The wall, part 1

Since we moved into our house--just about 2 years and 2 months ago--we have had one big wall that is still studs. Our hope, when we built, was to cover the wall with some sort of stained wood and build bookshelves on most of it.

Thanks to a very generous Christmas gift, we finally started! Vern wanted to put insulation in the wall between the living room and bedroom to dampen the sound.

Pictures below show the first steps. (I'll put up more once we get them downloaded from the camera.) I really enjoyed watching and listening to Vern and Owen work together. My heart longs for the day when they can work together all the time!

Helpers

During the last couple of months, I have been working on cleaning, staining and sealing the wood trim in our house. Mostly that is the window trim and sills in the big room and the front door. The other trim and doors (in the mud, laundry, bed and bath rooms) are painted. All while I was working on the trim (in the evening and on weekends) the little girls would ask if they could 'paint' too. And I would have to say, "not this time."... Finally the day came when I was done with the trim (everything got a few coats and I couldn't do it all in one evening). Then I started on the boards for the shelves that would go over my very messy desk in the kitchen.

I was happy to have help since this would be done outside:

Me and my two little helpers. "Painting" and wiping the boards.

Happy faces, dirty hands. We smelled of paint thinner for a few days!!!

Life around here-a visual

Back in July, our neighbor loaned us her spare camera. The children went crazy taking pictures of life and things around our little homestead.

Yesterday, I was finally able to upload some test photos to Picasa--our online photo sharing server. So I uploaded the photos the children took into an album for your viewing pleasure.

You can see them here if you like.

Grateful

We have had a very busy and blessed month this June. We have so many BIG things to be grateful for in addition to all the little, everyday things.

James...
...continues to do well. His counts continue to be good, but not too good, and the side effects from his chemo seem to be relatively minimal. Developmentally, he is moving along in a number of ways. He LOVES to help and he seems to really like order (not that he is always orderly, but he seems to prefer things to be more orderly rather that more chaotic!). His two favorite things to help with are laundry and emptying the dishwasher. He is really good at putting away the serving forks and spoons and the forks and knives. He does get confused with the spoons. We think this is because there are two places for spoons--they are separated by teaspoons and soup spoons--and he doesn't yet have a concept of the difference between 'big' spoons and 'little' spoons. He also likes to help put laundry into the washer (it's a front loader--yes, we really like it) and to take it out and put it in a basket to go out to the clothesline.

A few days ago, I was working in the livingroom and needed something from the diningroom. I was on my knees on the floor, so I looked around to see who was close by that could bring me what I needed with less effort than would be required to get up and get it myself (in other words, I was being lazy). James was the only child nearby and I was so glad to see a positive teaching opportunity! (then I didn't feel so bad about being lazy). I told James what I needed and asked him if he could get it for me. He said, "Mm," with a quick nod and swaggered off with purpose. He went straight for the item in need, picked up and swaggered back, delivering it with a definite pride and sense of purpose! I was tickled. He never ceases to amaze and he is such a delight to watch. I love to see him discover things that I wondered if he would ever do or notice.

The Homestead

During the past month, my dad offered to contribute enough to allow us to purchase the siding for the outside of our house (it has been wrapped in various brands of 'Tyvek-type' paper). It wasn't long before the siding was delivered and a local friend/builder sent his crew over to get the first side of the house finished (our friend and my dad have both been concerned about this 'weather' side of the house not being finished). Vern and Owen worked along with David's crew and learned a great deal. They have been able to finish the front porch (it looks GREAT!) They plan to keep working their way around the house doing all they can to get all the siding up. Having siding makes a very pleasant difference in the way the house looks. We are very grateful!

Not long after the siding got started, it was time to slaughter chickens. It's not the prettiest homesteading event of the year, but it is worth it! We really like knowing where and how our food was grown and processed.

Friends came to help and to learn and we were so very grateful they did. We got an early start to the morning and about 2-1/2 hours into the day, Vern sliced his finger sharpening his already-quite-sharp filet knife. It was a pretty deep cut. I had the worst time looking at it. With all we have been through with James, I thought perhaps I could handle it, but, alas, I have not arrived. Once I finally scraped myself up off the bed (thankfully, I didn't hit the floor, though it was close), we decided that we could leave Phillip in charge, with all the children helping and I would take Vern to the Urgent Care clinic. We tried to get into a doctor's office, but no one had space and we considered the ER as well.

