OB Update

Woohoo!!!

Things are looking good!  Last week at this time, the "bad" area was 3.9 cm.  It is now 1.2 cm!  So, that is very good news.  And, because it has stopped bleeding, the doctor says that the overall prognosis is quite good.

I will have to go back in a week for another sonogram to (hopefully) verify that the area has healed up completely.  Which means another week of the same take-it-easy routine.  No strenuous activity, don't spend too much time on my feet, blah blah blah.  I will certainly do it because I would love to be able to report next week that the entire hemorrhaged area has healed up completely.  Now, this is going to put a kink in my plans for the weekend which were supposed to include an annual meeting at church.  But, I should be able to attend some of it as long as I'm not unreasonable about what I can and can't do.  Mostly, I have got to be sensible.  I have got to be sensible.  I have got to be sensible.  Gotta get it thru my thick skull.  Got to be sensible.  If I am a good girl and behave myself, then this time next week I'll be able to report a clear sonogram.

So - praise God for His blessings!!!  The area is healing, the bleeding has stopped.  The baby is growing and is very active.  I do know that this isn't a promise of zero future problems, but right now, things are looking fantastic!  THANK YOU so much for your prayers.  There were a lot of bended knees on our behalf, and my heart is so full of gratitude just thinking about it.

And, here's a picture from last week's sonogram.  (Sparkie was too busy this week to sit still long enough for a good picture).  Thank you all again!!!

Wherein lies the Hope

These are tough times for so many - retirement accounts and kids' college accounts have lost half their value.  There is a general instability in the employment market and in new business starts.  Housing markets are not great in most places and economies all around the world are depressed at best.  We are much slower to spend (actually, not such a bad thing, but when America quits spending, the entire world slows down) and some of us are completely changing our budgets to accommodate difficult circumstances.

Where is our Hope?

As the preacher said this morning (and it gave me both comfort and a better perspective, so I thought I'd pass it along, in case it can do the same for you), always remember wherein lies your Hope.  There has never been hope in Washington, but there's Hope for Washington.  There has never been hope in the United Nations, but there is Hope for the United Nations.  There has never been hope in Wall Street, but there is Hope for Wall Street.  .....
You get the point.

Let us all get stirred up and find our direction, our comfort, our guidance, and our perspective in what is real.  What matters.  What is right.  Open our Bibles.  Experience the gift of the Word.
Jesus knows His own and will never fail them.  Our treasure can disappear here, but never in Heaven.

Maybe the next time the mail person delivers a financial statement, I won't let it get me in such a cloudy state of mind.  The sun (SON) always shines.

Baby Names - the birth of Sparkie

Ever since little Poodle figured out that she was going to be a big sister again, we have been asking her what names she likes for the little one.  All along, without wavering, she would say Tim for a boy.  I remember the first time she said that, Jmk and I looked at each other with a "huh.  That's actually not bad".  And, because I was so sure that the baby was a boy, I actually had Tim near the top of the mental list.

However, the girls' names weren't nearly so sure in her mind.  The first name she came up with was Willa. The next name was Sparkles.  Yes.  You read right.  The next name was Isabella. (That one actually went on the real list.)  And, the name which is currently her fave is Lily.

Now, you have to admit that Sparkles is pretty rockin'.  Kat reminded me about Tina Sparkles from the movie Strictly Ballroom....  heh - you gotta love the name Sparkles.  Sparkles has already degenerated into Sparkie around the Zoo.  I suspect this nickname is likely to stick.  At any rate, as Poodle continues to add to the Nom de Poodle collection, we'll keep you posted.  Somewhere in there just may be Sparkie's real name!

