Thriving in the Metroplex

Half Way Day

2012-02-11T19:03:00.001-06:00

We are officially half way there!!! (barring some unforeseen event)!!!! Here are a few great things from halfway day.

1. It was Saturday so Aaron and Tammy were around all day to entertain Maddy.

2. It was cold so we built a fire in the fire place.

3. A roly poly snuck inside on some of the wood and made Maddy's day. She would have played with it all day if we would have let her I think.

4. Maddy played with the dogs a little bit before supper. At one point she piped up and said, "Abbey is cute. Houdini is not cute." Aaron asked her if Houdini wasn't cute, what was he? Maddy said, "Houdini is...Houdini is very sweet." We'd beg to differ, but, hey, whatever.

5. We had the most incredible stuffed peppers for supper. Wish I could say they were all my creation, but Martha told me how to make them. Email me if you want the recipe. Even Tam, who doesn't really like stuffed peppers, said they were very good.

24--Fletcher Style

2012-02-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

(times and sequence of events may not be exact as the relation of the facts is solely dependent on my memory)
8:00 a.m., Fletcher household, Saturday February 4

After a leisurely breakfast of french toast or "french toes" as Maddy likes to call it, Aaron calls the mechanic and arranges to take our car in so they can replace the thermostat

9:00 a.m.

We take the car over the mechanics and go do some errands. This includes a lengthy trip to Wal-Mart because Maddy cannot make up her mind about which stickers she wants to buy with her money from Grams.

11:00 a.m.

Get home and spend and hour and a half cutting the dogs hair and giving them a bath. (During the week we had spent several evenings shaving on the dogs as well. We cut about 5 dogs worth of hair off two dogs over the course of the week).

1:00p.m.

Leftovers for lunch and a call from the mechanic. Better not replace the thermostat. Looks like it is the transmission.

3:00 p.m.

Car has been picked up. Aaron takes Maddy outside with him to vacuum out the car and the Rodeo. Mom takes a nap. :)

4:30 p.m.
Holly wakes up and looks out the window. Maddy is inside the car with all the doors shut and Aaron is waving and gesturing to her. Uh oh. Kid locked in car. Holly goes outside and discovers that both sets of keys are in there with her as well.

5:15 p.m.

After about 45 minutes of trying to get Maddy to press the unlock button on the door, we decide to call a locksmith. The locksmith refuses to come because a child is trapped in the car. Our last resort is to call 911.

5:30 p.m.
A policeman, 4 firemen, and large fire truck show up in front of our house. Maddy happily plays away inside the car and gets a kick out of everyone standing around the car trying to get it unlocked.

5:45 p.m.
They get the car unlocked and we have breakfast burritos for dinner. Yum!

6:30 p.m.
Maddy sits on the potty chair so she can get a sticker. No one is watching her. When Aaron goes back to check on her she has one of my Zyrtec pills in her mouth. Aaron places a call to poison control and finds out that it is no big deal. (We think she ate one or two pills before he caught her but we'll never know for sure.)

7:30 p.m.
Bedtime for a little girl who did not take a nap. Aaron, Holly, and Tammy watch a movie
.

10:00 p.m.

Bed time! ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

9:15 a.m. Brookhaven Church, Sunday February 5th
Arrive at church for Bible Class.

10:50 a.m.

Holly reports to the 4 and 5 year old room to help with Bible class during worship hour

11:40 a.m.

With just a few more minutes to go until parents come and get their children Holly tries to pick up/move a child out of the way so other children do not step on him while singing "Father Abraham" and hears a pop and had a bolt of lightning shoot through her back

12:10 p.m.
Holly limps out of church, unable to carry anything and barely able to walk. Manages to make chili for super bowl watching and then spend the rest of the day laying on the floor with an ice pack on her back as Maddy repeatedly asks, "Mama, does your back hurt? You got another kid and hurt your back."

Hey, I think our family can give Jack Bauer a run for his money (although I guess this is more like 28).

2 weeks down....4 weeks and 4 days to go

2012-02-02T14:50:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's only been two weeks since Maddy's surgery. The weeks have seemed long since we've had to keep her from putting weight on her left foot. She is finally starting to default to crawling when she wants to move. This is very helpful because I feel more comfortable taking my eyes off her for a few seconds. We still have to watch her like a hawk though.
Surgery went very well and very long. They told us two hours and it ended up being three. They moved several bones around and pinned them together to hold everything in place. They also had to cut several tendons and move those around to hold different things together. The doctor felt like the surgery went exactly as expected so that was good to hear because that was not the case with her hamstring release last April.She did much better coming out of anesthesia this time too. She did not have the oxygen stablization issues she had last time. By Friday afternoon we were all definitely ready to get home.
The last two weeks have stretched my creativity for sure. We color, watch movies, go on walks, read books, cook (Maddy sits in chair and mostly watches), give the dogs a bath while she watches (this is daddy's activity to do with her), and whatever other silliness we can think of as shown in the video.
Last weekend we went to stock show. Seeing baby chicks was the highlight of the outing for Maddy. Cows followed in a close second. We also got to see goats, chickens, rabbits, a miniature horse show, and a milking parlor demo. We had been cooped up for about a week trying to get the swelling Maddy's foot to go down (which it did about Wed. or Thurs. of last week) so the outing was a great mental break and break from the house for all of us. A friend told me about a place in Lewisville where you can skate with your kid in a stroller every Wednesday morning for $3. I say BRING IT ON.

This is the outfit Maddy picked out for herself to "go feed cows".

Looking at the wascally wabbits.

Petting farm!

Crime and Punishment?

2012-01-25T17:51:00.000-06:00

Well, Maddy is just getting to that age where she is getting pretty challenging behavior wise. I'm not saying she is a bad kid, but most of the time she is a nightmare to discipline. Her number one strategy to get out of trouble is to make you start laughing while she is getting in trouble, and, unfortunately, she is excellent at this.
Her other strategy that she has recently developed is explaining she is not really doing what she is getting in trouble for doing. Example: " Maddy stop fussing." "No. I not fussing. I just gotta cry."

Hmmmmm.

For awhile we were using time outs when she wasn't listening or obeying. I'd put her in our room for about two minutes to think about what she did. She hated being in there by herself--until she discovered Mommy's underwear drawer. Sigh.......
I've also been trying consequences that are a direct result of her behavior. The difficult part about this is that I'm not sure her memory is quite long enough to get the association yet. Right after we got back from Christmas vacation I took her to the library to get some movies. She was in a very grumpy mood and had a breakdown because I had to put her down to get my wallet out and pay a library fine. (I always end up with a fine over vacations because I need reading material and then I never remember when the books are due. I always end up renewing online but not til I've forgotten it for a few days and wracked up a large enough fine that they won't let me check out or do anything else until I pay it. Hmmm, maybe I just figured out where Maddy got her lack of changing irresponsible patterns of behavior despite being faced with direct consequences of that behavior.) I told her she needed to stop crying and that if she couldn't have a good attitude we'd go home without any movies. She straightened up for a bit, but then had a breakdown again when I put her down to get out my library card, so we left the library without the movies she'd picked out. She cried about it all the way home and then kept mentioning for the rest of the day how she wasn't supposed to cry in the library (close to what she was supposed to learn, but not exactly). We haven't been able to make it back to the library since then so I will be curious to see if she remembers that incident and the consequences or if she's completely forgotten about it because it's been too long.
As she continues to grow and develop in opinions, personality, and independence, I cringe more and more at the inadequacy I feel in how to discipline her and guide her from day to day. Sometimes I end the day feeling like I've ruined her for good. At these times all I can do is say a little prayer I've come to say quite often in the last few months:

Lord, sometimes I don't know why you chose me to parent this child. I make so many mistakes and I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. Please give me the wisdom to do the best I can and please take over and teach Maddy and help her to learn how to follow you and how to live up to her full potential despite all the things I forget to do, don't know how to do, and all the times I mess up.

Praying for my kid. Probably the best parenting decision I've made all day.

Kenya mission trip 2012

2012-01-17T21:05:00.002-06:00

I made it back from Kenya all in one piece and without Malaria, in part to the mosquito net you see above, but probably more to do with the fact that I only saw about 10 mosquitoes the entire time I was there and not a single bite :-) The trip was truly amazing!!!! God blessed our team in both breadth and depth. This was my 3rd time to Kenya, but the first time I lead a team. I was a bit nervous, but we didn't leave anybody at a terminal, nobody got sick, and everybody grew in Christ so I have chalked it up as a success.

We got into Nairobi late Friday night and stayed the night at a hotel there. The next morning we got up and went straight to our village. The camera battery was dead the first day so no pics of us driving down the rift valley or of the wonderful welcome the ladies of Kwambekenya gave us as we pulled up. On Saturday we spent most of the afternoon singing with the community and then introducing the team to the different projects that the community has worked on with the support of 410 Bridge. If you haven't yet visited www.410bridge.org I encourage you to do so....it is really an amazing organization with a unique protocol for helping the communities it serves. 410 is all about developing leaders in the community and then simply partnering along side them. A much better model than going in and saying this is what we want to do and seeing if the community will go along with it.

On Sunday we split into two groups and went to two churches there in the community. I went to the one you see pictured above. A couple of our team members brought guitars and they went to a different church across the way (and boy were they a popular duo....especially with the kids). Inside the church was very dark since there wasn't any electrical lighting, but man was the worship AWESOME!!!!! It lasted 3 hours and it felt like only one. I loved worshiping physically. By the time we were done I was tired. I would feel like a total doofus at home but there it was so fun to just dance and jump around with them as they sang praise songs and beat their cow skin drums. It was a great experience.

One of the things you quickly notice is that it is mostly women and children that go to church and there is a real ministry opportunity to raise up men for Christ. Later in the week we spoke/counseled the 7th and 8th grade boys and I really drove home to them what it meant to be a "real man." I said a real man has three attributes, 1) he loves his wife, 2) he loves his Children, and 3) He loves Christ more than himself. Finally, I encouraged them to stay involved in their churches. But what I had to say was nothing to what one of our team members shared with them. He shared his testimony and described how important it was to stay away from drugs and in school and that only Christ can bring true happiness. It was amazing what the boys got out of the talk...one of the leaders of the communities asked them what they learned and they were able to describe it all back to us. It was really an amazing opportunity to share with the kids about Christ in the public school system.

One Monday we started working on the pre-primary (pre-school) school building that the community had started a couple of weeks ago. You can see the pile of rocks below that we would smash into gravel for the floors and side walks. It was very physical work and what was really cool is that many people in the community would come out and work on the project....all volunteer, only one mason and about 4 of his workers were paid. The other 100+ people that worked on the project in different shifts were simply people from the Kwambekenya who had bought into the 410 Bridge model of taking ownership of their community.

This is a pic of the snow peas one person was growing. Basically everybody in rural Kenya is a farmer and it serves as their only source of income. While working on the school I made a strong relationship with one of the local farmers. I asked him about his farming and here are a few tidbits I picked up. For the peas he could get about 3 groups a year (never freezes) for a total of about 1500 kgs (since this is America and nobody understands how the rest of the world describes things that is about 3300lbs). The price he could sell them for varied greatly from 6.5 cents to 60 cents/per pound! If you figure an avg of 40 cents a pound you are looking at only about 1300 bucks a year....and that doesn't count expenses!! I was amazed at how many people I came across that earned less than 2 or 3 dollars a day.

This family above was really special. Mary is a widow who lost her husband about 2.5 years ago. Her husband died on a Sunday and her youngest was born the following Tuesday!! This picture was taken outside of her kitchen. We again split the team in two and went and did a house visits to two homes in the community chosen by the leadership council. We brought her "provisions" and then made a fry bread like meal called chapati....oh so good!!! It is something that often only gets made for very special occasions like Christmas or Easter. As we were cooking it kids from everywhere started showing up at Mary's house...it was hilarious. The kitchen has a dirt floor and we are using a stool for a preparation table of the food. It was very dark and very, very smoky inside. The kitchen is often not attached to the house because of the fire danger and the intense smoke.

This is a group of kids that would great us each morning as we drove to the community. They were just so cute we had to stop and take a picture of them.

This is a camel that was near the hotel we stayed at. I got a kick out of his smile. I guess we could have ridden him for 10 bucks but nobody on the team took him up on it.

One the last day before going back to Nairobi we did "vacation mode" and went on a boat and ground safari. The lake was so full that where I walked last March was full of water and beautiful lilies. We again split into two and went on a boat ride in a lake full of hippos and amazing birds!

We were very fortunate and got to see two hippos completely out of water. This is very hard to come by, but our guide happened to notice them in the shallows and basically followed them as they tried to get into the actual lake. In order to do so they had to come over a small land mass. Hippos are the number one killer of humans in Africa (in terms of wild animals that is), so it was an experience being out in a little boat by the hippos.

This is a picture of a Fish Eagle swooping down to snap a Tilapia out of the lake....that was really cool to see.

This is a Water Buffalo telling us it was time to leave him alone. One the ground safari we saw a ton of them, but this one was neat b/c he was by himself and in a really picturesque place.

Lots of babies running around. The baby zebra here is very cute. In this specific place there were now predators or water buffaloes so you actually walked among the Wildebeest, Zebras, Impalas, Water Bucks, and Giraffes.

This was at the safari lodge where they did a show on traditional African dances.

On Friday morning we left the wildlife reserve and headed back to Nairobi to start the long trek home. I loved this pic of the lone Acacia tree with the mountains in the background.

This is our team that went on the trip from Brookhaven and LifeBridge church. The lake below is Lake Nakuru and it is famous for thousands of flamingos, but they migrated just a week before we got there.

Finally in Nairobi we stopped at a bead and pottery place called Kazuri which is an amazing place that employees hundreds of widows and orphans from the slums of Nairobi. Here is its story: http://www.kazuriamerica.com/story Next to this place was a place where you could feed a Giraffe...I mad him work for his alfalfa pellet from me and man do they have a long tongue.

The entire trip was just amazing and some of the relationships built and opportunities to share Christ and encourage brethren halfway across the country was exhilarating. God is so good to us and I am thankful that Brookhaven Church helped sponsor me to be able to go and show our love to the village of Kwambekenya. I encourage all of you to take a mission trip to a country like Kenya and be touched by the joy you see in these believers despite the fact that most live on less than 2 or 3 dollars a day. It really does change your perspective and remind you just how blessed we are.

God is so Good and I pray for Kenya so often!
Love you all,
Aaron

Christmas, Christmas and More Christmas

2012-01-04T19:35:00.000-06:00

After having Christmas in 7 different places I think Maddy is expecting a present opening session about every two or so days.

Our first Christmas as at our house in Dallas. See previous post for how that went...an ER visit was in the mix. Next we went to my Mema's house in Farwell. We ended up having a White Christmas in West Texas. The tradition is to do gifts and Christmas dinner on Christmas eve. Aaron had never been to Christmas eve in Farwell so it was fun for him to experience how I did Christmas growing up.

We saved one gift for Maddy to open Christmas morning. It was a lot of fun to see her find her gift under the tree and unwrap it.

On Christmas morning we went to Lubbock to my other grandparents. We got together with everyone for Christmas dinner in the evening and then my immediate family did our gift exchange. The only downer was that Cindy and Brad and Bethany couldn't make it down to Texas.

We drove to Colorado the next day and stopped at Aaron's Fletcher grandparent's ranch for a day and did Christmas with them. They had a good amount of snow on the ground and we actually had to use 4WD on our Isuzu to get up their driveway. When we left we didn't need 4WD anymore but we noticed our car was pulling to the right really bad. We thought a hub didn't come out so put it in and out of 4WD again. After that we heard a ominous clinking and rattling. We pulled of as soon as we could, and sure enough....car trouble. We called a tow into Woodland Park and our CV axle was sheered on the right wheel. They said they could have it repaired by 8:30 the next morning. My Dad came and picked us up and we stayed the night in Colorado Springs. Long story...but to make it short, the car was not ready until 1:30 that afternoon. Really frustrating because we lost a lot of time with Aaron's family.

We drove to Montrose on Thursday afternoon and got to Aaron's brother's house in time for dinner. We did Christmas gifts with them and Aaron's mom made cupcakes for the kids to decorate. Maddy spent most of her time eating her icing off her butter knife. She had a great time with her cousins. She loved playing dart guns with her cousins and dad.

On Friday we went to feed cows with Aaron's dad. They had a blow up sled and the kids had a great time pulling each other up and down the road on it and getting rides from Uncle Aaron.

On Saturday, we went to Aaron's aunt's house in Grand Junction for new year's eve. Aaron's sister brought stuff for the girls to do pedicures and facials. We had tons of yummy snacks and played cards until the clock struck midnight. We also did presents with them.

On New Year's Day we went back across the mountains to Brad and Cindy's house in Denver. We had our traditional New Year's scrabble tournament, but ended up in a three way tie without having time to play a game to break it. Still super fun. We did presents with the Halls and Brad and Cindy fed us like royalty. They had gotten a Keirug (sp?) for Christmas and it was fun to use that and try out all the different coffees.

We took the kids on a walk and to play in the park. They had a great time. Bethany loves to walk around and stomp on snow.

The cousins in their matching princess jammies. Maddy got it in her head that she wanted to get Bethany a "princess present" for Christmas. Maddy already had princess pjs so she picked out some for Bethany's christmas gift.

