Announcement

Our MOPS group has a fun way for women to announce that they are pregnant. At the beginning of the meeting, the leader gets out a little box that has crackers tied with either a pink or blue ribbon, and asks if anyone wants to take a cracker. Another mentor mom and I started the tradition of announcing new grandchildren also, when we took crackers to announce that our daughters were pregnant almost 2 years ago. Yesterday, I took a cracker in honor of Todd and Betsy's baby, (notice I took one with a blue ribbon). I got to explain who I was taking the cracker for and since some of them had been praying for a baby for Todd and Betsy, they were very excited. I had been looking forward to taking a cracker for over a week, we didn't have MOPS last week, so I had to wait an extra week to announce my new grandson. It was really fun to get to do that and a couple of them knew Todd from high school or college church group activities from many years ago, so that was fun for them to learn about the baby also.

Another Busy Weekend

As is often the case, we can have several weekends where we don't have anything going on, then all of a sudden everything happens in a weekend or two. This weekend was not only the weekend that we had tickets to go see Skate America with my parents, but it was also one of the Canby Board meeting weekends that Ken has to go to. So, he left for Oregon Friday morning, and I stayed home this time because Mom and Dad were coming over Friday afternoon. Then Saturday morning, Kari brought Saben and Annika down to visit with them and stayed until almost 5pm. After they left, I called Ken who was on his way home from Oregon and was going to meet us in Everett for the skating competition, and found out that he would be in Everett in about an hour. We met up and headed for the ice arena at 6pm. The competition was going to start at 7pm, so we had a little time to walk around, take in the sights, get some food and eat before it started.

We had tickets for the women's short program and the men's free skate or long program. The women were first and they had 3 minutes to do their routine. The first skater we watched seemed to take a long time to do her 3 minutes, but after that it didn't seem long at all. Since I have tried ice skating and can barely keep my ankles from wobbling as I calmly skate around a rink, I am always impressed at what trained skaters can do. I guess the picture above is like doing the splits, only on ice and standing up.

We enjoyed the competition, but discovered that we didn't have a clue about how the judges scored the skaters. Some we thought wouldn't do very well because they had fallen or had some bobbles, still scored high, and others we thought had done well didn't score as high as we thought they should have. The men's program which was a routine that took under 5 minutes, was especially that way. The guy from the USA was in first place after the short program the day before, he was the last one to skate and we thought he had done pretty well, but he ended up in third place. We discovered that Scott Hamilton, a famous skater from several years ago, was at the other end of the arena from us, giving commentary for TV. We definitely could have used his commentary to understand what was going on. Fortunately, when they announced the scores for that US skater, everyone there booed the score, so maybe we weren't the only one that thought he did better than what the judges thought. It was nice to start getting acquainted with some of the names that will probably be appearing at the winter Olympics in a couple of years.

Esophagus Procedure

I had my esophagus looked at today and everything seems to be normal in both it and my stomach. I was concerned about how it would go because they had told me that I would have about the same amount of anesthetic as I had for my colonoscopy. I remember being aware of what was going on during it and wasn't sure how I was going to do with a tube going down my throat, if I was that awake. Especially, after the experience of having my larynx looked at, which was awful. I was NOT that awake, I was totally out and woke up with the procedure over. Yeah! That was a blessing! So, it wasn't bad at all. They gave me some pictures if anyone is interested. Trust me, they aren't fun to look at, unless you enjoy that type of thing. The worst part was the wait, they were about an hour behind schedule. Luckily I took a book to read, but I kept wondering if they had forgotten about me. So it's good to get that behind me, now if I can just get rid of this cold!

Uh Oh!

Well, my pumpkin didn't last long, even with the shortening on the inside. I figured it would get moldy pretty fast, but I really expected it to last more than a week. Oh well, I got to enjoy it for awhile and now I know not to even try bringing one inside.

Other Weekend Pictures

Kyle and Kari dropped the kids off at our house Saturday afternoon, so they could spend Sat. and Sun. nights with us. Ken had finished taking the sides off the shed and decided to burn them while the kids were here. Saben likes to watch fires (you can see the 3 of them behind the fire if you look very closely), and was very excited that Papa was making a fire and that it was a big one.

Ken had Saben pick up apples from under the tree and throw them in the fire to see what would happen. Saben will tell you that they turn black and get mushy after being in the fire. Annika decided she needed some apples also, so Saben is helping her get some.

