make some tough choices to cut the less important things out.

Also, it's worth mentioning that about a page into the book, I realized that I had read this book before. Haha! I enjoyed it the second time just as much as the first time though. And it was time for me to sit down again and redo my time budget. In fact, Amy recommends doing just that on a semi-regular basis (annually or more).

What's your secret for managing your time well? Have you read this book?

Book Report: Have a New Kid by Friday by Dr. Kevin Leman

2013-02-03T18:40:00.004-06:00

Have a New Kid by Friday

by Dr. Kevin Leman

::Number of Pages 304
::Genre Nonfiction - Parenting
::Publisher's Description

"Want a kid without the attitude? Without the behavior that makes you slink away in the grocery store and pretend you're not the parent? A kid with character who isn't a character? If you're tired of defiant attitudes and power struggles with your little ankle-biters or the disrespectful hormone group, read this book and follow the simple principles, and you'll have a new kid by Friday. Guaranteed!

"Have a New Kid by Friday is your 5-day action plan that really works! With his signature wit and commonsense psychology, internationally recognized family expert Dr. Kevin Leman reveals why your kids do what they do and what you can do about it--starting right now.

"Anyone can do it. All it takes is you deciding to stand up and take charge. Want a great kid? Want to be a great parent? Then take the 5-day challenge. Someday your kid will thank you for it"

::Would I recommend this book to you?
No. While there were plenty of helpful pieces of advice, I personally prefer parenting books that cover the most important aspect of parenting, which is (in my opinion) discipleship. There were also several things that Dr. Leman wrote that left a bad taste in my mouth. For example, he frequently calls children "little suckers". He also suggests telling a child who disobeyed earlier in the day, "You did such and such, so now I don't feel like doing this or that." I'm all for consequences and taking away priveleges because of disobedience or disrespect, but I don't think wording it that way is Biblical. One other thing he kept mentioning was that children disobey or act out because they're vying for attention. While that can be true some of the time, I think that many times children make their mistakes because they're sinners, they have built a bad habit, or they are exhibiting the overflow of whatever negativity they are experiencing in their thought life. And finally, he made references to "going to war" with your children. I don't think this is a helpful (or Biblical) way to view parenting. We are not enemies with our children. We are on the same team, battling against the same Enemy.

Now that I've got the criticisms out of the way, I would like to share three quotes that I thought were positive and encouraging.

"If you want your child to take you seriously, say your words once. Only once."

This is something with which I have struggled. Years ago, I went down the "one...two...three" path, which is essentially training my children to delay obedience. And isn't delayed obedience equal to disobedience?

"My personal view is that you should never promise your children anything. Promising them is saying that (1) your car will never break down, (2) every day will go exactly as you’ve planned it, (3) you are perfect, and (4) it won’t rain."

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I see no problem with telling children that we will TRY to make such-and-such happen at a certain time, because even if it can't happen, that is a good life lesson for children to learn that life doesn't go the way you plan. But when we make promises that we have no guarantee of being able to keep, we risk becoming untrustworthy, and we also set a poor example for our children.

"Every child will fail, make mistakes, and embarrass you. But you don’t need to hold those failures over your child’s head for a lifetime. Correct the behavior and move on."

I'm afraid I've held a grudge towards each of my children at times. They are so quick to forgive me, yet sometimes I have to give them attitude when they mess up. This is not what grace is supposed to look like.

One of the best books I've read on Biblical parenting is Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp. I haven't read it for years, so I will be re-reading it this year if I can.

Have you read this book or any others by Dr. Leman? If so, are there any you would recommend to me?

Book Report: Discovering Hope by Chautona Havig

2013-01-30T12:22:00.003-06:00

Discovering Hope

by Chautona Havig

::Number of Pages 286
::Genre Religious Fiction
::Publisher's Description

"What do Brigadoon, saris, epic laser tag games, and Jesus have in common? Hope. Hope Senior—all-American girl and student at Rockland University. Her family came over on the Fortune, less than a year after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth. Jay Brown—a charming blend of Indian heritage and American dreams. He arrived in the United States as a boy, something he hardly remembers. A chance meeting introduces them, and in time, Hope introduces Jay to Jesus. Her faith both intrigues and repels him. He respects and admires her Jesus. The stories in the Bible tug at his heart, but he cannot accept that without the blood of Jesus, he deserves only hell. Where Hope fails, can faith move the mountains protecting his heart?"

::Would I recommend this book to you?
No. It was cute and an easy read (which is nice for those evenings when my brain is too tired for heavy reading), but I found myself feeling the need to roll my eyes a lot. It was pretty cheesy, and the dialog was kind of annoying. That said, there were parts that pulled at my heartstrings and made me tear up. So it wasn't a complete waste of time. I have another book by this same author on my list of books to read this year, but I'm just not sure I will read it now. We'll see.

Have you read this author? If so, which books by Havig would you recommend to me?

Book Report: 7 by Jen Hatmaker

2013-01-20T21:59:00.001-06:00

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

by Jen Hatmaker

::Number of Pages 224

::Publisher's Description

"American life can be excessive, to say the least. That’s what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family’s upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called “rich” by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born.
"7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence.
"Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence."

::My FAVORITE QUOTES from the book...

"The chances my African children are going to bed hungry are so high I almost don’t need to waste a line space speculating. And tonight my kids here with me in the land of plenty threw away a pound of food because they didn’t have ketchup. How can we extract our children from this filthy engine where indulgence and ignorance and ungratefulness and waste are standard protocol? .... I wept for all my children tonight, my Ethiopian children orphaned by disease or hunger or poverty who will go to bed with no mother tonight and my biological children who will battle American complacency and overindulgence for the rest of their lives. I don’t know who I feel worse for."

When Jen was doing this experiment, she and her husband were journeying through the process of adopting two children from Africa. Her words really struck me because I've often wondered if our excess is really a blessing. I don't think we can answer that succinctly. Here's what I do know: there is a reason we live here in this land of plenty, and it's not simply to enjoy the "plenty". The excess brings with it challenges and struggles that distract us from Truth, but God uses those challenges and struggles for His glory. We also have the duty to use His provisions (ie. everything we own and everything we are) for His glory. The way that plays out in each of our families will be different.

"Oh how we love our religious yokes, not for what they communicate about God, but what they say about us."

How many times have I tried to steal the glory from God? I'm ashamed to think about it.

"...the American church is dying. We are losing ground in epic proportions. Our country is a graveyard of dead and vanishing churches. We made it acceptable for people to do nothing and still call themselves Christians, and that anemic vision isn’t holding."

"I learned something: There is much hope for the American church. It’s too soon to declare the Bride hopelessly selfish or irrelevant."

These two quotes came from two different parts of the book. While they seem to contradict each other, I think they complement each other. Because yes, in many ways the American Church is a troublesome site to see, but there is a remnant and God is very much at work. I see it every single week in my own church.

"My communion with God suffers not for lack of desire but time. And let’s be honest: I say I don’t have time, yet I found thirty-five minutes for Facebook and an hour for my shows. I found half an hour for YouTube videos on how to fix little black girls’ hair (my Ethiopian children are on deck, and I can’t have them looking nappy). I found fifteen minutes for the radio and twenty-four minutes for a missed 30 Rock episode. So when I say I don’t have time, I’m a gigantic liar. I have time. I just spend it elsewhere."

Um, yes. How much of my time is spent on things that please the Lord?

"Comparing an FFV Suburban to a regular one, its carbon footprint (which measures a vehicle’s impact on climate change in tons of carbon dioxide emitted annually) drops from 13.3 to 9.6; greenhouse gases not emitted = 4,820 pounds a year."

Blah blah blah. This insinuates that our earth has an expiration date that we can control. God is sovereign over all things, including the earth and climate. Now, I'm not against recycling (I think it's time for me to start doing that again), but that whole green-living thing can go too far for the wrong reasons. Wrong reason = out of fear of destroying our earth. Right reason = being a good steward of what the Lord has given us. And you know what? I do prefer to buy things used to save money, but how many times do I buy something brand spankin' new when I could have just repurposed something I already had or could have bought used? Here again, though, there needs to be a balance. I'm not about to spend three hours repurposing an empty toilet paper roll into something useful if I could just buy that "something useful" for a couple bucks. Isn't my time worth something too? Anyway, I digress.

"So why don’t we care for the earth anywhere near to the degree we do our bodies? Why don’t we fuss and examine and steward creation with the same tenacity?"

Perhaps because our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit, and the earth is not. Our bodies are the means by which God delivers the gospel to an unbelieving people. The earth reflects His glory, but it can't (and wasn't meant) to disciple His people. I'll stop there. You get my point.

::Would I recommend this book to you?
Most definitely yes, with a warning to take the green chapter with a grain of salt. This book was surprisingly hilarious, AND it challenged me in many ways. I appreciated her honesty and transparency, and I just loved reading bits and pieces of her adoption journey. The last chapter was about taking 7 daily pauses for prayer, and that really challenged me because I've been feeling like I need to intentionally have "stop and pray" times throughout the day. And a final note - if you decide to read the book, keep in mind what Jen wrote towards the end:

"Our life looks like it does because we are the Hatmakers, and God is dealing with us the way He’s dealing with us. We have history and sin issues and circumstances and geography that God takes into account as He stakes our place in His kingdom. You have an entirely different set of factors. I have no idea what this might look like in your life, nor do I want that job. Your story is God’s to write, not mine."

Have you read this book? If so, what did YOU think?

Book Report: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

2013-01-05T23:52:00.000-06:00

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

by Francis Chan

::Number of Pages 186

::Publisher's Description

"In the name of the Father, the Son, and ... the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two? As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit—the Helper—so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today's church has admired the gift but neglected to open it.

"Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church's power—the Holy Spirit. Chan contends that we've ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results. Thorough scriptural support and compelling narrative form Chan's invitation to stop and remember the One we've forgotten, the Spirit of the living God."

::My TOP FIVE QUOTES from the book...

"Given our talent set, experience, and education, many of us are fairly capable of living rather successfully (according to the world’s standards) without any strength from the Holy Spirit. Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let’s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday. It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors moved to worship and in awe of God. People are more likely to describe the quality of the music or the appeal of the sermon than the One who is the reason people gather for “church” in the first place."

We do not need to make the Bible relevant. The Holy Spirit does that all on His own.

