Thoughts on Today (and Yesterday)

Elisha had his knee surgery yesterday and they told us everything went perfect. That's great news I know, but man the recovery ahead of us is daunting. Six to eight weeks on crutches and the physical therapy they have asked us to begin today hurts a bit. Good times.

The tv has been on non-stop today and is beginning to drive me nuts.

(yesterday, after being home an hour or two)

Because Elisha couldn't eat yesterday until after his surgery, we all - including Bethany - fasted with him until he could eat too. Unfortunately Bethany had bad headache and stomach ache afterward which lasted through this morning. She conned her dad into staying home today too and if wasn't for the fact that she wouldn't/couldn't eat anything until early afternoon I would have called her a faker since she begged all week long to stay home with Elisha the day after his surgery and I kept telling her no.

Despite the fact that Bethany stayed home when I believe she probably didn't need to Elisha kept asking for her to come and sit in the room with him, so I guess he needed her after all.

(Bethany yesterday, after I took Elisha's photo, doing her best to look pathetic too)

Elisha is still in a lot of pain and taking two pain pills at a time. I'm not a big fan of pain meds but it's better than seeing him cry, which is what he was doing along with being extremely emotional until we upped it (per doctor's permission).

Elisha's knee is in a brace that keeps it straight and will keep it that way for the six to eight weeks he's on the crutches. He'll be home again tomorrow as he has to keep it elevated for 48 hours which will not end until 5:30 pm tomorrow. Which means tomorrow will be a juggle for Yohn and I as we try to balance who will be home with him at what times.

Track started today but Elisha will miss the entire season and he's a bit sad about that. Bethany missed her first day of practice as well because 1) she stayed home "sick" and 2) Elisha could not be left home alone and since Yohn was working this afternoon I couldn't go anywhere with her.

(Elisha today during his afternoon nap)

Elisha got a new pillow case (you can see in the pictures above) from the hospital that someone sews and donates to the kids. He thinks it's pretty awesome.

Because Elisha has to have his medicine every four hours, it's gonna be another long night as I will need to wake up to give that to him. Fun times I tell ya, fun times.

And just so you know, this post is not meant to complain. Not at all. we are blessed beyond blessed and have a great many things to be thankful for. I just needed a way to process my thoughts and what's been going on.

Although, we still appreciate your prayers!

UPDATE: Today

UPDATE: As of today (Wednesday evening) the fire is about 80% contained. We've been warned it can only take a small breeze to get it going again though. People have been allowed back into their homes. No lives were lost and neither were their any "deaths of horses" as Bethany put it. Only one structure caught fire and burned.

Bethany has been checking on this constantly morning and night to see what was going on and what new pictures there were. I'm sure as soon as we are able we'll head up to see the damage.

*    *    *    *    *

Today we watched the sky fill with smoke as a fire started on our favorite mountain. The one nearby where we hike and camp and explore as a family.

This is the view from the overpass, which is walking distance from our house. This is when it had burned 400 acres and had 175 firefighters trying to stop it. It was estimated at 20% contained at the time (about 7 pm).

I just checked the website at 9:30 pm, and it's now at 800 acres with over 250 firefighters battling it. It's already doubled in size and is estimated at 10% contained. People have been evacuated, but thankfully no homes destroyed. 

Please pray, the mountain is really only a stone's throw away. We know people in that area, we know of a ministry in that area, our family loves to visit this area and take our children's friends along for the adventure.

I know it's not much compared to the fires over the summer, especially the one that burned out of control in Colorado. But it's so close to home. We were just up there for a family trip over Labor Day Weekend and it is very, very dry up there. 

When I took these pictures, Bethany wanted to know why I would want a photo of the "horror" as she put it. Yes, she's a little bit worried herself. Although I think she was more worried about the horses, as there are many horse ranches at the foot of the mountain, until I explained to her how the fireman were in danger and people may lose their homes. Then she really began to realize how bad this could be. It wasn't just about our favorite little spot getting "ruined". It was about people. 

Pray for wisdom and safety for the firefighters. Pray for those operating the helicopters. Pray for the people evacuating. Pray for the police officers guiding and directing the people evacuating. Pray for those that open homes and those that minister to the evacuees.

Thank you. 

Update

Sometimes life just doesn't work out the way we want it to. I would never choose for my girl to have so many teeth issues. Never imagine what the purpose would be. In some ways, I still can't.

But on the other hand, my girl has an amazingly high tolerance for pain that I believe has developed through some of this. She is also practically perfect in the dentist's chair and has had several people (dental people) tell me she is such a dream and delight to have in their office, they just wish it was in better circumstances for her.

Through this she is learning that she can face the challenges head on, that fear takes a back seat, that Jesus will sustain her. Granted she doesn't like going through the pain and I don't like to see her do it. But she is growing and maturing through it, and for that I am grateful. That even in my eight year old God is showing her (or at least He's showing me, I'm not sure if she realizes it yet) He can use the pain for good.

She used to be a horrible patient, not sitting still, not cooperative, refused to take medicine, refused to take her tempurature. But now she is so cooperative, so easy. I'm not saying I am grateful for her pain, or that she has had to experience it. But I am grateful for the fact that she has learned through it.


