Funny Farm - May we help you?

WFMW - Free (if you have a GPS) Family Fun!!

2009-04-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Our family has found a new hobby. It’s fun and gets us off the couch, away from the computer and television and outside to enjoy the great weather. It’s called geocaching.

We have tried letterboxing before, but my husband and I enjoyed it more than the kids and there was a little bit of whining happening while on the hunt.

Geocaching is very similar to letterboxing, except instead of written clues, you start with coordinates. All you need to get started is a GPS system. We don’t own a handheld GPS navigator yet (but are searching for the right a/k/a affordable one) so we use Garmeena, our trusty GPS from the car. (Ours is a Garmin and we named her Garmeena.)

Our GPS has a feature where you can type in longitude/latitude coordinates, as well as location. I’m assuming most of them do, you’ll just have to poke around for it. In order to get your “clue”, there is a website called http://www.geocache.com/. From there, you just enter in your zip code, and you’ll see the geocaches that have been hidden in your area. I like click on the “search with Google Maps” icon so I can see exactly where I am going. (In order to get the coordinates, you must register, but it’s free. Make up a username that you like because you’ll be using this later to log in your find.)

I would suggest going to an area that you are familiar with starting out. The ones that we have found have all been in parks that are in our area. With just a little bit of time you can find some that may be “easy” to find. I would suggest looking at the hints and information left by people who have found them so you can get a feel of where it is at.

The ones that we have found are typically right off trails. There have been times that the directions take us way off the path, but keep in mind that trails typically twist and turn. Just be patient with it. (You can get a feel for how far off the path you’ll need to search by the difficulty and terrain rating.) Once you get to the location, you need to look for trees, holes, rocks, etc. that a container can be hidden under. We have found various containers, from a coffee can to an ammo box. Different sizes too!

Inside the container is where you will find the prizes. Almost all of the ones we have found have small trinkets and a log book. The trinkets have been coins, bracelets, keychains, small toys – really anything you can think of . You may get a trinket out, but be sure to have some items with you to put back inside. Sign and date the log book, and make sure you hide it back well so no one can see.

We haven’t encountered anyone else on the trails where we have found the caches, but be sure you are inconspicuous. You don’t want anyone to stumble upon it if they aren’t looking for it.I’m still new at this and still learning all the details, but this has definitely worked for us. For other great ideas, head over to We are That Family!

She Speaks

2009-03-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

I am a child of God. I am a wife of a minister. I am stay at home, work at home, homeschooling mom of four children. After a curve ball was thrown my way a few years back, I became a writer.

Not a writer of books, or a writer of a huge blog, but a writer of a CaringBridge website. If you are not familiar, Caringbridge.org is a wonderful site set up for families of people who are sick. It is a free site that allows you to set up a website where you can update friends and families on the medical developments of your loved ones.

My caringbridge site is for my daughter, Abigail, who was born in September, 2003 with congenital scoliosis. (Congenital means “born with it”. In Abigail’s case, she was born with a section of her spine not having developed properly. She has two vertebrae which look like triangles, and three that are fused together on one side. It basically looks like a puzzle back there.) Congenital scoliosis, if not treated, can be fatal. Typically, children with congenital scoliosis have lung issues. In Abigail’s case, her curve in her spine was causing one of her lungs to not grow like the other.

After waiting and watching to see how she would grow, and to see how her curve would progress, we had a titanium rod installed in Abigail’s back last January. She has had two expansion surgeries since then, and is scheduled for another surgery one week from tomorrow. Our life the past year has definitely not been normal, but it has definitely been a blessing.

I began writing Abigail’s caringbridge updates to inform our friends and family of her medical progress. Then it began to take on a life of its own. I found myself using it to encourage others and making them laugh. I would relay our day to day activities, searching for humorous moments in the midst of hospital stays. Most importantly, I was sharing the love of Christ by showing how He was loving our family through the storms.

I hope to continue encouraging others and to bring laughter to their days. Abigail will be continuing to receive treatment for her “curvy pieces” until she is done growing, so it looks like I have ten more years of writing. Maybe by then, I’ll have enough entries for that book that my friends are encouraging me to write.

There is a great conference coming up this summer in Concord, NC that would definitely benefit my writing and help me reach more people. It is called She Speaks and is hosted by Proverbs 31 Ministries. It is for speakers, writers and women’s ministry leaders. They are offering a scholarship to one very fortunate winner. Check out all the details on the conference and scholarship opportunity!

WFMW - Family Friendly Happy Hour

2009-03-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

My kids love to eat out. I can’t really blame them. If I had to choose between eating in and eating out, I’d definitely choose out. But with a family of six, it just doesn’t happen that often. Well, probably more often than it should during some weeks, but I try to not make it a habit.

I have discovered though, that many times it doesn’t matter what we get, but as long as we get something out of a building that has a drive thru window, they think they are eating out.

One of my bffs has always been Chick-Fil-A and their “kid size”. I’m all about getting kid sized drinks and kid sized ice cream cones because they are much less expensive. Especially if you are eating in, why not get a kid sized drink. Free refills. And the kid sized cones are definitely plenty of ice dream for a snack.

Our newest discovery, which is probably not new to most, is Sonic’s happy hour. Oh my. Just the other day, it was unusually hot while we were out running errands. Everyone was “dying” of thirst, so I thought, “Hey, we’ll just run by Sonic because they have slushes.”

For some reason I always thought Sonic was a little pricey for me. Well not during happy hour, my friend. No, during happy hour, all of their drinks and slushes are half price. So all five of us got the beverage of our choice (no one had to share this time) and it was $3.21. I was thrilled. It was certainly a special treat and I know now I can treat them “out” without it breaking my budget.

Sonic Happy Hour. It definitely Works for Me! Head on over to We are That Family for more great ideas!

Might not survive otherwise

2009-03-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

Might not survive otherwise. Those words pierced my heart today.

When my girl was first diagnosed with congenital scoliosis, I spent hours researching on the web. As a parent, I felt like knowledge was vital. I wanted to know all of the possibilities, all of the options, and really, I wanted to know that she was going to be OK and live a full life. I was searching for answers.

It’s been a while since I’ve went searching. Life has been busy and things have gone well. My girl has a VEPTR in her back which seemingly did the trick. She’s had three total surgeries since last January. I had it settled in my mind that we would have expansions every five months, probably install a new VEPTR in a couple of years. Everything was settled.

Until we had our checkup a couple of weeks ago. The short version is that the VEPTR isn’t really working any more. We need another solution. We were informed of the next possible step, which is called a Shilla. It’s relatively new, still considered experimental. I’ve been busy and haven’t really researched it much. Until today. And this is one thing I read.

“the Shilla procedure is being used on patients who might not be able to survive otherwise”.

Wow. Straight to my heart. I’ve never thought of my girl in that way. That she might not survive. Oh I’ve known the reality of her condition. Basically, her lung can be crushed if we did nothing. And I know that life can be a little tough if you have a crushed lung. But I’ve never thought for a moment that we wouldn’t come out on the other side of this, and all would be well.

I’m still working through it. I’m not a worrier. I’m a “let me ponder it, understand it, accept it and let’s move on with life” kind of gal. I have absolute faith in God and stand on our verse that we have claimed for my girl from the beginning. “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Meanwhile, I’m off to ponder. And understand. And accept. Then we’re moving on. We’ve got lots of fun to be had. Lots of laughter and funny moments to come our way. And on the other side of our curvy journey, we will be able to say that we survived.

Buma the Cow

2009-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Have any of your children ever had a stuffed animal that became part of your family? I’m sure most parents could answer yes.

Our family is no different. We have Buma. Buma the Cow. (Pronounced Bumma – long story on the spelling of his name.)

Buma became part of our family on our first family mission trip to Cleveland. Our church collected stuffed animals to give to the campers (we held an Upward sports camp) and my youngest son was a camper. So he got to pick a stuffed animal. And he picked a cow.

I’m not sure when or how, but Buma has become an integral part of our family. He goes everywhere with us. He has his own blog. (An in-progress blog, but a blog, nonetheless.) He also has his own group on Facebook. It’s called “Friends of Buma the Cow”.

One of our favorite pastimes is taking Buma and have his picture made different places. He has been to Carowinds and had his picture made with Blue from Blues Clues and Diego. He’s visited Washington, DC and Disney World. He had his picture made with a lot of the characters at DW and had a song composed for him by one of our favorites, Gi-Tar Dan at Animal Kingdom. Most recently he went to see the Charlotte Bobcats play and went to Myrtle Beach for some relaxation!

We’re looking to many adventures this spring with Buma the Cow. Stay tuned.

Let's Go Tarheels!!

2009-03-18T14:28:00.001-07:00

Our family loves basketball. Love to play. Love to watch. And we absolutely love the Carolina Tarheels.

For the second year in a row we were able to go watch the Heels practice for the first round of the NCAA tournament. It is basketball heaven.

What a glorious day to see Ty Lawson, the ACC Player of the Year, walking. I've never prayed for a toe as much as I have the past week. Carolina is a great team, but boy, oh boy, we need Ty Lawson.

It is so cool to go to these practices. Admission is free, parking is free, entertainment is great. The Tarheels definitely did not disappoint their fans today, and had a great slam dunk performance at the end of practice.

LET'S GO HEELS!!

A Rotating Spine and a Goat

2009-03-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Our family has lived in a whirlwind over the past couple of months. All the boys played Upward basketball at church, with my girl loving being a cheerleader for the first time. I also coached a girls team this season, so we had five games we HAD to be at every weekend. Upward is a great program, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. But I am so thankful that it is over.

We went to see my girl's specialist last Wednesday and are thinking maybe she enjoyed cheering and jumping just a little too much because her device is pulling through her rib again. (He didn’t actually say what caused it. It’s probably a combination of activity and growing.) It is not completely through the rib, so that’s a good thing. It looks like it’s about halfway through.
We also found out that her spine is still rotating, which has really always been one of our biggest concerns. Well, that and her lung are the biggest issues. The “cut to the chase” version is that the VEPTR device is working to her curve from getting worse, but it doesn’t keep her spine from rotating.

The plan is to go in a couple of weeks and try to extend the device again by another cm. He is hoping to do this without coming all the way through the rib. (Yeah, I’m hoping for the same thing.) His goal is to buy her a little more time with the VEPTR.

The next stage of the plan is to try and stop the rotation of the spine. The curve continuing will smush her lung, and the rotation will do the same. (I know that smush is not a medical term, but it works for me.) The option that he recommended is in the next six months or year, he will need to remove the VEPTR. Right now, the plan is to fuse the vertebrae that are causing the rotation, and install a new device, called a Shilla.

The Shilla is a new thing that he has mentioned for a couple of visits. The inventor (or whatever you call him) is in Arkansas. It is still considered experimental, so there’s not a lot of data on its success rate. It is some type of rod that will be attached on both sides of her spine with screws, and will extend on its own. This would be great to prevent all of the little surgeries between the biggies. This is definitely a plus.

Like every option we have had up to this point, there are always unknowns. With the device being considered experimental, the first unknown is how the insurance company will treat it. We’ll definitely be trusting God to work that one out. I know that the VEPTR was $22,000 and it is only one rod. Hmmm…..I’m thinking that we oughta “ebay” the VEPTR to pay for the Shilla. Surely there’s a market for titanium.

