Needing Your Prayers Once Again

This is my grandma Fraunhofer (my dad's mom) and my Aunt Karen (my dad's sister) on a visit to Maine two falls ago.

It seems like just yesterday.

My Aunt Karen is a woman of faith, a wife, a mom, a grandma, a nurse and so much more! She is an early riser and a hard, hard worker. She is a woman who is alway busy, always doing, always caring for others and nothing ever seemed to slow her down.

But Wednesday morning she was slowed down by a brain anurism.

I first of all praise God that he orchestrated the following circumstances. She was visiting her daughter in the Twin Cities, near big hospitals. I second of all praise God that my grandma found her. I third of all praise God that her son-in-law Jeremi had decided to go into work late and so was there to respond quickly and call 911. I praise God that she made it to the hospital still conscious and coherent. I praise God that they found the bleed and performed a successful surgery. I praise God that she made it through the surgery.

But there is a long road ahead, one that is uncertain. So please pray.
She is in the ICU and heavily sedated. Pray that there are no further anurisms, that she does not experience stroke, and that she makes a full and miraculous recovery.

The Poop Jar

While Ella has been pee potty trained for quite some time, she's still not pooped in the potty. Oh sure she did it a few times in the beginning but they weren't really successes, because they really just made her more scared. So we backed off because I was afraid she'd hold it in with the veracity that she held her pee in, and we'd have a real medical issue on our hands.

But when your child knows she needs to poop and afterwards says, "Mom, I pooped. You need to change my bum." And while changing her she reminds you to "Make sure you don't get any poop on your hands mom." You know it's time. And although this might be completely unrelated...when your toddler tells you she's "building a cantilever" and she actually is...she can probably go poop in the potty.

Now, just so you don't think we're totally being played...she does have some sensory processing issues that make change and new sensations very anxiety provoking. But we're working with someone from CDS and we've learned so much about small little things to do and changes to make that have made a WORLD of difference in just a few months time. But I'm still bound and determined to have her FULLY trained befor three.

So, in light of all that, we decided to wait until after all of our summer traveling was done...which was A LOT. We made a social story about it and read it a lot. We prepped her for it, telling her after we get back from camping, Pull-Ups are gone and she'd be pooping in the potty. We returned from camping and she participated in getting rid of the Pull-Ups. Then we went over the system with her and introduced the Poop Jar (thanks Kristie for the great idea!).

Once she fills the Poop Jar up with pom-poms she gets to take a trip to York's Wild Animal Kingdom. We scoped it out online and she's super excited. She said the kangaroo was her favorite animal so a picture of him made it on the jar.

So she gets to put one pom-pom in for every time she sits a while and tries. (This is difficult for her because up until now, she's run around for a good 1/2 hour to work out her poo.) And she gets to put 5 pom-poms in if she actually goes. She also gets a swedish fish and m&m's for an immediate reward when she goes.

I thought I was in for another long battle...but it's not been so bad. We implimented this on Sunday when we returned from camping and she resisted that day and most of the next, holding it in and clearly becoming uncomfortable. But then, on Monday, she did it! It still scares her, but she did it again today! I think this will prove to be much less of a struggle than I thought! Yay!

Wiggin'

So I was buying some pregnancy tests yesterday, (Now don't anyone go getting all excited...I buy pregnancy tests all the time. In fact, I think they've been a staple on my grocery list for the past 6 years except for the 9 months I was pregnant with Ella. That's not the point of this story. I know I was kind of evil with the picture over there :) loading my groceries into my cart and tending to Ella when I heard the cashier say, "Are you Wicken?"

To which I wanted to turn around and say, "Dear Lord, please tell me what about my appearance, speech, mannerisms or grocery items makes you think I'm Wicken and I will go home and immediately change all of those things!" But instead I politely stated, "I'm sorry, come again?"

At which point the woman held up my pregnancy tests and restated her original question, "Are you Wiggin'?"

"Oh, no not at all," I replied, " We're hoping."

"Oh, oh my gosh. That's so great," she responded as her face lit up, "I'll say a prayer for you. It's so nice to hear someone wanting a baby!"

It was an interesting and ultimately nice little exchange. But I felt my heart heavy as I wheeled my cart to the car and drove home. Don't get me wrong. I know there are still plenty of people who want children and plan and hope for them. But what a sad statement it is about our society when those people... those planning, wanting, hoping for, happy to have a baby people are exceptions to the norm.

