Friday, May 30, 2008

Code White

This week I worked 2 days and we had a very interesting, or shall I say sociopathic individual that wrecked havoc on the whole entire unit with all the staff, including many docs, nurses, managers, security guards and I was his primary nurse. We ended up calling code white - violent/aggressive patient - on him. He finally signed himself out against medical advise, but we're all much happier about it. This is a man who had grabbed a syringe from a nurse and held it to her neck, was extremely verbally abusive, calling everyone ugly, wishing your family dead, throwing feces at nurses, threatening, hate spewing from every word and action. Just generally a real pleasant chap(sarcasm noted). I actually didn't have any "incident" with him, but I think it was because he was always trying to get more Morphine out of me and mostly because I had this wall of angelic protection guarding me. Not that God would protect only me with His angels, but I definitely could sense the battle between good and real EVIL going on.

It scares me to think there are these kind of people in the world. You really come face to face with the reality of fallen humanity, the real impact of Satan in the world. Call it "personality disorder cluster B" if you want, but there is most definitely a spiritual element to it all, or maybe it is ALL spiritual. In all the chaos, I saw the need for Jesus in these women that I work with. Some of them so emotionally impacted by this man. Some of them so affected by his words. Such a felt need for the peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit. And I saw the beauty of all of these other "healers". These people who work day in and day out helping total strangers in a time of need with such care and professionalism, such love and grace. Even without the love of Jesus compelling them, they care for people. So how am I much different, when I have that love of Jesus compelling me?

So that's where I've been this week.... Now onto becoming the Mom of a teenager this weekend!

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Weekends are always too short...

Thankfully Kevin has tomorrow off. Since it's a US long weekend, he's home-- oh wait, he's always home! He didn't get last Monday off- the Canadian holiday, so tomorrow we have a morning tennis game scheduled, then me not realizing he was off scheduled myself a Dr. appt. so that'll be quick. No Pap needed thankfully. We know how fun that can be. Calls for a lot of mental preparation, especially when you see your doc at church the next Sunday. Who knows what else we'll do with the kids at school, maybe lunch :)

We had a lovely weekend. Friday night started out with a game of Capture the Flag at Bri's farm in the dark. Bedtime-- midnight. They had a blast! They are intense about the game, dark clothing, flashlights, crawling on your bellies through the pastures. The adults had a free evening, I am loving this girl even more! Saturday's soccer games were fabulous, with the boys winning 4-1. One of my favorite boys on the team is this sweet and well mannered, very quiet and timid fellow. His parents are lovely people who handle his mild mannered"ness" so gracefully, even though I can tell they are competitive and want him to dive in there and be aggressive. Well this lovely fellow scored his first goal and was just beaming- but not too outwardly though. The smile was just a half smile with his head down, but on the inside I knew he was bursting. Kevin plays him center forward often, just because he can do whatever he wants because he's the coach, and it makes me love him more.

Today marked the official opening of Kelowna's new bridge. A big deal in a small city like ours. We had planned to bike down and have a piece of the 10 foot cake, but the rain on and off dissuaded us, so we went and bought my Mother's Day tree instead. I guess it was fitting that the kids got the final say and we came home with a Spartan apple tree. Not at all what I had in mind, but I'm very happy with it.

The dead tree that I was going to replace is now showing some signs of very limited life.

I know quite a bit about gardening, but not much about trees, so don't know if this is going to make it or not. We've decided to give it another week and if nothing happens, out it goes!
It looks very dead don't you think?

In bloom this week... irises
(I should start a weekly column, all I need is amazing photos, not just point and shoot)

And Siberian irises...
and some lovely hellebore (the other purple stuff)
that I planted last year but it didn't bloom the first year...
next to my wavy and fluffy Arctic willow bush that has
looked so flowy blowing in the wind this weekend.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Let the Fun Begin



After weeks of begging, it's finally going up! The combined birthday gift pool! Sure to be lots of summer fun!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

His song

I'm sure we've heard this several hundred times. So in honor of bedtime music.... and to play while reading below


My Boy's Top 10


I can never come up with any great ideas on my own, but I can sure copy them. SO in honor of Tara's great post about her 10 year old niece, I couldn't forget my sweet boy who is also 10! (OK some of these are blurry, but it was my quick way to do it instead of scanning them all in, or maybe it's my eyes).



