October Sky

Kory finally had a pain free week and even got a few things done at our apartment building in Seattle and at home, too.  He’s sure a lot more pleasant when he feels good and is able to do things. I’m now preparing for the calm before the storm as we count down the days to his angiogram on Friday.  Lord only knows what life will be like after that.  Hopefully better than ever, but I’m preparing for the worst, just so I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Last Sunday a friend invited me to her family reunion.  I’ve know her so long she considers me family.  We’ve been friends since 1972 and I met all her extended family back in the 70s so it was fun to see them all now, many years later.  As I was talking with her one brother-in-law it seems we both had ancestors that homesteaded near the same small town in North Dakota and also came from the same area in Norway when they emigrated.  I’m sure we are related, probably eighth cousins or something.  I spent some time researching it this week but haven’t found an obvious direct link.  It was too funny to think someone I’ve know for so long could possible share some DNA with me.  It’s such a small world.

Our week has been the usual treadmill routine again but with only a few blips around Kaleb’s attitude toward me.  He was very disrespectful a few times which escalated into some pretty big consequences for him.   I hated that he lost the ability to attend a Harvest Party this weekend, but it sure stopped his unacceptable behavior.  He’s being so challenged in math, piano and science that he’s now at a stage where none of it comes easy –he has to actually WORK at it a little and he doesn’t want to.  He’s used to flying through all his schoolwork quickly without checking for accuracy and doing okay, but now he needs to slow down and double check things.  He pulled his first 100% on a test in chemistry as a result of slowing down, so he saw my reasoning after that.  He’s an A student, but often gets Cs because he’s sloppy.  I hate that.  He hates learning to be disciplined but if he doesn’t get it down now, the sloppy habits will be hard to break. 

I’ll be so thankful when this election is over.  I’m almost to the point of not caring who wins or what initiatives get passed or not, I just want our phone to stop ringing.  We can go weeks around here without a single phone call, but it’s been dozens of calls each day and I’m about to go crazy for all the interruptions.  It gave me great pleasure though to hang up on Barak Obama and James Dobson, even if they were just recorded messages.

There was some good this week, too. I took Kaleb trick-or-treating today to all the businesses in downtown Mount Vernon with his buddy Spencer and family.  Spencer’s dad is a doctor so we talked as we walked around downtown and he asked me who the cardiologist is that is doing Kory’s work on Friday.  I told him and he assured me there is no better doctor for the job, so that was comforting.  He suspects, as do I, that Kory’s mercury toxicity has played a key role in his artery problems.  He also told me a lot of things that were very helpful to know going in to this so I’m thanking God tonight for all the information he shared.  It was very confirming that we are on the right path. 

We had to say goodbye today to the two loveable yellow labs we’ve been dogsitting for two weeks.  I can’t wait to have a clean house again, but it is rather quiet around here now.  Kaleb is grieving their loss.  Kory enjoyed his afternoon walks with them.  Nothing gets us out of the house more than having a big dog around.  They will be missed.

Emotionally this has been a tough week since JaRon, the daughter of our beloved Grammy J, was sent home from the hospital with hospice care.  She’s been fighting bone cancer for the last two years and it’s not going well.  She’s my age, married, and has three kids. We spend our holidays with them so they are our “family of choice” and I hate to see her suffer.  I went down last Sunday to pray with her and she was pretty out of it but when I prayed that the Holy Spirit would show up and comfort her, she opened her eyes, sat up in bed and clearly said, “What was that?” then went right back to her groggy state.  It was comforting in a way to think that God is being very real to her right now.  I asked her what she saw, but she was unable to respond.  I’ve been a wreck all week just thinking about her.  Actually, I’ve been a wreck worrying about Kaleb’s disrespectful behavior and about Kory’s upcoming heart procedure but I try to keep thinking about what JaRon said to me a few weeks ago when I was there visiting her.  “Today is all we have,” she said, “What are you doin’ goin’ around worryin’ about tomorrow?  None of us have tomorrow.  We only have today.”  So, so true.

