Watermelon

Life has been all consuming lately. We have baseball 3 nights a week. Cub scouts, dance and piano lessons are still on our weekly list - plus homework, pre-school, and the norm - groceries, laundry, meals, church. So thus - I haven't been posting very much and I have a lot to catch up on but it will probably just trickle in.

So two Fridays ago we finally had our first barbecue with our new patio furniture. The only catch was we had to put it together first which took us a while. We didn't end up eating til close to 7:30 but it was so worth it. And yes I did forget to take pictures and right now all the cushions are in the basement because we've had rain.

I was so excited for this particular dinner. It was almost like summer in a bottle, but it wasn't in a bottle - it was on the table, so I guess it was like summer on the table. I had totally planned on overeating all day long. We had cheese dogs on the grill, veggies and dip, corn on the cob and my favorite of all favorites - chips and salsa from Chilis-to-go. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the chips from Chilis so I like to go on Friday's and treat us for dinner. I always ask for double the salsa because we go right through it. And to top everything off - you need watermelon for the perfect summer meal and it's sort of pre-season right now so I had to plunk down $7 for a watermelon. But it was totally worth it. We would have spent a lot more if we had take every one out for an ice cream cone etc...

The weather was absolutely perfect. Eating outside was divine. We took a walk around the neighborhood and talked to all the neighbors. Every kid on the street from age 2 - 18 was outside visiting in the street. It was the most PERFECT Friday night.

So this was Piper's first time experiencing watermelon and she really liked it. Here's a series showing her interest and enjoyment.





Boy that girl has a big smile but I can't get enough of it! Don't you love all that sticky watermelon juice dripping down her chest?

I often feel like I don't get enough pictures of my big kids, especially the boys. They aren't with me as often and don't change as quickly or do new things. So I am making an effort to take more pictures of them doing whatever they do.

Here's Chase trying to ignore me and the camera - just eating his watermelon.

Here's MacGregor totally posing for the camera. These boys of mine have very different personalities. One totally shuns the camera and the other can't get enough.

And here's Ainsley chatting it up on the phone. To whom? Anyone who will listen!

Proud Papa

One of Daniel's partners is a member of a fishing club that has private land on Spruce Creek somewhere in the middle of PA. It's about 2-3 hours from here. He invited Daniel as his guest last Wednesday.

Daniel received a fly fishing pole, vest and flies for Christmas last year (didn't I pick the perfect gift? It helped that my Dad's eyes had gotten so bad he couldn't see to tie the flies anymore and just happened to be selling his barely used equipment) Daniel hasn't really had much experience fly fishing but he's practiced his technique plenty in the back yard and all the practice paid off this trip. He had a great time and caught the fish of his life. I now say to him, "Why do you ever have to fish again? Anything now will be a disappointment in comparison."

Here he is with a rather large trout.


Here he is with the longest brown trout ever seen (ok maybe a little exageration but no one in Daniel's group had ever seen one so big.) He measured 27 inches long.

Here's his biggest baby. A 12 pound rainbow!!!! Daniel fought with him on the line for 30 minutes. What a fight. And what a fatty! Just look at him - he's short and fat. I can't believe he lasted 30 minutes - you would have expected him to be out of shape and out of breath much faster. (I'm talking about the fish, NOT Daniel)

2 summer's ago Daniel got the chance to go fly fishing in Idaho and fish several mountain lakes in Idaho and Utah and he caught NOTHING!! Not one fish! (He did catch a few little ones in Spanish Fork Reservoir, but I'm not sure that really counts). But now he knows that he doesn't have to go all the way to the well reputed Rockies to catch big fish - PA has some of the best!

Patio Complete

When we bought this house there was NOTHING in the back (just hard baked dirt that turned to mud when it rained) - nothing to even step down on from our sliding glass door. We had two back doors - one off the laundry room and the other was the sliding glass door from the kitchen. As part of the buying negotiations - I asked for at least a step. We got the cheapest wooden step imaginable that sunk in the mud and shook when you stepped on it but I guess that was better than a cinderblock. These steps were probably 12 inches wide and 36 inches long. Dan used to call it his 3 foot deck. He used to like to ask people what they thought of his deck. They always rushed to the back door and looked into the yard to find our deck and then Daniel would point to the step. HAHA!

