Stay at home, Mom

Just in case you were interested, I thought I'd let you know what the kids and I got up to while Scott was away!

When Scott was preparing for Ecuador I was not worried about his leaving (love insurance!!) - I was worried about my staying!  He left early Friday morning, and that day we took it easy, went to see The Lorax at church in the evening.  Love family movie night!  But Emma napped and on Friday night, Emma refused to sleep until very late.  

Saturday we had a birthday party at church which lead to no nap and early bedtime!  (Unfortunately that meant Toby was "up" in the night for 3 hours  After letting him watch tv in my room until 5am I put him back in his bed.)

So Sunday, I was a mess and I was doing my very best not to lose my mind!  Thankfully some friends asked us over for dinner, so I was not stuck at home with the kids and nothing much to do. On Sunday afternoon we headed over to Nate's house, and Scott's cousin brought Lainey and Paige for a mega playdate...

Toby is all about the guitar and listening to Garrett, Nate's dad play...

While the girls did their own thing on the giant beanbag...

 Monday I worked.  It was nice to be independent for a few hours, but I knew it would not be fun after being a single parent all week, so I had taken the rest of the week off work!

Tuesday Emma had an audiology test and a pulmonary follow-up.  Her hearing is perfect - the tubes are working!!

In pulmonary the kids got the better of the student doctor and she handed over her stethescope - rookie!

Emma's pulmonologist almost came to tears when he came in and saw (well, heard) how well Emma is doing, especially speech.  He remembered our little blob in the NICU and was speechless, except to tell me there is no reason for him to see her again!  I was quite choked up - it's like saying goodbye to a friend - and crutch!!  

It was great that Scott had free wifi in his hotel down in Ecuador, so I could send him pictures of the kids during the week and keep in touch.

He did call most days, from a payphone or his mobile - there's no escaping technology!  There's no question the kids missed him, and when he would send them a video message, they would watch it over and over.  However, often when he called, they were playing and they either couldn't be bothered to speak to him or just for a moment.  Emma is notorious now for ending a call with "I'm gonna let you go now!"

On Tuesday evening I got the kids to bed early and a couple of my friends came over for the evening.  We watched TV and ate junk food - AWESOME!!

On the days I would normally work, Scott's parents took the kids as normal, allowing me time to run errands, or in this case, head to the Thompson's pool for a swim!!

On the Wednesday night, Scott's cousin, Bevin brought Lainey and Paige over for a sleepover.  The plan: Let the kids play and sleep while we hang out and indulge our Pinterest habit online.  We even made sure everyone could sleep in Emma's room:

The reality was much different! After running ragged, the kids (mainly Toby and Paige, the youngest) refused to sleep and my kids ended up in my bed (where they slept every night thereafter) and Bevin stayed with her girls in Emma's room. 

On Thursday we went to the indoor playground for one of their friends birthdays, and they had a lot of fun...

And then Chick Fil A for lunch!

I was really very nervous about this week, because I know that I find it difficult to sleep when Scott's not here.  Much of that is the safety issue, and we made a decision ahead of time to get a security system installed - for long-term, not just this week!

However, it seems to do deeper than that. I really don't like to be alone, which is odd because for a long time I lived alone and was very independent.  When I started to think about how I handeled that, I realized I had a lot of coping mechanisms.

One thing I still do all the time, is have the TV on.  I like the noise level and distraction it provides.  Music doesn't offer the same thing because there is no visual.

I find myself quite sad, so I look for things to make me happy.  Some people use drugs or alcohol, and I'm not about to go there.  Instead I shop andif I'm home and the kids are in bed there's the internet. Scott did tell me to do whatever I needed to to survive!!

Seriously though, when we're all in bed, every noise or movement drives me crazy.  In the end, it was for my sanity that we resorted to this...

Scott got home the following Saturday evening, with a shirt for Toby, pan pipes and a wooden knife!  (Yes, I took the knife and Toby can have it back when he's older!)

Emma also got pan pipes, and a new dress (not pictured!)

I probably would have discouraged the wind instrument for Emma, if I hadn't already made the mistake of bringing whistles home for both the kids recently.  At first it was apprent Emma would not be able to make it work.  But she was determined and so I showed her how to do it...