Falling into Autumn...

I love the many ways God heals people.  Kory’s neck pain started going away after people prayed for him, but his range of motion was still very limited.  As it happened, last Saturday night he was in the basement when Kaleb started playing the piano.  He stuck his upper body (with stiff neck) around the corner of the door to listen to him and when Kaleb was done, Kory forgot that there was a chin-up bar above his head.  He moved back out from the door frame and smacked his head on the chin-up bar.  He heard his neck pop back into place and immediately he had his range of motion back!  So much for chiropractors.  He was shouting Hallelujah all week, and also said a few things about the healing properties of music.  Ha ha.  At least that pain is behind us.  He was feeling so much better that he overdid it on the yard work this week though, so then the arthritis in his wrists started giving him fits.  I swear, he’s just one medical condition after another.

We both went to meet with a cardiologist this week to get an angiogram scheduled.  Kory will go into Providence Everett Medical Center on November 5^th.  If all he needs are stents, he’ll get those that day and stay overnight and be home Saturday.  It’s only a few days recovery from that procedure, but I’m bracing for the fact he may need bypass surgery, which hopefully will happen before Thanksgiving.  I’m not ordering a turkey just yet.  Our plans for next month will have to be pretty flexible based on what happens with him.  I just have to trust God things will work out.  “Not my will, but thine be done.” 

Kaleb cranked it pretty hard on school work this week and did fairly well steering his own ship. He perplexes me, though.  He can remember that “nitrite is the polyatomic ion represented by the formula NO2” for his science class but he can’t remember to carry over a number for a simple math problem.  I wrote to his math teacher that he really does understand complex algebraic formulas, but he often gets them wrong because he goofs up on the simplest part of the math equation.  She wrote back that, “There are three types of mathematicians – those who can count, and those who can’t.”   I guess he’s in good company.  He’s decided he doesn’t like math, so I’m sure that’s why he doesn’t pay attention to the details, but he loves his chemistry class and is downright freaky in his understanding of which orbit the d level of an atom does something or another.  I’ve watched the lectures and I still don’t get it, but he’s fascinated by the stuff he’s learning, so I’m thankful for the online courses that Johns Hopkins has available.  He’s doing okay in speech, writing and piano, too.

We’ve had two loveable yellow labs in our house all week and yesterday Kaleb seriously complained that he thought I love on them more than him.  He’s been butting in between my lips and their noses whenever I get down on the floor with them.  I guess this is what sibling rivalry looks like.  Good thing he’s an only child. 

With the current school schedule, when I’m not herding Kaleb around, I’m preparing for the classes I teach and things I lead.  I’m not getting nearly as much time to sit and write as I hoped I would this Fall, but I squeeze it in where I can.  I had three articles written for my weekly column, then my laptop died.  I got a note from the guy trying to repair it – hoping I might recover some of the data, and all he said was, “Let’s have a moment of silence for your hard drive.”  I had to rewrite the columns.  At least they are still in demand.  The editor of the LaConner newspaper this week offered to start paying me for them, but I passed.  I don’t want it to seem like “work.”  

We headed out to the pumpkin patch a few times this week, just to get in the mood for Fall.  We live near one of the best pumpkin patches in the Northwest and every year I go, I can’t help but take dozens of photos.  We went again today as Kaleb had a buddy over all day and they had a blast playing hide and seek in the corn maze.  I love our life in the country. 

A Painful Week

The stiff-necked Kory was around for a solid five days, crying off and on from the pain.  The x-rays showed he has three bone spurs and some degenerative stuff going on.  The muscles in his neck were too stiff so the chiropractor was unable to do anything most of the week.  Even with aspirin, ice, muscle relaxers and my prayers, nothing helped.  He was immobile and whining from Monday to Friday and I nearly lost my mind.  There was nothing that stopped his pain, no position to be free from it, and of course my lack of sympathy made things worse.  I had to school Kaleb all week again, which wears me down on a whole other level, so it hasn’t been too fun around our house lately.