The rest of the helpers and learners arrived while we were gone and everyone dove in to help. Vern was out of commission for the rest of the day (with four stitches, and instructions not to get his finger--left index) wet. We had planned to do a record 150 chickens and there was no way we could have made it without all the help! It was a longer day than we had hoped, but ended up being an immersion experience. We are very grateful to have friends who stick by us in a crisis!

My aunt lives just down the road from my mom, about 3 hours north of here. She and her husband have lived the rural life for some 40 years or so and there place is an inspiration. My aunt and my mom are both great with landscaping and if that talent is passed along genetically, you would never know it by looking at the yards we have had over the years. My aunt realized that she very much needed to divide some of her many plants this year and she was planning to toss the divisions into the woods, until she thought of me! (Hallelujah!) She mentioned her intentions of dividing plants to my mom and wondered if I could use them. My mom offered to provide all the 'filler' to complete the project and she provided lattice to provide the 'backdrop' under the front porch, some of the more 'evergreen' shrubs, soaker hose to make watering MUCH easier, some supplemental dirt and pine straw for mulch.

Then they dug up everything, loaded up my aunt's SUV (to the point that my uncle teased that it looked like the lead car in a funeral procession) and drove down to our place. They arrived Wed afternoon, emptied the car and arranged the plants. Early Thursday morning we set to work in the shade and for nearly three and a half hours we dug, planted, watered and mulched. We were all pretty excited to see the transformation and are glad to have some green life in front of the house. Now I have to take really good care of it all (green thumb that I am not). If I pass this test, they said they would bring more cuttings, divisions and volunteers in the Fall!) I am hopeful that they have made it easy enough for me to be successful!

Lord willing, I have the beginnings of a heritage here that I can pass along to my children when they begin their homes. I am grateful for the heritage of beauty I have and for a very thoughtful and generous mom and aunt.

Love, Stephanie

Back in the saddle, more or less

We are coming around here and looking for a closer to normal day--just lots of coughing, throat clearn and snuffling in the background.

We just finished lunch and in the background I hear: a CD (Majesty and Glory) playing "Whiter than snow" in the background, children finishing up lunch, James 'talking' as he watches the other children have things he wants and the hand grinder (run by Owen) to make flour for Katie to bake a couple of loaves of homemade bread.

Laundry is moving through the washer and dryer and the 'folders' and we hope to catch up today (this is the routine--catching up on Monday and Tuesday after a day or two off!)

Yesterday, Hannah and I sorted through all of the medical supplies we could find in the house. We had already taken a few boxes to a nurse friend who is involved with medical missions, so there wasn't as much as there could have been! We divided things in to three bins--one for g-tube and feeding supplies, one for wound and ostomy care supplies, and another for miscellaneous medical supplies and equipment--including spare thermometers, stethoscopes, medicine measuring cups, etc. This cleared room for some of James' other feeding supplies--formula and pedialyte--which frees up some room in the pantry. Sorting the pantry is another goal for this week.

Below are photos of our closet. We have just one between the two bedrooms (Owen sleeps in the loft over the bedrooms). One side of the closet is shelves. Each of us has a shelf and bins where needed instead of dresser drawer space. It is very different and not perfect, but I like it very much. There is plenty of room on other shelves for towels and washcloths, linens and paper products. There is an iron and ironing board in the closet and an outlet to make it easy to use--there is plenty of room to set up the board. The other side of the closet is all hanging space, with shelves at the top. I still need to take everything out of the closet at some point and finish caulking and paint the whole thing. It will happen soon enough. In the meantime, this is working very nicely!