On Tuesday we took Aaron to the airport to fly back to Dallas. He is leaving for Kenya for 10 days on Thursday. Tam and I will drive back to Dallas next Monday. Aaron took the camera for the Kenya trip so hopefully he will have some great pictures this time. Please keep him in your prayers for the next week and a half. Also, Maddy will have surgery on her ankle on January 19th so we are asking for prayers for that coming up as well. It will be at Scottish Rite and she will have a cast on her foot for 6 weeks. We are excited to see what the New Year will bring for our family. It is definitely starting out pretty crazy for now.

So Much for Relaxing!

2011-12-19T14:07:00.002-06:00

Well, the whole week was just a little crazy. Instead of describe it all, I just put the craziest highlights into a time line. A very incomplete time line. It doesn't include Aaron's final schedule, routine doctor appointments, or activities we did catching up with friends.

We did our Christmas last night. We wanted to give Maddy a few days to play with what she got from us before we leave, and I am thinking that we'll take down the tree BEFORE we leave this year. Otherwise, it is just going to be too big of a mess.

Anyway, Maddy did her first trip to the ER last night. While opening presents, we had one that had plastic zip ties that needed to be cut off. Aaron got the pocket knife and was working on them. Maddy was watching him. I had gotten up to go to the kitchen or do something for just a minute so I didn't see the incident, but suddenly heard Maddy wailing. Tammy and Aaron said she got cut so we ran to the bathroom for tissue, rubbing alcohol and bandaids. It was soon apparent that a bandaid and pressure was not going to get the bleeding to stop anytime soon so we took off for the ER. I guess while Aaron was trying to cut the tie off she reached down to "help" and grabbed the knife just as he was pulling it back to slice the tie and she got her fingers slices. Only one spot was bad and it was on the right index finger. She got two stitches at the ER. She was a trooper about the whole thing. Cried when they numbed it for the stitches of course, but did well for everything else. She was definitely ready to get out of there and go home when all was said and done. Lesson learned. On the way to the ER she kept telling Aaron, "Don't grab the knife! That's not for Maddy!" She was very calm except for the first few minutes after it happened so we thankfully didn't have a terribly traumatic drive to the ER or wait in the waiting room. Made for a late night and a tired girl today. Fortunately she is napping. Here are some pics from the present opening. Before and after accident are obvious.

Joy to the World, The Lord Has Come, and Finals are Done! Woohooo!!!

2011-12-09T10:07:00.001-06:00

Okay so I am excited that our Christmas tree is up, Christmas lights are up,Christmas cards are close to being mailed out, Christmas parties are at hand, and the countdown to Christmas on the Advent Calendar is well underway, but so far, the highlight of the season for me, is that finals are complete! I don't know why (since I only had a total of 19 students between two classes), but this semester was particularly hellacious (spelling? spell check doesn't recognize this word. so is it not a word or have I butchered the spelling that bad? hhmmmm. might be explaining some of my struggles as an english teacher this semester). I think a lot of it was the marathon Saturday classes and that that class was a new prep and I had to spend hours and hours and HOURS preparing for the class. I felt in over my head on that one for sure. Regardless the reason for my stress this semester, I am ready for a little peace on earth, a slow down, a time to focus on the" reason for the season".

Maybe not the most amazing tree pic in the world but I'm kind of proud of it because I took it on the Manual setting with my camera which means I had to choose exposure, shutter speed, and aperture settings. And I used my tripod for the first time.

Making a gingerbread house. Maddy got this as a gift from friends at DBU.

I love the "dog house". Maddy has watched too much Snoopy so decided that this house was definitely a dog house.

For my freshman final this year, I had them read two articles with differing viewpoints about commercialism and Christmas (one for, one against). There responses were very interesting. I thought at a Christian school I would get more tirades about the sinfulness of advertising and how it is destroying the true meaning of Christmas. Not so. Most either thought commercialism was a good thing and Christmas wouldn't be the same without it, or that if Jesus is what Christmas is all about, commercialism is a mute point and it is really up to us as individuals as to how we choose to view and celebrate the holiday. I always enjoy reading through the finals because I get to pick a topic like this that I'm interested to hear the viewpoint of the students. Even though grading freshman finals is a pain because of the grading panel system, it is still kind of fun to see what is going on in their heads.
Despite the crazy busy-ness of the past couple of weeks, we've managed to squeeze in some fun. We went and got a tree as soon as we got home from Thanksgiving. Maddy had a blast decorating it this year. The ornaments she cared about the most were the colored balls. Later she got interested in some little gingerbread men on the tree. She calls them "humpty dumptys". :) No presents under the tree yet. Maybe we can do that soon now that things have calmed down a bit.
We also attended the tree lighting at DBU, or, as we like to call it, the bush lighting. The "tree" is a very large and busy juniper in the middle of the quad on campus. Maddy enjoyed that experience as well. They had cookies and cocoa for everyone, but all Maddy was interested in was the marshmallows they had to go with the cocoa. Taking joy in the simple things I guess.
The White Rock has been chronicled in another post, but that was a fun time with family. Lots of hot drinks, especially after the race, and Janet brought some delicious cookies and muffins for everyone.
On Tammy's birthday we had white chili for supper and then got hot drinks and went to look at Christmas lights. We'll have to go see lights again because Maddy fell asleep in the car and missed all of them.
On Friday night, I went to a cookie exchange with the ladies at my church. Great cookies and hot drinks (again!). Best of all though, was just hanging out with everyone and talking and playing games. I am really blessed to have a great group of fun, Christian girls to spend time with. They are always such an encouragement to be around.

Maddy at Rachel's right before the ear infection breakdown. And yes, she is wearing a swimsuit over her clothes because she was sure that we were going to go swimming at Rachel's house.

Saturday I gave my 1302 final and did the group grading and then we went to Rachel's for supper. Rachel made some very delicious soup and cornbread, but the evening was not as relaxing as anticipated because Maddy started having a major breakdown. It didn't take me long to figure out from the way she was acting that she had an ear infection. Unfortunately, urgent cares had all closed around this time. Aaron called a friend who is a doctor to ask if there was anything we could get Maddy to get her some pain relief until they opened the next day. Well, long story short, we ended up going over to the friends house and were able to get a prescription for some ear drops and antibiotics for Maddy. We were very very blessed to be able to do that because Maddy was really miserable. She was throwing up (not sure if from the pain of the ear or just dizziness or something, but once we got the ear drops and some tylenol down her she never threw up again so I think it was definitely connected to the ear infection. A weird symptom she's never had with ear infection before.) She was also starting to get a fever. So it really save us and Maddy a lot of pain and a sleepless night.
Maddy and I made Christmas cookies today. That was fun and Maddy is getting to a pro at cutting out the cookies and putting them on the cookie trays. I think Christmas shopping is on the agenda this week as well.
I am just very, very thankful for a day of rest today and time to spend with Maddy without feeling like I have a thousand pound load of paper ready to fall on my head.

Another picture I took on the manual setting of my camera. The camera told me that the"subject was too dark" but I knew that it didn't know what it was talking about and the picture turned out pretty good. It is always nice when you finally feel like you've gotten to the point of being smarter than a gadget instead of the other way around.

White Rock or White Rain?

2011-12-05T11:51:00.001-06:00

If any of us wanted decent hair for our picture after our White Rock runs yesterday, White Rain was probably our only chance. :) That stuff probably wouldn't have even held up in the pouring rain and cold we had for the race.
The race experience was great this year despite the rain and cold. Janet, Rachel, Tammy, Raya, and Nat made up a family relay team, Jessica, Tricia, and I ran the half marathon, and Aaron ran the marathon. Aaron also organized two student relays and for the first time ever in the history of having student relay teams, BOTH teams finished and got their finisher shirts and medals. No one missed the buses to the relay spots or missed the person handing off to them. Maddy got to attend the race for the first time and hang out with Uncle David. He was very gracious to watch her while we all ran. Sadly, things did not go as smoothly post race.
Before the race Aaron had brought a box for people to put sweats or whatever in that they didn't want to carry. Why he didn't just have them do bag check or let Uncle David watch the box, we don't know. Anyhow, some of the students left their clothes in the box but also decided to leave cell phones and wallets. Aaron had warned all of them not to put anything in the box they cared if they lost. Last year he left a box of clothes by the cotton bowl and nothing happened to it. No such luck this year. When people got done with the race they went to check the box and it had disappeared! This necessitated a trip to lost and found, which necessitated people splitting up, which led to confusion for everyone because many had lost their phones, had their phones die on them, or didn't have phones with them.
Tammy, Raya, Maddy, and I were going to head back to the car, but Aaron didn't know where we had parked. I finally had the sense to give Tammy, and Raya the key to the Isuzu and have them take Maddy with them so that they could all warm up and I waited in the rain while Aaron went to lost and found with some of the students. Nat had put his wallet in the box so he went with Aaron. Neither Nat nor Aaron had their phones with them so Uncle David, Janet, and I were standing in the rain outside the building so that we could catch up with them when they came out. We couldn't go inside the building because lost and found was in the finisher building and they are very picky about letting people back in after the race is done. Anyhow, Uncle David finally told Janet and I to go wait in the building that was open to everyone and we didn't argue. We still had our wet clothes on from the race so we were really, really cold. Aaron finally used someone else's phone to call me and tell me that the guy who had left his phone in the box had figure out a way to track the phone on GPS and that it was still in Fair Park and they were going to try to go track it down. So we called Uncle David and told him he could come in from the rain. He was very happy that we called with that message. When he got in he bought us some hot drinks to warm up (thank you thank you thank you!!!!) and we found some chairs to wait for Aaron and Nat to get back.
We spent quite a bit of time waiting and finally Nat and Aaron showed back up, but the students were still chasing the box, or at least they one guy's phone. Aaron had to come back because he was so sore from the marathon he couldn't keep up with the students while they were running around. After more waiting, I said we really needed to go because Maddy, and Tammy and Raya were probably getting tired of waiting in the car and they were probably all really hungry.
Before all this happened, Jess and Tric had gone back to our house to shower and they had gotten some sandwich stuff for everyone. Well they needed to leave, but we were still at Fair Park and we had some jackets and Jess's phone with us, so they had to come back to the park to get their stuff. They were super awesome and made sandwiches for everyone and brought them to us, so we didn't have to wait to get home to eat.
By the time Jess and Tric got back, everyone, including the students, had given up on finding the phone, but the students who had stayed to look for it had lost their ride so everyone but Maddy, Aaron and I went back to our house while we took the students home. I just thought they had given up on the phone. The guy saw on GPS that it said his phone was at the finish line so Aaron drove over there and he and the student ran off to try to track it down. Again, no luck. So we dropped them off at their apartment and headed home.
When we were almost home, Aaron saw that he had a text from another student. That student had gotten back to campus but didn't have the keys to his truck. He thought the keys to his truck were in the box and didn't have a spare set. GREAT! So Aaron called him. I knew that one of the girls said that she had this particular student's clothes that he had handed off to her at the relay point, so I told Aaron that so hopefully his keys were with her and not in the box.
So everyone finally got home and got warm and dry, but a few got back minus some pretty important stuff. Lesson learned: DON'T TRUST THE BOX. I hope that that incident didn't turn the experience sour for the students who ran. And that the weather didn't turn them off as well. The relay has been a really positive experience for many of Aaron's students in the past. I saw one of his former students at the race who ran the half this year and Aaron saw another student on the marathon course who was running a relay. So hopefully at least some will continue to come back and do the race from year to year despite the fiasco at the end.
It was great to have some many family members to come do the race this year. We really enjoyed having everyone here and I hope everyone is ready to do it again next year after the memory of the cold and wet and the extremely sore muscles fades.

Turkey...turkey, turkey, turkey TURKEEEYYYY!

2011-11-28T15:39:00.001-06:00

Showing off her craft night art work

Huge pot of white chili I made for the homecoming chili cook off at DBU.

It was the month of turkeys.....turkey cards, turkey trots, turkey eating. We had turkey twice because Aaron wanted me to cook one that was in our freezer and then we had turkey at Mema's house. I used to get tired of turkey but I actually really like it now. I made all kinds of turkey soups and casseroles out of the leftover turkey we had here at home. Maddy loved making hand turkeys...you know the ones where you trace your hand and then color it like a turkey. Maddy also discovered that she is a fan of pumpkin pie. Oh! We also had turkey for our church's thanksgiving meal the Sunday before Thanksgiving so make that triple turkey dinners for us this month. I thought of that because I was telling Maddy what we were going to have for lunch: "turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and stuffing..." and Maddy piped up at the end and said "And pumpkin pie!" I didn't even know she really knew what pumpkin pie was until she was excited about eating it.

Abstract turkey. We had to find the turkeys in Maddy's finger paint creations.

We spent Thanksgiving in Farwell and Lubbock and had a great time eating, relaxing, napping, watching football, playing scrabble, and talking. Maddy kept us entertained. She knows all the great grandparents now and gets excited to see them. We left really late on Wednesday evening to go to Farwell so we didn't get in until 1 a.m. and of course everyone was in bed. We went in quietly as we could (kinda hard to go in very quietly because Tuffy the dog always howls and yowls when anyone shows up at the house) and I put Maddy in her pj's and started to lay her down in bed. Maddy started sobbing so I asked her why she was crying and she said, "Wanna see Mema!" She was crying so hard because she didn't get to see Mema when we got in that she could barely talk. I had to laugh pretty hard about that. When I told her Mema was sleeping and we'd see her first thing in the morning, she settled down and went to bed just fine.
A couple of Maddy funnies from the holidays I want to remember:

At lunch on Saturday Maddy informed Granna that she was a "granna granna" and grandad that he was a "grandad grandad" and etc. for everyone at the table. Then she got to me and said, "And mamma is a llama llama."

Maddy got into my shower stuff and brought a razor and a bottle of toner out into the living room. She held up the razor and said, "I'm going to scrub Mommy's legs."

Dolled up for the Russell Perry dinner.

I ate way too much this trip and sat around way too much, but I will pay for my sins on Sunday. The White Rock is on Sunday and I will be doing the half marathon for the third year in a row. Dreading the race but so excited about all the family coming in to do the relay and half marathon this weekend! Aaron is a crazy person as usual and running the full marathon.

Reflections

2011-11-18T09:21:00.001-06:00

Every year on this day I reflect back on the day when our doctor called us into his office and told us Maddy wasn't going to make it. I also reflect on God's grace, mercy, and healing for Maddy. I also reflect on God's grace and for me and Aaron and his blessing of giving us a gift beyond what we could have asked for or imagined. About a month or so ago we talked about making decisions and pursuing our goals and dreams in one of our Sunday school classes. Most of us agreed that the percentage of people who actually get to fulfill what they dream of is very low. There are so many dreams that go unfullfilled for so many reasons. However, this class also made me realize how amazing it is that when we trust in God we often get something so much better than we ever dreamed, even if it doesn't seem like it right away. Having a child with arthrogryposis certainly wansn't my dream for my life. (It certainly wasn't a nightmare either. I didn't even know it existed until we had Maddy.) I can truly and honestly say that through Maddy, God has given us so much more than we ever dreamed of. Through Maddy, God has changed our focus about what is important in life, given us priceless relationships with our friends in Dallas and strengthened our family relationships, and strengthened our relationship with Him. This year specifically, God has revealed so much about his grace to me through Maddy. A lot of times when people have disabilities or illnesses it leads to questioning God. Is he loving? Is he just? Does he really care? Is he really merciful and compassionate? Believe me, I have had these questions at points along our journey. Through this past year I have realized that because Maddy is here, because God loves her, because so many Christian families show love to her and our family through prayer and support every day that Maddy's existence is actually a confirmation of God's grace. Only a gracious God would allow someone with "imperfections" to exist. A world without grace looks like a Nazi concentration camp. It would be a world where people with "imperfections" would be wiped out. There would be no toleration for those who did not meet the standard. It is hard to explain, but Maddy's life has come to be a symbol of the grace of God to me.
I feel like we don't thank everyone often enough for praying for us, being there for us, and supporting us. All of you are such an important part of Maddy's life and our family's life. Each one of you who has prayed, brought meals in time of need, been a listening ear, or simply enjoyed spending time with our family and having your kids hang out with Maddy has been a tremendous blessing to us. Realize there are no words to express just how much your support, prayer, and friendship mean.
Today we give thanks that Maddy is growing, flourishing mentally and emotionally, and gaining incredible ground physically.