The other unknown is the surgery itself. Our doctor told us that his experience with the Shilla was with a goat as the patient. You can only imagine the amount of self-control that I exhibited after he gave us that little tidbit of information. Do you know the number of jokes I could have made with that one? Bless his heart.

So that’s the update with our little Super Girl who’s walking around with another ½ broken rib. Please pray for wisdom during the upcoming surgery that he is able to extend without completely coming through the rib. Also pray for wisdom for our next step in the process. And that the man puts one in on a human in the meantime.

WFMW - Computer Desk Organization

2009-01-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

Cords, cords and more cords. They are everywhere. Sometimes I think that electronic devices are going to over take my house.

We have six people in our family. That equals lots and lots of cords connecting devices to the computer. We have two digital cameras, two cell phones, four mp3 players, one Didj and one Crammer. And they all can plug into the computer. With cords.

In order to keep them all straight, all cords have been labeled. I used a label maker and printed out whose and what the cord goes to. I found a cute little box in the $1 aisle at Target to store them all in.

Labeling our cords works for me.

Check out other WFMW tips over at R ocks in My Dryer!

The Hocker

2009-01-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

Disclaimer #1: I have given this entry a title, mainly as a warning. If things gross you out, please don’t read this.

Disclaimer #2: I did get permission from all parties involved prior to sharing this story.

Set up: The timing of this event was great. It had been a stressful week. My daughter had just gotten out of surgery the Sunday before, having been there all week. She was not walking yet and her recovery was going slow. This was my chance to get out of the house for a while.

About a year ago, on a Saturday, 2 of the boys and I were driving home from a basketball game at church. (Both boys will remain unnamed to protect all involved.) We were travelling on the interstate. The older of the 2 had recently celebrated a birthday, which allowed him to ride in the front seat of my van. He had also been battling a cold and drainage.

As we were going approximately 69.5 mph, the child in the front seat cleared his throat. Hard. This produced what I like to call a hocker. He turns to me and looks with a “what do I do with it” kind of look. I quickly look for an empty cup. Nothing.

So I say “just roll down the window, and spit it out. But please don’t let it hit the side of the van.” It was winter and the van was not going to be washed anytime soon.

The window goes down, he spits, rolls the window back up. I’m assuming all is well.

I was mistaken.

A few seconds goes by and he doesn’t turn his head around.

Our conversation goes something like this:
Me: Did it come out?
Child: Yes ma’am.
Me: Did it go down the side of the van?
Child: No ma’am.
Me: I turn around and quickly check the child in the back of the van to see if he was hit by the hocker. He was clean.
Me: So is it all over the window?
Child: No ma’am, it’s not on the window?
Me: Well what’s the matter?

The boy turns around and I almost wet my pants. The hocker, which wasn’t on the side of the van, or on the window, or on the child in the back seat, was on my son’s face.

The whole hocker.

And I died. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t see. As I tried to compose, I could see through my tears that I was now traveling about 53 mph on the interstate. I contemplated pulling over, but we were only a mile from our exit. I couldn’t speak. I could barely breathe. It was hysterical.

Thank goodness this child is not afraid to laugh at himself, and he begins laughing too. When I could finally get words out – I say “Don’t touch it. I have to take a picture of it when we get home.”

We arrive home in just a few minutes and the clean child in the back seat runs in to get my camera. I took this opportunity to explain some of the laws of physics to my son, such as, you can't spit into the wind. Ever. Meanwhile, my husband comes out to see what’s going on. He doesn’t really appreciate it as much as I did.

I guess you had to be there.

WFMW - Coupon Organizer

2009-01-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

(I am definitely not the originator of the following idea, however, I can’t for the life of me remember where I read it. If I do, I will certainly add the link later.)

I am attempting to cut our grocery bill this year, just as many others are doing, and I’ve decided to give a more concerted effort towards using coupons. I have tried doing coupons in the past, but I’ve never felt like I’ve utilized them well. I have read article after article about people spending $3.43 on a stash of groceries that would have normally cost $4,532, but that’s just never happened to me. Oh how I hope it will, though!

My first goal in couponing was getting my coupons organized. The best idea that I ran across was storing your coupons in a 3-ring binder, using baseball card sleeves/protectors. I believe I got my sleeves at either Target or Wal-Mart, right alongside the baseball and football cards.

Each page has 9 slots and the majority of the coupons I have fit nicely with only one or two folds. I store coupons for the same product in the same sleeve, with the ones expiring soonest in front.

I thought I’d feel weird taking a notebook into the grocery store with me, but that hasn’t been the case. I have organized like coupons together, meaning all the frozen foods are together, cereals, etc. and I make sure I preview the coupons before going into the store.

With most stores doubling coupons, and sometimes even TRIPLING coupons, my next goal is stockpiling coupons so I can get more items for little or no money. I’ve asked the neighbors if they use their coupons, and they do, so I’m looking into ordering some from here.

Coupon organization works for me. To read other great tips, head over to Rocks in My Dryer!

Tales of a Cheetah-leader Mom

2009-01-12T06:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the beginning of an era for me. My baby girl became a cheerleader. (Cheetah-leader is what she used to say a few months ago. So cute.) Now for my friends that have known me for a while, they are probably giggling at the fact that I am a cheerleader mom. Evil, evil giggles. Like they are “really enjoying this” type of giggles.

Here are a few things that I have learned as I have entered a new phase of my life:

Cheerleading squads have very interesting names. My girl’s squad (my word, don’t call it a team like I did the other day. She was very quick to correct me.) is called the Twinkle Stars. OH MY SOUL. The Twinkle Stars. I asked a friend at church when I found out the name if I looked like the mother of a Twinkle Star. I don’t think so.

The other names are just as good. The Cheerios and Sprinkles were the other “squads” on stage with the Twinkle Stars. My youngest son, N even thought that one squad was called the Toe Nails. No dude, it’s the Toe Touchers, not Toe Nails. (N’s having some issues with the names too. He just doesn’t get why they are naming them after food. Bless his heart.)

Pom poms take 4,568 hours to fluff. No exaggeration here. Pom poms are of Satan. There are even instructions on the Upward website entitled “How to Fluff a Pom”. I’m not kidding.

A basketball would have only taken 3 minutes to inflate by hand with a bicycle pump. Or even by mouth.

When you are the smallest person on your squad, your uniform is big. Even if you ordered the smallest size. Apparently other 5 yr. old cheerleaders have arms the length of my leg. Needless to say we had to roll the sleeves up on the girl’s turtleneck.

Also, when you are the smallest person on your squad, it adds to your cuteness.

Fixing hair on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. is a difficult process. Especially when you really need to get some type of color coordinated ribbon placed in the hair, somehow, some way, so that said hair can match every other piece of clothing on your body. I should have just ripped out some of the pom pom ribbon and tied it in the girl’s hair. (I’m kidding. I really wouldn’t have done that.)

After you get the hair fixed, then you absolutely cannot, under any circumstance let the child touch her hair with her pom poms. There is a lot of static produced by pom poms. (Remember their Satanic factor?) And then you gotta start all over again.

A small plastic megaphone can increase your child’s voice by around 53 decibels.

Despite all of my “issues” with cheerleading, my girl had a blast and did everything she was supposed to do, when she was supposed to do it. Little Miss “don’t look at me” was up on that stage having a grand ol’ time.

Christmas Tour of Homes

2008-12-19T12:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Funny Farm. Our Christmas decorations are kinda slim this year. We spent the first week of December at Walt Disney World, and I haven't caught up yet. We have gotten our trees up and that may just be it this year!

My mother-in-law gave us this advent calendar 12 years ago, and the kids LOVE it. It is all felt, with velcro on the back of each ornament. There definitely has to be a schedule of who gets to put which ornament on!

I got this little tree for my girl last year. It's hard to see in the picture, but there are purple lights and pink ornaments. Just like a girl tree oughta be!

This tree is in our sunroom and has ALL of the kids handmade ornaments on it. I love having a tree that is all theirs. My crafty boy made an angel for this little tree this year, and is working on a nativity set crafted with popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners.

Here is the angel on the kids' tree!

Here is the baby Jesus ornament he made from pipe cleaners!

Our bigger tree has all of the breakable ornaments on it. It's been a gold/ivory/crystal theme for the past few years.

Thanks for stopping by! Maybe next year I will attempt to get out all of the decorations, but a trip to Disney was definitely worth the sacrifice of not getting them all out this year.

Animal Kingdom - Christmas 2008

Head over to Boomama's and check out other homes on the tour!

Have a great Christmas!

Round Three goes to my girl!

2008-11-03T22:53:00.000-08:00

I have noticed that people are beginning to arrive at this blog via google when they search under scoliosis. I am so thrilled by that because I want to be able to let other's know about our journey with scoliosis, particularly congenital scoliosis. My daughter was diagnosed when she was around 20 months old and we (well the doctors) installed a VEPTR to help stabilize her curve, in January, 2008. We had our first expansion/reattachment surgery in July, 2008 and the following happened this week.

My girl had another surgery on today. It started around 9ish this morning (yes, we still got there at 6:00 a.m. – I’m thinking they ought to have call ahead seating like the restaurants do) and we were leaving the parking deck about 2.5 hours later. This is definitely more like it.

All went well. The doctor was able to extend her device by 1cm like he had planned, and he did not feel like the rib was being compromised while doing so. She seemed to recover well initially, so we were allowed to leave straight from the recovery room and not have to hang around. I was really surprised with that process.

The “plan” is to have another expansion in April, which will give us 5 months of growth. If that works well, he’d like to get us on a five month plan instead of six. That will also get us through the summer without having to be in the hospital. That would definitely be a good thing.

WFMW - Fabric Organization

2008-10-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

I love fabric. And I have plenty of it. I would say lots, but I have seen pics of other stashes, and mine really wouldn’t qualify as lots. But it is plenty.

Organization is definitely not my strong suit. Never has been, but I do think I have found the perfect solution to fabric organization. This was definitely not an original idea, but one that I found after diligently searching the web.

The supplies that you will need are shelving, or cubicles (I purchased mine from Target) and comic book boards. The boards took some searching to find locally, but I was able to get them at a comic book store. (Not just any comic book store, mind you, and the comics that I am familiar with, Archie and Jughead, were nowhere to be find. This was a very, very dark comic book store. If that is your only choice and you happen to be a 40 yr. old woman, who would be very out of place, I would say skip it, and order them online.) The boards remind me of poster board, just a smaller size.

I went through my storage boxes of fabric and took the large pieces, fold them neatly and wrap them around the board. The size of the fabric was anywhere from ½ yard to 2 yards. I had my husband take a handful of boards to work and cut them in half, making smaller boards. On those, I wrapped my smaller pieces of fabric and have stored them in a fabric drawer. I secure the fabric with a straight pin at one corner and then place it upright on a shelf, similar to storing books. I have attempted to group them by fabric type/theme, but they always seem to get out of order. For now, I am pleased with the progress.

You will be amazed at the amount of fabric that can be stored this way. This was from two to three huge plastic storage containers full of fabric.I cannot explain what a time saver this has been for me. I can now see all of my fabric and am able to find it without digging through a bin.

It definitely Works for Me. For other great tips, please visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Fall Promotion

2008-10-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Jump over to my homeschool blog, Funny Farm at School, to check out a great promotion from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!

TRUMPED!!