Prayer request: I am amazed for all James has been through that we haven't seen too many of the bills. I don't like that as I think it is important for someone to know the value of the medical care they or their family members receive. Lately, due to changes in our insurance situation with Vern's job, we have seen more and more bills. Not that much is due on them at this point, but we are seeing these bills because our insurance company (United Healthcare, the old Blue Cross/Blue Shield, if I understand these things correctly) is 'waiting' for continuity of coverage letters for James, because most of his needs are 'pre-existing'. I do not know why it is taking so long to get this squared away, but I am getting concerned about the 'help' we are not getting. We submitted James' continuity of coverage from Minnesota and explained that he was then covered by Georgia medicaid, and continues to be. We can get no continuity of coverage letter from GA medicaid because, well, because he is still covered by medicaid as a secondary insurance.



So, the prayer request is that we can get everything in place to demonstrate that James has had insurance coverage all along, so that his insurance coverage will continue through his treatment and for other medical needs that will be coming up again soon.

Education

From a reprint of a wonderful old book (1850) called _How to be a Lady: Useful Hints on the Formation of Womanly Character_ by Harvey Newcomb.

Chapter II. Nature and Objects of Education "...'Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations;' all, in fact, that is necessary to make a man or a woman--a gentleman or a lady."

This weekend's excitement

Yesterday it rained. It was wonderful. I felt like Sarah, Plain and Tall when it rained in Maine after there had been such a terrible drought on their farm. I thought about the romance of stepping off the porch and turning slowly in the rain, drinking it in. However, it was quite a heavy rain and the temperature was around 60 degrees and it wasn't long before the reality of being soaking wet in the relative cold and wind took over my thoughts and I just admired the glorious falling water through from the dry porch.

It wasn't long before the power went out. This, of course, made me very grateful for the thought of being cold and wet and how it deterred me from doing something I would have regretted. Gratefully, we chose a gas cooktop and lunch preparationg was unhindered. Our work on closet shelving was cut short and then we were a little concerned about water. We still don't have back up water here for drinking, washing or flushing potties.

It was about three hours before power was restored (a dead tree had fallen on a line) and that was just the same time we were able to power up a neighbor's generator to see about getting the water running into the tub--just in case.

Later in the evening, there was a flurry of activity as someone discovered water dripping from a light fixture in our big common closet, between the bedrooms. Vern and Owen crawled out into the attic space to discover water running in around a plumbing vent. They employed a clever version of the normal leaky roof stop gap and checked it often until the downpour subsided.

This morning we learned, from neighbors who have a rain gauge, that we had four inches of rain over yesterday and last night. Praise the Lord. Today was crisp and clear. Not cold by Minnesota standards, certainly, but a welcome relief from the summer heat that came our way earlier this week.

After church and lunch, Vern and Owen set out to climb Mt. Skellyrest to repair the leaky roof. I got to provide ground support and everyone else got to watch. Katie photographically recorded the event for posterity. I'll try to put the pictures in another post--this one isn't working.

We remaining very grateful for the Lord's provision and protection in our lives.

Love, Stephanie for all

Alive and well

Just a quick post here to let you know that we are indeed alive and well. We've done a few more stints in the hospital since I last wrote and we moved in to our new home November 3rd. Which we could not have done without the Lord providing so many many folks to bless us--the C's--whose home we invaded for SEVEN months--thanks PJB&L (they even said they've missed us! what great friends!), Joey&co who sold us our land for a great price and through in framing our house to boot...never mind all the land clearing, tree pushing, subcontractor coordinating and coaching, David&co who got our foundation in a month ahead of schedule as a gift, John&crew who put on our roof for the cost of materials, Bruce who has tirelessly handled so many of the fine details to make things work and continues to do so even without the motivation to get his room back! WE are blessed beyond words to have so many great folks in our lives...

We did get to enjoy Thanksgiving in our new home although we had hoped to spend that week with Mom Skelly, who celebrated 90 years Thanksgiving day. We weren't able to make it due to an unplanned hospital stay, but we know God has a plan in it all and we are grateful to Him for His protective hand in our lives.

Now it is December (wherever did the year go?) and we are continuing to settle in and prepare for the holidays. We aren't missing the snow yet, but then there wasn't a lot of snow the last few winters.