3-31-09 update of names to add to Poodle's list:
Melody
Flower
Twinkle

OB Update

I went in this am for a follow-up ultrasound with the OB's office.  Turns out that I have a subchorionic hemorrhage, which is the cause for the bleeding.  It sounds quite yucky, but it actually isn't uncommon.  Mine isn't a terribly large one, which is good.  There is some concern because of the fact that it's still there in the early 2nd trimester and because of my age ::rolling my eyes here::.  But, I was only told to take it easy for the next week (modified bed rest) and I will go back to the OB in a week for another follow-up with probably another ultrasound to see if the area is "fixing" itself.  (Which is what these things do in good situations).  By good luck, we had already planned on having Spring Break from school this week, so this simply will be a laid back week.

Thus, the news is good in that there is a definable problem.  And a reasonable solution.  There is the underlying concern that an SCH can cause serious problems....  and I recognize that I really do need to treat the whole situation with good sense and care.  Miscarriage is a direct result of an SCH that gets out of hand.  However, again, I'm so grateful that God made the problem recognizable so that we would know how to handle it.  And, this could be so much worse.  So while it is serious, I am not scared.  Besides, it give me a real excuse to have a messy house.  :-)  To everyone who has prayed - THANK YOU.  I sincerely believe that we have been calm because of those prayers, and I believe that we were given a definable problem because of those prayers.

The other nice thing about today was getting to see the baby move and scoot around the ultrasound screen.  Jmk stayed at home with the other kids so he didn't get to see all that, unfortunately.  BUT, we were far enough along for the tech to be able to tell us the sex.  I didn't want to find out before Jmk, so I had her write it on a piece of paper and seal it up so we could open it at the same time when I got home.  All this time, I have been having boy feelings, although I didn't completely trust them because of all the apprehension that clouds so much of this experience.  Regardless, I was fairly sure about the boy thing.  I only felt once, during Granny's funeral weekend, that it was a girl.  Jmk, on the other hand, has been thinking girl for most of this time.

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Can YOU guess what we found out???  :-D
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Pregnancy Update and Prayer Request

We just returned from the ER because of some bleeding that I discovered upon going to the bathroom during church this morning.

Praise God, the ultrasound showed a normal fetal heartbeat and movement.  The amniotic fluid level was good.  Placenta was in a good place.  And the cervix was closed.  So, the ultrasound was blessedly unremarkable.  It was a very long ER visit to determine these things, but because we are less than 20 weeks in gestation, we had to do everything thru the ER.

As the doctor told us, when there is unexplained bleeding during a pregnancy, there is no way to know whether or not the body is trying to miscarry.  So, while we are very happy to report that the baby is still with us, we don't expect to be able to rid ourselves of the apprehension that has come with our happiness over our blessing.  Maybe the Lord is giving us a reminder that He is in control and that must have faith in Him.  That we must release our will and try harder to embrace His.  We have no way of knowing what the next 5 months will bring.  We have no way of knowing what the next 5 minutes will bring.  We will just take things one day at a time.  I humbly ask for your prayers when you think of us.  We need prayers for the baby's health, for us to desire God's will more than our own, and for a peace of mind that will only come from God, at this point.

We are relieved and we are reminded of the miracle of any baby that leaves a hospital.  And we are also weary because of the tumultuous emotions of the day and of what lies ahead.  God knows what is in store, and I pray that we can learn to trust in His plan, no matter the outcome.

Culinary Education

So, today for lunch, I asked Poodle if she wanted tuna.  (Didn't bother with Tooter.  Mr. Picky got his plain pasta as requested).  Anyway, she then proceeded to tell me just how to fix the tuna.  Expecting her to repeat to me our usual way of fixing tuna salad, I was surprised when she explained to me the following "recipe":
toast two pieces of bread
chop onions and celery
add mayo
add tuna
using a spatula, spread a healthy amount of the tuna salad on one slice of bread
place a piece of lettuce on top
add the other piece of toasted bread

Okay.  So, I figured she saw someone on the "cooking channel" (a.k.a. Food Network) make a tuna fish sandwich.  And, considering the simple southern'ness of it, I assumed it was Paula Dean.

I figured wrong.

It was Zefronk.

