Post Operative Boredom

A few posts ago, I mentioned that I would be having surgery on my foot to remove a nerve that was causing me no end of grief (read pain). Tomorrow, will be the two week mark since I had the surgery, and all seems to be going well. The first few days it looked as though someone took a mallet to my foot. Most of the bruising is gone, still some swelling, but I am making progress. The first two weeks it had to be bandaged and I had to wear a big ugly walking boot. Yesterday the stitches were removed and I am able to finally wear a shoe on that foot (albeit laces very loose). Which leads to me where I am now, extremely bored! I was doing better when the foot was wrapped in a bandage and I had to strap on the walking boot. It seemed almost justifiable not being able to do anything. Now though I am can put on a shoe and be more mobile yet not able to really do anything. I can tolerate about an hour of moving around then I need to rest the foot. Meanwhile my wife and children are doing school and I basically just sit in the bedroom trying to occupy myself. It is very frustrating...I can not really do all that much to help out around the house because of my limitations. I am thankful I am given the time to heal, I just wish there was more I could do. My wife though has been a tremendous blessing. She has seen to my needs and done so much to help me out all the while continuing on with everything else. I do enjoy the extra time I have been getting with my family and I am so very thankful. I just struggle with patience when I can not do what I should do. Oh well, all in due time I guess. Well that is all for now...I need to go and....that's right I really have nothing to do. Until next time, may all be well with you and your household.

Mom's Special Day

Well today is the official day that we let Mom's know how much we appreciate tall hey do for our children and all they did for us as we were growing up. Actually, even as adults, mothers are still there for their children. As for Mother's Day in our household, it has been a pretty good day ( at least I think it has, I cannot speak for my wife). For Mothers Day, my wife received two different types of bird feeders (it is what she wanted) that claim to be squirrel proof. So far from what we have observed they are holding true to their claim. We have watched the squirrels repeatedly make attempts to get the seed but to no avail. Both have mechanisms that close doors to the seed if too much weight is applied to the perch. Also the way they are designed the squirrels cannot pry them open or hang on them very well. It is actually very amusing to watch their best attempts to get at the feeders. This morning my eldest son took his mom to I-Hop and treated her to breakfast. They had a great time and I am happy they were able to get some good time together. Well not to take away from Mom's special day, I just wanted to wish all mom's out there a great day. Words can never explain all you do. Thanks.

A Little Worn Out

Did you ever have those times when you just feel worn out? I am having one of those moments today. I will need to rewind to Wednesday night to where it all started. Just after I finished my last post, we were doing the night time routine thing. Getting the kids in the bath, getting stuff ready for work, etc. My youngest son, who likes to get a little rowdy in the tub (splash water, get in and out, etc), was doing just that when he slipped and caught his ear on the bathroom counter. So we took him to the emergency room to get him stitched up. However with his strong sensory defensiveness, there is no way he was going to let anyone touch his ear, much less put stitches in it. The doctor decided the best course of action (realistically the only) would be to bring him back in the morning, put him under and then stitch the ear up. So we were released about midnight, got home and put the kids to bed. Woke again at 5am and got everybody up and ready to return to the hospital by 6:30 a.m. The procedure went well and my son was discharged about 4 pm. However with him being a sleep most of the day he didn't really sleep that night. My wife took the Thursday night shift so I could go up for work the next morning at 5 am. I took the late night shift last night and got to bed about three this morning. With the stress of the events from Wednesday to Thursday and the lack of sleep, I think today is recuperation day. I am extremely thankful that all is well with my son though. It took him only about a day to get back to his usual feistiness. Well that is enough for now I guess, since my thoughts are not transferring as well as I would like them to. Until next time, may all be well with you and your household.

Miracles and a Need for Prayer

Do you believe in Miracles? I have witnessed a few in my life. The most memorable occurred almost 14 years ago. My wife was pregnant with our first child and had eclampsia really bad. To the point the doctors explained to me that if they didn't deliver my son soon my wife would not make it. They were probably right since my wife started having convulsions during the C-Section. However tests the day prior showed that my son's lungs were not fully developed and his heart was dropping off at times from the stress on my wife's body; he more than likely would not survive. Praise God, on that point they couldn't been more off the mark. As a matter of fact, other than being really small (3 lbs 4 oz) he was perfectly healthy (lungs included). That was Father's Day 1996. A few weeks later after my wife had recovered and my son had gained enough weight to be released, we went home, July 4th to be exact. That my friends, is my definition of a Holy God answering prayer and providing a miracle. I do not know why He does not answer all calls placed to Him; but I do know everything He does has a purpose. I can ask all I want but I know the answer, " My grace is sufficient". Another miracle occurred yesterday, my wife's cousin yesterday fell 30 feet from a silo and landed on his feet. He spent much time in surgery with rods being placed in his back and other things. He will be in a wheel chair for at least six weeks. His surviving the fall in itself is a miracle, the second is that he is not paralyzed at all. The road to recovery will be long and that is where my request for prayer comes in. If you wouldn't mind, offer a prayer up for Kyle, I would greatly appreciate it.
Other than that life is pretty much the same. In two weeks I will be having a little surgical procedure of my own. Being the funky guy that I am, it appears I have a nerve in my foot that wants to tell my brain that my foot is always hurting. So after a couple of different approaches to cure it ( steroid shots and then another type of shot for weeks on end) with out success, the next step is surgery. The bright side is I will get a little time off work ( not really the way I want to take a vacation). Well until next time, never be discouraged by unanswered prayer, for He always answers, it just may not be the answer we were looking for. It just may be, "My grace is sufficient". He has a plan, is in control and loves you. I assure you, I know it's not always easy, but trust in Him. I always find "Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns reassuring and reaffirming. Give it a Try

