Guess What?

I have to tell you all something.

It's not going to come as a shock to some of you - probably most of you - but I'm not good at accepting things graciously. It's very hard for me and this past week I've had to look up the meaning of the word humility and I've had to remember that not accepting help and gifts would be denying those that love me a blessing.

That's not what I wanted to tell you.

I am so blessed to be apart of two very different but wonderful groups of women. These two groups of women musy've come together behind my back (*gasp*) and worked together to bless me in unfathomable ways. The past few days have left me breathless & speechless. And, yk, I'm normally a breathy person. ;-)

We leave for SLC in less than desireable weather in 4.5 hours. Because of people that care about me, we've rented a reliable vehicle. Because of people that care about me, I'm not worried about putting gas in the car this trip. Because of people that love me, I'm not robbing Peter to feed us on this trip. Because of people that love me I have a free place to stay - with my mom and 4 rowdy kids. Because of people that care about me, my children have some fun activities to look forward to on this trip. Because of people that care about me, I'm not as worried about some medical bills.

My friends Rock.

That's what I wanted to tell you.

That, and...

Thanks. You humble me by reminding me that Receivership is a discipline (just like Evie said).

Mwah.

The Great Salt Lake

I just got a call about an hour ago that we need to be in SLC on Friday at 9:15am for an EEG for Sienna. I'm in thr process of breathing into paper bags and freaking out at trying to get everything done in time to take off. Taking time off work, packing up the kids, renting a car, getting cash for gas and food, securing a place to stay (thanks KIM!!! You Rock.). It's all making me hyperventilate and freak out.

Rob has a major thing at work that's been planned for Friday for a long time now, so he can't go. Thankfully my mommy is able to go with us and help out.

Thankfully, again, Kim is going to put us up at her house and might even hang out with us while we're there. ;-)

AAAAHHH!!! I have so much to DO! And, really, trying to to freak out about how we're going to DO all of this is #1 on my list.

Prayer Warrioring & Love

Is warrioring a word? Who cares.

After making some blog rounds today, I discovered a few people in need of prayer. If you wouldn't mind just saying a quick prayer - or just Amening at the end of each sentence?

Holly's little Bam Bam is a very sick little boy right now, and could use healing prayers. Prayers for Holly, too.

Amanda has an important doctors appointment today and also wanted prayers for some personal stuff.

Obviously, everyone in the blogosphere is already aware that Stellan the MckMiracle baby needs prayer. Maybe say a prayer for the MckMama, too, ok?

Prayers for C.C. - for her literal vision and for her spiritual vision as she considers some life changing decisions and plans with her hubby.

I'm sure there's more and if you need prayer today, let me know and I will pray for you.

While my dad was here, he wanted to do some practice shots with his new lights. He does a lot of photography as a hobby, and is trying to hone his people photo taking skills. I don't have a good editor on my laptop but here are 4 of the pics - the kids showin' each other some love...









Have a day!

Not Me! Monday

It's not me that still has 30 Christmas cards to mail on this Monday AFTER Christmas.

It was not me that allowed Cara to use her "1 free pepsi" coupon, and then proceeded to sneak Caffiene Free pepsi into her glass. And since that wasn't me, it also wasn't me that got caught (by Rob) and was forced to fess up and issue another free pepsi coupon. Hmph.

It was not me that went sledding this weekend in tennis shoes and jeans because, really, I'm NOT a moron.

It's certainly not me making broken brain jokes to Sienna at her expense. How callous can one person be?! It's obviously not me that uses humor as a coping tool.

It's not me cooking tater tots in the middle of the night.

It's not my oven that just beeped that it's ready.

I'm NOT going to go cook them and eat em up.

Have a great Not Me kind of day.

Brain Waves

Thank you all, again, for continuing to pray for Sienna. We are still waiting to set up her EEG and schedule our trip to see the Pediatric Neurologist in Salt Lake, but I’ve been doing a little research on her condition and thought I’d share just a bit of what I’ve discovered with you.

Her official diagnosis is Heterotopia. It is a condition that affects the brain and causes epilepsy. It pretty much lays dormant until the second decade of life – probably has something to do with the hormonal changed of puberty (my thought – not medically sound! HA!) It is a genetic disorder, apparently.

From a medical website (NOT Web M.D. ;-) )

Periventricular heterotopia is a condition in which nerve cells (neurons) do not migrate properly during the early development of the fetal brain, from about the 6th week to the 24th week of pregnancy. Heterotopia means "out of place." In normal brain development, neurons form in the periventricular region, located around fluid-filled cavities (ventricles) near the center of the brain. The neurons then migrate outward to form the exterior of the brain (cerebral cortex) in six onion-like layers. In periventricular heterotopia, some neurons fail to migrate to their proper position and form clumps around the ventricles.

Periventricular heterotopia usually becomes evident when seizures first appear, often during the teenage years. The nodules around the ventricles are then typically discovered when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies are done. Affected individuals usually have normal intelligence, although some have mild mental retardation. Difficulty with reading and spelling (dyslexia) has been reported in some people with periventricular heterotopia.

So, that’s basically all that I KNOW at this point. Hopefully Sienna’s case is one that just affects one small area of her brain, and her seizures are something we can stay on top of – if she’s having them, yet. We’ve been documenting her symptoms and their ocurrances. Apparently heterotopias can be part of other chromosomal issues, but I’m refraining for walking down that path until I talk to the Neuro.

Many of you asked about the other kids:

Thank you all for your prayers for Brennan – I am glad he just has a big ole noggin. :-)

Corban is doing really well. His sensory issues are under control and he is quite the active little guy. He’s at the age where they start putting sentences together and he has become such a little mimic. It’s hilarious!

Cara is fabulous! She’s suffering a bit from middle child syndrome right now, though. We’re working on it with her.