#10 He loves anything with wheels since the moment he could sit, he could push things with wheels. He has always really loved the Porsche without persuasion from any outside source!




#9 He has always jumped into everything wholeheartedly and he still is learning how to properly use utensils and I'm not joking!

#8 He is so content with himself and has always been able to play and entertain himself for hours.

#7 He was always very cuddly and still loves to give a good hug .


#6 He can make a real good mess



#5 He has always loved his big sister and tried to copy, emulate or generally drive her crazy with his silly antics. They are mostly great friends.


#4 He has always had a really generous heart and spirit

#3 He has the best sense of humor and keeps us all laughing.


#2 He has always had a soft and sensitive heart and an
openness to spiritual things.

#1 He's my favorite BOY! Smart, creative and mathematical. Loving, caring, such a homebody, and so sure and content in himself. I love you!



Monday, May 19, 2008

May Flowers

Haven't had too many April showers, but still I am planting flowers today.

My hot and colorful container. I'll take more shots when it grows up!

My icy white pot

The rock garden starting to bloom with soon to be replaced dead tree in the background.

One of my favorite flowers for late spring- saxifragia- check it out,
don't think it's AB zone hardy though

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Laser Eye Surgery

Photos below are not for the faint of heart! Beware! They're not that bad really.

Here I am (my feet) laying on the table under the big laser!
Do they look like they know what they're doing?


Step #1 - retractors! Actually they did put freezing drops in first.
Kevin took these photos from off the TV screen in the viewing room.
Yes that is my freaky looking eyeball! All 10 year old boys might be very interested!

Step #2 - they put some more drops in. "Please look at the red dot". "Keep looking at the red dot"......... I am trying to look at the red dot but it looking more like a blurry mass of lights. This is some metal ring that they put on my eye around the cornea just resting on it, then filled it with some other liquid, timed it for 30 seconds, then it turned into a jelly kind of stuff. Kevin thinks it softens the corneal layer or something, pretty good for a guy who never took biology!

Step #3 - scraping off the jelly goo. I could see like a little spongy thing rubbing
on my eye, very weird! I would not like to have brain surgery!

Step #4 - lasering! They turn on the laser and it makes these loud noises and a nice burning smell. Kevin could see lots of little red dots (lasers) moving around on the cornea part. I hope they did it right! And then for the left eye!

Step #5 - washing it out with lots of cold liquid felt so good! Off to recovery
for 15 min. of darkness and you're done!

Me outside in my cool shades 30 min. later

So not here I am on post-op day 4. Friday night and Saturday were a little tedious! I had a little mild panic yesterday wondering if they had screwed up and put the wrong numbers into the big laser machine because I had such cloudy vision all day. It was worse than not wearing my glasses. Friday was very scratchy all day and I used the max. dose of pain drops. I guess I had not expected that I would have that much of a recovery time. People had told me that it pretty much was good from the first day or so. The people at the clinic had said that day 3 and 4 are the worst for vision because the epithelial layer is growing back across the center of your line of vision. So I was holding on to that and then took a long nap to make it all go away. Today is much better but still my vision is only about 50% better. I had the PRK which has more recovery than Lasik, so I have to wait until I see the guy here on Wednesday . He'll take out the "bandaid contact lens" that stays in for a week. My friend says it is really good once that is out.

So there's my story. Hope you enjoyed all the gory details.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Thank you Mama, Mom and Dad

So I am now post-birthday party, post-company, post-surgery, and post-being out of town. Not a good place to be because I feel the need to get so many things back to normal and tidied up!! Normally when I am any ONE of these things (except surgery because that's only ever happened once before) I spend the day getting life back to normal and cleaned up, but I am having some difficulty with that today!! What I should be doing is sitting here and resting all day with my lovely bouquet. Thanks Mama! I am using all my will power to try to sit still and relax in a dirty house!