Great Night

The concert was great, so many people gathered together, lifting their voices as one to give praise to Him. Caleb and Will (Chapman (Steven Curtis Chapman's sons)) opened, followed by Tenth Avenue North and then it was Casting Crowns. Just a great night that will always have great memories. While we were there, Mark Hall, gave a presentation about the great things World Vision is doing and asked audience members to partake and help a child in need. This has been done by the last few concerts I have gone to but I have always stopped short because we already sponsor a child through compassion international. Last night though it layed heavy on my heart, so I made a quick phone call to the wife and we discussed it. At the end we ended up sponsoring a little girl from Africa. Why do I write this? As Mark brought up last night, it is a great way of not only showing the love of Jesus but it is also another tool that will assist you in raising Godly children. If you think about it, as you correspond with this child, you are showing your son and daughter the importance of reaching out to the orphans, the poor, and the joy of giving a person hope. That they are not alone in their struggles, that there are those that care, and are trying to do something for them. So if you want to learn more you can go to www.worldvision.org or www.compassion.com. To wrap all this up, the concert was great and below you will find some pictures. The first is the Chapman brothers, then 10th Avenue North, and last but not least, The Crowns. Until next time, may the Prince of Peace be your encouragement and strengthen you to accomplish His purpose for your life.

Pre Concert Post

Okay, I know it seems like I fell off the face of the earth but that is not possible because the earth is round, not flat. As I mentioned in a earlier post, I really have no excuses nor apologies. When not at work I try to spend time with the family. Yet there are times the work day gets to me and I need a few minutes alone to decompress. At any rate, life at work has been a little hectic but thankfully I have a loving family to come home to and spend weekends with. Lately, with the weather getting nicer, we have started the hobby of geocaching. If you have never tried it, I highly recommend it. What is geo-caching you ask? Essentially it is a modern day treasure hunt. Instead of using a map, you need a gps (or a smart phone gps capable). You plug the coordinates in off the geocaching website and you are off. They come at all levels of difficulty and are world wide. Just go to www.geocaching.com to learn more. We have had a lot of fun doing it as it is a great way to spend family time together, with the exception of some form of GPS there is no cost, and it is even educational for both your child and you. I included a picture at the bottom of this post of one of the caches we found (it wasn't easy).
Let me move on to the title of this post though...Pre-concert post. Tomorrow morning my eldest son and I will embark on a three hour road trip to see Casting Crowns. It will be our second Crowns concert so I am sure we will enjoy it. The original reason we decided to go is that they were touring with Kutless ( who I have have wanted to see for along time and yes my son likes them a lot too). However, half way through the tour they switched over to 10th Avenue North, which is good but I was looking forward to Kutless. The important thing is that I am spending time with my son, especially at this stage in his life, I believe it to be an important time. If you think about it, being a Dad (or Mom), is the most important job that can ever be entrusted to you. Your actions (or inactions) have consequences that do not stop at that person. As a Marine I am entrusted with much responsibility (which I do not take lightly) yet it does not come even close to the responsibility and duty that God has entrusted to me in raising my boys into responsible God fearing men. Often we let things often get in our way from doing our job the right way. It may be a hobby, the computer, your job that you get tangible pay from, or a plethora of other things. There are couple of songs that drive this point home: Busy Man (Billy Ray Cyrus) or American Dream (Casting Crowns). If you have the opportunity, listen to them both and you will find them pretty sobering. Well, I should wrap this up, I still need to pack for tomorrow. Until next time remember, work for the things that matter. Here are the geocaching pictures. Do you see the cache? The next picture will reveal it.

Yep, It's Monday!

What a way to start a week! It started probably right around the time it became Monday too. I have a bad habit of talking in my sleep and sometimes rather loudly. If my wife talks to me to have me stop, I interject her into my conversation. So long story short I prevented her from getting a good night's rest. To make matters worse, I am not much of a morning person, so I set three alarms (set 15 minutes apart starting at 5 am). Well apparently I let the first one go off for awhile before I heard it. Which I really do feel bad about. Fast forward a couple of hours and now I am at work. With the computers at work, you need your ID card to log in. I am sure you can guess what I left at home...if you guessed my wallet you would be correct. So I went back downstairs, jumped in the car and returned home to fetch my wallet. Unfortunately, those events pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day. On a good note, I was able to get home from work at a pretty decent time... so that is a good thing. Which led my wife sending me to the commissary (military talk for grocery store on base). Which would be alright but it is the 1st of the month, which means it was busy. I was able though to snag one of the last two parking spots remaining. I have to be honest, I did pick up a couple of extra things, but all healthy! For instance I bought some eggs (the Cadbury brand) and some beans (the jelly kind made by Starburst). It is now after 8 pm and my eldest is still finishing his schoolwork (yeah he had a rough day too). However, I still feel very blessed...because no matter what happens through out the day I still have a family and a God who loves me. Even when I screw up (regularly) I am still loved. And to whoever may be reading this...remember no matter what you do...remember you have a God who loves you. I am not saying to live a life that defies Him and think everything is good. What I am saying is, everybody slips and falls from time to time. What matters is if we reach out for His hand to help us up or steady ourselves when we slip. Well that is all for tonight, until next time...may God give you the comfort you need.