Thank you, too, for all the offers of prayer and help for us right now. We are completely grateful to have you all as our friends and support group. Obviously, we are still in need of prayer while we figure out, exactly, what’s up with Sis’s brain and how we’re going to deal with it. All of the medical testing and now the trip to Salt Lake are budget busters, so prayers that God continues providing are appreciated, as well.

Anyway – I just wanted to thank you all (duh) and give you an update. I will have another after the EEG. As usual, feel free to pass the info along – I know that many of you have put Sienna on prayer lists where YOU are, and we thank you for that.

Hey...you....

And hey? If you think of it - it's Rob's birthday - would you mind poppin' over and telling him Happy Day??

Just click on his handsome pic over there to the right. ;-)

Thanks!

Updates and Stuff (because I can't think of a clever title)

First off – B just has a fat head. Thank you for praying for him and for your encouraging words – we are blessed! I think I’m going to get him a Charlie Brown zig zag shirt. LOL

News on Sienna – I spoke to her ped a couple times today, and she spoke to the neurologist in SLC. This is what we know, so far, based on what we have: Surgery isn’t happening. There is less than 5% chance that she will ever need surgery IN HER LIFETIME. The neurologist is concerned that her symptoms of dizziness, imbalance and pain are actually mini-seizures and so has ordered an EEG for her in the next week or two. He’d prefer next week, but they’re backlogged by a week so it may take up to two weeks. The EEG is to monitor her brain activity and see if she IS having mini seizures. From there we head to SLC, mid January, for a comprehensive exam and consultation. WE will talk about her symptoms, prognosis (glimpse: good prognosis – no death or surgery anything else I can deal with) and the fact that this will require lifetime management for her. There is no reason to believe it is going to deteriorate her quality of life so drastically that it is not manageable. He gave me a diagnosis name but I can’t find my notes right now, so that will have to wait. After SLC we’ll have more info and more answers but we have enough to go on, for now, for Rob and I. Just knowing that she is going to be ok is enough for us. The rest is all gravy.

Thank you SO much for all of your prayers and support. We are so blessed to have so many people that we love and care about praying for us. Heck, even people we don’t know!! Thanks to YOU, too!! We know that we still have a bit of a hike ahead of us, but we also know that with God we can do it.

This is a generic, time saving update. Sorry it isn’t more personalized to each and every email and message we’ve received. But we did receive them and read them and cry our tears of thanks for them. Feel free to pass this info on, and we will definitely keep you updated in the coming weeks.

Merry Christmas.

12 Days Update

Our 12 Days has been hijacked and rearranged and changed and moved and just blown to bits in some areas! We're doing our best to stick with it in the midst of the storm we're walking through.

Here's our update:

1. Take cups of hot drinks to people holding "Going out of Business" signs at the intersections. - It has been below zero and frigid on the days we've planned to do this, and people aren't out. One day, instead of doing this as planned, Cara went shopping for a little girl in a family that Rob's work adopted for Christmas.

2. Purchase and donate a toy to Toys for Tots -Sienna picked out a couple of toys and dropped them in the TFT box at Walmart.

3. Bag of Food at Smith's. - We did this right after Thanksgiving and when we went back to do it today, it was gone. So, we donated the money to the Salvation Army Red Bucket that was there, instead.

4. Deliver Dinner & gift to neighbor. -Had Pizza delivered to the neighbor family across from us.

5. Take Flowers to lady across the parking lot. -Posted about that fun experience here.

6. Donate coats to Love, Inc. -We still need to do this.

7. Collect Change to put in the Red Bucket at Wal-Mart. -We did this Saturday at Town & Country.

8. Food Drive Scavenger Hunt. - Postponed until it's above zero. Instead, we took a $20 GC that Rob's work gave him for Christmas and each girl had $10 to spend on food for the Food Bank. We'll drop it off tomorrow.

9. Buy lunch for someone holding a sign that says 'Please Help'. -Still need to do this one.

10. Watch a couple of the neighborkids for the week, for free, while they're out on Christmas break so their parents don't have to come up with daycare money. -This one has had to kind of get pushed to the side in light of all of the Dr's appointments we've had lately. Maybe we'll offer free sitting on NYE or something.

11. Take cookies to the Fire Department. -Tomorrow. And we decided to make flavored popcorn instead.

Throughout this experience our family has been blessed in so many ways. I wondered how we were going to pay for all of these things - and money has just kind of fallen from the sky. Or, yk, been sent to us from sweet, sweet people I know.

Taking the time to step away from ourselves and our little world has been a wonderful growing experience for our family. Sure, our gift piles are smaller - but does it really matter when we have so much already? I don't think so. We're here. We're together. And in light of recent events, we're alive.

Being thankful this Christmas is a lot easier with these things in perspective.

I want to take this beyond, though. Not just Christmas, but all year. Every day. Make it part of our lives to step outside of our comfort zones and our little boxes and reach out to others and show them love and kindness.

Thank you to everyone that joined us on this little experimental journey. I hope that you found your lives as blessed as you made those around you.

The Hits Just Keep On Coming!

Took B in for his 6 month check today. Baby is 18 lbs and 27 inches. 75th percentile for both. Then they measured his big ole noggin and said "His head is too big." They measured. They remeasured. They had another person measure. They all said "His head is too big." The Dr. said - I'm concerned that his head is growing more rapidly than his body - it's diproportionate. I'm worried about fluid build-up or pockets of fluid.

Noon. Tomorrow. UltraSound on B's head. If that shows anything other than normal function then we head in for a CT scan or MRI.

Can I get an MRI punchcard? Buy 5 get 1 free? What about U/S's and Xrays - how about - after 10 visitis to the radiology dept of the hospital, you get the 11th visit free.

Can I get a sedative? A Xanax? A margarita?

No? Drat.

Stay Tuned for details in the ongoing saga of the As the Potter's Flail.

