I really haven't forgotten about this blog!!

It's just that I've been a little busy lately... where do I begin?

Amy, our oldest lamb, GRADUATED on June 14th! We had a wonderful time with our family and friends that day - pictures coming soon!

Since the Christmas play that our church did, Psalty the Singing Songbook has gotten married and had three kids! So, for the last several months, I have had the privilege of making costumes for all of them. I did, of course, have a LOT of help, but the job still took up most of my time since the last week of April. The performance was yesterday and every one of the kids did a FANTASTIC job. Stay tuned for another post on this, complete with pictures! I hope to get them posted sometime this year.

It's been nine months, and I'm still struggling with the aftermath of my gall bladder's rebellion and subsequent dishonorable discharge. The doctor calls it "Bile Acid Gastritis" and the bottom line is that I can't eat anything that has fat or oil of any kind, no spicy foods, and no caffeine. That pretty much eliminates everything from my diet except chicken breast, granola bars, and sugar snap peas. I've literally lost all the weight I have gained since getting married 23 years ago, so I'm not complaining about that part of it, but it would be nice to have a bite or two of steak without fear of reprisal. The doctor says it'll get better, but it can take a long time. Define "long", please?

Since the end of May, all of us except Gary and Collin have had some sort of virus that has knocked us out, one at a time. I just KNEW that Collin would be next, and I've prayed for the last two weeks that he wouldn't get it because of his big part in the Psalty performance. Anyhow, now that the play is over with (just yesterday!) and we thought we had a chance to recover and get our lives back in order, Collin came to me this afternoon and said those dreaded words: "Mom, I don't feel very good." He had a fever of 103, aches, chills, etc. I'm so glad he waited until after I took a nap this afternoon. Any suggestions on how to sanitize the whole house at once to kill off this thing once and for all? Stephanie suggested taking off the roof and just dumping in a few truckloads of bleach...sounds like a plan to me! How does one sanitize furniture and carpets, without ruining them? I also think we need to bleach all the chairs at church.

Amy had a minor car accident on July 7th - she wasn't hurt except for some minor stiffness and a sore neck, but that went away a few days later. I'll let her tell you more about it on her blog. The blessing of it all is that now God has provided us with a really nice van. It's a '98 Chevy Venture. Yeah, it's over 10 years old, but it's in excellent condition. It's definitely never spent a winter in northern Illinois (so there's no rust), and has only 66K miles on it. And, it has A/C vents in the back, so the kids are REALLY happy!

I finally, for the first time in my life, read all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Mandy likes to have me lie down with her for a little while every night when she goes to bed. So, since I couldn't sit at the computer during my evening moments and update this blog, I decided to start reading books again. Now I'm close to finishing the second novel in the Mitford series, by Jan Karon. Only six more to go...

And, my parents' house has sold and they are moving here from Tulsa this coming weekend!! For the first time since I was 18, we'll be living in the same state! It will be such a blessing to have both sets of grandparents nearby. What a blessing that their house sold so quickly - God's hand is definitely at work here.

Here it is, late evening, and since I'm gonna have to set a timer to wake myself up every three hours to monitor Collin's temperature, I had better get some sleep. I'm looking forward to a normal life again, but I don't think it's going to happen this week. Honestly, though -- when I look at so many others close to me and compare my own struggles with some of theirs, I think I live a rather idyllic - no, blessed - life. We are truly blessed beyond measure.

"Tis the Season to be Sneezin'

Well, now that Christmas is over with, I have my annual virus. I haven't had a cold since the end of last January. This is the first time in years that I've gone that long between colds! That's another part of northern Illinois winters that I haven't missed much.

I'm so glad it waited until AFTER Christmas to make its appearance. My head feels like a brick and this afternoon my voice shut down, so the kids know they'd better not not make me have to yell at them. When my voice sounds like this, and I have to yell, they know they're in big trouble. I'm glad I called Mom and Dad yesterday - today they wouldn't be able to hear me!

I'm also glad that it showed up during Christmas break when I'm not trying to muddle through school with the kids - we don't get much of anything accomplished when I'm sick.

