Today is Jillian's surgery. To make a long story short, a little 4 year old girl named Jillian is sick. It's hard to believe that this all only started in February!
Jillian had been sick for about a week, her parents took her in, first diagnosis was pnuemonia, then they took a look at the xrays and said no, she has a massive tumor in her chest. I can not imagine how shocking this news would be... you think your child has a cold and find out that she is within days of death.
The first few days/week were very iffy as to whether or not Jilli would live long enough to recieve treatment. God intervened and she has made remarkable progress in the past 8 weeks with chemo treatment. The tumor is now small enough to remove and today is the surgery.
This surgery is very intricate as well.
Please keep little Jilli in your prayers today.
-Jillian's physical strength to withstand the surgery
-doctor's wisdom and skill
-parents comfort and assurance
-family support on the homefront
If you are interested here is the blog where the whole story is recorded. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeamBettendorf/321279/
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Stuff
Well, Jessi seems to have completely recovered from her... whatever it was, fever illness thingy. She stayed a little warm for a few days, and took naps for a few days, and has been a little grouchy, but I think that she is pretty much back 100%.
I kept waiting for one of the other kids to get sick, but so far, (knock on wood) nobody has anything too terrible. Joy is fussy, runny nose, and has a tiny fever, but she's also pushing through some molars so I'm going to blame that. Joey is doing fine as well.
____________________
I do have to brag a little, we are happy homeschoolers who are confident in what we are doing, but sometimes, with some people, you can feel the need to "prove it." So this morning when Joey saw a picture of an animal and said that it was a gazelle, I upped the ante by asking him where gazelles live. He was of course correct and replied "the savannah." I went ahead and asked him to name some other animals that lived on the savannah and he complied. I saw that we had the full attention of the person (who shall remain annonymous) so I casually mentioned, "and where do kangaroos live?" "the scrub." "and what else lives in the scrub?" "those different kind of elephants with small ears."
Not wanting to let Joey hog the spotlight, I let Jessi inform us that polar bears and penguins live in the tundra. Not too shabby for a 5 year old and 3 year old.
Ah, sweet success. Once again I am glowing in the satisfaction of proving that my unorthadox schooling methods are working.
Here's the full disclosure. They know this not because I have spent hours drilling them on the various biomes of the world, but because... we play zoo tycoon for hours at a time.
___________________
I have a little shop online where my mom and I sell handmade toys and clothes. No one is breaking the doors down, but I'm at least getting to the point where my extensive love affair with fibers can sort of pay for itself. I sold a soaker last week and the customer posted a rave review on one of the largest online cloth diapering communities. I'm pretty stoked. It feels great to know that someone really, really likes my work.... I mean someone who isn't related to me or friends with me, someone who paid real US currency to aquire it.
I made a custom shirt and sent that out, I can't post pictures of it yet because it's a collaberation with another online shop owner. She is quite popular, so linking my work with hers will probably (hopfully) be a good thing for me. She'll unveil the set at her stocking next week and at that time I will post pictures... you never know if there are industry pirates out looking to see what is going up next! (ok that was 98% a joke... but I still don't want to steal her pre-stock thunder.)
I'm doing another dinosaur shirt which will be fun, it's for a bigger kid so I have more shirt to play with. I like doing baby shirts, but there is really not much room to work on a 12 month T. After that I plan to do a panda shirt, then I have a secret project that I'm doing for a mother's day swap. Pictures of all will follow.
_________________
Speaking of making my hobby (a nicer word than addiction) pay for itself... I owe Jeff $19. He gave me $40 of "pin money" (I adore that term, it sounds so quaint and goes right along with my white-picket-fence life) . Well.... I obviously wanted a trip to the local yarn shop. I tried to keep it at $40, honestly, I did. But the lady... she said she'd give me two for one prices on some things that weren't moving... and she TWISTED my arm into trying some new bamboo silk/wool blend yarns, so by the time I got what I actually went in for, plus the extra... it was $59. Sigh, I guess I need to give back my $40 and give him a big kiss to cover the $19.
I kept waiting for one of the other kids to get sick, but so far, (knock on wood) nobody has anything too terrible. Joy is fussy, runny nose, and has a tiny fever, but she's also pushing through some molars so I'm going to blame that. Joey is doing fine as well.