So last fall we looked into a deck. We wanted something rather large because we wanted it to wrap around from the laundry room door to the kitchen door so we had a solid surface and could exit or enter at the same level etc... The decks were SO expensive so we priced out "stamped" concrete patios and patios made of pavers. In the end we went with the "stamped" concrete which was a third as expensive as a deck made of trex and half as expensive as a real wood deck. Plus I like the fact that the concrete is level with the ground so I don't feel like it takes a section out of the back yard which a deck that was raised 18 inches would.

We had had a very dry October last year and that is when I finalized the patio details. We were supposed to have it started on Nov 7th but then the rains came and came and came. They put it off several times because they didn't want to ruin my yard with their bulldozer. The big tracks on the bulldozer just sink right into the lawn and tear it to pieces. Finally it was the beginning of December and getting to cold to pour concrete so they just had to do it - they did ruin the yard but over the last few weeks we have spent a lot of time getting the yard back in shape.

I wished I had taken before pictures. There was a GIANT mountain of dirt in the back yard where they removed it from around the house so they could pour rock that goes under the concrete. As a family, but mostly Daniel, we moved that dirt one wheel barrow load at a time. We filled in the bulldozer tracks and leveled out the dirt all around the patio because our yard slopes down into the back yard. We ended up with a step down from the concrete. So we used all the dirt to level out the yard even with the patio.

This past weekend Daniel bought some sod to plant over the bulldozer tracks and fill in the giant circle of dirt where the mountain had been. Then he tacked weed paper in place - went plant shopping with my Dad (he knows what looks good where and how hearty things are etc... ) and planted and mulched with J all day Saturday. He also added this border around the outside edge. I think everything looks fantastic. We still have some seeding to do to get back some more of our yard they ruined while pouring the concrete, but I can't wait to get a patio table and chairs and have our first outdoor barbecue.

Here's the view where the sliding glass door opens. Now we have a step that goes the distance of the whole door instead of just half way. And this step doesn't sink or wiggle.
Here's the view from the side yard where you step out of the laundry room door. So you can see how it wraps around the corner of the house. I know it would have looked better in the pictures if I had moved the hose, scooter, grill and wheel barrows but I was tired and have a gimpy shoulder. My dad really wanted to see the final so I took these pictures quickly. If you look out toward those pine trees, you used to see a giant circle of dirt 12 to 15 feet in diameter. I love sod - you can't even tell where it was. We've never used it before (I'm sure it's expensive to do a whole yard) but I definitely like it and think it was perfect for our patch job.

Dress Up!

There is a small children's museum here called the Hands-On-House. In February, while the boys were in school, my sister and I took our girls. We only stayed two hours but we had a lot of fun. The girls were NOT ready to leave.

Ainsley also had her birthday party there 10 days ago. She invited several girls from her preschool class and her dance class. One of the favorite rooms in the museum is the dress-up room. It's also the best for taking pictures. Here are a some photos from the two visits.

It's not just the kids who get to dress up either!!
Here are all of Ainsley's friends from the party. They all dressed up and sang into a giant flower that was their microphone. They sang us the alphabet song and twinkle twinkle. Everyone in the room clapped and cheered - even those not with our group. It was really cute, but hard to get a picture that wasn't blurry - these girls were always on the move!


Here we have our medieval heroes.











Here's our little giraffe.













She had a crush on this big parrot!


Silly Boys!


The girls also had fun in the machine shop. They have an assembly line and you have to add each thing to the project until it is complete. Piper enjoyed stacking these "star thingies" (yes, that's what they call them).


You'll also notice a lot of face paint. There is a face painting station that my kids LOVE. They like doing it themselves and coming up with new creations. Except Kamden - she would not touch the stuff! At Ainsley's party she painted her whole face gold and shimmery. Then she had me add whiskers - she wanted to be a tiger but she looked more like a bronze goddess. MacGregor on the other hand - LOVES to do camouflage and does it every time. Here he is mid-bubble.