"Thousands of years later, I think most of us would also choose a physical Jesus over an invisible Spirit. But what do we do with the fact that Jesus says it is better for His followers to have the Holy Spirit? Do we believe Him? If so, do our lives reflect that belief?"

This is giving me a lot of food for thought. Jesus walked next to the first disciples. NEXT TO. Today, the Holy Spirit lives inside God's people. INSIDE. No wonder Jesus said it is better for us who have the Holy Spirit. Those prepositions are hugely different, aren't they?

"Sometimes the sin we take on becomes such a part of us that it requires this same kind of ripping and tearing to free us. The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful."

Um, yeah. Amen. And ouch.

"A sure sign of the Holy Spirit’s working is that Christ is magnified, not people. ...... When the Holy Spirit truly moves, God is the one praised. Jesus is the one lifted up. ...... Let’s pray that God would empower us so radically that we would get no glory. That people would see our works and glorify God."

I need to write this one in my prayer notebook. Some days (okay, all days) I even need to pray that God would help me so that I don't WANT to get the glory.

"'Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure' (2:12–13). I love the apparent contradiction in this passage. Paul says in one breath, 'Work out your own salvation,' and in the next, 'It is God who works in you.' The both-ness here doesn’t allow us to escape with a simple conclusion. Yes, it is God who works in you. And, yes, there is work for you to do. Yes, the Spirit empowers you to do the work. And, yes, you do the work."

This is something I'd already been wrestling with in my walk with the Lord, so to read it again here was a confirmation from the Lord that I need to keep working it all out. I need to seek His help and I need to keep doing my part. I can't leave either one of those out because they're both an important part of the equation.

::Would I recommend this book to you?
Yes and no. If you told me you were thinking about reading it, I wouldn't have any reason to discourage it. But I also won't be telling people, "You need to read this book!" It reminded me a lot of his book, Crazy Love. I really liked that book. From what I understand, Forgotten God is a follow-up to Crazy Love, and they do feel like they're related. There were a lot of fantastic nuggets sprinkled here and there, and I really enjoyed the bios at the end of each chapter.

Have you read this book? If so, what are your thoughts?

2013

2013-01-01T22:12:00.000-06:00

Two. That's how many blog posts I wrote in all of 2012. I miss my quiet corner of cyberspace, though, and I'm hoping that the Lord - and time - will enable me to visit here a little more often this year.

I don't know about you, but I love the arrival of the new year. It's a reminder that as long as I'm still walking on this earth, I'm a work in progress. God's not finished sanctifying me yet. Phew!

I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this about me, but I'm a very goal-oriented person. Goals and lists help me focus because without something written and concrete, I get overwhelmed. Writing it down frees my brain so I can do the next thing. Writing it down also makes a big difference in whether that goal is met. If I don't write it down, it's not likely that I'll even remember the goal, let alone meet the goal.

Writing it down here gives me that extra "kick in the pants" that I ~~sometimes~~ usually need.

So here are my goals. I've learned that I can't have immeasurable, abstract goals. They just don't work for me, and they even tend to seem unattainable (that's the way the devil works, no?). So for the goals that are abstract, I've listed concrete ways to work towards those things. And many of these are habits that I hope to build this year, but not all at once. Baby steps are the key for this girl!

Goals for 2013

1. Choose joy....
...by memorizing scripture. In my morning quiet time, at midday, and before bed, I will begin memorizing the Sermon on the Mount. I'll also be accountable to some of my sweet Sisters from church as we follow along with Beth Moore's Siesta Scripture Memory Challenge. I think I'll try Ann Voskamp's plan for memorizing the Sermon.
...by journaling gifts. This practice changed my outlook when I was doing it, so I will be starting it up again this week.

2. Have weekly dates (in home or away from home) with my husband. (Put it on the calendar!)

3. Have Bible-reading/prayer/worship with the children daily, at breakfast.

4. Have 1-on-1 time with one child each weekday, reading a book then doing an activity of their choice.

5. Exercise 30 minutes, 4 days per week.

6. Read more. I have a Pinterest board filled with 33 books (Hey, I'm 33 years old! That was a neat coincidence!) I'd like to read this year. My hope is that I will make time to write a short blog post after finishing each book, so I can record my thoughts and favorite quotes and sayings from the book. As I finish books, I will move them to this Pinterest board.

As you can imagine, number one - "Choose Joy" - is top priority. If I accomplish nothing more than having the discipline to seek Jesus and His Word each and every day, it will be a successful year for me. Nothing matters more to me than to radiate for Him, and that happens from the inside out. All the rest of it is just "extra".

I pray that each person who reads this post will experience His joy during the year 2013. May you walk each moment as if you believe Romans 8:28 with your whole heart:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Happy New Year!

Summer '12 Bucket List

2012-06-06T16:52:00.001-05:00

Am I the only on who gets to the end of summer only to realize I didn't do half of the fun things I'd hoped to do with my kids? I can typically accomplish most of the "projects" on my list (most of which involve some level of cleaning, organization, or school-planning), but I've never before put the "fun" things on a To-Do list.

You don't need to tell me just how backwards that is.

These amazing children of mine will only be 9, 7, 6, and 3 once, so I need to be more intentional about spending quality FUN time with them. I know I'll never regret it.

So, I thought I'd share my Summer 2012 Bucket List! I've scoured several other lists that I found (mostly on Pinterest), plus I've done some internet searching to find some local options. My goal this year is to do almost all FREE things. I was pleasantly surprised at just how many free things are out there. We'll probably do only a few of the non-free things on this list.

(Many of these ideas might be helpful to those of you who live here in Iowa. The activities that aren't free or almost free are listed in bold at the bottom.)

Summer 2012 Bucket List

Make homemade Sidewalk Paint
Build a blanket fort (outside)
Go camping in the backyard
Have a campfire and s’mores
Watch the sun set then catch lightning bugs
Make kites and fly them in the yard
Play outdoor games: Bocce ball, hopscotch, freeze tag, baseball, Frisbee
Play in the sprinkler (make our own with PVC piping?)
Watch the Perseids Meteor Shower (8/12)
Make a blanket fort (inside)
Make homemade popsicles
Make homemade ice cream (or healthy ice cream)
Do Origami
Make homemade play dough
Make homemade lemonade
Board game day
Recycle markers to make watercolors (and maybe tie dye?)
Recycle crayon pieces to make "artwork"
Indoor S’mores
Make Bird Treats
Make our own t-shirts (using tie dye or puff paint)
Have a movie marathon with popcorn
Make homemade sno cones
Go to the (lake) beach
Go on a nature walk: BIRDS (take photos for later)
Go on a nature walk: INSECTS
Go on a nature walk: TREES
Go on a nature walk: FLOWERS & PLANTS
Nature walk identification/journal (using photos from nature walks)
Go to the park and have a picnic lunch
Go for a bike ride at Red Rock
Go fishing
Juggling Act at the library (6/12, 10:30-11:30)
Balloon Creations at the library (6/29, 10:30-11:30)
Go to Jordan Creek Mall (playplace/pond)
Melcher-Dallas Coal Mining Museum
Airpower Museum – Blakesburg
Airpower Museum Fly-In (8/29 - 9/3)
Bass Pro Shops Fish-feeding, Tu/Th/Sa at 3pm
Bass Pro Shops free workshops, Tu/Th (6/12 – 7/10) from 1-5
Go on an outdoor scavenger hunt
Attend Spirit Midwest (8/3 – 8/4 in St. Charles)
Free summer movies?
Have some "playdates" with friends
State Historical Museum of Iowa
Go for a walk at Gray’s Lake after sunset
Indianola Balloon Classic (7/27-8/4)
Iowa State Fair (Free 8/9)
Go fruit picking somewhere
Des Moines Art Center
Go geocaching
Be a tourist in Knoxville
Go to the pool
Marion County Fair
Iowa Cubs game
Omaha Zoo
Burr Oak Farm
Go bowling
Fun Factory
Boone Scenic Railway
Adventureland
Blank Park Zoo
Incredible Pizza
Drive-In movies
Knoxville Rec Center

So what did I miss? And what are you doing this summer?

Dust Bunnies

2012-05-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

I've missed this little corner of cyberspace. I really want to get back into blogging because I do love it so, but right now my life is very much in need of re-prioritizing.

So until I find my groove, this little corner will be much like the corners in my house.

Dust-bunnied.

(Squiggly lines are telling me you can't use that as a verb. That's dumb.)

In the meantime, you can check on my goals progress to see just how serious I was about needing to re-prioritize.

Can you relate??? (Please say yes.)

See you soon!

Trev Stomps Around the World, Part 1

2011-10-14T19:11:00.000-05:00

I have two younger brothers whom I love very much. They're the bestest brothers in the whole wide world.

My youngest brother's name is Trevor, and one of the things I love most about him is that he's a complete weirdo. Here's proof....

101 Goals in 1001 Days

2011-10-09T16:25:00.002-05:00

The Objective:
Achieve 101 predetermined goals in a period of 1001 days. Many of these goals are meant to build better habits; most are meant to motivate me to be a better mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend, and Christ-follower. :)

The Reason Behind the Insanity:
First of all, having a list of goals and/or tasks is my "thing". I love lists! Secondly, I need accountability. Having this list on my blog is my way of staying accountable!

The Rules:
The goals needed to be very specific and measurable. Nothing like “become a better person” or “be a better wife”. Also, they couldn’t be simple little tasks that don’t require extra effort. At the end of the 1001 days, for each goal left unmet, I will pay $5 to a charity of my choosing. (Speaking of which, I forgot to tell you all...for each of the LAST 90 GOALS I didn't accomplish, I'm going to be giving additional money to our Compassion children for Christmas, and one of them has a birthday as well. Perfect timing!)