Saben had put this sticker on his nose before he arrived and it stayed on his nose for quite awhile, before it finally fell off. Sunday afternoon, Saben and I went to a puppet play in Everett. They were doing 3 Eric Carle books, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", "The Mixed-up Chameleon", and "Little Cloud". The puppets were on sticks, the puppeteers wore black clothing and used a black light to keep the audience from seeing what they were doing. It was very effective and alot of fun to be in an audience with so many children. Our favorite story was the hungy caterpillar, which took bites out of all these different things, then kicked them away (that's not in the book), but Saben thought it was so funny that he laughed quite loudly outloud. He noticed that I didn't laugh as loudly and on the way home, I was asked why I didn't laugh loudly. You never know what he will notice! I guess coming to Grandma and Papa's house must be fun, because on Monday, when I took them home, he started talking about his friends that should come to our house also. I'm not so sure that's a good idea, since keeping up with the 2 of them is enough for us.

Pumpkin and the Grandkids

Pumpkin, who has been known to attack people's feet for unknown reasons and has managed to draw blood by biting those feet with her teeth, (just ask Betsy, who steers clear of her now) is so gentle with Annika. Annika loves Pumpkin, she actually likes both of the cats, but Patches runs when Annika comes anywhere close to her.

I couldn't believe the things Pumpkin allowed Annika to do to her, with no response from Pumpkin. Sitting on her, laying on her, crawling over her, Annika did them all, and Pumpkin let her.

Annika especially liked sitting on Pumpkin and when Pumpkin had finally had enough and moved right before Annika tried to sit on her again, Annika got a funny expression on her face, like she couldn't figure out why her "chair" had moved. She would look for Pumpkin, then start backing up to sit on her, and when she was almost ready to sit down, Pumpkin would move again. It was pretty funny to watch.

Pumpkin finally got smart and headed for someone that knew how to treat a cat.

Another Pedicure!!

Can you believe that I am actually having my second pedicure in less than a month? My niece, Amy, wanted to get a pedicure before her surgery next week, so Kari and I joined her in Seattle for an afternoon of shopping and being pampered. It turned out that this was Kari's first pedicure and Amy's second one, so now I feel like I'm caught up with everyone (at least in my family). The place we went to this time, did things a little differently than the place in Bellingham. You not only got to choose your nail polish, but also the lotion that they rubbed on your feet and legs. We had a good time getting our feet taken care of, although Kari wasn't sure at first whether she liked having her feet worked on.

Now, on to the hard part. Those of you who know all 3 of us, whose foot is whose? Let's name them by the color of the polish, the one at the top of the picture is red, the one to the right is pink, and the one on the bottom is dk. red. No fair looking at the other picture of my foot to decide which is which! It was interesting that the women who were doing our feet thought that Amy and I looked more like we were related than Kari and I did.

After getting our feet done and shopping awhile, we went to Todd and Betsy's for dinner, where all the husbands and kids joined us. Ken brought some BBQ with him that he had gotten at a place in Marysville, that we have enjoyed eating at before. This is a picture of Amy and her husband, Jason, who left this morning, along with their daughter Lara, for their trip to New York, where Amy will be having her surgery next Thurs. We had a nice dinner, some time to chat, and ended with a time of prayer for them. I know they would appreciate prayer during the next 2 weeks as they go through surgery and the healing afterwards.

Mentor Mom Panel

Yesterday at MOPS was both a fun and a scary day. It was scary, because for the first time since I've been a mentor mom, the mentor moms were the speakers for the day. Questions were submitted to us before hand from the MOPS moms, which was nice because we got a chance to think about the questions ahead of time, I'm not very good on giving answers off the top of my head. I always think about what I said and later think of better answers. Anyway, we were called the mentor mom panel , sat in the front of the group on the stage, and answered some of the questions that the moms had asked. Unfortunately, we really didn't have time to answer very many questions, but I thought we did a good job on the ones we got to. There are 6 mentor moms, but one was on vacation, so the other 5 of us handled the questions. Obviously we come from various backgrounds, so we were able to give answers from different perspectives. As things progressed, I was able to feel less nervous and started enjoying myself. Later a couple of the moms told me I did a good job, which helped me feel better!

After group disscussion time, we made the pumpkin flower holder in the picture, which was a lot of fun. After cutting the top off and scooping out the insides, we rubbed some shortening around the inside to help prevent it from getting moldy. I had never heard of that, so it will be interesting to see if it works. The only problem is, that I wanted it for an inside decoration, but they said that it wouldn't last very long if I kept it inside, that it should be left outside. Since I don't have any place to put it outside while the painting is going on, I may leave it inside anyway and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

Pumpkin Farm Fun

Saturday morning, when we were discussing all the things we should try and get done over the weekend, Kari called, and wanted to know if we were interested in going to a pumpkin farm with her and the kids. Chores or pumpkin farm....no contest! The Pumpkin farm won hands down.

We met in Mt. Vernon and proceeded to explore the pumpkin farm. The first thing we did, was go through the corn maze. Yeah! I finally got to go through a corn maze.

Saben enjoyed running through the corn and deciding which way we should go next.

There were lots of fun things to do, including a ride in a wheelbarrow to go get pumpkins.