The hospital changed it's rules on blog access and I can no longer post from there. I am trying to get a photo album up on Picasa, but it keeps telling me I need an internet connection to upload. Doesn't dial up count? :*)...

Wishing you a wonderfully blessed holiday season... and hoping to be able to post some in the meantime. Thanks for checking up on us...I'm working on catching up with e-mails too... it's all a slow process and I appreciate your patience!

Love, Stephanie

Home and running

We arrived home last night pretty near 8 p.m. There were a few delays getting out of the hospital, none of which could really be helped in the end. We went straight home--we did not pass 'go' or get gas or food. Despite leaving at the height of rush hour, we had a pretty clear drive home.

It took a while to get everything settled once we arrived, but there was a delicious homemade meal waiting for us and we were all finally in bed by midnight.

This morning, the plumber is working at the house, installing the plumbing fixtures (sinks and toilets). The power company was there too, waiting for the much-needed rain to let up so they can trench in our power line and connect it to the house. The HVAC man is supposed to come this afternoon to finish up his stuff. Things are moving along and we are still trying hard to make a Nov 2 or 3 move in date. Thanks for praying for us.

James is doing very well, by the way. He needs to stay awake more today so that he can sleep more tonight!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Stephanie

Home early, we hope

Please forgive my many typos in the last posts. I have been in a hurry to get off the computer and get back to James and I'm not doing the best job of proofreading.

Yesterday was a great day. We had a long time with the family and Vern and I were able to just sit and talk about things we haven't been able to talk about for some time. I was glad to get some snuggle time with Becca, too, who has really been needing her Momma to be a little more available--we have been talking on the phone a lot and I am glad to be able to do that. I always like to be able to hug the children and tussle their hair. It's so nice to say and hear "I love you" in person. I pray I never take that for granted.

Today our favorite Nurse Practitioner on the floor, Colleen, came in and said, "I'm going to find out what we need to do to get you guys home." Hooray! The goal is to get us out of here tomorrow although we might not make it till Wednesday. (Tuesday would be a good thing to pray for!) James' counts are good, none of his cultures grew back any kind of bacteria and he is more and more like a two-year-old in captivity here! He still cannot eat anything by mouth and won't be able to until everything heals up really well. He is usually fine with this as long as we are sensitive not to eat in front of him. For nutrition, he would go home on TPN (IV feeds).

Dr. Tenjarla said that the healing of James' g-tube site was 'miraculous'. Please pray that healing continues. James was due to have chemo today, but that will be postponed. Pray for wisdom on the timing of starting that back up. Of course, all the delays will mean that his treatment lasts longer, but that is okay.

On the house front, things are moving along. It was a productive weekend and we should actually have power connected to the house today or tomorrow--that will be a big milestone! The plumber is planning to come Wednesday to install all the fixtures (except for the kitchen sink). We are hoping the kitchen counter will arrive Wednesday to be installed Wednesday or Thursday.

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts. I am hoping to get over to the library this afternoon. That is my 'last chance' for uploading photos to the blog. It would be okay to pray about that too! :*).

Love, Stephanie

Busy hospital day

James' g-tube site showed significant improvement today. Even this morning it looked much better than it did when we went to bed last night. He is quite his perky little self!

Our biggest challenge is splitting up to have an opportunity to eat since he isn't supposed to have anything by mouth. We are getting that figured out.

This morning we went to the AFLAC Bingo in one of the conference rooms. James won a slinky, the book, _Green Eggs and Ham_, and a Nerf football. He was much more interested in the football than the last round of Bingo, so we decided to head up to the library to check out the camera. Our hope was to get some more pictures (the garden in beautiful and the weather today was the just incredible!) and then go back up and get help posting them onto the blog here.

On our way to the garden, we met some new friends, Adam and Allison and their two-year-old daughter, Lacey (I hope I'm spelling these right). Lacey is a beautiful little girl with Down syndrome. She has heart issues and feeding issues and is very petite. It was fun to watch James and Lacy interact.

We got some time in the garden and then had to run back upstairs when one of James' IV lines disconnected. It was easy to fix and then we were on our way. By the time we made it back to the library, the computers were all in use and James was in desperate need of a nap.