2008-10-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

While walking through the W*l-M*rt parking lot the other day, I was busy giving instructions about our impending venture inside the store. I announced that I only needed a few things, therefore, we didn’t need to get a cart. (A cart really slows me down when I’m shopping some days.) I figured that between the five of us, we have 10 hands. And some of those hands can carry more than one thing, so no cart necessary.

After the announcement of “no cart”, my girl (A) gets a little bit of the whinies, saying she was tired, and didn’t know if she’d be able to walk through the store. Now, she knew that we were heading to the park after our quick stop, and I’m sure she’d have renewed energy by that time. I assured her that she would be able to make it, that we wouldn’t be in there long, and I needed her help carrying some things.

Well my oldest son, C, immediately tells A that the boys always have to walk in the store and they never get to ride in a cart, and she always gets to ride in the cart, blah, blah, blah. Basically, wanting to do his brotherly-fatherly duty and try to explain that she didn’t have it that bad, but the boys do. (Apparently he forgot that he is 12 and would look rather silly sitting in the shopping cart!)

Poor fella. He didn’t know what was coming his way. I looked at him and asked him if he had a titanium rod in his back that went from his shoulder down to his bottom, and had his back been sliced open twice so far this year? Answer: Well, no. My reply: OK then. Maybe she has a point. She’s allowed to ride in the cart from time to time.

Trumped. She’s not really old enough to realize it yet, but she has the mac-daddy of all trumps. 3 surgeries in one year, with 10 years of surgeries to go. Hoping she doesn’t realize it too soon!

WFMW - 5 Minute Chocolate Cake

2008-10-15T10:41:00.001-07:00

Do you ever have a craving for something chocolate and can’t find ANYTHING in the house? Not even a stray M&M in the couch cushions? Well this might be your answer.

The 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake! We made one today, and it was surprisingly good. It came right out of the mug. The texture was a little bit spongy, but other than that all was well. I did not have any chocolate chips in the house, and I will definitely add those next time.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).

The cake will rise over the top of the mug. Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

ENJOY! For more great tips and hints, visit Rocks in My Dryer!

Science for the day!

2008-09-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

One of the things I like to joke about (kinda sorta joking) is how there are always opportunities for learning in every situation, if you just keep your eyes open. (Really it is the same principle as being thankful, if we just look around we can always find something to be thankful for.)

The boys participated in a local county fair last week, which means they made some things and baked some things, and we entered them for judging. They look forward to this time of year because they know they will actually get some decent money.

This year’s fair was profitable. C (12) made $28, G (10) received $16 and N (8) raked in the highest total of the three, $39. With this particular fair, they pay you cash money on the spot when you pick up your ribbons. Wooohooo!!

From previous experience, I knew that one child in particular would be itching to spend his money. Immediately. Probably all of it. Bless his heart. And he received the least of the three. (Yes, I just gave it away.)

Anywho, yesterday the three younger ones went shopping with their dad, while me and my oldest son went off for what we like to call M&C Day. (This is where he goes along for the ride while I run all of my errands, including the ever-exciting fabric store, and in return, I reward him with a lunch out. The boy loves him some food. And I love his company, so it is a nice trade.)

G was predictable once again, and came home with a couple of things from Target. The first was what he had been searching for, a guitar instructional booklet that comes with a CD. (I thought this was a great purchase for him and was pleased. He loves music, and is actually pretty talented, and is determined to teach himself every instrument ever created.) The second purchase was neat, but I figured it was one of those things that will get misplaced, and turn into “just a fad” type toy. It was this: Wild Planet Micro Ear Gear

Boy, I think I might have been wrong about this little gadget.

This morning, N, who is the early riser of the four was playing with the little ol' micro ear and discovered that he could use it to hear his heart beat. What??? We now have a stethoscope. How cool. So I listened to his heart, then I said "Hey, let me see if your stomach is talking." So I put it on his little washboard stomach and you could hear the stomach acids just a churning. What?? Even cooler now.

So today we will be studying medical science. All because of a toy from Target called Micro Ear Gear. (Let's just wait and see how gross it gets with 3 boys playing. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before one suggests to listen to the others' bottoms.)

Science for the day!!

FREE MOVIES ON MONDAYS!!

2008-09-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

My family likes to watch movies. We don’t have cable, well except for the cable you can get when you pay around $6 a month. I used to subscribe to Blockbuster online, then they made me mad. I had been a customer since day one, and then they went and increased my membership fees without increasing my benefits. So I quit them. And then they sent an email asking me to come back. No thank you.

We now subscribe to Netflix. I like it pretty well, mainly because I get movies off of it for school. (No cable equals no History Channel in our house.) I do miss being able to trade a movie in at the local store (like the “other” place would let you do, but not enough to go back to them.)

But my favorite place to get movies is from the little red vending machine known as Redbox. It’s becoming more and more popular and I have seen people write about it here and there. DVDs for $1 a day. Can’t really beat that price, can you?

I think you can. If you have a Redbox in your area, then you have to go to http://www.insideredbox.com/ on Monday mornings. Every Monday they list a “free code” for the day. Must be used on that particular Monday only. As long as you turn your movie back in on Tuesday by 9:00 p.m. (at least that’s what ours say), then you had a free movie.

Definitely works for me. For other great WFMW tips, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

THE PAINT EDGER - MY LATEST BFF

2008-09-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

I have been painting lately. The sunroom, kitchen and downstairs bathroom. The sunroom took something like 478 hours. Not much wall space but lots and lots of trim. I thought it would be quick and easy. It wasn’t.

Last week I decided I wanted to tackle the kitchen. I have been growing weary of off-white, dirt-colored walls. While in W*l-M*rt, I discovered a gift from God.

It’s this.A Shur-line Paint Edger. It really, really works.

My friend came over on Friday to help me paint the kitchen, bless her heart. We started at 2:30. We were 95% done by 4:30. And it was all because of my new bff. The edger.

The key to the edger is really simple. Put paint on. Place little wheels next to ceiling/cabinet/door trim, etc. Apply small amount of pressure and zip. A nice clean line of paint, approximately 4 inches wide.

A couple of tips: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, soak in the paint. Be careful not to get the wheels in the paint. This causes some problems. Also, be prepared to smooth out the line of paint that remains with a roller fairly quickly. Unless of course you are going for the textured line-look on your walls.

So there you have it. The Shur-Line Paint Edger. My new bff when it comes to painting. It definitely works for me.

To check out other great WFMW tips, head over to Shannon's!

Contest Winner

2008-09-15T09:45:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Commenter #6 – Amy – who has won my first ever giveaway. I’m planning to do a giveaway once a month, so please check back often. To those who did not win, don’t fret. You can purchase anything from the store and receive 20% off. Just send me an email (conversation) via my etsy store and tell me what you’d like, and I’ll be happy to set it up for you.

Thanks so much for all of the nice comments!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO MY GIRL

2008-09-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

September 11. A sad day in the life of our nation. A day to remember those who were lost.

In our home, September 11th is a day of celebration. The day that my girl was born.

She had a great day today. Went to ToysRUs to pick out a toy. Went to Chuck E. Cheese’s. A great day when you are five.

My girl also had a great year. She grew a lot and had lots of fun. She won a purple ribbon at the fair, went to the Lazy 5 Ranch to see the animals, went to see Cinderella’s house in Orlando, rode on the Polar Express train in the mountains, got a puppy, played in the snow, went to the beach, picked strawberries at a strawberry farm, went to Emerald Pointe, went to Carowinds, went on a Mission Trip (her second) to Pennsylvania, went camping, went to Washington, DC, played lots of games, read lots of books, sang lots of songs. Loved life to the fullest. Like it should be.

She had a couple of surgeries and spent some time in the hospital. But she had a great year.

Most importantly, she was loved. Loved by those in her home and out. And she knows that she is loved.

Works For Me - Clothes (and GIVEAWAY!!)

2008-09-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

Clothes. At times I feel that I am drowning in them. Especially boy clothes. When my 3 boys were smaller, it was difficult to tell their clothes apart. I ran across a system that worked well for us. All it took was a Sharpie.

Instead of using initials, where we would eventually run out of room on the tag, I used small dots.

Very simple concept. Boy #1 – who wore the largest clothes, received one dot. Boy #2 received 2 dots and Boy #3 received 3. Works great if you pass the clothes down the line as we do. This also allowed my husband to sort the clothes without having to ask “Hey, who’s are these?” 95 times. And I didn’t have to hear “Hey, he’s wearing my shirt!” over and over either.

To celebrate my first WFMW post and in honor of my girl’s 5th birthday tomorrow, I am having a giveaway. Just head over to my etsy store (over on the sidebar), come back here and leave a comment, and your name will be entered in a drawing for $20 credit in the store. Winner to be announced Monday morning-ish, September 15th.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips.

A Mom's Wisdom

2008-09-08T08:43:00.000-07:00

Very cute video! Some references really don't relate to homeschoolers, but it is still a fun clip to watch!

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Digital Edition Review

2008-09-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I was skeptical of an online digital version of a magazine. I currently only subscribe to one magazine that comes in my mailbox, and I love flipping through the pages, and skipping over the ads and articles that don’t appeal to me.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Through no fault of the magazine, I can tell you that if I had a larger monitor, the whole process would have been much better for me. Even better would be if I had a laptop computer and could be reading the magazine on the couch. But in any event, it was still pretty neat.

The magazine is very easy to navigate using the toolbar at the top of the page. You have the table of contents available quickly, and can go straight to the page you are interested in. One of my favorite features is being able to see all pages as thumbnails. (I love to do this with the Target ad online as well.) You can view the magazine as one page, or to get the “magazine” feel, you can pick a two page spread.

The content of the magazine is great, with tons of relevant articles for all areas of homeschooling. Just like most magazines, there are quite a bit of ads, but not so much that you feel that’s all you paid for. Speaking of the ads, though, one of the coolest features available are hyper-links to other websites referenced throughout the magazine. Even if an author mentions a website in her article, the link to that website is right at your fingertips. Definitely can’t do that with a printed version.

All in all I was pleased with the digital, online version. It was very easy to navigate and you don’t have to worry about misplacing it. It definitely doesn't clutter up my living room. A great savings over the printed version, which is $39, the online version is currently $16.95. Click here to check it out.

The Schoolhouse Planner Review

2008-08-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

I had a chance to review/preview The Schoolhouse Planner from The Old Schoolhouse Online Store recently. My first thought was “OH MY WORD. 247 pages. WOW. That’s a whole lot of ink. I honestly thought that if I were to only want to print half of it, I would be shocked.

Guess what? I was shocked.

To someone who desires to be organized, but faces reality daily in knowing that God did not create me that way, I was skeptical that the planner would be useful for people like me. You know the type. We read all of these organizational blogs, and drool over the schedules that our fellow homeschool moms are following from the first day of school. But in our reality, our little world, it just doesn’t work that way.

The Schoolhouse Planner is a downloadable, user friendly planner. It is an interactive PDF format and it is fun to use.

Each month begins with a calender, has a fact sheet (or in my house, we refer to it as trivia), which range in topics anywhere from Timeline of Inventions to the Periodic Table of Elements. How timely that I saw the topic of Countries and Capitals in the middle of watching the Olympics. I had just asked my husband, “Is St. Kitts and Nevis even a country?” Thanks to the planner, I learned that yes, it is a country. And now I know the capital is Basseterre.

There are also very informative homeschool articles, resource lists from the Schoolhouse Store and monthly recipes.