MRI Update

Apparently they put a rush on the MRI results and we got them tonight.

Sienna doesn't have a tumor or growth, but she does have an abnormality in her brain. Basically, when you're in utero your brain cells seperate - white on one side, grey on the other. In some people they don't all seperate. Generally this causes seizures so they're not really sure why Sienna hasn't been having them this whole time. I asked if maybe puberty was kind of ramping up her symptoms and if seizures weren't something that would be forthcoming - they said it was a possibility. We need to see a pediatric neurologist - only there isn't one in the whole flipping state of Montana. So, I was given my choice of Denver, Seattle or SLC. I chose SLC. There is a neurologist in Missoula that has done some work with kids, but isn't a specialist in pediatrics - our Ped. is going to talk to him to confirm what she is thinking and then get in touch with the Ped. Neur. in SLC. From there I guess we'll know what to do next. From what she said, I gather that this is correctable by surgery to seperate the cells. But really, I don't know anything other than what I just said because I haven't had time to do any research or talk to anyone.

I am thankful that it is not cancer. I am thankful that it is something correctable. I am thankful for a pediatrician that listens and takes me seriously.

Yes, I know it could be worse. Yes, I know it can be fixed. Yes, I know everything is going to be all right.

It's her brain. It's not her fractured sacrum - it's her brain and that just makes it all that much more scary.

Still coveting your prayers over here.

You know what I love?

That I have friends that I've never met IRL that are willing to have phone conversations with my child to divert her attention from her upcoming medical procedures.

Thanks Tracy - I heart you.

We're home and Sis did fabulous. The IV barely hurt and now, she once again knows, that when mama speaks it's the truth. Der. Silly goil. They said results on Wednesday so I'll start calling and bothering them Wednesday afternoon, I'm sure. I'm about to call about her blood test results since they said Friday and I gave them until Monday out of the kindness of my heart. It is the season of giving and kindness, dontcha know?

Thank you for all of your prayers...now we just wait. I'm not good at waiting. So I'm gonna clean - because it's productive.

Mwah.

Not Me! Monday

That was not me wandering around the Walmart parking lot for a good 5 minutes with two kids and a stocked cart on about 2-3 inches of hard packed snow and ice while I searched for my van that I lost.

It was not me that left the house to run errands on Thursday but left my wallet at home. I did NOT have to turn around and go get it, thus wasting 30 min of my already jam-packed time.

It was ALSO not me that forgot Sienna's PT clothing AND a blanket for the baby (he was in his snowsuit- don't worry) so I had to scrap the Costco run once again and run home to grab everything before PT.

Certainly it wasn't me that probably broke her thumb by getting it caught in the blasted mouse trap she was setting in the garage. Owie.

It wasn't me that had some crazy dream and in that dream did something and said 'That'd be GREAT on my Not Me list.". ANd if it WAS me dreaming about not me-ing in my dream, it obviously wasn't me that, upon waking, though - 'I am SO going to have to tell all those other 'Not Me-ers' about my Not Me dream, which I am totally NOT doing right now.

*-------------------------------------------------------------*

Seriously? We go in for Sienna's MRI today if you wouldn't mind keeping her in your prayers. She's really scared.

Uh, I'm not scared at all. Not me.

Have a Monday!

Facelifted

Isn't it PRETTY?!?!?!?!

It's an early Christmas present for MOI! I love it. I do, I do, I do.

Cathy, yk - the one that did the Friday Freebie this last week? Yeah. Her. She did it. Isn't is beautiful? Simple, clean, great colors. Man..I do so love it!

She is just the SWEETEST thing!

Go, check her out - she can do Blogger template updates and she does Wordpress stuff fo sho!



Tell me, don't you love it??? I'm still working on some sidebar stuff -trying to streamline and declutter a bit (I moved the blogs I read all over into my 'Follow' area, in case you were wondering) but all the beautiful stuff is ALL Cathy. You can go see her at her personal blog, too, yk? Get some Mommy Motivation.

Blessed AGAIN! EEP!

Have a day. Get your blog redone - it's like wearing clean clothes straight from the dryer, man.

Recipes

Harvest Soup

1 pound ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 can (29 oz) Italian stewed tomatoes
1 can (16 oz) tomato sauce
1 can whole kernal corn
5 Tbsps Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1 can (32 oz) chili beans
8 cups water
4 beef bouillion cubes
3 carrots, sliced
3 potatoes, cubed
4 celery stalks, sliced
2 or 3 bay leaves

In dutch oven brown beef, onion & bell pepper. Drain grease and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 60 minutes - stirring often. Remove bay leaves before seriving. Makes 12-16 servings.

We LOVE this stuff, man. I don't use green peppers (blech) and I added garlic when I fried up the beef and onion (yum). I generally freeze the leftovers and serve it as another meal in the next meal plan period. It freezes nicely! The only suggestion I would have is to pull out the amount you want to freeze befor eyou cook the carrots, potatoes and celery. You can add those back in when you recook and you can always add some beef or chicken stock to make it stretch a bit further.


Lentils & Rice

This is NOT a precise recipe. I just throw it all together so bear with me. Not bare. Keep yer clothes on.

bring 1/2 cup lentils to a boil in about 1-2 cups water. (You can always add water if it's running out or drain if the lentils are tender before the water boils out.) Boil until tender. Cook 1-2 cups of rice according to directions (depends on how far you want this recipe to stretch). In a frying pan, saute 1-2 chopped cloves of garlic in some olive oil. Add lentils. I generally use a seasoning called Cavender's (thanks Cat!) that I picked up at Walmart. I put that in with the lentils and garlic. Probably a tablespoon worth? Saute for a few minutes and then add rice. Keep cooking for about 5 min, stirring often. Squeeze 1/2 a lemon over the mixture and stir. Serve with an extra lemon wedge.