Success

The surgery was a success. My experience was great - I felt well treated. It's funny though because my mom dropped me off at the front door of the hospital. She was watching the girls for the day and had to get Ainsley to school and such. I checked myself in and went through all the pre-op by myself. Several people asked me where my family was? I told them my husband would be coming to pick me up. Daniel worked his morning schedule and took an extended lunch hour so that he could pick me up and drive me home. I guess it's odd for someone to totally check into surgery without a family member waiting. (Daniel did arrive about 40 minutes into my surgery). He said he had a scare - after arriving he inquired about me and they said I was currently in the OR. He said seconds later her heard over the intercom - "Anesthesia Emergency!!!". He knows that's code for someone quit breathing in the OR. Luckily it wasn't me but ironically it was an oral surgery case. Not his practice though and the man having the surgery was in very poor health to begin with.

Here you can see the lump is gone! Also you can see that the surgeon marked the site with his initials. I am really glad they do that because there are multiple ORs with multiple surgeons and if you are asleep already when the surgeon walks in, you want to be certain that the correct surgeon is working on the correct area.

During my interview with the Anesthesiologist she found out that Daniel was an oral surgeon who did cases at this particular hospital and it turns out that she ran his anesthesia 3 days before. She told me that case was really interesting and hopes he brings in more cases like that. The two surgical nurses in my OR were on that same case. They remarked that they liked working with him - that he was really nice and that they couldn't say that about everyone. I felt really good knowing that they had a working relationship with Daniel. You just feel like you'll get the absolute best care when someone knows you.

Here you can see that the scar is quite big. The doctor said the lipoma was 10 cm (4 inches) so they had to make a 6 cm cut (roughly 2 1/2 inches) to get it out. He told me he'd get some pictures of it so I guess I'll see them at my post-op visit. In this picture you can see the scar I had from my last lipoma (diagonally above to the right). It's not quite as big as this new one. My new one doesn't have any surface stitches. I guess they stitch the underneath layers with dissovable stitches and use a glue (durabond) to close the surface wound.


Saturday I felt well enough to go to my hometown, 2 hours away, to a baby shower for a good friend I grew up with - Angie L. My mom was invited too and so she drove me there and back. I admit I did feel a little sick in the car ( I think it was from the medicine) on the way down but by the time I got there I felt great. I had lots of fun and saw so many people from my childhood memories... Young Women leaders, friends' parents, piano teacher etc... The blanket I made was for this friend. She also got 4 burp cloths that I sewed in the middle of the night on Friday night. The pain medicine made me all twitchy and itchy and my mind was racing so after 2 and half hours of just laying there, I got up. I turned on the radio and got out my sewing machine and spent an hour and 15 minutes pinning and sewing. It was great actually although I was a bit tired the next day.

So overall it was a successful weekend. A big thank you to my mom for sitting Friday and driving me Saturday. Thank you to Dan who watched the kids all day Saturday while he landscaped around our back patio. And thanks to M and J who helped with the landscaping and made dinner Sunday!!

Snip Snip

I finished a new rag quilt. I branched out a little this time. I usually just do them in 6 to 9 inch squares, but this time I alternated with a 4 patch. Then I also appliqued a star on. I have never appliqued anything before. I then ragged the star and the four patch. I think it came out cute but I free handed my stencil for the star and I think it might have come out better if I had used a professional stencil.
Here's a close up:


Here's the back:

Of course then I had a lot of snipping to do but overall I was pleased with the final result.


Speaking of snipping - today I am having surgery. I have a lipoma ( fatty tumor) growing just around the back of my armpit. I had another removed several years ago - it was the size of a raquetball growing on my shoulder blade. This one is larger - maybe baseball size. We've known about it for about 2 and half years but it grows slowly and is almost never cancerous so we just let it go. But it has gotten pretty big now and I don't want to have a huge pit after they remove it because the skin has stretched so far over it. So it's time. Wish me luck! If you're curious - here's a before.

Uncomfortable Moment

So today we went to Ainsley's 5 year old well check. One of the things the doctor was assessing was her ability to draw certain things. She drew a circle, a square, a triangle and a very good attempt at a diamond. Then he says, "while I talk to your mom, can you draw me the best person you can."