Start date: Monday, October 10, 2011
End date: Sunday, July 6, 2014

The List:(Italicized items are in progress. ~~Struck-through~~ items are completed. Items with *Bite#* are inspired by the book One Bite at a Time by Tsh Oxenreider)

Christian Living

Two-day media fast (TV,computer) (3 times) [2/3]
~~Complete “The Bible in 90 Days” challenge again~~
Send 10 encouraging cards in the mail [3/10]
Walk/run for a cause
Write 18 letters to our Compassion children [2/18]
~~Bless someone with a meal [4/4]~~
Memorize the Sermon on the Mount
Find a way to serve as a family
Finish my 1,000 gifts list (and keep going!) [200/1000]

Marriage

With Chris, create a family mission statement (*Bite6*)
Have weekly meetings with Chris for 4 weeks straight (*Bite13*)
Have “date night” (in-house dates count) weekly for 8 weeks straight
Have “shoulder-to-shoulder” time with Chris (10 times) [0/10]
Make Chris’s lunch for 4 weeks straight
Have a weekend away with Chris (2 times) [0/2]
Have 10 NON-HOME dates with Chris [3/10]

Kids/Family

Have an annual vacation/staycation (3 times) [1/3]
Have 2 weekend getaways as a family [0/2]
Have 10 dates with each child [5/40]
~~Start a new family tradition (*Bite46*)~~
Go camping as a family
Have breakfast devotions for 21 days straight
Have dinner devotions for 21 days straight
Memorize 10 new scripture passages as a family [4/10]
Have 3 girls’ nights with my girls [2/3]
Prayerfully choose a “life verse” for each child [0/4]

Relationships

Have 3 mother/daughter days with my mom [0/3]
Invite someone to our home (10 times) [3/10]
Send an “update letter” to grandparents we don’t see often (10 times) [0/10]
~~Find a Bible study group after we move~~
Make a trip to see the in-laws (6 times) [3/6]

Health/Wellness

Build a collection of 50 whole food recipes (main dish or side) that work for us (*Bite14*) [30/50]
~~Sleep 7-8 hours, with regular sleep/wake times for 21 days straight (*Bite18*)~~
~~Drink adequate water (half my weight in ounces) for 21 days straight (*Bite34*)~~
Walk/run (aerobically) a total of 1001 miles [20/1001]
Lose 50 pounds [30/50]
~~No soda for 30 days~~
Have 2 wellness exams [0/2]
Take a multi-vitamin every day for 30 days
Plant a garden
Try a CSA
Everyone to the dentist
Everyone to the eye doctor

School

Watch meteor showers 2 times [0/2]
Take 30 field trips [5/30]
Start music lessons for P, X, E
Read 30 “read-aloud” books (long ones) to the kids [4/30]
Attend “Homeschool Day at the Capitol”
Attend a musical
Go to an art museum

Financial

~~Rebuild emergency savings fund~~
Reduce debt by 50%
Get disability insurance for Chris
Increase life insurance
Have bi-weekly financial meetings with Chris for 3 months
No dining out for 1 month
~~Don’t use the dryer for 1 month~~
Finish wills
~~Streamline our receipt system (*Bite9*)~~

Homemaking

"Eat my frog" for 14 days straight (*Bite1*)
Clean the kitchen as I cook for 14 days (*Bite12*)
Wash/fold/put away 1-2 loads of laundry per day for 14 days straight
Have supper on the table by 6pm for 14 days straight
~~Learn how to make GOOD homemade whole wheat bread~~
~~Make a record of our books using Library Thing or something similar~~
Organize our music & save favorite songs on computer
~~(RE)organize my recipes~~
Turn 3 quotes/verses into art/décor [1/3]
Remove from our home that which is not useful, sentimental, or inspirational

Intellectual Growth

Read 5 Biographies/Autobiographies [0/5]
Read 5 Books from Honey for a Woman’s Heart [1/5]
Read 5 Christian Non-Fiction books [2/5]
Read headline news stories for 14 days straight

Simple Living

~~Establish morning routine & follow for 21 days (*Bite3*)~~
Establish evening routine & follow for 21 days (*Bite4*)
~~“Dump my brain” each day for 14 days straight (*Bite19*)~~
~~Organize digital photos (*Bite25*)~~
~~Switch to non-toxic cleaners (*Bite24*)~~
Switch to all-natural hair care (*Bite29*)
Switch to all-natural skin care (*Bite30*)
Switch to all-natural beauty products (*Bite49*)

House Projects

Paint exterior doors
Touch up paint in house
Paint kitchen ceiling
Finish trim in kitchen
~~Redo kids’ closets~~
~~Bathroom floors~~
~~Paint bathroom~~
Finish homeschool room
~~Paint toy room~~

Misc

Donate blood
Create “essential papers” file (*Bite17*)
Finish the kids’ baby books [0/4]
Develop & organize honeymoon photos
Turn family blog into a book OR print/organize photos up until 2010
Blog 12 times per month for 3 months straight
Get caught up on the family blog

Just for Fun

Start saving for my own gun
Practice shooting 6 times [4/6]
Have two “me” weekends [1/2]
~~Accumulate 300 pins [300+/300]~~

90 Goals in 900 Days: The Finishline

2011-10-04T17:05:00.000-05:00

Where has the time gone?!! It seems like I was JUST working on compiling this list of goals, and now it's over 900 days later and my time is up! What?!?! I made decent progress. I completed 232 of the 291 individual tasks, and overall, I was able to cross out 68 of the 90 goals. Not too bad, but I'm hoping to do better next time.

I'm working on my goals for Round 2 and I'll post those in the next few days. Wanna join me?

So without further ado, here's how I did. I made some notes about some of the goals...the notes are italicized.

The Objective:
Achieve 90 predetermined goals in a period of 900 days. Many of my goals (marked with an *) are meant to build better habits.

The Reason Behind the Insanity:
First of all, having a list of goals and/or tasks is my "thing". I love lists! Secondly, I need accountability. Having this list on my blog is my way of staying accountable!

The Rules:
The goals needed to be very specific and measurable. Nothing like “become a better person” or “be a better wife”. Also, they couldn’t be simple little tasks that don’t require extra effort. At the end of the 900 days, for each goal left unmet, I will pay $5 to a charity of my choosing.

Why 900 Days?
I must say that I got the idea from this blog. I personally wanted to do it this way because this allows me to set some long-term goals alongside my short term goals. I spent a few days compiling The List, and I came up with about 90 goals, so I went with a 900-day time frame.

Start date: Saturday, April 11, 2009
End date: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The List:
Spiritual/Charity:
~~1. * Have scripture reading & meditation, and prayer time every day for 30 consecutive days. (2 times) [2/2]~~
~~2. Seek out families to bring a meal to. (4 times) [4/4]~~
~~3. Lead our family in sending an evangelistic care package to a man or woman serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.~~ We did the Military Ministry through Family Life's website.
~~4. * Read through the entire Bible at least once.~~ Twice I did!
~~5. Clean the trash out of the ditches from our house to the end of the gravel road.~~ Someone actually beat us to it this spring.
6. * Share the gospel with 30 people (can use gospel tracts). [9/30] Wow, seriously?
~~7. Send 10 cards of encouragement. [10/10]~~
~~8. Sponsor a Compassion child.~~ We now sponsor TWO Compassion children, Aloris and Rivanka!
~~9. * Read a chapter in Proverbs to the children each day for 4 weeks. (2 times) [2/2]~~
~~10. Unplug (no TV, computer, or radio) for 2 days. (4 times) [4/4]~~ This was harder than I expected. :)
~~11. Walk/run a race for a good cause.~~ The Hope Ministries' walk-a-thon to help the homeless...AMAZING.
~~12. * No complaining AT ALL for 3 consecutive days. (2 times) [2/2]~~

Marriage:
~~13. Watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Chris (Why is this one in “marriage”? Because if I can suffer through this, then we know that our marriage can withstand ANYTHING! Haha!).~~ It's official. I'm totally addicted to the LOTR. Since watching it the first time, I've willingly watched it twice more. I LOVE IT!
~~14. Have 10 dates with Chris (can include “home” dates…as long as they are kid-free and fun/romantic). [10/10]~~
~~15. * Make Chris’s lunch every day for 4 weeks straight.~~
~~16. * Establish regular Bible study and prayer time as a couple.~~ Well, actually, it's just prayer time, but that's the more important one, plus we do talk "Bible talk" a ton, so that's pretty close. :)
~~17. Wash Chris’s feet in an act of love.~~
~~18. * No nagging for 7 consecutive days (doesn't count to do this one during a week when he's working crazy hours).~~

Kids/Family:
~~19. Take a 5+ day vacation.~~ Does a staycation count? I think it does.
~~20. * Reinforce chores for 4 weeks straight. (2 times) [2/2]~~
~~21. Take a mini-vacation. (2 times) [2/2]~~ One was a free work-paid family vacation, one was just for Chris and me.
~~22. Have 6 one-on-one dates per child. [18/18]~~ This is something our children treasure so much, and we do too. It's so important for our family!
~~23. * Be 100% consistent in discipline for 7 days. (2 times) [2/2]~~ Uh, yep...need to do this one again. We tend to go in cycles here, and that's something we need to change. STAY CONSISTENT!
24. Have a “girls’ night” with Emmy after she’s turned three. (2 times) [1/2] Poor Emmy...only one "girls' night" in 900 days? Wow...that needs to change.
25. Go biking at The Lake with the family. (8 times) [1/8] We met with some troubles with this one. Getting all of our bikes there was our first challenge, but then Chris got a new truck with his new job so that problem was solved. But then our bike trailer got TWO flat tires, so that was pretty much the end of that.
~~26. * Don’t raise my voice or show anger at all for 3 consecutive days. (2 times) [2/2]~~
27. Go camping as a family. Need a bigger tent for that! Maybe next time around...
~~28. Start the boys on music lessons.~~ I crossed this one out because we were planning to sign them up this fall, but since we're moving in the next 9 months or so, we're just going to hold off until we've moved. One less transition to make.
~~29. Enroll the boys in one extracurricular activity per season for one year. [4/4]~~

Relationships:
~~30. Get involved in a couple’s Bible study.~~ It wasn't a couple's study but it was a group study that we both participate in. And as I type this we're a couple weeks into a Marriage class that we're leading at church.
~~31. Get involved in a women’s Bible study.~~ Once a month, with some other homeschool moms. I'm already so thankful that Chris's new job allows me to do this. It's going to be a great thing for me!
~~32. Open my home to someone (friend or not) once per week for 4 consecutive weeks. (2 times) [2/2]~~
33. Have a shopping day with Mom – ALL DAY! – complete with breakfast, lunch, supper, and coffee. (2 times) [1/2] We did this once, and it was really fun! I'm hoping we'll figure out a way to make it an annual or semi-annual thing.
~~34. Send an “update letter” to grandparents that we don’t see often, complete with pictures and kids’ creations. (10 times) [10/10]~~