Things I can do with my eyes like this today:
-type, but not read very well
-vacuum
-call the dog, but not be able to see where he is in they yard
-put in loads of laundry, but not feeling really good about the bending down part, pressure on the eye balls
-lay in a dark room
-wear 2 pairs of sunglasses when outside
-have coffee with a friend at MY house (any takers?) one is coming later :)
-eat, no problem there
-bath but no showers allowed
-put a lot of different drops in my eyes, but the pain one only 6 times a day MAX!!
-walk around aimlessly

Things I cannot do today:
-cook, definitely cannot do that today
-wash floors, definitely none of that!
-read or get caught up on my Beth Moore study that I am supposed to lead on Thursday
-drive! Kevin is on school duty
-play Scrabble
-plant anything in my garden- no dusty environments allowed!! Stinky!
-complain, can you just imagine your vision like this all the time? I think I would die if I were blind!
-do vigorous exercise - oh darn!
-read any blogs!! DARN again!

So I am thankful for engineers who think up amazing technology, friendly nurses who tell you it's all going to be fine, but if you need an Ativan there's one right here ( I was fine without, although the burning smell was a little concerning), grandparents who drive their grandkids to every sporting activity and practice that could possibly be fit into a 2 1/2 day period (why that happened who knows?), a happy husband who will get me anything, the beauty of this world!! God who made it all. Maybe that sounds a little trivial, but I want so badly to look at all the little things coming up in the garden, and at the moment they are blurry pink things, and blurry white things and lots of blurry green.

I will be posting the surgical eye ball photos soon once Kevin makes them "un-raw" so stand-by.

Monday, May 12, 2008

2 More Days

As you may know I am taking the plunge and getting laser eye surgery. It's in 2 days!! So no make-up for the past few days, been wearing my glasses for 10 days, no contact lenses, that's enough to make me long for the day. The grandparents are here to babysit, because we're going to Vancouver to have it done. I may not be able to read well for a few days, so we'll have to wait and "SEE". I've worn glasses since I was 11 so I am very excited. I know several people who've had it done this past year and a couple by this surgeon, so he comes recommended. I'll keep you posted....

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Things I love everyday

I love my husband. I love my children. I love waking up to a sunshiny morning. I love the feel of dirt in my hands. I love gardening without gloves and barefoot. I love hearing my children laugh, but not when it should be bedtime. I love the color of the sky after it rains. I love hearing the sounds of ocean waves lapping against the shore. I love anything in bloom. I love the first peeking out plants in the springtime. I love to know that someone cares enough to remember my birthday. I love hugs, especially from little arms that can barely reach all the way around. I love hot chocolate after a walk in the snow. I love feeling the wind on my face and in my hair. I love standing on top of something big and seeing a view, especially mountains. I love a long afternoon coffee date with a friend and no place to be after (not like today's, too short!). I love feeling that still small voice whisper something to me when I need it. I love green, especially when it belongs to something growing. I love the thought of riding a horse across a big open meadow, and want to try it again sometime soon. I love a big puzzle and a lazy afternoon. I love color chips. I love cello. I love gable windows on big old farmhouses. I love big old farmhouses. I love dark wood and smooth surfaces. I like textures and feeling the edge of things. I love Jesus. I love peace and quiet. I love a walk along a wooded path. I love to know that I am loved. I love a project: starting a new project and finishing one. I love the steady sound of a well oiled sewing machine. I love navy blue. I love strawberries, and sometimes dipped in chocolate. I love blue eyes. I love planning things. I love thinking of all the things I want to do and places I want to visit even if I never get there. I love friends. I love knowing everything about someone. I love the mystery of an inquisitive look. I love crunchy fall leaves. I love sweet peas. I love a good massage, even better from one good man. I love being free, being with people, and being alone. I love the accomplishment of hard work finished. I love people's hands, young chubby ones, and old ones with a life of memories to tell. I love chocolate. I love the smell of wet dog (just kidding, just seeing if you were paying attention), actually rising buns in the oven. I love summer BBQs with lots of interesting salads that I didn't make. I love photographs. I love rows of tulips. I love laying in a hammock looking up at the stars. I love staying up late knowing I can sleep in the next day. I love cute little bare bums. I love looking after people. I love you.

Friday, May 9, 2008

10th Party in Progress.....