A few moments went by and he asked her if she was finished. She said, "one more cloud..." She proudly showed us her picture. The doctor and I both said, Wow Ainsley - that's really good. Then I asked her who was that in the picture. She told me it was me and next to me was a dog that I got when Daddy wasn't with us (which makes sense because Dan is allergic to dogs and cats and Ainsley would love to have an animal). I asked why Daddy wasn't with us - Ainsley said because he lives somewhere else. She then added that she and Chase and MacGregor all lived with me but Piper lived with Daddy. WHOA! So I said, Why doesn't daddy live with us? Ainsley replies "because Daddy doesn't love you anymore!!!!!!" YES - all this in front of the doctor that I am sure at this point thinks that there is an eminent divorce and kids are choosing with parent to live with!!!!

I then realize where this is coming from and try to explain it to the doctor - whether he believes me or not remains unknown. Ainsley is having a birthday party tomorrow with some of her friends from her pre-school and dance class. One of the girls is not able to come because it's her weekend to be at her Dads. When Ainsley found this out she had a lot of questions - Why does her dad live at a different house? Why aren't her parents married anymore?

Daniel tried to explain to her that sometimes people don't love each other anymore and they choose to live apart. I think that was all in her head because the party is tomorrow and Mollie won't be there etc...

The doctor said he thought it was interesting that Piper was the only one to live with her dad - I think there are probably two reasons. 1) There has been a bit of competition going on - even at the doctor's office - The doctor had Ainsley come over to where he was sitting to check her spine. Piper ran over and put her hands up and wanted on the Drs lap. She then sat on his lap for quite a while and was thoroughly upset when he put her down so he could notate the chart. Also as soon as the Dr came in - Ainsley said "I am the one for the Drs today" as to not be confused with a visit for Piper. 2) the other reason Ainsley would stay with me and not her dad, whom she loves dearly, is because apparently I have a dog at my house and she would most definitely have to live with the dog.

I thought I would share that story with you and get it written down because I would never want to forget that "GEM" of discomfort!!

Also - I posted a slide show -right beneath this post. It is supposed to work if you just click on that that button that says full screen. It wouldn't let me write anything with the post. I am still trying to figure all these new things out. But check it out and let me know what you think!

Spoon Feeding

Jerseys

We needed new team jerseys for the stake basketball tournament - where I got to be the coach! Someone had suggested the girls decorate them with puff paint - I thought that was a bit boring and since I am a fabric maniac I thought it would be fun to use scrap fabric (I love using my scraps - anybody remember this? We cuddle with this thing all the time and LOVE it!) and have all the girls make an original shirt. We used the same layout and stencils but since they each used scraps of their choosing - our shirts were all the same yet all different!!

We started out by giving them each a square, roughly 17 inches by 17 inches, of Wonder Under. It's a fusible webbing.

Then they were to use the scraps to cut squares and rectangles and overlap them to cover the entire square. Once they covered the whole piece of webbing - we ironed on the fabric and it was now fused into one big piece. These are a few that I did.

Here's a close up.
Next they traced their stencils onto the square and cut them out. We specifically told them how to trace the stencils so that they would NOT be backwards but we still had a few with backward Ls and numbers. We even had all the stencils labeled which side should be up etc... Oh Well - as I said each shirt is an original. Plus we had 16 girls show up to make shirts - more girls than we usually ever have on Sunday or at activities. I guess it was an exciting activity so it was hard to be over each of their shoulder's as they did each step. It was really fun but really stressful because Daniel had a meeting that night so I had to take all the kids with me and there was a stake meeting for the presidency so I only had one other adviser and one parent there to help me. Even with 5 irons and ironing boards - we still could have used at least 2 more. But the 3 of us got it done.

After the girls got their stencils cut out they peeled the paper off the back and ironed their Ls and numbers onto the T-shirts. Now their fabric pieces were fused to the shirts. We put L 3 on the front for Lancaster 3rd Ward. I found a font on the computer I liked and freehanded larger copies to make the stencils. I think they came out well.

But because we used pieced and overlapping fabric we had parts that were loose, flapping, and not fused. I was worried about these staying on especially when washed so my good friend the YW pres. came over the next day and we used free motion stitching to keep all the fabric in place. We had about 20 shirts to do. It was my first time using free motion stitching and I really liked it. I think I won't be too scared to try it again maybe on a quilt!

