On the Road to Recovery

Granny is certainly on the road to recovery, yet I know that this road is, without a doubt,  bound to be a very long road indeed!  These pictures were taken on Easter Sunday.  We enjoyed our visit , but it was quite a change not having Granny and my father with us for Easter lunch.  We did take her some of Fulton's birthday cake and Easter dessert though! (Note: you can easily see in these pictures the way Granny has been affected by the stroke - she leans to the left and has severe left sided neglect.  This means she is unable to look left of midline unless she turns her head far to the left - she won't do this without constant encouragement.  The splint on her left hand is to help with the tone in her left hand.  It helps to prevent her hand from curling.)

Although this journey is destined to be one of ups and downs, this past week has unfortunately been filled with more downs than ups.  Granny has had bouts of confusion as well as extreme lethargy.  A new medicine has been stopped in hopes that the lethargy was simply a side effect of a medication prescribed for the extreme neuropathic pain in her left limbs.  We are also suspecting an infection and should have test results tomorrow.  Today has been brighter so we are hopeful that the week ahead will entail more ups rather than downs. 

I spent this Sabbath morning with Granny.  To my delight, there was a church service being held at the nursing home.  She and I both enjoyed the singing tremendously.  We sang hymns dear to her heart - Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art!   I was so touched by the prayers offered for the residents and their families.  It is such a struggle to leave someone you love, now completely helpless, in the hands of complete strangers.  The church service was just what we both needed for a bit of encouragement and strength.   I pray many of the other residents were touched and blessed by attending church this morning, and I am so thankful to the men and women who took the time after attending their own church service, to lead the worship time for the residents at the home!

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;. . ."  Isaiah 43: 1 - 3

Where Have I Been?

Granny celebrating her 90th birthday  August 29, 2010

Life has been hard this year due to illnesses in our family and right when the sun began to shine and healthier days had come, our lives changed forever in an instant.  It started with strep throat that went though 5 of our 9 family members.  Then the flu struck Ethan and me.  I was literally in bed for 3 days and not 100% for over a week.  Then Lilly and Ellie each had a virus with fever and headaches that lasted almost a full week each.  By God's mercy and grace, we survived all of those illnesses and by early March, we were all looking forward to restored health and new life symbolic of spring and Easter. 

On St. Patrick's Day around 7:10 pm, the phone rang.  David was at a meeting at church, and I was busy cleaning up dinner dishes so I let the answering machine get it.  My dad's voice came screaming through the line.  He had found my grandmother on the floor of her kitchen.  She was taken by ambulance to our local hospital.  Her speech was slurred, but other than that she passed all of the typical "stroke tests"  - could stick out her tongue and move it both directions, could smile, had bilateral strong grasps of both hands.  She was getting ready to be dismissed when I was told to make sure she could walk.  I noticed when helping her get dressed that she was leaning very much to her left.  Then when she stood up, she could not walk and it took all of my strength to keep her balanced and upright.   The original thought was that perhaps it was a reaction to cough syrup that caused her dizziness and fall.  However, at this point we knew we were dealing with something much more signficant.

After transferring to a larger and better equipped hospital, it was determined that my dear grandmother of 90 years young had sufferred a severe stroke deep within her brain stem and thalmus.  Her stroke was termed a "stroke in evolution" which meant her symptoms evolved over several days.  36 hours after being found on the floor by my father, she could barely open her eyes, had left sided parlysis, very slurred speech, difficulty in swallowing, attention deficits, left visual field cut, disassociation of her left arm, and left side neglect. A woman who had been completely independent and lived alone was now completely helpless.  I was scared and extremely sad as my grandmother was no longer the woman I had known for my whole life.  I was also overwhelmed - she is a widow and has only my father and me to care for her.  I knew I was in one of the most difficult times of my life; deep within a valley; in the middle of a storm.  Yet, just like the lyrics to a popular Christian song, I managed to still somehow "Praise Him in this Storm"!

The sun is shining again and the storm has moved on.  It has been 4 weeks and 2 days since Granny's stroke.  She has spent 1 week in the hospital, 3 weeks in a rehab hospital, and was just moved on Thursday to a rehab unit at a nursing facility.  We  pray her next stop is back home.  And we have hope that that may very well happen.  She may never be able to live alone, but there is great hope that she will be able to return home with help.  Her physical therapist, Kenneth, told my father just yesterday that he would have her up and walking next to the rail before she left.  That was wonderful news.  Her spirits are good most of the time although she does become weary and gets discouraged from time to time.  She has always been a fighter and if anyone can overcome these obstacles, I know my Granny can do it!

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consummed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3: 22-23

Attitude

Last fall was a pretty rough time for me, and I have since come to realize that part of the difficulty was directly related to my attitude.  Right before the New Year, I ran across the quote below in a parenting magazine that had been buried on my bedside table along with many other items I am trying to read through.  Anyway, the timing was perfect.  May you be touched as I was and inspired to focus on having a positive, cheerful, God-pleasing attitude despite the circumstances that you may find yourself in.  Our circumstances constantly change, but our Father in heaven does not!

(Since Hudson is much cuter than I am, I thought I would use his adorable pictures to illustrate the point!)

 Hudson with a very poor attitude due to the circumstances he found himself in . . .cold, wet snow!

Hudson, much more cheerful, because he now finds himself in much more pleasurable circumstances - he is at the table ready to eat.  The table - likely Hudson's favorite spot - thus a very cheerful disposition indeed!   