Despite the lack of sleep and missing Scott, the week was good for me and the kids.  It was great to be off work again, and there was so much to do that we did not get bored or spend too much time in front of the TV.    And who wouldn't have a great time with these little monkeys...

First Day of School

It is Emma's first day back at school today.  This year she is in pre-Kindergarten, where she will turn 5.  In our school district you have to already be 5 to join Kindergarten, so she will start proper school next September.  This year she has three half days, Kindergarten will be 5 half days.

Emma loves learning, and school of any kind is a favorite of hers.  Today though I really debated whether she should go.  The kids and I got up at 9am - late, but they didn't go to bed until 10pm!  It was much later than I planned, but they were both behaving when we ran errands after work, and then I said we'd get dinner at Chick-Fil-A (Scott was doing sidework, and we haven't been grocery shopping, so there was little choice!).

When we got there, a lady was doing free face/hand painting.  Although it was almost 8pm and her time to clock off, she agreed to do Emma.  

While Toby and I ate we could hear the laughter from the painting table.  Emma was on rare form (which is not so rare for her!) and when the lady was done she looked over to me and said "She has such a wonderful personality."  I just smiled and nodded!  Emma was thrilled...

It was gone 8 and Toby had accepted he wouldn't get a turn, but she offered to paint him too.  Unfortunately she could not do dinosaurs, so he went with a baseball!  He did really well and sat very still, surprisingly since he'd been bouncing around our booth!

By the time I got them home and ready for bed it was 10pm!  So I let them sleep in today so Emma would have energy for school.  However, not long after she dragged me out of bed, she was complaining about her neck hurting.  Not surprising when she was laying on her belly, chin propped up to watch TV.  

She was a little lethargic and didn't eat her breakfast waffle, the latter a red flag!  I took her temp, which wasn't bad, but resolved to keep an eye on it.  About an hour before school I gave her ibuprofen.  When I took her temp it was up again, but she was adamant about going to school, crying when I said she'd better not.

Any other day I would not hesistate to keep her home.  But it's the first day!  There are new girls in her class, and Christina's son Aaron is going to.  I so want Emma to make friends this year, with fewer kids that knew each other previously,  So I made the [potentially bad] decision of sending her.  I don't think she's really sick.

Once I said she needed to get dressed and eat her sandwich if she wanted to go she complied, and seemed to perk up a lot.  

I'm nervous about this year.  I discussed it with the teacher, and I'm going to go in and talk to her class about Moebius.  They are doing a section on "God made you" in the fall, which is the perfect time, and I will use lots of scripture about how God made each one of us special.  I think it's a good idea, kids are starting to point out strange things.

Two examples:

At Target last night, a young woman in the checkout line behind us had pink hair.  Emma looks at me and says "Mom, look, that girl has pink hair.  It looks kinda different!"  "Yes she does" I said, "Not wrong, just different."

This is what we've been stressing with the kids - different is not necessarily wrong.  And weird is a bad word - we say "different".

The second example happened when I took Emma to school.  There are 3 new girls in her class and I encouraged her to introduce herself to them as we waited outside to go in.  One little girl, called Abby, has a brown mole about the size of a penny on the side of her nose.  After taking her hand to lead her inside, Emma says "What's that on her face?"  

"It's a mark," I said "remember everyone's face is different."  Abby's mom just smiled and shrugged it off saying that kids point stuff out at this age.  I let her know that Emma has Moebius, but only seems to notice how other people are different!

Once everyone got inside, all kids were equals, sitting down and playing play-doh...

Emma and Aaron

School for Emma is more about the social interaction than academics at this point.  But we are trying to meet her thirst for knowledge outside school too, and signed up on ABCMouse.com...

She's learning how to use a computer and other lessons at her level, while she thinks she's playing games. 

And poor Toby, he so wants to go to school with Emma, but he's not starting until next September!

Fun on a Sun[day]

This weekend was flipped!  Saturday Scott had to work, but Monday was a holiday.  Usually church is the last day of the weekend - and means an early start and busy day.  So it was really nice to have Monday to chill.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon over at our friends, Garrett and Ruth's house.  (Garrett is PB's son and Nate's dad - you know, Nate the little boy who gets his picture with Emma every Easter?  Keep up!!)

Anyway, the kids (including Nate's cousins) had a blast...


