Frogs

For those of you who know me real well you know about me fear of frogs? Why you ask well it is like this: they jump, some have suctions on their feet, they look slimmy. When we first moved up here I really hadn't seen that many of them, well now that has changed they are everywhere even on my dumb laptop. But first I have to tell you that last summer when we went to family camp there were dumb frogs all around for example we have movie night at camp then we have ice cream. Now let me set up the scene for you. There is around 150 people there and the camp leaders will make us 3 different meals. So while we were in line here comes this child right beside me with a cup in his hand (I didn't know him). His mom asked what was in there and as he uncovered the cup there was about 10 to 15 baby frogs. I was gone I was no longer hungry. Then the night we had the ice cream social I was sitting and talking with Shannon. Camille came over to us and I don't remember why or what but I rung out her socks or something like that. I have no idea who or how many people were there but I heard Shannon say oh buddy you really need to take that off the table do you know what it was yes a dumb frog. Well I was to my feet faster then you could say another word, but since I had put water on the floor I kept slipping. So this little boy says I'll just put it in my pocket and he did. By now I had all I could do not to scream and not start to cry because I sure could of. That dumb little frog stayed in the pocket but I found a different table to sit at. Then Shannon got us started on letter boxing last summer and we had fun doing it, but I don't enjoy going to frog areas. Then this past Christmas Vicki had my name and she decided to put a fake frog into a box with a spring so when I took the lid off the dumb thing came out. They all had fun with that. Yesterday I was going to help Shannon watch her kids she babysits for so she could go to an appointment so I went to my hotmail to see what time she was going to be here and there was an email from John Ball the zoo here and it said look what is new so I did well I am so glad that I still have my laptop once I opened it up popped a black and yellow frog. Believe me I could care less from now on what is new at the zoo!!!! Then after all that and my heart was back in my chest I went and read Courtney's blog and she had blogged just for me with a frog song she found. I laughed so hard and I showed it to Jared later on and I didn't think he was ever going to stop laughing. So thank-you Courtney for the good laugh it did feel really good to laugh I do agree laughter is the best medicine. But just wait I might have to get you back.

PRAISE GOD

Yesterday was another big day. Coleman had his doctor visits in Grand Rapids and it is usually just Coleman and I that go to these, but since we have been doing all the work up for his transplant Jared went with us. We started at 10:00 for lab, then 10:30 1st doctor. Well our 10:30 appointment was not at all on time it was at 12:45 so that meant we missed our 11:30 appointment. When Dr. Bunchman came in he said that Coleman looked great and after looking at the growth chart he said that he was right in the middle where most kids his age are, (just a reminder) kids with kidney problems don't grow like they should. Now I haven't asked, but if they ever think he is to thin I will let them know I have plenty fat to transplant if they need it, and as far as that goes I would be VERY willing to give anyone some fat. You know on the back of your liences it asks if and what you would be willing to donate why isn't there fat on there they might get more donors if they did that. Sorry about the bunny rail there. So then he pulls up his lab and until he starts reading them and telling us what they are you just hold your breathe. As he was looking at his computer he says your boy is boring. Coleman's lab were so good that he looked at us and said with labs like this we won't be having a transplant for a very long time. He said that this only the second kids that has went through the transplant workup and their labs got better. As I sit here and blog I have one of our cds playing and the song came on WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE PRAY WOW the words could not be anymore perfect!!! I just want to stand on top of mount everest and let the whole world know what happens when God's people pray. The song is by Wayne Watson look it up and listen to it. I also had a doctors appointment yesterday with the surgeon who will be doing the transplant when needed. I am the one and now all is done until he needs it. Only God knows that so we will give it to Him and see where we go from here. Since all this has started every winter Coleman is pretty much sick and misses alot of school, but this year we have had the stomach flu, strep throat, and influenza. Coleman has had none of them. Please praise God with us as we continue through journey.

