update central

2008-12-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to edit this post as a Day 100 post and move it over here for quite some time...But in the middle of being a college student, that hasn't happened. So, I moved this post, unedited, from my blog.

A side note...Thanksgiving was great. It was the first time since Christmas last year that all our family was able to be back together. It was GREAT! We are so thankful that Mary continues to be cancer free and that long term effects of GVHD have been kept at bay. There are still things she can't do...But fortunately that list continues to grow shorter and the list of things she can do and places she can now go continues to grow. Yes, our family has a lot to be thankful for this year.

It's been just a few days over a year since we found out that the Plasmacytoma tumor Mary had removed in December of 2005 had progressed into Multiple Myeloma. Anyone who was at PUMP/PSP remember those few days and weeks that ensued? I don't remember much...Throwing my phone across a room...Crying in a stranger's arms in front of my kids at PSP...Calling Buddy and telling her she HAD to come and get me that afternoon...Deciding to take time off of school and move home. I don't remember this, but I do know that much time was spent at the Grauls, Tuckers, Whites, and Crumrines during the three weeks between when I first found out that Mary had cancer again and when I hopped in the car and waved farewell to the city and church that had I had called home for two years (Just as much time has been spent at those four homes this year has I have 'rested' from my 'job' on the occasional weekend off).

And it's hard to believe that was a year ago. Because in some ways it feels like forever; when I can't remember what I ever did before I ended up at this part of my life...Or when I can't remember what Mary's head looked like when it did have hair. And some times it feels like yesterday; when I can't remember how the heck I got here...Or when I can only remember my sister from before cancer...way before cancer. In some ways it's just been another page in my life; something ordinary and common place. In others though, it's turned my entire world upside down. You could ask me to tell you what it's like, and my honest answer would have to be that I can't. Sure, I can tell you what our days are like. But I don't have words to explain to you what the last year has been. Heck, I don't even have words to tell you about the people and the community that have been such a huge part of my life in the last year. And sometimes that feels like such a small (but important) part of this.

It's hard to even believe that Mary had the second of the planned tandem stem cell transplants 50 days ago already. That 50 days ago, I watch life blood flow back into her body. A body that had been beaten down by a previous transplant, chemotherapy, and radiation. I watched LIFE flow back into that body. Cells that give life. I don't know what God was doing that night as I sat there on the floor of the SCCA with these blind-as-blind-get-eyes of mine staring up at my precious sister, but like any other person who has flawless vision, I was able to see the perfect snowflake clusters of life-giving cells run into Mary's body. Don't worry, I haven't been able to see anything since then...It was just a one time deal. I saw those cells. Millions and millions of them. And I've gotten to see them grow in my sister. And build up in her a new strength. A new strength and an unrelenting determination: to never give up. I've also watched her struggle against them, against GVHD and against infection. Seeing those cells 50 days ago was like seeing a miracle. Because I saw them in the beginning. The very beginning. And I have seen them struggle. And I have watched them win; over and over and over again; day by day by day. And I will see them finish, victoriously.

50 days ago, my plea was for life.

Today my plea is for life more abundantly.

Day 72

2008-08-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

My bags are all packed. Everything made it into the car. The alarm is set to go off in about an hour and a half. And I'm busy doing all of the things that I've been doing for so long. Cuddling up to my sister, rubbing her fuzzy head, holding her hand, and for a few minutes sleeping. I won't be doing those things every day anymore. And I think the separation anxiety is getting to me. Yes...I'm going back to school.

I never thought I would have had an apartment with my big sister. We've lived over here with each other for six months now. And I've loved being able to spend this time with her. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

My first day of school is Monday, which I THOUGHT was a holiday...I guess when you pay for school they can do that. And I have class at 8am. I'm thrilled about that. At least when I'm here I get to ride a cool bus and take somebody with me.

Anyways, I wanted to say thanks to all of you for your love and encouragement and support while we've been over here. And thanks for continuing to give that to Mary.

And thanks Mary...thanks for having me. Thanks for putting up with my disaster zone of a world some days and just letting me curl up with you for hours. And thanks for everything else, I couldn't even begin to tell you. I'm going to miss you so much. I love you lots and lots and lots big sister. I'm so glad you get to go with us to take me back to school.

Day 50.

2008-08-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

Today (Wednesday) is a big day for us. Day 50. That's half way to 100, in case you need some help with your math. Half way until home. Did you hear me there...HALF WAY HOME!!!!! We've gotten to the half way mark after the second transplant! YAHOO! Not without more than enough excitement. Ups and downs. And lots of being worn out and tired and ready to go home...right this second. But with each day, Mary is getting stronger. And 100 is getting nearer. Events of the past couple of weeks...

...Four days at UofWMedCenter.
...Pulled Hickman Line because of infection.
...Days of sitting at the SCCA getting antibiotics and hydration through IVs because of a lack of a Hickman.
...A PICCline is put in to replace the Hickman.
...A HUGE cheer for antibiotics and hydration from home!
...A sad goodbye to the end of case rate starting today... :(
...Me going into anaphylactic shock. That one was a big concern to Mary's doctors...I've been a wired-chimp ever since from the meds. Icky stuff.
...Lots more hair on Mary's head...To match her boys.
...Even more pictures of said hair.
...And even more being homesick...This one has been the worst, I think, for both of us.
...Several games of Phase 10.
...Many movies and probably more naps.

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and encouraging words that have gotten us this far! We know they will continue to carry us through the next 50 days.

Day 35? 36? Not sure...

2008-07-25T09:17:00.001-07:00

Hi Friends and Family...Well, I have PLENTY of time to post LOTS of updates now...seeing how Mary and I are now in lockdown on 8NE of the UofW Medical Center. Insert Mary yelling, "AGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!"

Yesterday morning was great. It started a lot another good morning you've heard about recently. :) We went to the doctor and he was impressed with the progress that Mary was making, which was good to hear. And she was feeling really good at that point. We got home from the clinic and Mary did her Physical Therapy exercises and was feeling a little worn out and thought she would take a quick nap, which really isn't anything unusual...So, I got her settled and the hydration set up and a movie put in and left her to her nap.

At 2ish something she yells at me that she needs me right away. Which is a very rare occurrence in our house. And so I come flying up and running into her room to see what is wrong. And she tells me she feels so warm. So I take her temperature, because she does feel so warm. It's 100.4. And I tell her I'm calling the clinic. She begs no. I tell her I'll take it again in 15 minutes and then call. But before 15 minutes comes and goes, she yells for me again. This time to say that her chest is hurting. And this time she is so cold that she is shaking the whole bed. And my entire body when I touch her. Talk about some cold chills...And her fever is up to 100.9. I call the clinic and tell them I need to talk to someone now. And so they transfer me to Dinah, the triage nurse, bless her heart I think the poor lady knows me far to well by now. And so while I'm on the phone with her, I'm busy getting clothes and shoes on Mary, shoes on myself, contemplating calling 911 while Mary keeps saying over and over, "Oh, it hurts, it hurts." While holding her chest. And throwing things we'll need for an overnight stay in the hospital into my backpack. I managed to do all of that and get us down and on the shuttle in about 10 minutes. Not sure how I did it, or how I managed not to completely unravel, but I did. So, Dinah called to make sure we were on our way, and then again as soon as she had us a room so that we could come straight back to the room instead of having to check in. We skipped go (wish we could have gotten $200!) and went back to room 45. Just in time for Mary to start vomiting. And I was SO greatful to have Dinah there to help me with that one. If you've never met this lady, and most of you haven't, she's the lady you want when things aren't well. Because she can make you feel better! Anyways, they got Mary's doctor down right away, started fluids and anti-nausea meds. Lots of different antibiotics (her fever was up to 103 by that point), and ran TONS of tests. And took even more blood. And didn't have a clue what was wrong at that point. So, then her doctors decided they wanted to admit her to the hospital...Transport by ambulance. I will say, I've never gotten to ride in one of those before. It was probably a lot cooler for me than for Mary. Although I did hold her hand and rub her monkey fuzz. :) We got to the hospital and things were a blur. Lots more doctors and nurses. Repeats of tests and blood draws and new different tests and blood draws. And while we still don't have answers to specific questions, like why Mary's heart started hurting yesterday (it doesn't anymore). We do know that her blood cultures started growing bacteria very rapidly. Within a few hours. We don't have a specific bacteria yet, or a specific protocol for treatment yet, so we're still on the broad spectrum of running bags of anything and everything all day long to keep all the bases covered. But we'll let you know as soon as we know! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. And thanks especially for your encouraging words. This is the last place either one of us want to be spending the weekend! (Although Mary is glad I have no intention of leaving her). We miss you!

Day 7

2008-06-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

We're already to a week. In a few ways, the last couple of days have gone quickly. Sheer exhaustion has come, for both of us, and I have settle into a rote routine again. A routine of "zombieness." Just doing what I need to do, when I need to do it, because that's what needs to be done. Even at 3 in the morning. Monday morning, Mary fell while getting up out of bed. That combined with a few other things (a continually dropping blood pressure for one) has lead to a couple of things. Increased hydration. We're up to 2.5 Liters a day. Um, that's 2 and a half of the huge Nalgene bottles, to put that into perspective for you. It takes about 12 hours to run. Also, we have a walker for Mary to use now as it provides more support than a cane but lets her get more exercise than a wheelchair, and this Friday Mary will be starting Physical Therapy. We have continued to struggle with finding a stable FK-506 level for Mary to take. Which leads to almost daily blood draws and multiple phone calls back and forth each evening to decipher and check results and decide a course of action. Hopefully we've got it figured out for now. We'll find out after our Friday morning blood draw though.

I am going to say, very loudly now, "WE HAVE A WONDERFUL DOCTOR!" I'll probably find myself saying it a lot more in the coming weeks, but it was most noticeable to me yesterday. I had found an odd spot on Mary's arm that I didn't like the looks of and wanted someone to check on, besides the fact that she was hurting much worse from falling than she was the day before. And after we were sent down to Triage, Triage called Diana and she called and talked to me downstairs and said she would rather make time to see us upstairs than have us seen downstairs. I couldn't have agreed more. Not only does she explain things wonderfully, but she has the kindest and gentlest spirit. She is one of the first doctors I have encountered over here who truly believes this, "You are going through a hard enough time already, I'm not going to do anything to make it any harder." And so she doesn't. Mary is having a hard time drinking and so instead of telling Mary to drink more, she gave her more hydration. Mary's been horribly nauseated (and I was waking up every two hours), so she gave us long acting pills that can be taken once every 12 hours that have really cut back on the amount that Mary has had to take everything else (only six or seven times a day now, YAY!). And Diana is full of encouragement. Even on the days when Mary and I feel like we've done nothing right, she is sure that we've done everything perfectly. And so even though I'm sure she'll never read this, I just wanted all of you to know, that there is someone in the background here at the SCCA who is really helping Mary and I out a lot. Thanks Diana. We appreciate all that you do for us!

And thank you friends and family for all of your thoughts and prayers. One week down...do you want to know how many to go?? (I don't want to talk about it, even if you do).

Day Two.

2008-06-20T22:58:00.001-07:00

Things are going well. We heard that from the Doctor himself today. Everything looks good. They started Mary on some hydration since she's seeming to get a bit dehydrated with the nausea (it hasn't gone away yet, pray it does, please) and added Magnesium and Potassium to it since those levels are bottoming out thanks to the FK-506 (a wonderful anti-rejection drug that also causes tingling in your hands and legs). Mary's also been really tired, probably thanks to the radiation, like the nausea. Hopefully those effects will wear off in the next few days as we get further and further away from Day Zero. Jody successful had the Mahurkar line pulled yesterday. It's looking pretty hurty today and really red too. But she got to take the band-aid off and take a shower so she was really excited about that. I don't think there's anything exciting for now...Sleep anyone??

The real Day Zero post.

2008-06-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't write about the actual Day Zero on Day Zero, sorry about that. It was a long and exhausting day for all three of us. The day started earliest for Jody. She had to be up at the SCCA at 7 something in the morning for a blood draw and for shots. Yuck. Then I took Mary for radiation at 9:30am. We were there until about 12:30. Jody came back up to the clinic around 11:30 and they started harvesting her stem cells a second time. After Mary got done with radiation, I took her home, put her to bed, and went back up to grab all of her prescriptions and get Jody. We got back to the apartment around 2:30ish and then Jody and I left and went to the store and got some groceries. We were out of bottled water and juice and other things like that, which will become a necessity in the next few weeks. We came back here and then I fell asleep for about an hour. Jody made sloppy joes for dinner and then we packed up and headed back up to the SCCA since we needed to be there at 5pm. Jody and Mary didn't plan on being there for long. I planned on being there for five hours. They were wrong, I was right (I also remember this from last time). Once we got there it took a little over two hours to run all of the fresh stem cells in. They were beautiful; I spent the better part of an hour looking at them. If you looked in the tubing, especially right close to where it was connected to the Hickman, you could actually see little clusters of stem cells. They looked like little snowflakes floating through this red stuff. And it was an image that isn't meant to be captured on film, so I didn't even try. Sorry for those of you who might go through the pictures on Flickr looking for it. And really, I could have tried, but that would have required flash and Mary's head really hurt. And I was too mesmerized at that point to pick up the camera again. Ask Jody. So, once we got all of the stem cells in, 6.6 million of them, Mary really started to feel the effects of the radiation. Nausea, vomiting, headache... It wasn't pleasant for her at all. Then they had to follow that up with some Magnesium since Mary's Mag levels have been trending down. Apparently that is one of the main side effects of one of the anti-rejection drugs that she is taking. Anyways, we finally got to leave around 10pm. YAY. And came home ready to sleep. The little bit nausea has prompted us to do the two hour med thing again; after all, I can say with confidence that I would rather wake up every two hours than deal with the alternative. That's about all there is to my life right now. Sleeping and waking up every two hours. Mary is pretty groggy from all of the meds but is doing really well besides that. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Day Zero.