I have been trying other computers to see if I can post some pictures on the blog, all to no avail. I will not give up! ;*)...

We are very much looking forward to the family's visit tomorrow. We heard they accomplished quite a bit at the house today, PTL!

Hope you have a restful, worshipful Lord's day! Thanks for stopping by.

Love, Stephanie

Two Weeks !?!

James' GI doctor, Dr. Tenjarla, came by yesterday to see him and take a look at the site. She thought that because the it had aroded enough for the tube to fall out, that we should probably plan to be in the hospital for at least two weeks. My first thought, of course, was, "Two weeks! Oh no!!" My second thought was, "Well, Lord, you've worked everything else out so far, You must have a reason for this." I still reserve the 'right' to hope that Dr. Tenjarla is wrong...but it is okay if she's right!

James has been pretty perky and friendly, giving out lots of hugs, kisses and handshakes and generally being a pretty sweet encourager. Many folks he has interacted with have said that he 'made their day' (or in some cases, their night). Everyone loves to see him sign and they just can't get over how 'smart' he is. James is very good at 'working the crowd' and he just eats it all up!

Today, there were some street performers who visited the hospital and performed downstairs in the open area. We decided to go and it was worth it. James got to 'spin' a soccer ball, with a little help from one of the performers. They also serenaded him with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and one of the performers signed with him a little bit...

We were able to get some photos with one of the hospital's loaner cameras. I will post some when I can find a computer with a CD-ROM drive I can access.

Katie and the home crew have continued the work at the house and we are not yet ready to give up on our hope of moving in to our new home by 2 or 3 Nov. Today they sanded the painted walls (they were sprayed and get bumpy...my Mom and Aunt will come down to do the final coat with rollers). In the meantime, everyone and Mr. Bruce will be working at the house tomorrow and they plan to come for a visit on Sunday.

Please pray:

1. That James' site will heal thoroughly and quickly and that the surgery and GI folks would have wisdom to decide if it would be best to save the site or let it heal all the way and put in yet another g-tube.
2. For wisdom about his IV feeds--that we would get the right amount of protein, fluids and anything else that he would need all mixed in.
3. That things will continue to progress with the house--folks would be able to come when they've said they could and/or when we need them.
4. That I will be able to get in touch with the plumber and that he would be able to come early next week to install the fixtures.
5. For the family's safe travels up and back on Sunday.
6. For Vern generally as he has all the home things on him, plus work and being concerned about his sweet boy in the hospital. For Katie as she works extra hard to fill in my spot while I am gone. For Owen, Becca and Carrie as they continuing helping and trying hard to be sweet without Momma hugs and loves.
7. That God would be glorified in all of this and we would keep resting in Him.

Thanks for stopping by!

Love, Stephanie

Back at the hospital

This run of methotrexate and vincristine seem to be giving James quite a challenge. Monday evening we realized that something wasn't right with his g-tube site. It looked thinner and looser and sort of purplish-gray. I called the clinic on Tuesday morning and they said since is wasn't pink or red and he didn't have a fever there wasn't too much they could do. They said keep dressing it like we had planned, give James meds for pain and call them if anything changed.

Thursday we had a hard time keeping him comfortable and that night, when we changed out his dressing, we all thought we could see the balloon inside his tummy that holds the g-tube in place through the ever-thinning and widening hole. We called and talked to the on-call doctor and she said come on up. We'd already planned to try to get him in to see his doc on Thursday after he was so uncomfortable, but the kicker was the view of the balloon. He'd also had pretty low white counts (ANC=117) on Monday.

We made it to the ER by about 3 a.m. this morning and as I lifted James from his car seat to carry him in, his g-tube just fell out onto the parking garage floor. (Eeeewww) Fortnately this seemed to relieve the pressure to the site and he had less pain than he had before, PTL.

Right now he is on more antibiotics, we think it is infected again, but not sure with what yet. The wound/ostomy nurse set him up with a pretty spiffy dressing and we are supposed to take care of it. Tomorrow James will get IV feeds (TPN) with a greater portion of protein to , hopefully help him heal.