The Spritual Act of Cooking

2011-11-09T17:05:00.002-06:00

With Thanksgiving and the Christmas season fast approaching, my mind has been on all the great food that goes along with the season. As a young child, I was the beneficiary of all the great cooking and candy making done by my Mom, Mema, Grandma, and even people from church. These days I still look forward to eating my Mom's homemade peppermint patties or my Mema's legendary homemade rolls, but my mind also dwells on food because I'm now responsible for preparing meals and treats for my own family.
Another thing I think about is all the wonderful family celebrations centered around special meals that we had growing up. My mom always cooked a birthday dinner for each one of us. We would get to request whatever we wanted and she would make it. I never remember going to a restaurant or even ordering pizza for a birthday while growing up. I think my bother and sisters and I would have been offended if my mom would have suggested restaurant food instead of her delicious home cooking. We always spent Christmas with grandparents and Mema, Grandma, and Granny would cook amazing and meals (with contributions from Pam, Sherry, and my sometimes my Grandma's sisters).
Outside of the family aspect of meals for special celebrations, I can also remember food cooked by people from our church when my mom was in the hospital and meals that people from church brought to me when Maddy was born and when Maddy had her surgery. My mom being in the hospital for so long and her long recovery time are what really made it necessary for me to learn to cook on my own. I can also remember meals shared with friends when just getting together to socialize.
Even with all of these events in the back of my mind, I haven't really realized the spiritual significance and contribution of those who put the food on the table. Often, cooking can seem like a drudgery. It has to be done day in and day out, it meets a physical need, it is necessary for survival. All of these things make cooking seem an unimportant, and at times a hateful, task. However, recently I have begun to realize the spiritual significance of cooking.
Cooking a meal allows a person to use their spiritual gift of serving. Serving is listed right along with gifts like teaching, encouraging, giving, and leadership (see Romans 12:6-8). It seems that it is no less important to serve others in regards to physical needs than it is to teach or lead. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper during the Passover. We don't know who prepared the passover feast for Jesus and his disciples, but someone had to do it to make this important moment for Jesus and the disciples possible. In Act, the Greek widows felt neglected by the church because the church was not including them in the daily distribution of food. I give all these examples to show that there is something about the act of preparing food for others that is important to allow spiritual connections and development to take place.
In today's world the importance of being around the table as family is recognized even by the secular world. Social workers who try to help families promote healthy lifestyles and nurture balanced, well-behaved children encourage families to come around the dinner table together at least one night a week. The dietician who sees Maddy constantly encourages me to include Maddy in the cooking process, to allow Maddy to serve herself at the dinner table, and for us to be together as a family during meals. If you have strong family relationships today, it is highly likely that your family spent time around the dinner table together. And in order to spend time around the dinner table, there had to be someone there preparing the meal to make that happen.
Preparing food is also a great way to minister to others. Homeless shelters serve meals to people out on the streets, many times churches house food banks or give out food baskets at Christmas time, friends provide meals for the sick, those who have new babies, and funerals. If you have ever been on the receiving end of a friend serving you with a meal when you are in one of these situations you know that the blessing goes far beyond just filling your stomach for the day.
Maybe many of you reading this have already come to this conclusion, but for me this has been a revolutionary thought and has totally changed the way I look at how important it is to use preparing food as a means of serving others and God. It has also given me a new appreciation for all the cooks in my life who have spent years and years quietly providing food and the opportunity for better relationships, fellowship, and spiritual growth.

Pumpkins, Mice,and Spiders! Oh My! and Trick or Treat

2011-11-04T10:35:00.001-05:00

October was a crazy month. Between school, Aaron, Tammy, and I all getting sick and losing our voices at the same time, The World Series, and Halloween, the month flew by. Maddy was the cutest Minnie Mouse ever for Halloween. We took her to a trunk or treat at a church within walking distance of our house. This Halloween it all clicked for Maddy. We stopped at a couple of houses in the neighborhood on the way over (ones that people were already sitting outside and we didn't have to knock). That got her warmed up enough to the idea of what trick or treat was about that by the time we got to the trunk or treat she was ready to go. She would stop at each car to get candy and grab her treat bag and open it up wide for the person to put the candy in. They also had a place where you could get you picture with Yoda. Maddy had no fear of all the different costumes we saw or spooky decorations we passed walking over to the church but she was terrified of Yoda. We put her on a bench in front of him to get a picture and she freaked out. It was hilarious.

Maddy and I also carved pumpkins Halloween morning. Maddy was the designer. She picked out the shape of the eyes, mouth and nose and then I carved it out. She had a great time making "pumpkin heads".

Look at my ears! I had a hard time convincing her that the ears went on top of her head. She thought they should go over her real ears. Makes sense.

Checking out the loot. When we got home from trick or treating, Maddy headed straight for the coffee table and dumped her treat bag to inspect the haul. She immediately began chowing down on the candy. It was so funny that she knew what to do. By the way, I don't think there is anyone in the world who can get more pure enjoyment out of a piece of sugary candy than a two year old. Maddy also got a plastic spider ring in her treats. I think that was the biggest hit of all. She plays with it every day. She gets it and sings, itsy bitsy spider. there is a video of her doing this below the pic. Enjoy!

Now, as Maddy says, it's "turkey time!" Can't believe it's already November. I'll post about our turkey making activities in another blog.

"Don't pee your panties. That's not nice."......and other stuff

2011-10-17T14:16:00.000-05:00

If Maddy had an advice column, here are some of the things she'd tell you:

Eat what you want for breakfast. Recent breakfast requests from Maddy have included: marshmallows, mac n cheese, and Gatorade. The all time most disgusting request, however was fish sticks. Well....fish sticks are healthy so she got 'em for breakfast. Just as long as I don't have to eat them for breakfast (which she tired to encourage me to do) I'm fine with it.

Give equal treatment to all. Maddy's idea of equal treatment is that we all have to do the same thing, wear the same thing, or go the same place at the same time. One day Maddy, Seal (the cat), and I all had to wear bibs. Today Maddy, a stuffed dog, and I all had to wear headbands, or, as Maddy likes to call them "rubber bands". She also gets very upset if we go on a walk or a run without the dogs. They are lucky to have her for their advocate.

If your at a loss for something to watch "Frosty the Snowman" and "Tom and Jerry" never get old. NEVER. If allowed, Maddy would watch "Frosty" 20 times in a row---maybe more. "Tom and Jerry" is her absolute favorite. We occasionally check out a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon DVD from the library. Often, when we are in the library, Maddy will say in a very loud voice, "Want to look at the Tom and Jerry boobies!" To which I reply in a loud voice, "Okay, lets go look at the MOVIES."

"Don't pee your panties. That's not nice." This advice was given after she did pee her panties. We have been trying to potty train and so far it's gone pretty much no where. Occasionally Maddy will decide to do her business in the potty, but most of the time she let's us know she needs to go after it is waaaayyyyy to late. Oh, and if you ever happen to poop your panties in public, take a cue from Maddy and quickly exclaim, "Ohhhhhh! Gummy bears everywhere!" Hey, someone might fall for that.

Fall-The Best Season of All

2011-10-09T20:25:00.001-05:00

I love fall! I used to be a bigger fan of summer when we lived in Colorado but I have always liked fall and it has definitely risen to the top of my favorite season list since moving to Dallas. Fall means that I actually can go outside and enjoy being outside again. That is especially a relief after this summer. It is so great to be able to take Maddy on a walk in the middle of the day if I want to....and it's a great way to get her to take a nap without a big wrestling match. Fall also means the Texas State Fair, which means all the fried food you can eat, fun with family, and lots of fun animal shows to entertain the two kids--I mean the kid and the kid at heart when it comes to animals.. I usually spend some of the fall season missing the crisp air a beautiful changing colors in Colorado, but this year we actually got to go back to visit Aaron's family for fall break so we got to have a little taste of that as well. Here are some great pictures from our fair day and trip:

Celebrating Jessica's b-day and Maddy's half b-day

Corn dogs (the food or the people? maybe both)

Despite the fact that it looks like Maddy is salivating over the corn dog in this picture she refused to take even one bite of her favorite food......sigh. You just never know with this girl

Funnel cake was deemed worthy by the little gourmand

Our view from the plane as we flew into Grand Junction. Hard to get a good pic out the plane window but you could see the brilliant gold of the aspens all over the mountains

Ziggy's spa day. hahahahaha! Maddy decided to decorate Ziggy's forehead with stickers

We had a photo shoot in Grams garden*

Maddy and her cousin painting pumpkins

Smooching the coz

feeding the ducks

There was a duck egg by the canal where we went to feed the ducks. I had no idea ducks laid eggs in the fall.

Another photo shoot

Going to Telluride. We got to spend Wednesday looking at the beautiful fall colors

Telluride has a free gondola that you can ride over the mountain to Mountain Village and back

The four cousins. This was the first time all of them have been together. They had a blast

*Aaron and Tammy went in together to get me a surprise......A Nikon D3100 camera!!!!!!!!! I am still learning how to use it, but I am so excited about it. I was disappointed with how some of the shots I took of the mountains turned out, but hopefully there will be another chance someday to practice again. It was really super great of them to get me this camera and we had fun using it this past week to take lots of pictures of the kids.

Big Girl Maddy

2011-09-23T11:16:00.000-05:00

Maddy is getting much more adventurous in the way she gets around. This video shows how much she had improved in walking since the beginning of the summer.

Maddy also started swim therapy yesterday. She had a great time. She is so small they had to put floaties on her arms a floatie around her waist and then put weights on her ankles so she wouldn't tip over. They played all kinds of games in the pool and the therapists were so impressed with how confident she was in the water. By the end of the session she had almost gotten the hang of balancing herself upright in the water without the weights on her ankles. We'll do swim therapy every other week. I think it will be great for her.

Maddy is doing great with language skills and also developing quite an imagination. Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping. On the way in we saw a bird in the parking lot. Maddy told me, "That bird's going grocery shopping." Hilarious! She is also great at remembering everyone's names. She remembers relatives names, even ones we don't see often. She knows all her therapist names and the names of a lot of people from church. He memory for people and names just amazes me.

We feel really blessed right now by how Maddy is progressing. Thanks for all the prayers and continued prayer for her progress are much appreciated.

Maddy Fletcher, M.D.

2011-09-19T10:12:00.001-05:00

On Wednesday morning a trauma patient arrived at the Fletcher Hospital E.R. Maddy Fletcher, M.D., the doctor on duty, quickly bandaged the patient, Minnie Mouse, and administered medication.

Minnie was sent to recovery for a few hours where she was issued standard hospital garments. Sorry Minnie but they don't make hospital garments in extra extra tiny.

Minnie was given another dose of medicine and an outlet cover. Maybe her accident had something to do with an unfortunate encounter with electricity?

Minnie was then transferred to.....?

Oh my! This doesn't look good for Minnie. Is this the hospital morgue?

Oh! Ha ha! Thank goodness. Minnie was just being measured for a bed. A perfect fit!

Minnie was then taken to some kind of play therapy session. In this picture the therapist offers Minnie an orange plastic fish and instructs her, "Grab this. Try to grab it."

Minnie is taken from play therapy to ICU (right outside the door) to spend the night.

The next morning, Minnie is doing so well she is transferred to a regular room upstairs. (At one point it seemed that Minnie was having some kind of cardiac arrest episode because the doctor started yelling and beating on her chest. However, that was quickly over.) The nurse offers Minnie a Hershey's Kiss. Minnie must have been nauseated from all her medication because she didn't want the chocolate.

So the nurse ate it for her.

Later in the day, Maddy Fletcher, M.D. puts Minnie through a series of rigorous tests which involve Minnie hold puzzle pieces.

Ehhhh...she's fine. Minnie is released from hospital care and the doc gets some much needed R&R on Minnie's bed.

On Friday morning, Minnie returned for a check up. Dr. Maddy removed Minnie's bandages. We haven't seen Minnie back in the hospital so it looks like she's made a full recovery!

Last Gasp of Summer and Into Fall

2011-09-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

It has been busy, busy, busy since school started. The end of this week will mark a month of being back to classes.
On Labor Day we did our traditional end of summer trip to Farwell. We didn't get to leave until Saturday. We got to Lubbock about 5:30 and had supper with Grandma and Grandpa and David, Janet, Clayton, and Karsyn. I hadn't gotten to meet Karsyn yet so it was really good to get to spend some time holding her. Everyone else was at the first game for Tech. After supper we loaded up and drove on out to Farwell. Sunday morning we went to church and really enjoyed. Then Mema made a delicious dinner for the whole family. It was great to see everyone and Maddy enjoyed hanging out with Mema, the grandparents, various aunts and uncles and cousins of one sort or another. It was kind of a mixed feeling day because it was a year ago that we spent our last weekend with Papa before he died.

After church that evening, Aaron and Eldon went out to the watermelon patch and took Maddy. Talk about some giant watermelons! These watermelons all weigh at least 30 lbs. We got to take some home with us as well as black eyed peas, fresh okra, zucchini, and cucumbers, and apples. We've enjoyed every bite.

On the way home we took 114 and as we got close to Seymour the air was thick with smoke from the fires. We were using Aaron's phone as a GPS and it rerouted us through Wichita Falls. I think there must have been some road closures up ahead because the smoke just looked worse and worse the further east we got. Once we drove more north for about 10 miles the smoke cleared away and we never ran into any again.

Around here lots of things have been going on. As I said, school started so that has been busy. I'm teaching a T/TH class that meets at 8 a.m. That has been a challenge for me since I'm more of a night owl but I think I've done an ok job of annoying my students with my (fake) chipperness in the mornings. I am also teaching a Saturday class that meets from 8-3 every other Saturday. That one is going to be a real challenge. I am going to have to be creative just to make that long of a class session bearable, much less interesting for the students. Aaron has the lightest load he's had since coming to DBU and they got an adjunct to teach his night class which has been a huge blessing. However, he has 84 students in his biology class. He said he still hasn't learned even one person's name in that class because it is so big.

On Saturday we went and go haircuts. There was an elephant outside of the haircut place and Maddy decided she needed to ride it. Maddy wanted to get a haircut too but I just can't handle seeing any of her hair get chopped off yet. Below: Slurpee mustache. :)

This past week I bought a box of Hatch green chilies at Wal-Mart. YUM! There is nothing that says fall to me like the smell of roasting green chilies. It made me nostalgic for the Farmer's days when they'd roast chilies in front of the store. (Only nostalgic for about 2 seconds.:) ) Maddy had a great time with the chilie roasting process.

She got to play outside and be part of the action and it is so great to see her standing up and trying to walk around outside holding on to furniture, people's hand's etc. When I looked at these pictures it gave me an odd feeling because she is standing up in almost all of them. I am not used to that but it is great!

We put six chilies in each bag and this was Maddy's favorite part. She love counting them.

After we got home from vacation we switched Maddy to a big girl bed. There was really no reason to keep her in the crib any longer. She loves her big girl bed but the transition was not smooth. For about two weeks we had all kinds of waking up incidents in the night. One night she made it up all the stairs but one and then started crying. I don't know if she was sleep walking or if she was awake and then got to the top of the stairs and realized nobody was up there because it was dark. Here are a few pics of her on her first night in her big girl bed.

Maddy is going to start aquatherapy on thursday. I am really excited about this. I think she will love it and it will be really great for her. She had an ear infection this week and is on antibiotics and ear drops. I will have to take her to the ENT soon. I took her to the pediatrician because the ENT wasn't available on Friday and he said that her right tube is out. Yikes! So prayers about that are appreciated because I really hope that it doesn't mean another ear tube surgery but I'm afraid it does. Strangely she had been getting the infections in the left ear which still has the tube. Hmmm.
Other than all this we are just enjoying some cooler weather. Well...we have been but we started another hot spell today. If the forecast is correct we'll break the record for most days over 100 in a year. Uggg. Not sure I wanted to be part of this historical event. I'd love to experience the coolest summer on record next year though! :)

Our Great Vacation Concluded

2011-08-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

On Friday morning we got up and had a leisurely breakfast and then started packing up everything to go out to Red Mountain Camp. Maddy really enjoyed the BBQ Aunt Jan made for the meal the first night. It was delicious! Maddy was really excited about seeing Bethany at the camp and she was able to stay up just long enough to say hi to Bethany when the Halls got there later in the evening. It was so fun to have a couple of days to watch Maddy and Bethany get to play together. Maddy still talks about Bethany all the time. It is so cute.

Lots of other family was there too. Maddy learned how to play memory. I have a memory game on my phone and she did not really get how to play it before vacation. When we came back she really had the concept of memory down, so she had good teachers. :)

There was of course the usual basketball games, 42 games, card games, etc.

We had the yearly ice cream competition. Janet and I were surprised to find out that we had both decided to make avocado ice cream for the competition. Bethany really like the pre-frozen avocado ice cream mix. Mine was dairy free, so she could indulge her taste a little bit. Unfortunately mine didn't freeze very good but it was pretty tasty. Grandma won the competition with her delicious concoction of strawberry banana ice cream.

Short order cook Cindy flippin' the flapjacks.

Maddy had a great time with everyone. I think she knew almost everyone's name before the end of the reunion. She still requests to know where various relatives are from time to time. She was kind of hesitant to hang out with Uncle Kev at first but she loved him reading go dogs go with her and finding the happy and sad faces in his communication text book. She also loved playing elephant with him...so much so that she kept loudly requesting that game while we were having a devotional the last night. Ooopps.

Aaron and Tricia and Jessica and I played our traditional spades game. Sadly the Jessica/Holly spades dynasty was toppled this time. We'll come back though!

This year Aaron and I learned something very fun but very out of our comfort zone for the talent show. My dad's cousin Raya was at the reunion this year and she competes professionally in ballroom dancing. She wanted to do a dancing with the stars kind of thing for the talent show and Aaron and I were her pupils. We learned East Coast swing and did our routine complete with costumes and music for the talent show. We kind of fell apart for the actual performance, but oh well, we had tons of fun and laughs.

Love this picture!

The reunion was a great time with family and just a great break to get away from everything up in the mountains. It was so great to see family. The family times when all of us can be together are just more and more precious as the years go by. On Tuesday morning we said our good byes and headed away from the beautiful mountains to the hot and humid pit of Dallas.