So here is the final product. This is my shirt. Sorry these are a little blurry.
And here are my crazy girls at the tournament.

We had 13 girls to get into every 20 minute game. We lost all of our games but I guess that is typical of our ward. We don't have too many athletic or competitive girls. Plus when you are working 2 and half teams' worth of players into such a short game - it doesn't allow your best 5 to play very long! But our girls are great sports and had a lot of fun! I was glad to be part of it (and we only lost our first game by one point - GO TEAM!) Plus we were the best dressed and won first prize for coolest jerseys!!!!!!!

Baby Stroller

Anyone who has a young girl probably owns a miniature dolly stroller.

Well sometimes I guess it's fun to pretend your sister is a doll.

And sometimes it's fun to pretend YOU are a doll and catch a ride from your sister.

Piper is way to big for this stroller but she and Ainsley somehow managed. They had a great time zooming all over the house. The real surprise was when I found Ainsley in the stroller - now she is WAY to big and her hips were stuck inside it and fortunately it didn't last long because Piper wasn't strong enough to actually push her.

You can sort of see my new kitchen back splash that Brock put in (another thing I am planning on posting). I absolutely LOVE IT!!! Thanks Brock!

FHE Boards

I know I said check back more often and I really thought I would have had time to put more things up but last week ended up being my busiest week ever and today Daniels sister Taffy and her husband and 5 kids are coming for a visit and the baby is sick again and therefore I probably won't get time to post for another week or so. I have some great pictures of the jerseys we made for the Young Womens basketball team and from the field trip I took with Chase's class to the state capital.

But I thought I could squeeze this one out in 10 minutes:

Here are the FHE boards our ward just made. I was very excited and thought they came out very cute. I hope you like them Brielle and Brinn because yours are on the way!

Couldn't Pass It Up!

After 3 full weeks of people being very sick (me included) - I think we are now past it. I have a lot of things to get caught up on. I finally spent last night catching up on family and friend's blogs - I swear I haven't been on the computer for 2 full weeks. So check back a little more often - I should have some new things posted.

We were out shopping on Thursday for a couple new outfits for Ainsley. I can't keep this girl in clothes. All the pants we have that fit in her waist are getting way too short or have a hole in the knee. While we were shopping she saw all of the Easter dresses that were out and asked if she could get a new church dress. She noticed this black velvet dress with red fur or feathers around the sleeves on the clearance rack and asked if she could have that one. The problem was it only came in 18 and 24 months. Later as we were looking thru some bigger clothes I came across this one - also on the clearance rack. I saw that it had fur around the sleeves and thought Ainsley might like it.

I figured that Easter was early so it would be ok to get her a dress with long sleeves. She'd still get several weeks of use out of it this spring. But it's white - would she really get more than one use out of it? So I decided to check the price tag. This was a lined good quality dress. It was 60 or 70% off - only $9.20 - plus I had a Kohl's card so I got another 15% off. For $7.84 I was totally going to get this dress. I figured she could use it as a church dress til it got warm or stained whichever came first and then it could be used as a dress-up dress. It totally has the snow princess thing going on. (Ainsley got a dress-up dress for Christmas and it was quite a bit more than $7.84)

Anyway - Ainsley and I were both pleased with this bargain!

The Sickness

Well the sickness found us. We had a really good run from Christmas until last week when Chase came down with a fever. His fever went on for 8 days. On day 5 he seemed to have a break in the fever and that's, of course, when we saw the doctor. He tested negative for the quick strep test and negative for influenza. Later that night his fever spiked again and I called the doctor. We went in the next day for some blood work. It was Chase's first time and he did great. We got a call that afternoon that Chase tested positive for Mono. Poor kid.