FEARS

I remember growing up fears things like fireworks, thunder, lighting robbers, getting home from school and no one being there, and that my grandpa McCullough knew how to empty the grain truck without my dad telling him how to at the elevater. Simply things nothing that I won't be able to ask my parents about and them telling me things was going to be okay. So I understand having fears I also remember worrying about what if the trumpt blows and Jesus takes everyone but me then I will be in the fire by myself. Now I have a child with fears all kinds of fears. At the end of summer he started going around the house like 2 to 3 times at night making sure all the doors were locked just ask Jared he got locked out a couple of times and the crazy thing was that he thought I was doing it for fun. Now let me tell you at night I don't have the energy to lock someone out believe me. We finally figured it out and when we went on our summer vacation we heard he tell the boys that he didn't have to do his job because they locked on their own like we gave him that job. Then when we got home from Christmas he kinda had gotten over it but we have it now again but with something different this time DEATH. I heard him asking Coleman today if he really wanted to be a vet when he grows up and Coleman says yes then Carson says well you won't be able to cause we will all be dead by then. He then goes off on global warming (which came from Cameron) we will just all be dead because of that and then I hear Coleman say you are so weird like that's going to happen. He has asked that if robbers come here can they just take stuff and not him and are there real robbers and wolfes,bears and can they really hurt us and the list goes on and on to the point where I don't even know what to say anymore. I had to pick him up from school one day and we live only 1 mile from the school, but it sure is enough time for questions and it was " Mom if you have a headache will you die"? No Carson "If you get a haedache for alot of days then do you die"? No Carson you won't die. Then he sits back in his seat and says good then I don't have to think about that anymore. He is always fearing something he even has Camille going some days. Jared was going somewhere so he took her along as they were driving out of the driveway she says "Daddy is that where the bad guys are" as she points to house that had the meth lab going. I am hoping this doesn't last to long I could be done with it now. I just don't know where he keeps getting the things he worrys about. So we just keep on loving him and letting him know that he is okay and we all are.

Laundry

Do you ever feel like smacking Eve and tell her that if she wouldn't of messed up we would have to do all the laundry. That is one chore as a mother I DON"T enjoy it's nuts!!! It is never done no matter what and you just know that if you have kids it will be an all day affair. I don't even like the weekend to end because I know I will have way more then I want. I am so glad I have only one girl, but one the other hand if the boys get a shirt out to wear and then decides they don't well where does it go in the dirty laundry. WHY?? Perfect example Carson heads outside to play about ten minutes ago after being out for 2 minutes he comes in and says he needs more socks not just one or two but three!! He got all of his stuff back on and went back out walked to the back yard turned around came back in need said he is done he is just going to stay inside. I really can't wait until it is summer !!! So once again I am headed to the washing machine mumbling on the way there that Eve this is all your fault!!!

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

Last night on the 6:00 news they were saying that if you don't have to go anywhere PLEASE stay home the roads are bad and it is snowing very heavy. So Jared knowing that I was stuck here all week with just the kids came home and said that I could leave and he would stay with the kids he didn't really want me out there alone, but was willing. I believe it was two minutes later at the most after he had said that and here comes Camille crying, holding her breathe, and limping so I picked her up and she showed me her foot and her little toe was instant purple right in front of our eyes we saw the color change. Well there went that thought of me getting away out the window. So not knowing for sure if it was just the toe and not the foot we took her to the ER which took longer to get there and she cried most of the way. Jared drops us off at the door and we walk in she looks the the lady behind the desk and says hi (as if there so no more pain) the lady says can I help you and I told her why we were there and then she says what is her name and missy here says Camille Jaide the lady laughs and says thank-you. So then we go into the room and the nurse says what happened? (I forgot to tell you all the way to the hospital she kep saying her broder Cameron cut her toe) I started to tell her and Camille say my brother Coleman cut my toe of course the nurse couldn't understand and why Coleman now who knows. They she asked how old are you and we say with no hesitation 6 as she is holding up 3 fingers. When the doctor comes in she said that since alot of her pain is more where the toe connects to the foot she wanted to make sure that her foot was okay so she says to Camille we are going to take a picture of your foot. When the x-ray tech comes in she says are you and Camille says I'm Camille Jaide the tech smiles at me and says okay so they laid the film thing on the bed and Camille picks it up and says let me read it they said no we have to take the picture first so she says okay and the tech said okay don't move now so she looks up with this cheesy smile and says cheese. Well the child didn't have a clue, but by this time the whole staff was just laughing. So then we they came back in and said that nothing was broke but badly sprained and try to keep her not so active and I looked at him and said she has 3 older brothers and he said oh then just give her mortin. When he left I told her that we were going to go home and that nothing was broke, she looks at her toe and was VERY serious had a little talk with it like we would when we correct our kids she says "toe you don't hurt me again that's not nice I a good girl" then she put her croc on and looked at me and said let's go eat at donalds I want chicken nuggets with fries. We got her a haapy meal with nuggets on the way home and to finish off the little trip we hear her talking to her happy meal toy which was a crown and says to it you are a stupid crown you do this now no clue what the crown did wrong. When I heard her say that it reminded my of thursday morning before school Carson was driving her crazy and she was so done with it and so I heard her say Cameron I don't want Carson to be my brother anymore he is mean to me and stupid. I thought after I had corrected her for saying those things she won't be ready to say that word again. So once again that was our great start to our weekend we are hoping to have less action for the rest of it.