Ahhhh.  Who is Zefronk, you wonder?  Zefronk is a cartoon dog on the Disney channel who cooks snacks and easy meals and speaks in a bad french accent.  He doesn't have a show - he is merely a filler character.  Has a little 2 minute segment in between the real shows every now and then.  Poodle thinks Zefronk is IT on a stick.
And, apparently, thinks he makes a mean tuna salad sandwich.

And just in case I ever had any grandiose ideas about being able to stay on top of what information was getting into her head, this little episode today took care of that.  Culinary skills by Zefronk.  And that's how we roll at the Zoo.

King James Version

Amazing Grace!  It sounds so sweet, and it saved a loser like me.  I used to be lost, but I was found, I was blind, but I can see now.

Grace is what taught my heart to fear God, and it also made my fears feel better.  That grace seemed so precious, the moment I first started believing.

*******

Those are the first two lines of Amazing Grace, "updated" to current language.  Doesn't sound so great any more.  We were singing Amazing Grace in church yesterday and it hit me how beautiful the language was in the song.  And how unlike our regular speech the language was.  Which made me think about the King James version of the Bible.

So many of us now use "updated" versions of the Bible, where the language used has been simplified from the older English to read and be more modern.  I do not intend for this post to be a treatise on why we should all be using the KJV Bible.  But, if you don't read this version with your children or even to yourself from time to time, you're missing some beautiful language and phrasing.  You're missing some unique vocabulary words as well as a pseudo history of the English language as you go to look up what some words used to mean.

It's just a thought.  We all have a KJV somewhere in our bookshelves.  Go wipe the dust off and read some beautiful language today.

The past couple of months update

Because of a lovely post at The Beehive, I have been thinking that I really need to get back in to the swing of the blogging thing.

I need to dust off the parts of my brain where I store my limited vocabulary, start paying attention to blog-worthy happenings and comments, and just do it.  As I stare at a pile of bills that need to be paid, laundry that needs to be folded, and children that are working on school work at the kitchen table (well, one of them is doing schoolwork and the other is mostly just trying my patience today), I have to wonder why it's necessary to blog again.  But, there are so many wonderful people, especially grandparents, who have given me encouragement, cheered on the kids, and prayed for us because of this bloggy thing.  So, I'll get back to it.  Or, at least I will give it more of an effort than I have been the past coupla months.

So, what has the Zoo been up to lately?  Well, we made it through the craziness of the holiday season.  We've begun potty training in earnest with Tooter.  Going so-so...  he's a bit lazy about it all, to be honest.  Poodle has really found her groove with school stuff and I am discovering odd things like she can do the +9's with barely a thought, but the +2's trip her up in math.  We survived another season of Junior Miss, having a lovely representative picked for our local program from a group of equally lovely girls.  Jmk and I celebrated 7 years together, although we have put off actually going somewhere fun until after Junior Miss was over and we could enjoy a restaurant more fully.  Poodle has learned how to tie her shoes, and prefers to always have them in "double knots".  We buried a dear grandmother and have made a subsequent trip to her home to clear out some of the more sentimental "valuables" so they wouldn't be cleared out by someone who didn't belong there.  We have been gestating for about 14 weeks.  And we have been dealing with the stir crazy that comes with super cold weather.

Yeah...  that was my not-all-that-clever way of letting you know that Tooter has begun potty training.  Oh, and that we're expecting.  :-)
I realize that I'm not exactly shouting from the rooftops with glee and joy, and I hope that it doesn't come off as being ungrateful or as our being unaware of our blessings.  It's just that after 2008, which will forever be the "year of the miscarriages", it has been hard to be more joyful than apprehensive.  This is the farthest we have gotten than at any of the other times last year.  And I have been much more sick and much more tired than during any other time last year.  All the signs point towards this remaining a "successful" pregnancy.  But, we are very much aware now of how much we do NOT know what God's will is for us.  And we know that whatever we think is quite irrelevant, because it is only God's plan and His will that matters.  So, while we may think that everything is going well for now, we can't know that we're meant to have this baby on earth until we are actually holding him or her in our arms.

