Froggie went a-courtin'

"But sweetie, I think we should keep the tadpoles here. If we take them home, they might die." With big round eyes, Zane said, "But what if they LIVE?!?" And so they did. You can view them on our kitchen counter. I telephoned my wildlife consult, and my sister expertly recommended boiled lettuce, and now we have twenty or so fat little tadpoles swimmin' in the water. We had gone down to the river with our sweet friends that have just finished up their assignment in Uganda. What a precious time. We all clung to every minute. The visit also included a presentation with our children dressed up as a hunter, an assassin, a bunny, a butterffly, a queen and a narrator. The keyboard music punctuated the dramatic parts of the skit. Too cute. My cheeks hurt from laughing so hard! No visit is completee without a trip to the doctor, so after a confirmed corneal ulcer for me and dehydration for Van, our friends turned lemons into lemonade and took the children out for pizza and a movie and saved the day. My eyes are still struggling, so Mom is in town to take me to appointments.

the long and winding road

This has been a long road! I have been so discouraged by the setbacks, but my doctor has encouraged me to see the big picture and focus on that I have received a "long time cure", and that it is very unlikely for leukemia to crop up again this far out. We are changing to another doctor in the same group that focuses on graft vs. host disease. She recommedended another round of photopherisis (treating the blood with light). 80-90% of patients that have eye and mouth problems like mine find some relief. There is a possibility that it could help my lungs, too. Insurance has not been as cooperative in the past, so I have had to cancel some Dallas appointments, and we are having a hard time finding a photopherisis place. I do worry, but I know that the Lord will provide. In the meantime, I am trying to eat and stay active despite my low energy. It has been tough.

A New Chapter?

Seven Decent Breathing Days in a row! I even have some kind of sinus thing going on, and it hasn't morphed into pneumonia. I'm determined to get off of some of my meds, so we shall see if the doctors let me. I've been able to host a craft night for a handful of church folk, and host a big birthday bash for our now 6-year-old sweetie. What would you like for your birthday, Zane? "Balloons." Okay. What else? "I would like balloons for my birthday." A very loyal child. We also got him a zip line. Van installed it(mostly) just in time for the hoards of children willing to wait in line to teeter on the top of a ladder and shoot across the yard. Thankfully, one of the dads stayed at the party to catch children at the end as they approached the small tree leaning from the strain. We'll have to move the set up at some point!

Scout, our puppy, is doing well, and we are getting used to living with an animal. Avi and I took her on a walk around the block. It was the first time that I had the confidence to walk up the incline, and it went well. I had been worried that I would run out of breath and have a hard time getting back home. Scout was fussy with the leash and got tired very quickly, so Avi and I carried her much of the way! It was nice to go for a walk with these two sweeties.

Today, I will drop off Avi at Parents' Day Out, run a couple of errands, eat lunch with friends and meet Cade's class at the Mayborn museum to catch part of their field trip. He is very excited for his tour of Waco!

Catch up

Sometimes life is whizzing by so fast that it is hard to sit and reflect and figure out the deeper meaning because it keeps whizzing by as I am sitting! That is how the past few weeks have been. Part of it is the addition of our new sweet beagle pup, Scout. She is precious. We have all adjusted nicely, and she is well-loved. Thankfully, a new dog has proven much easier than a new baby, and we have all slept nicely and been able to leave her behind when we "go to town". As my friend says, "Yeah, you don't exactly have to worry about their future."

We've been praying a lot for Van's step-dad. He has some serious health issues, and we pray that he regains his strength soon. We also pray for Van's mom as she cares for him.

We pieced together the Resurrection Eggs (12 Easter Eggs that tell the crucifixion story) after years of use and shuffling in the moving process. The children know the story very well, so we were thankful for the Bible teaching that they have had. Avi's understanding shocks me. "He died on the cross to take away our punishments." So true.

While that parenting decision went well, the one of the red Kool-Aid at supper did not. While Van was out on a run, I put the kid's food on the table. Usually we try to eat together, but it was weird timing it with the fun neighborhood girls over. Van and I got to eat together while the kids played, and that was refreshing. Anyway, the red Kool-Aid with the child with the glass bowl on the tablecloth with the puppy tugging at the corner was disasterous. They were all sent outside while I cleaned up (and hollered a lot) so the puppy wouldn't try to eat the food mixed in with the broken glass. Poor Van came home to a scene.

That's what happenened in the last few hours. I'm not sure what we did last month.

