Big Sister

Yesterday was my brother's birthday. I found this picture and just had to post it.

Who knew that this little girl would grow up and peek at her own sleeping baby boys? I guess God gave me some practice with my brother. :) I remember thinking he was a real, live baby dolly. How nice of my parents to give me a real dolly! He means so much more than that to me now...

As much as I loved skyping with him yesterday, I'm hoping that I'll get to see him IN PERSON very soon! And of course his adorable little boy too! I'm surrounded by boys!

Our Other Two

Okay, I admit it--my recent posts have been all about Aaron. Most of my pictures are of Aaron. With Aaron's medical issues notwithstanding, I find myself obsessing over my youngest son. Not in a scary way, but in the sense that I don't want to miss a single second of his little boy cuteness. It goes SO fast. So, so, fast. When I read my brother's blog and see pictures of my 8 month old nephew, I miss my babies. That is crazy, since anyone who knows me knows how much I love the independence that comes with having older children. But who can understand the mind of a woman? Or the emotions of one? Derek will tell you at the top of his lungs, "No one!"

Next month we will be giving our crib to Derek's sister. Why should this be a problem for me? I am content and very blessed with three children. I should be able to let go of the crib, right? I should be happy to let our nephew-to-be sleep in the same crib my babies slept in. And I am happy. We've been giving away baby items for years. But this is the big one. Giving away the crib seals the deal...we are officially done having children.

I tried to find pictures of my boys in their crib. After searching for 10 minutes I gave up. Apparently I didn't take any. The ones I did find were so close-up that the crib wasn't in the picture. So here is our pretty crib, with a dresser on the end and two large drawers beneath the crib mattress. It has so much storage, and I loved it. It will be fun to see my sister-in-law love it as much as I did. I hope she takes pictures of her son in the crib for me. :)

Honestly, when I started this post I intended to write about Braylen and Kaleb, our other two. Here goes...

Braylen is a texting machine these days. Yes, we took the plunge and allowed him to spend some of his hard-earned mowing money to buy himself a certain electronic gadget he's been wanting. The key words are "his money!" As our extended family recently discovered, they can now text with their grandson/nephew! They've texted during the NFL playoffs. At bedtime. When it started to snow. The list goes on... I'm all for strengthening family ties, so entering the texting world has been a good thing for Braylen! It's also been helpful during the few times Braylen's watched his brothers for me. Instead of receiving calls, I receive his texts. :)

Kaleb's been a homework machine these days. Sheesh! 4th grade sure keeps him hopping! When I start to think about all he has to do every day, my mind goes on overload mode. It's just too much. Yesterday he did homework from 3:30-5:30. I could go on and on about that, but I won't. All I'll say is Kaleb has a great attitude through it all, and I've learned to keep my opinions and frustrations regarding his homework load to myself. For now. :)

Our annual pinewood derby through cub scouts is this Monday. Derek and the boys have been hard at work. I will post more about that next time.

All 4 boys enjoyed lots of wrestling yesterday. It helps wake Aaron up during his sleepy time of the day--late afternoon/evening. And they all love it.

This is for my records...

{Today begins week two of Aaron's medication dosage increase. The seizures are not gone yet. But they are not as easy for me to see. Braylen had a weird fever from Sunday-Tuesday. 98 in the morning, 99 after school, 100.7 at bedtime, repeated for 2 days. Tuesday at supper he broke out in hives on his arms, hands, and face. An hour later they were gone. Complains of a frog in his throat, but otherwise fine now.}

 

Day Trip

On Thursday Derek and I took Aaron to see the pediatric neurologist. I felt at peace with the decision to see the specialist, and I was very thankful to have Derek come along. Our time at the doctor's office only lasted an hour, so we snuck in some shopping and lunch at Red Robin before driving home. :)

Basically, this doctor told us Aaron has childhood absence epilepsy. We already knew that, but he went into more detail than our pediatrician ever did. He answered some of our questions, but with epilepsy there are many unknowns. He told us to wean Aaron off Zarontin (medicine #1) and increase his dose of Depakote (medicine #2.) Hopefully this will help Aaron become seizure free. There is the possibility that he will still have his "blank-outs" when he's tired or sick, no matter what medicine he takes. That makes me sad for Aaron. But I know that in the big picture, we really are very blessed. This could be so much worse.

We will be praying that he grows out of this, as most children do.