After twelve months of planning sections, we come to the homeschool form section of the planner. After spending hours upon hours searching for forms on the internet, this section is a blessing. There was thought given to all types of homeschoolers, even providing a form for the unschoolers to the preschoolers.

It gets even better. There are countless numbers of household forms. From menu planning, grocery shopping to monthly household maintenance and cleaning reminders. (Oooh, I did not know I should clean out under my refrigerator every month. I am so far behind.)

This planner does not disappoint. I was very pleasantly surprised that I will be printing off the majority of pages and will use it frequently. About the only thing I will omit from my printing schedule is the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence and Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, they are all in there.

No, I’m not kidding.

Tears and Perspective

2008-08-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

(The following was originally posted on A's caringbridge website on Friday, July 25, 2008. For some reason both kids were on my mind today, so I decided to share this here.)

I cried lots of tears on Monday.

In the recovery room, late Monday afternoon, I was sitting with A, watching her breathe. The recovery room, to me, is always a very emotional place. Normally, parents are coming in, seeing their child for the first time after surgery. Depending on the type surgery, you can see tears of joy, or tears of sorrow because of the appearance of the child. It can be very scary to see your child, all puffy in the face, hooked up to monitors and tubes, and appearing lifeless.

There were about 6 kids in there Monday afternoon, including my girl. At the time I arrived back, I was the only parent present. Each child had at least one nurse attending to their needs. I couldn’t help but notice another little girl, diagonally across from A, and how sad she seemed to be. Usually you don’t hear many cries, because the kids are still pretty heavily sedated. I think that’s why she caught my attention so quickly. She appeared to be about 5 or 6, and the first thing I noticed were her hands. They were both splinted, but she was actively moving them.

As she was crying out, the nurse was asking her, “Honey, what’s the matter?” The little girl would only reply, “My leg. My leg.” The nurse asked “What about your leg?” She answered “It’s dangling. I can feel it dangling.”

Oh how my heart sank, and the tears began to flow. You see, I had heard of this little girl. A couple of weeks ago, I think while we were in Pennsylvania, there had been an accident. A little girl, 6 years old, was riding on a bush hog with her daddy and brother. The little girl had fallen and the bush hog had run over her. I had heard that her hands were severely injured, and that one of her legs had to be amputated.

And here was this little girl, crying out in pain because she could feel her leg dangling. Except by this point, I could see that her leg wasn’t dangling anymore. It wasn’t there.

Lots of tears, and a whole new perspective about my little girl. My little girl who has all of her fingers and all of her toes and her arms and legs. And they all work fine.

I also cried more tears, later on Monday night.

It was Monday night when I first saw him. A little boy, 10 years old, who “lived” beside of us at the hospital. You see this young man really does “live” at the hospital. For circumstances so far beyond his control, he doesn’t have a home to go to. He had surgery about a month ago, and could be released. But there’s no one there to get him. There’s no one there to check on him. He’s just waiting. Waiting for the state to find someone who will take him. Waiting for a foster parent who can take a child with special needs. Just waiting. And he’s 10 years old. And he lives at the hospital. Sure, he looks like he’s doing well. His room has certainly been made his own. Lots of games and stuff. The nurses hang out with him and he jokes back and forth with them and they care for him. Because that’s where he lives. At the hospital.

Lots and lots of tears for this young man. Definitely puts things in perspective. My daughter got to go home on Wednesday. All because her family was there to take her home. I pray that someone can come and get the young man and take him home.

Brotherly love

2008-08-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

We went out to eat last night to a restaurant that gives free balloons. (Well you know that they aren’t really free based on the price of our meal, but………) So A gets one as we are walking out. We head over to Best Buy and Target to shop-look (which means we are cheap and we went to play Rock Band at Best Buy) and A wants to take the balloon inside. Sure, why not. I mean, it’s tied to the girl’s wrist. It certainly can’t come undone, can it?

The balloon survives in Best Buy, even with a transfer to my wrist so the girl can play her some drums. (Do you have any idea how cute it is to see a 40 inch tall person playing those big ol’ Rock Band drums? She was actually pretty good.) After we leave Best Buy, we walk up to Target to shop-look. While we are in there, one of her brothers comes up behind and lightly touches the balloon. No sarcasm here, it really was a light touch.

So you know what happens next. The balloon comes untied and up it goes. Now, next time you go to Target, just check out how high the ceilings are. It’s nowhere near the height of our second home, Wal-Mart, however it is still pretty high. Definitely higher than I can reach, way out of L’s reach too. I’m no good at guesstimating the height, but I’m thinking it’s gone and the tears are not far behind. For me, it was over. There was no getting the balloon.

Now I did consider standing on the basket of the shopping cart and trying to reach up, but it just was not going to be pretty. There wasn’t a whole lot of action going on in the back of the store so I figured I wouldn’t have much of an audience. Wisdom prevailed and I opted out of shopping cart surfing. Maybe another time.

Well I’m married to a man who is pretty persistent, and I’ve never seen him not be able to do something if he sets his mind to it. So of course, reaching the balloon becomes the top priority. I’m going on down the aisle and I realize that I’m missing a few people and I turn around to see G on L's shoulders, reaching for the balloon. L even tried to jump a bit so G could grab it, but it wasn’t happening. It was still a good four to five feet from them.

G hops down and I’m figuring they gave it a really good try, but the balloon was going to be our gift to Target tonight. It was not coming home. We spent the next few minutes looking at all things important, video games and toys, and I’m thinking we are leaving. But no, here once again I sense that we’ve lost some members of our party. I look back down at the little red balloon and my heart skips a beat.

Now what I see is my 10 yr. old son, who is deathly afraid of heights, roller coasters and all things “thrillish” not sitting on my husband’s shoulders, but the boy is STANDING on the man’s shoulders. Standing. In the middle of Target. Stretching and reaching for a little girl’s balloon. His sister’s balloon. And he had it in his little hand.

What a picture to me. Brotherly love. Only love could cause him to do it. I know that L didn’t try and coerce him. You don’t coerce G. Ever. You will lose. He knows what he likes and what he’ll try. He doesn’t try much without serious, serious thought. But tonight he did. And I believe he did it because he loves his little sister. He’s got a great big ol’ heart in a little man’s body.

So rest assured that A is taken care of and loved by her brothers. She always will be. Curvy or straight. In the hospital or at home. She has her a little posse of boys that adore her.

2007 - Year in Review - December cont.

2008-05-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

A few days before Christmas I got a call from a friend who had two tickets to go see Carolina play basketball. At home. In the Dean Dome. Now, I had been to the Dean Dome, but it had been many, many years ago. She said "I would love for you to be able to take C to see the Heels play. Do you think you can work it out to go?" Of course, I'm thinking, "Ooooooh, I get to go see the boys play." And then I got convicted. I thought "I really, really ought to give L the opportunity to take C, but if he even as much as breathes one breath of hesitation before he says yes, then I'm taking him."

Well of course the man didn't breathe before he said yes. So off the two of them go. To see my Heels play in the Dean Dome. Without me. We intentionally didn't tell C where he was going, just to add to the surprise. C did figure it out, after they got to Chapel Hill, where EVERYTHING is Carolina Blue. He called as he was on the walk up the hill to the Dome and you could just feel him smiling in the phone. It was definitely a great surprise for him!

2007 - Year in Review - December cont.

2008-05-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Every year, just as many do, we send out a family pic as our Christmas card. This year’s “photo shoot” did not disappoint. Of course, the timing for the photo shoot is always critical, and I’m sure I did not pick the best time for the pics. But time was running out. After checking wardrobes and deciding on white turtlenecks, again, for the boys and A’s Christmas dress from Grandmommy, we set out to our front porch for the shoot.

After lots and lots and lots of pics (I don’t know what I did prior to digital photography) and a little bit of fussing by me (I mean, come on, they are 11, 10, 8 and 4. This shouldn’t be that difficult.) we came out with one I could work with. We went with black and white this year, so I guess color will be it next year!

2007 - Year in Review - December

2008-05-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

With our plans of recovering from surgery, and having a low-key holiday season changed, we decided to take advantage of the new-found time. We spent December enjoying things we normally don’t do.

Early on in the month, we went to Old Salem to enjoy the Candle Tea. It was definitely a neat experience and one that is a must do. Maybe not every year for us, but at least every other year tradition it will be.

We also took a trip to the NC mountains and went to the Smoky Mountain Railway for the Polar Express train. They had a “homeschooler special” so the rates were great for our small group. We spent the night in Cherokee and drove over to the railway. This particular train ride mimicked that of the Polar Express in every detail. We drank hot chocolate, had a snack, saw Santa Claus and sang Christmas carols. The Polar Express book was read and all of the children received a silver bell as a treat.

All three of the boys were in the Children’s Christmas musical at church. C had one of the lead roles and G had the “entertainer” role of the play. N, who I think is the best singer in the house, always chooses to remain in the choir, and just isn’t moved to audition for a solo. I’m just glad he loves to sing in the choir.

2007 - Year in Review - November

2008-05-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well right around the corner from N’s birthday is G’s b-day. Last year we had a joint party for the two of them, but this year we did a small family thing.

G is such a special boy. His name means “man of God” and he is definitely living up to it. A lot of pressure for such a young boy, but he teaches me things daily. He’s the kind of guy that everybody loves, everybody wants to be around. He’s funny and caring, desires to please, loves to help and very passionate. He is a performer and always wants to have the role in the musicals that are the most entertaining. He has yet to disappoint. He’s so smart, pretty cute and I’m proud to call him my son.

Toward the latter part of November, the 20th to be exact, A was scheduled for the first of many back surgeries. For reasons really known only to God, we got to the hospital that morning and A threw up, spiked a fever and they sent us home. We left pretty much dazed, but thankful that for whatever reason, God decided that was not the day for her surgery. Because of Thanksgiving and Christmas, we weren’t able to reschedule until January.

One of our family traditions is to go see the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood Park every year, and this year was no exception. We always stop to roast marshmallows, look in the gift shop and enjoy looking at all of the lights. Definitely one of the high"lights" of the year!

2007 - Year in Review - October cont.

2008-05-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

N turned 8 at the end of October. He is such a hoot. He has always been the quiet one, but boy has that changed. He is now the comedian. Still shy everywhere but home, but he has definitely come out of his shell. I’m kinda wishing he had a little bit of the calmness back, but he really is a neat kid. A absolutely adores him, as he does her as well. He has such a sweet spirit towards her and will always be her protector. He loves, loves, loves to play basketball. Happy B-day N!

2007 - Year in Review - Disney cont.

2008-05-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Our third day we decided to take off, recuperate and hang out at the pool.

Day four had us going to Epcot, and over to the ESPN restaurant. That was C’s number one request because of his love of sports. He has said for a couple of years now that he wants to be a sports commentator, so this was definitely a dream destination for him. Food was mediocre, but the boy was happy.

On day 5, we tried to get in the things we had missed, and those things we wanted to experience again.

This was by far one of our best vacations ever as a family. Thanks lots and lots and lots to Uncle Todd for great memories.

2007 - Year in Review - Disney cont.

2008-05-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

On Monday we headed to Magic Kingdom. I got goose bumps when the kids saw Cinderella's Castle for the first time. We had talked about it for soooooo long. "A" knew she was going to Cinderelly's house. And the look on her face when she saw it was great.