How have we reached a point where it is commonplace, for people to be so reckless in their actions. To think only of themselves and their wants and not consider what the consequences might be...pregnancy, birth, the creation of another human life that had no say whether or not to come into this world. And how it breaks my heart to know that the typical and expectel response to being pregnant is to be "wiggin'".

Call me old fashioned here...but we ALL know how babies are made. If you don't want one...DON'T MAKE ONE. AND, if you can't take care of one, DON'T MAKE ONE. I long for a world where babies are made only when they are wanted. Where they are brought into the world only when they will be given the utmost love, attention, financial wellbeing and stability in life. I know...I'm a dreamer. But I like to keep dreaming.

(Stepping off soapbox) That's all for now.

How Our Garden Grows

I'd say our first year gardening has been a success. Here is a salad I made the other night solely from our garden alone! Lettuce, cherry tomato, pea pods, cucumber and carrots. Yummm! I've pickled 6 quarts of cucumber and eaten many fresh. I've used our onions in recipes, and sliced some beautiful big tomatoes as well. We've got squash and pumpkins coming in too! AND I've also canned 22 pints of dilly beans, frozen several pounds of beans more, eaten near a ton of beans and there are still some growing and blossoming! They're the bean plants that never end!

I got to thinking about our meager little plot and I was overwhelmed with gratitude. How blessed we are to have a home, a beautiful home. How fortunate we are to have land that we own. How prosporous we are to be able to buy seed and supplies. And how favored we are to have MORE than enough food to eat every day...from our own garden none the less.

Take a moment to think about the world as a whole. There is a HUGE percentage of the world's population that does not have these things. Think about why it is that you were born where you were born, and live where you live and have the things you have. If you live in America you are fortunate and you are rich. Don't keep it all to yourself. Spread the love.

Update On Baby Jude

Baby Jude is one week old today!!! Praise the Lord! This is a little boy who had brain surgery in the first days of his life because blood was covering most of his brain. The doctors asked his parents 4 times in the first few days if they wanted to just take him off life support. They said no, and have an army of people praying with them.

As of Today:

An eye that they thought would never work, is responding well.

The dopamine that was once required to keep his blood pressure stable, has been turned off (A VERY specific prayer his momma, Mandy, had asked for.)

He was tested off the respirator and breathed on his own!

He is being transferred back to the first hospital because they have an excellent pediatric heart surgeon. Pray that the doctor will do the surgery and it will fix his two hear defects. This boy is a fighter and God is answering prayers for healing.

The road is no doubt still long and he is by no means out of the woods. Keep praying!

Anaplasmosis

The verdict is in. Hunter has anaplasmosis. This is what the vet thought based on the symptoms. It is very hard to diagnose by bloodwork but they did confirm it.

It is so similar to Lyme disease. It is caused by a bacteria carried in ticks. Dogs get lethargic, lose their appetite, get upset stomach, have stiff swollen joints and usually run a fever. Hunter never ran a fever. If it progresses too far, they can have seizures, neurological affects and it can affect the liver and kindneys. He's not had any seizures or neurological affects and it doesn't seem to have affected his liver or kidneys, let's hope not.

The good news is that after a four week course of antibiotics, most dog make a full recovery. He's been on his meds for one week and the only symptom he still displays is a limp, but it's much more slight than before. His prednizone has cleared up his itching, he's eating like a champ, and chasing his ball once again. Yay!

Spiritual Conversations With My Two Year Old

Me: I love you.
Ella: Why you love me Momma?
Me: Oh sweetie, I can't even begin to tell you all the reasons why. Because I'm your Momma and I'll always love you no matter what.
Ella: Yeah.
Me: Do you know who else loves you?
Ella: Daddy.
Me: Yes absolutely! Do you know you else?
Ella: You tell.
Me: God. God loves you very much.
Ella: And Jesus.
Me: Yes. (Decided not to delve into the whole Trinity, Jesus is God thing right now.)
Ella: Are we going to go see God? Up in Heaven?
Me: Oh yes honey, some day. But not right now. And hopefully not for a long time.
Ella: Are we going to go dere in da car?
Me: No sweetie, when we go to Heaven we won't need a car. God will take us up, up, up through the sky.
Ella: (Eyes grow WIDE with amazement.) Are we gonna have wings Momma!?