Don't count on us...

So Dave and I may not be the best choice if you need to make an emergency call in the middle of the night. Note to those of you who may need us: Save it till business hours.

This morning when we got up to take Alyson to school, we found multiple missed calls on both of our cell phones and the home phone.

Then we found these two grown men sleeping in our house. One in Joshua's room, one on the sofa bed downstairs:

Turns out they were in DC (which we knew) to help out a friend and decided that they wanted to come up and say hello (and get free breakfast) before heading back to North Carolina. They decided this sometime after midnight and a late dinner in Chinatown. Tried calling several times and were able to wake Nick to let them in.

Good thing we found Jarrett before we found Chris. That might have been a bit more shocking! :)

Not Crazy....yet

Saw this in someone's signature line on a homeschool website:

"I'm not talking to myself. I'm having a parent-teacher conference."

I love it!!

Still in search of normal....

Our "normal" day last week didn't actually turn out to be that way because Nick had a pretty tough day. But the search goes on...

Just wanted to update you on things around here. We thank you so much for your calls and prayers and offers of help. We have been very blessed by all the concern shown for Nick and the family.
Here is a quick update on where we are now:
Nick's echo cardiogram showed a below-normal ejection fraction. That means his left ventricle is pumping out less oxygenated blood than it should be. That is what is causing/contributing to Nick's fatigue. He is short of breath after any activity at this point.
He wore a Holter monitor for 24 hours this week. As the nurse was placing it, she said, "Here is your Holter monitor. Since you are getting one, I can pretty much guarantee you won't have any symptoms today, so enjoy feeling good!" and she was right. Nick did not have any heart pain during the time he wore it. (Is his heart being mischievous?) What they did find were two instances of a racing heart beat (above 160 bpm) during times that Nick was simply sitting in a chair.
He is still experiencing almost constant headaches, varying in type and severity. There are also other symptoms that come and go.
The question is why are these things happening? We don't really know yet. We do know a lot of things--the brain MRI was normal, his CT looked ok--both good things and we were able to rule out some serious illnesses with those tests. A low ejection fraction can mean cardiomyopathy, for instance, which we were able to rule out with the chest x-ray and CT. He's had his blood drawn several times (his least favorite thing) and we've tested him for nearly everything under the sun. We are currently waiting on some results of blood that was sent in this morning.

We will be seeking a second opinion from a pediatric cardiologist at Johns Hopkins. We are waiting on our doctor to get that scheduled, because if we make the appt ourselves, we can't get in until June! (The secretary told me that, then said, "Is that ok?" Um, no, not really. Would anyone with a referral to a pediatric cardiologist want to wait 2 months to be seen?) We also have possible follow-ups with endocrinology depending on the results of the most recent blood tests.

And for now, we're just taking it day by day. Nick's activity is pretty limited, due in part to his fatigue, and in part to the fact that we can't take a risk on a strenuous activity with his heart acting the way it is.
Thanks for your continued prayers. We most definitely cherish them.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that.."

said Nick to me this morning after I yelled,

"You bring me that gun right now! We do not throw weapons in this house!"

sigh.

Duh...

Me: We need to have shoe-tying practice today!

Joshua: No way....

Me: Well, you've got to learn to tie your shoes! You're going to grow up and get married and you'll have to say, "Wife! Can you please come tie my shoes?"

Joshua: Mom....(exasperated sigh.....) I'm going to get snow clogs!

A Daddy and a Boy

Sweet photo op I found when I looked out the front window yesterday....

What is normal?

Today we are having a NORMAL day--hooray! Alyson got up early, I made her lunch, and Dave took her to the bus on the way to work. Nick's alarm will go off in 10 minutes or so, Joshua not far behind, and for the first time in a while we have NOWHERE TO GO.

Ahhhhh.

A cup of coffee, a page or 2 of Oswald Chambers (who chastized me about my incarnate laziness-how does he know me so well?), and grading of Algebra II. What a treat to have a day to rest and rejuvenate from all that has gone on in the last couple of weeks.

We spent yesterday at the cardiologist. I can now say with certainty, the human heart is an AMAZING thing. As I sat in the room watching the echocardiogram of Nick's heart I thought to myself, "How could a person see something like this and not KNOW there was a Creator?!" I was in awe of how much work was going on unbeknownst to us, under such a calm exterior, deep in the chest of my boy. We should all take a moment and thank God right now for His amazing invention that gives us life.

Nick's (many) tests up to this point have been somewhat inconclusive. We have not figured out what he HAS, but have been able to rule out things he DOESN'T have, which is comforting. Unfortunately, his echo yesterday came back with some less-than-ideal readings and for the time being Nick will need to refrain from physical exertion. That meant no ball game yesterday. We have more tests scheduled for next week and are really hoping we can start figuring this out. I am so thankful for doctors who trust my "mommy report" and are following through with Nick. It's exhausting and has, more than once, put him in bed for the rest of the day, but it's good to have them be so thorough.

For today, though, we will be "normal." Whatever that is.....

Clarification

I really ought to take some pictures....

Based on the number of emails I've gotten, I think that I need to do a quick clarification on some things.
I was trying to be deliberately vague on some details but somehow everything got mashed into one great big catastrophe (apparently due in part to the evil Facebook!), when it really was a bunch of smaller ones, most of which occurred last Tuesday.