Holding on

So much has happened in the last month or so that it will take a while to catch up, but one story that I want to record happened last night. For a couple of months, Cade has been saving up for a pocket knife for when he is "maturre enough". He does this by doing extra chores. Normal chores are things like putting up his clothes, taking out the trash, and taking the new puppy (!) outside. Extra chores are harder things like pulling weeds, vacuuming out the car or sweeping the porch, and they are also used as punishments until enough are given that we can see a change in his heart. They come sporatically because homework and friend time can take a good chunk of time after school. So, Cade had saved up about $5. The book he REALLY wanted at the bookfair that included a description for each one of the Star Wars minifigures AND it included a REAL minifigure was $18. Cade decided that he was not mature enough for a pocket knife, and he would start over saving for it if I could cover the rest of the cost. Sounded good to me! At the bookfair (after an incredible performance of Zane in a PE program) Cade found his book. When it was time for check out for our family, we were trying to navigate him to outside of the library where the line was short. He didn't understand, and started to panic clinging to the book thinking that we were going to leave without it. It was very crowded and very distracting, but he finally trusted us to move outside of the doors of the library to the easier check-out. Reflecting on it later, it made me ask myself what I am holding onto? What area of my life am I not fully trusting in God, panicking, and not wanting to just simply listen and move "outside" my comfort zone?

Downer

The grand ol' Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
and he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up.
And when they were down, they were down.
And when they were only half-way up, they were neither up nor down.

I have another virus/infection? Yuck. I'm staying home from church and the activities for the day. I have my very own nebulizer for breathing treatments now, and I have a couple of strong antibiotics. Hopefully, I'll stay out of the hospital. I go to Dallas on Thursday, and I think Van is going to go as well.

Fancy Shmancy

I had a doc visit on Wednesday. No changes in treatment. No news is good news! My appetite is better, and my weight is holding steady. My breathing is decent, but is challenging at times and limiting. My eyes are very annoying, but I'm learning coping tools. I strapped on that toolbelt and loaded up with Van to come to a continuing medical education conference in San Antonio. We both hesitated because last year's conference was a complete DISASTER with my eyes and lungs, car trouble, etc. But because my parents were available to take care of our kids, and because Van and I have been at each other's throats, we decided that it was best. I almost bought a sign at Hobby Lobby the other day to laugh with him. It said, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." Anyway, we loaded our respective bags in the comfy minivan. We got all the way to Georgetown before the check engine came on. Oh, yes, by the way, Van, the same light came on when I was coming back from the doctor's office in Dallas yesterday. "What we have here is a failure to communicate." He calmly pulled into the Dairy Queen parking lot, called 1-800-Farm-Tow and our sweet insurance agency (thank you!) and ordered a smoothie for me and a Blizzard for him. Then, he ordered a Blizzard for me, too. The tow truck man was pretty prompt. We had a very sober, engaged discussion about life's woes in the cab of his truck on the way back to Waco. Van and I both attempted to elicit laughter from the man, but it was to no avail. I couldn't believe that references to National Lampoons Christmas Vacation didn't do the trick. Super sentimental and very kind. Van recommended a book about being fathered by God to him, and he was touched. Not what we expected!

Mom, Dad and the kids met us at the mechanic with Van's truck. The kids were all smiles and loving grandparent time. They gawked at our minivan being lowered with hydrolics, and Zane savored rolling our suitcases through the puddles in the parking lot. Chick-Fil-A lemonade and back on I35. We waved at the Dairy Queen in Georgetown an hour later, and we landed in San Antonio with full bladders. Fancy Hotel on the Riverwalk with a cush bed and cush pillows. Van walked to go learn something the next morning, and I found some hot chocolate and a scone. I played on Shutterfly with the Cooking channel in the background. I finished the photo album "Summer 2011" and got sentimental missing my sweet kids and my parents. That was the summer right after my transplant, so there were fewer pictures than normal, but most included my folks and Van alongside the kids in the garden, in the kitchen and building a picnic bench in the yard. Just lovely.

Then, a real treat. Van came back for lunch, and we met my San Antonio cousins at Spagetti Warehouse and got in a nice visit. These are folks that I grew up with seeing several times a year, and now we keep up with each other via Facebook. It was really special time.

After Van's last session, we walked through the mall, needing absolutely nothing but an ICEE. We strolled over to Fogo de Chao, an eating establishment that brought back memories of Nairobi's Safari Club. Once upon a time, when we were broker than broke, we spent some money in Kenya at a place where they served all types of wild game (crocodile, etc.) while we watched traditional dancing. If I remember correctly, each person cost $14 which was crazy expensive. This time, there were 1,000 waiters that came around offering us prime rib, pork rib, filet mignon, and all types of Van food on a skewer. My favorites were the Brazillian treats of carmalized banana and fried plantains. This part reminded me of teaching in Houston when our cook, Chari, cooked bananas in cream for us as a treat. She was from Spain, and put a lot of love into every morsel. I was nervous at first being in such a nice setting and forgetting to change out of my tennis shoes, but the wait staff and the company I was keeping made me feel at ease. We called the kiddos to check in. Avi had been to the coin store with Mom and Dad. She had charmed the owner who let her pick a few treasures of foreign currency. Pretty cute. The owner commented that she was such a well behaved child. I wonder if he changed his mind after she turned out the store's lights on the way out. The boys and a neighbor had ventured into the woods to make soup for the animals. It included acorns and sticks. They figured it would attract raccoons.

Just a few more days before we check to see if our little beagle has been born. I'm surprisingly excited about it. I think it will be a little challenging to adding another responsibility, but I think it will be really good overall.