We had touring plans printed out, and my hope was that we could follow them and make great use of our time. I didn't feel like we were able to do that as much at AK. They aren't kidding when they say that you have to be there when the park opens.

Our day at MK was great. I can't remember the order of our activities, but this is what all we did:

Mad Tea Party

Cinderella's Golden Carousel

Dumbo

Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Mickey's PhilharMagic

Peter Pan's Flight

It's a Small World

Goofy's Barnstormer

The Hall of Presidents

The Haunted Mansion

WDW Railroad

Splash Mountain

Swiss Family Treehouse

Pirates of the Caribbean

Jungle Cruise

Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Enchanted Tiki Room

Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Monsters, Inc.

Space Mountain

Tomorrowland Indy Speedway

Tomorrowland Transit Authority

Carousel of Progress

Stitch's Great Escape

That's basically the whole park. The main attraction that was closed while we were there was Big Thunder Mtn. Railroad. I'm looking forward to that being open next time we go.

I think some of our favorites were Mickey's Philharmagic, the Hall of Presidents, It's a Small World, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and Splash Mountain. I think the least favorite was Stitch's Great Escape. "A" wasn't tall enough, so I didn't get to experience it, but the consensus said that I didn't miss much.

With Disney, the prime height for most rides is 40 inches. A was 38 inches when we went in October. After her surgery in January, she hit the magical 40 inch height, so lots more opportunities are there when we head back down.

2007 - Year in Review - Disney Characters

2008-05-14T13:34:00.001-07:00

Characters. It's one of the things that makes Disney great. You can see all of your favorite characters from your favorite movies. And you can have your picture made with them. And hug them. And tell them you love them. You can do all of those things.

As long as you aren't scared.

And guess what? My girl was scared. Even of the princesses. No pics of my girl with characters. (Unless you count the Cinderella statue at DTD, or any of the other great photo-op characters at DTD.) The boys were definitely troopers and let me get some pics with a few characters.

Next time, there will be lots of character pics with my girl. I hope.

2007 - Year in Review - October Disney cont.

2008-05-14T13:10:00.000-07:00

We left for Florida on Friday and spent the night in Savannah, Georgia. We arrived at our resort on Saturday, got settled and headed to Downtown Disney. It was Saturday night. Apparently DTD is the place to be on Saturday nights. Very, very, very crowded. We went to the Lego Store and walked around a bit.

Sunday was our first day at the parks, and we went to Animal Kingdom. According to the crowd predictions, Sunday was not a good day for Animal Kingdom, so we decided to hit AK and MGM this day.

For me, AK was probably my least favorite park. I thought it seemed more crowded than any other, but it's probably because the walking paths are more narrow than any other.

In Animal Kingdom, we saw It's a Bug's Life. (OOOOH, the crawly bugs on the seats were neat. Kinda.) We also did Kilmanjaro Safaris, Dinosaur, Triceratops Spin, and watched Finding Nemo - The Musical. We weren't able to do Expedition Everest, so we knew a return trip to AK was necessary.

Definitely the highlight of AK for me was the pic above from Dinosaur. L and the boys rode it and I stayed off with A. I was at the monitors looking for their pic when I saw that. My guys are in the front row. The row that has 1 adult, 2 children bowing in prayer, and another one screaming like a girl. So, so, so funny. And of course, I did what any good mother would do......I took a picture of the monitor. I did convince someone to go on it with me. It was pretty scary, I'll have to admit.

We left AK and ate a picnic in the van. We then headed over to MGM for the rest of the day. At MGM, N and L went to Tower of Terror and the rest of us headed to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We attempted to ride Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, but it was about a 2 hour wait. Maybe next time.

To be continued.......

2007 - Year in Review - October cont.

2008-05-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

DISNEY WORLD PRE-TRIP!

Disney World. The most magical place on earth. And it was.

We took our first trip to Disney World in mid-October. I've decided to take several posts to document EVERYTHING that we did because I don't want to forget it. (Lucky for me, we circled every ride that we rode on our maps because I knew I would never be able to remember. Now I just have to find the maps!)

A's surgery was scheduled for November and I KNEW that I had to get her to Cinderelly's house before then. To be honest, I really wanted a distraction, and what better way than to spend lots and lots of time planning a trip.

To pay for the trip, we had decided to use some of the $$ from the sale of our house in July. I knew that it would be expensive, but my goal was to be as frugal as I could. We had never planned on staying on-site, because even though Disney is "family-friendly", I feel that the overall friendliness stops when you have more than 2 children. Not much to choose from for a family of six. (Yes, I know there are a couple of suites, and maybe I'll check into them later.)

My brother had heard me talk of our plans and knew that we were excited about going. One day in September, he called me up and this was the jest of our conversation.

Him: Hey hon, (I love my brother. He is so sweet.) I have these reward thingys at work, and one of the things I can buy with my points are Disney gift cards. So I've used some of the points and have gotten you some cards to use while you are at Disney. $500 worth of cards.

Me: Blubbering I say: Oh, T, you didn't have to do that. I can't take all of that. On and on and on. You need to use those points for you.

Him: Shut up (not really), but I want to give them to you.

Me: Still blubbering, and on the verge of tears. O.....K..... Thank you so much.

Him: Oh, and by the way, I'm also buying your tickets.

Me: Silence. For a long, long time. Don't really know what to say. Definitely crying by now, cause I know he's serious.

Him: How many days did ya'll want to go?

Me: Stupidly, I have no way to respond. I'm telling you, I was blown away. This was tickets for 3 adults and 3 children. (Yes, my 11 yr. old is an adult according to Disney. Maybe they'll give him a job.)

Me: Finally I say, well, we were going to do 4 days at the parks.

Him: OK - I'll get them.

I really don't remember the rest of our conversation verbatim, but I know it included lots of "you don't have to do this" and lots of "but I really want to". I remember the gratitude that I felt and knew that I could never express it in words or ever, ever, ever pay it back. I've gotten better about accepting when people want to do something for us/me because of being in the ministry. Our current church is very, very giving, and so I've had to learn to be very, very accepting. Definitely not my nature.

This gift, for me, was huge. I've always felt like my brother has taken the role of my parents in giving. He's always been a huge giver. He's got such a sweet heart. I smile every time I think of him. He's always had some cute catch phrases. A couple of recent ones are "big smiles" and "it's all good."

Anyway, so the trip was being formed right before my eyes.

A couple days after our phone conversation, I get another call. This is how it goes:

Him: Hey hon, what week are you guys planning to go to Disney?

Me: 2nd or 3rd week of October.

Him: OK, let me tell S (his wife). She's going to call the timeshare place and get a week for you with our timeshare points. They've got some locations in Orlando that should work.

Me: Oh my word was the first thing I thought. Again, I don't think I spoke. At all. This was far more than I could handle gracefully. And without blubbering. Again. He just blew me away.

He called back later and said that the timeshare place would be mailing a confirmation to us with all of the details.

Wow. What could I say. I do remember joking with him after all of the initial shock and saying, "hey, why don't you come and drive us down. that is the only thing you haven't done." Definitely said in a moment that needed laughter, so he understood.

So you know how you always dream of winning a trip to Disney. That's how I felt. The only thing we paid for was a night's stay in Savannah on the way down, and our gas. All of our souvenirs and eating out were done on the gift cards.

To be continued.

2007 - Year in Review - October

2008-05-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

October took us on a field trip to the Lazy 5 Ranch just outside of Charlotte. We went with the homeschool group from our church.

Lazy 5 Ranch is a great place for seeing animals up close and personal. You can drive your car through the property or you can take a "wagon" ride. I've never done the car thing, and I think it would freak me out to see a large animal trying to get it's head in my van.

This day, we took the wagon ride and had lots of fun. The kids were given buckets of food to feed them. We had preschoolers to preteens with us and it was neat to see all of the reactions. A's buddy from class, Isaac, was there with his family and they had lots of fun hanging together. Isaac is such a little gentleman, as he was sharing his bucket, telling A about all of the animals and helping her off the wagon.

If you live in the area, it is definitely a great place to visit.

2007 - Year in Review - September cont.

2008-05-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite activities during the month of September is preparing for the local county fair. I have gone to this fair for as long as I can remember, and I'm pretty sure that my kids will be able to say the same thing.

Our fair has tons and tons of contests that can be entered. We have decorated pumpkins, potatoes, apples. We have done lots of arts and crafts. We have baked lots of items. C started his fair career when he was 5. He has won numerous ribbons for this and that, and has determined that baking is his favorite category. G & N have followed suit and are collecting their fair share of ribbons as well.

This year was A's first year entering the arts and crafts category and she had fun. She won the coveted Judge's Choice in her age group with her cute little clay piggy. She is the first one in the family to get the purple ribbon and her brothers were thrilled for her.

We also spend the day riding lots of rides and eating "not-so-great for you" food. It is definitely one of the most anticipated events in our home.

2007 - Year in Review - September cont.

2008-05-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

September took us to the football field for the first time. C & G played Upward flag football. We had never done an Upward sport other than basketball, so I was curious to see how football worked.

The boys had lots of fun, but I was less than thrilled with the way the program was run. Having worked in our Upward basketball, I understand how it works. And if you do it by the book, it works very, very well. I didn't feel like there was much, if any, emphasis on the devotions, either at practice or game days. I was very disappointed in the game day because they didn't do anything at half-time. For the size of church that it was, I'm 99% certain that they had the capability of taking a sound system outside for a half-time devotion, but it just didn't happen. I wonder how many souls could have been reached if they had taken the time to do the program the way it's supposed to be done.

2007 - Year in Review - September

2008-05-04T08:15:00.001-07:00

September 11. A sad day for our nation. A happy day in our home. My girl was born on September 11, 2003. What a special day.

A had a pretty big b-day party when she was one. You know the kind. You invite pretty much everybody you know and the b-day baby doesn't really have a clue. Then for b-day number 2, we had another big party. (A initially had surgery scheduled in October, 2005, so I felt like she needed a big ol' blowout. That surgery was cancelled, by the way.)

Well #3 rolls around, and A decides she doesn't want a party. At all. Doesn't even want Grandmommy and Granddaddy to come over. Only wants to go to Chuck E Cheese. Doesn't want anyone to tell her Happy Birthday, and God-forbid if we sing her a song. So that's what we do.

2007 is #4. I'm hoping we'll get some kind of party out of her. Something. She does finally agree to having G'mommy, G'daddy and Cousin Sami come over. She goes with me to W*l-mart to pick out her cake. I just knew it would have a princess or Dora on it.

Nope. She picks out a little doggy cake. I mean really little. Like, it was made out of 2 cupcakes and icing. Very, very, very cute. But not quite large enough to feed a party of 10.

But it was her day, so her choice. (I did grab another pre-made cake for those of us less fortunate ones who can't eat the doggy cake.)

I bring home the doggy cake, and the first thing G says is:

G - What's that?

me - A's birthday cake.

G - Birthday cake? That's not a birthday cake. That's a cake topper.

So, so funny. I love that boy. He's so quick-witted. And it was. A cake topper.

Oh, and the other thing that the Queen of the house insisted upon was that she didn't want to turn 4. She wanted to remain 3. So we compromised, and decided that she could be 3+1. Duh, but it worked. And she remained 3+1 for many months until apparently 4 was acceptable to her. That girl. She's really not spoiled. She just has my heart wrapped around her curvy little spine.