YUM! Now I'm craving Lentils and Rice! Of course, this is just one way...there's also curried lentils and rice and various other 'flovors', too. I heart Lentils.

There - as promised. *phew* Now, I've just baked 8 dozen sugar cookies for class parties tomorrow and it's 12:30AM. I have 3 extra kids tomorrow morning and I need to get to bed.

Don't forget to enter the Friday Freebie!!

Friday Freebie!!

It's that time of the week again. The time when we say "Phew! WE MADE IT!!" And go groping around looking for our sanity. To aide you in this rediscovery or sorts, I give something away EVERY FRIDAY.

Once again, we have a guest host! Someone else is stepping up to the stove to saute some goodies for ya. Oh yeah, babe. <---That's me, being Emeril.

So, just follow me over and say hello to Cathy at Mommy Motivation and see what you're entering to win this time!

Just a reminder that all I'm giving away next week are free smiles. ;-)

*------------------------------------------------*

Sienna's appointment went well today. We're awaiting some blood tests and her MRI is scheduled for Monday. It's a dye contrasting MRI so Sissy is fuh-reaked out. Her ped said she reallllly doubts that it's a tumor but said it could still be a growth of some kind. Let's just give a little cheer that the big C is even further down the list! Thanks for praying for us - we are grateful & blessed.

Blessings, Cranky Ladies & Pizza Hut

Blessings:

I have been so blessed, recently, in so many ways. Let me just testify for a minute...can I get a witness?!

1. My dad is on a meager income and has medical issues. He has been unable to afford his medications or food recently. Rob and I send him money when we can, but that's not as often or as much as I'd like. Some beautiful friends' of mine heard me bemoaning the situation and pitched in with medication and money for groceries. I am blessed to call these two women my friends.

2. Santa, who has retired to Florida *wink*, sent me a gift card for $50. It is still sitting in my wallet, unspent, but I have plans for it. I will use it for some stocking stuffers for the kids - and to bless another person. Thanks Santa - I believe.

3. Someone I've never even met and only talked to through blogs blessed me with a gift the other day. She said to use it for myself - and I did. We used it to buy the little family across the way a surprise Pizza Hut dinner last night. There is still a little gift leftover, and I'll use it on some groceries today - promise. :-)

Those are just SOME of the ways I've been blessed recently. I can't even begin to explain how I am blessed every second of every day. God is always Good - even when I'm mad at Him.

*-------------------------------------------------*

Cranky Ladies:

As part of our 12 Days of Giving, the girls made Christmas cards and bought flowers for the cranky lady across the parking lot from us. This woman has been rude to us since the first day we got here, literally. She spent the summer yelling and hollering and glaring at the kids. She is just flat rude. So, we decided maybe she needed some kindness - and the Bible tells us that it's super easy to be nice to those that love us, but not so to those that are mean. The girls tried taking the gifts over two days ago...no answer. They tried the next morning ... no answer. Finally, they tried again last night.

Standing on the doorstep with a bouquet of flowers and three handmade cards (we had the neighbor girl with us, too) the rang the bell and waited for her to open the door. It was obvious she was home, we saw her pull in to the garage. No answer. Sienna knocked - these girls really wanted to give the flowers to the lady and tell her Merry Christmas.

This woman SCREAMED through the door at the girls to GO AWAY!!! It scared them all so much that they jumped and RAN home as fast as they could. SHe had to have peered through the peephole to see who was there. Then she SCREAMED at my children to go away.

As much as I want to go over and throttle the living snot out of her, Ive decided not to say anything. I'm trying to muster up the will to feel pity for her - how ugly and lonely must you be to scream at little kids holding flowers for you? Sad lonely pitiful woman.

Anger is winning again. Must try harder to get to pity.

*-------------------------------------------------*

Pizza Hut:

As I mentioned up there, we bought Pizza Hut for a neighbor family last night as part of the 12 Days of Giving. We told them, in a secret note, the day before that we would be doing it - so that the mom didn't cook dinner or seomthing, yk? Then the pizza was delivered here and the girls snuck it over, put it on the doorstep, rang the bell and RAN. They had a blast and now want to order pizza for everyone in the stinking neighborhood. LOL

*-------------------------------------------------*

Recipes for Lentils & Rice and Harvest Soup by tonight. Promise.

I'm off to Costco, Target and then to pick Sienna up for her big dr's appointment. She has motor skills testing tonight, too. *deep breath*

Yk what? This is the third time this song has come on today..I think it's a sign. I don't even own any of the cd's from this band or anything. I think I should.



(This is the only youtube video I can find right now...sorry if you find it offensive. It's the words of this song that speak to me, not the video. Though the video is touching, too.)

Have a day!

Sincerely Fro Me to You

Last year I showed you my "I own the world" picture. Remember it?



A mere year later I looked like this:



Yep. I was losing my fight with the world.

That right there is a picture of me sober - something you'd be hardpressed to come by during that time in my life. Smack dab in the middle of my 'drugs are cool' time of life. That picture was BEFORE I got mixed up with bad BAD people, though. I was just living with a guy that cheated on me about 16 times and doing Crystal Meth. No, *I* wasn't doing Meth - even at my dumbest I was never THAT stupid. No, I preferred Acid, actually. Acid & alcohol in MASS amounts with some mary-joo-wanna thrown in nightly.

Some day I'll tell you about my swiss cheese brain.

Help, I'm blogging and I can't shut up!

Yep, me again.

My U/S came back fine - I just have lumpy boobs. Thanks for praying - hopefully you're not one of those people that visualizes what you pray for. :wink:

And seriously? We're fine over here. I blow off steam here once in a while but we're doing grand!! I firmly believe in laughing at life

Plus? I have a song stuck in my head.