Winter/Spring

This past week has been really nice. It was raining on tuesday and some on Wednesday but yesterday was beautiful. This morning I put the boys on the bus at 7:45 it was cloudy but nothing else then around 8:00 it started to snow and it has not stopped!!! Around noon Luann called my neighbor and she said that we already had 2 inches. As of yesterday it was the first day of spring so why do we have to have snow now? Didn't we get enough this winter? It snowed last Easter to I called Shannon today and they are in Ohio to see family and she said that the sun was shining and it was in the 50s last year they were in Florida so next year it don't matter where they are going we are going along!!! Don't tell because they will stay home. Well no matter what the weather is doing it is still EASTER and I can't thank God enough for what His Son did for me. Try not to get wrapped up in all the bunnies egg hunts and new clothes let's remember the true reason!!!!

Single Parent

Once again I will be the first one to admit that I would not make a good single parent!!! I admire anyone who can do it and my kids aren't even that little, but remember there are four of them so I am very much out numbered. My good friend Shannon told me that Jared is only going to be gone for 4 days because I kept saying it will be a long week with him gone the WHOLE week. Okay so maybe she is right he is only gone from monday-thursday but it feels like a WHOLE week. So after being sick off and on since Jan. when everyone is feeling better I am without a husband oh GREAT joy. They have more energy then ever and all I hear is MOM, MOM. We are staying busy so it has been going good and we are having fun even if we have to drag Carson by his toes to go shopping, but I have learned if I give him a mission while we are there he has fun not saying he would want to go back but he gets through it. I am about tired of Camille's new line since her dad is gone mom listen to me I am real hungy. She's going to weigh 10 pds more when he gets home. He will be back tomorrow night so best get things done so it don't look like I've been a single parent and he could care less but it makes me feel better.

Prayer

Prayer what is prayer? Is prayer that important? Why is it used everyday in some way? Do we say the word prayer to loosely? Do we really know what we could have with prayer? Could we live life without it? When we say that God will answer our prayers do we really believe that? Has it just been something that we have heard all our lives so we are numb to what it really is? I have said so many times in my life I can't do anything about it but just pray. JUST pray wow what am I saying? Yes I will pray but God already has it all in His plan so it really don't matter. For the past month our leaders in our church have expressed how they want our church to be God's house of prayer which is in Mark 11:15-18 so what does that mean? So they have started every sunday night we as a church come together and pray for an hour so of course I was dragging my feet. My thought were I can pray at home, what will we do with the kids, why can't we just do something else, how long is it going to last, why does it have to start at 5:00 that means we have to leave at 4:30 and I don't want to reck my nap so I will just stay home. Then today in church we watched a video on prayer and wow I don't think there were to many dry eyes when it was over. We have so much at our finger tips if we just use it and God wants us to!! My heart and mind has been changed and I can't wait to see what God has for us. I so encourage every one to watch this video and you can get it on the interent it is by Jim Cymbala. He is a minister in New York and his life has been changed through pray. There is no way that I could even being telling you about it so you NEED to watch it you will never regret it I promise!! I don't want to go back to my old way of prayer it means so much more to me now and tonight Jared and I went to the prayer meeting and I hope we never let it go. So if you want your life changed watch the video!!!

Results

Just a quick note on the fearfully and wonderfully made post I was told on friday that everything looks great, but they have found a cyst on my right kidney so I am going to have a few more things checked out. They think it is just a fatty tumor and not cancer at all but they just need to make sure. I so bad needed to hear the sermon today it was on the 5 loaves and 2 fish our minister was bring out how God know anything I will ever need. So I need to not worry just give it to God to, be honest that is very hard for me but I am willing to change.

