Chance Family Happenings: This blog is an attempt to keep our family and friends updated with the goings on of our busy lives. It is a way to reflect, share, and cherish the memories that pass too quickly in time.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Thankful
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Brienna's 1st Birthday
Brienna celebrated her 1st birthday a few weekends ago. It was a fortunate time since the K-State game was away and our family could travel up to KC to see them. Her whole life has been themed around Eric Carle. I am sure she has NO clue who the fantastic illustrator is, but nevertheless, she has adorable decorations in her bedroom and for her 1st birthday party. My brother decorated for the party, including the cake.
I had to get my shot with the birthday girl:
She is very attached to her mommy and enjoys having Jarin hold her.
Jarin dressed her in a cute outfit.
The balloons behind are supposed to be in the shape of a number 1.
Brienna sometimes cries when she isn't next to mommy. Brady just so happened to be the culprit. It was adorable though.
Grandma Pam is ok to hold her too.
We took a lot of outside pictures before the chill really started to set in for the evening.
Here are a few of the grandkids. We're just missing Treya.
Today, the boys stayed home sick. It was utterly exhausting and such a draining day. Malachi woke up at 2am puking. I got him all cleaned up and was sick myself (which is normal) and tried to lay back down to get him back to sleep. He did finally fall back asleep around 4-5ish, just in time for our alarms to go off. Logan came upstairs and said he had a terrible dream that he was throwing up. I wondered if he was making that up since he might have heard all the commotion during the night with Malachi. I told him to go get dressed for school. Well, he came up a short time later and said, "I guess it wasn't a dream. It's all over my bedroom!" :( Zachary had gone to bed not feeling real well, but he's starting to try to see if he can get out of school, so I didn't give it much thought. I decided to let him sleep in and keep them home to let the "bug" pass. All the grandkids at grandmas last weekend had a great time, but they also shared germs that they aren't all used to, so its always around this time that my kids catch sometime. Ugh!
I had to get my shot with the birthday girl:
She is very attached to her mommy and enjoys having Jarin hold her.
Jarin dressed her in a cute outfit.
The balloons behind are supposed to be in the shape of a number 1.
Brienna sometimes cries when she isn't next to mommy. Brady just so happened to be the culprit. It was adorable though.
Grandma Pam is ok to hold her too.
We took a lot of outside pictures before the chill really started to set in for the evening.
Here are a few of the grandkids. We're just missing Treya.
Today, the boys stayed home sick. It was utterly exhausting and such a draining day. Malachi woke up at 2am puking. I got him all cleaned up and was sick myself (which is normal) and tried to lay back down to get him back to sleep. He did finally fall back asleep around 4-5ish, just in time for our alarms to go off. Logan came upstairs and said he had a terrible dream that he was throwing up. I wondered if he was making that up since he might have heard all the commotion during the night with Malachi. I told him to go get dressed for school. Well, he came up a short time later and said, "I guess it wasn't a dream. It's all over my bedroom!" :( Zachary had gone to bed not feeling real well, but he's starting to try to see if he can get out of school, so I didn't give it much thought. I decided to let him sleep in and keep them home to let the "bug" pass. All the grandkids at grandmas last weekend had a great time, but they also shared germs that they aren't all used to, so its always around this time that my kids catch sometime. Ugh!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Catching Up. . . .
One of these days I will catch up and keep up with the blog. . . . . maybe! :)
The boys have been enjoying some semi-nice weather- some days with one of their favorite pals, Jeremiah. Here is a picture with matching shirts. We love Jeremiah. He's such a great baby.
He's always so happy and smiley.
Sometimes he can make me smile when my boys are driving me nuts! He just learned how to crawl. It was so much fun watching him master that so quickly! :)
We had our first snow of the season last Tuesday. The boys were bummed that they had school but there really wasn't enough snow to play in anyway. I'm praying that we have a VERY mild winter. With Shawn working so far away it is scary having him on the road if the weather is not good.
Brienna comes to visit us when we have home K-State games. She is about ready to celebrate her 1st birthday. I hope she is starting to like parties a little bit better!
She's a squirmy kiddo and always on the move. Its so much fun having her and Treya in the family now. Girls are fun to shop for when they are so young and cute.
The boys have been enjoying some semi-nice weather- some days with one of their favorite pals, Jeremiah. Here is a picture with matching shirts. We love Jeremiah. He's such a great baby.
He's always so happy and smiley.
Sometimes he can make me smile when my boys are driving me nuts! He just learned how to crawl. It was so much fun watching him master that so quickly! :)
We had our first snow of the season last Tuesday. The boys were bummed that they had school but there really wasn't enough snow to play in anyway. I'm praying that we have a VERY mild winter. With Shawn working so far away it is scary having him on the road if the weather is not good.
