A Summary

Okay, so I am cheating. Most of this post was an entry for a newsletter that my dear friends from the med school days are putting together. But as my mama told me, "Why re-invent the wheel?" :

The biggest event of this year was a bone marrow transplant on April 1. I was in Dallas for much of the spring while the family was in Waco. Pretty tough, but the Lord was with us. On July 15, I was able to move out of the apartment in Dallas. After that, we had some further complications (one being a blood clot). It was pretty tiring to be taking care of kiddos once again, but I’m in pretty much full-swing now. If you want the full story read the rest of this blog. I expect an almost full recovery with few meds by October or so, especially if I can figure out how to get some exercise.

Now to the fun stuff:

Cade is now 6.5 and about to enter first grade. He is a little big for his britches and is usually one step ahead of me in his great ideas and negotiations. Cade loves a good “legend” and likes to be in the middle of the action. He also loves Legos, Bakugans and anything involving weapons or teetering on edges of high objects. This week, he prayed for a hurricane to come. I really enjoy “reading” his drawings of his plans to conquer. He wants to be a ninja when he grows up. He also has considered being a spy, but the kid can’t keep a secret to save his life. I think he likes the violence and technology combination in the job description. On Sunday, Van made a plaster volcano with the boys, and they were in heaven. Cade signed up for soccer again in the fall, and he continues karate. Last week, he went to a mini tennis camp and loved it. He wants a skateboard and a Nintendo DS, but I continually say “no”. Cade still loves his stuffed animals, and has trained his siblings to make sure that all 3,000 of them are properly in place each night before bed. It is a bit much to find Daddy Bear, Conyur (Avi’s unicorn), Baby Bear, Baby Jaguar (that suspiciously looks like a tabby cat), Baby Raccoon, Rex, etc. all before bed, but it is really sweet at the same time. He also loves his Paper Jams electric guitar and Van’s old telephone that has some David Crowder on it. I have caught him lounging in a chair just listening to it. Pretty cute.

Zane is 4 and will be in the Pre-K class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Parent’s Day Out at our church building. He is a very active climber, but at the same time is a mellow peacemaker. He is usually in another world of pretend, and a straw is not just a straw. It is a fire hose, then a drumstick, then a triangular place for the birds to sit. His obsession and the reason he gets into mischief is balloons and gum. He can make and tie 20 water balloons in the bathroom before I even realize he is missing. He is also the messiest child on the planet. It doesn’t bother him a bit to have mud dripping from him or the aforementioned balloons squirting all over the bathroom. Patting the flour in the pancake bowl seems like a great idea. He has no concept of what is dirty, and will eat gum from the sidewalk or wipe his sister’s nose with a Kleenex. The latter is more helpful. Zane is super excited about soccer this fall. It was hard for him to sit on the sidelines and watch his brother play last year. He wants to be a firefighter, policeman, doctor and a radio singer when he grows up. His brother impatiently informs him that he will have to pick one—I’m not sure that a ninja is any more practical. Zane is often our comic relief. That kid is just so joyful and funny, and is often seen with Baby Raccoony on an adventure together with his sister in tow.

Avi is 2.5 and cute, cute, cute. She will also return to Parent’s Day Out in the fall. She keeps up with her brothers, and is especially close to Zane. He is a nurturer with her, and will happily be the daddy in the scenarios they concoct. She eats up the attention, and returns the favor when Zane is upset. She is all about the color purple and prefers to eat out of it, wear it and brush her teeth with it. Thankfully, she is a very reasonable child, and we can talk her down if the purple bowl is in the dishwasher or if the purple toothbrush can’t be found. Yesterday, we told her that we were dropping by the Rainey’s, and she HAD to find her plastic ring and her church shoes to visit Adelaide, which her daddy thought was really precious and helped her find both. Van loves that little girl. It is also really cute when she repeats things that she hears her brothers say. “I’LL KICK YOU IN THE NUTS!” Okay, maybe not. Both Avi and Zane like to say sweet little prayers and sing beautiful original songs about whatever comes to mind. “The Rain-bow….forever!....forever!...” Cade’s songs are more ballads with a beginning, middle and an end. He sang a great song last night with visuals and sound effects with the Jonah story.

Van is still enjoying practicing family medicine at a Scott and White clinic here in Waco, but I think he misses the friendships of med school and residency. The past couple of years have been rough on him with my health issues, so I am praying that we will have a nice respite soon. He tried out all types of hobbies in med school from birding to stargazing, but has settled into bike riding, swimming and running. So…of course now he is considering a triathlon! About 2 years ago, he ran a marathon but decided that was a bit much. He also loves fly fishing and just got back from a continuing medical education course in Jackson Hole and tested out his new backpacking rod. Van reads theology books now, which is great because I’m practically illiterate at this point and he can give me the highlights.  He has gravitated to books on prayer and following Jesus.