Financial:
~~35. Build our Emergency Savings Fund.~~ Well, we did this one, and then Chris's injury happened and his being home and not working meant that our savings was completely wiped out. (But thank the Lord it was there, right?) So my next goal list will have this one on there...again. :)
~~36. Reduce unsecured debt by 25% using Dave Ramsey’s plan.~~ Slow and steady...hoping to make some MAJOR strides in the next couple years.
37. Get Disability Insurance for Chris.
~~38. Get better Life Insurance.~~ We did get better life insurance, and as our debt decreases, we're hoping to increase our life insurance quite a bit more. So this goal might be on the next list too.
~~39. * Have bi-weekly financial meetings with Chris for 3 months straight.~~ This is really a MUST-DO for every couple who has one person taking care of the finances, so that the other person can be ever-aware of the financial standing of the family.
~~40. Open a Health Savings Account for me and possibly the kids.~~ Irrelevant with Chris's new job. His benefits cover all of us, at a price that is pretty comparable to an HSA.
~~41. Don’t dine out for 1 month.~~
42. Don’t use the clothes dryer AT ALL for 14 consecutive days (read: use the clothes line. Thought I'd better throw that in there so I'm not tempted to accomplish this goal by letting the laundry pile up!). (2 times) [2/2]

Health/Wellness:
43. Lose the 52 pounds. Um, yeah...totally failed at this one. My next goal list will include some pretty challenging (yet realistic) goals, though weight loss might not be a factor. Still trying to decide on that one.
44. Run a 10K or more. I ran 10K, but not in an organized event. So that doesn't count. Haha!
~~45. * Work out 30 minutes, 5 times a week, for one month straight.~~
~~46. * No soda for 30 days. (2 times) [2/2]~~
47. * No sugar/carbs for 2 weeks. (2 times) [0/2] Cannot handle this one. I felt crappy crappy crappy.
48. Have a yearly physical exam. (2 times) [0/2] Eek. Don't yell at me...I know this one is very important.
~~49. * Take my multi-vitamin daily for 4 weeks.~~
50. Learn how to make a GOOD homemade whole wheat bread. I totally stink at making bread.
~~51. Learn how to make a GOOD homemade pizza.~~
~~52. * Try “Whole Foods Only” for 30 days.~~ I didn't officially eat "whole" foods...I ate only All-Natural foods for 30 days. Organic is just too expensive for us right now...

School:
~~53. Start teaching the boys either Latin or Spanish.~~ Spanish, and the kids have loved it!
~~54. Make/buy 30 new learning centers/games/activities. [30/30]~~ I lost count, but for crying out loud I'm sure we've bought at least 30 in the last 2.5 years!
~~55. Take 15 field trips. [15/15]~~
~~56. Find a History/Geography curriculum we like.~~ Story of the World
~~57. Teach Emmersyn how to read.~~ She's putting her basic three-letter words together, so we're on our way!

Homemaking:
58. * Stay on top of laundry for 1 week straight (Laundry washed the same day a full load is available, and folded & put away within 24 hours of being washed. Doesn’t include partial loads.) (4 times) [4/4]
~~59. Organize my recipes.~~
~~60. * Do 30-day “make ahead” meals for 3 consecutive months.~~ This one just didn't work for us, mostly because of Chris's work schedule. So, shorter freezer cooking sessions have been working better.
~~61. Finish hanging wall décor.~~
~~62. Plant evergreen trees.~~ I removed this from the list once I found out we'd be moving. Not going to spend the money of evergreens if we won't be here to enjoy them!
63. Try 5 new vegetables. [2/5]
~~64. Plant a garden.~~
~~65. * Make bed every day for a month.~~
~~66. Make a detailed house cleaning schedule.~~
~~67. Plant 10 new bushes/perennials in our yard. [10/10]~~
~~68. Shampoo the carpet on the stairs.~~ We'll be replacing the carpet on the stairs, so why shampoo it?
69. * Have supper on the table by 6:00 p.m. for 10 consecutive days. (2 times) [0/2] This one is waaay hard for me, plus for so long, Chris was rarely home before 7:00, so it just didn't happen.

Intellectual Growth:
70. Read 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning novels. [5/10] I didn't enjoy these novels as much as I thought I would, so I lost the motivation to keep on with this goal.
~~71. Re-read/study the Constitution.~~
~~72. Re-read/study the Declaration of Independence.~~
~~73. Read newspaper from front to back (excluding sports/comics). (5 times) [5/5]~~

Misc:
~~74. Finish each of the kids’ “first-year” scrapbooks. [0/4]~~ I crossed this one off because I'm no longer doing first-year scrapbooks. Ain't gonna happen, don't wanna do it, so it's gone!
75. Start and finish Chris’s Marine Corps scrapbook. Might still try to do this one, or maybe in the form of a photo book, because I think this would be amazing for our children and grandchildren to be able to look at one day.
76. Finish and legalize our wills. Another EEK. This really needs to be done. It'll be on my next goal list.
~~77. Take household inventory for insurance purposes.~~
~~78. Sell or give away “the pile” of stuff in the basement.~~
79. Paint kitchen ceiling.
80. Get our honeymoon photos developed & put into an album. I'm just happy that I finally FOUND our honeymoon film. Hopefully they're still okay...they were found in the basement.
~~81. Put the kids’ greeting cards into scrapbooks. [4/4]~~ Decided to just put them all in boxes instead.
~~82. * Back up important files/photos at least bi-monthly. [15/15]~~ Installed Carbonite, which automatically backs up everything!
~~83. * Keep inside of van clean for 30 days.~~

Just for Fun:
84. Get my old yahoo blog put into “book format”.
85. Get OurOwnLittleNest blog put into “book format” for the year 2008.
86. Dress up with the kids for trick-or-treating.
87. Practice shooting Chris’s pistol. (6 times) [3/6]
~~88. Go to Red Lobster with Chris.~~
~~89. Blog every day for 30 consecutive days.~~
~~90. Make my own custom blog background.~~

In which I pretend to be a blogger again...

2011-08-11T01:56:00.000-05:00

Can you call yourself a blogger when you haven't blogged in, say, 3 months? Yeah, I didn't think so...
Well, just for grins and giggles, I'm going to pretend I'm still a blogger...just for today. Is that okay? Good...

The last time I stopped by here, I gave an update on my husband, who was three weeks out from a skin graft surgery to repair some third degree burns he sustained. So much has happened since that last update that I really don't know where to start, so I'm going to proceed with some lovely bullet points and round it out with some big news. :-)

Here we go...

Chris was finally released to return to work on June 21st, our second child's 7th birthday. He ended up being off work for a total of 11 weeks, whichs was a lot longer than the 4-6 weeks that Chris was originally ~~freaking out about~~ told. ;-) He had a spot on the front of his shin that had gotten infected (you can see it in previous photo posts), and that spot took a bit longer to completely close. And since the doctors wouldn't release him until every square millimeter of his calves had successful grafts, it was a waiting game that last month. But the amazing part about it is that God was at work the whole time...more on that later.
Chris will return to the doctor around his 1-year anniversary, at which time they'll do what they call an "impairment rating". This is something that gets submitted to the workman's comp insurance agency. We'll see what transpires after that.
I'll post some photos of Chris's legs soon so you can see how they look now, if you're curious. I know some of you are. :)
Chris and I were very surprised by the fact that we didn't get sick of each other at all. In fact, God did a real work in our marriage through the whole situation.
Because of that, and some other circumstances in our lives, we feel like God is leading us into some sort of marriage ministry. We're praying what exactly that might be.
I became an AUNT! Chris's sister, Lynn and her husband Jim had a baby boy in June. I've only held my nephew C.J. once but boy is he a cutie. All the kids held him too, and the girls were especially smitten with him.
The Christian band that my brother is in- A Past Unknown - signed with a record label. How exciting is that!? They toured the U.S. this summer and will tour again this fall.
I've made a bit more progress on my goals. I have only 49 more days to work on them, and I've already come up with tons of goals for the next go-round. Maybe I'll fare better the second time?? Let's hope!
I read the book Radical by David Platt and it rocked my world.
I've been participating in reading The Bible in 90 Days, and I've been loving it. I'm using a different schedule than everyone else because I'm reading chronologically, but the accountability is a great tool. I'd like to share on my blog some of the things I'm learning and enjoying, but I'm not terribly confident that I'll actually be able to make that happen! Ha!
I've been planning for our 2011-12 homeschool year, and it's coming along swimmingly. I was dreading this year so much, but the more I plan and the closer I get, the more I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine!
That's pretty much it for the bullets...now onto the "big news", which isn't exactly all that big compared to what you may be anticipating at this point...

On Wednesday, June 8, approximately three weeks after Chris had originally hoped to be back at work, he landed a job interview for an agronomy sales position at a different company. Chris had no sales experience, no college degree, no real reason why he'd be a good candidate for the job, except that he'd been working in an ag-related position for almost four years. He hit it off with the branch manager in the interview and was asked to come back on Monday for a second interview with the regional manager. We were all excited at the prospect of this new job because it meant that Chris would be home much more.

The Saturday after his first interview, Chris and I went to our state's homeschool conference, and on the way there we got to talking about "the future calling" that God placed on Chris's life last fall (you know, the one we haven't shared with many people yet...in fact, I think only 7 or 8 people know about it). I said to Chris, "I've gotta be honest...I kind of wish we could pretend God never gave us that message." He agreed, and then we went to the conference.

Well, at the conference Chris went to a seminar, and following the seminar he was asking one of the speakers some additional questions. This man, who is a Christian, began speaking about how there's a dire need for more people to do this certain "work", and then he pointed at Chris and said, "And you're the guy for the job." Do you know what? This "work" about which the speaker was talking is the exact same "work" that God told us about last fall. God used that speaker to deliver words of confirmation...on the very same day that Chris and I had said we wanted to forget about that calling. Can you believe that? I still can't believe it. Chris didn't tell this speaker anything that day, but we're so excited for the day when we can tell him that God used him to confirm a message.

Anyway, on Monday, Chris went back for his second interview and he thought it went really well. He came home that night and we prayed again that God would close this door if it was NOT His will. The following evening he got the call that he could have the job if he wanted it.

Chris didn't act as excited as I thought he would, and when he started telling me all the details, I understood why.

The base pay (not including sales commission) was $12,000 less than his current pay, which is a whole heckuva lot for our single income family.

And.

Because the job was about an hour away, and because the company would be providing a company vehicle for Chris, they wanted us to move to the area within a year or so.

Ugh.