Then Friday afternoon Piper got a fever. Dan thought she sounded a bit wheezy. I put her down for bed around 9 pm but around 11:15 she woke up and was having a lot of trouble breathing. CROUP! We tried getting her settled and using a vaporizer but she was still really struggling. We finally took her to the ER around 1:30AM. After some nebulizer treatments and some neck X-rays, she was admitted to the Peds floor. Her heart rate was about 220 when we first got there. She spent two nights in the hospital with Daniel and I trying to trade off. A big thank you goes out to all our family who helped out with kids at home. My mom and sisters have kept Ainlsey since Friday - And Brock and M&J helped with the boys.

Saturday evening I went home to get some sleep and was going to go back to the hospital to spell Daniel a few hours later but I had chills really bad. I think I was extremely exausted having only slept maybe 2 hours the night before. I took some tylenol and went to bed with my wintercoat on. When the fever broke I was one big ball of sweat. I kept looking at the clock feeling guilty that I hadn't gone back to the hospital to spell Daniel but I was feeling terrible. I finally called him around 11pm and asked if I should come back but he said no - that I should stay home and rest. I was so thankful because I ended up gettting up two or 3 times during the night and dry heaving. I was grateful I didn't have anything on my stomach. Sunday and today I've continued with a debilatating fever. It's so hard to feel so bad and have to take care of a sick baby - making sure she's eating and drinking. She wasn't drinking enough at the hospital so they had to put an IV in.

Today the kids doctor called and asked if I had gotten a call on Friday about Chase's step culture they were growing at the hospital. I said no. Well it was positive also. I guess it's rare but sometimes kids get mono and strep together. Poor Kid!

So we're sick of the sickness!!! I hope it goes away soon!

Short Update

Sorry for leaving everyone hanging. The last two weeks have been non-stop!!

Daniel had a really rough night - the night before he took his test. His mind was racing and his heart pounding all night. After taking the test he said that he felt confident in 3 of the 4 areas. One area he did not feel so confident in so he said he's not sure what the results will be. You have to pass all 4 areas to pass. If you do not pass you have to take the ENTIRE test again, not just the section you failed. We won't know for another month whether he passed or not! But we are enjoying a little more family time!!!!! YAY!!

Daniel got home around midnight on Sat the 16th. We went to bed around 1:30am and had to get up before seven for church - our new time is 8:30 am!! :( I guess it was fortunate that we kept pressing snooze and were running rather late because I started to feel this weird pricking pain that I thought was my cervix. It felt sort of like when you start to dilate, except that I'm not pregnant and was not starting my cycle. The pricking kept constant - more annoying than painful and I wanted to apply counter pressure to stop it (but that doesn't look very nice). About 10 minutes after I began feeling it I realized that it wasn't my cervix but rather a kidney stone causing that familiar prick. I then drank about 5 glasses of water in a 20 minute time span and continued to help everyone get ready for church. The pain started moving up - inside my pelvis (sort of felt like the location of my ovary) on the right side. It still wasn't too bad. I finally told Daniel that maybe I should stay home in case it gets much worse. I was planning on taking a heavy pain pill and laying on my bed for awhile. I continued to get the kids breakfast and while I was waiting on the microwave I was running and jumping in place - anything to get that stone moving. A short time later that pain started to worsen. I finished getting Piper dressed at which time I was groaning quite a bit and I laid down on the bed. At this point my right kidney felt like a 10 lb brick. The pressure was definitely building. All that water finally caught up to me and I had the sudden urge to use the bathroom even though I was in a moderate amount of pain. I went to bathroom and started to pee - and PING! out came that stone! The kidney pressure instantly faded and I got up and said to everybody - "OK - lets' get to church"! We arrived about half way through sacrament meeting. I was so glad that I didn't take that heavy pain pill or I would have been groggy for nothing. And I was so glad that we weren't on time or I would have passed it at church!

On a funny side note. I did fish it out of the toilet and showed it to Daniel. It looked like a small piece of gravel - the size of a small pea. I decided to show the kids because I had told them that I thought I was going to pass one and thought they'd be interested in what it looked like. MacGregor looked at it and asked me somewhat baffled, "Did you cough it up?" I said "No, you pee it out." He than got really grossed out. And then Ainsley told me how she told her whole Primary Class that about that thing I peed out and how they all laughed. GREAT!! Maybe next time I'll keep it from the kids!