Hope you all have a fantastic day! I know I plan to. :smile:

Menu Plan Mmmwednesday

Spaghetti, Green Beans
Taco Filled Pasta Shells
Cocoa Tinged Beef Stew
Maple Glazed Chicken, Buttered Noodles, Steamed Veggies
Waffles & Eggs
Homemade Pizza (Sienna Cooks)
Chili Spaghetti, Green Beans (Cara Cooks)
Hot Dogs, Carrots and Ranch, Tater Tots
Harvest Soup, Bread
Chili Lime Shredded Beef and Rice
Corned Beef & Potatoes, Peas, Mayonaisse Chocolate Cake (Rob's B-day Dinner)

And, of course, Christmas Dinner.

For myself, on a couple of the nights that I can't have what the rest of the family is eating, I'm planning to have Madras Vegetable Curry and Lentils & Rice.

Since my parents came last week, we have some hold overs on this menu. I still haven't posted the Harvest Soup Recipe. I need to do that - it's really easy, cheap and yummy. Freezes up nicely, too.

Deny...deny...deny...

<

Yk what works for me? Denial.

Yep.

De Nile isn't just a river in Egypt anymore...hardy har har *gasp* huh huh huh.

I DENY that my house is a mess....so it isn't.

I DENY that I need to make a stupid grocery list and menu..so I won't.

I DENY that there are currently FIVE loads...no, wait, SIX loads of laundry waiting to be folded...so there isn't.

I DENY that I forgot to bring in the chicken broth from the garage pantry shelves so it's frozen...so it didn't happen. Or..it did...no, it didn't. Shoot. Now I'm confused.

I DENY that I have eaten a bunch of key-rap today...so I haven't.

I DENY that I never put on deoderant today after my U/S so, therefore, I DENY that I may have been stinky today.

I DENY that I enjoy Ruffles with Rrrrrrrridges a little too much...so I don't.

I DENY that our current power bill is $226...so it isn't.

I DENY that I am freaked out about Sienna....so I'm not.

I DENY that I am HUGELY behind on reading boards and blogs...so I'm not.

I did NOT have sexual relations with that woman! Wait....that one is true. I didn't. Sorry, in all this denial I started thinking I was a Clinton.

See? Denial makes my life easy peasy lemon squeezy. Um, what does that MEAN anyway?

Denial. It does the body good! Pass it on!

Ground Control? This is Major Tom!

Hey..hey you! Yeah, you. What're you doing? Or, to quote Corban "What you doin' he-yah?"

My parents visited over the weekend, for Christmas, and that was fun. They stayed at a hotel so the girls took FULL advantage of the swimming pool and hot tubs. We got to go out to eat (YUM) which was a nice treat for us. Of course, it was 30 below zero with blowing snow and wind on Saturday, so it was fairly miserable outside. Oh! Oh! "The weather outside was frightful...but the hot tub was so delightful.." That's the updated version, circa 2008.

Sienna is doing ok. She's quite heartbroken that the ONLY time we can get her in this week is smack dab in the middle of her class pizza party. I wish it didn't have to be, but we HAVE to get her in, yk? Luckily her teacher adores her and is goign to bring her a special lunch the next day and let her eat with them. Sienna is 9 so eating with the teachers is still fairly cool. We'll know more after the Dr's appointment and motor skills testing on Thursday. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts!

B is doing fine - no more blood in his diaper. It was just odd. I am thinking it was Jill (??) that mentioned food allergies - Brennan DOES have food allergies/intolerances and it has shown up as blood in his stool before but this was definitely from his penis and not in his stool. He hasn't had any more instances so I guess we just watch him and go with it. He does have a birth defect that willr equire surgery this summer, and they're thinking that maybe there was some growth or irritation that may have caused the bleeding.

I'm off to have an U/S on a lump I've had in my right breast since B was born. Good times. Maybe I can get the tech to buy me a drink first???



Our 12 Days of Giving has been interesting. On Saturday we were going to hand out hot drinks to people holding 'Going out of business' signs. BUt, as I mentioned, it was -30 with blowing snow and it wasn't fit for man or beast outside. So, we decided to do the Toys for Tots that day. THEN on the way to choir we saw that there WERE people outside holding the signs and it was too late to do anything.

Sunday we tried but there was no one out. So, we did the Toys for Tots and then Cara got gifts for a little girl that Rob's work adopted.

Yesterday the girls made cards and tried to take flowers to the lady across the street. She is always yelling at all the little kids and glares at all of us, every chance she gets. She didn't answer the door last night, or this morning before school. We'll keep trying, though!

I think, today, we'll go do the bag of food at Smith's. I need to take the girls around to drop off invitations to the Scavenger Hunt for Food on Saturday so we'll be out and about anyway.

I love reading about all the thing syou guys are doing!! I'm trying to make the blog rounds and I haven't read any message boards for about 4 days! Things are just crazy, lately.

Lastly, if you could keep a situation in prayer for me? We're trying to figure out how to proceed with the situation and would appreciate guidance as well as safety for those involved.

Oops...apparently it's my turn to hide and since Corban can only count to two, I don't have much time. Have a day! Oh, and check out our weather! Wanna come over??

Sacred & Profane

Sacred:





Profane:

Not Me! Monday

I should make posts like -

"It wasn't me that spent 1/2 of Sunday in the ER with baby B because he had a horrible bloody diaper. In the ER they DIDN'T stick him 3 times and dig around for veins they never found. And then they DIDN'T heel stick him and have to manipulate his foot to get enough blood for a CBC while he screamed and shook his head 'NO' and reached out to me to help him. And then it all didn't come back normal with no explanation what-so-ever."

Or it might say "It wasn't me on my face begging God to let Sienna be ok after the suggestion that there was something wrong with her pituitary gland/brain stem area. And it most certainly isn't me, waiting impatiently for news from the pediatrician."