____________________
I do have to brag a little, we are happy homeschoolers who are confident in what we are doing, but sometimes, with some people, you can feel the need to "prove it." So this morning when Joey saw a picture of an animal and said that it was a gazelle, I upped the ante by asking him where gazelles live. He was of course correct and replied "the savannah." I went ahead and asked him to name some other animals that lived on the savannah and he complied. I saw that we had the full attention of the person (who shall remain annonymous) so I casually mentioned, "and where do kangaroos live?" "the scrub." "and what else lives in the scrub?" "those different kind of elephants with small ears."
Not wanting to let Joey hog the spotlight, I let Jessi inform us that polar bears and penguins live in the tundra. Not too shabby for a 5 year old and 3 year old.
Ah, sweet success. Once again I am glowing in the satisfaction of proving that my unorthadox schooling methods are working.
Here's the full disclosure. They know this not because I have spent hours drilling them on the various biomes of the world, but because...
___________________
I have a little shop online where my mom and I sell handmade toys and clothes. No one is breaking the doors down, but I'm at least getting to the point where my extensive love affair with fibers can sort of pay for itself. I sold a soaker last week and the customer posted a rave review on one of the largest online cloth diapering communities. I'm pretty stoked. It feels great to know that someone really, really likes my work.... I mean someone who isn't related to me or friends with me, someone who paid real US currency to aquire it.
I made a custom shirt and sent that out, I can't post pictures of it yet because it's a collaberation with another online shop owner. She is quite popular, so linking my work with hers will probably (hopfully) be a good thing for me. She'll unveil the set at her stocking next week and at that time I will post pictures... you never know if there are industry pirates out looking to see what is going up next! (ok that was 98% a joke... but I still don't want to steal her pre-stock thunder.)
I'm doing another dinosaur shirt which will be fun, it's for a bigger kid so I have more shirt to play with. I like doing baby shirts, but there is really not much room to work on a 12 month T. After that I plan to do a panda shirt, then I have a secret project that I'm doing for a mother's day swap. Pictures of all will follow.
_________________
Speaking of making my hobby (a nicer word than addiction) pay for itself... I owe Jeff $19. He gave me $40 of "pin money" (I adore that term, it sounds so quaint and goes right along with my white-picket-fence life) . Well.... I obviously wanted a trip to the local yarn shop. I tried to keep it at $40, honestly, I did. But the lady... she said she'd give me two for one prices on some things that weren't moving... and she TWISTED my arm into trying some new bamboo silk/wool blend yarns, so by the time I got what I actually went in for, plus the extra... it was $59. Sigh, I guess I need to give back my $40 and give him a big kiss to cover the $19.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Party!!!
Last night I called Joey into the kitchen to ask him if he wanted to help make brownies (which is a given!) and he asked if we were having a party. I replied "sure! let's have a party." When he asked what the party was for, I told him "just because I love you." He was quite excited to have a "loving the family" party.
We made brownies and cut up a "halfalope" (that's a cantelope, and since Joey can easily eat half of one by himself... it was dubbed a halfalope). After we ate treats we played the Veggie Tales Dance game.
I asked for this game for Valentine's day and my sweet husband indulged me. It's a hoot, especially to see baby Joy out there stomping away. I'm up to a "medium" skill level, but Dean just mops the floor with me- of course he has hundreds of hours of practice on his game system "Dance Revolution" game.
I didn't start out to have a "party" but really, when I look at all that God has given me, every day should be a celebration. 
I love the way these shorties turned out, they are still a tad long, but look like capris I guess. I think they turned out so "beachy", I will probably do a life-ring or perhaps a lighthouse on the shirt to match.
I'm glad they turned out cute because I think Jeff was a little bummed that these sold out; I figured if they didn't sell to keep them for Joyana this summer. I'm glad they sold though, now my PayPal is a bit revitalized.
We made brownies and cut up a "halfalope" (that's a cantelope, and since Joey can easily eat half of one by himself... it was dubbed a halfalope). After we ate treats we played the Veggie Tales Dance game.
I asked for this game for Valentine's day and my sweet husband indulged me. It's a hoot, especially to see baby Joy out there stomping away. I'm up to a "medium" skill level, but Dean just mops the floor with me- of course he has hundreds of hours of practice on his game system "Dance Revolution" game.