I will say that being pregnant has been extremely difficult this time.  Not just the normal physical frustrations of being in early pregnancy.  But the emotional toll that it has taken.  It is difficult to wake up each day and wonder what that day will hold - life or death?  It sounds terribly morbid and just typing the words makes me see just how unfocused I have been on the blessings and mercy of God.  But for the life of me, I have no idea how to quench those feelings.

However, we have made it to 14 weeks.  And while we hadn't said anything to Poodle (we didn't want to inadvertently rekindle the memories of the first miscarriage last year that was so hard on her), she actually figured it out on Tuesday.  I'm quite obviously pregnant now, and she looked at my tummy and said "I think you have a baby in your tummy".  We teased her for awhile saying things like "you think so?"  and "Hmmmm....  I don't know!....."  But we finally let her know she was right.  She is thrilled and thinks that waiting until August is just the most frustrating thing that could ever have been put upon her little 5 year old sensibilities.

We are very grateful for every single prayer that has been said on our behalf over the past year and into this one.  And we'll remain grateful for every entreaty that is made on our behalf to the Father.

So, those are the biggest highlights of the past two'ish months.  At least, those are the biggest highlights that I can actually recall at the moment.  :-)  And fingers crossed that I will get those Zoo doors open a little wider from here on out.

Perspective

If you take 787 Billion dollars, put it into a savings account for one little year with a measly 2% interest rate compounded monthly, at the end of one year, you would have $802,885,087,921.34.

In one year, you would have almost 16 BILLION dollars more if you didn't spend the $787 billion.

Just thought that was interesting.

Box Tops 4 Education

Knock knock...  anyone home?  It's been a while since I've been here, and to be honest, I'm still a little ways from coming back.  BUT, Junior Miss is *almost* over...  this coming weekend is the show.  And all kinds of weight feels lifted after the show is over and our new representative is selected.

So, maybe after that is done, I'll feel a bit more chatty.  :-)

However, I was thinking this morning about collecting Box Tops.  Do you know what I'm talking about?  General Mills products of all sorts have a little label somewhere on the packaging that says "Box Tops 4 Education" and you see a little 10 cent value on there.  Have you ever thought to yourself, "man, I wish I had someone to give these to.  It seems a waste to just throw them out".

WELL - feel free to give them to me!!!  Our homeschool group does collect these and we do redeem them. Twice a year.  That money is so valuable to us to help the kids do some various activities that they may not normally get to do.  I'd give you some "for examples", but each section does different things with that money.  Rest assured though, it goes to very good use and it is very much appreciated.

Here's a link to show you all the different products that carry the Box Tops 4 Education labels. 

Any time you can save one or two or ten of them for us, you will be very much appreciated!!!

Granny's Homegoing

I will interrupt my blogging vacation to share that my dear grandmother is finally home with the Lord as of sometime between 7:30 and 7:40pm this evening.  She would have been 101 at the end of February.

This was not unexpected, but the likelihood of it progressed rather quickly, by the mercy of God.  She had a stroke a little over a month ago that left her bedridden, unable to insert her teeth, without much use of the left side of her body, and unable to talk clearly.  For a woman who was still cutting her own grass at 90, and was still living on her own until she was around 95 (96?  Mom will have to correct me on the age), being in this situation was the worst place she could be in.  Because she had her mind until the very end.  It was her body that finally quit.

But, she said she would walk again before she was 101.  And, now, she is walking.  And laughing.  And singing praises to God as she could not do at the end of her life.  She is finally home.  And the end of an era has come.

We love you Granny.

The words are hiding

Almost no Christmas pictures, no news of the kids' activities, no interesting updates in general.  What has happened to the Zoo, you wonder?

Honestly, I'm in one of those places where my words are missing and my thoughts are jumbled.  Nothing is wrong, really.  But where I usually think about how to blog about certain things that are happening, I am instead finding myself stressed about when to find the time to sit at the computer and deal with all the pictures.  The blog, right now, is almost just "one more thing" to get accomplished instead of the fun, coffee-talk'ish sharing place that it usually is.  It's a busy time of year for us, anyway.  But, for some reason, there is just a need to simplify for the moment.