2008-06-18T22:56:00.001-07:00

Birthday. We're finally home and Mary is settled in. Every thing went extremely well today. Thanks so much for all of you prayers. I'm exhausted (and on the two hour med schedule again) so I'll write, post pictures, and hopefully just be in a generally better (and less tearful) mood tomorrow. Thanks for your patience. All is well.

-1

2008-06-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, if the last couple of days haven't been exciting, today was... We left for the clinic this morning around 6:40am. I know, talk about some sort of crazy hour of the morning. It wasn't like two of us weren't up half the night at any rate anyhow though (at least Mary still sleeps...). Jody had a Mahurkar Line (don't click if you get squeamish easily!) put in at 7:30ish this morning after having a rough blood draw (the no eating and no drinking thing required for the surgery to put in the line sure doesn't help that). After the surgery was done, Jody got to eat some string cheese, juice, and crackers and got to have more growth hormone more shots, Yuck. Mary held her hand this time though. Then we went and ate breakfast at the little place in the clinic. After that...Let's see. We went up and sat on the 6th floor for like an hour. There are good chairs up there and a nice view. Mary and Jody sat in the recliners and I sat in the rocking chair. We must have all looked like little old ladies (or like our Mama taught us well), we were all embroidering. Then it was finally getting close enough to 11:30 for Jody to go check in for Apheresis (that's what it's called when they take your blood out, run it through a centrifuge, separate the plasma and stem cells out into two separate bags, and then stick the rest back into your body). That took a couple of hours. After I got over the initial shock of, "Oh wow, this is really happening!" I was pretty okay with it (most of you probably know I'm not great with needles or blood). And at the end of the day we ended up with a nice bag of cells, 2.59 million so far. Liquid Life. It's a beautiful bag. I nearly cried just looking at it (please don't ask why I get so emotional about this whole thing because I just don't know). And I can't do it justice just telling you what it's like; you'd have to be here walking through this with me. Then we all came back here and slept. Well, I spent a substantial amount of time on the phone with the nurse trying to figure out this hydration thing for tomorrow. Mary is supposed to have completed a bag of hydration before she starts radiation. Which means that it needs to be started at about 4am. Technically the day she is case rate. Which means that we have to get it from the clinic's onsite pharmacy. Except they won't give it to us until the day we turn case rate. And unfortunately, the pharmacy doesn't open until 8am. However, after a few hours of calling back and forth, the nurse convinced them to release the pharmacist to release the bag to her so she could give it to me so that I can give it to Mary at 4am (it will take 5 hours). Then they can bill it to the insurance tomorrow, the day we go case rate. AH! The horrors of this insurance nightmare. Anyways, today is over. Tomorrow will be longer. Thanks for your prayers! We love and miss you all so much. The comments, cards, and emails are so much appreciated!

-2

2008-06-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting today either, just like yesterday! This morning I went with Jody while she got shots again. Her counts have continued to climb and are well into the 40 THOUs. I had a great time waiting for the results...I decided that I should "go spinning" on the spinny chair in the office since Jody didn't care (Mary does, she gets really mad). So after five minutes I stopped and was thirsty so I drank a bottle of water. Then I started up again and after about another good five minutes I stopped just in time to realize I was just about the throw up. And the pukey feeling lasted for quite a long time. After all of that, Jody and I came back to the apartment and got Mary and went searching for this great fabric store that we found a long time ago when we first came over here. Four months ago. Finally we found it. And then we found a Burger King. The first one I've seen the whole time. So, a wonderful plain burger later, I was a bit happier. Anyways, tomorrow is a big day (and a very long day) for all of us (or at least Jody and I). Jody will start having her stem cells collected so that they can be given to Mary on Wednesday. Please keep us in your prayers!

-3

2008-06-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting yesterday or today. I've gone in with Jody both days to get her growth hormone shots. Her WBC jumped from about 5.3 THOU to over 35.7 THOU overnight. No wonder her arms were sore yesterday and she had a hard time sleeping last night! They usually expect numbers like that the day before harvesting, and we're still a few days away. Bill left this afternoon. I know that Mary sure enjoyed having him around for a couple of days. And I liked having Mr. Safe for a driver. Tomorrow is just blood draw and shots for Jody, so you probably won't hear from me. We're planning on being truly free for one last afternoon!

-5

2008-06-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well folks. We starting over again...I know. I've neglected this blog in the past month. We were able to go home for three weeks following my last post and have been back in Seattle for almost two weeks now. DAY ZERO is planned for WEDNESDAY JUNE 18. This will be Mary's "new" birthday. Even though this is a longer transplant, we're required to stay 90 days post transplant this time instead of 30, and the risks are higher because of Graft-Verses-Host-Disease and infection caused by the immunosupressive drugs, the conditioning treatment will be nothing like the chemo that wrecked havoc on Mary's body last time. In fact, conditioning this time consists of an impressive cocktail of immunosupressive drugs and one low dose of total body radiation that will be given shortly before Mary receives Jody's cells. I'm excited because they will be fresh cells...Not frozen in DMSO. YAY! I could smell that stuff for weeks last time. Anyways, I think that's all I've got to say for now. Jody's been here for like five days now and will be here for another week. And Bill rode the bike over for the weekend. So, we've got a full house. I think I'll leave you with a picture. If you've been to my other blog you've already seen it, but it's one of my favorites right now.

Day 25

2008-05-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

I'm in Portland still, and Mary hasn't called, so no news is still good news? From the little I have talked to her I know that she's had a nice time with her husband and that her counts are continuing to go up. YAY!

Day 24

2008-05-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't heard anything today from Mary...And I'm assuming that no news is good news? Mary hopefully spent lots of time relaxing with her husband today! Without worrying about anyone else! I (Jessica) have had a great day in Portland with the Grauls! Mali, Sai, Michal and I enjoyed the morning together watching Surf's Up curled up on the couch and eating left over waffles while Kaelea helped deliver Suzy's baby...Jordyn Joy and while Ike was somewhere. Then we had a great breakfast for lunch for Ike's brother Karl's birthday with all of the Grauls at their parent's house. And very yummy lemon cake with lots of candles (and I don't even like lemon usually...). I took lots of pictures this afternoon of the kids outside (see Flickr). Then this evening, Kaelea and I went to the movies. And when we got back, I was officially introduced to The Office. What a day. What a good day.

Day 23

2008-05-02T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well...I'm in Portland for the weekend and Mary is in Seattle with Bill. From the sounds of it, things are going very well. Mary's counts have continued to go up (YAY!) and the tunnel infection is responding well to the antibiotics. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Day 22

2008-05-02T03:05:00.000-07:00

Today was just a vamp day as well. A vamp and Vanc day. They got her blood and I have her antibiotics! As much as she hates being hooked up to that pump, at least it was only for an hour in the morning and three hours in the evening. I'm leaving in the morning and Bill will get to Seattle in time for Mary's doctor's appointment. Then he'll be here for the weekend. Joey is going to stay with Grandma Mary Jane and Billy is going to be running Bloomsday with Markus. This is the first time that all of us won't have done Bloomsday together. I sure will miss the shirt! And all of the laughs that come with all of us walking 7.5 miles together. Anyways, enough of me being reminiscent in the middle of the night. It's been another one of those things when it's been hard to go to sleep and stay asleep...although I get like this anyways before I leave for a weekend, so maybe I shouldn't be blaming it on the hospital's effect on my sleep schedule. Which is improving...slowly but surely. At least I've been sleeping for five or six consecutive hours now. And so has Mary, I think. Either that or I'm so dead to the world I don't hear her. Ah, we are both so homesick! Come and visit us friends!

Day 21

2008-05-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Other than going to the vamps in the morning, nothing too excited happened today. Mary's WBC counts have dropped a little, but not enough to be concerning. We're still running the IV antibiotics twice a day, which looks like it is working well to clear up the infection. Of course, she loves being all tied down, but it's better than the hospital. Anything is better than there! Bill is planning on coming for the weekend, and so I will be headed to Portland for a couple days. I think it will be a good break. We had a hat and wig party the other evening, if you'd like to see pictures, click here...

Day 20

2008-04-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

I think we both woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or at least I did and I'm acting like it enough for the two of us combined? Talk about a day with some rough edges. Woke up and cleaned and cleaned...Went to the doctors, learned that the puss coming out of central line incision really is a good thing (it means she's making enough of her own white blood cells), met with the nutritionist, were told that Mary needs to eat more food, more often. And I pretty much replied that if Mary just wanted to eat chicken noodle soup and drink grape juice and 7up, then I was going to let her do that because I don't like the effects of not well-settled foods! We went grocery shopping after that though and wandered for a bit and Mary picked out some things that looked good. We'll see...Hopefully tomorrow is better...It will be three weeks from transplant day.

Day 19

2008-04-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sitting here trying to warm up my little half L baby. The hydration FREEZES Mary when it comes out of the bag and goes into her central line, so I've been working on getting it warm, or at least warmer, before it goes in (thanks so much Kay for telling us about this, we're glad we have someone who knows!), at least today since by the time I'm done I'll have run 12+ hours of it. If you think about it, even infusing at room temperature is still a huge difference...65* or 70*F as compared to nearly 100*F. Yeah, that'd be enough to cool me down too. And I've been a heater bucket the last few days, so I'm using my warmth for good. Or at least I'm trying to... Right, use your powers for good?

Mary woke up this morning, 15 minutes after I'd been on the phone with Paula the scheduler who was calling to say that we didn't need to worry about coming in for the doctor's appointment, just for labs, and Mary starts saying that her Hickman Line was just killing her. And it was red and tender and I swear if I would have touched it she would have screamed and slapped me, so I called the clinic back and we headed in to have blood drawn and then to triage so it could be looked at right away. They have decided that Mary most likely has the beginning of a tunnel infection, an infection that is outside of the line in the tunnel that is made going up to where the central line enters the blood stream, apparently this isn't a BIG DEAL, it's just a big deal. So, we stuck around all afternoon so that Mary could get her first dose of Vancomycin at the clinic and then were sent home with five more doses (every 12 hours for three days) and an extra bag of hydration to run. Mary OF COURSE loves being hooked up to the pump, not. Which makes the 10 hours she'll be on it before tomorrow absolutely wonderful. The nurse asked me if I would be able to handle running the IV antibiotics around 11 or 12 tonight, about 12 hours after her last dose, or if that would be too late. And I was thinking, are you CRAZY lady? You think that's a problem? Have you ever been a caregiver? Do you know what sleep is?! Because I sure don't! And if I do know what sleep is, I only know how to do it for an hour and a half at a time! Last night Mary and I were both wide awake from about 3:30 to 4:30 in the morning. It sure makes for interesting dynamics in the morning.

So, for now, I'm warming up the Liter babies so they don't freeze Mary and enjoying our Shrek Marathon! What can I say, there's not a whole lot you can do when you're confined to the house for days on end!

Day 18

2008-04-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well folks, the fever left last night. After a couple of hours. I was very glad for that. Mary was too. I don't think either of us could have handled another trip to the hospital. Her counts are continuing to rise, slowly but surely and for that we are grateful. She's got normal levels of platelets and red blood cells and her white blood cells are on the up and up. We thought of a trip to the movies this afternoon, but that was shut down quickly by the doctor. She said that Mary's counts aren't that high YET. We were hopeful though. In the end, we drove around for awhile and made a quick trip to Target to get some stuff. It was very nice to be out and about. Anyways, nothing too exciting. We're both homesick beyond belief and can't wait for our family to be here next weekend!

Day 17

2008-04-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

Watch out world, here we come! We found out that this morning that Mary's ANC (Neutrophil) counts are over 500. YAHOO! That means that engraftment really is happening! And that she has enough "fighter cells" that she doesn't need to be confined to some sort of perfectly sanitary environment. That was the great news of the day. The bad news, she's running a bit of a temp right now, we'll see where it goes in the next 30 minutes and then decide what to do. YUCK. I wanted to SLEEP tonight.

Day 16

2008-04-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Our first whole day back at the apartment for awhile. We headed up to the clinic to see the Vamps and the Doctors, which went well. Mary's counts are continuing to climb! YAY. Her White Blood Cell counts are higher and higher as are her platelet counts, even though the ANCs are taking their time to get into a good place.