Our Great Vacation Continued

2011-08-19T21:30:00.000-05:00

As we headed back over the mountains on Sunday we stopped off at Deckers to see the Fletcher grandparents. Grandma Fletcher had just picked a lot of produce out of the garden so I volunteered to snap the beans. It made me realize how much I miss having a real garden. I have yet to figure out how to grow stuff in this crazy Dallas climate....but that is a story for a different day. We ate dinner with them and we had the most tender and tasty pork roast I have ever eaten. Grandma Fletcher also made zucchini muffins that Maddy loved, and squash and salad. Everything in the salad except the bean sprouts were from their garden. We ate dinner pretty late. We had pear pie for dessert and then headed on to Colorado Springs and got there about 11. We were all pretty tired so we unloaded and went to bed.
Mom had to work half days while we were there so the next morning Dad made us breakfast and then we headed to Walmart to buy Maddy some puzzles. Let me explain that one of the few things we brought to enterain Maddy on the trip was this princess puzzle she really likes. The problem is that the princess puzzle is 50 tiny pieces and really for ages 5 and up. So what happens is that Mom and Dad put the puzzle together while Maddy watches. Well Maddy got obsessed with princess puzzle while we were in Montrose. We probably put it together 50 times over a week span. If she hadn't of gotten sick it would have been more. Needless to say, we were very tired of princess puzzle. Grandad and Dad helped Maddy find a 4 pack of puzzles that were age appropriate and she literally spent the rest of the day making Grandad, Granna, and Dad put them together with her. Strangely, I was not allowed to put the puzzles together. When I tried to give everyone else a break she told me to get back on the couch. Lol! Guess she thought I needed a vacation.
Anyway....We had a great time in Colorado Springs. The weather was absolutely perfect while we were there. It rained a couple of evenings and always felt so good to go on a walk after supper.
Tric came in Monday evening on her way down to Lubbock to drive Grandpa and Grandma to the family reunion. We had fun with her and it was great to see her since the last time we'd seen each other was right after Christmas. We had ice cream and went on a walk.
One day we went up to Helen Hunt falls and then went on the 7 Bridges Trail for a hike. Beautiful scenery and there was a creek that ran all along the trail so Maddy got to throw rocks in the creek and put her feet in the water.

We took the stroller on the hike because there was no way we were going to be able to carry her the whole way. We did carry her the last portion that was kind of steep and she had a shoulder ride most of the way down, but Aaron was superman pushing the stroller up the trail. I'm sure the other hikers we met thought we were a little crazy.

After we hiked, my parents took us to the Garden of the God Trading Post for supper. If you have a coupon you can get buy one buffalo burger get one free. The buffalo burgers were excellent. Maddy had a 1/4 pound hot dog and ate almost the entire thing, bread and all.

After dinner my mom bought Maddy a bucket of rocks to put through this mining sluice thing they had set up outside. Maddy had a great time watching Grandad wash off the rocks and then picking them out of the box.

The day before the reunion we went up to Denver to pick Tam up from the airport and spent the afternoon at Cindy and Brad's. I was so excited to see them and SO SO excited to see Bethany. She grew and changed a lot since I saw her in March. She was a blast. Maddy had so much fun playing with her. We gave Bethany some early birthday presents while we were there and Maddy still talks about Bethany opening her presents and how we need to wrap presents for Bethany. :)

The Halls have a really nice walking trail by their house and it was a beautiful day so we took advantage of that. We had pizza for dinner and then headed back to the Springs so we could get packed up to head to the family reunion at Red Mountain Camp the next day.

More fun times to come....

Our Great Vacation

2011-08-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

On July 21st we began our trek to Colorado. We left in the afternoon and stopped in Amarillo to break the trip up. We stayed at the Luxury Inn and Suites aka Nastotel off I-40. If you want a free tasty waffle shaped like Texas for breakfast and are willing to give up all the comforts and cleanliness of home to get it, then Luxury Inn and Suites is the place for you.
The next morning we got out of there as fast as possible and continued our drive. We stopped for lunch in Trinidad and found a really cool little park there. They had a playground and a splash pad. We put Maddy in her swimsuit and let her play in the cold Colorado water. I had forgotten how cold the water is there. Maddy loved it but I got pretty chilled from the spray after awhile. After we did that we continued to Colorado Springs and spent the night at my parents house. The next morning we jumped back in the car again and headed for Grand Junction to Grams 82nd birthday celebration. On our way over the mountains we stopped to enjoy the view of Union Park and then had lunch on the Continental Divide on top of Monarch Pass.

We made it to GJ at about 5 p.m. and went over to the Olive Garden for a 50+ minute wait to get in to eat. We all had a great time celebrating Grams birthday. The next morning we went to church with the Bavors and then went to Ouray to play at the hot springs. Maddy really loved swimming there. On Monday we just rested up and hung out at Grams. Maddy decided she needed to get a new hairstyle. :)

On Tuesday we went to the Montrose fair. Maddy could not get enough of looking at the animals. In fact she thought there ought to be a lion and elephant there that she could go see.

That evening we went over to Eric and Amanda's for dinner. We cooked out, played on the trampoline and did some fireworks. Maddy loved the trampoline. She outlasted everyone playing on it.

On Wednesday, Maddy felt rather warm when she woke up. I took her temp and she had quite a fever. We gave her some tylenol but it didn't go down much so we decided to take her to the walk in clinic. By the time we decided this everyone was out for lunch so we stopped by the fair to see Trenton and Kodi show their goats.

Poor Maddy. You can tell she's not feeling good but she wasn't too sick to eat ice cream. We got to the clinic right when they opened after lunch and waited about an hour to get in. Sure enough, she had an ear infection and possible a sinus infection so we headed to Wal-Mart to get wonderful antibiotics. Maddy just slept the rest of the day and night and her fever finally broke sometime early in the morning. It took her about a day to really get to feeling back to herself. We did Amber's birthday party on Wednesday night. Grams cooked an amazing meal of steak, corn, salad, squash, beans, and bread. Yum! Amber stayed the night so Maddy got to play with her cousin Theyben the next day when she was feeling a little better.

On Friday we headed up to Taylor Park Reservoir to spend time with Aaron's Dad. I was so disappointed because the forest service had made them spray all the daisies by the river because they are considered a noxious weed. So we weren't able to get pics of Maddy playing out there this year. :(

Maddy had a great time hanging out with all the kids. On Saturday morning we went four wheeling and she rode in her car seat in the Rhino. She had the best time riding around. This was pretty much the look on her face the entire time and we were probably out there about four hours.

While we were driving a lady bug landed on Aaron's shoulder. I will once a again blame and curse my stupid camera for taking such a terrible picture of such a great shot.

My dream home.

Maddy referred to this as the "big splash".

On Sunday it was time to say goodbye to everyone and head back over the mountains to spend time with my family.

Vacation story to be continued.....

It's Coming...

2011-08-12T14:33:00.001-05:00

I will write a post about vacation soon. I will, I will, I will. But first I have to get some pictures from other people because my camera is close to worthless. :( We had a great time in Colorado! Best family vacation yet, and no car problems! Our time went by so fast and it is sad that it is already over.

Misc. Maddy

2011-07-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

Maddy is really getting a personality lately. She just cracks me up over so many things. And Aaron and I are both amazed at her memory. The stuff she remembers is very impressive. She can recite short nursery rhymes like "Ring Around the Rosy" and "Humpty Dumpty". This is a video of her reading a book from the library that she loves. We have checked it out several times. The book is called "Crunch Munch". Most of the stuff I'm writing on here is just so I can remember what Maddy is like right now and the funny things she does and says.

Maddy is learning how to be a ham for the camera. She is finally getting to the stage where we can tell her to smile and she will do it ...sometimes. She still has her own agenda many times when we try to take pictures.

It has been hot hot hot here. We have gone to Race Trac a couple of times to get slurpees because they have them on sale right now. On Friday Maddy asked for a blue slurpee for breakfast. I guess she was already hot.

We continue to swim every day. I taught her how to spray Aaron with the hose. :) She loves doing that. I tried to get her to spray me because it is so hot out there that getting sprayed with the hose feels great but she seemed to feel that spraying mommy was not as fun as spraying daddy.

I painted Maddy's toenails for the first time last week. She picked out the color and then I painted her toes. After a while she told me she was "All done with orange. Take it off!" I had to explain that toenail polish wears off and you can't just take it off.

Maddy loves going to story time at the library and to Bible class at church. When we ask her what she learned in Bible class she always tells us "Shepherd Boy" (David). They have never talked about David in class that I know of. They have been having lessons about Jesus and Paul so I don't know why she thinks this is what Bible Class is about every week. She does call her little Bible story paper the "Good News". Yesterday she dropped her paper on the floor of the car driving home from church and said, "Uh Oh Good News!"
Maddy is really good at saying please and thank you right now. In fact she thinks please will get her anything she wants if she just says it with enough emphasis. Last night she woke up at 3:30 in the morning (ugg!!!). I think she was thirsty. She was out of water so I went to refill her sippy cup. I guess I was still half asleep because when I went back to bed Aaron told me that when I gave her the water she said, "Thank you, mommy." Tammy took us to Chick Fil A for lunch on Saturday and Maddy got a book with her kids meal. She told Tam thank you several times at the restaurant. Then after her nap that day, she went to the bookshelf and got the book and brought it to Tammy and said, "Thank you, Meme!" I guess she was very thankful for that book.
Maddy loves to sing right now. Song lyrics are one thing that she is not very good at remembering, but she is getting better. She loves God Made the Big Round Sun, Lord's Army, Open, Shut (a song from the library), Itsy Bitsy Spider, and This Little Light of Mine.

On a different note, I finished painting our family verse this week. I got the supplies for the project several months ago but was too busy to really get going on it until recently. I think it turned out pretty good. I would rather do drawings, paintings, signs, and photos for my home decor myself. Maybe that is snobby but I feel like it has more meaning if I make it and I can have the colors and style that I want instead of just trying to find some decoration I don't really like at a store.
I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that we had Maddy tested for Beals. The genetic screen came back normal, so that has been ruled out.
We leave for vacation to Colorado on Thursday afternoon! Yipee! We are driving to Amarillo and staying in a hotel the first night. Then we'll drive to Colorado Springs on Friday, and then go over the mountain to Montrose on Saturday. In some ways breaking the trip into three days makes it seem even longer, but I think it will be good for Maddy to only have to spend 6-8 hours in the car each day instead of 13. I bought a portable DVD player so she can watch movies in the car this time but I don't think even that would keep her sane for a 13 hour ride. We plan to just do picnicking for meals on the way up so I think that will be fun too as long as it isn't too hot. Speaking of the trip, I guess I need to start packing.

The Harry Potter Kaffufle--Proof Christians Don't Know How to Read

2011-07-15T08:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, I've read the Harry Potter series, and yes I'm looking forward to going and seeing the last movie that came out today when I get the chance. This blog is normally reserved for family news and I don't usually sound off on issues, politics, etc. but the Facebook statuses that have been posted by dear, but misinformed, Christian friends and the hubbub of conservative Christianity putting on it's war paint and getting out the tomahawks to fight against the evil forces of witch craft every time something Harry Potter (a new book, a new movie) jumps into the limelight, really makes me laugh and also get angry. Two points always occur to me: 1. The people who are up in arms over Harry Potter have probably never really read the books. (After all, just touching the cover of a Potter book could make way for the devil to take over your soul). or 2. They have read them, at least one or two, and they simply don't know how to read because they forgot to pay attention in lit. class.
It always amazes me that so many who love and know every detail about The Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings Series, suddenly get fangs, claws, and start foaming at the mouth when Harry Potter is mentioned. No one I've talked to has ever really been able to explain why the magic in The C.S. Lewis and Tolkien series is fine and dandy, while the magic in Harry Potter is corrupting out children's souls and putting them in danger of demon possession. After all Lewis and Tolkien both use witches and wizards in there books. The White Witch in Lewis' series is evil, Gandalf (sp? I'm not a Tolkien buff), a wizard in the Lord of the Rings series, is good. Gandalf even gets killed and comes back to life as Gandalf the White. (See any parallels to the last Potter book?)
Perhaps Christians feel iffy about the Rowling series because she is not a professed Christian. (But perhaps these same people would not consider Tolkien Christian if they knew he was and remained a devout Catholic all his life). Nevertheless, there is no doubt to someone who has actually attentively read her work, that Rowling is at least writing from a moral viewpoint and is drawing on classical literature to create her story. She is not trying to draw readers into a Dungeon and Dragons fantasy land. Rather she is telling a story about the forces of good and evil and the battle of good overcoming evil--the story we all love to hear, Christian or not. Rowling even warns against the desire for magical powers in the last book when readers learn that Aunt Petunia once desired to be admitted to Hogwarts and her hatred and "fear" of magic are actually just sour grapes and jealousy of her sister. Rowling is merely using magic and a magical world as a device and backdrop against which her character face dilemmas that require them to discover what it means to be a good and responsible person as they choose between popularity and doing the right thing. Rowling espouses virtues such as: friendship, loyalty, standing up against peer pressure, doing the right thing even when it is hard, and respecting and listening to authorities. Her character struggle with these issues and don't always make the right decisions because Rowling is trying to present real human beings rather than the cardboard, melodramatic "good" and "bad" characters that are so often seen in modern Christian fiction.
Finally it is quite irritating that while Christians are crying for Harry Potter to be burned at the stake, I have never seen anyone write a facebook status or get so worked up over movies and TV shows like Hangover 2, Desperate Housewives, and The Bachelor. (Ironic is a pale word when it comes to describing the phenomena of liberated women all over the country weekly tuning in to watch a man gather a harem around him and then run all the women through their paces before choosing the "best" one.) If you have or do watch these shows I'm not condemning you to hell or thinking that you have endangered your soul. I think you've wasted your time but that's you business and not mine. None of us can claim we haven't wasted time on something. I am merely pointing these out to say that the values espoused by these shows are shoddy, sensational, and definitely not moral or Biblical--all descriptors which cannot be sincerely applied to Rowlings books by anyone who has read them. While Christians are trying to tear down the fantasy world of Harry and Hogwarts, our kids are being exposed to thousands of books, movies, and songs that tell them that sleeping around is a necessary step to finding true love, looking out for number one is the only way to make it in the world, drunken orgies and having a potty mouth make you cool, and the Bible is for uptight, angry people who just want to spoil your fun.
Christians need to stop reacting to books like Harry Potter and start RESPONDING to them. Another person who reads the series might come to the opposite conclusion I have and decide Harry Potter is not promoting morals or good. That is fine as long as they can present good and informed reasons why they have come to their conclusion. This is the response that respected Christian writers have always had to contemporaries who promoted viewpoints in opposition to their own. Lewis read authors such as Wells and Huxley and RESPONDED to them with writing of his own. He didn't organize a book burning and invite all his friends to throw any book they didn't agree with onto the bonfire. I won't claim that Lewis or Tolkien would like Rowlings books. (They didn't even like each others work). But I think that they would give her a fair read and respond to what she had written in an intelligent manner. It's time for Christians to get out of the middle ages and learn how to read.

"Put your little foot, put your little foot, put you little foot right here."

2011-07-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

(Aaron Fletcher--guest blogger)

Maddy walked a total of 6 feet today!!! It was amazing. Two years, three months and 11 days after our beautiful Maddy was given to us by God she walked! I am so proud of Maddy (and her mommy) for all of her hard work. In those 6 feet she has had her legs cut open in 7 different places, went to over 175+ Physical and Occupational Therapy appointments, had 1 pediatrician and 10 different specialists, 2 dieticians, a chiropractor, a stander and 2 different walkers, numerous splints, casts, X-rays, and MRIs, plus all of the different anesthesiologists, PAs and wonderful nurses. It was so awesome to see Maddy walk and laugh. When she would get to the end she would fall into one of our arms and say again! Two weeks ago she took two steps and then didn't want to do it again. Then today Holly was working with her and got her to take 4 steps. Then tonight.....she walked!!!! It was great.

Hotter than the 4th of July

2011-07-05T21:30:00.004-05:00

If you want to understand the true meaning of that phrase, come to Dallas on the 4th. We had a great, and very hot, weekend.

On Saturday we went to Rachel's and played in the pool and grilled. Yum! Yum! You know it's hot when someone suggests going inside from the pool to cool off. I think it got to 106 or something like that that day.

Maddy is fearless in the water. At one point Tammy threw her so she face planted in the water. When she came up she was all smiles but pointed to her mouth and said, "Teeth broken!" She cracks me up!

The big event of the weekend was that some friends who keep bees invited us to come watch them extract the honey from the hive. Maddy, Tammy, and I watched from the window while Aaron put on the bee hat and went out to help. He loved his life this weekend. Pretty obvious from the picture. Maddy was pretty taken with the bees as well. At one point she grabbed a candle off the window sill of the room we were watching in and said that she wanted to go feed it to the bees. She did get to go out and look at the bees after they calmed down.

She also checked out a bee through the microscope. haha! I don't think she really ever saw anything. She kept wondering why Dad wanted her to look through the eyepieces when she could see the bee on the tray "right there!"

The next day we went up to the church to watch the honey being processed. To sell the honey they have to process it in a commercial kitchen, which is why they did it at the church kitchen.

Aaron got to get his fingers sticky again. They cut off the wax seals with a hot knife and then Aaron poked the combs with this little tool to make sure they were fully open. Then they put the whole frame into a centrifuge and pulled the honey out and then drained it into 5 gallon buckets. It was a really, really neat process to see. I'm so glad that our friends were gracious and thoughtful enough to invite us to be part of the fun.

That afternoon we went home and napped and played in the kiddie pool. Maddy's new favorite thing to do is recline on the side of the pool and slide into the water.

That evening we went to a cookout at some other friends' house. Maddy got to sit at the kids table--on some books. :) She had a great time. She swung, we went on a walk on the trail close to their house, and then went to see fireworks.

(Side note: I am very angry at my camera right now because the flash is not working and I just bought it in January. Raarrrggg!) My camera has this gimmicky fireworks setting. I tried it out and it actually made for some pretty cool pictures once I figured out how to use it.