2007 - Year in Review - August

2008-05-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

August. My birthday month. Usually it's fine. Not in 2007. The big 4-0. I wasn't ready to be 40. At all. So I told my husband that he needed to take the day off because we were going out of town.

We went to Charlotte to Discovery Place for the day. I wasn't thrilled about all of the phone calls and such that comes with a birthday, so this was a great day for a road trip.

Discovery Place is pretty cool and the kids enjoy it. We go every year or so. They don't change the exhibits enough for me, but it's like any other children's/science museum that has their permanent exhibits and travelling ones.

The trip served it's purpose and the day was enjoyable. Despite entering a new decade of life.

2007 - Year in Review - July cont.

2008-05-04T07:53:00.000-07:00

What would July be if it didn't involve water. We got to spend one afternoon at a friend's home who lives on a small lake. They have lots of water toys, including a jet ski built for 3 and a kayak. As has been the custom, we were invited by our pastor to go over there, even though it's not his house. He was taking two of his grandkids and thought our gang would enjoy going as well.

Lots and lots of fun on the jet ski and big tube that you can drag behind it. My lone goal was to try and sling my husband off the tube, but I was never able to make a quick enough turn to get it to happen. I can't wait until we can go again this summer. (Insert evil giggle here!)

We also took a beach trip in July. We are not normally "middle of the summer" beach travellers, but we were invited by some friends who have a house at North Myrtle. It was a great trip. Lots of kids and lots of laughs.

(A wasn't thrilled about getting her pic taken in the sand. Can you tell?)

2007 - Year in Review - July cont.

2008-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

July also gave us a treat that we had not partaken of before. COW APPRECIATION DAY at Chick-Fil-A. If you dress up as a cow and go to Chick-Fil-A, you could get a free combo meal. I love to feed my people free.

Since we don't do Halloween, this was another opportunity to let the kids dress up. Since I am extremely cheap, I thought I'd dress up as well. My husband was working late, so we decided to go for dinner. Some white shirts, black felt spots and paper cow masks were our costumes. All 5 of us. Our local CFA was having a kids festival of sorts, added to that fact, it was Friday night, and the place was slammed. I mean tons of people. And not a single one of them looked like a cow.

No one looked like a cow, except for us. The absolutely crazy homeschool family who likes free food. Of course, the kids think it's great and we all go up to the counter and moo for our food. I'm thinking it's not too bad, because even though it's only about 10 minutes from our house, it's the opposite direction (and one county over) from church, so surely we won't see anyone.

No one but our NEXT DOOR NEIGHBORS. They saw me dressed as a cow. Lovely.

And if we are in town for the next Cow Appreciation Day, you can bet we are going to get out our cow shirts and head back to CFA for some free food.

2007 - Year in Review - July

2008-05-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

July is hot in NC. Very, very hot. I've lived here my whole life so I've become accustomed to it. But it is still hot.

We sold a house in July. The house I grew up in and lived in for the first 22 years of my life. The house where I brought all of my babies home from the hospital. The house that held lots of memories, good and bad.

When my husband and I got married, we moved to Charlotte. He worked for a summer camp, so after our honeymoon, we moved to camp, and lived in a cabin with two other people. Lots of stories there. Short version - camp life is hard for newlyweds. Shortly before the camp season was to end, my mother died. Lots and lots of stories there, too. Short version, my dad remarried later, and the house I grew up in was now vacant.

Fastforward to February, 1995. We decide to move back home. And we moved into my old home. With all of its stuff that my dad left behind. Lots and lots of stuff. We worked and worked and worked and worked. Remodeling. Cleaning out junk. Ripping out cabinets, and walls and floors and ............. Everything. But it was still home. Full of memories. Some good and some bad.

In February, 1996 we brought home our first-born, right in the middle of remodeling the kitchen. Stove was on cinder blocks and you could see the basement through the kitchen floor. I can't believe I brought a baby into that.

3 babies and 2 churches later, my husband accepts a position at a church in the next county. It's really too far of a drive, so we decide to rent the house and make a move. Our renters are great and the house stayed rented from October, 2004 until May, 2007. When the renters moved out, we decide to try our luck at selling the house. Our plan was to keep it for a college fund, but with the change in the neighborhood, we felt like we may be able to get a decent amount for the house at that time.

We worked like dogs during June and listed the house on July 4th. We had an offer on it two days later. It closed in August. Praise the Lord. We got to pay off our van, have some $$ in savings and I could take my girl to see Cinderella's house. (We knew at this point that A would have surgery in November, so we wanted to go to Disney before that time.)

It was tough getting to the point where I could emotionally sell the house. My father died of lung cancer in June, 2001, so the house was really symbolic of my heritage, for lack of a better understanding. I was ready though and we were thankful for God's timing.

2007 - Year in Review - June

2008-04-28T15:43:00.001-07:00

June. The start of summer. For us, it was a busy, busy month. It began with Preschool Day Camp. Cluelessly, I volunteered to "teach" the school-aged kids, the kids of the workers of our Preschool Day Camp. Clueless, because the week following Preschool Summer Day Camp, our family would be going on our first Family Mission Trip.

The team from our church consisted of families of all shapes and sizes. We had couples go. We had families with both parents and all their children go. We had moms go with one or two of their children. We had grandparents go with their grandchildren. Everyone just wanted to go.

We went to Cleveland, Ohio to work with a new church plant. Our team was to do an Upward basketball and cheerleading camp. The location for the camp was at an inner-city elementary school in the heart of Cleveland. I'm talking inner, inner-city. The majority of camp time was spent on the blacktop parking lot of a school. And I'm here to tell you, that God showed up on that blacktop.

It was such an awesome experience, and I can still see the faces of those little boys that I got to hang out with that week. One of my favorite memories was looking at my little 3 yr. old daughter, with gray dirt all over her face, sitting in a group of kids, most whom did not have her skin color. And she was sitting there singing praise songs to Jesus. In an inner-city elementary school that we weren't even sure would be available for us to use.

There wasn't much time for sightseeing, but we were able to go to Lake Erie one day and witness a beautiful sunset.

Lots of fun times in Cleveland, Ohio that week. Like most mission trips, it was draining, exhausting, fulfilling and memorable, all at the same time.

2007 - Year in Review - May

2008-04-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

May got us outdoors and we went to a new local park that has great hiking trails. We sort of went into this trail blind, not really knowing how long it was. There were numbered signs that we followed to make sure that we did not lose our way. (I'm not much of a snake person, so my biggest fear was that there would be little, or big, slithery creatures along our path. Thankfully no anaconda sightings on this visit.) You could tell that the trails were new, but everything was marked well enough that we made it out alive. I would not recommend going on a trail unless you know how long it is. (I will add a footnote here that I was alone with the kids, not with my Eagle Scout husband.)

2007 - Year in Review - April

2008-04-28T06:56:00.001-07:00

April brought us Easter fun and baseball. We had our annual family easter egg hunt and egg decorating at my sister-in-law's house. It always bring back memories of when the boys were little and we would go to the community egg hunts.

Oh how I hated the community egg hunts. You know the kind. There is a HUGE field of eggs, all filled with nutritious candy, and hundreds upon hundreds of children vying for a spot at the starting gate. All of a sudden, someone who apparently does not have children, yells GO and the stampede is on. My boys had not developed the competitive gene at this young age, and they would stand at the starting line, frozen. No movement. And as a parent, you have to stand there helplessly watching all of the eggs being sucked up like there were hundreds of Dysons on the field.

We participated in all varieties of egg hunts before we wised up. There were those where they would have the fields segregated by age, the ones where you would bring a certain number of eggs with you for the hunt, and then tell the kids you can only pick up 12 eggs. Yeah right. Like that really works in a free-for-all. There's always those parents that want little Susie to get all that she can, completely ignoring the rules.

I can't remember what year we had the revelation to no longer participate in the stampede hunts, and to just have our own. Not sure if the kids like it since it's usually only with one cousin (this year we had friends come to our house for Easter also, so that added to the numbers) but I sure am glad that we started a new tradition.

Enough ranting about plastic eggs. Our other fun event of April was minor league baseball. Our local team had a promotion last year (I think they have it again this year) called "Small Fry of the Game". You could enter online for a chance to be picked as Small Fry and you would get a ticket to the game and get a chance to be on the field for player introductions. I'm all about some free tickets, so I entered C & G into the contest, and they were chosen to participate early in the season. Now I did have to purchase tickets for the rest of us, but anything is plenty. They were introduced on the field, and then stood under the Golden Arches as the players ran out on the field. It was a neat experience for them, and we got to enjoy a beautiful night at the ballpark, complete with hot dogs and fireworks.

2007 - Year in Review - March cont.

2008-04-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the Tarheels theme, we were able to see our UNC boys practice session in Winston-Salem prior to a round in the NCAA tournament. (I can't remember now which round this was.)

Practice sessions are cool because you can sit where ever you want, and get lots of great pics. Of course there was a dunking display at the end!

One of our other experiences during March was learning to fish. One of our church members has a pond that they allowed us to fish in. This was great for learning because once you put your line in the water, you would begin to get a bite. The boys enjoyed it, and A got to use her Cinderalla fishing pole.

2007 - Year in Review - March

2008-04-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

March Madness. Words that ACC fans love to hear. We live in the heart of ACC country. I could travel 45 minutes west, and be on the campus of Wake Forest University. I could travel 45 minutes east, and be on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (On my way to Chapel Hill, I will pass by Duke University, but I refuse to acknowledge that.

In our house, we love the Carolina Tarheels. I mean, we LOVE the Tarheels. And when you LOVE the Tarheels, you don't love Duke. At all.

We always have March Madness night at our Awana club, and in 2007 we went all out for our costume. We don't celebrate Halloween, so my kids very rarely get to dress up. I decided to put forth some effort and the above pic is what happened.

The boys had a great time, and C & G won prizes for their grades. N decided he didn't want to wear his "wig" so he wasn't the grand prize winner for 1st grade. He learned that Mama knows best and he chose to go all out in 2008 so he could win a prize.

GO HEELS!

2007 - Year in Review - February

2008-04-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

February is birthday month #1 in our house. L's b-day is Groundhog's Day and C's is four days later.

C turned 12 in 2007 and the present of the year was an authentic Steve Smith jersey. (Another of our loves is the Carolina Panthers! We're still waiting on a Super Bowl championship, but hopefully it won't be too much longer.)

C is such a sweet boy and my lunch buddy. He and I get to have special time together some weeks on Thursday, when L has the day off. He's the kid who never complains no matter how much time I take in the store or library, and I reward him with food. We normally go to eat at a sit-down restaurant, (you know the kind without drive-thrus or human habitrails) and just spend some time together chowing on some good food. His favorite restaurant is called The Brick Oven and has wonderful subs and hot chips. He has decided that they have the best ranch dressing on the planet. Their sweet tea is not that shabby either.

He is as smart as anyone I know and has a memory the size of Africa. He's such a great big brother and protector (maybe a little irritating at times) and one of my favorite people in the world. He loves to act and sing and uses those things to minister at church.

I love my C.

2007 - Year in Review - January

2008-04-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I will post a review of 2007 as I begin this site. I'm hoping to post pics from each month.