Aaron wears his special shirt from Grammy to every doctor
appointment and blood test. His favorite verse is printed below
the smiley face. John 3:16

So, what does this diagnosis look like in everyday life? I took Aaron to a pool party today. Instead of dropping him off, I stayed to watch him swim. What if he blanked out in the water? I can't expect the birthday boy's parents to watch Aaron every second. But I can. He did great, and had no trouble at all. At home, I repeat myself when Aaron doesn't hear me. We've learned how important it is to get Aaron in bed on time. But we still let him stay up a bit later on the weekends. Tonight he's having a slumber party with his brothers in our family room! He still rollerblades and rides his bike. Well, not so much since it's winter. But this spring, he will be doing all the things he likes doing. He'll wear his helmet like he always has. :) Not many people will ever notice these seizures. And hopefully soon, we won't see them anymore either. Lord willing!

I have one funny before closing this post. One night I was trying really hard to get Aaron in bed. He was moving so slow! Finally I asked him why he was so slow. He replied, "Because I like turtles, and they are slow!" My silly turtle!

Aaron's Hero

Last night Derek gave Aaron's Cub Scout den a tour of the police station. He did this for Braylen and Kaleb when they were in 1st grade too, so it's turned into a tradition of sorts. Each time it's been a little bit different. Braylen's group was by far the largest with 15 boys and their parents. Kaleb's tour fell on a very rainy night, so they spent more time with one of the police motorcycles parked in one of the garages. Aaron's group included 8 boys, 8 dads, plus me. :) I was the official photographer for the night. These boys asked silly questions and posed for several silly pictures. Here are some highlights:

• Of all the "tools" on Derek's belt, the taser impressed them the most.
• One little boy wondered where the fire alarms were at, and pointed out there were no fire alarms in the 911 call center.
• Aaron raised his hand and asked if Derek's badge was borrowed. That sure made the dads laugh!
• Aaron also told everyone that his dad used his pepper spray on our dog.
• When Derek explained how the 911 operators answer phone calls on their computers, eliminating the need for phones in the command center, every boy tried his hardest to point out the phones in the room. Eventually their leader told them that if they raised their hands with another phone observation, then they needed to put their hands down.
• Derek explained that police officers wear blue uniforms. What color uniforms do the sheriff deputies wear? One little boy raised his hand and said, "Pink!"
• This is the third time I've been in the men's locker room, and probably my last time. I did like looking at the pictures Derek has in his locker. They're all from when our kids were babies. So sweet.
• At the end of the tour, the leader explained to the boys that police officers are there to help you when you need help. Yes, they take people to jail. But they want to be your friend and help you in your time of need. They are not here to hurt you. I know my husband appreciated that statement very much. I'm amazed at the number of people who will come up to Derek with their children and say, "If you're naughty then this officer will take you to jail." That is so not true. I wish they would say, "If you're ever in trouble, this officer will help you. Let's thank him for all he does for our community." Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now. :)
• Aaron stood a little taller last night, so proud that HIS daddy is the police officer.
• When I asked Aaron what his favorite part of the tour was, he replied, "DADDY!"
• Derek handed out pencils and pencil toppers to the boys. Aaron received two pencils and two toppers. He set aside the gold pencil with the gold police badge topper and gave it to Derek as a gift. He slept with his other pencil and topper. Good thing we didn't sharpen it yet. :)

Someday Aaron will grow out of scouts. He might not think it's so cool to have a police officer dad when he's, oh, a teenager. But right now? Aaron's daddy is his hero. I pray that he never grows out of that.

Daddy & Aaron
Oh, how I love both of them!
(sorry it's so cropped, but this is a public blog and I promised Derek I would
never show him in uniform on this blog.)

By Faith

I have this friend I meet regularly for coffee. Sometimes we even meet for lunch. (Have I mentioned how great it is to have all 3 of my kids in school?) Our personalities are very different. Our lives are different. Yet somehow, our friendship works...and it works well!

Anyway, a couple of years ago, this friend of mine decided to step away from her involvement with our church's Awana program. She felt led to do something with women's ministries, and ended up leading it! We continued to meet several times a month, where I'd occasionally update her on our Awana program. I've been a leader, like, forever--and I missed seeing her on Wednesday nights.

Ever so subtly, my friend planted an idea in my mind. Did I have any interest in joining the women's ministry team? No. My church involvement has always included Awana. While my kids were babies and toddlers, I was very involved with MOPS. For years I've participated in a weekly non-denominational community women's Bible study. Yet, through all that, I've been an Awana leader. I was comfortable with that.

Little by little, I began to feel burned-out in Awana. Doing something because I've always done it just didn't seem like a good reason to renew my leader commitment. Braylen was moving on to youth group. Should I move on to something new too? That idea planted by my friend began to take root. When she officially asked me to join the Women's Leadership Council, I said yes!