I had a great birthday. We actually sort of celebrated on the 18th - M & J babysat so we could go to dinner. It was great and fun to be together alone. Doesn't happen too often. The 19th was so busy that it didn't even feel like my birthday (I cleaned all day getting ready for company, took kids to piano lessons, ran home to make soup to take to enrichment meeting) but Dan did bring home an ice cream cake and it was yummy. On Wed the 20th I made some black bottom cupcakes ( my favorite). And we had a little party and the kids gave me their gifts.

On Thursday the 21st my sister Brielle and her husband Brock and their girls arrived for a 2 and a half week stay. Brielle is splitting her stay between my house and my parents. She is here for a vacation but her husband is here to work. He is doing some remodeling in our bathroom and putting up a backsplash in our kitchen. It is looking great and I'll get some pictures up when it's all done. Also on Thursday my diagonal neighbor called me to tell me that our other neighbor - across the street from me was not doing well and they didn't expect him to make it through the night. We found out that he had stage 4 esophageal cancer in late September. He was only 36 and had a 14 and 8 year old. He used to walk Lilly (who was MacG's class last year) to the bus stop every morning and he had this great riding mower that made his lawn look like a golf course. Kate asked me to pray. And I did - that night I asked my Heavenly Father what I could do to help this family - I had been asking myself for months. I just didn't know what to do because they have a super big super tight extended family that is always there. They are also Vietnamese and I didn't know what they like to eat etc... As I lay in bed that night listening for an answer - I got the impression that I needed to bake a ham and make some rolls. I tried to talk myself out it. I tried to say that I didn't know them that well - only casual acquaintances at the bus stop or nice summer evenings. I tried to say that I had company and was busy etc..

But the next morning I still had the same impression. I called my friend Kate to see if she had heard anything. It had snowed the night before and school had been canceled. She had been out shoveling her driveway and the 14 year old son of our neighbor was also shoveling. She said Dave had made it thought the night and the doctors said it could be several weeks or days - nobody knew. So that afternoon I cooked the ham from our freezer. I mixed up dough and made 20 rolls and when Daniel came home I asked him to pick the ham and it filled a 9 x 13 pan. We packed it all up and took it over the neighbors house and no one was home. I told myself no big deal - we'll just eat it later or something. I told the kids to be watching for a car to drive up at the neighbors just in case. About a half hour later I was about to jump in the shower and get ready for a date when I noticed a car had just driven up. I called Dan and we began to walk back over there where we met an extended family member who was already on his way out again. I handed him the pan of ham and said that we had made some food for the family and he thanked us and said that everyone had been at the hospital ALL day and he would take the food straight over to hospital right then. I didn't see cars come home that night and Dan found out Sat that our neighbor died around 11:45 pm on Friday night. I am so happy that I took the time to ask - I am so happy that the Lord answers prayers and that I listened to the answer. I am happy that there was some decent food for these people to eat while they sat with their loved one for the last few hours of his life.

I will sure miss David Nguyen. I cry every time I think about it and I dread going to the viewing tomorrow night. I cry for his children. I just spoke with him at the mailbox a few weeks ago when I asked him how his treatment was going. It doesn't seem real that I won't see him pick up the mail anymore or walk Lilly to the bus stop or mow the grass. Life is really hard sometimes.

The Saga Continues

Daniel called me around 2:15 yesterday saying he was finally on his plane to New York. The connection was supposed to leave NY around 4pm. He called me at 3:50 and had just landed but he was now at a HUGE international airport. His arriving flight was US AIR and his departing flight was American so he had to completely change terminals which involved getting on a bus to another terminal and going thru security again. He called me at 4:20 out of breath. He was on the plane. He told me later that they were literally closing the door as he got there and that they had canceled all the rest of the flights to Dallas that day. His was the last to get out! What a blessing!!

But.... it doesn't have a completely happy ending. Because of the quick turn around time and the different airlines etc... yep, you guessed it - No luggage. His stay was 4 days and 4 nights so he didn't just have an overnight carry on. He had packed a garment bag with his new suit he had bought for this event. He also had a large duffel with some warm waterproof fishing attire for his big "REWARD" day tomorrow on Lake Fork plus regular clothes, underwear, shaving kit etc... All he was carrying was his computer bag with study material.