But those are not funny so I am going to make a list like this, instead:



While taking a shower (with Rob - we're very green in our family. We were just savin' on water, honest) Corban did not suddenly show up (when we thought he was otherwise occupied) with his little Thomas book and sit there with the shower curtain open trying to 'read' to us.

I did not forget to tell Corban that Cara would be sleeping in his room the other night. So when he woke up in the middle of the night he did NOT scream at the top of his little lungs, leap off of his bed and run out the door - slamming it behind him in the middle of the night.

I did not have Corban say Oh My Gosh and Yellow 50 million times this week because it's just SO. DARN. CUTE.

I did not use the heating pad as my own personal electric blanket. I know that is dangerous and stupid.

It was not me that let my daughter sleep on the bathroom floor Saturday night. (The shower steam helped her breathe.) It's also NOT her on the floor in there again tonight.

It was not me that sat wierd on the toilet and managed to pee through the hole between the seat and the bowl, soaking my pants and unders. *gag*

What didn't YOU do? You can make a list, too, you know? Then you can link it over at MckMamama's place and people will come tell you that they NEVER did those things, either.

Friday Freebie Winners!!!

Kameron has announced the winners!! I'm not gonna steal her thunder and tell you who they are, though. Go see for yourselves. :-)

If YOU want to guest host the Friday Freebie, just let me know. You don't have to have a business or anything - you can just guest host and give something away. Maybe after Christmas you'll have something to 're-gift'. :wink:

My parents are visiting so I'm not around much. No funniest post this week.

Have a weekend!!

Friday Freebie!!

It's that time of the week again - it's FRIDAY! And here at Sacred & Profane, we celebrate the fact that we've made it through ANOTHER week by giving something away. Yes we do. Every. Single. Week. Oh, um, psst? There won't be a giveaway on the 26th of December. So let me amend that..

Every. Single. Week. (Except Dec. 26th.)

I have been SO excited about this week's giveaway!!! This week we have our very first Friday Freebie Guest Host! That's right...you have to LEAVE my blog and go to hers to enter. What are you entering to win?? Well, I'll leave that to HER to tell you. Want a little hint? I know you do. It's so stinkin' cute, swear it.

Ok, ok, you talked me into it. Here's a hint: It'll be CUSTOM MADE.

Want another? Well twist my arm why don't ya?? You people have violent tendencies.



So, quick my little friends...run over here and enter to win. There's MULTIPLE chances to win this week!

As always, thank you for reading along all week and thanks for being my imaginary friends.

Help!!!

OK, so, I need help. Hey! Don't be smart. We all KNOW I could benefit from therapy...that's what you all are here for.

I'm creating our next menu/grocery list. I need to stay as close to UNDER $150 as possible. For 15 days of bfast/lunches/dinners/snacks and 2 packs of diapers. Oh, and wipes. I know people do it all the time - I just have NEVER been able to keep it lower than $250.

Psst! Don't forget Christmas Dinner. *sigh* Turkey is already purchased, thankfully.

So, uh, how am I gonna do this? Give me your best kept secret. Help a girl out. Got an el cheapo meal? Shopping secret? The only grocery stores I have are Smith's (Krogers), Safeway, Albertsons, Walmart, IGA and something called Town and Country that I don't know that I've shopped at before.

Ready? Go.

Thankful Thursday: Praise

How do you give praise? My favorite way to give praise is through music. I love to sing along with my favorite praise and worship songs. I've really been missing having a good praise band play and just getting down and praising Him. The church we go to is so straight laced and conservative. We've also been going to ANOTHER more progressive church in the evenings that is more into the music and praise but it's still not what I'm used to. I want to sing it out, I want to raise my hands, I want to lose myself in the music that I'm singing to my God and Saviour. I want to be moved to tears and I want to just stand naked and open in front of Him and praise Him.

Now, I KNOW I don't need a church to do this. We do it at home, too. I'm just really missing my church back home today.

But, since this is about praise...I'll give praise today. Simple, innocent, lovely praise...in song. I can't sum it up any better than this:

Sincerely 'Fro Me to You: Taking on the World

Remember being a senior in high school? Man - wasn't it NICE knowing it all? I miss those days. The world was at my feet. I was ready to take it all on - and win. You can tell by the next picture that it was before I was ravaged by the wench called Mother Nature and that gravity had NOTHING on me. ooooh no - I was untouched, man. Virgin territory. Uh, relatively speaking, I mean.

I know, we're supposed to post embarassing pictures but I'm just not ashamed of this one. It's one of my favorite pictures. I loved that dress I had on, too. It was a short flirty thing. I felt so schmexy. Oh yeah, baby.

Ignore the big ole earrings. We'll pretend those are ok.

Here I am..in all of my 17 year old glory...oblivious to what life had in store and arrogant enough to think I didn't care.



Next week? The aftermath. HA!

Show me your senior year picture!! And go check out other people's embarassing pictures:

Monkey in the Middle

Heidi over at GGIP has me wondering something...(besides wondering why I can't comment on her blog?!)

What's your middle name?? Do you love it? Hate it? Indifferent to it?

My middle name is Lee.

Up until this year I had no idea that it was after my Dad's brother (guess that makes him my uncle, duh). I have always hated it. Wondered why they didn't choose the more feminine spelling of Leigh, instead. Now, eh, I don't much care. LOL

Share. Especially if your name is heidi.

Christmas Coupons

I've mentioned before that we are trying to keep our Christmas purchases down to about $100 cash. No credit cards. The no credit card thing is purely financial but the limiting of purchases is personal. You can read more about that here.