I finally got wise Friday night and posted a notice to all my “friends” on Facebook, asking for prayer for Kory and when he woke up Saturday, he actually felt better!  Why I didn’t think of that sooner, I have no idea.  The Bible says the “prayers of the righteous availeth much” so apparently I’m not righteous enough, but my friends sure are because he is finally on the road to recovery!  Hallelujah!  At least he can move without crying out in pain.  His neck is still very stiff, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Now we get to deal with his heart.

Kory has an upcoming appointment on Wednesday with a cardiologist, as God indeed confirmed that he should do something medically to help his clogged arteries.  I’m sure an angiogram will be ordered shortly thereafter and we’ll know then whether stents will fix his problem or if he’ll need by-pass surgery.  He’s confident he’ll only need a stent or two -  I’m think he’ll need a multiple by-pass, but only God knows, and what happens, happens.  We are both at peace with it and I’m going to have to count on friends and family to get me through, as I surely can’t homeschool Kaleb every day while dealing with Kory in any kind of recovery mode.  My gifting is not in the nurturing department, and Kory is a pathetic patient.  I’m not thinking God’s been preparing me to take care of Kory with his recent neck problem, bladder problem, kidney problem, back problem…. I’m thinking I’m worn out already and need to call for backup.  I’m thankful I have friends.

Our weekly routine was pretty routine and on the mark.  The only difference this week was that I did double time with Kaleb and we dog sat.  We had Kaleb’s favorite dog, Kitty, for two days and then Friday we got his other two favorite yellow labs, Penny and Luna.  They will be with us for two weeks and if Kaleb does all their care, it’s no problem to have them here, but he’s already been gone this weekend to a junior high retreat so I’ve been up before dawn to walk them and they stick to me like Velcro.  I haven’t yet figured out how to teach them to sleep in or to stick to Kaleb.  They are no respecters of weekend hours, that’s for sure.

Kory drove his 1963 Studebaker Avanti up here to Mount Vernon for the winter so he can work on it a little.  It’s been in the garage at our apartment building in Seattle for over twenty years and he takes it for a spin every now and then when he’s down there.  We used to go on all our dates in that car before we were married, but things seem to change dramatically after the wedding.  This weekend was sunny enough and Kory finally felt good enough to take the car for a spin so we’ve been cruising around the Skagit Valley a little remembering what life was like before we were married.  I forgot how fun that car is.  It’s helped Kory’s spirits too, as he feels 21 when he steps on the accelerator, and that takes him back to his care-free single days, which always plasters a smile on his face. 

Kaleb is now home from a successful weekend camp retreat.  He’s tired, but he had a wonderful time, which erased all the bad memories of his summer camp experience, so I’m thankful to God for that. And now a new week unfolds (see photo of this morning’s sunrise) with all it’s predictability, and my prayer is God prepares us for what we don’t have planned.

Back Home Again

As my friend Janet says, “If you live long enough, something’s gonna get ya.”  So for Kory, now, it seems, his time has come.  Apparently he has lived more than one lifetime, as things are “gettin’ him” right and left.  The bladder infection he battled a few weeks ago went into hiding while he was on some antibiotics, then came back with a vengeance once he stopped taking them.  Unfortunately, the infection went into his kidneys, so he was one sick puppy for most of last week – running a fever and plagued with chills, headache and no appetite.  By Wednesday afternoon he was sick of being sick and went to the doctor and got some major antibiotics to kill the infection before it killed him.  I had to pick up the slack with Kaleb’s school work as Kory couldn’t get off the couch all week, so I’m already feeling somewhat burned out and we just got back from vacation!