Annika enjoyed sitting on the pumpkin more than trying to pick one up.

There was a petting farm area also, with a couple of donkeys, some pigs and chickens. Saben wasn't sure about petting the chicken at first, but finally got brave enough to try it.

Annika thought Saben looked good as a scarecrow. It was a fun day in spite of it getting windy and a little cold towards the end of the afternoon.

Painting Project

The house is slowly, but surely on its way to the new color. The front and north side of the house have 2 coats of the gold paint.

I think the trim that is done has only one coat of paint. Most of the front of the house doesn't have the trim started yet, and the back and south side of the house aren't really started at all yet. When I talked to the painter this week, he said that it should take another 4 or 5 days to finish the whole thing if both him and his son are painting. (They are usually both here, but that day his son wasn't here.) They are doing the whole thing by hand and are doing a good job, but the weather is just not cooperating. If it rains, they can't paint and have to wait at least a day for things to dry before they can paint again, so they get to paint a day, then it will rain again. It's really frustrating.

Meanwhile, whenever Ken has time, he is working on replacing the siding of the shed, which of course needed to be painted also. Hopefully everything will get done soon!

Praise the Lord!!

Amy got the results of her biopsy back yesterday and the lumps are not cancer. Thank you, Lord!

"For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jer. 29:11

Grandkids

When Ken was in California a couple of weeks ago, he met up with some collegues from China. As is the custom of people from that part of the world, they brought gifts for people. Ken recieved a box of Olympic mascot keychains, that we passed on to Saben and Annika. This is a picture of them on Saben's lap from last week. When I left last week, I left my camera at their house, so I was without a camera for a week, and couldn't get my pictures off it. I also, forgot to record something Saben said when he was staying with us and since I don't want to forget it, I'm going to record it here. They have a hot tub in their backyard and he informed us that Mommy and Daddy take baths in the backyard.

Yesterday, when I was up there, Kari was cleaning out her refrigerator before going grocery shopping. Annika decided to help Mommy and chose the items below as the things she wanted out of the refigerator.

Yummm! Horseradish and fish paste, what a great snack!

This is Ken's favorite picture of the day. Annika enjoyed playing with her boots also, while I was there. Notice her cup of milk sticking out of one of her boots behind her. She actually picked up her boot and drank from her cup with it still in the boot. Unfortunately, I had my camera turned off at the time and by the time I had it ready, she was done drinking her milk that way. I kept my camera ready for awhile, but of course, she didn't do it again.

"Fireproof"

There is a new movie in a limited number of theaters called "Fireproof". Kirk Cameron stars in it and it has a great message. Ken and I went to it in Everett on Thurs. night, because that was the closest place that was showing it. It is a Christian movie and has such a strong Christian theme, that I was surprised that it was in a movie theater at all. Instead of the normal Hollywood type stuff showing marriages breaking up and people hopping into bed with someone else, there is a fight to save a marriage. It is a very good movie and I would recommend it to everyone. If it's not in any theaters near you, look for it when it comes out on DVD. It seems to be pretty popular, it was listed as #4 in our paper's list of the top 5 films for last week, and when we gave our ticket to the ticket taker at the theater, he looked at what movie we were going to and said "That's a good movie." (Ken thought that was code for I'm a Christian.) Go see it if you can, you won't regret it.

Why, God?

This week has been another time when I have wondered "Why is God doing this?" The reason this time is that my niece, Amy, who has the genetic mutation BRCA, and has been doing everything she can to keep from getting breast cancer, was discovered to have a lump in each of her breasts. It was discovered during her pre-surgery MRI. The surgery she is having, is to remove her breasts and have reconstruction done. It is less than 3 weeks until her surgery to prevent her from having breast cancer and now she probably has cancer. A biopsy will be done Wed. to find out for sure, but everyone seems pretty positive that she has cancer. What a blow to be so excited about having the risk of breast cancer eliminated to facing the fact that you have it. Why, God? Why now, 3 weeks before she would be clear? I trust God's wisdom and know there's a reason, but again I don't understand it. Trusting God's plan through all the awful things that take place in the world is not easy, especially when it hits so close to home. But, I have faith, that somehow, everything he allows to happen to us has a purpose that we just can't see or understand.

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom. 8:38-39 Including cancer!

Dr. Appointment

Today was my dr. appointment with the gastroenterologist and sure enough, he decided that I should have my esophagus looked at. Check out the title of my procedure, it is called a Esophagogastroduodenoscopy with dilation. Can anyone pronounce that? It is also known as an upper endoscopy, but the other name is much more impressive. I will have the procedure done on Oct. 23, which I believe is the same day as Amy's surgery, although I can't find anything with her surgery date on it right now. He has also put me on another type of medicine to try and reduce the acid reflux, and hopefully help with the healing of my larynx.