The Little Clavicle that Could...n't

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She was very beautiful and was loved by all who knew her (except for the occasional small child including, but not limited to, her two younger brothers who had a chance to experience her bossiness).

Her life was a happy life (except when she was given the wrong color plate at the dinner table, at which point most happy memories dissolved in the face of such tragic circumstances).

She had two parents, two brothers, and one snuggly bear who had loved her dearly since the day he was placed in her crib.

One night, this little girl was helping herself to her second bowl of pasta at the dinner table and was trying to decide whether she should sit on her knees or plain out on her rump. She was in the middle of both positions, and in the middle of her decision, when all of a sudden WHAM! She fell out of her chair!

She hit the ground on her shoulder, and immediately let out a bloodcurdling yell, certain to wake all kinds of dead things: people, bugs, food, computer games. Her daddy picked her up and asked her to be quiet. Surely some things are better left dead. There is no need to wake what's good and gone, he told her.

She refused to see his grown-up logic and continued wailing. Her mom asked her if she could raise her arm at all, and when she couldn't even an inch without many tears, they headed out to the hospital.

After receiving some delightful yellow socks (with which to keep her tootsies warm), and a toasty-roasty hospital blanket (with which to keep her rest of her warm), she was taken to get x-rays. She got the idea that an x-ray machine was like a giant science project and began asking her questions of the x-ray tech about how such things work. She was extremely fascinated to see what her bones looked like.

Two x-rays later, she was wheeled back to her room. (A bed with wheels? We should get one of these at home, Mom!)

The doctor came in and showed her a picture of her bones.

He showed her this picture of her bones.

"You broke your clavicle clean through, little lady," the doctor commented.

"I did?" She asked seriously.

"Mmm-hmm," he nodded, if a bit absent-mindedly.

"Oh." She paused for a second. "That's cool."

He looked down at her, surpised. "Cool?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," she answered decisively.

"Okay, then," the doctor answered with a little smile on his face.

I would swear she just made his night a little better.

She is a trooper.

This little girl is convalescing at home, surrounded still by her parents, her two brothers, and her faithful bear who would never dare let her have all the adventures without him. She is completely content.

Very recently, the kitty jumped up on her lap and was pleased to find warm blankets covering a warm lap. The kitty snuggled up with the little girl.

Her grandma asked her if she had had her picture taken yet, and she said, "Nope. But you can take one. I can smile."

Then she smiled. And Grandma took her picture.

Cheese!

P.S. The kitty didn't like the camera and jumped off. That part was short-lived. The rest will probably continue on forever.

Fall Flutterings

Are you enjoying fall?

I know I am! We had a lovely pre-Thanksgiving feast last night with a few friends, and it was just a wonderful time. I can't ever get enough of turkey and sweet potatoes. We also had homemade rolls from my sister-in-law and salad with fresh lettuce from our garden. It was a really nice time of laughter and fellowship, and I was so grateful for the evening.

We also enjoyed our church's Thanksgiving feast this past Sunday, and that was an event to remember! Tons of food, all of it extremely delicious--especially the tiramisu and banana pudding!! Yum, Yum, Yum!


Pete and I went away for a night to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, and it was so welcome! We had a lovely stay at a hotel, ate sushi, and took a 90-minute steamboat cruise on Canyon Lake. It was a wonderful trip! We both felt so refreshed when we came back.


Before that, we enjoyed Halloween at our church's Fall Festival, and that was a fun and crazy night. We have had Joey on a gluten-free diet, and that night he took two bites of a hot dog bun that clearly had gluten in it. We figured it was proof that we were on the right track when he broke out with a spot of excema the next morning right in the middle of his forehead. It was helpful for us to determine that we were talking allergy instead of Celiac's Disease, which I think overall is a good thing. We had gotten in a good flow of making gluten-free foods, and since Riley was showing signs of being allergic to milk, I was putting soy milk in the things I made to keep everyone on the same page. We had hit a good rhythm.


The problem is that Joey turned out to have an allergy to soy instead of gluten, so although we had taken out some of the major offenders with store-bought bread, we had put a lot of it back in by using soy milk in the cooking. Uh, sorry, kid, don't mind if I just KILL YOU right now!! What? You're allergic to soy? Here, let me put soy in EVERYTHING you eat so I can make you sicker.

What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Not really.

So now we are readjusting our diet to take out all soy and most milk (for Riley), which so far, leaves us with no milk substitute. I am going to get some rice milk in a bit, but the Rice Dream name has always weirded me out. Is anyone else weirded out by that? Whose dream is it to have rice milk? I'm just wondering.

Speaking of weirded out.....Yeah, I'm going to leave it there.

We hope you are enjoying your fall as much as we are!

Oops!!

I have something to say. (Are you really that surprised??)

Here it is:

I AM SO SORRY!!

I posted a link to my church's website (I thought), then walked away, expecting everyone to figure it out if they wanted to and not if they didn't. However, I forgot to CHECK the link, and then I haven't checked my blog for about 16.23 years. Why, why, why do I suck so much?! This I ask you, not particularly expecting an answer. (Seriously, if you answer that question, I might just have to beat you upside the head with a wet noodle!)

Remember when I told you about my muchisimo computer-genius friend who was going to figure out a PayPal button? Well, he did something better. It's not PayPal, but it's definitely a link that works. I hope. If you wanted to post a link on your own blog, this is probably the best one you can post because it has all the current info, plus it's official from my church so everyone knows you're not lying. Even though you are. Not.