This afternoon, we drove downtown and met up with my friend Beth, from Cascade, for a couple of hours before she went to the baseball game with her husband and his family. It was great to spend a couple of hours with her. We sat in Starbucks for awhile and talked and then we went walking down the boardwalk by the water. Mary enjoyed pushing herself along in the wheelchair. It was good to be out in the sun and catch the nice breeze.

A few minutes after we got home, I got a call from the clinic that Mary has low Potassium and Magnesium and that someone needed to run up to the clinic and pick it up. So, I caught the last shuttle up, waited around for nearly two hours, and then walked back down and hooked Mary up to the pump. I had the chance to talk to the Doctor for a few minutes while at the clinic and they said that things are looking good and that Mary is right on track which is always reassuring.

Nothing else too exciting...No one is here for the weekend so I think the two of us are just going to kick back and get some much needed rest and recovery from being in the hospital.

Day 15

2008-04-24T23:39:00.001-07:00

We escaped today! Well, actually, Mary was discharged from the hospital, and in record time too, according to the nurses; we were officially told we could leave around 9:30am and were out of there by 11am! We were both so ready to be back to the apartment where we at least have a little more space and lots of other things to do. Mary's WBCs are continuing to trend upwards at a decent rate although the ANCs are trailing very slowly. One doctor says the ANCs should come in before the WBC, another doctor says the opposite. So, we are just glad though that her blood counts are going up. That means engraftment and less danger of infection (although Mary still has nothing close to the immune system of a "normal" person)! Of course, leaving the hospital, Mary is still on a whole heap of pills, both morning and night, most of them being used to prevent any infections that might occur as well as to control the nausea. Today is DAY 15 after the stem cell transplant. We are half way to the 30 day mark of being able to come home for a short break, Lord willing. We keep praying and praying for the chance to see and spend time with family and friends at home because we have been so homesick, especially in the past few days. It is so hard to be so far away from our expansive Freeman family and support system at home. Thanks for the letters, emails, messages, and phone calls. We love hearing from each of you!

Day 14

2008-04-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well folks, it's been two weeks since I watched liquid life drip back into Mary's body. Tomorrow is the half way mark to being able to come home for a visit. We have to stick around Seattle for 30 days post transplant, not permitting any major complications. Neither one of us slept well last night, the alarms on the pumps wouldn't stop going off...Once and twice every hour. So it felt like by the time you finally fell asleep, you just got to wake up again. And as always, in the middle of the night, it seemed like it took forever for someone to come and turn the alarm off and fix the problem, regardless of if it took a minute or five. Loud, annoying, noises always last longer when waking up...Think of it, that's why we have snooze buttons...The sound is too shocking when we wake up and we want it OFF, right now! So, to say the least, both of have been tired (and therefore more emotional) today. Especially when we found out that while Mary's WBC nearly doubled over night, her ANCs went down and so we can't go back to the apartment. We've got high hopes for tomorrow though. If you're reading this before 2am (when Mary's blood will be drawn) pray for high ANCs! Those are the specific White Blood Cells that fight off infection. Thanks!

Day 13

2008-04-23T01:24:00.001-07:00

Mary and I enjoyed another day hanging out on the hospital. And we even had a GUEST! Thanks Teresa for stopping by; it really made our day. Especially being cooped up in this prison of a room...They won't even let me push Mary down to the gift shop! How horrible is that?! However, her WBC are rising, and picking up speed too! That means that hopefully we'll be back to the apartment within the next couple of days. YAY! In the meantime, I'm dealing with some non-sleep issues...again, I know. So, I'm up updating the world, munching on Ohs, the world's best cereal, and watching a movie. The bed gets less comfortable by the day. It wasn't made for someone any taller than I am, even my feet hang off! Look for some pictures of Mary tomorrow, we had lots of fun taking them today! We are both so homesick, we would love to hear from all of you. Cards, emails, and phone calls are always appreciated...They lift our spirits so much.

Day 12

2008-04-21T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we're still at the hospital today. Mary's still had a slight fever, but not too bad, it has come down quite a bit in the past 48 hours. They still don't know what it was caused by and her white blood cell counts are still very low, so we're still here. But the room has a DVD player, YAY! I brought the collection back to the hospital with me this afternoon for its entertainment value in the next day or so. Mary is cold all of the time, so I've discovered the science to wearing the least amount of clothing possible in the room and then layering it back on every time I need to leave the hall. Other than that, there hasn't been anything of excitement. Thanks for all the mail if you were one of those who has written in the last week!

Day 11

2008-04-20T22:43:00.000-07:00

With Mary in the hospital, and Bill with her, it was Billy, Joey, and I at the apartment for almost the whole day. We went and played at the park for quite sometime and then came back to the house and had hotdogs for lunch. Then around 4:00 Bill came and got us and we spent a couple of hours with Mary at the hospital. I am packed and camping out, computer included!

Day Ten

2008-04-19T21:42:00.001-07:00

This morning was especially uneventful. Bill, Mary, and the boys went to the clinic for her blood draw and to get platelets and I enjoyed some quiet time to myself. This afternoon we just hung around the house, Mary hooked up to IV hydration and the rest of us playing games and watching movies. Then this evening Billy, Joey, and I went over to the park and played for awhile. However, between the hours of five and nine, Mary's temperature spiked. About 20 minutes ago, Bill headed over to 8NE at the WSU Research Hospital to have Mary admitted. At this point, with no immune system to fight off infection and a temperature, she is in a very vulnerable place. Prayers are greatly appreciated!

Day Nine

2008-04-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

It seems, hopefully, like Mary is on the up and up now. Although her hair has been hurting her horribly, to the point of tears, for the past three or four days now. It's jut been getting worse the longer it stays in. The nurse said that some people experience hair pain right before their hair falls out, but that she's kept hers longer than anyone he's known which could be why it is hurting more and more. We've still be struggling with the nausea, but Mary has continued to drink well in addition to IV hydration to keep her from becoming dehydrated. We got a call this afternoon saying that her platelets are down to 11 again and so she is scheduled to have more tomorrow morning. However, the WBC are starting to come back, slowly but surely. We are right in the middle of when engraftment usually takes place and so we're looking for things to start rebounding soon! Mary and I both are praying for the day she wakes up and just feels, "okay." Bill and Billy and Joey got here late (after their plane was delayed for two hours), and we are glad to have them for the weekend. They provide a very enjoyable distraction from everything else. Besides, we've missed them so much!

Day Eight

2008-04-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

Today has gone very well! YAY! Mary tried some Chicken and Stars Soup, which went over very well and then had some Corn Chex later, along with several small glasses of 7up and grape juice. And she has only been needing to take the anti-nausea meds every three or four hours instead of every two. Yay for a little more sleep during the night! Right now we are still running IV hydration so that Mary isn't forced to drink so much during the day, but what she's drinking is staying down, so that's very encouraging. And her counts are starting to go up...WBC is up to 1.0 from 0.0 a few days ago. The boys will be here tomorrow, I think we're both looking forward to that!

Day Seven

2008-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Well today was Mary's first whole day out of the hospital. I think that both of were exhausted, so we caught lots of cat naps in between times to give meds. We went up to the clinic for a blood draw and an appointment. Mary's platelets had dropped from 42 to 5 and so we ended up having to come back later in the evening so she could have a platelet transfusion. We had a great nurse for that though! All of the rest of her counts are still down, but should start to go up in the next couple of days...And the higher the counts then hopefully the better she will start feeling! She is tired of feeling yucky! I don't blame her either!

Day Six

2008-04-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

Mary is home, back to the apartment in Seattle, all tucked into bed...with an extra blanket...mine! :) They let us know at about 11am that she'd be able to come home today. We were packed by 12pm...And then had to wait, and wait, and wait. Wait for hydration. Wait for the pharmacy. Wait for final discharge papers. And then about 4pm, we got to leave. YAY! Mary is so happy to be back in her own bed. Her counts have completely dropped and her WBC is at zero. So, she has no immune system to fight off germs. We're just going to have to be extra careful until it builds itself back up. We've taken the classes and practiced for what seems like months. Now we get to do everything for real! Thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and messages! We love and miss you all!

Day Five

2008-04-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Besides a quick trip back to the apartment for stuff this afternoon, I've pretty much just hung out at the hospital all day with Mary today. Her counts have continued to drop and at a WBC of 0.13 are hopefully bottomed out and will start coming up (An optimal WBC count is between 6.0 and 10.0 thousand/mcl). Usually engraftment happens between days 7 and 10 and tomorrow is day 6. We have high hopes of getting back home, and I'd be lying if I said that the nurses and docs haven't planted that seed. Mary still hasn't been eating much, but she has been feeling nauseated less of the time, a very good thing...Feeling sick all of the time is no fun! Nothing too exciting today, which is always good around hospitals. We miss you all so much!

Day Four

2008-04-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

I didn't sleep as much today. Maybe because I'm catching up? Jody should be getting ready to fly out pretty quick back to Spokane, so it's just Mary and I until Friday when Bill and the boys get here. I'm planning on spending the night here at the hospital with Mary...And I'm making it with hospital pillows and blankets, I just brought my dog. If you know me, you know that's a record...Usually it's at least dog and the blanket. We'll see how it goes. Mary still is pretty sick feeling and not eating much. Nothing sounds or tastes good to her, which makes it even harder to try and eat. Her counts dropped again today, so hopefully she is close to bottoming out. Then her new cells will start to engraft and she should start to feel better! That usually starts to happen between five to ten days after transplant, and we're coming up on that number. And then, she can come home from the hospital, something she's really looking forward to! Maybe even in time for this weekend!

Day Three

2008-04-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you much about this day. Jody and I drove up to the hospital in time for rounds to meet and talk briefly with the doctor. And then she took me back to the apartment and I slept. For six hours. Maybe I was tired. Mary's white blood cell counts have continued to drop. The doctors believe they will bottom out in the next couple of days and then start to climb. Then hopefully she will feel better!

Day Two

2008-04-11T17:13:00.001-07:00

Today the Drs. decided that it would be best to admit Mary to the University of Washington Hospital Transplant Unit. It basically serves as a place for SCCA patients to be taken care of inpatient instead of at home. And so for the moment, she is at the hospital and I am at the apartment, waiting for Jody to get here for the weekend. We aren't sure how long Mary will be in the hospital. The doctors here don't even guess...the best they will offer is that she'll be out when she can keep down pills, food, and more liquid that what she's been drinking. So, it could be a couple of days...or longer. Thanks for your prayers and encouraging words.

Day One

2008-04-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Today has gone pretty well so far. We went in at 9:45 to the Vamps and then had a meeting with the nurse at 10:30. There has been talk of the hospital, but not yet. The PA is comfortable with Mary being at home as long as she can keep down her pills and some liquid...Still just 7up. Then she's on IV hydration for the rest of her fluids. They changed the schedule for anti-nausea meds, so hopefully that will help, although it is still every two hours. Oh joy. Over the past three days, we've been able to see her white blood cell (WBC) counts drop, although not drastically yet. We are still anticipating that. Tomorrow, Jody will get here and then be here for the weekend. I think Mary and I are both really looking forward to that. It will be especially nice since we have appointments on both Saturday and Sunday and the shuttle doesn't run over the weekend. YAY for our big sister who can drive us. :) I guess that's about all I have. Nothing exciting, which is always good!

Day Zero

2008-04-09T18:02:00.001-07:00

Today was the day. Mary's "birthday," as they call it around here. Day Zero. The day she got her cells back. We started early (8am) and just got home (6pm). So, I think that made a long day for both of us. She has still been pretty nauseated and yucky feeling, although it was really helpful to be on IV meds for that for the day instead of pills. She also came in pretty darn dehydrated from not drinking or eating much from last night until this morning...Just sips of 7up here and there and a popsicle. They ran hydration (just normal saline this time) for two hours (about 500mL), started giving her the three bags of cells back at 11:35 and finished up with the cells at 12:04. It was amazing to watch the cells drip out of the bag and down the line, knowing that they are literally liquid life for Mary. After that she got another five hours or so of hydration (1500mL pushed pretty fast). And now we're home. Mary's still sticking to 7up and we're still on the anti-puke meds every two hours (and yes, that includes all night long). As well as frequent temperature checks. However, we have made great strides in that department, this afternoon I went on the shuttle to Safeway while Mary was getting hydration and made a great purchase, an ear thermometer. And it only takes 5 seconds to scan, not between a minute and two (which is an incredibly LONG time at 2am). I also got more 7up (they had a sale, buy three get three free, although I'm not sure what we would have done with 6 2Liters of 7up or where we would put them, so I just got two, enough for now). Also, we now have hydration units at home (packed in the fridge). The Doc figured that it's pretty unrealistic to get Mary to get all of her liquids from drinking at this point and so she sent us home with 1500mLs of hydration per day for the next five days starting tomorrow; then we'll see from there. Oh, and let me tell you, those 1.5 Liter bags are heavy to tote around, and they'll take awhile to pump (the fastest I can run them here would take seven hours, optimally it would be spread over ten). So, I'm thinking overnight, Mary seemed like she was able to space out the pump pretty well a couple of days ago; I hope she can keep doing that (I know I wouldn't be able to!). Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Day Minus One

2008-04-08T18:25:00.001-07:00

Today was officially "The Day of Rest." And Mary did get rest, lots of it (hopefully). She woke up in the middle of the night feeling really nauseated and then wasn't able to keep anything down this morning. So, we ended up staying at the clinic all day long while they replaced lost fluids (1000mL of saline with magnesium) and tried to get the nausea under control through IV meds. The anti-nausea meds have pretty well knocked her out though, so she's gotten a fair share of sleep (although interrupted by nurses needing vital stats and all of that and now me waking her up to give her more meds). Now we can hopefully keep it under control better at home. We're on a strict schedule of taking something (or giving it :) every two hours now, so hopefully that will make a big difference. Tomorrow is the big day! We've been here for a month to get to this day. Well, a month and four days tomorrow to be exact. Thanks for your prayers and encouraging thoughts, calls, and cards! We appreciate and love you all!

