The count down

5 days until surgery

Please keep praying

And to top it all off

On Monday I went downstairs to find that 'someone' had left the freezer open. And I had meat thawing. Thankfully, it was only the stuff on the top shelf. It reminds me of the Family Circus comics (remember them - am I dating myself) - apparently we had "I don't know" and "Not Me" visit our house. And one of them rudely left the freezer open!

2 - 3 lb packages of ground beef

1 - package of boneless pork

2 - frozen pizzas (we ate those right away for lunch on Monday)

Last night we used one of the packages of ground beef - my oldest was in charge of dinner and he cooked the beef, made brown rice, mixed it in and added spaghetti sauce. It is very good and very easy. We had enough to eat and some to freeze.

Tonight the family had the boneless pork.

And now I just have to make up a batch of chili and taco meat with the last 3 lb package of beef.

I will freeze that for when things get crazy in the next week or two. Just didn't plan on being this prepared with meals!!

No one has laid claim to the freeze incident. No one ever leaves it open?! Yet, at least 4 different times in the last two years I have found it open and had to cook up meat. It is most frustrating! How hard can it be to close the freezer?! I have banned "I don't know" and "Not Me" from touching the freeze.

husband and family update

Some of you have received this in email form but I decided to post it here so that everyone will have the information and know what to pray for (please pray).

Tom has had pain in his foot for awhile and we have had the doctor look at it but it 'seemed' sprained. Well, we went again to the doctor (different doctor) since it never seems to heal - and they did an x-ray. Interesting fluke is that they took the x-ray at an odd angle that they don't normally do - and thank God they did that as it is the only angle that gave a glimpse of the problem. So they recommended an MRI -- and after that we were told he has a bone tumor or a cyst. (Scary)

So we got sent to the foot specialist (surgeon). We saw him on Tuesday. He is 95% sure that it is a cyst. And that is REALLY good news!! At least we are not (most likely) dealing with cancer. He can't be 100% sure until it is tested but he is an expert and I am resting comfortably with his 95% outlook.

BUT he said this is the biggest cyst he has EVER seen. The problem is that it has eaten away all the bone marrow and instead it is all cyst. It is about the size of a fist in his heal - it is huge --- and the doctor said HUGE about 20 times while we were there - they couldn't believe it hadn't broken the bone yet - which is a good thing. Because there is a concern it could happen at any time the doctor bumped someone else from the surgery schedule and put my husband in. He is having surgery on Monday. While we are thankful this is a cyst - bone cysts are still a big deal. The doctor told him that this is one of the most painful surgeries. Extremely painful.

For those of you interested in medical stuff and not squeamish - here are a few more details -

They have to go in and cut a kind of hinged door where they peel back the bone. Then the doctor goes in to remove the cyst - and then he will scrape out the inside and scrape the bone fully so no cyst remains. (This is the painful part). Now there will be a hollow bone. So he will use bone from cadavers and other putty --- the cadaver bone is fully sterilized (and I am not sure of how they do this but the technology is amazing.) so that when it is used there is no issue with rejection or getting a disease from the material used. Then he closes up the bone and staples it shut. The body still recognizes that the cadaver bone is bone material and it will help it to regenerate new bone material. Plus something is needed to fill the space until his own bone can grow. As his own bone grows back (the body is amazing and this is kind of like the healing that goes on after a bone breaks) the material stuffed in there will be reabsorbed by the body.

Tom will not be able to put weight of any kind on his foot for a LONG time --- in the first two weeks any pressure will pop the stitches. He will not be walking for most likely 6 months. He will be out on short term disability from work for most likely at least a month. He is very upset about this forced immobility. I am just so happy it is a cyst and not something so much worse. This might be painful but it is fixable.

There is always a concern for my husband to have surgery as he reacts to many meds. He is allergic to penicillin and reacts negatively to many pain meds. I have to say this is the first time I have had a doctor WARN us over and over how the first 3 days will suck and how painful this surgery is. He was even told to error on the side of too much pain meds rather than less. (Doctors NEVER say that!!)

So Tom is worried about this all. He won't be able to do much moving and will need his family to get things for him.

After Tom's surgery - we have his post op apt on Tuesday of the following week in the AM and that afternoon my middle child has to go in to a children's dermatologist / surgeon as he has a mole that is changing. He most likely will be having surgery in May sometime to have that removed.

My oldest is getting confirmed the first weekend in May - and I was asked if there is a party for him - and sadly nope - we are just having the grandparents over after - and hoping they bring dinner with them!!

So if you made it this far - thank you. Please pray for the doctor and his staff. Pray for successful surgery and healing for Tom. Pray for my sanity. My husband doesn't handle pain or being cooped up well.

quotes

The kids and I just read a great book - we are studying the space race and Buzz Aldrin had a book titled Look to the Stars. Here are some quotes:

"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

- Isaac Newton

"Just remember -- when you think all is lost, the future remains."

- Robert Goddard

"Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing."

- Wernher von Braun

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."

- Dr. Robert Goddard

"I also hope you will learn from history and be inspired, then look to the stars and dare to dream!

- Buzz Aldrin

Science

My younger two and I are so excited ---- the new Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology book is FINALLY out (well almost - it is due to be shipped on or about 4/23) We have been waiting a whole year for this book. It was suppose to be out last November but got delayed due to a redesign by the publisher.

I will let you know how we like it once it arrives. I broke down this year and actually also bought the notebook journal to go with the curriculum. Whooo hooo!!! Eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Art class focused on creating a landscape utilizing wallpaper as the medium. The students cut out shapes and designs from various colors and textures of wallpaper. They learned about foreground, middle ground, and background. The students really created some unique landscapes. Very interesting project.

This is my middle son - we aren't sure what is up with the cap - he went through a phase where for about a week he wore it everywhere. Thankfully I believe that phase is over - but who knows?!

Soup supper

Every Wednesday throughout Lent our church hosts a soup supper for church attendees. It is really fun. It is basically a social event for our congregation. My kids love to volunteer for the soup suppers. We have been doing it for many years and my youngest really gets into it. He is 'in charge' of the drinks - he makes sure that there are glasses of water, glasses of apple juice, chocolate and white milk set out in abundance.

Here is JJ serving drinks! He just loves manning his table!

I am just thrilled that they are learning to serve. We really believe that as a parent we can't just say serving is important - we have to model service and so we try to find opportunities where we can all serve together as a family.