So, that's the bright side of it, I guess. The not-so-bright side is the fact that I had to cancel our trip to Tulsa because of it. Dad's blood count is too low to enable him to fight off infection much, and the last thing he needs is for me to show up there and give him this! So they're going to come here next month to visit us instead! I think that'll work a lot better, and we're all looking forward to it.

Finally getting better...slowly!

I guess I'd better be writing something else, as I have to imagine you're probably getting tired of reading about our pork loin! This past week and a half I have felt rather lazy, but I have a good excuse. After having gall bladder surgery, I've been kind of tired. Actually, I think the phrase "really wiped out" is probably more accurate.

I am slowly getting my strength back, but I have good days and bad days. It felt good to be able to do something other than sit in my recliner - I did some housework on Saturday. I got some cleaning done that was long overdue.

I have to watch what I eat VERY carefully for now, and if I eat something my system can't handle, I pay for it for the next three or four days. I've lost another 3-4 pounds because I haven't had much appetite, though it's slowly starting to come back, too. On Sunday afternoon, I actually ate a full meal for the first time in a long time. I tried to be really careful, but I must have eaten something that my system didn't like, because Monday wasn't all that great. Not horrible, but not great, either.

I'll be really happy when I get past this recovery stage - I admit I'm getting rather impatient. I'd like to go back to the way things were before it all started. Maybe I'll get there eventually, but in the meantime I just have to sit back and praise my Father for all that He's done in our lives. It's so easy to praise him when I'm feeling good, but when I'm feeling rotten all I seem to do is gripe and pray that He'll make me feel better. How spoiled I am. I am certainly not suffering like others I know.

God reminded me of that Sunday morning before church - and the hymns seemed to say the same thing - that I need to praise Him in ALL circumstances, whether or not I am feeling well. He gently reminded me that He is working on healing my body, and maybe working on a few other things in my heart, too!

It hurts to laugh!

Now I know where they got the old cliche, "they had me in stitches." Our family does a lot of joking around and laughing, and I can't because it HURTS!!! Gary cracked a joke yesterday that had us both laughing, and it hurt so bad I started crying. I had to have him help me back to bed so my upper abdomen would stop screaming at me. I felt worse at that moment than I did when I first woke up in the recovery room after the surgery.

They started it again at the dinner table tonight, and I had to get up and leave before I started crying. It's downright unfair, too! I don't want to make the kids feel bad that they did something to hurt Mommy, but I also don't want to squelch their fun.

I know it's said that laughter is the best medicine, but in my case, I think I'll have to settle for the pills. At least for a few more days!

My tummy hurts!

How do you explain surgery to a four-year-old? That is, without instilling in her an unnecessary fear of the doctor and hospitals?

I had my gall bladder removed on Friday. It's now Monday evening, and my tummy still hurts. I'm at least up and around, now, and I was able to take a shower yesterday (Sunday afternoon). For the first 24 hours after getting home, I literally couldn't move without intense pain, and that was WITH the pain medication. If I went too long without the meds, I couldn't move at all.

I've tried to stay in bed all weekend and avoid moving around as much as possible. I am so blessed to have my husband to help me with everything I need, and he and my 17-year-old daughter, Amy, have kept the household running. Amy has prepared meals for us and is doing a great job.

I'm also blessed to have so many loving friends and relatives praying for me - thank you to all of you! I know everything went well because of your prayers. Mom, I know you told me not to try to do school this week, but I do have to keep Tim up with his reading...and I made Collin keep up with his science lessons...but that's ALL! :) I'm not doing anything else - I PROMISE!

My little one, Mandy, keeps wanting to see my tummy and wants to get me new band-aids for it. She's so tender and compassionate when she sees someone who isn't feeling well. I don't know what I'd do without my sweet girl! It's hard to explain to her about why I'm in so much pain, but I think she's content to be allowed to help out whenever she can. Yesterday she "helped" me get up and walk to the bathroom, just like she saw her daddy doing.

She keeps checking on me every now and then and asking if my tummy still hurts. I'll get better really soon with this kind of care!