Day Minus Two

2008-04-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today was Chemo day. Melphalan to be exact. We got to the lab on time (Mary stayed with the vamps while I ran back to the Pete Gross House since I'd forgotten stuff...I didn't swing the getting back in the habit thing very well today). Got all the drugs from the pharmacy. Got a pump and hydration unit to hook Mary up to after the chemo and headed to infusion (floor 5, and yes, I do have them all memorized, ask sometime). We sat out in the waiting room for about an hour after our appointment time. Then got called back and waited another hour and a half for the drugs to be mixed. How exciting. :) NOT. Luckily, the backpack comes prepared. We had books, I had tunes, Phase Ten...Maybe one of these days I'll take my backpack at the end of the day and list the contents for you. It would be interesting, to say the least (a lot of stuff gets shoved in there). Anyways, once they finally got the drip started, it took about 30 minutes. Mary had to eat ice chips for 30 minutes pre-chemo, through chemo, and then for four to five hours post-chemo; that's hopefully going to cut down on the effects of Mucositis. So, she finished up with the ice chips about the same time I was turning off the pump and unhooking and flushing her line out here at the apartment. As we were leaving the Hutch I met up with my gift shop lady. It was great to talk to a familiar face for a few minutes (and she gives good hugs). Oh, and for those of you who think I'm over here getting this great education, I am. And I'm glad I am because I sure want to know exactly what I'm doing. The only thing is, I better never have to use all of this stuff again! After this, cancer and I are done in this life!

Soon and very soon...

2008-04-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't been as great at updating this as I would have liked to be... Right now I'm in Portland for a week (or the end of a week) while Bill and the boys are with Mary in Seattle for their spring break. Mary had apheresis the beginning of this week to collect her stem cells. We are looking at doing chemo on Monday, having a day of rest Tuesday (right, rest...my brain is reeling), and then DAY ZERO on Wednesday. That is the day that Mary will get all of her own stem cells back, at least as the schedule stands now. Please pray for the chemo and that Mary does well getting her cells back. And that we all stay healthy! Also, pray that we all are able to enjoy the last few days of our breaks before we really start running.

2008-03-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Mary and I were blessed to be able to go back to Spokane for the Easter weekend. It was wonderful to get to surprise our family and friends! And to spend time together with everyone. Even mom came over from ND. We had an interesting event with the security personnel at the check point in Spokane, but other than that things went well. Mary even was able to have her cast taken off! YAY.

Today, we went into the clinic and Mary had a Double Hickman line put in. This will allow the Drs. and nurses to take blood through the line and to give her any IV meds or additional fluids or blood products through her line instead of an IV. YAY for lots less poking and bruises! I was able to talk to the Dr. for a few minutes after the procedure and he said that everything went very smoothly and that the Chest X-Ray of the line looked great. So, we're back and running, of course! So many things to do (and of course, this is one of them :)! We miss you all so much!

2008-03-18T18:55:00.001-07:00

I believe today has been the day of most wonderful news! Want to hear?!

First, Mary and I found out that the SCCA is going to help pay $835 of our monthly rent over here in Seattle. We are still left with $1000 each month, but that is a much more manageable number!

Second, when we met with Sara, the PA-C this afternoon, she told us that the cancer levels in Mary's bone marrow are so low that we won't have to do pre-stem-cell harvest chemo! Just four days of growth hormone and then apheresis to collect the mobilized cells! YAY!

We have a team meeting tomorrow called a Data Review where we will get all of the test results back and finalized the transplant plan. Then next Tuesday morning, Mary will have a Hickman Line placed.

Thanks for all of your prayers and encouragement!

Top Ten Tips to Staying Well.

2008-03-11T19:44:00.000-07:00

After reading a couple of books and attending my fair share of conferences with Drs. and classes on cleanliness, safety and care-taking, I am feeling qualified to share. Here they are...Ten things that Mary and I will be abiding by for the months to come (Trust me, these aren't the only things we'll be doing, these are practical things that EVERYONE should be doing during cold, flu, and RSV season and things that others who would like to visit should take into consideration).

10. Use a real bleach solution to clean the kitchen, bathroom, and other common surfaces, especially in high traffic areas of your home.
9. Don't touch your hair or face (that includes blowing your nose!), lots of germs abide there. If you do, wash your hands!
8. Don't hang out with people who are sick. Be kind to the rest of us, and if you are sick, keep it to yourself!
7. Make instant hand sanitizer your new best friend, it needs to have at least 51% alcohol to be effective...62% is best. It's even better if it contains moisturizers or conditioners that can help your skin from becoming cracked.
6. Cough or sneeze into your arm pit or shoulder, and then promptly wash your hands. Make sure that clothing that has been coughed or sneezed into is washed regularly!
5. Don't shake others' hands. I've probably met over 20 different staff and the SCCA and Hutch in the last week and have yet to shake a hand, hand to hand contact spreads LOTS of germs. If I meet you in the upcoming weeks and months or you introduce me to a friend, don't be offended, I'm not going to shake anyone's hand.
4. Insist that others wash their hands often.
3. Wash your hands for at least 15 seconds with lots of warm soapy water before preparing or consuming food.
2. Wash your hands if you've been in a restroom; stop and notice that, wash if you've been in a restroom, not just if you've used a restroom.
1. And wash your hands again. We're heard it over and over and over again...Frequent hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infection!

2008-03-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

I have created a Google Calendar so that everyone can keep updated with what Mary and I are doing on a daily basis. I just made it public today, so you should be able to access it either with my email address or by searching for it. The title is "Hillbillies in Seattle." Or you can click on this link and it should (I'm crossing my fingers) take you there. Enjoy!

Pictures from the last week.

2008-03-07T21:44:00.000-08:00

Chelsea with Nicole right after the wedding.

Mary with Nicole on Tuesday.

Chelsea and Jeff on Tuesday.

2008-03-04T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well folks...Mary and I are in Seattle. Jody, Matt, and I drove over Saturday and had the chance to go to Chelsea and Jeff's wedding. It was good to spend time with both of them and their family here. Mary, Bill, and the boys then drove over Sunday morning. Jody and Matt drove back Sunday afternoon and then Bill, Billy, and Joey flew out yesterday afternoon.

We like to offer up a huge thanks to Holiday Inn in Everett. Through the Rooms for Life program with the American Cancer Society, they are allowing us to stay here free of charge while we are waiting for our room to open up at the Hutch on March 6th. When we move in there this Thursday, our address will be...

Mary Hoyt-Sims (or Jessica Bolt)
525 Minor Avenue North, Apt 302
Seattle, WA 98109

We would LOVE to hear from all of you! Also, Mary has set up a Carepage that she will update with what is going on every day or so with her thoughts. Even though she says something contrary to this on her page, I will continue to update this blog with my thoughts on what is going on in Seattle and my other blog with my own thoughts on whatever else. Here are directions (thanks to Tawnya) for accessing the Carepage.

To register to access Mary's Carepage, please follow these directions:

· www.carepages.com/seattlecca

· press: “click here to visit or create a CarePage”

· on top right press blue “visit” button

· on the left side of the page, you’ll have to register/sign up to visit Mary’s site

· enter Mary’s CarePage Name: maryhoytsims

· and it will forward you to a page that displays a tips and advice

· on the top right side press the arrow that directs you “Go To CarePage”

· Taaa Daaa!!! You’re in!

Today, Mary and I have plans of going and visiting Chelsea and Nicole, her little girl. Yes, I'll post some pictures when I have a few minutes, mom. :) Then tomorrow is our check-in appointment at the SCCA. Thursday is our move in day at the Pete Gross House. Also, tomorrow we will find out what tests and appointments we will have for the next few weeks. I have set up a google calendar with appointments and "highlights" like when Bill and the boys will be visiting. If you're so inclined, this is a great way to keep up with our day to day prayer requests, just email me or comment with your email address and I'll send you the access URL for it. Thanks as always for all of your love and encouragement (and especially the comments and emails over the past few days). We love you!

2008-02-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

In one week, Mary and I will move to Seattle to begin the first of two stem cell transplants. Your prayers are appreciated as we pack and get ready to leave our family here.

2008-02-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

Mary will not be having surgery tomorrow. This was a hard decision to make, but we believe it is the best choice for our family at this point. The Drs. had talking about opting to do a less invasive surgery and repair the ligaments surrounding her ankle and let the fibula heal on its own. However, Mary would still not be able to bear any weight on her ankle for 10 to 12 weeks. We believe it is best for Mary to not be so limited in her mobility as we proceed with the stem cell transplant. So, March 5th, here we come!

2008-02-11T22:16:00.001-08:00

If you've been following our family here, you probably know that Mary broke her leg while we were in Hawaii. The fibula (little bone on the outside of your lower leg). At her Doctor's appointment on Friday, she received some hard news. Because her leg is not healing well, she will need to have surgery THIS THURSDAY to mend the break. At this point, the transplant will continue as planned, although we will know for sure tomorrow. However, Mary will not be able to bear any weight AT ALL on her leg for the next 10 to 12 weeks. This will be especially difficult because Mary has such a hard time balancing already. Please continue to pray for her. First that surgery goes well on Thursday and that the stem cell transplant will go on as planned. And second that she can be encouraged by those of us around her.

An email from Mary.

2008-02-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!!

A note of praise and happiness of answered prayers for a perfect match for my allo bone marrow transplant. My sister Jody is a perfect match. They do not usually see this in siblings- only twins so it is a God thing for sure. I put a copy of the report in the teacher’s room in the Elementary room as it is so incredible to me.

Also, I have my date to go to Seattle now. My arrival appointment is scheduled for March 5^th at 9am. Jessica, Big Billy and I will head over the beginning of the week and get set up in the Pete Gross House apartment and then Billy will fly back home after the appointment. I will be in Seattle for about 3 months for the first transplant and then home for 2-4 weeks and then back to Seattle for 4-5 months for the all transplant.

I also put in a leave of absence for the rest of the year. I will work Tuesdays and Thursdays until the 21^st of February at which time my leave will start. I think putting in the leave was the hardest for me as I love my job and all the people I work with. I love each and everyone of you and I am so thankful to have you all in my life. I appreciate all your love, prayers, support and friendship more than you know. I will keep in touch be e-mail and phone calls and my progress will be posted on Jessica’s blog too.

Thanks again,

Mary

2008-02-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

Well folks, we have a move in date! Mary has her first appointment at the Hutch in Seattle on March 5th, just over a month away. Thanks for you continued prayers and encouragement!

Side note...I'm slowly working at uploading photos from vacation onto an online host. Click on the Hillbillies Pictures link for your viewing pleasure. :)

Snow Day

2008-01-31T22:25:00.001-08:00

Photobucket Album

2008-01-29T16:01:00.000-08:00

Our family got some wonderful news today...We found out that Jody is a perfect HLA tissue typed match for Mary to have a bone marrow transplant. Thanks for all your prayers that got us to this news today!

2008-01-22T00:24:00.000-08:00

We're in Hawaii...Not sure if many of you know that. It's been a great family vacation so far. We've gotten to do lots of cool things, like ride a submarine down to the bottom of the ocean and go to a luau. Today, we decided to hike down to see a blow hole and some tide pools. It was a GREAT idea, in theory. It would have been even better, in theory, had someone noticed the expertise marking on the guide book we were following. No such luck though. When we were almost all down to the pools, Mary slipped. She heard something crack. Is that ever good?? Bill, Jody, Matt, and I took turns helping her crawl back up the rocky ledge and back to the car. It was quite the adventure, to say the least. When we went to lunch and her foot was just hurting more, we agreed that a trip to minor emergency for some x-rays was in order. And we're glad we opted in on that one. So, Mary is very scratched up and has a broken left ankle. The ER doctor said it was a very nice simple break and shouldn't have any problems healing, but no weight bearing for the time being. We're going on with vacation, just like planned. We're just aiming for wheelchair accessible. Yeah, crutches don't go so well when you've got titanium rods in your back and have little balance to start with from all of the cancer drugs. So, to all our readers back at home, pray that Mary's ankle doesn't hurt too much and that she takes time to enjoy the rest of our time together as a family on vacation.

2008-01-15T21:48:00.000-08:00

Mary and I went and made a deposit at the Bank of Fairfield this afternoon. And the grand total is....$40,545!!!!! Thanks so much for helping to make this happen! I don't think any of us can come up with words to describe how grateful we are. You all mean so much to us.