Broken Record

I will have you all know that this is not a record that you want to break. It all started on January 8th and it is still on going and I am VERY sick of it. On the 8th I went and had my sinus surgery then 2 weeks later Coleman was feeling well but it only lasted for 2 days, then the next week Cameron got the stomach flu the very next day Jared got it then the very next morning Carson and I got it. I know that when that was over I figured we were done, but oh no we were just getting started. A week and a half later Cameron threw up again and I was like okay this is crazy well it turned out that he has strep throat. I bet you can't guess what happened next I'll just tell you the next morning I had it and Jared was starting to get it to. So alright we are done with that no more!!! Yah right Carson started with a cough about a week or two ago and last night he started running a fever of 104.7 he was so good though he was so willing to do what we were asking him to even though it was 2:00 in the morning I took him in today and he tested positive for influenza. So we have pretty much been sick since I had my surgery. We need a couch for the kids TV room so last night Jared and I went to look at one that I found on Craig's list well they didn't tell us they have a cat and after sitting on it for awhile we told them we would buy it. At 3:00 this morning I was up with Carson and I started to itch and I haven't stopped so I called the doctor this afternoon and he put me on steroids. So between Carson's fever and my itches we are just a happy little family. I don't care if it is 20 below 0 I am going to open all windows and freeze any germs to death because I am about ready to lose my mind this is just plain nuts!!!!! So if anyone would like to see if you can break the record for being sick this long go ahead I don't mind if you want to take it from us I have been taught to share so I am willing to share this. No I am glad if you are all feeling well we to will get there sometime real soon I hope.

Where did he come from

I would like to know if I am the only one who battles this, is there another mom out there wondering when will I ever be able to take a bath or shower in peace? It is not possible they will walk or run past their father 5x before they will get to me and not say a word to their dad. Well today took the cake we had to leave after Carson got home from school, so when he walks in I tell him please go watch tv with your sister and as soon as I am done taking a bath we will leave. So I go to my room into the bathroom and start my water, so while it was filling I decided to put the towels away then doing something my mom taught me, I went to put my pj's away so as I come out of the bathroom there stands Carson in my bedroom door with his binculars it scared the jelly beans right out of me he says mom I can see you. Now what would of you done, my first action was run back in the bathroom then when I realized it was him I wanted to what I don't know. Now why would you do that to your mother? I know that there was no way that he couldn't see me I could only wish I was that small. So that is why I ask where did he come from. I know I never did that to my mom and neither did Jared so where and why him? This is just the way he is as all of you who know Carson you can agree. I always try to clean out his bag before he leaves but one morning I didn't have time so the next morning I did and what did I find my journal that was about my breast reduction he just had it so he could draw in it on the bus. I can tell you this there is never a dull moment in our house with him here and we do love him so much we just look at each other very often and shake our heads and very thankful he is ours. I know there are so many more things he has said and done but I have forgot some of them so to all of you who I have shared with please help me out and let me know what they are. Thank-you I really need a book for that one.

FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made

Yesterday I went to Grand Rapids and did more testing for Coleman's transplant. I had to draw blood, chest x-ray, EKG, and then the CT scan. Everything was so easy until I got to the CT scan and then my heart wanted to stop I don't do well with small spaces and the coordinator said it would take 45 minutes so what was going through my mind. I was SCARED. So they call my name and on our way back to the room I asked the nurse how long will this take her reply was oh not long around 5 to 10 minutes I think I lost 10 pounds off my shoulders!!! In my mind I was saying thank-you Jesus!!!! While I was in there that is where I learned something new she told me when they start the IV I will feel like I am really hot and I did first my throat then my arms and chest and then she said it will feel like you need to go to the bathroom but you won't it just warms up your bladder and that is what we want. As soon as they shut off the IV the whole warm thing was gone it was really weird, then in comes a different nurse and this is when I learned alot she told me that when she says cough I need to do it because your kidneys are close to your diagram and when you cough it move your diagram and then that rocks your kidney and when you kidneys are being rocked it spill urine out into a tube and that was what they were trying to see. So of course I obeyed and she replys you did great you are done. I had my eyes closed the whole time unless they were talking to me so all I know is they told me that from right below my neck down was all that was in the tunnel I don't care I am very thankful that I was able to live through it. So thanks to all of you who I asked to pray your prayer were felt and I could feel God right there beside me. I just had to think on the way home how cool God has made our bodies I know for myself when I learn something like that my minds goes to the verse that says we are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY made. I also thank God for giving people the minds they have to learn theses things to help others, and at the same time no one knows everything the way He does. Now my next pray is that these test come back like all the others have. All PRAISE to our MAKER!!!! I can't wait to meet HIM!!!