January normally finds us in the middle of our Upward basketball season. I LOVE UPWARD. Go here to read more about it. http://www.upward.org/ In 2007, we were a part of four teams. I coached a 3rd/4th grade girls team, my husband coached a 3rd/4th grade boys team, of which G was a player. Then N was on a 1st/2nd grade team and C was on a 5th/6th grade team. A was pretty much the mascot for all. I don't really have any decent pics from the season, but a great time was had by all. Our Saturdays were long, but we were together having fun!

January also brought us a little snow. Not much, but enough for a pic. As best as I can remember, this was A's first snow!

My Girl!

2008-04-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

A is such a special girl. One day I will post her journey on this site, but I have documented most of it on her CaringBridge site.

The nutshell version: A was born on September 11, 2003. In May, 2005 we learned that she had been born with congenital scoliosis. (Not the preteen adolesence scoliosis, but the "my spine looks like a puzzle" scoliosis.)

Many times when describing her condition to people, I say this: Basically, there is an area of her spine that did not form properly. She has two triangle shaped vertabrae, and three that are one big glob. Not very technical, or even medical terms, but it gets the point across. The x-rays early on did remind me of a bunch of puzzle pieces.

After a long journey along the way, A had surgery on January 8th to install a VEPTR. You can read about the device here: http://www.veptr.com/

You know, when I read other blogs about families who are dealing with cancer, and so many other issues with their children, I am praising God for scoliosis. I hate it for my girl, but wow, couldn't it be soooo much worse.

In November, 2007, A said this:

"Mommy, when God made me, He didn't have any straight pieces left, so he just used curvy pieces."

Thank you God for curvy pieces.

You know you are in the South........

2008-04-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

You know you are in the South when you are in W*l-M*rt (for the 5th time of the week) and you hear this announcement over the PA system.

ATTENTION W*L-M*RT CUSTOMERS: There is a CAMOFLAUGE colored Chevy in the parking lot with it's lights on.

My word. Camoflauge colored Chevy.

Where can I get one?

Welcome to the Funny Farm!

2008-02-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Funny Farm! This blog will be my attempt to chronicle the events in our family, which more often than not, are funny. We are a family of 6 - L is the dad, serves as a Minister of Education in a Southern Baptist Church. T is the mom (that's me), serves as wife, mother, teacher, friend, zookeeper, referee, chauffeur, nurse, etc. etc. (you get the picture). C is son #1 - 12 yrs. old today. Loves sports statistics, singing, acting, eating. G is son #2 - 10 yrs. old. Loves life, performing, hanging with people. N is son #3 - 8 yrs. old. Loves basketball, hanging with G and A. A is the only daughter - 4 yrs. old. Loves pink. Really, really loves pink. Also loves basketball and hanging with her brothers.

Our family also consists of 3 animals - a turtle named Pistachio ("Am I not turtley enough, for the turtle club" - Master of Disquise) a hamster named Peanut and a puppy named Madi. Madi is the newest addition to our home, living here only for 1 week. She is 4 months old and is a Chorkie. 1/2 chihuahua and 1/2 Yorkie. Oh my, she's cute. Really, really cute.

I hope you enjoy your visits to the Funny Farm!

Scoliosis - Surgery Day

2007-11-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

Guess what happens when you throw up in the presence of your anesthesiologist?

He cancels your surgery. Wow. What a turn of events. We were all so ready in every way, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It has been a long journey and I think we were all ready to have some type of attempt at correction.

I'm not sure what the reasoning is/was, but God apparently had other plans today. I am so thankful that He is in control, and I am not.

The timing of it all was very dumbfounding. We arrived at the hospital, got checked in, got A into her gown and ready for the first part of sedation. The anesthesiologist comes in, and had really said no more than 5 sentences and A throws up. Then she throws up again.

She went from appearing perfectly fine, to not looking so great. Her temp was checked and it was 101.5. Unbelievable. We really could not explain it. There was no warning. It appeared to be anxiety related, but after discussing things with the surgeon, the anesthesiologist made the call to cancel for today.

So, we loaded back up and came home. We are waiting on word from the scheduler as to when we can reschedule.

Thank you all so much for riding on the roller coaster with us. We're trying to process everything, but are so thankful that God knows what He is doing. I'm glad He can see the big picture, and saw that today wasn't supposed to be the day.

Scoliosis - the early days

2007-05-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

We got a call from A's doctor today, and her surgery is scheduled for November 20th. (That gives me 6 months to plan and save for my getaway. Just kidding. Kinda.)

What we have now decided to do is to put in a titanium rib. There was a story in Reader's Digest a couple of months ago about it. It is fairly new, but appears to be our best option at this point.

There is a website, www.veptr.com, which gives info on it. There are pluses and minuses with it. The main plus is that the surgery will not go near her spinal cord, nor her spine. The device attaches to her ribs/hip. It is also not permanent, which the fusion would have been.

The biggest minus is that the device has to be adjusted every SIX months. That means surgery every six months until she is done growing, which will be when she's 14 or 15. And it's not out-patient. It is put-to-sleep surgery. So we're looking at 20 surgeries over the course of her childhood. At that point, then we will look at fusion.

It really is a whole lot more in depth than what I've described. (I still don't understand it all, but I feel good about the decision. Still don't want to do anything but run away, but that's not the greatest option either.) I'm just trying to give you the highlights. It really is the best option that we have for treatment right now. My hope is that something new will come along that is even better while we are buying her some time. Obviously my #1 choice would be that God would just heal her. It definitely would not be a miracle wasted.

Scoliosis - the early days

2007-03-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

We took A back to her doctor yesterday. We were scheduled to go in May, however, we have noticed significant change over the past few months, so we were able to get in earlier.

Both of her curves have progressed a great deal. Her major curve went from 69 degrees last February to 84 degrees now. Her compensatory curve, which is the one in her lower back, has also increased, but that is really because her body is still trying to keep everything in line. Her lower curve is in the 40s now.

This really was not a surprise since we had watched how she has changed. What was a surpise was the course of treatment he is now recommending.

Up until now, the best course of action was going to be go in and try to remove some bad vertebrae, fuse the area that is curving and place rods in her spine. This obviously would be a permanent procedure.

He is now recommending another option, which would be to place a device in her called a "titanium rib". It is also called a VEPTR, which stands for Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib.

The VEPTR is a fairly new thing, only approved by the FDA in 2004. It is used to expand the rib cage to allow the lungs adequate room to grow. That is really the main concern for Abigail, that because of the way her spine is rotating and curving, there will be stress placed on the lungs.

There are only a handful of doctors in the country that are approved, or have used it. Our doctor has done two of these procedure (not sure if they were at Baptist or not), and has 3 in line ahead of A.

There are pros and cons with the new option. The main pro is that there is not a significant risk with the surgery, as with the other option. They really will not be near the spine if they use the VEPTR. There are minor risks, but just the basics that come with every surgery.

The cons are that it is not a "one surgery and we're done". The VEPTR has to be expanded every 6 months, basically for the next 10 or so years, until her trunk is done growing. So we are looking at potentially 20 or more surgeries just for expansion. Who knows what that means as far as insurance goes. I have the feeling that she will reach a lifetime max fairly quickly.

So we probably have more questions than answers at this point. I just wanted to give you all an update on where we're at right now.

If we go the VEPTR route, then he would like to do the surgery w/in 6 to 12 months. We are thinking fall of this year. He is still forming his team that will be doing these procedures with him, and it sounds like it is more entailed because of the newness of the procedure.

Scoliosis - the early days

2006-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

Our doctor's appointment today was not what we hoped for, but what we slightly expected from watching the change in A's back over the past few months.

Her curve has progressed an additional 6 degrees, and Dr. Shilt says that it is a good indication that it will only continue to worsen. The plan now is to come back on three months (May 5) and do another set of x-rays to see where we are at. If all goes as he anticipates (based on what the last three months showed) we will be doing another CT scan after that, and then schedule the surgery. His desire is that she get older and bigger so he can use hardware (rods) to stabilize what he does in surgery, so we are really just trying to buy her some time.

Her rotation of the spine has really begun to worsen, which is a concern because of the stress that it can put on the lungs. He said that more than likely we are looking at a summer-time surgery. I'd love to push it to the fall, but we'll see what God has in mind.

2006-05-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

We took A back to see her specialist this afternoon at Baptist Hospital.

For a brief recap, this whole roller coaster ride started last May with a diagnosis of congenital scoliosis. At that time, A's curve measured at somewhere between 50-55 degrees. In November, we saw our current doctor and he wanted to monitor her progress before doing surgery. We saw him again in February, and her curve progressed 5-6 degrees in those 3 months. At that point he felt that her curve would continue to progress, and that when we returned today, we would be starting the process of surgery.

My prayer has been that we would go in, and that the curve would have not progressed, and he would let us come back at the end of summer. Isn't it funny how God wants so much more than what we pray for?

A's curve has remained the same, and he continues to only see approximately a 5-6 degree change since November. He said that he would like to see her back in ONE YEAR to check her progress. L and I both had to ask him to clarify that, which he did.

Now he did say that if we were to notice a significant difference in her back, then by all means, we should call and bring her in earlier. He really does want to try and buy her as much time as he can before he has to do such a serious and permanent operation.

So that is where we stand. Very humble and grateful to our God for answering our prayers 4 times over what we had asked.

Scoliosis - the early days

2005-11-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

We took A to see Dr. Jeffrey Shilt at Baptist Hospital today. His opinion was as follows:

The diagnosis is the same as what we have been given before. His standard of treatment for congenital scoliosis is a bit different from the other doctors, and was actually a little encouraging. He recommended that we not do anything at this point, and bring her back in three months (Feb. 10th). We will do another x-ray (she had one today) to see if her curve has progressed. He likes to see a change of 10 degrees before he does surgery, no matter what the degree of the curve when the process begins. He is in no way trying to get our hopes up that she won't require surgery. That is pretty much a given unless God chooses to intervene. What he is trying to do is to buy her some time. He was very thorough in his explanation of treatment, and did discuss what he would do surgically if/when her curve progresses. He would like to be a little more aggressive in the surgery, but only to the point that she could take it. Basically what that means is this: If he is in there doing fusion surgery, he will try and take out the wedge shaped vertebrae while he's in there to get some correction of curve. (No one up to this point has given us any hope that there would be correction of the curve.) What he means by "if her body can take it" is that he will do as much as he can do, as long as there is no risk of paralysis or significant blood loss. He said he approaches this type of surgery wanting to hit a homerun, meaning total correction of the curve, but knows that he may only get to first or second base.

Scoliosis - Surgery Cancelled

2005-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

A's surgery that was scheduled for Monday has been cancelled. We did go to Charlotte on Wednesday for the pre-op appt. at the hospital and we did meet with the doctor as well.

There was a change in the course of action that the doctor wanted to take, and neither L nor I were comfortable in proceeding with the surgery at this time. Four days was just not enough time for us to research and process the new information from the doctor. We both want to get even another opinion before we progress further.

We are living on an emotional roller coaster, but have seen the Lord's hand through it all. Wednesday night after we returned home, the story on the news was that Baptist Hospital and Blue Cross/Blue Shield have reached an agreement, and those with BC/BS are able to use the doctors again at Baptist as an in-network provider. This allows us to now see the specialist at Baptist, and to possibly have her surgery at Baptist as well.

We have an appointment with the pediatric orthopedic specialist at Baptist on November 4. We have talked to his office a few times, and he will be able to give us a surgical opinion on that date, and it will not be a long drawn out process. Her condition is not life-threatening, but it must be done soon in order for her curve to not progress.