Emma singing one of her VBS songs:


Scott entertaining the kids:


Toby jamming with Garrett:


Emma also surprised me Sunday with quite the feat:

Ecuador

It was with a mixture of fatigue and sadness that we said goodbye to Scott at 5am on a recent Friday morning.  He was off to Ecuador.

I say we, referring to me and Emma.  Toby, who was in bed with the rest of us refused to wake-up.  Literally - I shook him and said "Do you want to say goodbye to Daddy?" to which he responded "No."

It's always tough to say goodbye to someone you love, especially when they're the one going on the adventure!!  We are so thankful that we received enough financial support to cover his trip, and God provided enough overtime to cover the other costs

Scott drove with 7 others to Newark airport, for a flight to Houston, on to Panama, and then to Ecuador around 11.30pm that night.  

The next morning the team drove 8 hours to Sucua. 

They took a stop off on the way...

 

 

They got to Sucua, and were staying in a modest hotel, and the task at hand was to put a roof on the new addition for the Hope House, accomodation for 6 more girls.

This is the how it looked when they started:

 The team will gladly tell you that Scott was crucial in this work.  They first laid tongue and groove wood on the beams, for the ceiling.  Added plywood on top, to be covered by metal...

The missionaries had 5 days scheduled for the work - but they knew not who they were dealing with!!  The guys had it done in two days, and the rest of the metal they needed was not delivered in time!

Not to worry, they found some other projects, including Scott using the tiling skills he developed in Africa...

The team also helped daily with a vacation bible school in a local village...

And of course, there were some giant bugs...

Here's the team from the church, including Pastor Bob (front left).  It's truly great to have such an inspiring leader.  PB will always be the first person to volunteer and get his hands dirty, because his heart is to serve. 

On their way back to the capital and the flight home, they stopped off and saw an active volcano...

...and Scott "high-fived" baby Jesus!

Scott came home a new man.  He has new energy for serving God and reaching people who have not yet understood God's gift of forgiveness and new life.

He has shared many of the missionaries stories.  For example, the Hope House was born when a local woman brought her 8 year old daughter to the missionaries home unexpectedly, with the news that they could either take her in or she would be sold at the market.  Another girl came to them with nothing after her father made it clear she was to have sex with him and her brother or leave.

It's so easy to dimiss these kinds of stories as things that happen in uncivilized countries, but you'd have to live in a cave to not realize this is happening everywhere.  If you see a young girl in a nail salon during school hours, chances are she's not there by choice.

Yes, I wish there was something I could do for the millions of people living like this worldwide.  Maybe I can do a little.  I am recommitting my life (time, energy, money) to spreading the gospel, even right here in my suburban town.

As much as it would be nice to change people's circumstances, that's often not possible.  And at the root of the gospel, it may not be the most important thing.  This life is short, and we are not going to experience "heaven" on earth.  Instead our purpose on earth is to prepare for eternity.

We all have our cross to bear on earth, whether it's physical, relational, financial or emotional.  The question is how will we respond to it, and how will we respond to God's offer of a hope and future, with Him, in Heaven...

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Revelation 22: 1-5 

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

Phillipians 3: 20-21

 

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

Model poser!

Remember the Moebius Conference, way back before I had major surgery and Scott went on a trip to South America (more about that soon!)???

Today I got a link to the pictures the photographer, Rick Guidotti, took at the conference.  You can check them out yourself at:

http://rickgnyc.exposuremanager.com/g/moebius_2012
password: philly

But here are the [only] two of Emma, and she's just so darned cute!!:

Park Life

Super Mom

This may seem like an odd victory, but, well, I'm odd! 

The other day I decided to try a french braid on Emma - my first attempt on someone other than myself.  I think you'll agree I did a great job!!!

Even better, I was able to leave them in for two days, after which they gave a great look...

Hey, celebrate the small victories, right?!!

Too Long

Wow, time flies!  I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week.  I guess that's testament to things being pretty much back to normal!

I had my second follow-up with the surgeon today, and he said I can do "whatever I want" in response to me asking when I can pick the kids up again.  (Emma is now 40lbs, Toby close behind at 35lbs, and only 2" shorter.)  He did add "just don't go lifting 100lbs or anything.  And if you start to hurt or ache, stop."

Thank goodness.  I wasn't aware of the impact on my limitations until I took the kids to the playground Saturday and I couldn't put the kids on the swings (they still go on the high baby swings - their choice!), or push the roundabout.  