2008-01-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Well folks, the auction was a HUGE success last night! With over 350 donations and over 400 people, we surpassed our greatest expectations and raised over $25,000! Thanks to all of you who walked through the doors and purchased some of the many items we had. And thanks especially to all of you who came and volunteered. We couldn't have done any of this without all of you! Thanks friends and family for getting us half way there!

2008-01-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday! Auction day! We have nearly 300 items up for silent auction, five going on a live auction, and plenty for all on two cash and carry tables in addition to a queen sized quilt that will be raffled. A huge thanks goes out to all of you who have made such generous donations and many thanks in advance to everyone who has volunteered their time to make this event a success. We hope to see you there!

2008-01-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

The insurance has approved the first bone marrow transplant and recommended treatment that goes with it! YAY!!! Tina, Sue, and Jody will go tomorrow (Monday the 7th) to have their blood drawn for HLA tissue typing. Please join with us in prayer for a match! Thanks.

Auction Time!

2008-01-04T12:55:00.001-08:00

The big auction is just a week away! If you haven't one of several notices or you've forgotten, it's Saturday the 12th at 5:30 at the Freeman Elementary School. Email me or call our house if you need directions! We've been collecting items to be auctioned. Here are a few highlights...

A week of lodging in Hawaii at someone's timeshare condo.

A hot tub.

Two 3rd row tickets to a Shock game.

A week in White Fish, MT.

A weekend at a cabin on Lake Roosevelt.

A week at a summer art camp.

A 90 minute massage.

A quilt from Carrie Rider and another quilt from Nancy Hawley.

Oh right, and some African photo prints...Can you guess who would LOVE to have those?

There are TONS of other donations, big and small, including baskets compiled by many of the elementary classes. If you have something you would like to donate, we are accepting donations right up until 5:30 on Saturday. If you have donated something, we appreciate you so much! Thank you for helping us make this a success.

Dinner is going to be provided by Mama Mia's, a local Italian restaurant. Tickets are $5 a person to get in. Babysitting will be provided by students from Cascade College in Portland, OR for a donation. We are looking forward to seeing you!

Thursday.

2007-12-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

This Thursday, we will receive a list of benefits related to the bone marrow transplant that Mary's insurance will cover and the extent to which they will be covered. Please keep this in prayer. This will give us a much more realistic understanding of the financial commitment involved with this entire process. Thanks in for your prayers concerning this. You all mean so much to us. Also, to our family at Freeman: thank you so much for the birthday surprises for Mary this past Friday and for all of the gift cards we have received to help out with expenses this Christmas season. We wouldn't choose to be any place besides here at home with all of you right now. Thanks again.

2007-12-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

As this blog is slowly becoming update central for everything that is going on with Mary right now, my personal thoughts will be contained in a new location. Thanks for following me there.

We're getting our game on.

2007-12-10T21:22:00.001-08:00

Many of you know that Mary and Bill went over to Seattle last Wednesday to meet with the Drs. at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to discuss the treatment of her Multiple Myeloma. As Mary said in an email, "It was very stressful and overwhelming." Here's the verdict. Mary and I will head over to Seattle in early February. We will be staying there for about three months while Mary has an autologous transplant from her own stem cells. We will then come home for between two and four months and then head back to Seattle for an additional four to five months for Mary to have an allogenic transplant, hopefully from one of her sisters. The cost of this entire process is immense. To give you a picture, I'll crunch some numbers...The first (auto) transplant will cost something like $234,000. The second (allo) is around $311,000. HLA tissue typing to find a donor match, at $2000 a person, will be around $10,000. Housing in Seattle for Mary and I for eight months will be something upwards of $24,000; yes, housing in Seattle within a few miles of the SCCA is expensive. Mary's medical insurance is $500 a month...The medical insurance Mary has now has a $250,000 transplant limit. Mary will enroll in Bill's insurance in July, which also has a transplant cap of $250,000. So, if everything goes smoothly and as planned, we are still looking at needing upwards of $45,000 just to complete the transplants. That doesn't include housing or transportation or anything else. Total, we are looking at needing to come up with around $75,000 (And trust us, as the insurance decides what is billed as a "transplant service" instead of something else and as we get a more realistic view of living expenses in Seattle, this number is likely to grow). This pays for medical treatment above the insurance limits, copays, deductibles, prescriptions, housing, and transportation. In light of the overwhelming costs our family will be experiencing in the upcoming months, we are asking for the help of everyone we know. In the big picture, something like five dollars may not look like a lot, but in the little picture, it makes a huge difference to us. $5 from 100 people is $500, enough to pay for Mary's insurance for a month. It also buys a case of bottled water (Mary can't drink tap water for quite some time after the transplant). It buys a value sized pack of toilet paper or a container of Clorox wipes. It buys the fixings for dinner one night, or pays for a movie rental and a box of microwave popcorn when Billy and Joey come to visit (Mary won't be able to go to a theater). Five dollars doesn't look like a lot, but it has the ability to do a lot when it's in the right place. In anticipation of February, we are asking for practical things that will help us maintain two homes and help with travel expenses. Things that would be most helpful include gas cards, gift cards to fast food restaurants, gift cards to grocery stores or to department stores (like WalMart, Target, FredMeyer, etc.), and your unused AIRLINE MILES! A round trip ticket from Spokane to Seattle is around $125 after taxes. These tickets will be a hot commodity for our family as they cut down on travel time greatly meaning we will get to spend more time together and less time going back and forth. Thanks especially for your thoughts, prayers, and encouragement. Our family and friends mean so much to us right now.

Two books worth reading.

2007-12-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

Because sometimes the only thing that matters is being together and because hugs really do fix everything.

The Gift of Nothing and Hug Time both by Patrick McDonnell.

The great surrender.

2007-12-04T21:44:00.000-08:00

I have an admission to make. My sisters/friends/any one who's ever lived with me, have made many attempts to convince me of this fact, and over Thanksgiving dinner, I finally conceded. I am a picky eater. I realized this must be true when I looked down at my plate to find only a few pieces of turkey, white meat only, picked apart to be sure there isn't any funny skin or something, and some Stovetop stuffing. Yes, that's it. As I was surrounded with all of the traditional fixings for such a family dinner, that's all I wanted. And for desert? Not pie, but a rice crispy treat. And so my sisters must be right, or at least their words must be fueled by a grain or two of truth. If I'm going to drink juice, there's only one brand of one kind that I like, the rest are either too sweet or two bitter. If I'm going to eat veggies, it's a particular cut of one canned kind. If I eat fruit, it's usually left to green bananas. To be honest, I'm probably just a picky person. I don't like clothes to be itchy, and actually, Mary would probably tell you that I think everything is itchy (Really, I don't, just most things). When I go to sleep, I only want a certain blanket and pillow, and I like just those two things plus a sweatshirt to be washed in a particular detergent, one that's different that what the rest of our clothes are washed in; that way they smell like home. You could say I'm probably picky about my friends too. And I'm probably picky about a hundred other things as well. Too many to just list. And so I won't. I'll just leave you with my great white flag: I'm picky. Thanks for understanding.

What community is about...

2007-11-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

I got a phone call at work on Wednesday. Which, really, isn't all that unusual. Mary calls every once in a while to let me know changes in plans and whatnot. But Mary didn't call on Wednesday. Kate Coombes called. If you live in the Freeman community, you've probably seen Kate around the school on an occasion or two. For those of you who don't, Kate is the PTSA treasurer for Freeman. She's also an actively involved parent at Freeman Elementary where her two sons, Jack and Joe are enrolled in school. Kate was a huge blessing to our family a year and a half ago when Mary was going through radiation following surgery to remove the tumor on her spine shortly before Christmas of 2005. Kate called and told me that she had called a few other community members... and that together they were planning to pay our mortgage from January until June. Ok, so if you've spoken with me recently, you know I've kind of been a little on edge about this money thing. The cost of a Bone Marrow Transplant is HUGE. Not only will Mary not be able to work for up to a year or more, but we have to pay her insurance out of pocket (over $600 a month) and housing in Seattle (something like $1700 a month). Then there is the cost of having and maintaining a car in Seattle. Insurance copays. Things the insurance doesn't pay, or just doesn't pay all of. Time taken off work so that someone can be with Mary most of the time. Travel back and forth between Seattle and Spokane on the weekends. It seems like the list of expenses keeps getting longer... And longer... When it seemed like we were finally starting to make ends meet and somewhat comfortably able to pay everything each month. But, back to the phone call at preschool. I got off the phone crying, after all, who wouldn't cry when someone has just told you that the community you live in is dedicated to you staying in your own home and not having to move in the middle of this whole cancer thing, no matter what the cost may be to them. And instantaneously, I was surrounded with three and four year olds asking what was wrong. But for once, I wasn't crying about what was wrong. I wasn't crying because my sister has an incurable cancer or because I'm scared or any other number of things that go along with all of that. I was crying because for a minute, everything seemed so right. So, Kate, if you read this, thanks. You really have been such an amazing blessing to our family. Like I kept saying on the phone, "You have no idea how much this would mean." We still aren't out of the money hole. We'll find out more about what insurance pays and doesn't pay on Dec. 5th, but it's estimated that we'll need at least $2000 to $4000 more a month to make it out in the black... Yes, that's how costly it is to have a Bone Marrow Transplant. Sara Groves says in Song for my Sons, "I can't say your life will always go on like it should, but I can say that God is always good." I've seen a lot of the goodness of God in the last week. Thanks for being a part of that.

A day from...

2007-11-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

I believe that today has been the day from |H| |E| double hockey sticks. This morning, after waking up late, rushing around to get myself out the door, and forgetting the potatoes for sharing soup, we, or that would be Mary, discovers that the car keys aren't in her purse. Billy was the last one who had them. So she calls, does he know where they are, no. Of course not. We look on the counter, in pockets, in the car. Nope. The keys are not to be found. Granted, this is already six minutes after we usually leave to go to work. And so we discover that we'll be driving the Suburban. Which is parked in the shop BEHIND the four wheeler. So, Little Billy and I proceed to open the shop door, move the wood and gas containers, put the four wheeler in neutral, and push it out the door. Mary backs the beast of a vehicle out. It then takes all that's in Billy, Joey, and I to get the four wheeler back into the shop...Uphill is definitely more difficult than down hill. In the process of getting it back in, Billy forgets his backpack in the shop. It's now about, oh, FIVE-TIL-EIGHT. Mind you, Mary and I both start work at 8:00am sharp. Billy calls and suggests we look on the back bumper of the Suburban. And low and behold, what is there but the CAR KEYS. Can I say that both Mary and I were a bit frustrated at this point. We manage to get out of the drive way and down the road only to pull out on the the HWY behind our bus. Oh-Mister-Overly-Cautious-Driver "CAN'T YOU GO A LITTLE FASTER?!" At this point Mary starts yelling about just hopping on a bike and peddling to school. Right, let's all do that. So, we roll in a little late and overly-anxious. Needless to say, it was not the best start to the day.

This evening. I think I'm getting a good start on this online class I've taken. After all, I finished reading the first FOUR chapters today at school while waiting for Mary to get off work. And so I just took the first test. I was amazed, and yes, quite horrified, that I didn't know many of the answers. And that the answers to the questions I didn't already know were no where to be found in the book. And why was that? Because I have the WRONG book. I am frustrated beyond belief, if you can only imagine that. I will offer up thanks to my wonderful Buddy who tried to help me answer some of the questions over the phone and to my great Big Sister who tried to recall all of the information form years ago when she finished her Masters.

Tomorrow we're going to be in the car for I don't know, something like 14 or 15 hours while we drive to ND for Thanksgiving. But I'm pretty sure that it's going to be better than today. After all, today doesn't set the highest standards! I'm very hopeful.

For M. Rose.

2007-11-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

I think you've been waiting something like three months for these. Yeah, the room's changed a bit. New location. New arrangement. And hey, maybe it will have changed again by the time you actually see it again. Haha. That huge table isn't going ANYWHERE though. It was a bugger to move! Anything on the walls look familiar? :) Thanks for the contributions to the decor. Although I know, it isn't anything like your color coordinated/themed room. I don't think I can just pick one thing and stick with it though. It'd get old. Either that or I'd constantly be rearranging and redecorating. And well, at the rate it's taken me to finally get everything together this time, that just wouldn't be a possibility! Anyways, enjoy. I hope that your Saturday got better after the rotten start!

These are my monkey friends that I have recently begun collecting. Let's see. The big one doesn't have a name yet, feel free to give me suggestions. The red one is Jake (Thanks Phoenix for the name). The little twins are Coffee and Bean (Thanks Jena). Dexter is in the middle of them (Thanks Emily!). And the one on the end is Wookie (the Woobie). And no, I don't sleep with all of those. That would be WAY too crowded!
This one was taken from the doorway. So, it's right what you see when you walk in. If you don't remember, the teal wall used to be purple. That was definitely one of the first things that got changed!
And there's my bed along with random art and pictures, my favorite blanket, all of the little monkeys and my prayer shawl from Israel hanging over my bed. Oh, and a map of Uganda. Someday...