Thankful for a sunny day for the party, the boys had a fabulous time! They started out with a rowdy, long game of road hockey at the school. We took the boys back home for our version of a scavenger hunt/Amazing Race where each team had a map and had to find clues hidden throughout the neighborhood and do certain tasks to get their next clue, like ring a neighbor's doorbell and ask for cookies. Too bad one team went to the wrong house. They ended up back here to have a green food guessing game, a memory game, reading poetry to Gramma, putting spaghetti into a 2L bottle- which turned into a massive food fight, and all ending up with an impromptu water fight with the girls' birthday party happening across the street. My boy was blessed, tired and happily doing Lego at 9 pm to unwind from all the socializing.



Thursday, May 8, 2008

Meet Bri

So I had an amazing coffee date last week that I have been meaning to tell you about....

After a long walk one afternoon with a friend, we got to talking about parenting and kids- as usual- some concerns about our own kids and reaffirming our need to pray for our kids and each others'. She was telling me about this great book she's been reading as we both head into the unknown of the pre-adolescent, or maybe not so "PRE" anymore. We talked about the struggle of having great community for our kids to grow up in when we don't have extended family close by and the church we attend is so large it's hard to find real discipleship for our children from anyone but ourselves. This author shares the importance of having mentors and other adults that pour into your children, and the value of that. Our family have that definitely to a certain extent, but maybe not to the degree we want. So my friend and I decided in theory it would be a good idea to have mentors for our children. So in theory... I forgot about it a few hours later and carried on with life. BUT, she did not and phoned me several days later saying she had found a mentor for my girl! Highly recommended by her husband, an English teacher, and already recruited for the job!

Meet Bri... she is 20, fun loving, passionate about Jesus, a horse freak (and owner), a dog lover, an English major in university, and off the wall excited about being a mentor to someone who sounds just like she was at 12. We met for coffee and I love her! So the 3 of us (plus Ditto) went on a hike on Sunday and you can see video footage on my girl's blog.


Yes she is holding a snake - my kind of girl- and about the same height as my girl!
So we shall see what natural relationship transpires from this, but we're off to a great start! Can't wait to spend more time together! Here's to a new friend for us all!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Double Digits

In 4 Days, I will no longer be a Mommy of anyone in the single digits. I will have definitely advanced to double digits and the ranks of, "Oh you have school aged kids, they're not so little anymore". I shall be very sad because my baby is so big! And not quite so cuddly anymore. Still like to cuddle, but is kind of long and lean and lanky. More and more each day, I realize that they aren't mine. They never were to begin with, but they are gift loaned to me from the King of Heaven. To teach me, to show me laughter, to make me smile, to teach me a lot of patience, to help me know what it feels like to be really tired, to know joy, and perseverance, to know what it feels like to have your heart walking around in someone else's body, to feel responsible, to truly care for and love, and to see part of yourself in the smallest facial expression and wonder how it got there. To know a bit more what God must feel like towards me. What happened to all those years? The days seemed so long, but the years were so short!

There's a bit of sadness, but I am also so excited!! There is more independence, there are evenings out with my husband without getting a sitter, there are more interesting camping trips, and longer bike rides, and interesting and intelligent conversations, and loving relationships. More help around the house :) and less plastic toys to pick up (except the budding engineer and all his Lego), less evening time to myself, but more fun times together!

The party plans are ON!

Spring has finally Sprung

I know, it's just more pictures of my tree, but this brings me great joy! My heart feels alive, I feel like the world is fresh and new, the day is bright and cheerful, and I want to dance under it's branches, but I don't! Well actually I don't want to, I just like to imagine that I do. Maybe I'll try it tomorrow and let you know how it goes. We've been told by many people that it is the biggest cherry tree they have ever seen, even by landscapers and horticultural types. Apparently this whole neighborhood was once an orchard and they started building it in off in sections. Most often they'd clear the whole area, but when they did our house, the location of the tree was such that it could stay where it was. Some old neighbors think it is at least 60 years old, but we'll never know for sure unless we count its rings. Not going to happen while I live here. It's buzzing! When you stand underneath you can hear the bees at work. We're so glad they came back this year with all the shortages of bees there have been down south.