Anyway, once again, here's the link. I'm seriously sitting here and using computer-genius dust (it's borrowed) as well as exceptional tai chi (wait, that's the workout/relaxation thing) to make this work.

Please, please, please let this work.

Let me know if it doesn't.

For real.

Just don't expect me to answer you until the next century. Seriously. That's how awesome I am.

Major Feedback

You may have been thinking about little Cade this weekend, or you may have been thinking about something entirely different. Although my mind-reading skills are far advanced in the realm of humans, I still seem to hit a blank when I try to read minds through the computer.

Anyway.

I have had so many people come and express their concern and offer prayers of thanks and paryers for God's hand to be in the finances, and I am so thankful for you and the difference you make in other people's lives. Sometimes we kid ourselves that we can't do anything to help, our words don't matter, etc. That is just about the biggest, fattest piece of BALONEY I've ever heard. You have made a difference in Sarah and Josh's life this weekend, so thank you!

I have also had people come and tell me that they can't give any money right now even though they REALLY want to. I completely understand this. Life hits each of us in different ways at different times. If you want to help but don't have any money to give, I thought of some other ways you can help:

1. Post a link to my blog or copy and paste the story into yours. OR write your own story about it for the people that are in your circle. Your circle may not be super-hero huge, but if 15 different small circles went out, that would make a difference.

2. If you have a church family, you could let them know about the situation and see if you can make an announcement or collect a special offering. Small churches may be more willing to do this. If you go to a bigger church, what about your Bible Study group or personal group of friends? One year our Sunday School class (about 20 families) collected more than $2,000 for a family in need. You might be surprised to find how many people are wanting to help and need only to be asked.

3. Okay, if you tell me that you have no blog, no friends, no church, no life, not even a piggy bank that you could ask for money, here's another idea: Send Sarah and Josh a card and let them know you are praying for them. God knows their need. I trust Him to come up with the money, so if He doesn't choose to use you for that part, no sweat. Also, if you come across a Diego shirt (not San Diego, but Diego the cartoon character) in any size between 4 and 6, you could send that to Cade. They had to cut his favorite Diego shirt off of him in the helicopter, and he was telling them (with his best manners), "No thank you, I can't have you cut off my Diego shirt. Please, no thank you. I need my Diego shirt." We looked everywhere for one the next day but came up empty-handed. You would probably have to know someone who was obsessed with Diego a few years ago and steal their favorite Diego shirt to pass along to Cade.

These are just ideas. If you have others, feel free to post them. I am trying to get my computer-genius friend to put a PayPal button on my blog so you can give directly from my blog. I will let you know when that is up and running.

I also wanted to call your attention to the fact you can make your donation to Cade through my church so it will be tax deductible. I know, for some of you this matters. If it's important to you to get the tax deduction for your giving, go to my church's website, get the address and mail it to them. They are asking you to put "for Cade" in the memo line so it will get to the right place, and they will pass it along to Sarah and Josh.

Thanks for being a part of my life and caring about what's important to me.

I mean, you do, right?

Hello?

(tap. tap.) Is this thing on? (major feedback)

Anyone??

My Little Friend Cade

Today is a day for a very important post. It's an important-post kind of day.

I have a friend whom I love very dearly, and we've known each other since Junior High. We had our first babies only two months apart, and we've been there through so many ups and downs in each other's lives. I was recently answering another friend's question about whether my kids had experienced a certain sickness, and I felt like they had, although I couldn't pull up a specific occurrence. After a few minutes of thinking about it, I realized that it was my friend Sarah's son and not any of my own kids that had experienced it. I guess it all just runs together in my mind--her kids, my kids...all the same.

Anyway, two days ago her son Cade (4 yrs old) was in a scary accident in the backyard when a stone lion statue fell on his head and trapped him for more than 2 minutes. The statue was so heavy that Sarah wasn't able to lift it off of him by herself, but after crying out to God for help and yelling for a neighbor to come, she was able to roll it onto herself while her neighbor pulled Cade out.

As she was watching the paramedics deal with her son and medivac him to the hospital, she was certain that he would never come home. She just knew that he was dying, and she was trying to be strong and let him go.

God had another idea, though, because Cade got every test in the book and was told he might have a minor concussion, if anything. They couldn't find any internal bleeding, no cracked ribs, no single thing wrong other than the concussion. What a miracle that is!! We saw him yesterday, and he is sporting some pretty cool bruises, but they looked like something he could have picked up in a fight with his big brother for all they bothered him. He was actually upset that he couldn't run up the stairs or change out of his comfortable pajamas.

We have witnessed the miraculous healing of little Cade, but Sarah and Josh have another battle ahead of them. They do not have health insurance, and they have been struggling as many of us have to make ends meet recently. Sarah got the bill for just the helicopter they used to transport Cade to the hospital--the first of many expensive bills--and it is over $16,000! With no insurance and no extra money in their own budget, these medical bills are an impossibility.

This is Cade at Skylar's birthday party this past summer. He is such a special little boy.

We are trusting in God's provision to provide for them and their family. Will you consider making a donation to their family to help them cover the costs of their medical bills? Any prayers and donations will be gratefully accepted. Thanks!