Brienna comes to visit us when we have home K-State games. She is about ready to celebrate her 1st birthday. I hope she is starting to like parties a little bit better!
She's a squirmy kiddo and always on the move. Its so much fun having her and Treya in the family now. Girls are fun to shop for when they are so young and cute.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Compassion
Today I again realized how mean and uncompassionate others can be. It does not come as a shock or a new reality. . . just a sad fact. As I battle this syndrome, I encounter many people who simply do not understand the battles I face. They do not even show any care or compassion for the trials I struggle through to appear "normal" day to day. My vitality suffers and as I was explaining this to a friend this afternoon I realized I couldn't recall the last "great" day. I settle for "okay" days and am thankful just for those.
This month is the month we focus most on Thanksgiving. . . setting off a Facebook tradition of naming one thing each day of things we are thankful for. In an effort to be thankful, I am truly thankful for what I have. . . and have tried to focus on the haves rather than the have-nots. However, I pray for my friends mostly, as well as my enemies. I know that some are much more unfortunate and thus try often to bring others down, due to their lack of compassion.
A Google search reveals: "Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion
While I was ill this past week, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and surroundings. I realized that I waste a lot of time worrying about what others think and how they might evaluate me. I just want to scream at some of the mean people and ask them if they have ANY idea how I feel!!!!???? Do I like being sick???? Do I enjoy being sporadic in every single aspect of my life???? Do they think I truly enjoy not fully living life with energy a 29 year old young mom should have???? They blast me with accusations and truths taken out of context yet take NO time to show true compassion. . . the virtue that is craved most right now. . . and I would say by most sufferers.
We do NOT want pity! Pity feels sorry for us. We (as a group of POTS/pain/CFS sufferers) want compassion and understanding. Compassion means caring. It means asking how we are because you really care, not because you want to use that information against us. It means helping us pick up the slack we don't mean to leave but have because we have rearranged our priorities. It means understanding our choices because you listen to the reasons behind them. Compassion doesn't judge appearance or performance. Most chronic pain/POTS/CFS/dysautonomias are GREAT actors.
Thankfully I have found some incredible people at a blog: http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/life-with-chronic-pain/. The author Sue is genuine, caring, and compassionate. She is helpful, encouraging and REAL! She tells it like I wish I could. She is inspiring and informative. She keeps me uplifted some days when I don't feel like it physically or emotionally.
I also follow some of the discussion boards on http://www.dinet.org/ which is a great resource if you are looking for more information about POTS and dysautonomia.
I promise. . . pictures in the next post. Stay warm tonight.
This month is the month we focus most on Thanksgiving. . . setting off a Facebook tradition of naming one thing each day of things we are thankful for. In an effort to be thankful, I am truly thankful for what I have. . . and have tried to focus on the haves rather than the have-nots. However, I pray for my friends mostly, as well as my enemies. I know that some are much more unfortunate and thus try often to bring others down, due to their lack of compassion.
A Google search reveals: "Compassion is a virtue — one in which the emotional capacities of empathy and sympathy (for the suffering of others) are regarded as a part of love itself, and a cornerstone of greater social interconnection and humanism — foundational to the highest principles in philosophy, society, and personhood." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion
While I was ill this past week, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and surroundings. I realized that I waste a lot of time worrying about what others think and how they might evaluate me. I just want to scream at some of the mean people and ask them if they have ANY idea how I feel!!!!???? Do I like being sick???? Do I enjoy being sporadic in every single aspect of my life???? Do they think I truly enjoy not fully living life with energy a 29 year old young mom should have???? They blast me with accusations and truths taken out of context yet take NO time to show true compassion. . . the virtue that is craved most right now. . . and I would say by most sufferers.
We do NOT want pity! Pity feels sorry for us. We (as a group of POTS/pain/CFS sufferers) want compassion and understanding. Compassion means caring. It means asking how we are because you really care, not because you want to use that information against us. It means helping us pick up the slack we don't mean to leave but have because we have rearranged our priorities. It means understanding our choices because you listen to the reasons behind them. Compassion doesn't judge appearance or performance. Most chronic pain/POTS/CFS/dysautonomias are GREAT actors.
Thankfully I have found some incredible people at a blog: http://www.everydayhealth.com/blog/life-with-chronic-pain/. The author Sue is genuine, caring, and compassionate. She is helpful, encouraging and REAL! She tells it like I wish I could. She is inspiring and informative. She keeps me uplifted some days when I don't feel like it physically or emotionally.
I also follow some of the discussion boards on http://www.dinet.org/ which is a great resource if you are looking for more information about POTS and dysautonomia.