The week was in full swing with routine activities that now define our existence.  Sunday I facilitated our home fellowship group where we planned ways our kids can raise money to buy food for hungry children in Africa.  An organization called “Children of the Nations” has a cool program where they deliver all the bulk food to an organization and let those that raised the money, assemble the food packets.  Each bag contains a complete protein (rice, lentils, dried veggies, broth and spices) and when mixed with six cups of hot water, makes enough food to feed six kids.  It only costs a quarter, so all our kids are excited about the opportunity to make a difference in other kids’ lives. Every time Kaleb earns money now, he takes the 25% he gives to “God,” multiplies it by four (based on a quarter per food packet), then multiplies it again by six (based on how many it will feed), and proudly spouts off just how many meals he has earned.  I like the way he thinks.  So far he’s set aside over a hundred dollars for this program, and he’s far from being done.  We assemble the packets in December.

The Destination Imagination class I’m teaching on Mondays is a big hit with the eight boys on our team.  They will compete regionally in March and if they are good enough, will go to State competitions in April.  They are pumped up and full of creativity and excitement so it’s fun to facilitate this afterschool activity.  They get challenges that seem impossible to do, but their little brains come up with the most clever solutions with just the materials they’ve been given.  They like building towers and bridges the best, but they also do impromptu dramas and problem solving.  It’s the ultimate team building activity, and that’s why I do it – because Kaleb needs to know he is not an island.

Last Tuesday, after I drove Kaleb to Mill Creek to meet with his “personal life coach,” we continued on into Seattle to take our beloved Grammy J out to dinner for her 74^th birthday (without Kory due to aforementioned ailments.)  We ate at a restaurant down by the water’s edge and watched the sky as God painted a luscious sunset as a special gift to us all (see photo), but Janet felt especially touched by His handiwork.  Her daughter, JaRon is back in the hospital again, fighting bone cancer, so it’s been a tough week for her.  She’s an amazing woman who sees beauty and God’s hand in everything around her, even in the midst of trials.  We just love our Grammy J and we treasure any and all time we get to spend with her.

Wednesday was significant because it was the first day of Confirmation class.  Our church has a two year confirmation program for middle schoolers, so the time has come for Kaleb to attend.  There are thirty Confirmation students, seventh and eighth graders – and of the nineteen incoming students, Kaleb attended pre-school with seven of them.  It’s too weird to think they were all toddlers together and now they are being ushered into the teenage years together.  Childhood is but a flash. 

Thursday I taught the debate portion of a speech class for a group of homeschool kids, Kaleb being one of them.  I introduced the idea of formal versus informal logic, deductive reasoning versus inductive reasoning.  I asked for examples of each from the dozen kids there and when I asked specifically about deductive logic, Kaleb raised his hand and said, “Well, it’s kind of like that quote from Michelangelo when he said he just chips away everything from the stone, that isn’t the statue.”  The speech teacher and I just stared at each other with the look that says, “Where does that kid come up with this stuff?”  I was so impressed with his ability to process that concept into some applicable.  He really does scare me sometimes.

Kory was feeling well enough to go with Kaleb to Friday School (a homeschool co-op) on Friday morning so I got the house to myself and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  It’s funny because sometimes I freak out thinking I might out live Kory, and Kaleb will be grown and gone one day, and I’ll be rattling around in the house all by myself and that thought sickens me, but when I can grab a few hours alone NOW, it’s actually quite pleasant.  I was able to work on a Bible study and have some alone time with God.  Kaleb went home with a pal after Friday School for nearly eight hours so he got to skip the rest of his school day, only to have to make it up on Sunday.  It was worth it.

Saturday was a glory day for all of us as Kaleb was invited to an awards ceremony sponsored by Johns Hopkins University (see photo).  They make a big deal out of the kids that score well on their standardized tests – so we dressed up and headed down to Seattle Pacific University to watch him receive his certificate.  He’s actually gotten one before, but we were gone for the ceremony so they just mailed it, which doesn’t have nearly the same effect.  The speech they gave was very inspirational and I think Kaleb was a bit surprised by all the hoopla – being called “the brightest and best” and the “future leaders of America.”  I wish I would have recorded that speech. 

