a little unreal

Today is Andrews first day at the new job. So we begin a new chapter in our lives.

It felt very odd getting up so late and still having time to have a fairly relaxed morning. Well there was the crazyness of getting the school kids to brush their hair and teeth and find socks but still.

I made Andrew breakfast and he had time to sit and check some tech news and leisurely get his stuff together. It certainely felt very different. Normally its how quickly can he grab his stuff and get out the door, maybe throw an egg sandwich at him as he goes out the door.

Now I look outside and see the car sitting there and it just is out of character for our typical day. Andrew took his bike this morning and Im reminded what a blessing this new job is, in that he does have the ability to ride his bike.

I think we both had given up on finding a job here in town that paid enough for him to work close to home. Yet God took that desire and fulfilled it in his time, Praising him in his goodness.

Gideon has recovered nicely from his surgery, other than a post surgery ear infection. That fever the day after , panicked us for a bit but no problems thankfully.

We all have been busy with end of the year school thing:band concerts, field trips, projects etc. So I think the kids are all looking forward to a summer off here in another week. I will be going to Seattle next weekend as well, so trying to arrange all those details as well.

Im in the process, mentally at least, of figuring out a summer schedule. I suspect it needs to be a bit more structured than I like. Loose structure but breakfast and lunch at a certain time, a time limit to finish chores by, free time from this point to this point;that kind of thing.

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Surgery went great

He came thru with flying colors. I really appreciate all the prayers, I could definitely feel them. Most in that he was not cranky for not getting to eat and only having some juice up until 9 am. He just was a little fussy at getting told no when he couldnt pull cords or push the nurse button. So that was a great relief.

He took a little longer in the recovery area as he was just worn out and wanted to sleep. We couldnt go home until he had woken up and had something to drink. We eventually had to encourage him to wake up and stay up and then we finally left after 4 pm. Lets just say it was a loong afternoon.

Gideon is moving a little slower than normal but seems to be happy to be home and happily drinking his milk!

Thanks for praying
MJ

Prayers are appreciated- Gideons surgery tommorrow

Gideon will be having his hernia surgery(he has 3) tommorrow, 5/21, at 1145 central time. The hardest part will be the no food after 345 am rule. He cant then have milk after 545 am and no clear liquids after 845 am.

Im thankful for that at least, since apple juice is considered a clear liquid, and that will hopefully tide him over until close to the time we leave. Since the hospital is an hour away and we have to be there by 1015.

The no food thing is pretty big though, he pretty much wants breakfast upon waking most days and will not be too pleased with the lack of it.

Please pray for his surgeon, Dr rich, for us as we wait thru the surgery and mostly for my little guy. Its always scary when they get put under.

God is good ... all the time
MJ

sorta like the song that does not end

I had the motherlode of a headache today. It started around noon or so and did not disapate fully until after 630 pm. I dont typically get long term headaches or migraines or anything so it was a bit unusual.

Im thankful that its mostly gone now though. It made it hard to function at times esp when the kids were uncooperative. A nap, drinking water and taking headache meds didnt help. Guess it just needed to wear itself out.

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Its official!

Congratulations Andrew!

He officially accepted a job as a IT engineer this morning and will start may 30th. He will be working here at a local business in town, so his commute will go from 1 hour to 5 minutes!~ Thats a pretty big time savings.

We are very excited to embark on a new journey!

God is good ... all the time!
MJ

Whirlwind of a week

Pretty busy week, with babysitting, doctor appts, field trips, track meets, ultrasound and job negotations.
It is fast catching up with me, I am exhausted. Very much looking forward to tommorrow where i have nothing specifically that "has" to be gone to tommorrow. Id like to take the little ones out in the stroller and do some rummage saling but thats at my discretion. And well of course there is the resident housework that is fast multiplying during the time in which I have been gone this week.

Our world is a bit shaken up right now. Andrew is in the process of switching jobs and negotiating the final details. I think it will be a really good change for our family as he will be losing the commute. Details to come as it finalizes but God is awesome! The timing is amazing just as gas prices are really starting to go thru the roof, God comes thru with this offer. I know I shouldnt be surprised at his provisions but I am taken aback at his goodness to us.