I promise. . . pictures in the next post. Stay warm tonight.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Challenges
We have had sickness over take our house the past couple days. Tuesday the infection from my toe had affected my entire body as I had a fever and terrible aches. It had been such a long time since I'd taken any pain medicine that was strong enough to numb all the pain but with the migraine I had, I needed something. Shawn has had his new job and is quite a distance away for now so I'm "single-momming" it during most of the week. I honestly didn't have strength that morning to get my boys out the door but somehow God provided and I was able to rest and feel renewed by late Tuesday evening. . . . . just in time for the boys to get sick.
My friend invited us for supper Tuesday night to relieve me of having to be up more than I needed to. The boys needed the fresh air at the farm too, so we went out there so they could run outside and I could "rest" without them bouncing all over. Needless to say my asthmatics (sp) were up most of the night coughing and wheezing. I was hesitant to give in to their aches, but after seeing Logan's hives I decided they all needed to go into the doctor. ;( So much for having my strength back.
It ends up that 2 have something going on in their lungs whether it is bronchitis (more than likely) or the start of pnemonia (couldn't be ruled out) it is still being treated the same- breathing treatments and antibiotics. The other boy has terrible skin allergic reactions that requires steriods, and other meds to get it under control. We should be on the mend soon. It was a stressful Wednesday and I was so thankful to return to work today.
However. . . .there is MUCH stress in my life currently due to some situations and I again ponder. . . .what to do. I am waiting patiently on doctors to help find a cure yet yesterday an acquaintance in one of my discussion boards went into ICU and is soon expected to pass. She had POTS and it progressed into Pure Autonomic Failure. I'm terrified of the progression or how fast it could happen. Not enough information is known about POTS to ensure how or if it progresses. My cardiologist is keeping me on consult for now because he is at the ends of what he knows to treat me and so we just keep in contact via phone and he also connects with the Mayo clinic.
I have a different outlook on life than most people might and I also know that I need to keep busy. I completely love my job and the kids I work with. I often take on more than I should and allow myself to fail miserably with the expectations only I set that are more than likely unrealistic. I have to say though that my students and friends make my job the best. I think that should I not be able to continue to work, I fear of withering away. My goal right now is to get through the rest of November without anymore days off due to illness. . . . . can I? I think everyday will be THE day . . . .THE day I am cured. . . .THE day God has chosen to heal me. . . .THE day I start the rest of my life. And, when I am sadly disappointed, I know that today is THE day that I was given another day to become stronger, more voiceful and more resiliant. I CAN do this. . . . with Him and with prayer.
If you are one of my faithful prayers warriors, thank you! I know you know much more of the specifics than I can list on a public site like this. If you are a blog -stalker or one I may not necessarily call "friend," yet you pray, thank you!
My friend invited us for supper Tuesday night to relieve me of having to be up more than I needed to. The boys needed the fresh air at the farm too, so we went out there so they could run outside and I could "rest" without them bouncing all over. Needless to say my asthmatics (sp) were up most of the night coughing and wheezing. I was hesitant to give in to their aches, but after seeing Logan's hives I decided they all needed to go into the doctor. ;( So much for having my strength back.
It ends up that 2 have something going on in their lungs whether it is bronchitis (more than likely) or the start of pnemonia (couldn't be ruled out) it is still being treated the same- breathing treatments and antibiotics. The other boy has terrible skin allergic reactions that requires steriods, and other meds to get it under control. We should be on the mend soon. It was a stressful Wednesday and I was so thankful to return to work today.
However. . . .there is MUCH stress in my life currently due to some situations and I again ponder. . . .what to do. I am waiting patiently on doctors to help find a cure yet yesterday an acquaintance in one of my discussion boards went into ICU and is soon expected to pass. She had POTS and it progressed into Pure Autonomic Failure. I'm terrified of the progression or how fast it could happen. Not enough information is known about POTS to ensure how or if it progresses. My cardiologist is keeping me on consult for now because he is at the ends of what he knows to treat me and so we just keep in contact via phone and he also connects with the Mayo clinic.
I have a different outlook on life than most people might and I also know that I need to keep busy. I completely love my job and the kids I work with. I often take on more than I should and allow myself to fail miserably with the expectations only I set that are more than likely unrealistic. I have to say though that my students and friends make my job the best. I think that should I not be able to continue to work, I fear of withering away. My goal right now is to get through the rest of November without anymore days off due to illness. . . . . can I? I think everyday will be THE day . . . .THE day I am cured. . . .THE day God has chosen to heal me. . . .THE day I start the rest of my life. And, when I am sadly disappointed, I know that today is THE day that I was given another day to become stronger, more voiceful and more resiliant. I CAN do this. . . . with Him and with prayer.
If you are one of my faithful prayers warriors, thank you! I know you know much more of the specifics than I can list on a public site like this. If you are a blog -stalker or one I may not necessarily call "friend," yet you pray, thank you!
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