I’ve enjoyed being at home with kiddos. Some days I go a little nuts, but mostly I’m trying to soak up making playdough, cooking with them, learning Chinese from Kai-Lan and Spanish from Diego (only half kidding) and finding places around town with air conditioned playgrounds. I will defend Chuck-E-Cheese to the death. We’ve read a lot of kids’ books this summer, and I love it. I remember when they were smaller and would fight over my lap or just didn’t have the interest and attention span, and I dreamed of this day. Since being home I am once again astonished at the stack of laundry and dishes and realize, “Oh, we have five humans living here!” I don’t mind the work at all (usually-ha!), but I am still getting tired easier than I would have without the health mess more because of the emotional roller coaster than the physical labor at this point. I’m in a dry spell with how close I feel with the Lord, but I know He is with me and at work. He has a big plan for the world and for our family. Honestly, I need to put some more effort into knowing who He is and being more disciplined with quiet time. My time in Dallas made me realize how much I miss not only quiet but working with my hands on little projects such as mending or even cutting paper, so in our new house, we are planning a CRAFT/HOBBY/MUSIC room!!!!!

So….after much searching, we settled on a 2 acre lot in a neighborhood that backs up to a little river. It is still undeveloped, but we hope to start building in January. This is much different than the missionary dream, so it has taken both Van and I some time to get used to. We’re both on board now that we are popping the seams of our house. All three of our kiddos are still “Crisco-ed” (a Wendy-ism, thanks, gal!)into one small bedroom, and our tiny guest room also serves as storage, making it not-so-guest-friendly. It is not cool to ask my parents to sleep on a bunk bed. We’re excited and scared at the same time not wanting to make any huge costly mistakes, but so far, so good. I’m especially excited about the only upstairs room that will serve as a prayer room so that we have a quiet place to go.

We have promised the children a dog. They love animals, and our dear Sir Hiss, the bearded dragon suffered an early death at one year old. Before that was Crabby, the hermit crab that lasted 6 months. Maybe we’ll do better with a dog! Zane is determined that the dog will sleep in bed with him, but I am steadfast that it will be an outside pet.

I managed to lock myself in the bathroom last week. It was right after we had it painted, so it was completely stripped of anything useful to take off the doorknob. I resorted to banging on the door for my six-year-old who was really excited at the prospect of freeing me (thank goodness). He worked with the child lock on the outside informing me not to touch the door handle. When there was a break in the movement, though, I jiggled it to see if it was free and smashed his fingers. Woops. He went off screaming and crying, “I’m never going to help you again!!!”. Great, just great. Thankfully, a few minutes later, he came back giving me “one more chance” and supplied some screw drivers (and a box cutter???) under the door rescuing me. His knowledge of the forbidden tool closet came in handy that day.
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My children are in Utopia with my folks (yes, again). Don't I have the best parents EV-ER? After we found out that I had to take on at-home IVs again (see previous post), we were so tired and down in the dumps. We went to Sea World with friends a couple of days later (both very fun and very hot), and it is only an hour and a half from Utopia. SO...we rested that night at Mom and Dad's house and went to church the next morning. It was so great to be there. Half the folks there knew me when I was a wee lad...lassie, and they were so happy to see me "out and about". I have eaten homemade ice cream, lovely slow cooked pintos, hams and briskets, and 20 different, wonderful versions of green beans over the years from this church. We had "dinner on the grounds", you know. Two of the ladies there have sent me at least a thousand cards over the last few months, and one of them had my favorite quote of this season. (Mind you, I'm probably 20 pounds over the clothes in my closet after that blasted steroid, and it is not from "swelling" unfortunately. This will take some time and energy. Okay, some of those clothes I haven't fit in since before Cade, but I'm still holding on to hope- ha!) Anyway, this delightful lady bounced around exclaiming how glad she was to see me, and then got serious saying something like, "Are you eating enough? Are you gaining your weight back?" Oh, bless you, woman. That was music to my ears. It was especially warming because I had to wear my yoga pants, t-shirt and flip-flops to church that morning because in our haste, I had forgotten to pack proper attire. In this traditional little church (that is a block from my parent's house-Dad puts bikes in the back of the truck, and the boys ride them home after services), everyone welcomed me and said not a word about my casual clothing. Neither did anyone mention my rowdy crew on the back row, but instead told us how sweet they are and spoke to the children. That says a lot about the heart of Jesus in these dear folks. Also, they have supported Mom and Dad on their end of things as they have helped us, feeding kitties and lots of offers of other practical helps. They have prayed and prayed and prayed, and the Lord is good.

The children return tomorrow. Dun-dun-dun-dunnnnn... But wait, there is more! The parents are returning with them for a day and a half as bonus so we can do more settling and they can take care of kiddos while I do a lab draw. Yea!