So Thankful for the Pain!!

Most of you know that over the last year I have had a few ER visits with chest pain.  I have had an endoscopy and some homeopathic tests and all have come back saying my body was great and that it must be anxiety. 

On Wednesday, I woke up and my chest once again starting tightening up.  I called John to give him a heads up but I was scheduled to meet with a trainer at the gym that morning so I wanted to push through - I mean it was suppose to be anxiety.  So I took the boys to the child care area and went to sit down for a minute - the pain was getting worse.  And then a wash of awful awful pain came over me and I began throwing up.  So after a few minutes I called John to leave work and come get us.  He brought me straight to the ER and as usual they began a cardiac workup - and nothing.  But this time the ER doc said he want to poke around and see where the pain was worst.  I had told him we had been through this several times the last year to no avail.  So when he poked around my gallbladder I begin to cry hard - awful pain.  So he sent me for an ultrasound and xrays and confirmed I had gallstones and in his words "a very very sick gallbladder, and it needed to come out today."  So they prepped me for surgery and that night I had it removed.

The Surgeon came in to talk about the risk and one worse case scenario was that one of the stones had escaped my gall bladder and was causing blockage in my common bile duct.  He said this could be lethal if not caught quickly.  He said if that were so he would have to get a GI doc to come in a remove it because he couldn't.  So the worst case scenario did happen but they could not get a GI doc in the first surgery so they had to keep me in the hospital and put me back under the next day - Thursday to take care of the blockage. 

I had hoped that I would go home last night but we had a hard time getting my pain managed off of the pain pump so it is looking like this morning.  My mom flew out here as soon as she heard and she will be here to help me through the recovery.  John has to fly to Atlanta Sunday through Tuesday as long as I am doing well he NEEDS to make this trip.  So please pray for easy recovery and for us to all be ok while John is away.  Thanks again for your prayers.

I can not tell you how relieved I am that after a year of these pains I finally know it was not just anxiety or in my head.  This pain and un-comfort I feel now is so worth it knowing I won't have to have another episode of worse than labor pain :)

Food For the Weary Soul

I want to post about us - it will come soon.  But right now I am in the trenches of arranging, organizing, settling in, creating routines for the flow of our day, getting library cards, gym memberships, finding a community group and women to be my friend.  I am busy in a very good kind of way.

Yesterday I was sad for many trivial reasons.  If you have ever moved I am sure you have felt those feelings.  The moments when you wish you could see a friend face to face or your kids could run across the street when there very best friend gets home from school.  I went to bed last night with a heavy heart and this morning I was reminded gently by a sweet woman (whom God has used of late to feed my weary soul) that I have a very dear friend with me ALWAYS.  He wants to commune with me often and “It’s my own inflated sense of self-importance, the elevation of my work, of my agenda, that keeps me from prayer-communion.  


This post is written so humbly and beautful and it makes me long to be with my father and to put my agenda aside and share my heavy heart with my friend.  I hope it encourages you in your day as well.

The Best Day of My Life...

 Those were Jake's words as he walked home from the park this afternoon. It amazes me how the simple things really delight a child's heart.

We decided to head out to Pike Place Market.  When we got out of the car we all smelled amazing bread.  So we followed our nose to Le Panier.  We ordered several pastries and tried them all.  It was so fun to watch the boys savor food and to use words like AMAZING, delightful and scrumptious.  But all of these words wonderfully described these pastries. 

Next we made our way through the market and it was delightful.  All of the beautiful flowers, homemade foods, pastas, fresh fish and all the produce a girl could ever need.  We went into Sosio's Fruit and Produce and meet our new produce man - Mr. Mike.  The kids fell in love with Mr. Mike (John and I kinda did as well).  He took the time - and man they were busy - to chat with us.  He gave us samples of some of his dried fruits and he introduced us to this:

Broccoli Romanesco 

He gave us some ideas on how to cook it.  Chef John will be handling that tomorrow night.  I will keep you posted.  Oh and he gave us one of their cloth bags as a welcome to Seattle gift.   

 

Next we stopped in Beecher's Handmade Cheese.  The boys got to watch them making cheese.  It was here that they decided their new careers of choice....Cheese makers.  Brady wants to be the man with shovel and Jake wants to be the grinder.  Homemade cheese at my beckon call - I could live with that :)

Then they got to sample some of the cheeses.  I recall the word AMAZING being thrown around a bit.  We even brought some home with us.  But first they had to give us a sample of their mac and cheese.  OH MY!!!!  Jake requested this to be his birthday meal this year.  It was SOOO good!!!

We we got in the car to leave Jake said Mama this was the best family day we have ever had.  Can we do this every Saturday?  Why yes son we can :)

After we got home I needed to go to the store to fill our empty pantry so John walked the boys down the street to play here:

What a beautiful place to play!!!  And then they walked back and stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate and to enjoy this sunset (just across the street from our new home):
















At which point Jake told his daddy that THIS was the best day of his life.

Grace Flows Down

John is a music man and so are my boys.  I enjoy it but I also enjoy silence.  I don't mind (in fact I mostly prefer) driving in the car in silence.  John often gets frustrated with me because I have a hand full of songs that I could listen to day in and day out.  The ones that really minister to my heart are my ones of choice.  And usually when I choose to turn on music it is for this purpose - to worship and fill up my dry soul. 

The song Grace Flows Down has been my song of choice this week.   This has been a challenging week.  It really has nothing to do with Seattle but just with transition and the previous 6 weeks.  The kids have had zero routine through this process and we have been here there and everywhere.  And John and I both expected this week.  We know from experience that these first few weeks are trying but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier. 

We aren't trying to get into routine this week - we are just adjusting to time change (been pretty hard), sleeping in a new place and feeling safe in our beds, getting a home set up, adjusting to dad being gone after working from home but specifically having him with us and at our dispense for the last 6 weeks.  Just those things this week :).  I have also learned not to jump in head first because in the past it has caused much frustration on my part.  So we are easing into life. 
But right now I have 2 boys who have had lots of freedom the last month and are in need of gently and graciously being reeled back in.  If you know me well gentle and gracious are not words I would normally use to describe myself - especially as a parent. 

Here is where my song comes in...I have ask God this week to teach me to be gracious to my children.  And the amazing thing that He is doing is often reminding me of His graciousness toward me.  He is filling my tired and weary self up with reminders of His goodness, gentleness and graciousness in my life.  I am thankful that God is about bringing it all back to Him.  I can't conjure of the traits toward my children but as God is filling my tanks with who He is to me and in my life it is overflowing into my kids lives.  The way it is suppose to be - right? 

So life right now is exactly what I expected it to be but as usual God is SOOOO much more than I could ever ask or imagine.  His grace flows down and it covers me!!!
Have a good weekend friends.

We are HERE!!!

After 2 LONG months we are here.  We are about to start the next chapter in His Story of our life.  Last night,  as the plane descended on the city lit up in all it's glory, I prayed.  I ask the Lord to meet us here, to bless this time and to make us fruitful here in this place.  And I have hope that He will.  He always has.  Sometimes, many times, it was not on my time line or agenda...but He has ALWAYS met us where we are.  And because He has personally been faithful to me I have no doubt that He won't continue to be faithful. So this morning as I sit in a hotel room waiting I am full of expectation and HOPE. 
More to come soon - we are headed to swim off some energy while we wait for John to return from work to get us and take us to our new apt.