One of our favorite fall and winter routines is to make soup for Saturday night and have our neighbor, Joan, come over and play cribbage with us while we slurp down the soup.  We started that routine back up again this week, so our world is getting very familiar, if not a little hectic.  The pattern is pretty well set for several months now, as the calendar has the same events written on it week after week.  The only difference will be what ails Kory.  This morning he woke up with a stiff neck and can’t turn his head without screaming.  He went to the chiropractor, but couldn’t get an adjustmenty, so hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Kory is miserable to be around when he’s in pain, so we do our best to avoid him.  Our life may be routine, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

New Mexico Rocks!

We spent a few more days in Colorado before heading south to New Mexico.  My friend, Launni, just bought a hundred year old cabin up in the Rockies, so we got to have lunch with her and sit on the porch like Ma and Pa Kettle and take in the scenery.  I see why she loves it and wants to spend time there.  I think the Mountain Lions might be a detractor for me, but she’s prepared to stare them down when they show up in her front yard.  She’s already managed to shoot all the prairie dogs that come anywhere near her place, so I’m sure a large cat will prove no challenge, as the target is much larger.  These mountains/country folks get back to the basics fairly quickly when they leave the city life, I tell ya.

We went to church Sunday with our friend Paul.  He lead worship and a missionary to the Muslim world gave the sermon.  It was one of the most fascinating, interesting and convicting sermons I’ve heard in a long time.  It was hard to leave there and not be impacted.  What a life that man has lived – at 83 years old he’s still traveling around the world talking about the basic premise of the Muslim faith and how it differs from the Christian faith (he was a missionary for 18 years in Afghanistan several decades ago).  He said the Muslims have 99 names for God, which they must recite regularly, but not one of the names is “Father.”  They don’t understand that we are made in His image and He loves us.  It’s the pivotal point in our theological differences because God loves us like a parent, and they just don’t get that.  I was also humbled by his teaching that we serve only one God, but when we make selfish choices that are against Biblical teachings, we aren’t serving God, so we’ve opened the door to the devil himself to work that selfishness out however he wants.  Eeew.  Sin is ugly.

We had dinner and spent the night with Paul and Paula.  Kaleb reminded me it was a “reste selskap” (the Norwegian word for “rest party”) where they eat the “rest” of the food the day after a big celebration.  It was just as good the second time around and it was great to have extra time with our friends once all the commotion had settled down and the wedding was behind them.

Early Monday morning we headed south to see the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.  For some weird reason, huge sand dunes lie at the base of the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mountains, and Kaleb was all set to climb them and roll down.  It took several hours to get there and by the time we arrived it was 84 degrees.  The sand was way too hot to the touch, so rolling down it with shorts and a short sleeved shirt proved to be painful.  He settled for jumping off the edges of the dunes and running down as fast as he could.  It was a lot more work to get back up to the top than he anticipated too, but he didn’t complain.  Kory even managed to climb up some smaller dunes without getting any angina pain, but the heat kept us from staying for more than an hour.  I took lots of photos and made sure everyone drank lots of water.  Kaleb earned the Junior Ranger badge so at least there was something educational about the day.  I love the Junior Ranger program.

We continued our drive south that day and had dinner in Taos, New Mexico before arriving at a luxurious B&B in Sante Fe owned by a college professor friend of mine (see photo) from my Pomona days.  I used to babysit his kids, who are in their 30s now.  I was hoping to surprise him by our arrival, but he surprised me by NOT being there.  I got to meet his partner though and we had a great time at their place, especially since they had two large dogs to entertain Kaleb.

I love Sante Fe.  It’s just one gorgeous photo opportunity after another, as the architecture is so opposite from anything the northwest has to offer, the heat is so dry, the food is so hot, the arts and crafts are so unique and the people are especially kind.  I’ve been to Sante Fe many times, but could really make it an annual thing.  Almost everyone else staying at the B&B were also from the Pacific Northwest – so I guess I’m not the only one that feels that way – and they were all repeat customers.