The one good thing is that the things we did to help prevent this did seem to help with the erosion from the outside. Virtually all the erosion to the site was from the inside, Since he will have a similar course of treatment every 12 weeks for the next 22 months, we need to figure out some way to prevent or minimize this erosion to his g-tube site. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we work together with his care team to devise some sort of plan.

We have been working hard on our house with the goal of being able to live in it by 2 or 3 Nov. By God's incredible mercy, we are still very hopeful we can make it. Katie, Owen, Becca and Carrie worked there today and we have made a good deal of progress in the past week. Please pray for them and for Vern as we are all 'dividing and conquering'.

I hope to have an opportunity to update again while we are here. We have been having technical difficulties with the computer at home... and we have been VERY busy. Your notes and e-mails have been a big encouragement...thanks so much!

Love, Stephanie

Home again, home again...

We are grateful to be home. We came home Tuesday afternoon. It looks like the staph infection that was growing out in James' blood culture looks to have been caused by some sort of contamination since none of the other cultures ever grew out staph. This is very good, though they were treating him for staph, just in case.

We came home with IV antibiotics (meripeninem--I have know idea if I am spelling that right, the label says Merrem). The entero bacteria that grew out in his grew culture was very sensitive to this drug, so all the doctors agree this was the way to go. I have to give it to him three times a day (7a.m., 3p.m., 10p.m.), so that is a little more challenging/limiting that the vancomycin we did twice a day before. However....it is far less limiting than being in the hospital!!!

The weather has been phenomenal here--anyone from Minnesota want to plan a visit? :*)... we are all looking forward to sitting on our front porch in the evenings and watching the stars. It is very dark out here and as Owen said last night as he was staring up at the sky when I brought him home from the house, "Momma, it's really neat. The more you look at the stars and try to count them, the more there are!"

We have lots of plans for progress on the house over the next several days. Vern has school holidays on Friday and Monday and we have friends planning to help us get the bulk of the painting done on Saturday. We all missed church on Sunday and are looking forward to being back this week... all Lord willing.

Thanks for your notes, I am trying to figure out how to respond via e-mail easily. Thanks for being patient with me. Pam, I'd love to hear more about your new little girl and life with two soldiers in the family.

Love to all... Stephanie

We're outta here!

Well, we're getting ready to get out of here. I just came back from hunting down a wagon to haul all of our loot to the car and Colleen, our Nurse Practitioner, asked if I'd heard... heard what? I asked... that you're leaving...

So, we still have to finish packing and get our orders (and two prescriptions) and then we'll head out.

Not sure when I'll be able to post again, but please pray for our house efforts.

Thanks so much.

Love, Stephanie

Settling in

We're all settled in at the hospital. One of our favorite nurses got us all set up. James and I were snuggling in his bed watching the Mr. Fixit Bible videos and Hannah had gone out to see if she could find a wheelchair we could use to take James for a walk. He was asking (with signs) to go for a walk.

Just about the time Hannah returned with the treasured wheelchair, we realized that something on James was leaking. Hannah found his IV line had come disconnected! Thankfully, it had only come apart along the IV line and it didn't get pulled out of James. Our nurse came right in and got things cleaned up and hooked back together. I was relieved that it didn't end up being a HUGE chemical spill situation. We changed the bedding and were giving James a bath to be sure none was left to sit on his tender skin, when he plopped his foot into the bathing basin and tipped it over, flooding his bed. We rescued him and dried him off, finished cleaning him up and then waited for the bed to dry before we made it up again.

By the time we went for our walk, it was nearly 8:30 and we were grateful the cafeteria was still open--we just made it. Now we are at the library (checking the times they are open tomorrow :*) ).. and shortly we hope to return to the room. I hope to be sleeping soon. I have been up since 5 and didn't get the nap that Hannah and James got on the drive up... nor the nap James had this afternoon.

Hopefully the rest of our visit will be a little less exciting!

Good night.

Love, Stephanie

P.S. Daddy, Vern thinks the computer problem has something to do with a device driver, but that is all we know and is from the error messages we were getting.