Judging by Chris's response, I could tell he had already turned down the job in his mind, and I was right on board with him. We couldn't afford to live on that salary. And we couldn't move.

But.

I heard a still small voice in my heart saying, "Now wait a minute...don't you want to know what I think?" I told Chris I felt we needed to pray about it, and ask God what to do. So we did. We prayed about it, and we also stepped back and did some number crunching, some talking, some analyzing. We reviewed our budget and cut as much as was feasible and realistic, and while we still didn't like what we saw, we realized that we were trying to put God into a box. If this was His will, He would provide. Once we put aside the money factor, we started seeing so many reasons why this job made sense. While we didn't want to move, we could see that this job - and moving - is quite likely God's way of paving the way for Chris's future calling. And that fact that the conference confirmation had been nestled in between the two interviews was such a God thing, because that confirmation helped us step back and consider the bigger picture.

So, after more prayer and asking God to give us peace if this is His will, we felt an incredible sense of peace.

And Chris said yes to the job! He is an Agronomy Salesman for MFA Agri Services.

He started his new position on July 5th, and he is absolutely loving it. Chris is very much a people person, so he's just loving all the interaction he's getting with new people. Having said that, he did really enjoy his previous job as well and probably would never had thought about leaving had it not been for God's intervention via his work injury. Sometimes, it takes big things to get our attention. Chris's former boss has been so wonderful about him leaving (which is an answer to prayer!) and even called Chris on his birthday to wish him a happy day. :-)

We've also realized that moving might be a blessing. While we love our current home, we're getting excited to move to a home that has more land, room for some edible animals (heehee), hopefully a pond for my three fishermen and two fisherwomen (and even fishergrandpa), and more/bigger bedrooms so we can add to our family via adoption or foster care if God leads us down either of those roads.

We are sad about the idea of leaving this area and the its people that we've grown to LOVE, but we're only moving about an hour south, so that's no big deal really!

So there you have it! That's what's new with me!

What's new with you?

And I must say, it feels good to pretend to be a blogger again! Here's hoping I can make a full return to the blogosphere soon, because I sure do miss this bloggy world and all the wonderful people in it.

another Chris update: 3 weeks post-surgery

2011-05-06T14:16:00.002-05:00

Sorry things went dark around this here blog. Things have been slightly CA-RAZY. We had water in our basement, which required some work on our septic system. That was followed by an emptying of our basement which entailed re-organizing, giving away, throwing away, cleaning, and (eventually) selling all the CRAP we had down there. It also involved cleaning and disinfecting the floors since the water that had flooded was raw sewage.

YUMMY.

Right now, the entire basement is cleaned and all items have been organized and put back away in the storage areas of our basement. That daunting task had ALREADY been on my To-Do list, so I'm overjoyed to have that done! I really do love re-organizing. It's one of my favorite things! Yes, I'm a nerd, thankyouverymuch.

I still need to get our "sell" items sold, and then we'll move onto cleaning the garage thoroughly.

But that's not why you're reading this post, is it now?!? On to the matter at hand...

Chris had a follow-up appointment last week Thursday, the 28th, in Iowa City. A few days before that appointment, we started noticing Chris's graft site was getting some red spots. They got a bit worse as the appointment neared, and I told Chris I was concerned about them because I thought it looked like those spots were places where the graft had torn or something.

At the appointment, the ARNP did confirm that those red spots were areas where the graft had failed. However, at this point, they're not at all concerned about it, and because the areas are small and surrounded by "good" graft, it should all fill in eventually. It's highly unusual to have a graft that takes 100%, so this is normal.

Chris's right leg also had an area that was a growing concern for us. He had a small infected area that had gradually gotten a bit bigger over time. At the appointment, they decided to switch the dressing on his right leg. He is now using Mepilex pads, which have silver in them. They look like silver-colored foam pads, and he wears those for 7 days before he needs to change them. When he showers, he does take them off and puts the same ones back on after he's done.

We were told that Chris can't go to work until the failed graft areas are completely filled in. We're not sure how long that will take, but they did give him a timeline of "at least 3 more weeks" at home, as of last Thursday. That is much longer than we originally anticipated, but that's okay.

(Actually, to be honest, I'm kinda glad! We're absolutely loving having Chris home! I told him I'm not sure what I'm going to do when he eventually returns to work. It's been an unexpected blessing.)

Let's see...what else...

Chris's donor site (left thigh) no longer has any bandaging on it. He just puts lotion on it to keep it moist.

Chris has been off his pain meds (aside from the occasional Ibuprofen) for over a week now, and his appetite has picked back up.

They did NOT fit Chris for compression socks at last week's appointment, as originally planned. That might happen at the next appointment on Thursday, May 12.

We brought all the kids with us to the appointment, and they were wonderfully behaved. They loved seeing where Daddy stayed, riding the elevator over and over (it's quite a haul from the parking ramp to the burn unit), and seeing the "rooftop cafe" on the top floor of the hospital.

Photos are at the bottom of this post, as usual. And as usual, if you have a weak stomach, you've been forewarned. ;)

But first, I have a funny that I just HAVE to share with you all. I've been given permission to share. :)

After Chris's appointment last Thursday we decided to treat ourselves to a breakfast-lunch at Perkins. (YUM) All six of us walked in and the hostess asked us if we would like a table or booth. Normally, we have to sit at a table because booths typically aren't big enough for all of us. But we both glanced into the seating area and saw their booths were big enough to fit all of us. Here's how the conversation went:

Young hostess: Would you like a table or a booth?

Me: We'll take a booth please!

Chris: Yeah, your booths are good-sized.

Bahahahaha! If you're not seeing the funny here, try saying Chris's line out loud. And when you say it out loud, make sure that when you say the word "booths", your "th" is a hard "th" like in the word "that".

We sat down at the table and I looked at Chris and giggled, "YOUR BOOTHS ARE GOOD-SIZED????"

"I didn't say that...DID I?!?"

"Oh yes you did!"

And the whole way home, we kept laughing and saying, "YOUR BOOTHS ARE GOOD-SIZED".

So the next time you see Chris, you'll have to tell him his booths are good-sized. Haha!

(Scroll down for photos)

Back & right side of RIGHT leg, 5/2 (the darker areas are the spots the graft didn't take)

Front of RIGHT leg, 5/2

Back and inside of LEFT leg, 5/2

Outside of LEFT leg, 5/2

Inside and back of LEFT leg, 5/2

Back of LEFT leg, 5/2

Front of LEFT leg, 5/2

How about another update on Chris?

2011-04-19T22:34:00.001-05:00

Chris had a follow-up appointment in Iowa City yesterday. They removed the staples (between 3-4 dozen), which was a pleasant experience as you can imagine. :) They also examined the grafts and said that everything looks "just as it should". It looks worse, but it's actually better. Does that make sense? Pictures are at the way bottom of this post, as usual.

The dressings are different from here on out. We have to put Vaseline on gauze or an alternative material (they suggested pillowcases or something of similar material...I think I'm going to buy a new set of sackcloth towels and cut them into strips), then lots of Bacitracin (double antibiotic ointment) and put that on the graft sites. The antibiotic ointment is for obvious reasons and can be discontinued once the area has "healed" (a couple of small areas are close already!), and the Vaseline prevents the area from drying and it also makes the area more pliable instead of "tight". Then over that we put some tight-fitting "socks" that go down around his heels but let his toes stick out. The reason they have to go over most of his feet is because otherwise his feet could lose circulation and/or swell.

Chris is like a new man today, let me tell you. In fact, when I walked in the house after bringing Pierce to his testing location, Chris was in the kitchen walking around pretty well. He thinks the staples were a major source of his pain, and he also thinks the Vaseline helps the area feel better as well. The dressings he left the hospital with had gotten pretty dry over the course of several days, and that probably didn't help.

Chris still has the Tegaderm (like sticky plastic wrap) on his donor site. That area is healing nicely and should be healed enough by the end of the week (or shortly thereafter) that he can remove the Tegaderm. I posted a couple photos of that area as well. We removed the old Tegaderm and applied all new today after Chris took his mock-shower, so he wanted me to snap a few photos before putting the new ones on. It's pretty cool, actually. The skin is an amazing organ!

(That evolution stuff is just amazing, let me tell ya!)

(Don't even get me started on evolution.)

(What a bunch of malarkey.)

Anyway, the graft site needs to be redressed daily, and Chris needs to wash the site with mild soap (he's using scent-free baby soap) and dry with a clean towel.

Chris isn't "allowed" to return to work for at least another 3-4 weeks. The area needs to be completely healed (meaning no open wounds, etc.), he needs to have full function of his legs (no pain), and since he frequently operates heavy equipment at work, he needs to be completely off the pain medication. All three go pretty much hand-in-hand, so it's a no-brainer.

He has a follow-up appointment next Thursday, the 28th, during which they'll examine his legs again. They'll also fit him for some custom-made compression socks that work well to prevent the area from healing all "bumpy". Apparently the skin tends to sort of "curl", so the compression socks help with that. Actually, we noticed after Chris bathed and had his socks off for a little while that the skin did start to curl a bit right next to the graft site. It's hard to explain, so maybe we'll try to get photos if we notice it again.

Some more random info for those that are curious about all this (and if you're not curious, I'm sorry for boring the snot out of you!). Some of this I may have already shared, but I'm too lazy to look at my previous posts, so please forgive me!

Chris's graft site can't be exposed to the sun at all this summer or it could cause the area to be permanently blotchy. Plus the area will always be extremely sensitive to sun.
The area will also be more susceptible to frostbite, and since he won't have as many nerves there, he won't be as able to sense the early warning signs of frostbite.
We won't know for at least 8 to 15 months whether the graft is completely viable. Until then, Chris has to be extremely careful that nothing hits him in the graft site since that skin is so thin right now and will be for many months. Because of that, we'll probably try to find some thicker socks and maybe even shin guards. We're thinking adult-sized soccer socks with the built-in shin guards might be the perfect solution, especially since his right calf has a lot of grafting down the shin.

Chris is itching pretty badly, which we know to be a good sign, but it's annoying nonetheless! Ha! He has been taking 50mg of Hydroxyzine every 8 hours, but it wears off pretty quickly. But like he keeps saying, it's WAY better than pain. Praise the Lord!

{scroll down for photos}

Top of right leg

Top of left leg

Left/under side of right leg.

Right side of right leg

Right/under side of the right leg.

Right/under side of LEFT leg.

Left/under side of LEFT leg.