He didn't arrive until 8pm and had to report this morning at 6:30 am. Not enough time for the airlines to get him his bag so luckily the mall was still open and he went on a quick shopping spree - new shirt and tie, new blazer, new pants, new socks and new dress shoes. UUUGGGGHHH!! I think this test is costing us more than a 2 week vacation for the whole family. I mean he used over a week of vacation to study for it, the test costs a couple thousand dollars to take, in essence we bought 2 plane tickets (although we hope we get part of that back), a new suit stuck in his luggage, a whole new outfit including a blazer and shoes, rental car, hotel, food and fishing!! I can't wait to get beyond this trip!

The good news is that he isn't taking his test while wearing the same clothes he spent the last 2 days in. And the other good news is, that as I write, he is taking the test. He should be done by lunchtime today!

Nightmare!!

In Oral Surgery - your first goal is to successfully finish a residency. Your next goal is to become board certified. There are two national boards you have to pass to become so. The first one is written and you are eligible to take that 6 months after finishing your residency. You must pass the written board before you can take the oral board (the second part). Daniel took his written boards in January 2006 and thankfully passed. He was then eligible to take the oral board (which means you are sitting in front of a panel of doctors that throw senarios at you - there are four sections so you are sitting in front of 4 different panels). His plan was to take the review course in the fall of 2006 and take the exam in Feb 2007. Then he was called to Iraq and missed the review courses and didn't get home until 6 weeks before the test. In short, he did NOT take the test last year.

He did spend 9 grueling days in Denver in November of 2007 at a board review course. He has spent every spare waking moment since Christmas either at the hospital medical library or in his little cold corner of the basement with the space heater running. He has gotten up at 5 am to study, goes to work, studies at lunch, comes home for dinner, disappears to the basement, comes up to say good night to the kids and tuck them in, goes back to the basement until 11pm and then crashes in bed. I am SICK of that schedule and I know he is too. He has taken off the entire week before the test to be able to study from sun up to sun down.

His test is scheduled for tomorrow, Feb 14th first thing in the morning. If you do not check into the hotel, where they are giving the test, sometime the day before you miss your opportunity and have to wait until next year to take it.

Tuesday the 12th I got up and turned on the weather and news like I do every morning as I get the kids ready for school. I saw that the next day, Wed the 13th, we were supposed to have significant icing first thing in the morning. His plane was due to leave at 7:30 am. So he decided to call the airlines and see if he could get out Tues night. The told us that no weather "alert" had been given so he would have to pay to change that ticket. (pay almost as much as we had already paid for the ticket). He desperately didn't want to miss his test so he paid.

We had been having light snow on Tues but nothing accumulating etc... He made it to the airport in plenty of time. His plane was due to leave at 6 pm. I called shortly before and he said the plane they were supposed to be on hadn't arrived. They were delayed until 8:10 pm. Meanwhile the weather was getting worse - freezing rain started to pour!! I called him again - his plane was canceled. He was scheduled to leave the next morning on the flight he had been on originally - WHAT A WASTE OF ALOT OF $!!! (We are working on getting that refunded - wish us luck) He spent the night in Harrisburg (only 30 minutes from home) so he wouldn't have to drive in the icy weather.

He called at 7:30 am. His direct flight to Dallas had been delayed indifinitely - due to mechanical problems. (the whole reason we paid so much for this flight in the beginning was it was a direct flight out of Harrisburg which is so close to home) Now we were wishing he was at a big airport with a lot more options.

They rebooked him on an 11:15am flight to New York La Guardia. But I then saw on the weather channel that La Guardia was running 290 min delays. When I looked his specific flight up - he was supposed to leave from New York at 1:30 - they are showing a 90 minute delay. He should leave at 3pm.

I just called him again. It's noon here. I was hoping to get his machine so I knew he got on his flight. He answered. They are now supposed to be leaving at 2:20 pm. I guess that means he'll miss his connection in New York, unless it is delayed further also. There are a few more flights from La Guardia to Dallas later in the day so will all of you please PRAY that he gets to Dallas safely tonight!!!!

I really don't want all of his study time to be wasted and I really really don't want to do this again next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!