Gideon also was diagnosed with cerebral palsy this week at the developmental doctor appt. I must say I wasnt expecting this one. He has improved so much in skill and development(although it needs refining for sure) that I was all pumped to show him off. And while the doc was really pleased with his progress and how far hes come, his muscle tone issues are still there as much as they ever were. Thus the diagnosis, she had waited this far to see if the muscle tone would change but it didnt.

Exactly what this means, we dont know.

What we do know is that we still love Gideon just as he is and that God is not shaken off the throne with this diagnosis.

There is a broad range of disablities with this disease. For example intellgience ranges from normal/above normal to learning disablities to mental retardation. We wont know the range of that for a long time. Some kids cannot even walk but I suspect Gideon will as hes already walking around furniture, just needs some extra stablity in his legs as he has low tone there. The one thing that we do know is that the muscle tone does not improve nor does it get worse. So where he has low tone now, will always be low and where its high, it will stay high. There are physical therapies and occupation therapies that can help him adjust to life but it will not change the tone issue.

Im in the process of reading a book the doc has given me and absorbing as much as I can. Then we will begin figuring out how best we can help him, what therapies are worth doing, how many we can tolerate without it being too much, etc.

Prayers would be greatly appreciated as we go thru this time period of our lives. God does like to shake things up now and then.

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Mothers day was nice

We had a pretty low key day and that was nice. Church and stuff in the morning, thankfully Andrews nasty headache went away before he had to sing.

Andrew made homemade fajitas for lunch -- yum and I got to open my presents. I got a bunch of homemade ones from the elementary kids. I enjoyed those and a really cute glass globe bear knicknack. Andrew got me a really nice card, a box of my favorite choc mints and a max lucado book.

The afternoon was relaxing as well, the kids played wii and Andrew and I napped! Then we finished off the evening with out traditional little house on the prairie viewing and a watching a movie as well.

Although Im tired today, it was a nice day.

Babysitting today and tommorrow, medical appt for Gideon wed and thurs and I still need to schedule an ultrasound for me as well. So looks to be a busy week ahead.

Lots of little details to tend to as well.

God is good ... all the time!
MJ

Today seems full of waiting

Waiting for the washing machine to finish, waiting for the kids to finish lunch, waiting for it to be time for Gideons doc appt, waiting to hear when Andrews interview will be.

Despite having 9 children with a 10th on the way, IM not very good at waiting. Although despite my trying, I rarely can hurry up anything im waiting for. So i guess i just better settle in for the ride.

Had my first prenatal yesterday. I did get to hear a really busy heartbeat :), active little bugger already. The more nervewracking news is that Im already starting to measure larger. That in itself wouldnt worry me a lot except thats exactly how Gideons pregnancy started. So its all i can do not to worry. Trying to turn it all over to God and let him keep it!

Ill have an early ultrasound somtime next week and verify the dates are accurate.

Until then more waiting lol. Andrew got word that they want him to come in for a 2nd meeting at one of the jobs he interviewed with last week. So that too is in Gods hands as we wait!

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Catching up

Last week we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary on May 1st. In some ways it feels like we have been together forever and in others just yesterday that we walked down that aisle. We have our moments :), but I really do enjoy being married to my sweetheart.

He picked up a card for the kids to give to me, picked up a really sweet thoughtful card(and he wrote 15 things in it) and got me a water bottle for my bike. He also took thurs and friday off to celebrate, so we had lots of time together. On our actual anniversary... where did we end up , well walmart and menards of course. I love it that we recognize that sometimes practical wins out over romantic. We just had Gideon that day, since my friend watched the other two for me. So that was nice, and we checked out a mexican restaurant for lunch that was really yummy.

Only 35 more years to go til our 50th lol! We are counting down and will plan a big celebration when we hit that mark!

We also did some rummage saling that day and found a really good deal on a riding lawnmower. So I joked that i bought andrew a riding lawnmower for our anniversary.

I did manage to farm the kids out for the weekend(thank you to all of you that helped out). So it really was nice to just spend some time together. We went to a late night movie(ironman), we rummaged saled, we took a bike ride, watched a movie at home and had some nice meals. We commented more than once how quiet it was in our home. The kids all seemed to have a really good time and the littles were certainely glad to be home.

Im so thankful for my wonderful husband who puts up with me each and every day. I love just being with him.

God is good ... all the time!

MJ