2007-11-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

I work in a preschool. I think that has been well established in this blog. So, if you were to come to work with me, this is what you would hear me say. Actually, it's probably all you would hear me say.

"Different is ok."
"We are all friends at preschool."
"We are all learning."
"The toys are closed."
"It's time for the playdough to go back in the playdough house." (Don't ask. It just came out of my mouth at the end of a very long day while trying to wrestle playdough out of a kid's hands before he got on the bus, and it's stuck around).
"Quiet rest time means I should not hear you."
"My name is NOT Teacher."
"Are you tattling?"
"Preschool is a safe place."
"I see that you are upset right now; we can talk when your voice is calm like mine."
"Maybe another day."
"This is true."
"Crayons/blocks/books are not for throwing."
"Please make safe choices."
"I like it when you give me hugs, but I am choosing for you not to hit me."
"When you are ready to use words [instead of screaming], I will talk to you."
"Help, not ow."
"Chalk is for the chalkboard."
In response to, "You are the meanest teacher ever!" "I am ok with that. Let me know when you are ok with me again."
"Take a deep breath."
"Would you like to hold my hand or would you like to walk yourself?"
"That is not a choice."
"I have a secret to tell you..." Followed by some whispered message like, "We don't run at preschool."
"What words could you say to ____ instead of hitting/kicking/pinching/etc."
"I'm not in preschool anymore, and that means that I'm not very good at solving preschool problems. But guess what?! You're in preschool and so I bet that means you are great at solving preschool problems. How do you think you can solve this problem?"
"What can I do to help you calm down right now?"
"Stop and wait."
"I will stay right here. I am not going to leave."
"You are doing great walking!"
"No up."
"Trying new things is hard and scary, but I will stay right next to you."
"You are so brave."
"Kids sit on their benches at circle time."
"Did you wash your hands?" "With soap?"
"Do not touch me with that peanut butter."
"I do not have a husband."
"Done with hi."
"Put your hands on your head if you can hear me."
And last but not least... "No." I have found that this is my fallback phrase, especially with a few specific kids. However, I am now making a conscious effort not to use it, so hopefully you wouldn't hear that come out of my mouth (no guarantees though!). The kids I say it to already hear it from their friends, parents, teachers, and countless others. I don't need to be saying it too. I have a whole collection of other things I can say. And usually they work a lot better!

Thanks Kristi and Choice Language!

2007-11-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

I've been in Spokane for three months now. Most of you probably haven't noticed that, but I certainly have. There's something to be said about college and having a social life. Albeit, I didn't have much of a social life at Cascade; however it was definitely more apparent than my social surroundings here. And in my attempt to be with friends [who are few and far between, to say the least], I have found solace in music and books. I have not previously known the understanding that is found in a song nor the reassurance found in another's written words. And it is good, even if that person can't speak directly back to me. In fact, most of the time I believe this is best. After all, their words are enough. So thanks, especially to Sara Groves and to Anne Lamott. I know there have been others who have been there for a day or a week, but these friends have come and encouraged me minute by minute and day by day with their words. They have walked with me to the place I am now. I can only hope they stick around for the rest of the journey.

Millions of things to say?

2007-11-11T22:29:00.000-08:00

If you haven't noticed, I've been in Portland for the past few days. It's been a nice break from the going-ons of home. (Sorry to mention it Sarah, but next time we'll both be here! YAY!). We recently lost our internet connection at home; something with the wiring or satellite. It's something I was not able to fix. Not with my limited computer knowledge. Not with the guide book. Not with the Satellite Tech on the other end of the phone. It just wasn't happening for me. And so we've gone for three weeks without Internet, of any kind, at home. That means I haven't emailed much. I haven't read blogs. I haven't written on my blog. I haven't downloaded any new Podcasts (my newest enjoyment). Simply, I haven't done anything that involves the Internet (slow or fast). I believe that makes wireless the highlight of this trip. Besides, it is the most capturable moment of my time here. After all, I have no words to describe being able to sit and talk with Sam, a friend from Uganda who is here visiting, for a few hours yesterday. I can't tell you how great it was to be at PUMP this Sunday. There aren't words for the hundreds of hugs I've received (I think I'm running on extras right now). I don't have words to tell you about the good conversations I've had with old friends. If the point of the last few days was to get to tomorrow feeling full and ready to go back home, it has been accomplished. I think I have enough hugs and words to carry me for awhile. Thanks Portland friends and family.

2007-10-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Your chair and blanket miss you as much as I do, Daddy.

Perfect Hugs.

2007-10-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

In the last couple of months, I've learned a lot about hugging people. For example, this summer I learned from Kenli that it's good, and really healthy, to get 10 hugs a day. And while that sounds like a lot, life goes a whole lot better when you do. I've experienced that first hand.

Working in an inclusive preschool, I've gotten a crash course in lots of things--physical therapy, occupational therapy, and the technical side of giving hugs. Depending on who you are with, there can actually be a lot that goes into giving a hug. I never gave this idea much thought before, but it makes sense. Everyone hugs, and even more importantly likes to be hugged, differently. For example, a couple of the little kids I work with love to be squeezed really tightly. That make sense when I remember that they need lots of sensory input. Another little girl just wants to stand close to me and either hold my hand or have my arm wrapped around her. She doesn't want to be "trapped" in a "hug," that would be sensory overload for her, but still wants the comfort of physical contact. Another kid likes it when I get down on my knees, wrap my arms around her tightly and then rub my hands briskly up and down her back. In fact, for her, it's a great sensory reward for any job well done.

Speaking of senses, hugs can do wonders for kids with sensory issues. They can help to rev up an under-stimulated sensory system or help calm down an overly sensitive or stimulated kid, when used carefully with deep pressure contact. Besides, hugs help to create a safe and trusting environment. Additionally, they get your brain to release all of those feel good chemicals. So, could there be a downside to hugs? It's hard to believe, but yes. For someone who is tactically defensive, hugs can be torture. A hug that is quick, just brushes the skin, or doesn't provide the expected input can really mess with the sensory system of an already overloaded kid. That's why I've found the technical side of hugging to be so important. And while most of you who read this will probably never give it a second thought, I have really enjoyed the opportunity to carefully look at and process this information. It explains why I, as a "normal" person, love getting hugs from some people and hate getting hugs from other people. And just realizing that gives me insight and sensitivity to the sensory likes and dislikes of the kids, many of whom have sensory issues, I play with everyday.

So, if you ever happen to wonder what makes a "perfect hug," here it is: a safe person, in a safe place and at a safe time, who provides the right amount of the right kind of sensory input. More simply, the perfect hug is just the right hug from the right person at the right time.

If you're ever wondering about Sensory Processing Disorders or the many uses of hugs, I've gained lots of insight from the follow recent reads. Raising a Sensory Smart Child by Lindsey Biel, M.A. ORT/L and Nancy Peske. And The Out-of-Sync Child and The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun both by Carol Stock Krandwitz, M.A. OTR/L. I also have gained lots of information and practical insight from both observing and talking to Miss Susie LaBarre, the Occupational Therapist for the Freeman School District.

Pew Church

2007-10-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

In my life time, I've had several opportunities to go to Pew Churches. No pun intended. Or maybe it is. Just don't be offended.

Anyways, after several hilarious conversations with friends and funny emails, I thought I'd share some thoughts on the "traditional" or you might prefer I say "conservative" Church of Christ (or should I say church of Christ). If it's where you grew up you can probably relate (at least anyone who was present for a certain series of conversations at the Lowery's life group can relate to this list of skills developed by the "good ol' Church").

Thoughts on songs and singing.
728b. It's the Church of Christ anthem.
You've been schooled in reading shaped notes.
The Lord, or rather the elders, better have mercy on your soul if you are "moved by the spirit" to clap during worship.
You only know the 1st, 2nd, and 4th verses of every song in the song book. I still haven't figured out what's wrong with the 3rd verses? Are they unknowingly demon possessed?

On taking communion.
Your preferred style is, "Chip, sip, and tip."
You have mastered the art of taking communion and chewing gum.
You have a preferred brand/recipe for communion crackers/bread. (Let me just say that the Jesus Bread that Kami makes takes the cake).

On being baptized.
In elementary school, you prayed for your friends to "Get baptized" not "Get saved."
You grew up playing baptism and have therefore been baptized in several different pools by several different friends.
You believe cookies are hell bound because they have only been sprinkled and not submerged. (I'm not sure where I got this one, but it's one of my favorites).

On "the" church.
You grew up thinking you were sure lucky to have parents who picked the "right" church to go to.
You know that if you don't clock in twice on Sundays and once on Wednesdays you're headed straight for hell.
About the above statement, you believe that the timer doesn't start until the opening song/prayer and doesn't end until the final "Amen."
Every sermon you've had the privilege (because it's just that to be at church) ends with the phrase, "While we stand and sing..."
You know that traditionally, any good C of C is either named after the road it's on or the side of town it's located in and choose which church to visit while of vacation accordingly (since you NEVER go on vacation from church).
The majority of your Sunday School education came through the use of a flannel board.

On "other" churches.
You wonder if there really is such a thing as non-denominational. Or is that really just another denomination?
You parents or grandparents would literally have cow if you went someplace besides a Church of Christ. And so you do and conveniently "forget" where you went with your friends.
You have ever seen a female preacher on TV and changed the channel, unplugged the TV and prayed for forgiveness.
You're amazed that some of the "progressive" churches haven't been disfellowshipped from the Church of Christ community. After all, they have sound systems and use PowerPoint during worship.

On the front row.
You know it's reserved for sinners who need to repent.
You've always wanted to sit there, just to see what it feels like.
You can tell when some one is going to "come forward" because they are uncharacteristically sitting on the end of a pew.

On potlucks.
You recognize the casserole as the universal symbol of the church of Christ.
You hope that the man chosen to pray for the meal is someone who leads uncommonly short prayers as opposed to the man who leads the usual five minute prayer.
You have rekindled old friendships as a way to get closer to the front of the potluck line.

On being a kid in the church.
You've passed notes on attendance cards.
You've made up visitors...with names like Seymour Butts.
You've played an unnamed song book game...introduced to a few of us by Kenli this summer.
You've talked to a friend during the sermon and been thumped on the head by some unrelated church member.
You stand next to a cute guy when singing "youth group songs" in case you get to "huga huga friend huga friend next to ya."

And the namesake of this post.
You've been told "That's my pew" by someone older than your grandmother.

Mr. V! What kind of homework is this?!

2007-10-13T11:18:00.001-07:00

2007-10-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Well, the day has come. Our home has joined the ranks of wireless communities. So, if you come visit, bring your laptop and enjoy our much-faster-than-before Internet connection. Where am I now? Laying on Mary's warm bed with my broken ankle propped up soaking in the goodness of wireless and cable. They are two wonderful things to the way-laid.

Yes, I am accident prone. If you haven't heard, I fell down some stairs and the result was a very sprained and even more broken right ankle. I'll have a CAT scan tomorrow and then go back to the orthopedic surgeon on Monday or Tuesday to see if I'll have to have surgery to fix it. Let me just say that being stuck in a cast and on crutches doesn't coincide with working at a preschool. The kids were great today though. We'll see how they feel about helping me out when we get to week eight...that's a LONG time!

2007-10-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

I've been cooking dinner for my family recently. And for those of you who have either heard about my microwave cooking adventures last year or who experienced my cooking this summer, you know that is a joke. I have a quite limited repertoire of recipies (read boxes and cans) to draw from. I'm skilled at mac and cheese and hotdogs. Kevin and Nolan can attest to that. And Billy and Joey will say that I'm great with tomato soup and grilled cheese. I perfected my pancake making skills this summer; Fiona was a great witness to that. But that's really about all that comes with a nearly 100% success rate. And so I'm asking for your help. I am in great need of SIMPLE (more like fool proof), kid friendly, things to make for dinner. If you'd like to share your family favorites, I would be very grateful. After all, I'm getting sick of dollar frozen pizzas/soup and sandwiches/mac and cheese, even if Billy and Joey aren't.

Swearing off sickness.

2007-09-27T12:41:00.001-07:00

Many of you have heard of my attempt to swear off getting sick this flu season. But I have found that to be impossible. Between working at a preschool, living with two kids, traveling, and helping the chemo crazed Mary, the prefect "bug" environment has been created and nourished. Stress and small children in combination don't lead to favorable outcomes. I did try everything I knew to do in my infinitesimally small amount of wisdom to ward off any illness, all to no avail. All of the vitamin C, Echinacea, and Tylenol Cold have done no good. Yesterday Mary insisted that I go to the doctor. And I went. After all, in our house you aren't allowed to complain unless you've gone to the doctor/taken something, and then you usually feel better so you don't complain to start with. Some how, I managed to get enough of a sinus infection to swell my right nose hole shut. How pleasant, I know. The doctor said if I would have rested and slept off the cold bug I had at the end of last week, this would have never happened. Oh well, I learned my lesson. At least I'm not contagious, right?

I'm home.

2007-09-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

I am finally home after being in Portland for five days. Don't get me wrong, for the most part I enjoyed my time there, but it was a long time to be away from home at this point. The flight last night was quite uneventful, unless you count getting my toothpaste swipped after standing in the security line for almost 45 minutes to get myself and my stuff bomb checked and x-rayed (so much for PDX being one of the quickest airport security checks).