Here we go:
the Jeep is totalled. No one was hurt. The brake failed and it rolled down our steep driveway and slammed into a tree, bending the frame, shattering glass everywhere, etc. After a few very hectic days with one car we are now the proud borrowers of Mom and Dad G's second car. Hooray!

Jarrett had his tire slashed overnight one night, then the next day ran into a parked car in the parking lot at his work. No damage to the pick up, but there was damage to the other car which he reported. He left his number and info on the windshield and the insurance is working.

The a/c explosion is no biggie. It'll get fixed or replaced eventually but temps are cooler now.

Nick has been ill for quite sometime--some symptoms going back to last summer when I was pretty certain he had mono. It's personal so I don't want to share all of his details, but he is feeling very poorly-somedays not able to get up without considerable chest/heart pain and headaches but others well enough to play in a ball game. The doctors are considering several different possibilities and Nick has had more tests than you can imagine last week and this week, including one trip to the ER. No answers yet so keep praying. I will definitely share more when we get some real answers.

Clear as mud now? :) Sorry for the confusion.

Blessings: Alyson and Joshie are feeling just fine. :) We have another car to buy us time to look for one to buy, no one was hurt in any accident, we have incredible medical insurance, we have even better family and friends who've supported us through prayer and physically with offers to watch Joshua, come hang out, drive me around, etc. You all are wonderful-thank you.

Update

Thank you so much for the emails and calls and offers to help us this week. We are still feeling blessed that that things weren't any worse and that we are on our way to answers for Nick. Because so many of you have asked, here is an update of sorts:
My best friend said that she was going to pray that someone would just drop a vehicle in our laps (to replace the totalled Jeep now sitting in our driveway...). And along came my mother-in-law! Dave's parents have offered to let us borrow their second vehicle buying us some time to look for a new one, and incredibly, Barbara is even driving it down to us today! If that doesn't qualify for "dropping in our laps" I don't know what does! :) She is also staying to watch Joshua for us tomorrow while we are at the doctor with Nick.
Nick will have an EKG and a brain MRI with contrast tomorrow. I am hesitant to discuss the preliminary results of his blood tests before so many because, at this point, we don't have the final counts back and even so, those could just be bunny trails. Please keep Nick in your prayers. We need to find some answers for him quickly.
Jarrett is doing good. He got his slashed tire replaced and regarding the next day's accident, is astounded by how many people have told him they're impressed at his actions.
No a/c yet, but God cooled things down for us anyway. :)

God is good. All the time.

Record temps

And our air conditioner exploded.
Some are having a harder time than others......

Making Our Homes

We have had a week that can only be described in superlatives.
And not the good kind.
I thought Tuesday would never end! When I was telling my dear friend about it, at one point far into the story she said, "Oh my word! Nothing else could possibly go wrong!" to which I replied, "You'd think so....." and then I finished the story.
One thing about this week, though, is the way our children have reacted to all of this...catastrophe. From the littlest, who spent 3 1/2 hours straight in the car with me the other day driving back and forth, to the Middles, who take every change and inconvenience with a shrug and an "ok," to even the grown one, who didn't even flinch when he was faced with the choice to do right or take the easy way out, I have felt so blessed to have such resilient, adaptable children.
I want to make sure that even when we are facing storms like these and others that our home is a sanctuary for them. That home is where they know they can find comfort, support, and love.
I would like to highly encourage those of you raising children to read this blog. You can click right on the word and it will take you to it. You can also access it by clicking on the "I Take Joy" tab on the sidebar. Sally Clarkson is a wife and mother and popular homeschool speaker. She writes on her blog about parenting from the heart. This blog entry is entitled "Sing a More Beautiful Song" and is about how the "songs" we are singing need to be like Orpheus' songs and be able to draw our children homeward and away from the songs of the Sirens. What an encouragement it was to me to try to, even in the midst of weariness and feeling overwhelmed with things to do, make our home a refuge where our children would rather be.

Easter hymns....

Is there any hymn that is more uplifting, inspiring, humbling, and FUN to sing than than He Arose? The slow, quiet verses beginning with "Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior...." builds until the tempo, volume, and mood burst into exultation with the proclamation "Up From the Grave He Arose! With a mighty triumph o'er His foes!...." We sang that this Sunday, as well as "Christ the Lord is Risen Today!" (admit it: you just sang the ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-le-lu-jah" part in your head...) I LOVE Easter Sunday. I love that it comes after winter and, along with the budding flowers and leaves, reminds us of our new birth in Christ and brings our focus back to our blessed assurance that we are His children and His love for us is beyond our imaginations.

We had a wonderful, beautiful weekend. The weather was absolutely heavenly. After church we packed up the ham and the rest of Easter dinner and headed down to the Naval Support Activity in Annapolis for a picnic. It's one of our favorite places to go. This time we picnicked near a playground. Joshua played, all the big boys threw a ball around, the girl got some sun. Afterwards we walked along the water and enjoyed the view.

A beautiful weekend which seemed like a special gift to us after the ridiculous winter we had. Thank you, God, for even those little ways You show your love....yes, ALL the kids hunt eggs around here. With candy and prizes to be had, who wants to miss out?? And I just realized that next year we will technically have 2 adults and 2 children hunting eggs. :)

spring in Annapolis