Today she is day three of staying home. Technically we could have sent her to school, the oral surgeon gave her the green light. But yesterday she was so crazy off the hook hyper that we were afraid she would overdo it and be in pain all night. Either that or she wouldn't be able to behave in class. Little did I know it was the Tylenol with codine that caused the hyper, I thought it was just because she was bored (since she's natually hyper anyway). Who knew? Okay some of you probably knew the codine could cause hyperactivity in kids but I didn't.

Yesterday, she was very swollen and still in pain, hence the need for pain meds. Today she is swollen but not in pain so no pain meds and a calmer child. She has to keep a warm washcloth on the area to help with the swelling. And she has three days of school work to do, of which she has been able to knock out two.

She's looking forward to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow since she missed the school fundraiser night. I'm pretty sure she'll be up to it, but we're still on the fence about it. Crazy kid doesn't always know her limits.

If you remember will you pray that her healing comes quickly and the swelling goes down. Also she has a sore on her lip that has been there for almost three weeks and is starting to look bad. Please pray it starts to heal too, because Monday is a few days away and I'd hate to have to take her to urgent care over the weekend if it's not urgent.

Here We Go Again...

Well...

My plans were to blog about this tonight:

Where we were yesterday, and the fact that my camera has a mind of it's own any more.

But no, today we had to do this:

...and now my bloggy plans have changed.

Yes, that is her arm getting prepped for an IV. No, that is not a real sad face, she is so faking it.

And I won't even mention we were supposed to be at Chuck E Cheese tonight for our school's fundraiser and that both kids were absolutly looking forward to it and that I was supposed to go and take pictures for the yearbook.... Nope, I won't mention those things.

Now where was I?

Oh yeah, the story. Last week or maybe even the Friday before she started complaining about pain in her neck. It was in her neck, as in, the back of her neck, and not near her face. I thought oh she must have slept wrong. She even had knotted muscles in her shoulders to which I massaged out for her. Not one time did she mention her tooth. Okay, one time three weeks back she said it hurt for a second and I said oh I'll have to schedule a dentist appointment to get that checked out. However, I wanted to wait until the first of the year when our insurance kicked back in (we MAXED it out last year with her) and so I stalled. Oh why, oh way do I do that? Maybe because I asked her practically daily and she told me it didn't hurt.

Anyway, fast forward to today when she's complaining to her teacher that her neck hurts and her teacher points out to me that her face is a little swollen. How did I miss that? Oy and it was right under one of her bad teeth that we had dealt with last June but were told it may not be a guaranteed fix.

Sooo... we called the dentist right away and were told to bring her in NOW! They looked at it, took pictures and decided that she had to go see the specialist to have it removed....today.

Off to the oral surgeon we went, who by the way, are awesome. Too bad we have to go and see them in such rotten circumstances because I really like them. We've been there twice before, once with Yohn and his awful wisdom teeth, and the second time with Bethany last October (or maybe it was November) to get a whole lotta stuff done to her little mouth.

They remembered us and a lot of things about Bethany (like the fact she was playing softball and the fact that she hated taking her medicine in apple juice). They also stayed after hours to take care of our girl and we appreciate that so much.

In the above picture she was off the hook crazy-hyper and had us laughing a lot, which is another reason why didn't realize the problem was so bad.

She's at home now watching Ella Enchanted snuggling with Lynx and has a warm, damp washcloth on her face to help the infection go away quicker. She also keeps taking out the gauze every two minutes and is driving me nutso. AND she's hungry and wants to eat RIGHT NOW despite the fact that her mouth is still numb.

*SIGH*

At least it all went well and I even had such a peace when I was tempted to worry about the financial part of things. Turns out I forgot that back when she had her other stuff done we were nearly maxed out with the insurance and we had to pay most of it out of pocket. They were gracious enough to let us make payments, the last of which we just paid last week. This time however, it's a new year and the insurance is paying 80%. Whew. A small fee today (well, small compared to last time anyway) and another next month and we are all done.

Praise God for it all working out so smoothly.

Oh, and a friend of ours took Elisha to Chuck E Cheese for us so we could be with Bethany. Another praise.

Now, if you will, please keep our kiddo in your prayers. Pray this is the last of the worst with her teeth. She's had more stuff wrong with her teeth than most adults have in their lifetime. Okay, maybe alot of adults.

UGH! Yohn just called and told me the price of her antibiotics. Let's just say it was enough to make me take a deep breath and know we gotta do what we gotta do AND it was more than we just paid to the oral surgeon.

Thank God for HIS PROVISION.

And thank God that I just got all of our W-2's today. I'll be filing those before bedtime tonight...

Please Pray

I have a few prayer requests I was hoping you guys would join me in.

#1 please pray for the little guy in the picture on the right. He has SVT, which means he has a rapid heart rate. He is 8 months old and already had open heart surgery when he was 4 months old. His condition has been able to be somewhat regulated by medication until recently. He is now hopitalized and the doctors are scrambling to come up with a plan that will work for him. The past 48 hours have been really tough on him and his family.

#2 I just found out this afternoon that my uncle had a heart attack. They had to go inside and fix his blocked arteries. Please pray for a full recovery.

#3 Please pray for the school where I work. With current hit on the economy we are at the lowest enrollment we have ever seeen. Just pray God will give us direction and a vision that will change the circumstances.

Thank you!