Maddy loved the fireworks. We all had a great, great weekend and we will probably recover from all the fun just in time to leave for vacation. :) Hope everyone had as great of a 4th as we did!

First Steps

2011-06-29T13:52:00.000-05:00

Today Maddy took her first steps--two little baby steps from the bookshelf to the couch. Since Maddy was born, I have read the stories about Jesus and the apostles healing lame men with new eyes and a longing that Jesus could be here today and that he could heal Maddy like he healed the lame man at the pool and on the side of the road. Today I feel like I witnessed a little piece of what it would be like to see one of those miracles happen. And Maddy, she's ready to keep going. She took her steps right as we were getting ready to leave for her physical therapy session. I told her therapist, Miss Wendy, about how she took a couple of steps right before we came. Wendy worked with her in therapy and she took two steps for Miss Wendy. I am so proud of Maddy. She has worked hard and doesn't know that she "can't" do something. Her determination is an inspiration to me. There have definitely been a lot of mountain tops, a lot of valleys, and a lot of flat spaces in Maddy's journey so far. I know there is more of all that to come, but today I am going to enjoy the mountain top of First Steps!

Recycle, Re-purpose, Re-use

2011-06-24T15:35:00.000-05:00

Maddy wanted to wear her boa to go to lunch with Daddy

That's what I feel like I do with summer activities: go to library or DBU (better A/C than our house), eat Popsicles, play in the pool, grill to avoid cooking inside. It seems that we do the same things over and over in the summer with slight variations on the theme. However I don't feel too bad about this and its nice to let my brain atrophy for a few weeks. Anyway, even the supposedly most creative people in the world (i.e. Martha Stewart, the fashion industry, etc.) recycle themes and ideas all the time. I recently saw a Real Simple magazine that recycled a theme and cover scheme "Organize Your Life" from several years ago. I swear it was exactly the same (large flower pick on cover, same theme, orange and yellow color scheme). The only difference was the flower was a different variety. Recently, I saw an article in a magazine about the "belt purse". The article tried to convince readers that a belt purse, made of leather, was a totally different thing than the good ol' fanny pack we all remember so well from the early 90's. Whatever. If you want to wear a container around your waste, just get real and pull out that old fanny pack you've got somewhere in storage from when you were 11. The Napoleon Dynamite girl has gone from looking nerdy to cute and trendy, all because the fashion industry has recycled the 80's look. So wear what you want! Like the Ecclesiastes guy said, "There is nothing new under the sun." Thank goodness I'm not lame for doing the same thing over and over again for 2 months every year! I'm just a normal human being with a limited mental capacity for coming up with anything new! Now back to enjoying summer!

A regular bowl is NOT big enough for cereal that has marshmallows in it

Maddy got to go to a birthday party at the Rosemeade Rainforest in Carrollton. That is a pretty impressive pool! It has a kids play area, a lazy river, slides, and several different pools.

Yummy birthday cake!

Hangin' with the big girls

For Father's Day we took Aaron to the drive in movie in Ennis. It was so fun even though it was still 100 degrees at 8:30 at night. Maddy had the best time and she stayed up for both movies. I was shocked. She mostly played in the back of the Isuzu and ate candy---which probably explains why she had the energy to stay up until 1a..m.

World's Greatest Dad

Pizza I made for Aaron's father's day meal

c ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc\ (Maddy's first contribution to the blog)

The pick your own outfit stage

b vvvcc

I've been slowly but surely continuing my organizing campaign. One of the things I did was clean out Maddy's dresser and move her clothes to the bottom drawers so she can pick out her own outfits. It is pretty fun to see what she comes up with.
Today we went to the geneticist to visit with her about the possibility of Maddy having Beals Syndrome. At first she seemed kind of doubtful and though that arthrogryposis was still the best diagnosis but she re-read som information about Beals and then decided that it was a legitimate thing to check out so we did a blood draw and sent it off to a labf in Pennsylvania that does a genetic screen for Beals. We should know the results in 2-3 weeks. If she does have Beals, that won't change her treatment plan. The most important reason for the test is just to tell if what she has is genetic (beals) or not (arthrogryposis).

"Lazy yellow moon comin' up tonight and shinin' through the trees. Crickets are singin' and lightnin' bugs are floatin' on the breeze...."

2011-06-15T21:41:00.000-05:00

Maddy cruising without her splints on

Officially there are still six days to the beginning of summer, but summer has already hit Dallas with a vengeance. Our forecast for the next week is pretty boring...and hot. It goes something like: 98, 99, 98, 97, 99, and so on. We hit 100 Monday. Sizzle and fry.

Nap time's over Daddy

However, summer has it's compensations. We've been doing a lot of ice cream and popsicle eating, playing in the pool, and grilling out. Also, our tomatoes have grown to gargantuan size. They don't seem to be producing much fruit. We've gotten some cherry tomatoes, but nothing else so far.

our tomato trees...I mean bushes

I had a little bit of a hard time adjusting to my new summer schedule of being home all the time. I didn't realize how much I'd gotten used to the little break of going to teach class. I really like it now though. The library has a story time on Tuesdays. I've been taking Maddy to the library once a week since my school got out but this week was the first time for story time. When we left the library, I couldn't really tell if story time was a hit or not. As the day went on, I discovered that story time is Maddy's new obsession. She asked to go to the library all day long. When Aaron got home she told him, "Going to library. Sing songs. Sit with kids. Wheels on the Bus. I like it." So I guess that will now be part of our weekly routine for the summer. They also have a pond behind the library and Maddy loves going down there to look at the swans and ducks.

Ice cream headache

drinking a yogurt smoothie

Splash!

Loving the sprinkler

We've done several BBQ's with several different groups. The picture above is Maddy playing in the sprinkler in a friend's yard. This was a BBQ we went to on Sunday evening. Their were 5 little girls there 2 years and under. It was so fun to watch them together. I don't normally let Maddy keep her splints on to play in the water but I did this time because there was several things it was easier for her to stand for while playing. I think she was the wettest kid out there when they got done playing. We also went to Rachel's apartment and played in the pool there and grilled out. It was frying that day so the pool felt really good. Georgia brought her big blow up seal toy and Maddy had a good time riding on it.

Riding the seal with Rachel's help

Master and Commander

the pool is cool

Maddy has finally gotten excited about the pool again. She asks to play in the kiddie pool every afternoon. Today when I told her it was time to get out she looked at me and said, "Two more minutes?" Of course she got to play just a little longer.

fun with the hose

should I spray mom?

We, of course, continue to do therapy over the summer. Maddy is now getting services from ECI so we have an OT come to our house. Theoretically she is supposed to come twice a month. So far she has been once, but she is scheduled to come again this month. We also get dietician visits from them. We still go to the hospital for her PT. This week she walked with her walker from the front desk back to the kids waiting area and then back to the therapy room. After therapy was over she walked all the way out of the hospital. Then I carried her across the parking lot and then she walked down the row of cars to our car. She really loves being able to walk and she got mad at me when I made her let me carry her through the parking lot. Then we took her to the pond behind the library tonight. She walked all the way from the car to where the swans were and then walked a good portion of the way back. Every time I asked her if she was tired she said, "Walk some more." She was determined that she was going to go everywhere on her own two legs.

Strolling along the path

pausing to look at some ducks

off roading to chase some ducks. she face planted shortly after this picture :(

standing by a tree close to the swans

the motivating swans

I am big and awesome and I know it

Mission accomplished

Time to head home

Aaron is teaching a summer class this month. He has a whopping 6 kids and one never comes. DBU is remodeling the labs (much needed as the lab benches and a lot of the equipment in the labs was from the 1960's) so the labs are online this summer. This is great for Aaron because it means 2 hours in the classroom instead of 4 like usual. So he is having a more relaxed summer teaching wise which is nice because it gives him a chance to work on other projects.

That's all for now. Stay cool!

My random mental processes spill out in cyberspace.....

2011-06-09T14:14:00.000-05:00

Maddy and Daddy looking at the ducks in the park. Going to see the ducks has become a regular activity in the Fletcher household. Maddy loves watching them. She points out the "daddy duck", "the mommy duck", the "baby ducks", and the other night we even learned that there is a "meme duck" out at the pond. Lol!

This week has been a little tamer than last week, although still very busy and maybe even more tiring. I had some kind of weird sickness we'll call the flu. I woke up Thursday morning with aches all over my body and a pounding headache. This achy-ness turned into a fever Saturday evening and I pretty much stayed in bed all day Sunday. While all of this was going on, our AC broke down (Saturday morning) and the repairman couldn't get out til Monday. So we all camped downstairs as much as possible over the weekend. On Monday I woke up with a rash over my entire body, except face and feet. I still have no idea what that was about. I guess the last little present from the strange virus I got. It was an itchy rash so I had to take benedryl all day which made me even more tired than I was from being sick. The rash was gone for the most part on Tuesday and yesterday I finally felt almost like a normal person. Whew! Hope I didn't pass that on to anyone!
I was supposed to go to a workshop at DBU for the English dept. on Monday but I did not make it since I was still fighting off the virus. On Tuesday, Maddy had therapy and I did make it to that with her. She got a new walker. She is really getting good at using it. Yesterday we went to a play group at church and she walked almost all the way inside and then walked almost all the way back out to the car when we were done.

Other than that I have been very slowly trying to work on organizing our house. We have accumulated a bunch of clutter we don't need and I am trying to go through and get rid of all of it. I got this book off of Amazon called Organized Simplicity. I really like it. She takes you back to the root of the problem of clutter and craziness and has you state your families purpose and values. Then you go through all the rooms of your house and clean and organize with the family purpose statement in mind as well as using two questions 1.) Is it useful to me (family)? 2.) Is it beautiful to me (family)? Maybe this seems like a no brainer to most of you as a basis to organize but it has been kind of revolutionary thinking to me. My tendency has been to look at at something and ask: Might it come in handy some day? Bad question. Of course you can talk yourself into believing that you might be able to use anything if you keep it long enough. I laughed after I looked through the book because she has an appendix for homemade cleaner/personal care products. Yeah, I went through that phase a while back. I have to say I'm still a pretty big fan of homemade cleaners, just because they are cheap, non-toxic, and work just as good as anything I've found in the store. However, my foray into homemade personal care products was a disaster. Maybe they work for some people, they did not work out for me. I don't think making my own shampoo out of vinegar and baking soda is going to save me that much money when I can buy a bottle of Suave for a buck and that bottle lasts me 4-6 months. She also has a money chapter that cracks me up because it is basically an advertisement for Dave Ramsey, but there is a lot of good stuff in this book and as with any book you will not agree with or care about everything that is in it. I do overall recommend it if you are feeling like you need to make a clean sweep organization in your house and you don't want too much guilt thrown on you about everything looking perfect and have to master some kind of complicated organizational system before you can succeed.
Other random thought of the day is that I need a haircut. Yes, I know this. Problem is, since I want more than a trim I am terrified to let anyone touch my hair. Last year, when I went for a "summer haircut" I told the stylist to take of about three inches and I ended up with a chin length bob that would not even fit in a ponytail! Yikes! After that experience I don't know what to do. I am also scared to cut two or three inches off my own hair. That is too much for me! So I guess for now I'll continue to have my split-end squirrel tail ponytail or wrap it all up in a messy bun and pretend I never comb my hair. Uggg. Why can't people who cut hair just listen to what you say and understand that they do not have to live with your hair or ever see it again if they don't want to but you do?!?

Sitting Pretty and Standing Tall

2011-06-02T18:17:00.000-05:00

Worn out after getting casts off and splints fitted

The first week of therapy is down and I am worn to a frazzle. We had therapy every day except Monday. The sessions we had a Scottish Rite were extremely long but they got Maddy set up the best she can possible be.

This is one way to hold an umbrella

After we got Maddy's casts of and her temporary splints on Friday we were able to have a nice weekend of taking it easy and getting Maddy used to being without casts. She is still kind of insecure without anything on her legs. We've gotten her to where she will take her splints off for a while but she wants her socks on at all times. On Friday she was crying and wanting her casts back on. Silly girl! We think her left knee especially is still pretty stiff and sore and having the splints or something on helps with the sensitivity.

Maddy's "princess face"

Pool time!

Maddy did not want to get in the pool on Friday at all. We were able to get her to do a bath but that was it. Over the weekend we got her back in the pool and she loved it after a little bit. She likes playing with this fish toy that Tammy got her for her birthday.

catching fish

trying it out

On Tuesday we had our first day of therapy. The therapist decided that the splints Maddy had were definitely not going to work. She told the orthodics person to make the knees straighter and the feet flat instead of pointed down (or as they say planter flexed). Because of how her feet were angled in the splints they gave her at first, she had to have huge wedges on her shoes. They were 1.75 and 1.5 inch heels. She also had to wear them on the wrong feet because they decided she needed the wedging the other way to walk better. It was crazy and made her really clumsy. Nevertheless, she practiced walking in them and even walked down the hall with her walker to see the therapist on Wednesday.

A fun push toy

Today we went back to Scottish Rite. They had her new splints ready. We had a crazy morning becuase I had a really bad headache in the middle of the night. I guess we were tired from the week to. We were supposed to be there at 10:30 and I woke up at 9:47. Yikes! Somehow we made it only 10 minutes late. We went to orthodics first and they fitted her new splints. Besides having the different angles, the new splints were also taller to give her more support at the back of her legs. Then they tried on her shoes and put just a small amount of wedging inside the shoe in the heel. This all took awhile so we were late getting to therapy. When we got to therapy they watched her walk and tried out different walkers for her. Maddy is so small they have a hard time finding walkers that are the right height. They do have them but apparently they are out on loan a lot. After trying several different styles and deciding to ditch the K Walker because she was leaning to far back in it, they decided she needed something she could push in front of her. All the walkers we tried out just didn't seem quite right so they gave her this push toy to take home and practice with. She really loves this toy and I think it will motivate her to practice. Plus it is really light so it is very easy for her to push around, even on the carpet. When we go back to therapy on Tuesday we'll try to find a good fit for her as far as a walker. After we did all this we had to go back down to orthodics and do a final fine tuning on the splints. We didn't leave the hospital til about 1:30 so it was a very long and busy morning.

Having fun!

Maddy really loves being able to walk. I think she will want to do it even more as she figures out how it helps her get around and get into things. She looks so good right now. She is standing so tall and is moving around walking as smoothly as I've ever seen her do yet. I'm really, really excited about what she is going to accomplish in the next few weeks and what she has already accomplished.

This is the best toy ever!

Finally, here are a couple of videos of Maddy walking and dancing with her push toy (it plays music):

I think Maddy needs some dance lessons from Aunt Jenna. :)

Cast Off!

2011-05-30T13:51:00.000-05:00

Guess you could say in some ways we are in our own little episode of Survivor sometimes, but on our version of Survivor, getting "cast off" is how you WIN the game! :) Today was getting casts off day. Maddy's legs look like they've healed up great. Her skin is very dry and her legs have lost a little muscle but they were so non-muscular before that they actually don't look too much different than before she got the casts. Maddy was a great patient for getting her casts off. She giggled the whole time they were cutting them off and loved watching the whole procedure. She still has some steritape on her surgery incisions but that should fall off soon. She also still had all the pen marks from when they drew on her legs for surgery. I think that will wash off in the bath tonight. The REAL bath she can finally take and so desperately needs. She got upset when we went down to orthodics. I think her knees are still a little sore. Especially the one they operated on in the front. Aaron let her put a little bit of weight on it and she started crying pretty hard. She got settled down though and was a good patient for getting her splints fitted. She will actually get new ones this week because they made the ones she got today too short. They will also give her some shoes that have wedge so that she'll be balance better for standing with her splints on. She will do therapy at Scottish Rite all week next week, so it is going to be a busy and intense week for all of us, but it should be great. Keep us in your prayers this week as Maddy gets used to her splints and does therapy for standing and walking. We are praying that she does have a lot more mobility now and that the correction they were able to get on her knees will really help her be able to do so much more. It is going to be a wait and see game as she recovers and does her therapy. One more note: Surgery on the foot will not be in June. I am really glad about that. It will not be til maybe the fall. They want to let her really get going on walking and building up leg muscle and all that good stuff before doing her foot. We are so happy that we're casts off! :)

Camping

2011-05-24T14:41:00.000-05:00

Yes, we went camping in the rain and mud this weekend. Yes, we are crazy. Yes, we had a great time!

blowing bubbles

coloring instead of eating hotdogs

may the force be with you

hanging with friends

chubby bunny, chubby bunny, chubby bunny

gorgeous girl with gorgeous flowers

Here and there projects

2011-05-18T15:52:00.000-05:00

front yard and scarlet maple

Many of you won't care about this minutia on home improvements but for those of you who are interested.... Since we've moved into this house, neither Aaron nor I have been very interested in doing much in the way of home improvement projects. I guess we always felt like we were going to be moving sooner than later and it wasn't worth all the effort. While this saved us money, it didn't really make the house feel like our home either. Last summer, hoping to sell the house in the fall, we did some landscaping in the yard. That was fun, but we didn't really do much over the winter. We were thinking of putting the house on the market this spring, but decided against it. The timing just didn't seem right. So with that decision behind us, it just felt like time to do some simple and fairly inexpensive projects to make our house a place we want to live. The first project I undertook this year was painting the living area and dining area. That turned out great. I also got a new couch cover and throw pillows for the living area. About the same time I ordered some trees from Gurney's. We got a Scarlet Maple for the front and three hybrid poplars for the west side of the house. We had planted a mystery tree that came up in the front flowerbed last fall and as you can see, it is doing great.

west side of house, mystery tree (sycamore?), and hybrid poplars.

front flowerbed. I put in a couple of new plants because one of the perennials I had got killed in the ice storm.

front flowerbed. Just because I think it looks so great right now!