P.P.S. Vern and some of the children spent more time at the house tonight. If you think of it, our goal is to move in the first of November--ambitious, but possible, Lord willing!

Next

James' methotrexate started running right around 3 p.m. Lord willing, we could be on our way home around 5 p.m. Wednesday. As I type, he is napping with Hannah in an infusion chair and we are waiting for our hospital room to be cleaned.

In the meantime, I was working with our social worker here to find out why it looks like James' medicaid has stopped. Some of the answers I can't get because I'm not the Payee for James' Social Security (which also stopped). It has made for a busy afternoon and the early morning this morning has made for a tired Momma!

I did talk to Katie and she is pretty sure they were able to putty all the nail holes at the house and they moved some things out of the living room (like plumbing and lighting fixtures) to a closet, so they would be out of the way of the painters.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love, Stephanie

Catch up

Hannah, James and I are back at the hospital for a scheduled chemo treatment after enjoying about three weeks at home. We were beginning to actually feel normal! Yes, it was GREAT. And we are thankful for the break.

Just after I started trying to keep up on blogging about our house progress, the computer died. Vern tried to fix it with Norton Utilities to no avail. We think the next stop is the Geek Squad, but I'm not sure right now when that will happen.

We are grateful for continued progress on the house. The baseboard is all in and all the doors (including pocket doors, which weren't up before) are up. There is one more little trim detail that needs to be finished before painting (this weekend, Lord willing). The children will work this week on spackling all the nail holes in the trim and generally cleaning up and dusting the place. They also hope to get more roots cut out of the garden area so that we can plant some Fall crops (like broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts and carrots).

We are waiting for James' urine to clear so we can start his chemo. I will try to update later since we have access to computers here at the hospital.

thanks for checking on us... Love, Stephanie

Safe, sound and busy

It took a little longer than I had hoped to get loaded up and head home. After picking up James' prescriptions, packing the rest of our stuff and loading up the car, we finally pulled out of the parking garage at about 9:45 p.m. We ended up going the back way and the roads were open and lighted well enough. We made good time, arriving home by about 12:15.

While we had intended to go to church Sunday we had a little difficulty pulling it all together, so Vern decided we'd stay home. We had a great time singing hymns--I think everyone picked two, so that's 16 altogether--and Vern read to us from Psalms.

The folks we are living with have gone away to the coast for a family vacation this week. We have plenty to do around here. Last week the plumber and electrician finished their rough-ins. Saturday the insulation guys got started. Today HVAC rough-in and insulation will be finished and the drywall team is planning to set up their stuff. The windows and last door are supposed to get put in this evening and tomorrow we should have drywall.

Then we will need to step up to the plate with painting, trimwork and other finishing. Please pray for us that we would know our limits and do well at what we do. Especially that God would be glorified in what we do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love, Stephanie

Screaming along

It seems that the folks down here in our little community have "squeaked" enough to the local phone company that we are now getting in the neighborhood of 44.0 Kbps connections to the WWW. Yee Haw!

I might even be able to post some photos from home at this speed!

James has done remarkably well this second half of this chemo cycle and we are very grateful. We came home from the hospital with TPN (IV feeds) and we are working at using his g-tube as we are able.

I asked Dr. Keller how long it will take the nerves, damaged by the vincristine, to regenerate. His answer, "Months." This goes with what happened with his last run of vincristine--3 doses in March, James didn't get enough strength to begin crawling and pulling up to cruise again until June. Dr. Keller wasn't sure if only getting 2 half doses this last time would make a difference.

That was Thursday. On Friday, James did a little crawling, so that is certainly something to rejoice over.

This week, we are just administering some at-home chemo and we will have to drive to the pediatrician's office for a blood draw. Dr. Keller suspects that James' counts will either require some blood products or maybe some time in the hospital. He said this is the most likely time for unscheduled hospital visits. We'd be grateful to bypass this one, of course.

The next scheduled hospital visit is August 27th.

In other news: Framing on our new house is scheduled to begin tomorrow. If you think about it, pray for cooler weather and protection for the guys doing the framing. I think Owen will be having a great field trip as long as they are working there.

Love, Stephanie