Oh, we'll be back.  There will be things to share and pictures to post and laughs to enjoy.  Heck.  We may not be gone very long a'tall.  But, for now, I'm taking a mini-blog-vacay.  This way, if I post something, it will be a nice surprise.  But, if I don't, then no one will be left wondering about what the zoo has done with all the monkeys.  :-)

From a Friend in Honor of the New Year

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,

...Plans to give you a future, and a hope.    - Jeremiah 29:11

It's Time to move;

Out of an old year,

into a new one.

It's time to pack --

It's time to square away our lives,

Pack up old baggage,

Move forward, or continue onward.

Time to clean the cobwebs

out of the attics & closets of our souls:

to bury the dead, the hatchet -

hate, old hurts,

old sins, dead sins,

dead works, dead self.

Time to make a bonfire for the old year --

To pile on the wood, hay, & stubble from our lives,

To relegate to the ash heap the chaff,

The broken shards,

the unworthy priorities --

the busy-ness of life that stirs us like leaves in the wind.

Time to prepare to give away our lives, our souls, our selves.

Time to pick up what's good, cherish it,

pack it carefully into memory:

Days with friends and family,

Blessings,

triumphs,

Halcyon days,

Those days when God inexplicably reached down

into our lives and souls,

New faith, tested faith, joy,

Character-changing trials,

Hope, dreams,

And Love.

Time to plan a prominent place in the New Year

For more of the same:

More time with family and friends,

More love for others,

More opportunities,

More worthy pursuits.

More Faith, more Hope, more Love.

More joy, more peace

               --  more peace in waiting.

More kindness, & rejoicing with others,

More humility, grace, & selflessness,

Patience & forgiveness,

More truth, more strength,

More sensitive hearts,

Endurance for the race.

More ways to serve,

More awareness of His Spirit.

More room for God in our relationship with Him,

More of Him in our relationship with others,

More of our dreams in our own life -

                for that too is of Him.

                Time for a New Year --

                            not filled with resolutions,

                                         but full of less -- and more --

                                                                   and Life.

J. Arrendale, Dec 31, 2006   

Christmas Joys

Oh, we have had so many over the past week and a half.  Lots of family time, lots of love, lots of wonderful gifts, lots and lots and lots of food!  There are so many pictures I want to share that I'll need to upload them to an online gallery.  And I'm trying to get a plug-in to work with iPhoto and have had zero luck.  I'm quite the bulldog here, and won't let it alone until I figure it out.  SO, in an effort to at least post SOMEthing here before the old year fades away, I'm sharing some of the family pictures that were taken at various celebrations.

The picture above was taken with Jmk's family.  (sounds weird to say that, because they are truly my family too.  But, for clarity's sake, I'll say Jmk's family).  We were at SueSue's house on Christmas Eve Eve.


And the following picture was taken on the Saturday after Christmas at MooMoo and GaGa's house when we had everyone in "my" family in town at one time!  Even though Poodle's eyes are closed, it's really the best picture of the bunch, because my big ole head was covering up Jmk's in all the other pics.  Besides, I love how Audrey is studying the leaf.  It's sweet.
Excuse the lack of cropping on this one.  It needs it, but I haven't had time to edit any of the pictures taken over the past couple of weeks.  Well, except for the one up top.  I had to edit that one.  Jmk knows why.  Stinker.  ;-)

I do hope everyone's Christmas was joyous and focused on the Greatest Gift.  And I pray that you all have a 2009 filled with many blessings.

Here Comes Santa Claus...

He was visiting at the place where we go to eat after church a couple of times a month.  And Poodle was ALL about it this year.  She wasn't interested in being any where near the jolly guy before now.  But, this year, she brought her list to him (which contained the same 3 things that she has been asking for for the past 6 months) and was ready for action.