The socks he wears. You can see how the Vaseline has soaked through a bit.

The donor site as of today, in between changing the Tegaderm. This shot doesn't show it very well but the lighter pink areas are more healed than the darker, and the lighter pink areas have a fluid-like "coating" all over it. He didn't wash this area, per the recommendation of the doctors and nurses. We just quickly covered it back up!

{Giveaway} Winner!

2011-04-19T20:55:00.000-05:00

The {week five} winner* of One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp is....

...the 3rd person to comment on my giveaway post.

That would be SquireChoir, my In-Real-Life friend Heidi ! I already know where you live, so I'll get it sent to you straight away. I hope you love it!

And now for the winner* of the gift set - One Thousand Gifts plus the corresponding Day Brightener.

What I did was I started at my first giveaway post and went straight through all five giveaway posts, making a running list of every valid entry. I then crossed out each of the entrants that had already won the book. Finally, I numbered the list, and then used Random.org to select the number. And here was the winner.

According to my list, the 26th entry is Christine! Christine, I've already contacted you via your blog, but if you happen to read this first, please email me at mamabirddanielle{at}gmail{dot}com with your full name and mailing address so I can get your gift sent to you as soon as possible!

I love how the timing of this worked out. The final winners will receive their book around the time when we are celebrating the ultimate GIFT, the salvation and everlasting life we can receive through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Praise Him!

*winners selected using Random.org

a super quick update on Chris

2011-04-18T00:13:00.000-05:00

Since we got home on Friday, things have been Cuh-RAZY.

Chris's pain has decreased significantly in his left leg, both at the donor site and the graft site. In fact, the donor site has little white dots all over where skin is healing! Very cool. His right leg, however, has remained the same pain-wise and possibly gotten worse. We're not sure if it's because the burns went down the front of his calf, on his shin, and it hurts more because there's not as much muscle there to pad the area, or if it's simply because the right leg was worse in the first place. I'm anxious to see how it looks.

Tomorrow Chris has a re-check in Iowa City at 12:30. They'll remove the staples and then we're not sure what all they'll do. I'm hoping and praying that his right leg as not gotten worse as far as the graft slipping. I'm hoping that's not the source of his terrible pain.

I'm also curious how Chris is going to manage getting down the basement stairs to the van. He can barely put any weight on his right leg, and when he does his 5-10 minute walk every few hours, he leans heavily on me, so I'm hoping he can manage the stairs well enough that he doesn't fall and hurt himself (or me...that would be bad if we were both out of commission, huh?!).

Also, Lynnette had a good question regarding the graft and I thought I'd answer that here for those who are curious. She asked if the graft actually grows new cells or if it works more like a bandage until new skin grows underneath.

Because the graft came from Chris's body, new blood vessels will grow from the recipient area (where they removed all the dead tissue) into the transplanted skin. This process actually began within approximately 36 hours of the surgery.

Skin can be transplanted from another person, but from what I understand, that's only done when the patient has had burns to so much of their body that they don't have enough of their own skin to transplant all at once. The skin from another person is then used to protect exposed tissue to prevent infection, and to prevent fluid loss, but it's only a temporary fix. The patient has to undergo numerous surgeries to transplant their own healthy skin to the burned areas. This takes a long time because once the healthy areas are used as donor sites, they have to wait 10-14 days or more before that area is ready to "donate" again. Does that make sense?

Anyway, that's pretty much all there is to share regarding Chris...

One more quick thing...

Pierce (our oldest, who is 8 years old) has his annual assessment tomorrow through Wednesday (we homeschool and this test is the accountability method we chose for this year). Will you pray for him? I'm confident that he'll do fine, but he is a worrier in the first place, so I'm a bit concerned that all the recent events might affect his concentration and performance on his test. If he does really poorly, it's not a huge deal. I think we just have to submit a remedial plan to the school district, but I would prefer to not submit a remedial plan. We talked about it a lot tonight and assured him that he just needs to try his very best, that we believe in him, and so on.

Will keep you posted. :)

we're home...and another update on Chris

2011-04-15T22:15:00.000-05:00

Today was a rough day for Chris. This morning he went and got cleaned off in the "bath room". He laid on a big metal table/cart/bed thing and a couple hoses came down that were used to clean Chris off. They started by undressing the graft site, and ohmygoodness. It looks way worse, even though it actually is way better. (There are pictures, at the way bottom of the post. They're graphic, so consider yourself warned.)

When they peeled the dressing off, Chris was reeling from the pain. He said it was the worst pain he's felt so far, and I could tell. He was squeezing my hand pretty hard (my right hand at first, and then I decided to switch hands just in case he squeezed a bit too hard...haha!).

Part of the graft did slip, leaving a small strip about 1/2", but the doctor said that shouldn't be a problem since it's such a small area.

Anyway, so the surgeons and physicians liked what they saw and said Chris could go home. The nurse redressed the wound and she let me help, even though I won't need to redress the wound at home yet. She started with a good layer of N-Terface, then something called Acticoat, which is a black mesh-like material. It has silver in it and the anti-microbial properties activate when it gets wet (I think that's what she said). The next layer was wet Kerlix gauze, followed by dry Kerlix, and then an Ace bandage wrapped around his feet all the way to just below his knees. His dressings won't need to be changed at home yet.

After the bath, the physical therapists had Chris walk the halls for about ten minutes. They also have a set of four stairs that they had him climb a few times. That was rough. But the walking really loosened his muscles.

The ride home was painful because he couldn't have his feet elevated, and then walking up the basement stairs was super painful. He was wiped out. If it hadn't rained so much here I would have pulled up to our back deck so he would only need to climb a few stairs, but Chris didn't think I could make it up the hill without getting the van stuck in the wet/muddy grass. Poor guy.

He's down for the night already. I'm scheduled to give him some more pain meds here in about 15 minutes and then I'm going to sleep as well. I'm going to set my alarm every night to make sure he's getting the meds every 4 hours on the dot, at least this first week or so.

Chris is supposed to get up ever 2-3 hours and walk for 5-10 minutes (except during the night). So I'll be setting some sort of alarm for that otherwise the time will get away from me. He's also supposed to use this filter-type thing every hour or so to prevent anesthesia-related pneumonia.

With all the meds, vitamins, diet requirements, breathing deal, and exercise, I'm trying to figure out a good system to help ME remember what he needs when. I think just keeping a log like I've been doing is going to work best, but we'll see. :)

The Tegaderm covering the donor site has been really leaky, which is normal, so they patched that today and sent a bunch of extra Tegaderm so I can patch it if necessary. It's still leaking a bit even now, but that's almost unavoidable. They said the blood always seems to find its way out. We're keeping a pad under him to catch the blood that escapes. (Ew. I'm sorry if that bothers you.) And tomorrow I'll work more aggressively to find the leak, if Chris lets me. He's patient with clutzy me. :)

We need to go back to Iowa City on Monday (changed from Tuesday) to have the staples removed, and I'm not sure where he'll go from there as far as treatment.

(Forgot to mention in last night's post that while he was at the hospital they were also giving him Lovenox (anticoagulant), and they gave him Trazodone last night to help him sleep. It worked. He snored most of the night away! Praise God!)

We're so glad to be back home with the kids. I was in a super crabby mood when I picked the kids up, and my poor mom thought I was mad at her. What a way to show my gratitude, huh? SIGH. I can be such a butthead. SIGH. I apologized to her but still...I'm a butthead. SIGH.

The first hour or so after picking up the kids, I was panicking on the inside. They were chatty and noisy and KIDS and all of a sudden it hit me that somehow I need to keep these four little wildcats from bumping Chris's extremely fragile legs, take care of Chris, take care of them, et cetera et cetera et cetera.

(I know. Woe is me, right? Sheesh.)

And then I remembered everything that God has shown us about His provision, along with all that He showed me in the hospital (more on that later), and I snapped out of it. I grabbed our portable DVD player, a movie, and all four kids and we watched a movie upstairs in the boys' room while Chris slept downstairs. It was nice to snuggle up with my little peeps again.

It's funny...they look different. How is that possible?

I really missed their cute little faces and I'm so glad we're able to be home so soon.

{scroll down to see photos taken today}

{click to see larger if you're brave}

This is the donor site. You can see the "strips" they took. The yellow stuff is an extra adhesive to help the already-adhesive Tegaderm stay in place better.

I think this was his right leg.

Closer up. You can see the holes they "punch" in the skin when they run the skin through a "meshing" machine. (Using really technical terms here.) Isn't that amazing?!? This is his left leg.

Right leg.

Both legs. His right leg (shown on the left side of the photo) is much worse.

Side/back of right leg. The red is where the graft slipped. We're hoping he doesn't need to have that re-grafted because that would mean another surgery similar to the one he had on Wednesday. When I was looking up close at this side of Chris's graft, I said to the nurse that the bubbly-looking whitish-yellowish spots looked like fat. She said that's exactly what it was. They did have to remove some fat that had been damaged, but no muscle was damaged so we were so relieved to hear that.

Thank you, again, for all the encouraging words via Blog comments, Facebook, text, phone calls, and voice messages. They mean so much to Chris and have been a great source of encouragement for him.

Also, we had his phone turned off for a couple days because he wasn't up for much phone talking (which says a lot about his pain level because Chris is a talker!), but he'll have his phone on more now for those of you who have tried calling or texting.

I have some stories to share later, but just wanted to get all the facts out there first.

I'm headed to bed now to sleep in my wonderful, comfortable, heavenly bed. :)

aaand...another update on Chris

2011-04-14T12:37:00.001-05:00

Really quick update...

Chris recovered from surgery fairly well. They said he did vomit when they removed his breathing tube, and we were surprised to hear they needed to use a breathing tube. I'm not sure if that had something to do with the fact that Chris snores and stops breathing in his sleep (for about 5-10 seconds), but we're hoping to find out what the dealio is with that.

Morphine isn't doing much for him. The donor site (his left thigh) is extremely painful and actually hurts much worse than the graft site. As I type this (from the hospital hall) they're getting some Dilaudid (sp?) for him because Dr. Wibbenmeyer (the surgeon) thinks he'll respond better to that. I'm praying that is the case.

Speaking of the surgeon, I asked her today about his release date. She said he will be released tomorrow around mid-day. YAY!