I came home to an almost entirely repainted house. In previous conversations, we had discussed "neutral" colors. However, the last time I checked, Magenta, Bright Blue, and Burgandy weren't neutral. All of the painting looks good. And getting used to it gives my brain something else to focus on. And really, it might look good. After all, I've only seen it through very tired eyes in the dark. It just wasn't quite what I was thinking...

I'm at school waiting for Mary to get off work (YAY for high speed internet somewhere!), and just wanted to say thanks to everyone in Portland for a good weekend. Thanks to the Tucker's for letting me crash at their house and use their internet. Thanks Grauls and AP for letting me hang out on Saturday. Thanks PUMP for all the amazing singing Sunday morning. And thanks to lots of friends for all of the hugs. Oh, and thanks Elice for everything else.

Yes, I've fallen off the face of the planet.

2007-09-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

I was recently reminded of my lack of communication over the last three weeks by a good friend. Sorry for all of the phone calls and emails that I've neglected. However, for those of you in Portland, I have been blessed by your presence over the past couple of days. Here's my life in a few sentences.

Work is great. I love the kids and the hours. I don't love that I have been sworn at by a four year old (not to mention hit and kicked), but I love the hugs and smiles.

Mary is doing ok. She's tired a lot and Sundays and Mondays are, well, interesting and hard at our house. But she's ok. We'll find out the beginning of November whether the chemo drugs are working.

We were supposed to have high speed internet a few weeks ago, but the set up got canceled. Then it was supposed to happen today, but it was canceled again. Should I just get used to dial-up? Is that even possible?!?!

Billy and Joey are busy playing football. They're pretty cute all decked out. Although the tackle part does get a little scary sometimes.

I cut my hair a few weeks ago. Well, I didn't cut it, someone else did, but you get the point. It's now about eight inches shorter and a lot lighter. It definitely helps the headaches.

I'm enjoying being in Portland right now. Although, it's a little weird trying to figure out where I fit in not really going to school and all. It has been great to spend time with friends though. I sure have missed people.

My sister Tina and her husband Robert just got custody of their son Chad's little girls. YAY for getting to see baby Arianna. She's adorable. I'll leave you with this picture.

Interesting facts about School District #358.

2007-08-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

I have successfully completed my first week of work at my first "real job." What makes it a real job? They take money out of my pay check for taxes and retirement even though I only work 14 hours a week!

I'm working in the inclusive preschool in the Freeman School District which is where I grew up going to school. It's also where Mary works and where Billy and Joey go to school. There are 24 kids enrolled in preschool and so even with four of us working, we sure do stay busy! I don't have much else to share about my job (unless you want to hear stories about me chasing Ronnie across the soccer field or about getting paint all over my new clothes the first day of school) and so I thought I'd share some interesting facts about the district I work for.

Freeman employs 114 staff members.

Of these 114 staff, 52 live in district and 16 are Freeman graduates.

I am the youngest Freeman employee.

The age gap between me and the oldest Freeman employee is nearly 50 years.

The school district owns 20 buses and six pod buildings.

Our budget for the 2007-2008 year is 8.2 million dollars.

Our water tanks hold 182,000 gallons of water. When the tanks drop to 50,000 gallons alarms start to go off.

Freeman is Washington State School District #358 located in Zone 4 of District 9 (I didn't think this was important before, but I found out at the PSE meeting that it apparently is for whatever reason).

Our last day of school for the 2007-2008 school year is June 6th. That's only 177 school days away!

A few side notes, Mary has done well this week. Working has been tiring for her (she doesn't get to take her usual morning nap) but she's hanging in there. The Freeman staff have been full of hugs and prayers for our family this week. It's great to walk down the halls to hugs and smiles from everyone you see. I can honestly only think of one place I'd rather be (and I'll be there from Sept. 20 to Sept. 24 for all of you who reside in Portland).

2007-08-07T14:35:00.001-07:00

We recently found out that my sister Mary has Multiple Myeloma. If you'd like to keep up with our family journey, I have created a blog to post pictures and updates. Thanks for all of your prayers, they mean so much to us.

To see or not to see? Do I even care anymore?

2007-07-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

I went to the eye doctor on Friday, after who knows how many months of my mom spending the better part of any phone conversation attempting to convince me to go. Way to go mom, you won that battle. And do you know what the eye doctor said? Stop wearing your glasses and you'll stop seeing two of everything. Stop wearing an eye patch and your head will stop hurting. Come back in a month. I'm sure you'll be just fine then. Ok. I thought I was mad at you for dialiating my eyes (I'd never had it done before and he sure did it well, "Just to make sure nothing is wrong.") Mr. Eight-Different-Letters-After-Your-Name-That-Should-Give- You-Some-Clue-About-What-Is-Wrong-After-A-Year. No, now I'm just mad because nothing you said makes any sense! I got the glasses after I started seeing two of everything and now I never even wear them! And I usually end up putting on an eye patch when my head hurts too much to stand. Should this really be that confusing or frustrating?! And do you know where I could have been if I hadn't gone to the eye doctor? I could have been at the beach. Yes, the beach. Do you know how hacked off I am about that? That's the one thing that I REALLY wanted to do this summer. We'll see how long this lasts...Considering that my head already hurts at eight in the morning (or does it just still hurt from yesterday?) it might not be long.

2007-07-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

The first week of PSP has come and gone, quite quickly I might add! It hardly seemed like a week at all. For the most part, the week went without any problems with the help of a couple of great youth groups and of course with lots of support from friends and family here at PUMP. I've really enjoyed getting to know the kids and teen helper I'm working closely with this summer. They are all amazing. And I love the hour I get to spend with my reading group each morning. There are probably many more things I could say. But I think I'll head back to my room and spend some more time detoxing from VBS-type songs. I've sang and lead my fair share of them this week, I do believe (with three more weeks to go)! I'll try to put some pictures and/or video up soon. Well, at least sooner rather than later. No guarantees from this kid!

Ariyanna Lynnae Rose

2007-06-29T23:36:00.001-07:00

Ariyanna Lynnae Rose Hoyt
June 28, 2007
12:59PM
7lbs. 3ozs.
17in.

Ariy, I only wish that I was home to hold you and talk to you beautiful girl. I am so blessed to be your Great Auntie. I am looking forward to meeting you soon and watching you grow. I know we will all be amazed by the things you accomplish. I love you to the stars and back.

The Nest

2007-06-21T16:42:00.001-07:00

2007 PSP interns minus Kami (left to right, Erica, Jessica, Sarah, Adam).

Our fearless leader and "mama bird" Kenli.

The living room of "the nest."

Our kitchen.

My room.

For my "dads" on Father's Day.

2007-06-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Most kids only get one dad. I guess you could say I've been blessed to have more than the average (ok, so maybe it hasn't entirely been a blessing, there sure have been some rough spots). So, I just wanted to say thanks to all of the "dads" who have stepped into my life over the last six years. Thanks to the dads who are there when I call one of several homes. And thanks to the dads who just walk into my life for a while. For a dad conversation or a dad car ride. A dad hug or a dad event. You've filled my dad-less life with some of the things I miss so much. You have your own kids to be dad to and I know most of you are busy with life, and so I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you do. Thanks for being around.

Most likely a long awaited update for some of you.

2007-06-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

So, I've been at "home" for four weeks now. And what have I actually accomplished? Probably not a lot. I've slept quite a bit (I think I'm in the positive for once as far as having a sleep debt goes). I've spent a lot of time at Freeman Elementary. Many of my teachers from elementary school are still there and they sure enjoy putting me to work! Most of my time has been split between kindergarten and sixth grade, quite the difference, I know. I've certainly enjoyed our dial-up internet connection at home. Although that should just be more motivation to go to the elementary school where there is high-speed (although high-speed still isn't the same as wireless). There is a new hypothesis concerning me seeing two of everything. We'll see how correct it is in time (after an adverse reaction to the antibiotics they started me on, I have my doubts). And I have joined the ranks of the cell phone world. I sure do miss Cascade, the hugging capitol of the world. And I'm really looking forward to being back at PUMP in a week! YAY! I've got to spend time with a good friend. We drove into church the other week and had to comment on the cost of gas...Eight dollars to get to church and back home (Now, should we fill up the tank so we actually get home, or should we put money in the collection plate?). I'll leave you with a quote that caught me off guard while I was watching The Freedom Writers the other night. "You have been blessed with a burden." Hm...haven't thought of it quite like that before. But I'll have to collect my thoughts and write about that later. After all, if this gets much longer it will take forever to post, and I don't have ALL day!

YAY!

2007-04-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

Finals are over!

2007-04-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here at Cascade, it's Hermit Week. That means next week is Finals. And then Choir Tour. And the year will be over. Incredibly, I'm almost done with my second year of college. I am amazed at how quickly the time has gone. So, here are a few highlights I thought I would share since apparently the memory mode is replacing the missing one.

I love my classes and my professors. There isn't anything like a professor who is willing to take you to ER when you're having an allergic reaction or sit with you and talk over lunch about something that later seems absolutely ridiculous. And there isn't anything like having a class with Mrs. Carter at 8 in the morning. The conversations have covered, well, everything.

I love PUMP. They are a wonderful family. I love spending Mondays at the Graul's and the Tucker's. And Wednesdays at the Lowery's. And having tea whenever with Leah. I love the kids in the preschool Bible class. And playing at the park. Church and life group are my sanity.

I'm at, what, 10 months or something like that of double vision and the eye patches, prisms, dark glasses, and headaches that have followed. However, I recently finished a crash course in Braille and can somewhat fluently read it, at least when it's uncontracted. I'm working on learning all of the contractions (or, you would probably think of them as abbreviations) but there are over 400 of them, so it's taking some time. It's a fun, well, let's just call it a hobby for now.

I really enjoy my job as Science Lab Tech. I've found great friends in the beetles and the black worms. And it's pretty nice to have free reign over some space. And I've got one of the greatest bosses ever, Dr. Roy Marler.

All good things eventually come to an end...Elice and I are officially "divorcing" if you want to call it that. We aren't planning on being roommates next year... However, both of us are definitely still planning on going to PUMP together and doing laundry together to save money. I'm looking forward to branching out, but life without Buddy so close by will look different I'm sure.

Classes, roommates, church, and jobs...I think those are the major points. My first two years of college have been great, thanks for everything!

I miss...

2007-04-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

I’ve missed lots of things lately. Actually, I don’t know that I miss these things, I miss the people associated with these things. Maybe I miss the things and that makes me miss the people. That’s a thought. Anyways…

If you lived next to the PUMP house last year, I miss your clean bathroom.

If you lived in H109 last year, I miss your couch and kitchen floor.

If you are going to school on the East Coast and I haven’t seen you in like 9 months and the third letter of your middle name is “s,” I miss meeting you half way, and talking at Starbucks, and making up words, and just generally being with you.

If I used to live in your house, I miss going to all of your school things, and watching movies with you, and surprise, I even miss sitting between both of you in the backseat. And I miss you too, big-sister-to-the-greatest-slacker-in-the-world.

If you traveled all over the world last semester, I still miss you from then even though you’ve been back for three months.

If you used to go to PUMP or were part of last years now Diasporated life group, I miss getting wise off of you.

If you were my neighbor on the third floor last year, I miss being so close to your room. Granted, most of us are only a few more steps away now. But I have to go outside and that means I have to wear socks! (A few would probably argue that I should be wearing shoes as well, but who cares if my socks get ruined? My big sister taught me well, I don’t have to care about socks, there are always plenty of them in the basket in her now-less-accessible room!).

If you live at my house, actually, I don’t think I miss anyone at my house. I just miss my old room with the window to the sunrise and the PHONE JACK! Just kidding Savanna. I miss the edible food and playing Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Phase 10, Racko, or whatever else with all of you.

If you're reading this, I probably miss you. Maybe you should come visit...

Exciting...um...news...announcements...?!?!

2007-03-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

So, I have recently realized how preoccupied I have been with a few undertakings over the past month. And how that has left me out of touch with lots of people. And I want to share these exciting things with all of you. I think I'd rather do it in person, but right, can I be at school and 100 other places all at once making that possible? I wish!

First, exciting project one. I emailed a few orphanages in Uganda asking for names of kids to write to for a service club project. The 25 names I was hoping to recieve quickly multiplied into over 1000. I've been actively recruiting people to write letters and help pay postage since then. It was overwhelming for a few days, but I think it's an incredible ministry to kids both in the States and in Africa. It's been amazing to see how God has answered my prayers. One day I needed money to pay postage and I asked God for it; not 30 minutes later someone walked up to me and said they wanted to pitch in, a lot! So, thanks God and Mrs. Finsaas (if you read this). All of that said for me to make a public announcement, if you ever want to write a letter to an orphan in Uganda, email me and let me know! Or, if you have a Bible class or friends or anyone else who would like to get involved, I'd love to know!