I didn't start out to have a "party" but really, when I look at all that God has given me, every day should be a celebration. I love the way these shorties turned out, they are still a tad long, but look like capris I guess. I think they turned out so "beachy", I will probably do a life-ring or perhaps a lighthouse on the shirt to match.I'm glad they turned out cute because I think Jeff was a little bummed that these sold out; I figured if they didn't sell to keep them for Joyana this summer. I'm glad they sold though, now my PayPal is a bit revitalized.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Code for "we don't know"
We got home from T ball last night, I was feeding Joy so Jeff bathed the kids. Jessi came over to me afterwards and I touched her and she was on FIRE. Temp was 104. Yikes! Long story short, we spent a few hours in the ER this afternoon because her temp just wouldn't come down; 15 hours of tylenol, motrin, baths, cold drinks to no avail. It got up over 105 and I couldn't get it even down to 103.
The nurse line lady and I finally decided to take her in--whereupon she immediately took a turn for the better and by the time we got there she was at a cool and comfy 102 point something. They checked her over and decided that it was just one of those weird things that kids get, " a viral febrile illness", which is code for, "hey lady, we don't know either, but she sure is one fevered up kid, let's watch her for a while and make sure she doesn't sieze or get dehydrated." I have to give credit though, that ER is almost a pleasure to go to, they are SO quick and so nice. We have, unfortunately had many occasions over the past few years to visit. That might be a fun blog sometime, a listing of ER trips since we've been married.
Now, 24 hours after that first high temp, she is down to 100 and is quite crabby. That's always a good sign. Now I'm just waiting to see who gets it next.
_______________________________________________________
Here are a few more random scrap pages that are done digitally.
This one was supposed to be a cute "matchy" picture of the kids. That picture never quite happened, but here are two pages of trying.
Someone asked for a picture of the grown ups. Here is one of me with the girls. Oops, I was thinking it was just a few months ago and now I see it's from a year ago! Time flies!
Someone asked for a picture of the grown ups. Here is one of me with the girls. Oops, I was thinking it was just a few months ago and now I see it's from a year ago! Time flies!
I loved this one of Joey and Joy, the quilt is one that Jeff's mom made for him years ago out of his baby and little kid clothes. Joey and Joy are laying on it, then I used a picture of it to mat the photo.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Just pictures
I had a few minutes this evening to post pictures.
If you look closely, you can see Joyana's new teeth breaking through-pretty much the whole bottom gum.
Joey's eye today, almost one week post crash.
I was trying to get some shots of the girls in their Christmas dresses (what? it's only April!!) This one amuses me greatly. At first glance it's a sweet picture... then you see that baby Joy is ripping the book apart and Jessi is yelling at her.
If you look closely, you can see Joyana's new teeth breaking through-pretty much the whole bottom gum.
Joey's eye today, almost one week post crash.
I was trying to get some shots of the girls in their Christmas dresses (what? it's only April!!) This one amuses me greatly. At first glance it's a sweet picture... then you see that baby Joy is ripping the book apart and Jessi is yelling at her.
I"m going to have to retake these... the color is very wonky. Joy isn't normally this shade of green.
This one is no good either, but it shows the dress off. My mom made them then sent them to me to do the finish work. They are so beautiful.
Joey on Monday, 3 days post.
This one is no good either, but it shows the dress off. My mom made them then sent them to me to do the finish work. They are so beautiful.
Joey on Monday, 3 days post.
Follow the Christmas Chicken; Never Drive Your Car Into the Pond
Kids are funny. Not just cute, but knee slapping funny. Or maybe it's just my weird sense of humor (in which case, Julia, you will have to validate me).
I have pictures of the progression of Joey's black eye. It really developed into a thing of beauty. Thankfully it hasn't been very painful for him, in fact, I think he forgets about it until someone mentions it. The other day I asked him if it hurt, he reached up, poked around (rather firmly!) and announce, "Hmmm. Only when I touch it." Well, if I touched my eye as purposefully as he touched his, it would hurt too, previously blackened or no! So anyway, here we are still with the vivid reminder of his often heedless ways, and he does it again. Yesterday he was having a few tortilla chips and suddenly SCREAMED, "Owwww, Owwwwwwwyyyyy!" I thought that he must have poked his throat with a chip or something, so I'm peering at his mouth for gushing blood. Once he finished yelling, he was able to explain that his mouth was fine... it was his finger that was in need of attention. He bit himself. Not his tongue or his lip, his finger. Very, very hard. It looked like it was going to make a blood-blister thing so I made him put ice on it. How do you bite your own finger? Leave it to Joe-bug.