Chris's blood sugar was pretty high after surgery so they've been giving him insulin. Just a while ago they tested his blood sugar and it was 107, so just low enough that he doesn't need insulin anymore. (High blood sugar is pretty common after surgery, I guess. Something to do with how the anesthesia affects the pancreas or something? I dunno.)

They stapled the graft to his "good" skin, and those staples will need to come out next Tuesday. Also, an interesting tidbit is that the donor site is covered in a sheet of plastic that acts sort of like an authentic scab. It is a bit leaky so he's bled onto his sheets quite a bit, but that's common.

They apply a solution to his graft site several times a day. It's a mixture of silvadene with a saline solution. The saline solution acts as a thinner so they can just pour the silvadene on instead of having to rub it on. They don't even unwrap the area, they just lift the wrapping and squeeze it in there, so I haven't had a chance to see the graft yet. Chris wants me to take photos, and I'll post them on here for those of you who are curious.

I think that's the gist of it. Most of this info is for my own information, so I apologize if I've bored you half to death!

:)

post-surgery update on Chris

2011-04-13T15:32:00.001-05:00

Chris went in for surgery around 12:35 p.m. (the previous surgery went long...praying for whomever that patient is). They told me it would be 3-1/2 hours, then an hour in recovery.

So I went to the cafeteria and forced some food into my gullet since I hadn't eaten anything yet today, and then I went to the waiting room and settled in. A little before 2:00 the receptionist came and got me and brought me to a meeting room and said the doctor would be there in a moment.

I'd like to tell you I was calm, cool, and collected. I was on the outside, but on the inside, I was freaking out.

FREAKING.
OUT.

I thought something must have gone wrong because it had only been 90 minutes. Plus I had no idea the doctor was going to be the one to let me know when he was out of surgery. And then the doctor walked in and had a "look" (I'm sure I imagined it) and then she sighed.

And then she said everything was fine.

SIGH.

SIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH.

And then I swear I heard God say to me, "Oh ye of little faith". :)

Anyway, everything went well. They only needed to take a graft off his left thigh in three strips. She initially thought she would need to use both thighs because he has huge calves (seriously...huge calves...he has the best legs ever), but that was not the case. YAY!

She did confirm that the graft sight will probably be the most painful, and while he's here, she's going to put him on a PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesic? I can't remember) so he can just push a button and it will give him more of the good stuff, aka DRUGS. :)

She's also going to write him a script for a different pain medication for at home since the morphine didn't do much more than take the edge off.

Let's see...what else....

Oh, she said she wants to keep him here for two days, but then she said something about "when you go home on Saturday". It didn't occur to me that there was a discrepancy until later, so I'll need to ask about that later.

I'll stay overnite with Chris tonight for sure, and then we'll talk about what's best for everyone (the children included) for the next night(s).

Right now he's in recovery and they said it'll be 1-2 hours. So pretty shortly here, I should be able to see him.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support! The surgery is over, and now we'll wait to see if the hard part is over, or if it's only just begun. It could go either way.

More as it comes.

pre-surgery update on Chris

2011-04-12T23:09:00.000-05:00

I had totally planned to update earlier today but the day completely got away from me.

We are in Iowa City right now at a hotel (courtesy of our amazing friends J&L...we love you guys), the kids are at my parents house (we love you guys too), Chris is sleeping, and I'm blogging.

There I go being Captain Obvious again.

And guess what. I forgot his morphine at home. I grabbed every other vitamin and pain reliever, necessities for us and all four kids, plus the kitchen sink, but I forgot the morphine. I had it hidden (from the kids), and planned to grab it last minute so as not to risk Aniston (2-1/2) getting into it. She's always sifting through my purse looking for gum, and I know she'd put those little white pills in her mouth if she found them. That would be very, very bad.

So anyway, I'm feeling like the worst "nurse" ever, but Chris insists his legs don't hurt now that he's in bed and they're reclined. I think he's lying and I'm debating whether or not I'm going to hit Walgreen's to get some more morphine.

I'm feeling babbly tonight (What's new, right? This blog is named appropriately!), but I'm going to try to make this quick to save you from my babbles.

(You're so very welcome.)

(I'm here for you.)

:)

So tomorrow we need to be there at 8:30, surgery will start around 10-10:30, should last around 2 hours, and then we're expecting Chris to have to stay overnight, but that might not be the case. If he does have to stay, I'll stay with him in his room on a cot or chair or whatever accommodations they have. Who knows. All I know is they will let me stay in his room, and I'm glad for that. This way, I can see as much of what the nurses do, hear what they say, be the eyes and ears as much as possible in case Chris isn't with it enough to remember something because of the meds.

Speaking of drugs. I've got a notebook full of medical related notes, contacts, food log, Thank You's that I/we need to write, and I think I need to have a section labeled "drug-related funnies". I've already got a couple. I'll share later. Heehee! :)

Anyway, I'm planning to update via Twitter (updates show up on the left side of this page, or you can go directly to my Twitter page by clicking right here). Those twitter updates also automatically forward to my Facebook account so if you are connected to me there, you can see updates there. I'll call a few people, but mostly I'll be sending out a mass text to save myself a lot of phone time. (Thanks for grace on that, by the way. I want to be 100% there for Chris.)

If there's a computer at the hospital, I may sneak out while Chris is resting to update, if necessary. But we'll see.

I think that's all?

Chris has been in such a great mood tonight. We watched some HGTV together, had a Happy Joe's taco pizza (his favorite...although he only had three pieces), and he said he's surprisingly calm about it all. God's already shown His hand in this so much that it's hard to feel anxious. We're so thankful!

Good night all.

One Thousand Gifts: 04-12-2011 {Giveaway}

2011-04-12T12:14:00.000-05:00

The last week has brought some of what Ann calls the "hard eucharisteo" (in her book, which I'm giving away today!), for Chris especially. But even during trials of every kind, there is still so much for which to be thankful!

You can read more about our week by searching for the label "papa bird's burns", or just click here. I'll share a pre-surgery update as soon as we get the final details.

{Giveaway details are at the end of this post! You don't want to miss it this week!}

#141- Read-aloud time with all four kids in our bed, and how intently they listened even though there weren't pictures in the book. I can't imagine what their imaginations were doing! :)

#142 - Pierce and Xander each reading the scriptures to us at bedtime.

#143 - Orion's belt, Betelgeuse, and the rest of the stars shining extra-brightly on a clear night. The heavens truly display His handiwork.

#144 - Chris's burns weren't on his feet or on his knees.

#145 - a second opinion.

#146 - a quiet drive to and from the burn unit. A rare gift.

#147 - a flat tire on the way to the burn unit. God had a reason, and we're thankful.

#148 - replacing two tires on the van, thinking the timing of that expense was inconvenient, but trusting God would provide. Returning home from the tire shop to discover an overpayment check in the mail. The amount almost completely covered the cost of the tires. God rocks!

#149 - modern medicine

#150 - an opportunity to serve my husband in a way I've never served him before. It will stretch me a little, and Chris a lot (it's hard for him to be so incapacitated), but it's what we both needed right now. God is so good.

#151 - a husband who is a shining example through this. Truly inspirational.

#152 - a warm sunny day in April. Perfection!

#153 - an 80-degree house with breeze flowing through. More perfection!

#154 - kids' water play in April.

#155 - morphine

#156 - resilient children

#157 - sharing (for the umpteenth time) the story of the sparrows (called "The Singer" in the Jesus Storybook Bible), this time with children who are worried about their Daddy, and seeing how the story all of a sudden has new meaning to them. Calm came over them, and Pierce said, "Oh, I get it now..." God's Word is truly alive, and always relevant.

#158 - calls and visits and phone calls and help offers from family, friends, and even strangers. God is blowing us away with His love through other people.

#159 - closing my eyes and feeling the warm sunshine beating down on my face. I love that feeling!

#160 - a visit from our church's interim Pastor who already had a special place in our hearts

#161 - the boxful and bagful of food she brought with her

#162 - and the prayers she prayed over Chris. They blessed us, encouraged us, and revealed more of God to us. Such a gift!

#163 - workman's comp. Another provision.

#164 - dandelion gifts from four loving children. :)

#165 - my mom, who's taking the children during Chris's surgery and overnight stay(s).

#166 - anticipating lots of family time over the next month or two!

#167 - a slowing-down for Chris. As Pastor Suzanne mentioned, God has something specific in mind for him through this, so we're praying for God to reveal that to Chris.

#168 - seeing how God has been preparing us for this for months. At the beginning of this year, I was spending around $700 on groceries, household necessities, diapers, etc. Through scratch cooking, careful planning, and couponing, God has helped me get that bill down to about $75-$100 per week, without sacrificing quality of food, and despite the rise in prices. That's $300-$400 per month! Plus, I've built a small stockpile of staples and frozen goods. Tell me that isn't God's hand?!?!

#169 - the timeliness of Ann Voskamp's book. I'm not sure I could have been thankful for this before reading Ann's book. I know that is of God.

#170 - the man working next to Chris, who was also covered in wet cement, didn't get burns at all. He was very recently injured at work and missed many many weeks of work, so for him to go through this now would have been a hard blow for his family.

#171 - a reminder of the frailty of the human body juxtaposed with the power of Almighty God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you have your own copy of Ann's book, One Thousand Gifts? I sure hope so, because no book (besides the Holy Bible) has ever impacted my life as much as this book. God blessed me so much through this book, and prepared me for the situation we're currently in. I want to give it away to every person I know.

Since we don't have that kind of money :) , I decided to go on a (much) smaller scale and give away five copies of Ann's amazing book. I've given away four over the last four weeks, and today I'll give away ONE MORE COPY of Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! I'm also going to put all the non-winning entries from all five of these giveaways into a "hat", and pick a winner. That winner will receive a copy of One Thousand Gifts, plus the corresponding Day Brightener. I don't have the Day Brightener yet but I will be asking for it for Christmas! It contains excerpts from the book, so I know it will be amazing!

Here are the details:

Enter by simply leaving a comment! Any old comment will do.
You can receive up to three additional entries by sharing this giveaway through Twitter, Facebook, or your blog. (One entry for each...please leave an additional comment linking to your tweet, blog, etc.)
Entries can be received up until Palm Sunday, 4/17 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. I'll announce the (randomly-picked) winners sometime on Monday.
I'll ship the book directly from Amazon or Dayspring to you or a friend or relative of your choice.
U.S. participants only please. (Which is somewhat ironic since Ann herself lives in Canada...hmmm.)
This giveaway is sponsored by the famous Mama Bird (yep, that would be me) and her husband. :)

And again, will you pray with me? That God will put these items into the right hands?