The next thing we did was get a couple of drawings I did three years ago framed. I had done the one on the left for a project in a class I took and then drew another one at home, always having in mind that I'd get them framed for the living room since I really liked the colors and the large size would be good for the monstrous wall we have in there. Finally, my dream came true for Mother's day. Aaron took me to Hobby Lobby and we got them framed. Aaron doesn't like abstract as a rule but he said that he does like these and likes them on that wall so score for me! (or he's lying but we'll just pretend he loves them).

The next project was to move some furniture around. I was really starting to hate the table in the dining room. A table on carpet is a bad, BAD idea with a kid. I finally persuaded Aaron to help me move the table into the kitchen and there is no going back. Aaron has never admitted that he likes the new arrangement, but it is wonderful. It also freed up the dining area to be a play area/office, which I love because the dining area seemed really crowded with Maddy's shelves, toys, and table when the dining table was in there and it allowed us to get the desk out of the living room which makes that area more spacious. WIN WIN WIN.

Looks like we just had a massacre in here.

got tomatoes in the garden and that is about it. They are doing great with all the rain we've had though.

This is the improvement that I am most proud of. I found a table, 5 chairs, umbrella, chaise chair, AND gas grill for $150 on our neighborhood email. It was a great deal and we literally only had to move everything half a block. We love being able to use the gas grill and love sitting outside when it is nice and eating dinner outside. It is really nice to be able to use our backyard space for us rather than a glorified dog pen only.

This is the wall in the living room the desk was on. It looked like a sore thumb after moving the desk so I painted it and it has really improved the look of the living area. I think we are pretty much done with home improvement stuff for a while. I'd love to get a lamiate floor in the living/office/play area, but I have a feeling that's a ways away.

Pictures that make me laugh

2011-05-15T15:22:00.001-05:00

Gangsta Maddy. She is reading the Bible though!

Playing dress up with Daddy

Little Jackie O meets mariachi band

MMMMMMM! Corndog! I can't believe she ate the whole thing!

Must have sun glasses to properly eat an ice cream sundae

If sunglasses are not available, Mr. Potato head glass are a great sub for fashionable eyewear

Say cheese!

Maddy stroller buddies. Nothing beats going for a walk and then cuddling up with your best but for nap time. And you never have to leave the stroller!

Maddy was trying to crawl up the hill. You've got to give this girl a 10 on the determination scale

Maddy found this old paci in the toy bin, put it in her mouth, and announced that she was Baby Bethany. :)

Texting. Wonder who she got that idea from?

This is the smile Maddy gets on her face when she watches a movie with a baby animal. This particular animal was the baby fox in the fox and the hound

Great Moms that I know

2011-05-08T15:52:00.001-05:00

Sliding with Maddy

I am incredibly blessed that I have so many great women in my life who are examples of great moms. Obviously this lady is my #1 Mom choice. She is a great mom and a great grandma. When I get tired or out of patience with Maddy, all I have to do is think about how she did it with four kids ( I don't know the answer!) and I feel inspired. I also feel inspired that she ran the Pike's Peak ascent last year! I hope that someday I can be as amazing as my mom. The following mom's are pretty great in my book too:

My Mom and me at the top of Pike's Peak

Amber Fletcher

Sherry McCluskey

Cindy Hall

Janet Joyner

Amanda Fletcher

Kim Fletcher

Nell Fletcher

Jan Skidmore, Chrissy Cross, and Mildred Eckstein

Jennifer Joyner

Pam Joyner (no picture)

Betty Embry

Sherry Embry

Amanda Embry

Girls from our old small group

Evelyn Tyler

Girls from our Brookhaven small group

Anna Fletcher

Rachel Griffith (our "Dallas mom")

I survived my first semester of teaching......and other things going on around here

2011-05-07T17:48:00.002-05:00

Yes, I made it. Finals have been given, group grading gotten through, and final grades will soon be posted. If I could put my learning curve on some kind of graph I think it would be a vertical line shooting up exponentially through the course of the semester. I had NO idea what I was doing when I walked into the classroom my first day. All I could do was call on the small amount of poker playing skills I had and bluff my way through. I'm definitely still a novice but I have so many ideas for teaching. grading systems, student assignments, etc. next semester that I am really excited to try out. But first, I am excited to have the summer off and take a break. The past school year has been crazy with me finishing my masters and graduating and going straight into teaching two classes; my poor brain just needs a break. I am very proud to say, however, that ALL of my students passed the final. Unfortunately not all of them passed the class. :( And I had an incidence of plagiarism in each class which was not fun to deal with. It is disappointing that these students would cheat, but even more disappointing that they don't have enough faith in themselves that they have good ideas and the ability to express those ideas on a piece of paper. I know other factors play into plagiarism such as laziness, pressure for grades, and the time crunch at the end of the semester, but I really think that the issue of plagiarism comes down to a person not thinking their ideas are good enough. If you truly believe that your ideas are valid and worth sharing then you will not stoop to using another person's work. ANYWAY, enough about that. My main feelings after the semester are freedom and relief. Which makes me question how much I actually enjoyed my experience, but I need to do it a second time at least to really know. Also, today at the grading session for the finals, the dept. chair told me that she wants me to be on a committee to restructure Engl. 1302. I haven't even taught that class so I don't know what I could possibly bring to the table. Plus being on committees and going to meetings in on my list with such things as scrubbing toilets, picking up dog poop, and cleaning gum off the bottom of my shoes. Nevertheless, I'll probably say yes. After all it will look good on the resume, although I'm not exactly sure what I'm building this resume up for.....
Meanwhile, Maddy is getting funnier and more creative all the time. The first video shows her using her imagination. She is starting to introduce ideas into conversation and play without us giving the idea to her. It is really neat to see. The second video is her going through the animal sounds. She often initiates this little game as well. I am looking forward to having the summer free to spend more time with Maddy when I'm not feeling stressed from the pile of grading I know is sitting on the computer.

Extended Easter

2011-05-02T16:58:00.000-05:00

Maddy in her Easter dress from Grams on Palm Sunday.

We had a long Easter season this year. We put Maddy in her Easter dress the Sunday before Easter since we weren't sure that she'd be able to go to church on Easter Sunday. Turns out she did so she got to do the egg hunt they had for the kids, but we did not put her in her Easter dress again as it was hot, she had her casts, and we hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. Maddy also got several Easter packages from various relatives and enjoyed opening all those. This Sunday we finally got around to dying eggs. I was glad we did it. I thought Maddy might be too young still but she was actually really interested and participated in the event and enjoyed it a lot. Now we've got a bunch of hard boiled eggs. What to do with them. Hmmmm......

Pretty girl.

Opening her Easter package from Mema. She also got a card with some goodies from Granna and Grandad.

Had to put the dress on right away.

Looking at Easter basket goodies. Eggs are from an Easter egg hunt at church.

Dying eggs the Sunday after Easter. Maddy decided to eat one of them. Shocker!

Starting the process.

Stirring her egg in the dye.

Look at these beauties.

Tam making designs with wax

Maddy did this egg almost entirely on her own. I put it in the dye for her but she stirred it around, decided when to take it out, and removed it from the cup with minimal assistance from Mom. It was quite impressive!

Decorating the eggs with stickers.

"I love you egg!"

4 out of 9 broken eggs ain't bad with a 2 year old

The finished products

Surgery and other Pics

2011-04-25T08:37:00.000-05:00

Maddy adopted a fuzzy caterpillar for awhile. We let him go because the jar was too small and too much of a pain to keep clean.

dogs got their annual grooming

cold while waiting on Maddy to get out of surgery

In the hospital. This picture is the evening after she got done with surgery.

Morning after surgery. Maddy had more energy than I did. To many nurses coming in and out during the night.

playing with the blow by oxygen mask is fun!

Home sweet home!

Drinking water and watching a movie.

What it's been doing here lately.

Aaron sent out an email updating most on how the surgery went. We did not get as much extension on Maddy's knees as we'd hoped but she did get to between 15 to 20 degrees to straight. Something with the way her joints are in the knees is not allowing them to grow completely straight. She could grow out of this. If not, there is a surgery she can do when she is 5 or 6 that will put a metal plate on the knee joint to cause it to grown correctly. This is a long term prayer request for Maddy.
She has not been eating or drinking much except water since we got home. Short term prayer request is for her recovery and that she'll get an appetite soon. She has also not been sleeping although last night she finally slept pretty well and only woke up once in the night.
Another prayer request is that while we were at the hospital the doctor's told us they suspect that Maddy has Beals syndrome. Though this is treated in very similar ways to arthrogryposis, it is not true arthrogryposis. Beals would explain why she is so long and skinny. Beals is closely related to Marfans which more people may have heard of but it does not usually have the eye or heart issues associated with Marfans. I hesitated to put this on because I know everyone in my family will Google it and I don't want people to be overly concerned about anything they might read. However, we'd like prayers about wisdom in any action that should be taken as far as differences from what she was previously diagnosed with. Should we try to get a genetic screen done if available? (Beals, unlike arthrogryposis, is caused by a genetic mutation). We may need to see a heart doctor just to get everything checked out. Though Beals usually doesn't involve heart issue, it does occasionally happen. So lot's of prayers about this. We do not know for 100% sure that she has this but a lot of the things that are going on with Maddy match up with Beals.
Sorry if this blog does not make since. I have had very little sleep since the surgery. Yesterday I washed and dried Maddy's hearing aids.

The Empty Places

2011-04-23T14:52:00.001-05:00

I have shared the story before about how I and several other family members started practicing Lent. The abbreviated version is that it all started when we visited a Lutheran church in York one Sunday and the minister gave a sermon on Lent. Though intrigued by the idea, and deciding to put it into practice, I would venture to say that none of us, at the time, really understood the purpose or significance of Lent in the Easter season. Rather, we decided to do it as sort of a lark. What would it feel like to celebrated Lent? Could we meet the challenge of giving something up? This led to many years of uninformatively and imperfectly practicing the Lenten tradition of self denial.
Many people who aren't raised practicing Lent seem to think that it is a waste of time. What possible good does it do God or anyone if I decide to give something up for 40 days straight? "I'm not Catholic" is the quote I've often heard when it comes to the Lenten season. Before I started celebrating Lent, I too connected it vaguely with Catholics and the annual appearance of fish sandwiches on all the fast food restaurant menus. And in the back of it all, there was that horrified fascination with the evils of New Orleans and Mardi Gras that somehow made Lent seem like a penance for excesses committed on that day.
As I've practiced Lent, I have outgrown some of these misconceptions and have learned the deeper spiritual purpose behind the practice of the Lenten season. I'm still no expert. I'm sure there are many teachings and traditions about Lent from various church denominations that I'm not even aware of. However, this quote in reference to the Resurrection, from an article in World Magazine, titled "Earth Day", brought together what observing Lent has been teaching me over the past several years. (Warning, following quote is kind of cheesy but bear with me) : "That hollow tomb ached like a bad tooth...But--to her(earth's) surprise--she can't hold Him! Her dead lord is not done--eager footsteps shake her slumber, pounding up a well-worn path in an unworn way: In the opposite direction" (Cheaney 20).
The Lenten season is about defying nature: physical nature, human nature and spiritual nature.
The saying "Nature abhors a vacuum," is attributed to Aristotle. It is an idiom used to express the idea that empty or unfilled spaces are unnatural as they go against the laws of nature and physics. Although this isn't really true in space, it is true here on Earth because of air pressure and the nature of air to rush into any empty space. However, as people who are not likely to go into space to observe the behavior of nature there, for our purposes, this observation holds true. Just as air seeks to fill voids, our physical human nature seeks to fill voids as well. We fill two holes in our body called the mouth and stomach with food. In one of it's most basic forms of practice, Lent requires the observer to deny filling these voids and instead fast or abstain from certain types of food.
When done as a mere ritual, this seems quite ridiculous, but fasting is a Biblical principle and we know that Jesus fasted in seeking God's will before he began his ministry. The Lenten season is based off the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert and put all of his dependance on God rather than "bread" to physically sustain himself.
It seems illogical until you practice it, but denying yourself a substance your body depends on, such as coffee, sugar, cokes, chocolate or something else that you may depend on for energy or keeping you in a good mood, can really increase your dependance on God and give you a good attitude towards life that is genuine and not merely a substance induced mood. One of my teachers in grad school had a surgery during the semester and was struggling with pain from a secondary infection. He made the very insightful observation that it is amazing how much our display of the fruits of the spirit are often actually a reflection that we are feeling physically healthy and satisfied.
By asking us to defy our physical nature, Lent also teaches us to deny our human nature. If I give up something whether food, facebook, television, or even a bad habit such as gossiping, my human nature is that I will fill the empty space I've created by absenting these things with whatever is handy. If I do not purposefully plan for these spaces to be empty so that God can come in to fill them, I will let another distraction, or food substance, or habit rush in to replace the one I've gotten rid of and find my satisfaction in that new thing rather than God, completely missing the point of the purpose behind the self denial. Sadly, I will (and have very much in the past) missed out on the spiritual blessing that emptying a space in my life was supposed to prepare me to receive.
Lastly, Lent is the season that leads up to the ultimate denial of our spiritual nature. Our spiritual nature on our own as humans is not pure and it is not holy. It is sinful, selfish, and passive. Even as Christians who have accepted Christ and walk daily with him, it is still a challenge to purge our natural spiritual nature (or perhaps it would be more Biblical to say non-spiritual nature) from our lives. This is a daily process. If the practice of Lent is observed for the purpose of purging this non-spiritual nature, the blessings and growth in the spiritual nature can be priceless and immeasurable. Trading a few minutes on Facebook or a daily Dr. Pepper for this growth is like trading in a house in the slums for a mansion in the mountains. Yet as humans we tend to hold on to these things that may be hindering our spiritual growth, or if not hindering would allow us a new avenue of growth, because of our passive nature and opposition to something new. We make excuses that if we give something up it won't really make a difference or if we do decide to give something up it won't really matter if we cheat once or twice. After all, observing Lent doesn't determine whether we go to heaven or hell. No it doesn't, but in my experience it can vastly and irrevocably effect how close my relationship is with God.
After having observed Lent for 40 days, I'm looking forward to getting back on my Facebook account and seeing some pictures that I missed. However, I am more looking forward to Easter Sunday and celebrating the ultimate denial of physical, human, and (non)spiritual nature through the Resurrection of Jesus! A Jesus that I know better through denying myself.

Spring Fashion Bulletin

2011-04-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

Headbands are back! The brighter the better. Sport one when working out or better yet, put it on for a quite read on the couch.

head band: origin unknown
pj's: origin unknown

Who says you can't look like a princess while performing household tasks. Wear this poofy pink beauty while whipping up dinner and you'll never feel like cooking is a chore again!

dress: Target $20

Mittens are no longer for snowy days only. Prettify your paws with these elegant accessories, even on a 90 degree day. Paci's are back! Sport them in bright colors and add a little bling with a lady bug paci clip. Don't forget to complement your outfit with a piece in animal print.

mittens: Walmart $1
paci: Nuk, Walmart $3
paci clip: origin unknown
giraffe: Kenya, Africa

Some Maddy-isms

2011-04-11T13:37:00.001-05:00

Maddy has been talking so much lately, and the more she talks, the funnier she gets. Tricia gave her this letter thing for her birthday. She loves it and any puzzle, book, or game with letters in general. When she plays with her letters she sings this little song to herself that sounds something like the following: "Lackalazy x! Lackalazy x!" We cannot figure out what she is singing.

As most of you know, dinner time is a constant struggle. Maddy usually ends up scattering and dropping about as much food as she eats. Or just making a duck bill out of a bite of burrito.

One day at lunch I gave her macaroni and banana. She love mac 'n' cheese and ate a lot of it but still managed to scatter a lot of it too. Then she looked at me and said, "Mac 'n' cheese EVERYWHERE!".

Maddy likes to try to help out with chores. One chore is cleaning animal hair off the furniture. But wait! Why mess around with that. Let's just go straight to the source.

As you can tell by the tail in the air, crouched, ready to run away stance here, the cat did not appreciate this ingenious idea.

She is also trying to figure out how what she does or has or wears relates to everyone else. When she gets done eating she will always say, "Mama all done too!" Then I have to explain that I am still eating. In the mornings (this happens on weekends mostly) she will get up and want to come to our room. We put her in bed with us. She hangs out for a little bit and then sits up and pushes on us saying, "Mama get down!" Meaning she wants me to get out of bed. When I get up she will go over to Aaron and push on him and say, "Dada get down!" Until he gets up too. This morning she brought some diapers into the bathroom where I was getting ready and said, "Mama put on diaper!" I explained that I did not wear diapers. Then she asked, "Dada wear diaper?" I told her no. Then she said, "Bye bye diaper. Maddy no wear diapers." If only potty training could really be that easy!

Why can't we ever just have a normal trip?

2011-04-05T14:22:00.000-05:00

Maddy is still enjoying her princess crown and birthday cards.

Maddy in her new pj's from Grams. She looks so cute and they fit great.