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.  Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.  It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.  I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it.  And so it is with you. . .we are in charge of our attitudes."      Charles Swindoll

May our Father in Heaven be the source of your joy throughout 2011.  Happy New Year! (a bit late I know)

Signs of Christmas . . .

Katie enjoyed dressing our little Wuzzy in his reindeer ears.  One day soon I hope to update  about Wuzzy and how he came to be ours.

A Christmas or two ago, the oldest 4 children received "Make a Plates" for Christmas.  Last Friday during our last homeschool day, we finally took the time to decorate the paper circles which we will mail in and then in a few weeks, the children will receive a Christmas plate of their very own design.  They all had fun and their art work was well- done and creative!

   

Fulton at his Christmas recital last Saturday.  He and Shelby both played very well although at least one of them was extremely nervous!

Ethan taking his turn to make shaped sugar cookies. 

This was not staged!!  I thought it was precious of our 3 littles watching their cookies bake so I quickly grabbed the camera.  Thankfully, I made it just in time to capture their cuteness before one of them looked my way.

My favorite sign of Christmas - my Savior as a babe in a manager.  I purchased this nativity set with my grandmother during the first Christmas season that I was married.  I have always loved it!

Many years ago when I had only one child, I began to collect children's Christmas books.  We have quite the collection now.  These books stay in the attic during the year and only come out during December.  They are certainly treasured by all of us.  Fulton has been carrying stacks to his bedroom every night to read them.

Wordless Wednesday/Thankful Thursday

A New Way to do School

Wordless Wednesday/Thankful Thursday

Spotlight: The Little Girls

Lilly and Ellie started "real" preschool for the first time this year.  Although they certainly learned a great deal last year at homeschool preschool, they are enjoying meeting new friends, doing many more crafts than this weary mother of 7 ever thought of doing, going to music class, and plenty of other new and exciting experiences.

 Our family took advantage of "free night" af Edventure, a children's museum,  a few weeks ago.  This was another "first" for Lilly and Ellie.  Because it was "free night", it was extremely crowded, but we had a great evening together as a family.  Lilly and Ellie most enjoyed the kid-sized grocery store.  They were able to go through the store twice making their "purchases" and had the BEST time!  

We just returned from our annual week of sand and sun at a nearby beach.  Lilly and Ellie loved every minute of it although Lilly did ask several times when she could go back to school.   Our "lively Lilly"  made quite a splash in the ocean and tried to keep up with the big kids as they rode the waves on their boogey boards.  Our Ellie, who is much more reserved, carried her boogey board around, put her ankles in the water, but she never quite made it in far enough to actually "catch a wave." 

These two are so different in may ways - Lilly is outgoing, a social butterfly, high energy, never staying still for long, and more demanding and bossy yet a bundle of joy all wrapped in one.  Ellie, on the other hand, is very content to sit and look at books for long stretches of time, is often in her own little world and enjoys talking to herself.   Ellie is just. a. lot. calmer.  Ellie is more of a peacemaker yet can whine and pout better than most. 

Different they may be, they are the best of friends  - most of the time.  Sure, they are sisters, and they do have their share of squabbles.  Overall though, they truly are the best of friends.  And I am so thankful for that!

I recently had the girls together at their cardiologist check-up.  Lilly was her active, "lively" self while Ellie preferred being in my lap and was very quiet and reserved.  The doctor commented that Lilly  must "drive her sister crazy".  That simply is not the case.  They compliment one another very well.   By the way, both girls received an excellent check-up including EKGs and ECHO (for Lilly who has minor valve leakage secondary to her surgery).  For the first time since 2007, we will not have to see a cardiologist for 2 years! WOO HOO! 

What Love Can Do

September 16, 2008

September 16, 2010

Spotlight: The Big Girls

 Shelby

Pictures from this summer's horse camp.  This was Shelby's first time to attend a week-long horse camp as the cost had always deterred us.  It proved to be money well spent as Shelby absolutely enjoyed every minute of the camp.  This girl lives, breathes, and dreams about horses All.The.Time.  Jumping was a new experience which she embraced and now wants to do more of (this mom is not too fond of that).  Her trainer came to the house this week to give her a lesson on Oreo, and Shelby was able to jump on her own horse for the very first time.  She was all smiles when she walked in the house.

Katie

Katie and 2 of her friends, Christi and Grace, started a club this summer - the "KCG Christian Charity Club".  These girls have been working so hard.  Early this summer they had a lemonade stand with the profits benefiting a local ministry called Compassion in Action.  They had a very successful sale and raised over $70 for CIA.  Then the girls began to collect shoes for an organization called "Shoes 2 Share".  A family started this organization after taking shoes to children in Haiti when they went to adopt their 2 children.  They were overwhelmed by the joy and gratefulness on behalf of the children and adults who received shoes.  Thus they had the idea to try to send shoes to impoverished people around the world.  Katie, Christi, and Grace printed fliers which they distributed to family, friends, and their church families.  In a little over 3 weeks, they collected hundreds of pairs of shoes.  As you can see from the pictures, God truly blessed their efforts.  The girls and their moms spent over 3 hours packing the shoes and preparing them to be shipped by UPS.  The shipping was a bit more expensive that we thought, but God provided there also as he raised up several donors who helped share the cost.  I am so proud of Katie, Christi, and Grace and their desire to share the love of God with those in need.

I ran out of time so I will spotlight the "Little Girls" the next time I have a free hour.  Why does blogging take me so long?