{Thank you.}

A blessed week to you all!

quick update on Chris

2011-04-10T23:32:00.000-05:00

There isn't much new to report since my last update, but I did take a few photos of how Chris's legs look today, so I thought I'd post those for the curious and strong-stomached. The photos will be posted at the bottom of the post so you can still read the update without having to see the gore if you don't want to. :)

Chris's pain is being managed a bit better using a combination of morphine and ibuprofen. It still hurts but the morphine takes the edge off.

He slept better last night, which is very very good.

The morphine is causing a loss of appetite, so I'm struggling to get him to eat as much as he probably needs. Protein is my focus, and I'm also trying to give him foods with lots of anti-oxidants in them. Since he's not eating much I'm trying to make every bite count by giving him foods packed full of nutrients. I'm also giving him a multi-vitamin daily at breakfast, one Iron supplement (to build up those red blood cells before surgery) at lunch, and one Vitamin C pill at supper to boost the immune system. I also bought some drinks that are fortified with Vitamin E for the skin, along with lots of other nutrients. I give those to him at breakfast, lunch, and supper. I don't know if any of it will do any good, but I figure it can't hurt, especially since he doesn't want to eat much.

I've been keeping track of everything he eats, drinks, and also his meds and vitamins so my head doesn't explode from trying to remember. I'm not a good rememberer.

(I'm ignoring the red squiggly lines under that word because I like the word "rememberer" and I want to leave it just like that.)

(Rememberer. Rememberer. Rememberer.)

Anyway, I've made a fool of myself on the phone today with approximately 3,216 people (or maybe four) because I'm super-tired and acting delirious, which means I sometimes get giggly and, well, stupid. I think Chris spiked my water with morphine when I wasn't looking.

Chris is doing great. He's handling everything so amazingly and he is setting such an inspiring example for me and the kids. He could be grumpy and crabby and stressed and sad but he is none of those. He's kind, positive, and grateful and I couldn't be more proud.

We already see the hand of God in this situation in so many ways that I can't wait to share them all. I've remembered to write many of them in my gratitude journal, because I never want to forget God's provision.

And now for photos of Chris's burns as of today. (scroll down)

They look much worse, I think. There's some bruising going on as well, which is normal. And some of the greyish skin around the edges is actually traces of the burn cream (it's made from actual silver shavings and turns grey). You can click to see the photos bigger.

Inside of right leg. The right leg is much worse than the left. (Sorry about the blood drips...I didn't notice those until later.)

Front of right leg.

Inside of left leg. I didn't get any more shots of left leg.

Another shot of right leg.

{Giveaway} Winner!

2011-04-09T07:57:00.001-05:00

The {week four} winner* of One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp is....

...the 2nd person to comment on my giveaway post.

That would be Murdock's Mama! Email your shipping address to me at mamabirddanielle {at} gmail {dot} com and I'll get it ordered right away! I hope you love it!

And if you didn't win, you'll just have to come back on Monday to try again! :) I'm giving away one more book and there will be a special surprise as well!

*winner selected using Random.org

yet another update on Chris

2011-04-08T23:59:00.001-05:00

(I really need to come up with more creative titles!)

Wow what a day. I'd be in bed right now but I need to push drugs on my husband at 12:30, so I'm killing time instead of going to bed only to wake up in 5 seconds. :)

This morning, Chris woke up in even more pain than the last few days. He wasn't scheduled to see the doctor or anything, but we were planning to fill his script for pain medication (he caved...I'm glad...no reason to "be tough" when medicine will help you relax and therefore help your body heal) and also for gauze.

Well, on his way to the bathroom, the dressings on BOTH LEGS fell off and his wounds were totally exposed, with no new gauze to recover them. I immediately barricaded the room off with a child safety gate because the idea of the kids walking in there, kicking up dust and such from the carpet, well, it made me panic a little bit. Chris got irritated with me because I was making too much of a fuss. My gut said THIS IS NOT OKAY and WE NEED A SECOND OPINION. He learned that I was right. Well duh, I'm always right.

Just a little humor there. Gotta have humor! :)

Anyway Chris got on the phone with the clinic to have the scripts called in, which was taking FOREVER because of all the workman's comp insurance company red tape (don't even get me started). As he was talking, the nurse said that they were making the recommendation to have his care transferred to Iowa City (about 2 hours away...the only certified burn unit in Iowa). PRAISE GOD ALMIGHTY THANK YOU LORD I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER.

So we got the kids loaded up (and packed overnight bags just in case), stopped up at Chris's work to have one of the shop dudes put air in two (yes TWO) tires that were incredibly low, then stopped by the local hospital to have his wound cleaned and redressed, then headed to Iowa City with a pit-stop at my parents' house to drop off the kids.

And then we got a flat tire. About 20 minutes from home.

So we waited for the same shop dude from Chris's work to come and rescue us. He put the spare on (which I suppose I could have done but it may have taken me until 2012 to finish) and we were off again. Chris's right ankle was swelling by this point (not a good sign), so I was feeling a bit more concerned. We dropped the kids off at my parents' house, swapped vehicles with them (thanks Mom and Dad!), and headed.

By this time it was around 4:00 I believe. We left home at 1:00. It had taken us 3 hours to get only 35 miles away from home. New world record baby!

Again with the humor!

Anyway, praise the Lord there was a wheelchair right inside the doors from the parking garage so Chris didn't have to walk (he'd still be walking if it weren't for that wheelchair). And then it all started getting interesting.

Two nurses cleaned the wounds and two doctors examined him as well. I can't remember the order of everything but here are some more lovely bullet points for your viewing pleasure:

We probably should have gone straight to Iowa City from the git-go.
Shortly after arriving they started discussing whether to admit him right then and there. We weren't exactly expecting that.
They informed us that his wounds needed to be washed DAILY (not every two days like we were told by the local specialist).
The area needs to be checked several times per day to make sure that the area is still moist and apply cream (silver sulfadiazine) to keep the area moist. If it dries we can use soapy water (baby soap) to moisten the area so the dry gauze doesn't pull at the skin and dead tissue.
They decided that Chris could go home if he felt confident in his and my ability to wash the area thoroughly. We do, so we're home.
Chris can also take showers daily (glorious for him to hear!), as long as he uses mild soap. Baby soap will work great and I told him that will be especially good because then he'll smell like a baby and I can spend hours sniffing his head, which should cure my baby fever. :)
We have to be back in Iowa City on Wednesday morning at 5:30 so he can have surgery.
They will excise the area that sustained third degree burns (the described the procedure as being similar to peeling an apple, only a lot less yummy) until no dead tissue remains.
Then they will remove skin from the front and (out)sides of Chris's thighs and graft it in.
They take the good skin and "mesh" it (turn it into a mesh-like material...sort of criss-crossed with holes in it). This allows them to take less skin from the thighs and make it go further on this wounds.
We mentioned that our local person had mentioned using foreskin on Chris's wounds, and they looked at us like we were crazy. Apparently transplanted tissue is only a temporary solution because the body rejects it eventually. There may have been some miscommunication or confusion there (with the local people). Not sure.
We also double-checked on the drinking 1000 (one thousand) ounces of water per day, and they again looked at us like we were crazy. They said just make sure he's urinating frequently and that it's not getting too dark. Chris was relieved. He had to pee in a cup twice on the way. I had the distinct honor and privilege of dumping it out. It was a moment I will treasure forever. :)
The surgery will take around two hours. The lead surgeon will then be the one to decide how long Chris needs to stay. We didn't ask if they're talking an overnight stay, a few days, or what the range could be, so I think we'll call to make sure we can plan accordingly.
Good nutrition is important. Well, it always is, but especially now. Protein was particularly recommended for regrowth of the cells. This won't be a problem. Chris is a guy, and (most) guys love meat. We're good there.
Chris has morphine. It didn't take care of the pain; however the doctor said it might take a little more time, and that it might help to take either Ibuprofen or Tylenol with it. So we're trying to find the right "cocktail" with the doctor's help. I'm praying for some relief for him.

It looks like Chris will be out of work for at least 4-6 weeks after surgery. His eyes popped out of his head when he heard that. I could see the wheels turning, and sure enough, he asked if he could return to work after a couple weeks if he did this and this, and the doctor gave him a doubtful look. Chris got a little stressed out and started saying that he has four kids and wife to support, to which I quickly retorted, "YOU DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THAT. Everything will be JUST FINE." Then the doctor pretty much told him that he NEEDS to take off enough time to heal or things could go very bad very quickly.

Shortly after that everyone left the room, and Chris got stressed again.

He said, "What are we going to do? We're screwed."

And I said, "No. We're. Not. DON'T. WORRY."

And he said, "No you don't understand, we're screwed. You know we are."

And I said, "You know what? Maybe you're right. You find that verse - "You're screwed" - in the Bible for me and I'll agree with you."

He cracked a little grin, then said, "Yeah but..."

And then I interrupted him and said, "God has never ever NOT come through for us, and He will come through for us now. So do. not. worry."

And he finally said the magic words, "Yeah...you're right..."

See? I told you. I'm always right.

There's a little more humor to round it all off. :)

So it's going to be a long couple months for Chris, and I imagine it will get extremely hard for him to be confined to a recliner for that long, but I'm hoping to make him as comfortable as possible. I'll try to come up with some different ideas for time-killers and distractions. And he'll no doubt get a LOT of cuddle time with all of us.

And I just wanted to add that we're so incredibly thankful that the local specialist was humble enough to admit that Chris needed more expertise. If we had remained in their care, things could have gotten ugly fast. So we're very thankful for her.

Tonight when we arrived in the burn unit, there was a little boy about Emmersyn's age (almost 5). His left arm and entire torso were covered in gauze and he was limping gingerly down the hallway with his parents. It tore my heart in two. I simply can't imagine. It gave us incredible perspective.

It also helps to remember that this whole situation was filtered through the Father's hands. This is His story that was written before we were even born, and He will bring glory from it. What an amazing thought! I pray that Truth brings comfort and strength to my man in the weeks and months (and possibly years) of healing to come.

Thanks again for your prayers. I'm not going to leave you with any specific prayer requests. Instead, if Chris is on your heart, I encourage you to ask the Spirit to guide you in your prayers. Such a cool thought...it makes me smile. :)

And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.

-Romans 8:26-27