This weekend we went to York. Aaron wanted to be on this President's Counsel thing that gives input for ideas for the school. So I got roped into it as well. I am not good when it comes to coming up with ideas so I was mostly just going along since I hadn't been back for 6 or 7 years. Tammy came as well since one of her friends was going to be there for the weekend. I did not take as many pictures as I wanted. :(
We traveled on Friday, which was Aaron's birthday. We got out later than we planned so didn't get to York til about 8:30 Friday evening. Maddy was tired so we put her in bed and then Aaron ran over to The Kitchen (formerly known as Country Kitchen) and got carrot cake and fruits of the forest pie. It was yummy. The next morning we got up. Tam was going to meet her friends and we were going to have breakfast with Dr. Ray Miller. I had decided to make some coffee since it was available in the room and we were going to try to feed Maddy before breakfast as well. Well to use the mic to heat up her cereal I had to unplug the coffee pot. So as I was doing that, somehow I tipped the whole pot of coffee and the coffee maker over and spilled the hot coffee on my forearm. Aaron and Tam were really great about remembering first aid and we got the burns under cold water. Aaron ran over to Wal-Mart for neosporin and gauze. It was pretty painful to get it wrapped but I took some advil and once the air got cut off it felt ok. The neosporin also had pain relief stuff in it so that helped.

Maddy playing on the curb at Easthill. Not the site of my favorite York memories. This is where we had chapel.

We made it to breakfast (late) but then spent all morning talking with Dr. Ray. Then we went to the lunch they provided for us, heard the choir, dropped Maddy off to hang out with Tammy and went to our meeting. There were about 25 people of all ages at the meeting. There was one girl at my table that was there when I was so it was fun to catch up with her. I didn't really know her when I was there but we both at least remembered each other's faces.

Aaron and Maddy posing in the prayer chapel. Last time I was in York they had just finished the renovation but Aaron had never seen it.

Prayer chapel alter. The candelabras and Bible were originals from the old church site.

New dorms. Word on campus is the students call these "the Gibb's crib".

Maddy at the wonderful York tradition called "Songfest".

After that we had supper in the cafeteria which was not a good experience because we got there late and only got salad before they closed everything down. Then Maddy was crying because someone had ice cream and we couldn't get back in to get her any. Aaron got someone to let him in so Maddy did end up getting her ice cream. We ran to Runza to finish eating since we were both still hungry and then rushed over to Song Fest. It was a fun show. Four clubs performed, but only two of then had a really good show. That is typical of York at Song Fest. The school is just not big enough to support four strong clubs. Aaron's old club AXE won the show. Maddy really enjoyed it. She was trying to dance with the people on stage. It was hilarious.

An old haunt.

Maddy decided to entertain herself by doing this on the way home.

The next morning we went to church with Stephen and Nikki Cooper and their two kids. Their little girl, Elliana is almost 4. She and Maddy had a great time playing together. It was so cute. They shared stickers in church. (Maddy was not as good at sharing as Elliana :).) Then we grabbed some lunch from Taco John's and went back to their house to eat. Maddy had a great time playing outside in the swing and playing dolls with Elliana. Elliana even pushed Maddy around in a little car they had outside. It was so fun to watch them together.
We left York later than we intended. It was about 2 when we got on the road. We stopped at Pizza Hut in Kansas. At about 7:30 we still had about 5 hours to go. The trip went well for awhile. Tam had been a machine and drove all the way to where we stopped for supper. Then I drove to Paul's Valley, OK and then had to stop because my arm was hurting. Aaron took over at this point. He was just about to pull over to let Tam drive again when he noticed the heat gauge was pegged out. UH OH!!!! We pulled over at a gas station. Aaron was putting anitfreeze and stuff in once he got it cooled down enough but I could already tell there was no way we were making it home in this car. Well this guy came over and started trying to help. He was heading to Denton for work and said he'd follow us to Denton. Well we made it maybe 15 more miles down the road. Then had to ditch the car at an exit. Aaron talked the guy into taking us home. I think Aaron was crazy for asking and the guy was crazy for doing it, but he did not try to kill us and we made it back. He was actually a very interesting guy and had me quite nervous the whole way. He said he was a trucker. He lived in Mustang, OK but drives down to Denton every Sunday to pick up his truck for work. He plays in a band at his church in Moore, OK and he had his praise music CD going in the car. He told us all about how his wife had the third largest brain tumor in the world and that she sounded like Leann Womack but no country singers would hire her to work for them because she looked like she had a stroke after her operation. He told us how his worship leader sounded better than a black lady singing southern gospel. He told us how he was working on an album with a guy who used to be a guitarist for Toby Keith. All may have been true but it made him sound crazy. Anyhow we got here. He went miles out of his way to bring us home so he turned out to be a guy who was trying to do what a Christian should do I guess. He knew every exit everywhere on the roads we were on. Not just the roads but the actual exit numbers. He knew all the Love's Stations between Moore and Denton. That is for sure. It was very interesting, but I'm not sure I'm ready to repeat the experience of trusting my kid's and my family's well being to a total stranger at 1 in the morning!
Yesterday Aaron came home from work early so I could get to my doctor's appointment. I decided I needed to go in to get some silvedene to help the burn heal. The doctor said it was looking good and we had done all the right stuff. He gave me a prescription and told me I could take a shower. I didn't know if I should get water on the burn so that was a huge relief to hear I could shower! They bandaged me up and then we went and picked up the prescription, got a u-haul car trailer, dropped Maddy off to hang with Tam and then headed up to get our car. All of that went really well and we got the car back to the house. We were all so tired though. Especially Aaron and Tam who only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep before having to go to work. So the car is sitting in the front of the house and we are going to try to find someone to buy it for parts. Hopefully we can get a good price for it and add to our savings to buy another car. It was a crazy, crazy, crazy trip.

Other quick news:
Maddy was scheduled to have her surgery this Thursday, but because of a rash taht isn't quite gone they are waiting to do it til April 21st. They did not tell us this til this morning so we are scrambling to reschedule what we rescheduled for the surgery. It is a pain to have to do that but I'm glad they are being super cautious about infection risk and it will give me a couple of weeks to get my burn healed up before having to try to take care of a grumpy two year old. So I think in someways it really worked out for the best. Plus, maybe we will have time to find a car before all the surgery stuff gets going. Continued prayers for the upcoming surgery are much appreciated.

Party til you pass out

2011-03-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

Yellow Elephant cake made by Tammy. When I asked Maddy what color of birthday cake she wanted she said, "Yellow birthday cake." She said this every time I asked over several days so this is what we came up with.

That is what we did this weekend. This weekend we had Maddy's birthday party. Aaron surprised me, Tammy, and Maddy by getting my mom and dad, Cindy and Bethany, and Mema to all come for the birthday celebration. I really can't think of a time I've been more surprised in my life. Aaron had told me he was going to pick up pizza for supper on Thursday night because it had been a busy week. Thinking nothing more of this than he was getting much more thoughtful about helping with meal planning I agreed. We were getting really hungry waiting for pizza and I was on the floor entertaining Maddy with some games on my phone. Aaron walked in with the pizza and said, "Happy Birthday!" in a really loud voice. I looked up, kind of annoyed that he was making such a big deal over this really late pizza. "Pizza is a nice thoughtful gesture but does not count as a week late b-day celebration. You had a good thing going. Don't make into something lame..." were all kind of thoughts that were starting to run through my head. At the same time I heard Tammy say, "Wow! You got a lot of pizza!" Then I looked up to see a whole lot of people walking into my house. People that I knew! Was I hallucinating? Nope! There they all were, laughing and smiling, and looking like cats who had just gotten into a bowl of cream. I think I was just in shock the whole evening. It was so great! Ethan joined us Friday evening. We had a wonderful time. We took the kids to the park, talked, played games, cooked, worked on maintenance projects around our house, watched basketball, and had a birthday party! It was a whirlwind of a weekend. The best part was that I think everyone felt like they had given a gift but also gotten a gift themselves.

Here are some pictures from MM's b-day party and a video. Again, sorry for long videos, but she was just so cute opening her presents.

Birthday dinner: Ribs, mac 'n' cheese, biscuits, broccoli, and salad. Yum! Yum!

Rach and Tam enjoying the birthday dinner.

The dogs even got in on the birthday treats.

Mom and Dad helped a ton over the b-day weekend. My mom washed this huge pile of birthday dinner dishes and my Dad and Ethan and Aaron worked on getting the airconditioner cleaned and the roof vent fans oiled so that our house wouldn't be an inferno. My Dad and Ethan also rotated the tires on the Isuzu.

:) It's hard to get a good picture of everyone. :)

The birthday loot.

The birthday girl and her consort awaiting cake and candles.

Presents!!!! Maddy definitely knew what these were this time. With every new present she would begin to open it and say, "Oh goodness!". Hilarious. I have no idea where she picked up this expression.

One of the faves.

Maddy could have received just this little bunny for her birthday and been perfectly happy. Her and Bethany both loved it. Grams hit the jackpot with this one.

Uncle Ethan borrowed Maddy's phone to make a couple of calls.

What's a birthday without chocolate and headbands?

The whole fam. The only down of the weekend was that Brad and Jenna could not be here for the celebration.

K Walker

2011-03-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we went to Scottish Rite for Maddy's 6 month follow up appointment. Two big things came out of her check up.
The first thing is that she will be having surgery on her legs soon to lengthen the tendons behind her knees. The surgery is called bilateral hamstring release. Depending on how things go they may only do the right knee and go back to do the left knee later. After her surgery she will be in casts for 6-8 weeks. Then she will get a new kind of KAFO with hinges that will allow her more mobility in walking. So of course were are asking everyone to be in prayer over her surgery as well as the recovery time afterwards. I don't think she's going to enjoy having big, bulky casts on her legs that make it hard to move around.
The second thing that happened is that Maddy got a K walker. I am ridiculously pumped about this thing, but it seriously is great. The best part is that Maddy loved it right away. The therapist brought it in for her to try out. I didn't put her in it right away because I didn't know if he needed to make adjustments. Well Maddy had a breakdown. She wanted to try it out and she wanted to try it out yesterday! The therapist said it was ready to go so I put her in and she immediately started cruising all over the place. No learning curve whatsoever. She knows how to get herself in and out of it. She will get in in it and say, "Walk to Mama!" and then do it, or "walk to Houdini" and then do it. Here are some pictures and video overload of her using the walker. Another great thing is that, unlike the stander, the walker moves easily on the carpet so she is not limited to where she can go with it (well except the stairs). The first video is kind of long and she spent more time "drinking coffee" than she did walking but I'm including it anyway, mostly for the enjoyment of the grandparents.

On the Ninth Day of Kenya, DBU gave to me: a bunch of paper grading

2011-03-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

A picture Tam took of Maddy at DBU yesterday.

Today is the big day! Aaron comes home! We are all so ready. Maddy finally slept like normal last night. I did not sleep well from excitement I think. Aaron called from the Detroit airport. They made it through customs and were eating at Chili's. So he is back in the states and waiting to catch the plane back to Dallas in a couple hours. I am so excited to see him, the pictures, souvenirs, for Maddy to see him. It is going to be great.
I did the big group grading thing at DBU today. Actually it wasn't too bad. I felt like a total newbie but I think that I was pretty fair in how I assessed the papers I read. I had about 3 students that didn't pass. :( Fortunately I think their problems can be easily fixed and that if they do what I tell them, they will do well on the final. I'm glad I started in the Spring semester and had a light introduction to grading day.
This afternoon, we are going to try to hit the Grapevine Mills Mall on the way to the airport. THey are one of the few places I know in the metroplex that has an Auntie Anne's pretzels. This was a fave in Ft. Collins, but we rarely go here because it is so far away. Probably a good thing. I am looking forward to that almond pretzel. If we have time, I'll try to find Maddy some clothes for birthday gifts. They have a Carter's outlet so you can find some pretty good deals sometimes.
Hope you've enjoyed the 9 days of Kenya. I haven't enjoyed them, per se, but they have been good. I know Aaron will have a lot to tell and a lot that he has learned. My nine days here taught me that I can fix, do, accomplish a lot more than I think sometimes and that it sure is good to have Aaron around to help out.

On the Eight Day of Kenya, my true love said to me: "Happy Birthday from Nairobi!"

2011-03-18T20:55:00.001-05:00

Actually this is what he said:

Happy birthday wishes from Kenya!!!!!

I'm in the Kenyan airport now. We go to Detroit fist and then to Dallas. I will call once in Detroit.

So Aaron is on the plane as I type this. The Kenya adventure is coming to a close. It still blows my mind that he is on his way back...left at 3ish our time...but will not be home until 5:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Last night Rachel and Tammy helped me finish painting. I rented an 8 foot ladder to do the areas next to the ceiling. I got it at Home Depot. They guy that rented it to me thought I was a crazy person I think. I made him help me shove it in the Rodeo. It barely fit but we got it in there. It was almost not tall enough to get the job done but we made it work. On the really high places, Tammy did the painting since she is a bit taller than I am and it worked out great. It looks so good. It was a lot of work but I'm glad that I did it. Here are some pics of the final results:

Living room. I think color on this huge wall makes it look smaller which is a good thing.

The dining room. We rearranged furniture in here a little bit too so the dining room seems more spacious now.

another view of the living area

I also got the mower running yesterday thanks to a tip from my dad (spray WD40 behind the air filter). I got almost the whole front done. Then the grass catcher fell off. I stopped to try to put it back on and the pin that holds it on was missing. I still can't find it. I was going to just mow anyway and get grass blown all over me. I was already disgusting, but the mower wouldn't start again. So....hopefully I can get it started and running long enough to finish the yard before Aaron gets home.
Yesterday and today have been very warm. About 80 which means that upstairs it gets like 85 during the afternoon. I haven't turned on the A/C yet though. I just can't bring myself to do that in March. Especially when it still cools off at night. So we are hanging downstairs where it is cool in the afternoons. Yesterday we went on a walk to at least get a breeze and it was actually really nice on the front steps. Maddy enjoys watching cars and playing on the steps.

Probably a car is going by. Though this happens about once a minute on our street, a car going by is very exciting for Maddy. She likes to name the colors: "Red car! Zoom! Black truck. Bye bye black truck." etc.

Gymnastics move. Not a fan of these. She was sitting on the very edge of the step and lifting her leg up and down while she balanced on her hand. She is a little dare devil.

This evening, Rachel and Tammy and Maddy went with me to Spring Creek BBQ to celebrate my birthday. Somehow, while there, I lost my keys. Fortunately the spare car key was in the diaper bag. Hopefully I'll find my keys sometime. Thankfully there weren't any keys on there that we don't have duplicates of so it is not that big of deal. Tam and Rachel were really nice. They got me some great gifts. I also received lots of nice gifts and cards in the mail. It was a good day.
On the way home Maddy kept talking about "the ball". Finally I realized she was pointing at the moon. I tired to tell her it was the moon with little effect. The whole way home I heard about the "big ball! Right there! Big ball! Right there!!!!" It was pretty much the baby version of double rainbow man. At one point she started saying, "Big ball! Whoooooooa! Big ball! Whoooa! Whoooa!" Soooooo funny! A great birthday memory. When we got home (tam had been driving her car behind us) Tam told me that moon was the biggest it's been in 18 years. I just started laughing. No wonder Maddy was so obsessed. Anyway, Maddy wanted to keep looking at the moon so we went on a little walk around the block. By the time we got home, she had finally progressed to telling us, "Moom! Right there! Moom! Right there." Close Maddy, close.

On the Seventh Day of Kenya an exciting event came to me: March Madness on TV!

2011-03-17T12:14:00.001-05:00

From Aaron:

We are at Sweetwater and went on the safari. I was able to see lots of stuff. We even went on a nature trail to see hippos...that was really cool. We also were able to stop at place where they have a half blind Black Rhino...I was able to feed him!!! It was really really cool.

I did get to talk with Geof today so it looks like we are going to meet him tomorrow in Nirobi. I am looking forward to that and hope it works out!

It won't be long until I am on the 18 hour flight back home!

Okay, so it doesn't trump a safari, but March Madness is here! I've got my bracket filled out and I'm ready to go. I love that March Madness coincides with my birthday. It makes it a little more exciting. Hopefully I can catch some of the games between chores this afternoon.

This morning Maddy went and played with her friend Camryn. We haven't seen Camryn and her mom, Sarah, in a long time so it was nice to catch up with them. Camryn had a slide that Maddy loved. She figured out how to go up it all by herself before we left. She wouldn't slide down it without my help though. She loves sliding.
No big plans for the rest of the day. I need to see if I can get the lawnmower started and get the lawn mowed. My dad gave me some ideas so hopefully that work. I took the weed eater last night and cut a bunch of stuff around flower beds and the edges of the lawn where the mower doesn't cut well. The line kept getting tangled, coming out, getting stuck, etc. It was SO FRUSTRATING!!!! If there was a swing set in my yard, I would have followed in my dad's footsteps and thrown the weed eater over the swing set and then over the neighbors fence! I need to get Aaron to teach me about rewinding the line and stuff when he gets back so that I don't have as bad of a time using it. Better go get started on some work so I can have time for basketball!!

http://www.serenahotels.com/serenasweetwaters/default-en.html

The above link is to the website about the "tent" camp Aaron's team stayed in last night. I was picturing them roughing it. Ha!

On the Sixth Day of Kenya Tam and Rach and Maddy went with me: to the arboretum!

2011-03-16T21:16:00.001-05:00

Here is what Aaron did today:

We saw our last community. This is a coffee producing community and we were able to see how they process the coffee...it is out of season right now so we only saw the place but it was very interesting. We also spent a lot of time at schools (2 primary and one high school). I played soccer at the HS and I am dead!! Frank and I were the only two that played. I really enjoy Frank, he is a great and very funny guy.