My left foot had some unexplained sharp pain all night long so I didn’t sleep well as the twinge of something being out of whack kept me awake.  I thought it would go away once I started walking the next day, but as we walked the few blocks into the heart of Sante Fe on Tuesday, I realized I must have sprained it while climbing the sand dunes the day before.  The pain was intolerable, so I had to hobble quite a bit, leaning on Kory and Kaleb for support.  Fortunately, everything we wanted to see in the heart of town was very close, so there wasn’t much distance to cover.  We saw the oldest house in America, the oldest church in America, the oldest continuously occupied public building in America – all from around 1610.  Kaleb liked the Loretto Chapel which houses a miraculous spiral staircase built over a hundred years ago with no visible means of support.  The sisters of that church prayed for a way to get access to the choir loft and a stranger showed up one day, built the thing with wood not from that area, and left before they could pay him.  It’s one of America’s “Unsolved Mysteries” and totally miraculous.

By the time we got to the New Mexico Historical museum, I was hobbling pretty hard so I was offered a wheelchair, as it was apparent I needed it.  That helped a lot and Kaleb enjoyed wheeling me around to all the exhibits.  My foot was swelling and I wasn’t sure if it was broken or not.  I couldn’t figure out how we would get back to the B&B, but just as we exited the museum, a bike taxi showed up.  (Thank you, Jesus!) We got an extra little tour of the downtown area as he drove us around and back to the B&B.  It was an added bonus we didn’t plan, but certainly was fun.

Kory drove us out to the nearest Wal-Mart and I bought some ibuprofen, an ankle brace and some icy hot lotion.  I couldn’t see any point in going to an urgent care place and wasting vacation time waiting, so I decided to self medicate, and it worked.  Kory had a good time taking pictures of me in Wal-mart using their motorized shopping cart, just like the fat ladies with bad knees use.  Ha ha.  I found it to be a rather efficient way of zooming through the aisles, however, so I may have to fake injuries in the future just to get to use that cart.

We enjoyed happy hour at the B&B, visiting with all the other guests for a few hours and I was able to sit with my foot elevated.  I’m not sure if that helped the most, or the few glasses of wine I drank, but I knew I was on the mend by then. Kory and Kaleb also prayed for me, so I’m sure the healing really came from above.

Wednesday Kory did all the driving as we headed east early in the day to see the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos.  We learned many interesting things there about how that town came to be, what the scientists are working on, and how the nuclear bomb affected the world.  Kaleb requested that stop on our route, even though it was out of our way, it was well worth it.  We couldn’t stay long, however, because we had a four hour drive further south to get to the Roswell, the final destination on our journey.  Kaleb has been fascinated by the whole UFO phenomenon for a few years now, and Roswell is the mecca for such folks.  We weren’t disappointed.

The whole town of Roswell really plays up the UFO thing.  Every store has either a space ship or alien in their signage (see photo).  Even Wal-Mart stacked their cases of pops so that an aliens face appears .  Hotels have aliens holding welcome signs, the street lights in downtown are shaped like an alien’s head with eyes painted on the them so it looks like we are being watched by aliens.  This is the largest tourist desination in the state, and after reading all there was to read in the museum, it’s no wonder.  It would be hard NOT to believe in the alien crash in 1947 after seeing all the evidence, but why the government has worked so hard to cover it up is the real mystery.  

We had a long drive back to Denver on Thursday, but were treated with more time with friends before we flew back home on Friday.  My foot was miraculously healed by then – woo hoo!  Our flight was delayed nearly three hours, so it was a long journey back, but we were just glad to arrive safely.  It was a an incredible trip overall, eventhough I never did get used to the dry air which made it difficult to breathe at night, or the fact that my hair went straight (humidity helps the curls, apparently).  Even with the few blips along the way (I left my laptop power cord at the B&B so I’ve been unable to post this until now!), it was one of the best family vacations we’ve had, but it’s always good to have a home in which to return.  Hallelujah.