That was not phasing Emma, who asked if she could "go and play with a grown-up" as she knew they could get her on a swing.  A resounding "no" was my response!  (I think she only feels safe to do that when I'm there, I hope.)

I have a few pictures to post when I get a minute, so stay tuned as always!

Survivor

Well, I survived my first day back at work last week, and realized I needed to be more restful when I could if I want to recover soon!

On Friday I had the kids to myself for the first time in almost two weeks.  I missed them terribly while I was in my initial recovery so I was pleased.  Unfortunately I had two therapy sessions scheduled for Emma, so I had to take them out in the car!  To their credit they were awesome, and got into their seats quite quickly.  (I am very glad I have a car they can get into and out by themselves or life would be tough!!)

We had physical therapy first.  Emma goes weekly, but Pops takes her, so I only go on occasion.  I was amazed at the progress she has made and videoed some of her feats.  (Toby also enjoys going and seems quite at home playing in the background!)





Toby helps a lot because Emma will try things she sees him doing, the daredevil!


Onto Speech, and her half hour session per month is really just to check-in and make sure she's keeping up on her pronunciation.  She always gives us a good laugh at the very mature comments she makes, so cute coming from a little girl.  Toby has started to use the same vocabulary as Emma, which is funny.  The other day I said "Oh my gosh!"  Toby corrected me and said "No mommy, you should say "Oh my goodness!", as Emma often tells me!  (People who say "Oh my God" get told they shouldn't say that, immediately.)

Then Scott's cousin Bevin brought Lainey and Paige over to play.  All 4 kids disappear upstairs and play together, giving us a break. 

 That is until the girls come and tell us that Toby is punching/tackling/jumping on the bed, etc.  I lost track of the number of times I had to tell him if he wanted to play with the girls, he would have to play gently.  He can, he and Emma often play quietly together, but the boy in him wanted to show-off and fight!

We went bowling with Christina and Jeremy, and the boys, after dinner.  It was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed watching since I could not play - and because I was a little sore, I also opted out of chasing the kids down!  (FYI: painkillers do not dull the pain, the just make you happier despite it.  That was not what I wanted!!)

On Saturday Scott was working again.  Did I mention he's been working every Saturday for ages and other overtime?  He really is awesome, and tired!  When the kids go to bed (after he wrestles them through dinner and bedtime) he collapses.  Thankfully the kids were pretty easy on me again and even played together upstairs so I could watch some Olympics (my latest obsession!). 

Then, Scott and I went to see the new Batman movie with friends.  It was awesome.  I wouldn't consider it a date movie, unless you are married with kids and want to totally get sucked into another world for a short time.  No lulls in action to worry about who might not be in bed yet (Emma!).

So, I'm slowly getting better.  I can cough and sneeze now without much concern.  I can browse in a store for a few minutes without pain, and driving today was much better. 

I'm excited to say that at no time in the past two weeks have I felt angry at God or "why me?" about having gotten sick.  (And I shouldn't, this was minor compared to all that my baby girl has gone through!)  In fact I feel very blessed to have been relatively not sick, and had so many people help with my recovery.  My one regret is I didn't ask for a tummy tuck!!  ;)

Here's a couple of other cute kid pics for you...

Toby tries something Emma would never do... (yes, it's secured to the wall!)

The kids take it easy, making it easy on me!

Right before bedtime, the kids are still hyper and ask me to take pictures of their crazy poses!

Before bowling we had some time to kill, so Scott won the kids a couple of toys in the arcade.

Emma and Toby play "horse" at PT.  Emma was the horse until we said she couldn't pull the hoop with her neck!!

Emma's been on a creative bent lately.  This is her and her friends...

This is Rapunzel and Flynn Rider...

 And this was a self-portrait, I think!

God Made You Unique to Benefit Others

by Jon Walker

I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world. (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)

In Jeremiah 1:5, we’re taught that God created Jeremiah to share the Creator’s message with the nations. In the same way, God created you to share yourself with those around you.

You are diminished if you hide yourself under a bushel, keeping your skills, talents, insights, joy, and pain hidden away from others. God wants you to share yourself. He created you with a uniqueness that enriches the world when you give yourself to the community around you.

Maybe you’re a great singer, or a great cook, or a great mechanic, or a great teacher. Whatever gift God has given you, he gave it to you to give away in service to him. 