Tooter, on the other hand, is still in that stage where he really isn't so sure why this fellow who only shows half of his face and dresses in an extraordinary amount of red wants to be all up in his kool-aid.  Notice, if you will, the death grip on GaGa's tie and the look of mass confusion and dislike.  Or is that disdain?  He had on the cutest little Santa vest that came from Eli's boys' closets.  But he was velcro'd to GaGa.  There was no convincing him to turn around for the camera.  No how.  No way.

The fun traditions of Christmas are so much more fun when little ones are involved.  We are so grateful to have these bunchkins.

But, of course, it is most important to remember that while Santa needs a list to know what we want and elves to get us what we need and magical reindeer to deliver it all...  Jesus does not.  And THAT is where I hope we truly focus this season.

Words to warm a heart

When GaGa says to us "You have some good kids".  He has no idea how that brought my heart to its knees.

SNOW DAY!!!

Oh, my goodness, oh my soul.  We got sho'nuff snow today.  Started with sleet, turned to REAL snow for a couple of hours, and then sleeted again.  But, good golly, I turned those kids into full-on popsicles for as long as I could!
I mean, really, how often does it snow around these parts?

Yep.  I *so* cancelled school today.

Here are some video links for you:
Snow Angel
Playing Around

Hope y'all enjoy those as much as we enjoyed playing in the white stuff.  Oh, and yes, we did build a little 8 inch snowman.  He was fabulous, but didn't last long enough for a picture.  He fell victim to his maker's idea to jump on top of him.  Sad for the snowman.  Barrel of laughs for the maker.

Always Learning

This past weekend, my mom, Poodle, and I took in a couple of Nutcrackers.  We have two good ballet schools in our area who put on the Nutcracker (we have 3 good schools, but the third one is a Christian school and they don't do the "real" Nutcracker).  So, I bought tickets to one, and Mom bought tickets to the other.  Both were good, and they were different from each other.  One was in a small auditorium, one was in the large performance hall in our downtown area.  One was slightly abbreviated with some sections taken out of the 1st act and Sugar Plum's dance.  One used a celtic version of the music during small parts of the party scene.  (I kid you not.  It was......  different).

Poodle with Arabian - this sweet girl (who is a beautiful, seriously talented dancer) goes to our church.

What I've finally come to peace with in my mind is that I need to quit criticizing others' take on the Nutcracker.  The staging and choreography and casting and overall vision of this ballet will be different inside of each company.  There are as many versions of this ballet as there are versions of pizza.

MooMoo and Poodle at the Sunday performance.

And, I've been in a lot of different versions myself.  I guess the ones I'm going to be most comfortable with, though, are the ones that I was in last.  The ones that Miss Jozia staged.  Very classic, very traditional.  And close to my heart AND my active memory banks.

So, from here on out, I'm going to try my best, when asked about a certain school's/company's version of the Nutcracker, to just give a generous description of it.  I don't have to like it or appreciate it.  Because for those children who are in it, it's the only Nutcracker they know.  And that is the one that is close to THEIR heart.

Although, I'm sorry, as much as I enjoy celtic music, it doesn't belong in a ballet based on a story set in Nuremburg, Germany.  I'm just saying.

Poodle takes a picture with Clara.  You'd think she had met Queen Elizabeth.  But WAY better.

Baby Blues

I'm getting pictures off of the camera(s) and saw this one from Thanksgiving night. This is SueSue.
The best Mother-in-law in the world.








Is there any doubt where Jmk and the kids get their gorgeous blue eyes?

The Centrality of the Home

Voddie Baucham, Jr.

Hat tip to Patti Monroe for this (passed on to her from her daughter Joanna).  This was a huge message that was actually delivered to an audience of Southern Baptist pastors.  I had an easy time listening to it, and that might have been because I was listening to it from a MacBook.  Patti said that she had to subscribe to iPod to download it.  Do what you have to do to listen to it.  I guess it was about 20-25 minutes in length.  I'm not sure, because I had to start and stop a bunch of times because of the kiddos.  It's worth it!!!  Go listen!!!

Here's the link to listen to the message.