So what in the world do you GET when you have 4 kids and $100 to spend on gifts?? You get cheap stuff, man. *wink* Actually, the kids are doing fine. Brennan doesn't much CARE what he gets - yk, being 6 months and all. He'll get a token little toy. Corban is getting a DVD, track suit, some new-to-him Thomas trains I scored online for $1 each (*gasp*) earlier this year and a Tidmouth Shed that was on a Black Friday sale. The girls are both getting a new hoodie and a new track suit. Sienna is getting a certificate that *I* am printing off for free music from iTunes for her iPod (that I scored for free last year for Christmas). Cara is getting a new Worship Kids CD. Sienna is getting a fashion design kit and Cara is getting an Illustory (that I got using a free $25 gift card from Target!).

The big gift, though, is one I made myself. The girls are both getting coupon booklets. I know, it might sound lame but check out some of these 'pons:

Queen for the Day
30 minutes of one on one time with mom
An unbirthday party
1 new book or magazine
1 music download
1 soda (FORBIDDEN in this house! LOL)
Pick of the game on game night
Bake a btach of cookies with mom
Stay up 1 hour past bedtime
Skip dinner and go straight to dessert
30 minutes of coloring with mom or dad
Skip veggies for 1 dinner
Get out of putting away your laundry
Skip your chores
Pick of the DVD and snack on movie night
Get out of cleaning your room for 1 week

There's more but that's a good sampling.

Cost to me to make? Nothin'. Hopefully they love it, though!! I just finished printing them all off and now I have to cut them out and get the booklet stapled together.

Want to make your own? Go here to get started! There's also some premade ones here.

And that's what I tackled today.

A Cautionary Tale

The following has been printed with permission.

My sweet friend Melanie regaled me with a tale of woe involving her youngest son. It was PRICELESS! Melanie, sadly, doesn't have a blog (and the readers say: awwwwww! sadness) but she's allowing me to post her story.

In her words...

*---------------------------------------*

Yesterday afternoon, about 4pm or so, I was sitting downstairs in my comfy recliner crusing the net on my laptop. It was my few minutes of downtime between the days chores and starting dinner. I needed to see how my peeps were doing!

Enter Joshua. Loudly. Crying. Screaming, "My tongue is bleeding!!!". Watch mom fly out of her chair and up the stairs two at a time. Flashing thoughts of Joshua slipping on the ice while playing outside and biting part of his tongue off. I get upstairs and he's sticking his tongue out as not to touch it ANYWHERE in his mouth. He's SURE it's dripping blood by the gallon. Of course, I realize his tongue is intact, a bit red and a tiny bit bloodly. If I look real close, I can see it. Immediately, I knew. But, I had to play along, you know. And not over-react. Cuz, that certainly wasn't gonna calm my boy down.

So into the bathroom we go. Spash some water on his tongue, get a paper towel to apply pressure with. He wants a bandaid but that ain't happening! He wants to know why and then says, "but can't we just TRY it?"

Then the convo starts. It goes something like this:

Me: Joshua, what happened?

Joshua: My tongue got stuck to a doorknob.

Me: A doorknob? How in earth did your tongue get on a doorknob?

Joshua: I put it there.

Me: Why did you put your tongue on a doorknob?

Joshua: Well, Sam did it and I wanted to try it, too.

Me: (okay, are you ready for this? You know it's coming, don't ya?) If Sam jumped off a bridge, would you do that, too?

Joshua: No.

Me: Now, do you think the {neighbors} wanted your germs all over their doorknob? We need to call them so they can clean them off!

Joshua: My tongue still hurts.

I tell ya...it's gonna be some LONG teenage years!

Here are the "frozen tongue" pictures (click to embiggen)!

First with the paper towel...






Then, the injury...











Then, back to the paper towel...






And, Matthew thinking... Way to go Ace! :sillygrin:






HA!

Thanks for allowing me to share, Melanie!! Now, run, get a blog. I'll help you.

Not Me! Monday

Not that I'd take a lie detector test or anything, but following is a list of things I am innocent of:

I did NOT try to rub the cradle cap off of my nearly 6 month old's head tonight with a towel. What if I hurt him!? (Seriously? UGH. Gross. 6 months is long enough already!)

I did NOT just put Baby Orajel on my toothache. (It didn't help.)

It wasn't ME that had to reposition my van in the parking lot at the store 3 times. Pull in, back up, pull in, back up, pull in. Dork, learn how to drive.

It was not me singing and rocking out to the Jo Bros on Sienna's iPod. I am a GROWN WOMAN for the love of pete. ('I've been to the year 3000, not much has changed but we live underwater...' You KNOW you know the words.)

Who was that SOBBING at Carrie Underwood singing at the CMA's on a YouTube video? FO SHO not me. Psh. Please.

I'm telling you what - God did NOT reprimand me today via a sermon on the radio after I DIDN'T yell at Cara to stop crying before I lost my mind. I most certainly do NOT need to ever be put back in line since I'm supermom and all.

Shhhh!!! This next one is a secret.

I would NEVER fall asleep on my poor, long-suffering husband during sex.

*cough cough*

You innocent, too? Do tell!

Friday Freebie Winner!!

And the winner is....

Maggie!!!

Congrats Maggie - it'll go out Monday.

Next week we have a GUEST HOST for the Friday Freebie. I wish *I* could enter, dangit!
*----------------------------------------*

Oh, hey? Funniest post of the week? Yeah. HILARIOUS. And I almost never use that word to describe things.



I hereby bestow this award to:

What can Brown do for YOU, Heidi?

12 Days of Giving

Ok, you've waited long enough. I'm afraid life got in the way of explaining the 12 Days of Giving but that doesn't make it any less important to us.

We hear all the time about how Christmas has gotten away from the true meaning. It really has become just another retail holiday, with people making long lists of expensive items they think they 'need'. People rail about how we've lost the meaning and our focus is in the wrong area. I'm one of those people that rant and rave - just ask Rob - he ADORES it. HA! <--Sarcasm.

I'm doing something about it this year.