Scoliosis - the early days - Charlotte

2005-07-28T11:53:00.000-07:00

We went back to the doctor in Charlotte yesterday and saw A's CT scan. It was absolutely amazing technology, and did confirm what everyone has told us. I wish we had been given the chance to do this testing from the beginning, but I know the other things were necessary as well.

She does have two different vertabrae that are formed in the shape of a wedge or pie, and there are three that are fused together on one side. (I think those look like one big blob.) He will be fusing five of her vertabrae together on one side, and will probably place some rods in there to stabilize it as well. She may wear a brace, and possibly a body cast after surgery. (I told L that if they have to put her in a body cast, I'm going to ask them to put a cast on her baby doll as well.) Alot of that depends on what type and how many rods he can get in there (since she is a small person, it may be limited). There are certain things that he really could not answer definitively until the actual surgery.

We do know that her hospital stay should be from 3-5 days depending on how things go. As far as when, we still don't have a definite answer, but should hear from the surgery scheduler any time after 14 days. (Apparently it takes that long for them to verify that we do have insurance and they will get paid - eventually.) The dr. is not available until mid-Sept. but we are leaning toward early to mid-October. We would like to go to the beach and participate in the fair before this, since life will be limited for A after the surgery. The closer we can wait to colder weather, the better, since playgrounds and the like will be off limits.

Scoliosis - the early days - Charlotte

2005-07-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

We took A to see a specialist in Charlotte yesterday afternoon and were very impressed. The doctor had the same opinion as the dr. in Philadelphia, so we are hearing the same thing now.

He would like for her to have a CT scan and we will then meet with him to discuss her surgery. If the CT scan shows that her vertabrae are fused together, (which is shown on the x-ray) then she will need to have anterior/posterior fusion of those vertebrae to stop her curve. He would go in from her back, as well as her side to get to both the front and back of her spine. Her hospital stay will be 4-5 days if everything goes well. He could not say for certain that she would have other surgeries, later, but he did feel like it was very probable to have another one as she gets older.

We will let you know when we get the CT scan scheduled. We will have that in Charlotte (Carolinas Medical Center), as well as the surgery. Thanks so much for your encouragement during this process. I'm hopeful that we are on the right course for A, and that she will have a full recovery and will lead a normal life.

Please begin to pray for her doctor, Dr. Michael Wattenbarger, and that he will have great wisdom in treating her.

Scoliosis - the early days - Philadelphia

2005-06-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

We had a good trip to Philadelphia. A did great on the ride up and we stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday night. We went in to Phila. on Wednesday morning for her appt.

The doctor we saw was very thorough, and looked at her, her x-rays and MRI. His opinion was similar to that which received in Chapel Hill, except much more extensive. He does feel that she needs surgery, but a more in-depth surgery than what had been described to us earlier. He wants to fuse 5 of her vertebrae, but go in from the sides and from the back, and possibly the front. He wants us to get a CT scan, which he thinks is better for looking at the spine than the MRI, and then come back to Phila. in July to see the doctor who would actually do the surgery.

He did share with us two other options for surgery, but they were more high-risk, and did not guarantee any better results. One of those would involve re-sectioning the vertebrae that are fused together (with the possibility of them refusing) and may only correct her curve by 5- 10 degrees. The other option involved putting "growth rods" in her spine. As best as I can understand, there is no low-risk way to correct her curve, we can only stop it where it is at.

Our next appointment is with a specialist in Charlotte, next Wednesday, July 6. We would go back to Philadelphia on Friday, July 22 if that is the route we want to take. I think L and I both would rather have her surgery in NC, but we will just wait and see.

Thank you all for your emails and prayers. I know that I witnessed a miracle when I saw a 21 month old ride for 8 hours and did not cry one bit. (She did make up for it that night when she did not want to go to sleep in her pack-n-play, but that was OK.)

A side note to the story is how wonderful the Ronald McDonald House is. We tried to get in the house in Phila. but they were full, so we called the house in Delaware. (Our other option was a house in Camden, NJ, but I had just heard a report on the news that described Camden as the worst city in the country as far as crime, so.....) The house we stayed in has 50 rooms. It's basically a really nice hotel, but with a homey feel to it. There was a dining room, kitchen, living room, library, playroom - you get the picture. We arrived at 5:00 and were told that dinner would be ready at 5:30. Dinner is provided to the families each night, if you like what they are having. I'm thinking that different groups come in and fix it. There was a "treasure chest" room that each child could go in and pick out a new toy as a prize. The cost to us to stay that one night was $15.00. The only thing we had to do was clean our room as we were checking out.

So, the next time you go through the drive-thru at McDonalds and you see that little plexiglass box asking for donations to the Ronald McDonald house, know that it is money well spent. If your SS class or other group needs a service project, there is a house in W-S near Brenner's Childrens Hospital that I'm sure could give you a list of things they need done. I did go to their website last night and they have a wish list on there.

Scoliosis - the early days

2005-06-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

We took A back to the dr. in Chapel Hill last Thursday to get the results of her MRI and renal ultrasound.

Her kidneys and bladder were fine, as well as her spinal cord. The MRI confirmed what the dr. saw on the x-rays, which is several of her vertabrae are fused together on one side which is causing her curve. His recommendation is to do minor surgery now by going in through her back and fusing those same vertabrae on the opposite side, and also fusing one above and one below the curve. This will merely "arrest" the curve, and will not correct it.

She will require more surgeries later, but he can't tell us how many, what type or when, which is extremely frustrating. Maybe he really won't know until she grows more.

We are scheduled to see a specialist in Charlotte on July 6 to get his opinion. The doctor in Chapel Hill said we needed to do the surgery he is proposing in the next couple of months, so we'll see what the guy in Charlotte says we should do.

Please continue to pray for God to give us wisdom on how to proceed, and that He will make it clear to us what is the best for A.

Scoliosis - the early days

2005-05-26T11:43:00.000-07:00

We did go to Chapel Hill yesterday for the MRI and renal ultrasound. Everything went great.

She was given an oral medication that put her to sleep and they did not have to give her an IV. The MRI only took about 45 minutes to do the length of her spine. They allowed L and I to be in the "vault" with her which surprised me. It took her about 2 hours to wake up from start to finish.

The "sleepy" medicine did make her seem drunk, and she had no control over her motor skills for several hours. That did make her mad because she really wanted to get down and play but she would just fall over.

The renal ultrasound showed that she does have two kidneys, but other than that I don't know what I was looking at on the screen.

We are scheduled to go back to the ortho specialist on Thursday, June 2 to learn what the tests showed.

Scoliosis - the early days

2005-05-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

Here is the latest update on A. We met with the specialist in Chapel Hill yesterday and he did confirm that she has congenital scoliosis (which means she was born with it.)

The next step is to have an MRI which will show much more detail than an x-ray, and also a renal ultrasound. (The ultrasound is to look at her kidneys, and see if there are any problems there.) Apparently when you have congenital scoliosis, there is a great chance of only having one kidney.

We will go back to Chapel Hill for these tests tomorrow, Wednesday, May 25th. Her MRI is scheduled for 9:30 and the ultrasound is scheduled for 2:30. She will have to be put to sleep for the MRI which could last for up to two hours. The ultrasound will be no different than what we have when we are pregnant.

Please pray that her body responds well to the anesthesia, and that the ultrasound will not be traumatic for her.

We will go back to the specialist on Thursday, June 2 to discuss the results of the MRI, and to hear his opinion on what should be done next.

After viewing the x-rays, he felt like the first step should be to fuse a few of her vertibrae at the "pivot" point, which is where the curve and twist begin. He said this would be more "mild" or "minor" compared to what we may still have to do in the future. After doing this step, we would wait and see how it progresses. I don't think this is the route we want to go because fusion stops growth in that area.

We do have an appt. with a specialist in Charlotte on July 6 to get another opinion, but we are beginning to seek out other options in other parts of the country. Please pray that God will show us who He would have do the surgery and will make it clear to us where to go next.

Congenital Scoliosis

2005-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have decided to chronicle my girl's journey with scoliosis on this site as well. I have a CaringBridge page that I mainly use for that purpose, but I really hope someone who is beginning this journey will find this site, and it will be helpful to them. But most of all, I want it to show that there is hope.

A was diagnosed with congenital scoliosis in May, 2005. She was 20 months old. This is a pic of her very first x-ray.

Definitely not the look we would have like it to have.

So what is Congenital Scoliosis? Here are some FAQs about it found on a scoliosis website.

Q: What is the definition of congenital scoliosis?
A: Doctors would describe it as a condition due to congenitally anomalous vertebral development, but it's easier to say it is a curvature of the spine caused by birth defects in the spine itself.

Q: What sorts of birth defects cause congenital scoliosis?
A: The most common birth defect is called hemivertebra, which means half of one side of a vertebra forms while the other side doesn't. Another defect is called a unilateral bar, a condition where you will find three to four vertebrae "stuck"or fused together on one side. At present, no one knows what causes these defects.

Q: In the case of a hemivertebra, how does it create a curvature?
A: All growing bones have growth centers, but if you're born with half a bone on one side and the other side is missing, the side with the growth center will grow faster than the other, and you end up with a curvature.

Q: When are doctors most likely to see signs of congenital scoliosis in children?
A: We seldom see it at birth unless an x-ray has been taken for some other purpose, such as pneumonia, or unless the child is born crooked. I have seen a few children a week old who had 40º-50º curves, but that's fairly rare. More than likely, we'll see it show up later in life—for example, in a teenager who's going through the growth spurt.

Q; In the case of the teenager, how would you know the youngster had congenital scoliosis and not idiopathic scoliosis?
A: When you look at an x-ray and see abnormal bone, you know it's congenital. With idiopathic scoliosis, you won't see any abnormal bone. As your readers will recall, idiopathic means a disorder that has no known cause.

Q: How many individuals in the U.S. population are affected by congenital scoliosis?
A: Congenital scoliosis is not a common problem: approximately one person in every 10,000 is affected, and that number has remained fairly stable over the years.

Q: How far would a congenital curve have to progress for you to begin thinking about treating it?
A: There is no magic number of degrees—quite different from idiopathic. If it's progressing, it needs treatment!

Q: Would you tell us about the treatments that are available for those whose curves get to that point?
A: Treatment of congenital is quite different from treatment of idiopathic scoliosis. For example, with congenital, bracing seldom works; the bones themselves are crooked or deformed, and a brace on the outside simply can't affect a discrepancy on one side or the other of the vertebral column. The only treatment that works is surgery.

Q: What other problems might one find in conjunction with congenital scoliosis?
A: Congenital scoliosis patients tend to have other problems as well, such as kidney dysfunctions or urinary tract abnormalities. In fact, 25%-30% of patients have kidney-bladder problems as well. 40% of patients have other anomalies of spinal cord development. 10% have congenital heart problems.

Q: Is there pain associated with congenital scoliosis?
A: No.

Q: Can physical therapy help reduce or stabilize a congenital curvature?
A: This has been tried, but no, it doesn't help at all.

A's curve is mainly from a couple of defects in her spine. She has a unilateral bar, which is basically 3 vertabrae that did not separate on one side, but did on the other. She also has two hemi-vertabrae, which are kinda like little triangle shaped pieces. My best description is that a portion of her spine looks like a puzzle.

The next few posts will show our early travels in seeking answers and how God led us every step of the way.