Exciting project two. Next summer (2008 if you'd like some help on that), a few good friends and I are going to spend about 8 weeks working at an orphanage in Uganda. We are all VERY excited! Except for the whole getting a LOT of shots... There will be lots of information to come on that I can assure you. Right now I'm just processing the number of hours I'll be on a plane (about 38) and the cost of shots (YIKES!). I think the thing I am looking forward to most though is meeting the little girl, Jesca, who I am sponsoring through World Vision.

So, those are the big announcements. Everything else seems so small in comparison...

George

2007-02-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

I've really been into the movie Curious George lately. Especially the soundtrack. Some of the lyrics are quite applicable to my life right how, particualrly these ones.

With My Own Two Hands--Jack Johnson and Ben Harper

I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands
Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I'm going to make it a brighter place
With my own two hands
I'm going to make it a safer place
With my own two hands
I'm going to help the human race
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can hold you
With my own two hands
I can comfort you
With my own two hands
But you've got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands
With our own
With our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

Be a blessing...

2007-02-01T22:58:00.000-08:00

Write to a child.

www.bringinghope.org

www.his-grace.org

Click on the "Pen Pal" Link.

Really, you'll make a kid's day.

Events of the Weekend.

2007-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been eventful. Very eventful.

Yesterday Elice and I were driving down 82nd on the way back to school. All of the sudden this guy runs out into the road like he is going to jay-walk. But then he starts running towards our car. So, Elice hits the brakes and pounds on the horn. Then he gets up to our car and starts hitting the window and acts like he is trying to get my door open. Luckily, Elice and I follow the "Lock the doors, safety first!" rule when we are in the car. That was just a little scary...

Then, this morning, my head was hurting a lot, so Elice left me home from church. She probably had a good point leaving me at school as light and noise usually don't help my headaches. I got this streak of genius and decided to cook my cinnamon roll squares from the PUMP house in the microwave. Yeah, things that are made to be cooked in the oven don't do too great in the microwave. Let's just say that the rest of the story involves a melted tupperware plate (I didn't know that stuff could actually melt!), lots of smoke, a few noisy smoke alarms, and a very mad roommate (who's name isn't Elice).

The highlight of the weekend is this though. Elice and I stopped by a music store this afternoon so I could pick up some books for a few kids who I am giving lessons to. In the process, I found out that the store was giving 50% of all of their sheet music. Including Urtexts! *(If you don't know what Urtexts are, they are basically the most reliable transcriptions of music you can get. The downsides to them are that they are written completely in German and cost a lot of money!). I ended up getting five of them. I think that was my entire piano music budget for the year 2007! I might convince Elice that we should go to the piano store on 82nd next weekend and study next weekend. Well, she can study and I can play. They have a Steinway there...

A young grasshopper who is dear to my heart.

2007-01-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard. I'm not the youngest anymore. There is a kid in my parent's lives. An adorable one at that. She's my young grasshopper. My one and only two-headed-spider. My driving student. She's my best little sister. She makes me smile and laugh every second I'm with her. Yes, I could say a lot about her. But I won't; I'll just leave you with a few pictures.

A note to the most beautiful girl I know if she's reading this...I love you. A lot. Know that. And hey, I heard you hit a cow the other day while driving to the bus; I guess it's a good thing Edgar got that insurance on his risks...Just kidding, I know you're a better driver than that, other wise I wouldn't ride with you! I love you kid. Have a good week at school. And have fun on that bus ride of yours!

Paradigm Shift.

2007-01-11T19:44:00.000-08:00

I have found that growing up constitutes a series of paradigm shifts. Some large, some small. I have recently walked through a large shift in thought. A life changing shift. A vocational changing shift.

Over Christmas break I read, or actually it was more like my mom read to me, The Great Omission by Steve Saint (not to be confused with The Great Omission by Dallas Willard). It was a life-changing-paradigm-shift-creating book. Perhaps one of the most influential books I've laid hands on in my 20 years. I would highly recommend it if you can get a hold of it (I've got a copy I'd be willing to lend).

I wish I could draw you a picture with some bright crayons. Hopefully words will justify my thoughts.

Previously, I wanted to go teach in Africa. More specifically, Uganda. I wanted to go teach kids to read and write. Those are necessary skills in the world of commerce. They are skills that I believe every child should have the opportunity to develop. And I still believe that. But I don't think God is telling me to go teach little kids in the Bush anymore. He's telling me to do something bigger than that. He's telling me that his plans for my life are bigger than my imagination. His plans are limitless.

He's still saying Africa. In fact, he's still saying Eastern Africa. He's still saying the bush. And God is still saying that every kid deserves the chance to learn to read and understand His words. But I'm not big enough to seek out and teach all of those kids. God knows that one person isn't nearly enough to accomplish my goal.

So, here's the new vision. If I go to a sub-Saharan village and find five young adults who have a passion to teach and spend a few years modeling and teaching with them, then at the end of a few years, they will be able to continue teaching all of those children, five times more than I would have originally been able to teach. And that will free me to move to another village and teach five more willing individuals to teach. And if just two of those 10 people go out and start doing the same thing I am, the number of people able to teach basic reading and math skills will quickly grow. And that will multiply the number of children able to read, write, add, and subtract, thus giving them opportunities to work as more skilled laborers building a market and thus an economy. All in the bush and refugee camps.

I want to open up the floodgates of knowledge to people previously bound in darkness. Knowledge is the light pointing to God. I want to give those people the light that I have.

A message from a pirate.

2007-01-07T15:40:00.000-08:00

After six months of wearing an eye patch almost full time, I finally feel qualified to share the world it has brought me into. I have learned a lot of interesting things, about myself and about other people, and some of you, have asked me to enlighten you. So, here it goes.

People are as comfortable with me wearing an eye patch as I am with it. If I walk into a room and am sure I'm going to stick out, I do. If I walk into a room and act like it's not a big deal, it's not. Being ok with wearing an eye patch makes other people comfortable; being hesitant makes them uncomfortable.

Parents almost always tell their kids to stop staring and usually tell them they can't ask me why I have a "band-aid" on my eye. The kids who do manage to ask or stare for more than a moment usually get scolded. But really, what's wrong with looking or asking? It's not every day that you see someone who isn't looking at you with two eyes. And really, I don't mind being asked.

Kids of all ages stare, laugh, and ask lots of questions. When they stare, I smile and say hi. When they laugh, I join them. When they ask questions, I give them explanations. They are brutally honest; however, what most would criticize, I appreciate. In their honestly, they say the most hilarious things. And really, after being around them for awhile, they don't notice that I'm any different than any other person. Everyday, I am thankful for the kids I get to spend time with.

Even kids who can't communicate meaningfully using sentences can still tell me that something is wrong if I've only got one eye. My niece Phoenix will tap my patch and say, "Eye, eye." And young kids, even at only one, can still point and make funny faces. However, their reaction is still usually preferable to their parents.

Some people think that I'm blind. In fact, I'm sure that the conductor on the train still thinks I'm blind, even after I tried to convince him that I wasn't. He explained to me that he would get me anything I needed, and when I told him I didn't need help, he told me how many steps it was to the stairway and then how many steps it was to the top. How interesting, at least to me. And when I'm walking around in a public place wearing sunglasses with my arm laced into someone else's, people tend to stare. It's funny, sometimes I don't think they realize that I can see them back!

Now to a few interesting phenomenas. Please realize that these statements have to do with the majority of people I have encountered and do not refer to any people I know personally or deal with on a continual basis. The people I know and regularly spend time with, regardless of race, sex, or status treat me as good friends treat their friends. However, the people who I briefly encounter tend to fall into a few categories.

There are the "middle-class-middle-aged-and-older-Caucasian-females." This group tends to take a "mind-your-own-business" approach to life. They stare A LOT, although they carefully instruct their children that it is impolite to stare. And they NEVER ask what has happened even though you can tell that they are desperate to know what horrible thing has brought on this "deformity."

A group that follows closely in their mother's footsteps are the "adolescent-females." I am lead to believe that the majority of this group feels that a person who doesn't appear "perfect" shouldn't be associated with; either that or they are scared spit-less of one-eyed-people. When put into groups, most girls tend to shy away and when forced into conversation they are noticeably uncomfortable. Many of my peers fall into this group, and it amazes me how many people who didn't have a problem talking to me in high school can't handle saying hi now. Why is this?

Although I haven't had the chance to associate with many older Caucasian fellows, as a rule they usually don't seem to notice that anything is different from me to the next person. It's usually a pleasant break from the others I associate with.

Middle-aged-Caucasian-males usually have a funny story to tell me; usually it has nothing to do with eyesight and is most often probably just a ploy to break away from the awkwardness of having to make eye contact with a person who only has one eye.

Adolescent-males are the exact opposite of their female peers. They are quick to help, patient in guiding, and experts at putting a person at ease. Often they politely bring up my eye patch in conversation, although it is rarely the first thing said. They are satisfied with short answers and are understanding and accommodating in whatever ways they can be, often going out of their way to help. They laugh at my funny remarks and smile wholeheartedly. I appreciate this group for making life enjoyable.

Women from minority groups usually don't have a problem talking to me. As a rule, they usually have a story to relate about their aunt/cousin/niece/daughter/friend/friend's child/etc. They are quick to help, pointing out and reading signs I can't read, opening doors, guiding me around obstacles, and even walking me where I am trying to go. Many are interested in hearing what happened and consistently say they will be praying for the healing of my eyesight.

Middle-aged-men from minority groups, especially African Americans, are quick to crack jokes about me only having one eye. Most of them are quite hilarious. And truthfully, I'd rather someone crack a joke and have us both be laughing than for someone to be giggling and making other comments behind my back. I know it looks funny when a person only has one eye. Good grief, I laugh at myself every morning. I appreciate the people who laugh with me and help me make light of the situation I've been put into.

The most important thing I've found through all of this is that friends are friends. Being two-eyed, one-eyed, or no-eyed doesn't make a difference to them.

Greeklish...A semester in review.

2006-12-12T17:07:00.000-08:00

The semester is over. The fourteen (yes, that's 14) page final has been turned in. My 30,772 vocab words (ok, that's just when you count every way we know to say the 316 words we do know), seven noun charts, eight verb charts, and 24 ways to say "the" hold my mind captive. Here's a few highlights, quotes from friends, and favorite sentence translations.

Waking up at 6:30AM on every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday so that I'd actually be awake enough to understand Greek at 8. The unanimous vote is that 8AM is an ungodly hour for Greek of all things.

The "Sorrys" I've gotten in response to discovering I'm taking Greek, and the looks of disgust that follow finding that I'm in it for FUN. And yes, it is fun. Quite enjoyable actually, just not at 8 in the morning.

"Do you know what the other word for imperfect is?" "Ends-in-i-n-g."

"How do you remember what demonstrative pronoun phrases are?" "They're the devil."

"Something-in-Greek." Me, "Excuse me?" "The-same-thing-again." Me, "What?!" "And-again." Me, "I don't know what you're saying!" "You didn't do your homework?" Me, "No, can you tell me what you're saying?" Someone else, "He's calling you beautiful, haven't you looked at the adjectival phrases?"

"The homework only took me three hours."

"Prayer looks too much like circumcision..."

"My test score almost doubled." "Mine did double." Someone in response to retake tests being handed back.

"Five out of twelve, that's pretty good for three hours of sleep." Kevin concerning my quiz the morning we'd gotten back from the World Mission Workshop.

"There's the...and another the...and another one...and and...I know that word is and, so is that one. Oh, there's another the." "You spent $33.00 so you could read the and and?" "But there's 24 different thes!" My mom and I the day after I got my Greek NT.

"We need Greek Geek shirts." "No, we need shirts that say 'I took a 14 pg. final.'" "No, they need to say 'I passed a 14 pg. final.'"

From a translating assignment:

"The sea threw both the holy temples and worthy houses upon the land."

"The disciples ate scriptures in the synagogue, but we ate a letter."

I think it was LATE when Kevin was writing that assignment...

I'm a hermit...

2006-12-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

The gloom of finals week has descended upon Cascade's campus. Many will say it's the Christmas season, however, some of us will argue that Christmas cheer has no place until Thursday afternoon.

A few highlights (or lowlights):

The Hartzog wireless connection is broken. It should be fixed sometime Monday afternoon. Needless to say, I have been without internet for a few interesting days.

I don't have to take my Old Testament final!

I had a close call with getting admitted to the Ed program. Something about not being able to read to take a required test... Hopefully this eye thing straightens itself out soon.

Emily Hicks is almost home!!!!! (Can you tell that I'm excited about that?!)

A good friend isn't coming home for Christmas. I'll miss her. (A note to that friend: do you know that is the first Christmas season I won't have spent time with you? And the first time I haven't seen you on my birthday?).

I am done with papers. Until January 8th when classes start again.

Where am I now you ask? Obviously somewhere with an internet connection. :) I'm spending the day at the Tucker's playing with Kezia and Eden, doing laundry in a nice washer, enjoying Lanny's wireless internet, eating non-cafeteria food, listening to good music, watching Cars (the movie), and studying for finals. It's a pleasant change of scenery. I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Where ever you are, and whatever you may be in the middle of, finals, papers, or otherwise, I hope you are well. I pray the Lord blesses you with A's, good company, clean clothes, and an abundance of peace to sail through clear or stormy waters.