The Bike Trailer

After coming back from China on December 1st, we entered the holidays and then my post-holiday funk and then lots of doctors appointments and then surgery for Isabel in April and then post-op recovery and... well, you get the idea.  My personal care of eating well and exercising went out the window and boy did I start to feel it!  By late April, I was having many undesirable side-effects that were also tied to me entering the peri-menopause stage. (Don't get me started on that!)

So, I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I completely changed my diet, went to my homeopath, dusted off my bike and bought a bike trailer for the littles.  First, I love my bike.  I bought it 16 years ago when I was seriously into biking.  It was an expensive purchase back then, but it has held up well!  We live in a small town with wonderful bike trails.  It's about 1/2 a mile for us to get to the bike trail, but once we're there, we're golden!  We make quite a scene with all of us riding, but it is so good for us all!  The littles like the bike trailer, even though Izzy can get quite squished back there.  Nate takes up more then his share of 1/2 the trailer!!

I'm feeling SO much better.  If I have a babysitter or Jim's home, I'll ride on my own or with just Anna. I'm back on the treadmill too.  I've completely changed my diet and have added important supplements and vitamins as well.  It feels so good to be (almost) back to my ol' self!!

This bike trailer is the best purchase I've made in a long time!

Ready to go!  Waiting for me to put their seat belts on!

Izzy {Sunday Snapshot}

I just love this picture of Izzy fresh out of the pool.  Her look is so wistful... the reflection of the pool fence on her cute little body... hair still wet and tousled.  Such a doll!!

VBS

We finished this week's VBS at our church.  This is the first year that I worked a station and I'm exhausted!  Will was a crew leader, Anna was an assistant crew leader, Kate was in the elementary group, Dan was in the preschool group, and Nate and Isabel were in the toddler room!!  It was a lot of work getting them all out the door bright and early, but we did it and had a good time.  I took one decent picture of them one morning as we were heading out. It's so hard to get everyone smiling and looking at the camera!

The littles were already in their car seats. : )

One of the Bible verses this week was Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path."  In crafts, they used a an invisible ink pen to write out words and then the special light to shine on the ink to see the words show up.  Neat demonstration to talk about the verse.  My children brought the pen home and proceeded to draw on each other!

Nice mustache and goatee, Dan!

It was a good week, but I'm tired!  Today we pack up Anna for summer camp.  She leaves tomorrow morning with our church and will be gone all week.  I will miss her!

Dan Swimming

This is about the age that our other children started to swim without a vest.  He has all summer to just get better and better!  Yay Dan!!

Irish Dance Recital

Last night was the girls' Irish Dance recital.  We are so proud of how they are continuing to improve their dancing, as well as enjoying it.  We took some pictures out front before the recital.  Based on past experience, we hired a babysitter for the little boys. : ) Isabel sat in my lap the whole time and it was a pleasure to watch and not chase after little ones the whole evening!

Jim got some good video of some of the dances before the battery died. : (  We have a break for the summer and if the girls would like to continue, they'll start up again in the fall.  

Helping Hand

Yes, it's been quite silent here lately.  Birthday parties, Mother's Day, hosting a Keepers ceremony at our home, Boy Scout commitments, touch of pneumonia (poor Daniel), homeschooling, and the list goes on.  Promise to post pictures soon!

Right now, I just want to share a special blog post that Andrea posted over at Babe of My Heart.  I'm sure many of you in the adoption world know Andrea and all the work she does for the Created For Care retreats and Wiphan.

Here is an opportunity for us to serve the orphan in a real, profound way.  Please read about this wonderful young man, Shadrack.  Pray for him and give as the Lord leads you.  Thank you!!

Casts are off!

Well, that took me by surprise!  At Isabel's 4 week post-op appt, the doctor decided it was time to take the casts off and give her splints.  She screamed through the whole "take the casts off" episode AND the making of the made-to-order splints.  But, we are both happy that she can take off the splints to bathe, eat and swim in the pool.

We are still concerned about the rigidity and lack of use of her pointer fingers.  They were like her thumbs before surgery and she was quite nimble.  Now she uses her pinky and ring fingers to pick things up.  I feel like she's gone down a notch in capability.  Not good!  The surgeon keeps assuring me that whatever use she had of her fingers prior to surgery, she will have after surgery.  I hope he's right!  I actually had a heated discussion with the surgeon at her last appointment because we did not feel we were at all prepared or well-informed about this surgery.  It's not enough to say "look it up on the Internet" or "all surgeries have inherent risks."  Well, duh!!  I know THAT!  Specific to this surgery, what are the risks? Damage to ligaments and nerves?  I was told that the ulna bone would be moved.  It was only after surgery that I was told that it had to be broken in 3 places on one bone and 4 places on the other to make them straight and he had to shorten them a bit because the accompanying muscles were to short to stretch that long.  Um, ok... would have like to have known that was a possibility beforehand!!  I don't know if it would have changed our minds about going through with the surgery but it certainly would have made us pause.

After they took the casts off, I took a picture of her incision with my phone to send to Jim.  I don't know if the picture fully conveys how gnarly it is.  They did warn me that she would have a big incision from her elbow up over the top of her hand/wrist and that it would be quite a scar.  They were right about that!