We're not doing a bunch of expensive gifts. Heck, we're barely doing any gifts at all. We've asked our relatives not to get presents for Rob and I, as we are not getting any for anyone else. The kids? Well - we didn't feel like we could ask the grandparents to not get anything for the grandkids - but we asked them to limit their purchases, severely. Both for finanacial reasons and to take the focus off of the 'gimme more' aspect.

Christmas is about giving, right? I bet you thought I was going to be giving away something every day for twelve days, didn't you? LOL Um, no. Sorry. Just on Fridays.

This year we've started the 12 Days of Giving in our family. I'm inviting you to join us.

What is it? It's a play on the 12 Days of Christmas, I'm sure THAT much was obvious. For 12 days starting the 13th of December, our family is going to do SOMETHING - Random Act of Kindness, Deliberate Act of Kindness, Service, whatever you want to call it - we're doing it. We 've made a list and have all but the last act lined up to go. We can't decide on the 12th day yet, we're waiting for God to show us what we should do.

Want to see it? No? Close the window then because here it is:

1. Take cups of hot drinks to people holding "Going out of Business" signs at the intersections. -Man, what a crummy job, eh? And you have to be pretty desolate to take it, I would imagine. I always think they look so cold. Cara made cup holders for their cups, too!

2. Purchase and donate a toy to Toys for Tots

3. Bag of Food at Smith's. -At some grocery stores you can opt to purchase groceries or a Turkey/Ham for a family in need. $7 for some groceries or $10 for a Turkey/Ham at Smith's/Kroger's.

4. Deliver Dinner & gift to neighbor

5. Take Flowers to lady across the parking lot. -This lady is SO cranky. She is always yelling at the kids and just giving us dirty looks. WHo knows? Maybe she's miserable because she's sad and lonely. Maybe the flowers will help her to feel just a little warmth.

6. Donate coats to Love, Inc. -A Christian charity in town is collecting coats for kids in need. We have many coats. Don't really need 4 coats per kid.

7. Collect CHange to put in the Red Bucket at Wal-Mart. -We're going to scour our house and look for loose change laying around and then take it over and donate it.

8. Food Drive Scavenger Hunt. -We're hosting a little 'Party' for the neighborhood kids. Part of this party is that we are sending them out on a 'Scavenger Hunt' for food items to be donated to the local Food Bank. Food Banks around the nation are completely tapped out. More people than ever are in need of them and they can't keep up with the demand.

9. Buy lunch for someone holding a sign that says 'Please Help'. -Initially we said Homeless Person, but maybe they're not homeless. *shrug* We can buy them lunch.

10. Watch a couple of the neighborkids for the week, for free, while they're out on Christmas break so their parents don't have to come up with daycare money.

11. Take cookies to the Fire Department.

12. Whatever God lays on our hearts.

So there ya have it. The girls and I planned the list out, and they're excited to be DOING things for other people. Some of the things cost money, sure, and money is not readily available for extras - but we'll just cut out something like our 1 night eating out. It's a sacrifice that's worth it.

Our Bible verse:

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it. -Proverbs 3:27

Our Prayer:


Our invitation: Join us. Grab a button. Display it. Make a list. Invite others to join you.

Friday Freebie!!

I'm late, I know. I'm tired, you know. So, the drawing will be open until I close comments Saturday night and I'll announce the winner then.

It's Christmas time and I know you're all decking your halls with boughs of holly. (How ya feelin, Holly? Your boughs ok?) In order to assist you in this noble endeavor, I have a little something for ya from Thomas Kincaid. Ya know, the Painter of Light? Right, him.

Here's what we're (who's we? there is only one of me...) giving away today:





To enter, all you need to do is leave me a comment telling me your least favorite Christmas song, and why you loathe it. Easy peasy.

As always, if you link to me and put my handy dandy button on your blog, you get another entry. If you've already got it in your sidebar, let me know that when you enter so I can give you proper credit.

I will draw the winner Saturday night.

Thanks for following along! Maybe these kids will let me come play later today. Maybe.

Sidenote: Sienna is doing well - thank you for your prayers. She is in relatively little pain today and is sitting up facing forward!

Comments Closed

Prayer Request: Update

Thank you all so much for praying for my girl, yet again. Oy, this child? She's a mess this year. First the thing with her eye (was I blogging then??) then fracturing her sacrum (twice!) and now this.

So, we went to the Dr. this morning and she did an exam and sent us off for xrays. There doesn't seem to be any sign of infection or absess and she doesn't feel that there is anything wrong with her spine. The xray was precautionary. But Sissy's neck is so twisted they couldn't even get a good xray. She's laying on the couch with a max dose of tylenol with codeine on board. They don't give kid's muscle relaxers so they're hoping this will act as such. In a bit we re-evaluate if she can move at all and look at the possibility of doing an MRI or a CT scan. The tylenol is helping with her pain levels and it seems as though it's relaxing the muscles a bit.

So,diagnosis is Temporary Torticollis which is:

Torticollis literally means "twisted neck". It is derived from the Latin terms torta meaning twisted and collum meaning neck. The term "torticollis" actually refers to the positioning of the head.



That's my little Tort girl. Poor kiddo. :-( We'll know more tonight. I'm off to get Care Bear from school and take sis to PT. Thanks again for praying for her.

Prayer Request

Hey - Sienna is upstairs laying on her floor and can't move. We don't know what's going on with her, I'm waiting to talk to her physical therapist. Pinched nerve, maybe? We just don't know. Anyway. If you could pray, I'd be grateful. Thanks.

Coming Soon....

I have a little something to share with you...but it's not ready yet. B thinks he needs to be held and gets personally offended when I type. He is, as I type, chasing my hands on the keyboard with his mouth. Drool is pooling on the keys and this, my friends, will seriously irritate Mr. heidi.

So, I'll be back with details....hopefully soon.

Until then...a teaser..