Jessi is quite the artist. I love to see what she creates. Often it's not just drawing, she has the whole mixed media art thing going on. She will poke holes in the paper and tie on scraps of yarn or fabric (or pixie stick wrappers) for added dimension. Now as "gifted" as she is, she is still 3 and sometimes the pictures require a bit of interpretation. Yesterday she eagerly showed me her latest masterpiece. It was a manger scene, that much was recognizable. The lean-to stable, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were all quite clear. The donkey I wasn't sure of, but did at least see that it was some sort of animal. It was the blob on top that had me questioning. "and what is this?" I asked, after she gave me the tour of the picture. "Well you know, I can't draw a star," she explained, " so that is the chicken."
Ah yes, because a chicken is SOOO much easier to draw than a star. Would the wise men have followed the Christmas Chicken in all its glorious splendor? Decorative nativity scenes would come with a cluster of feathers instead of a light bulb, we would sing Christmas carols about "fowl of wonder, fowl of light, poultry of ever-living light." Topping our Christmas tree would be a colorful bird instead of shining star. Maybe I'll do that next Christmas. Just for the fun of it.
As I am sitting here writing this, the kids are playing. I'm not certain of the entire set-up (I seldom am) but it does involve a mother laying down the law. I heard something about "the rules are made to keep you safe "and then began an enumerated list.
I missed the first two, but here are a couple that I think we could all benefit from.
3. never, never drive your car into the pond.
4. never, never kick your brother in the head.
5. if you see an alligator, don't forget to scream.
Joy just woke up from her nap, so I need to close. May you all have a lovely day, and never, never, drive your car into the pond.
I have pictures of the progression of Joey's black eye. It really developed into a thing of beauty. Thankfully it hasn't been very painful for him, in fact, I think he forgets about it until someone mentions it. The other day I asked him if it hurt, he reached up, poked around (rather firmly!) and announce, "Hmmm. Only when I touch it." Well, if I touched my eye as purposefully as he touched his, it would hurt too, previously blackened or no! So anyway, here we are still with the vivid reminder of his often heedless ways, and he does it again. Yesterday he was having a few tortilla chips and suddenly SCREAMED, "Owwww, Owwwwwwwyyyyy!" I thought that he must have poked his throat with a chip or something, so I'm peering at his mouth for gushing blood. Once he finished yelling, he was able to explain that his mouth was fine... it was his finger that was in need of attention. He bit himself. Not his tongue or his lip, his finger. Very, very hard. It looked like it was going to make a blood-blister thing so I made him put ice on it. How do you bite your own finger? Leave it to Joe-bug.
Jessi is quite the artist. I love to see what she creates. Often it's not just drawing, she has the whole mixed media art thing going on. She will poke holes in the paper and tie on scraps of yarn or fabric (or pixie stick wrappers) for added dimension. Now as "gifted" as she is, she is still 3 and sometimes the pictures require a bit of interpretation. Yesterday she eagerly showed me her latest masterpiece. It was a manger scene, that much was recognizable. The lean-to stable, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus were all quite clear. The donkey I wasn't sure of, but did at least see that it was some sort of animal. It was the blob on top that had me questioning. "and what is this?" I asked, after she gave me the tour of the picture. "Well you know, I can't draw a star," she explained, " so that is the chicken."
Ah yes, because a chicken is SOOO much easier to draw than a star. Would the wise men have followed the Christmas Chicken in all its glorious splendor? Decorative nativity scenes would come with a cluster of feathers instead of a light bulb, we would sing Christmas carols about "fowl of wonder, fowl of light, poultry of ever-living light." Topping our Christmas tree would be a colorful bird instead of shining star. Maybe I'll do that next Christmas. Just for the fun of it.
As I am sitting here writing this, the kids are playing. I'm not certain of the entire set-up (I seldom am) but it does involve a mother laying down the law. I heard something about "the rules are made to keep you safe "and then began an enumerated list.
I missed the first two, but here are a couple that I think we could all benefit from.
3. never, never drive your car into the pond.
4. never, never kick your brother in the head.
5. if you see an alligator, don't forget to scream.
Joy just woke up from her nap, so I need to close. May you all have a lovely day, and never, never, drive your car into the pond.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
My Jumbled Thoughts
I'm just sick about the shooting at Virginia Tech. As the story unfolds, it seems like there are more questions, not more answers. This kid had so much background, he was basically marked as being "at risk." I can foresee many people demanding to know why "something" wasn't done about this young man (in the same way that so many people are now demanding to know why "something" wasn't done to warn people/lockdown the campus after the initial shooting).