Ask God why he created you and what you’re supposed to give away. Whose life will you influence by giving of your time and talent?

New Day

Well, I made it through the night (as I'm sure you knew I would!), only to be rudely awoken at 5:30am by a rapid knocking on our back door.  I'm a light sleeper (especially with both kids next to me) so I woke up first and proceeded to try and wake Scott up with "Someone's knocking at the door!" in slightly panicked tones.  He was disoriented and not as fast as me, so I got to the door first. 

Emma apparently sat up alarmed and said to Scott "Daddy, is someone really at the door?"

I opened the blinds first, for security purposes, to see an elderly man on our back steps.  When I opened the door I saw he had his slippers on and a walking frame.  He asked to use our phone, which of course I grabbed for him.  I was scrambling my brain to think who it might be - we live on a corner of two streets and I'd never seen him in any of our neighbors homes. 

He handed the phone right back - he was hard of hearing and our cordless phone was a bit complicated for him.  He told me his phone number which I tried and it didn't work.  He told me again, with the last digits switched around.  Same thing, and each time he repeated it I think the numbers were different. 

Scott had since arrived on the scene and the man introduced himself and asked if he could sit down.  (I'd agreed to him coming in, but he hadn't moved from the steps.)  Scott helped him in and over to a chair.  While they talked, I tried the numbers he gave us again and eventually called the police. 

He was very impressed with the woodwork in the dining room and liked what we'd done with the place (which told me he lives in a house in our development).  He was really a sweet old guy and enjoyed talking to Scott.

By the time the cop arrived I had looked him up in the phone book (online - who has room for a big book you hardly use!) and there was a man with his name at the other end of our street.  I told the cop the address I found and Scott said he had already given him that address, but when he told him, the house number was the same as the number on the digital clock in the kitchen, so he couldn't be sure it was really his house!

The cop and old man left together about 5 minutes to 6, when Scott would have had to get up for work.  Emma was wide awake at this point and wanted to watch TV, so the rest I wanted before my first day back at work was cut very short!  I just hope the old guy has someone to keep an eye on him, he seemed to have dementia or alzheimers.  If he is to be believed, he is 92 - he said he was born in 1919, but told Scott he was "about 50"!

Jumping forward, after Pops kindly picked the kids up for me (Emma was upset I wasn't driving her, but it would have been too much to drop them off and drive in to work!), I headed off to work.  I had not gone more than a mile before I realized how much it could hurt if I didn't take it easy on the drive.  I tried to use smoother movements between the brake and gas pedals, but I was feeling discomfort by the time I got to work.

I am not really in pain, but there are levels of comfort!  I am still a little light headed, but not dizzy per se.  I'll have three days before I have to come back to work, so I'll try to get rest and keep healing during that time.

As for my fears (which are always worse at night, of course!), well, I'm trying to channel them into making the most of each day and treating Scott and the kids in a way they will know how much I love them.  (That's a process - I so easily get mad with little things that I forget how happy and blessed I am!)

All clear

I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon today.  I took a friend with me because the surgeon has a tendency to talk really fast and run over me!  

I was then really surprised that he was really friendly!  He took a look at my wound and said everything looks great.  He asked me a few questions and told me I could drive again and go back to work.  I still have to avoid heavy lifting and go back again in two weeks.

Everything was going great, until I got home and I got light headed.  I had gone to a meeting at church in the morning and not slept well the night before.  I ate some lunch and waited for it to clear, but as I type I'm still a little light headed/dizzy.

Throughout the evening, as the severity eased we debated whether or not I should go to the ER.  I had called the surgeon earlier and he said to go if I was still experiencing it later, but didn't sound too concerned.  Pops took my blood pressure on his machine and it was fine.

So, in the end I opted not to go.  And that of course leads to fears about what might be wrong and what might happen in my sleep.  I used to worry about leaving the kids and driving on the highway to work each day (dangerous!), but now I have crazy health concerns.

I know, this is not how God intends for me to live, in fear of something I can't control or predict. I'm still working on that!

I put the kids to bed and tried to love on them as much as possible, without them thinking I'm nuts!  (they'll know I am soon enough!)  I guess there's just no way to avoid all the scenarios you can fear, or fear itself.  Faith is trusting that, as you proceed through life, your worst fear may happen, but God is in control...

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28