I sent Geof a FB message and he sent me his phone number. It looks like I might get to see him on Friday!!!! I am so excited if that happens. It will be so awesome to see my Kenyan Brother.

Tomorrow we leave for Sweetwater, Kenya. This is were we do our safari and I think you could probably google it on the internet. I hear it is suppose to be pretty amazing.

HEre is the link to the place we were at tonight. http://www.410bridge.org/change-kenya/where-we-serve/karogoto/
You can look at it and see some of the links etc. I am liking Kwebakenya and Karogoto the most. I am sure we will talk about this tonight and tomorrow night a bit.

Maddy had therapy this morning. Then we headed off to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. They have the Dallas Blooms right now which is a huge tulip display. We had a picnic with Rachel and Georgia at White Rock Lake, right around the corner from the arboretum, and then went over to look around and get some pictures of Maddy for her 2 year pics.

We got some good ones but she had a melt down at the end. I wanted a picture of her with me and it just did not work out. She was really tired so we came home. The tulips were beautiful. They had other spring flowers like pansies and daffodils mixed in and a lot of the trees were in bloom. It really was like some kind of fairy land. Maybe we had a little taste of what Aaron might see in Amsterdam on his way home if he were able to leave the airport and go tour the city.

They also had a fairy tale castle place that the kids could play in but they really were not that impressive. The pumpkin houses in the fall were much better. I'm not sure what we'll do tonight. I have several projects at a standstill because I can't do anything more on them without the right equipment. I certainly am ready for Aaron to get back home, but I have a lot of work to do to get the house back in order before he shows up!

On the Fifth Day of Kenya my daughter gave to me: A whole night of sleeping!

2011-03-15T13:11:00.000-05:00

The latest from Aaron:

We are now at a new place and new hotel. It is much more the htel I would expect...very small rooms and oldish...sort of Mexico-ish.

Today was very interesting. We got to see how a water project has transformed a certain community. They use to walk this crazy hill 8-10 per day!!!! We went down to the river and they brought pales and I carried one back to the top. They then led me to a hutforherwater. She was very weak bc she was HIV positive....had been raped and had a kid from it. I was able to go into the hut and they wanted me to take a pic and send it back. Chuck said they would work it out, so remind me to send it!!!

We finally slept well last night. Maddy had a terrible time getting to bed but once she did, we slept like rocks. The funny thing is that I feel more tired than I have all week. ha! Thanks time change + not sleeping kid + husband being gone.
I got the living room wall painted last night. Tam got a roller and helped out so it went a lot faster. Now I just need to borrow a ladder to paint the really high parts. I will work on tracking one down today.

In other news I think Maddy has ringworm. I should say "a" ringworm. I only see one spot on her leg. I thought I was going to have to take her to the doctor but since I only see one spot I will just get some antifungal cream and see if I can get it to clear up. I think it should go away fine. She has been getting sweatier in her splints and the spot is right underneath the top of her splint so I'm sure that creates ideal, moist growing conditions for fungus. Yay!
Today is a down day with no real plans. I need to mow the lawn and various other chores such as grocery shopping. Tammy is taking tomorrow off for her spring break day so we will have another fun and busy day tomorrow.

On The Fourth Day of Kenya, Maddy said to me, "Elephants! Hippos! Monkeys!"

2011-03-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

Maddy in front of the hippo area.

The latest from Aaron:

Wow today was amazing!!! Kwembekenya is up in the mountains....I felt like I was at the Grand Mesa....it was awesome. We saw the clinic that was recently built....we would think it was a dump in America but there it is really amazing! We then went to the school. There was another school from another community visiting and some of those kids were actually scared of us b/c they hadn't seen a white person before. The kids from Kwembekenya were very friendly b/c they are use to whites from 410 missions in the past. Brent Meredith was called "Fat Ghost" it was hilarious...the kids were brutally honest calling glenn and chuck fat to! Too funny.

This is a video of the clinic we saw and the area we were in.
http://www.410bridge.org/change-kenya/where-we-serve/kwambekenya/

We got back a little early, so instead of just sitting in our room we went to the lake and did a Hippo tour for only 25 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was very impressive. We then parked and they walked us through an area with zebra, impalas, wildebeest, gazelles, water bucks, and giraffes. I couldn't believe how close we were to some of them. I have pics.

While Aaron was doing his hippo tour, Maddy was on a mission to find some hippos as well. We met up with the Embry family in Ft. Worth, had lunch at Subway, and then went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. Before we even got to the zoo, Maddy was talking about the hippos. She has just been obsessed with hippos lately. It is funny. Anyway, after several times getting lost, we finally found our way to the hippo area.

Embry cousins and Maddy at the Zebra area.

Maddy was super fascinated by this turtle chasing the fish.

She also loves the elephants. She kept making a trunk with her arm and then she tried to tell Rachel about what the Elephants were doing. It came out something like, "Elephants! Right there! Elephants!.. jibber jabber jibber... Elephants! Right there! Elephants. ..Jibber jibber...Elephants!" Too cute.

Maddy didn't make it to the Australian animals that we did in the end. She was wiped out. We all had a great time. Especially the kids. I'm really glad we got to go and it was also neat that we got to see a super safe, toned down version of what Aaron had just seen in Kenya. Kind of made it feel not so many thousands of miles away.

On the Third Day of Kenya I said to me, "I'm getting very sleepy!"

2011-03-13T18:22:00.001-05:00

News from Aaron. I was not expecting anymore but the hotel he is staying at tonight and tomorrow night apparently has internet. The world wide web truly is world wide I guess:

I get to send you an email again....not via wifi though so I can't send a pic. We are staying in a hotel called Panaroma Hotel in Naivasha, Kenya. It is a beutiful hotel with an amazing view of Rift Valley....I actually feel bad b/c it is so nice. We are here tonight and tomorrow night.

Church was great....made Glenn's sermon look short :-) I was really impressed with the message though. We then went to a Havilla, which is an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. It was amazing!! One couple had a vision to help kids without parents...they now have 48!!!!!!! It was wild, but very very good kids. They sang for us and everything. We then broke up and each took a few and just talked. that was really neat. http://www.410bridge.org/change-kenya/where-we-serve/havilla/

I bought Maddy a Hippo today...probably paid to much but I think it is cool....it is a wood carving. I also got some salad tongs and a neat wall hanging that is like the masks but has animals instead of a human face. I did bargain it all down pretty well. They started at 16500 and we ended at 4500 shilling, which is about 60 bucks.

If I get a chance to send pictures I will.

Maddy slept bad again last night so I feel like a wraith today. We went to church and then went down to Rachel's to hang out with Brandon, Amanda, and kids. Maddy had a great time playing with Mikali and Daniel. Last night they came up here and we went out to eat. Tomorrow we might go to the Ft. Worth zoo. We were thinking about going to the aquarium today, but after Brandon did his research and found out how expensive that was, that trip got nixed. It really is ridiculous what they charge to go there. Not sure what is on the agenda for tonight. Hopefully sleep! But I might also try to mow a little bit and at least prep the living room wall for painting. I am not worth much so I may not get much accomplished. Anyway, just thought you all would enjoy hearing a bit from Aaron. Here are pics of the grounds around the first hotel they stayed at:

I have no idea why these are upside down and I can't get the to go rightside up. They are right on the computer. Weird.

On the Second Day of Kenya My Daughter Said to me: "Maddy Crazy!"

2011-03-12T15:59:00.000-06:00

Most important news first. Aaron made it to Kenya okay. He was able to send me an email from the Amsterdam airport and his hotel in Nairobi. The following is from him:

I'm in kenya!!! It is. Great to be back, it is 1045 local time so it was dark when driving to the hotel, but I loved the dry cool air...we were all buring up so we opened the windows and soaked it up.

I also loved seeing the keenya trees, can't remember there real name, starts with an A I think.

I hardly slept all in flight sor some reason. Hopefully I sleep well tonight and jag lag is not a problem. Man talk about catching up on movies. On the second leg I watched red and repunsal (sp?). I think u an mm and tammpy should watch it. I think maddy would really like it.

He sent a picture of the hotel they are staying in. It looks nice. The room has four beds so guess they pack you in. I think he will probably send a couple of pictures when it gets light there. After tomorrow I don't know that I will hear from him until next Friday. They will go to church (in Nairobi?) and then head out to the first village. I don't expect any of the villages they are visiting to have any kind of internet access since there is at least one that doesn't even have a water well. That will be the hard part of the week, but it's a blessing that he was able to let us know he arrived safely because I didn't know if we'd be able to hear from him at all after Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, I have been dealing with a crazy child and painting. Maddy slept horrible last night. She had been chewing on old teething toys yesterday so I finally decided that she was having some pain or discomfort and gave her some tylenol. That seemed to work after awhile but not before we'd spent a good two hours from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. talking about apple juice, letting go of Mom's hair, squeezing Mom's face, and going back and forth between Maddy and Mom's bed trying to get settled down and to sleep. It was miserable. Yesterday I cleaning the baseboards in the dining room and kitchen, the dining room window and curtains, and then started painting the dining room. I couldn't start painting until MM went to bed at 8 so I was up pretty late doing that and then cleaning up so I did not get much sleep. Not a good way to start a 9 day stint without Dad. Maddy is taking a good nap right now and I got to nap so that helped. Ugg. Let's hope tonight isn't a repeat of last night. Here are some pics of the dining room so far:

Did this during Maddy's nap time. The taping helped some but I still got some paint on the roof. :( Oh well. Does anyone really look at the roof anyway?

The color I picked is Gray Violet. It is a tiny bit more purple than it appeared on the paint chip, but Tam and I both agree that it looks really good. I've got to do the trim areas. I'll have to borrow a tall ladder from a friend to do the trim on one of the walls because it has the vaulted ceiling.

A picture just because. Maddy and Aaron at the park several weeks ago.

The Nine Days of Kenya: On the first day of Kenya my true love said to me, "see ya babe I'm headed to Nairobi!"

2011-03-11T13:32:00.000-06:00

Aaron's Kenya trek has begun. I dropped him off at the airport a little after 12:30. His flight leaves at 3:30 but we just wanted to be on the safe side since it's an international flight. Everything went fine getting through security though. He was at his terminal before I got home from dropping him off and he'd already found three of the other five team members who are going with him. They will fly to Amsterdam and then to Nairobi. They arrive in Nairobi sometime tomorrow.
On my end I will be finding out what it's like to live the life of a single parent. I have a very large list of projects that I want to do during spring break. I plan to paint a couple of walls in the dining/living room area, wash curtains, clean baseboards, clean out the cars, mow the lawn, and clean out the flowerbeds I haven't gotten to yet. It seems like a huge list but I think I can get it all done with no school an minimal grading to take care of during the break. Tam is taking Wednesday off so we'll do something fun that day and Brandon, Amanda, and kids are supposed to arrive in Dallas this evening and spend at least the weekend so we'll catch up with them tomorrow maybe.
I think Aaron will have a great trip. I know he is excited about going and helping the Brookhaven team figure out which village in Kenya our church will partner with. We'd like all of you to keep all of us in your prayers: Aaron as he travels and Maddy and I as we hold down the fort.

Some Stats

2011-03-07T13:38:00.000-06:00

Maddy went to the developmental pediatrician this morning. She is now at 12-13 months for gross motor skills. Her fine motor and cognitive tested at 24 months and her language skills tested at 27-30 MONTHS!! This is so impressive since she has hearing loss. God has definitely blessed her and our family. The doctor brought up the idea of maybe getting her a K walker. This would most likely not be something that she would use the rest of her life but something she could use to practice walking more and develop her walking muscles. We see her doctor at Scottish Rite in a couple of weeks so we'll check into this. Anyway, she is doing great. We are also working with ECI right now to get her some therapists for speech and eating. We don't know that she really needs speech but they are going to send someone to evaluate her and check everything out. So we have a lot of opportunities for her therapy wise right now.

Spring Break is almost here! I give my students their midterm this week. I hope they pass and don't all come back from Spring Break wanting to kill me. The midterm and final are papers written in class and then graded by a group of professors so I really have no control over their passing or failing the class. The grade I give them effects their GPA but doesn't have anything to do with whether they pass the class or have to take it again. Kind of a weird situation to teach in. I don't know if I like it. I guess I can do my best to make the other professors look like the bad guys if a student doesn't pass. Of course there are a few that just don't care and probably don't deserve to pass on matter who grades their paper, but I would say that I think the majority of my students have the ability and have done the work to deserve a passing grade. We shall see.

Pray for us because, as I've mentioned previously, Aaron will be gone to Kenya all of Spring Break. I am glad Tammy is here so I'm not totally on my own, but 10 days is a long time for him to be gone. Plus it is so far away. I think I might do a little painting in the living/dining area over the break. We'll see if I can get motivated.

The ups and downs of life

2011-03-01T15:45:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it is the first day of March. If the year keeps going by this fast, Christmas will be here again when I wake up tomorrow. In one month I will have a two year old. Hard to believe.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a dog who was "sick as a dog" in our house. Houdini started acting strange on a Friday morning--meaning he didn't eat his dog treat. I thought this odd so kept watching him through the day. As the weekend went on, he wouldn't eat and got worse and worse until finally he couldn't even walk up the stairs. We thought maybe he got into some poison, although I still can't figure where or what the poison would have been. We dosed him with activated charcoal but that didn't seem to help much. Finally, we ended up going to the emergency vet since he couldn't even walk up the stairs (and of course this happened on a Sunday). The vet did a bunch of tests that cost a lot of money and determined nothing. Houdini had a fever so they ended up giving him antibiotics. It took him about a week, but he is back to normal it seems. Hopefully whatever was bugging him will remain a mystery and never come back.

We went to Scottish Rite for a hand appointment last Thursday. Two good things came out of this. One was that we finally got them to understand about what kind of hand splints were were wanting them to give us. We now have the number of the PT who does the splints for the hand clinic. The other GREAT news is that Maddy has full extension in both elbows. Last time she went, she was getting really close but not quite there. Improvements in any area are always a great encouragement to me. They keep up hope that continued prayer and therapy will help her achieve the most that she possibly can.

Other not so great news is that Maddy is getting some teeth in and has been a big grump. Yesterday I thought I was going to lose my mind with all the clingy-ness, fussy-ness, and whiny-ness. In fact, it was so bad, that going to a boring training session was a relief. I finally figured out that teething was the problem and Motrin has been our friend since yesterday.

March is going to be an incredibly busy month for us. I have the CCTE (Conference of something Teachers of English or something like that) conference this weekend. I'll be reading a paper I wrote a couple of semesters ago and chairing a panel. The conference is in Stephenville so I'll be staying in the luxurious Stephenville Super 8 motel for a night. I was going to stay two night but they were booked for Friday night because of the conference. My stuff is on Friday so I don't much care that it didn't work out to be there on Saturday, though I paid $20 for a lunch I will now not be eating. Oh well. The ups and downs as I said.

Aaron will be in Kenya for the entire spring break. Our church is adopting a village through a program called 410 bridge. Aaron and 5 other people are going to visit four different villages around Nairobi and pick one for our church to work with. They will stay at a hotel in Nairobi each night and drive out to a different village during the day. The last day they will go on a safari. So pray for him and the team. I know he is excited about going back to Kenya.

End of March is Miss Maddy Mae's birthday. We'll probably do a quiet family birthday the weekend before her actual birthday. I'm still trying to decide what to get her. I have to really think about it because I start just wanting to buy everything in sight.
April 1st, Aaron's birthday, we are headed to York. I have to say I've been getting excited about this one. I haven't been back to York in 8 years! We'll get to hang out, go to songfest, and who knows what else. Surprisingly, it is a shorter drive to go to York that Colorado Springs. Only 8 hours. 8 hours sounds like a reasonable trip to me after all the 16 hour 1000 mile drives we've done in the past 3 1/2 years.
Besides all this I'm getting excited for March Madness! Planting a Garden! Planting Trees! Spring Break! Possible visits from Embry relatives! Birthdays! Beautiful Temperatures! Spring is definitely in the air.

Sneeze Time

2011-02-22T13:27:00.000-06:00

The herb garden I'm trying to start on my kitchen window sill. So far thyme and dill have come up but nothing else. :( The 80 + degree weather following right on the heels of the 20 degree weather has been a crazy shift. I enjoyed the warmer weather for about a day before spring time temperatures reminded me that warmer weather means allergy season. I have been wiped out with allergies since Saturday. It is awful. If I take a zyrtec once a day and then pop a benedryl once or twice a day I can make it, but I am also a Zombie. So then I have to weigh my options Drippy Nose/Itchy Eyes or Zombie and somehow being a Zombie, though not a desirable option, always ends up winning. I guess it's the least miserable of the two. All of us have been suffering from allergies. Last night we all ended up in bed by 9 in Benedryl induced comas. Fortunately we have Mighty Maddy to come save the day every once in a while!

A friend at church made all the kids superhero outfits for Christmas. We were gone over Christmas so Maddy got hers last Sunday. She loves it! Yesterday we had to put on the superhero outfit and fly to the breakfast table before she would eat her breakfast.

Maybe Mighty Maddy can save the world from allergy season.

Today

2011-02-17T17:15:00.002-06:00

Today

Today I will appreciate the things I have and stop wanting the things I don't have.

Today I will take joy in the humble tasks that God has given me to do and stop wondering if He gave me the wrong assignment.

Today I will enjoy each moment for the gift that it is and stop meditating on how tomorrow might be better.

Today I will choose to focus on the needs of others and stop thinking about what I want.

Today I will focus on my successes and stop obsessing over my mistakes.

Today I will rejoice in the day the Lord has made.