Where would I fit? I'm not an event planner, or a planner of anything. I'm not a leader, so please don't ask me to lead the mentoring program. I'm not a crafty person, so ask someone else to be in charge of decorations. Hospitality? Well, maybe, but in all honesty--lining up food and fostering a warm, welcoming environment is not really my thing either. What in the world am I in women's ministry for???

I kept attending the monthly meetings. I volunteered to run the book table at both of our simulcasts. I love books, and I can stand at a table and sell them. But I still wondered...what else am I supposed to be doing?

I admit, it's been a relief to stay home from Awana on Wednesdays. When I made that decision, I had no idea that Aaron would need to be home from time to time on Wednesday evenings. His medications make him drowsy and the poor boy needs to go to bed more than he needs to go to Awana. Derek needs to be at church every Wednesday for the security team, so I'm the one who keeps Aaron at home. Kaleb also stayed home with me on Wednesdays until November. Why? Let's just say we were much more productive with his Bible verse memorization here at home than he ever was at Awana... My decision to leave Awana was made by faith, and I've seen good come from it. But really--shouldn't there be more to ministry than selling books at a simulcast once or twice per year?

Well, wouldn't you know it? My new role within women's ministry is coming together. We are using a BLOG to create an online Bible study! I love to write! I love blogs! I love to study the Bible! This is where I fit! With two other ladies to help me, I'm not doing this on my own. We'll take turns with the weekly postings. I'll lead my own discussion board, and they will lead theirs. Lord willing, we'll do a 14 week study of the book of Galatians. I can't wait to meet new people, and connect with women who might not have the opportunity to attend a conventional Bible study. Cool, huh?

God knew it was time for me to leave Awana. He knows the fruit that will come from this new ministry. All I have to do is keep living by faith. There's this song called, "Faith is Living."

I wish I could see just three steps in front of me
But the lamp unto my feet only moves when I take a step
And believe Your word to me Lord You have a history
That proves You're worthy of my faith

It's the evidence of things I cannot see
And faith it's the confidence that You are holding me
It's stepping out it's breaking through all my doubts
And all I thought I knew 'cause you've never lived until you've lived
You've never lived until you've lived by faith
I want to be a man like Abraham
He went to a foreign land 'cause You said go he trusted You by faith
Of a tiny mustard seed to mountains we can speak
Believe and move them by faith

It's the evidence of things I cannot see
And faith it's the confidence that You are holding me
It's stepping out it's breaking through all my doubts
And all I thought I knew 'cause you never live until you've lived by faith
No you've never lived until you've lived by faith
You are who You say You are
And You will do what You have promised to and I believe that's faith

[ John Waller Lyrics are found on www.songlyrics.com ]

Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com

This is my "something new" for 2012. :) Happy New Year!!!

Why I Love January

• Those decorations that looked so festive in December end up looking dusty and cluttered in January. Packing them away for another year is not a chore I enjoy, but I do enjoy the fruits of my labor. A clean house is a wonderful way to start a new year.
• My calendar that was bursting at the seams in December is now blissfully blank in January. Well, not completely blank. But back-to-normal-blank.
• With our warmer than usual weather this January, I've enjoyed several long walks with Ginger. I think one of the best things about owning a dog is going for walks. After pushing strollers for many years, I am thankful to now simply hold onto a leash.

Ginger surveys her domain in the backyard

• The school year is half-over. When the kids complain about going to school I can tell them, "You're over half-way done! You can do it!"

I'm sure there are more reasons to love January. My brother would add his birthday to this list. :) Aaron and Kaleb would add the upcoming Pinewood Derby race. Derek would add his latest deer hunt. In fact, I think I have a picture of his most recent hunt. And it's even "blogworthy." :)

Later this month we'll be taking Aaron to see a pediatric neurologist. We're just not seeing results with the Zarontin. On Wednesday our pediatrician consulted with this neurologist and he told us to start Aaron on Depakote. Now he's taking both medicines, with weekly dosage changes. So far we haven't noticed any more side effects like we did when he started the Zarontin. That is a huge praise! Now we're hoping to see the seizures disappear.

Not too much else is going on around here. Derek's taken the boys to work with him a few times in the evening or on the weekend. They really like to play in the school after hours. Maybe when they're high schoolers they will remember these times. They've also been to a couple of boys' basketball games. Grandma and Grandpa kept the boys overnight this weekend which gave Derek and I a chance to have a date night and spend part of Saturday afternoon rearranging our basement. The ping pong table no longer hangs out in the middle of the room.

I love to see them all play together.

One funny before I call it a night. Early in December we had about 5 inches of snow. It was great, and we were all sad when it melted. No one was sadder than Kaleb. As the snow was all but gone, Kaleb said, "Oh no! Now I'm going to have to start mowing the lawn!" Can you tell he prefers cold, snowy days? :)