We all know that hindsight is 20/20. I really feel that finding fault with the way things were handled is probably just a coping mechanism that many people will use to try and establish some sort of control as they process this absolutely out-of-control situation.
I wish there were an easy answer, a way to make sense of this tragedy. My heart hurts for this young man who felt so alone, so hurt, so dark, that this seemed like a way to ease his pain. My heart aches for the young people who have been brought face to face with this senseless violence; for all of our society's fixation with violent "entertainment", we are, for the most part, pretty insulated from the reality of raw death. My heart is crying with the families who have lost their loved ones. The parents who sent their bright, promising, children off to prepare for their future only to have their future cut short.
As a christian, what should my response be? How can I make sure that I am not merely "stirred" but truly "changed?" The first place I feel God leading me to inspect is my interaction with my own set of "troubled youth." Our teenager and his friends are facing things that I simply can't understand--and I didn't necessarily have a bed of roses youth myself. I asked my teenage son recently if any of his friends lived with both parents. He couldn't' think of any. Most of the kids we have hanging around here live with grandparents, step-parents, or like us, Uncles or Aunts. These kids face violence at school, they face the fact that they are essentially less important than their biological parents' addictions, they face a culture that tells them on one hand that they are "all that" and their own best friend, yet on the other hand raises up an impossible standard of beauty and brilliance. We have consciously opened up our hearts and home to these crazy kids, but I am often out of patience and ready to throw in the towel. I get frustrated with their bad attitudes and their self-importance. I want to "tell it like it is" and let them know that their 17 year old crisis are patently ridiculous and to just wait until real life hits them in the face.
I think God is telling me that I don't get to decide for other people what constitutes a crisis. I have no idea where the line is between teenage angst and true mental breakdown for each particular kid. What I can do is love on them, show them that in their whole turbulent world, Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Jody are there, that they can count on us to believe in them, set fair boundaries, and show lots of mercy.
What if this kid had just one person to turn to, one person tried to understand him and saw him as a person, not just a duty? We can not control the decisions that someone else makes, I'm in no way saying that there weren't people in this guy's life that tried to help... I just want to be sure that when God places someone in my path, no matter how odd or distasteful they are, I am doing everything in my power to "stand in the gap."
We all know that hindsight is 20/20. I really feel that finding fault with the way things were handled is probably just a coping mechanism that many people will use to try and establish some sort of control as they process this absolutely out-of-control situation.
I wish there were an easy answer, a way to make sense of this tragedy. My heart hurts for this young man who felt so alone, so hurt, so dark, that this seemed like a way to ease his pain. My heart aches for the young people who have been brought face to face with this senseless violence; for all of our society's fixation with violent "entertainment", we are, for the most part, pretty insulated from the reality of raw death. My heart is crying with the families who have lost their loved ones. The parents who sent their bright, promising, children off to prepare for their future only to have their future cut short.
As a christian, what should my response be? How can I make sure that I am not merely "stirred" but truly "changed?" The first place I feel God leading me to inspect is my interaction with my own set of "troubled youth." Our teenager and his friends are facing things that I simply can't understand--and I didn't necessarily have a bed of roses youth myself. I asked my teenage son recently if any of his friends lived with both parents. He couldn't' think of any. Most of the kids we have hanging around here live with grandparents, step-parents, or like us, Uncles or Aunts. These kids face violence at school, they face the fact that they are essentially less important than their biological parents' addictions, they face a culture that tells them on one hand that they are "all that" and their own best friend, yet on the other hand raises up an impossible standard of beauty and brilliance. We have consciously opened up our hearts and home to these crazy kids, but I am often out of patience and ready to throw in the towel. I get frustrated with their bad attitudes and their self-importance. I want to "tell it like it is" and let them know that their 17 year old crisis are patently ridiculous and to just wait until real life hits them in the face.
I think God is telling me that I don't get to decide for other people what constitutes a crisis. I have no idea where the line is between teenage angst and true mental breakdown for each particular kid. What I can do is love on them, show them that in their whole turbulent world, Mr. Jeff and Mrs. Jody are there, that they can count on us to believe in them, set fair boundaries, and show lots of mercy.
What if this kid had just one person to turn to, one person tried to understand him and saw him as a person, not just a duty? We can not control the decisions that someone else makes, I'm in no way saying that there weren't people in this guy's life that tried to help... I just want to be sure that when God places someone in my path, no matter how odd or distasteful they are, I am doing everything in my power to "stand in the gap."
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