They are missing !

Penny and Casey.

We have the darndest fence. We've had to keep the thing tied shut for years. Which is such a pain. Then at times it will work and you can't budge it. This past month it went back to being tied because Penny could pull it open enough for Casey to squeeze and then the pressure would pop it open for Penny. We have ran the dogs down about 5 times. Not counting the times after Casey learned to climb the woodpile and jump over. Penny almost learned that one too. We moved the woodpiles.
Monday during the storm, they vanished. Last report from the librarian in town, was that she heard somesay there were two dogs running loose along the road. "The road" would be Highway 7.  That was all she heard. No telling which direction or on what side of the road.

It is in the Lord's hands to bring them back or not. We have exhausted ourselves in walking neighborhoods until midnight. It hasn't stopped raining, so their sent trail for home is probably gone, and we have coyotes in the area - lots of them.
Please pray for our puppies that are out there. Please pray for the family - we miss them. The boys are devistated.

Thanks Chris C. for  making us some posters to put around town. We have the mailmen/women in the area searching, the police are looking, animal shelters are alerted. Your prayers are coveted.

productive day

A great start to the Spring Break week. Commander helped me mow the cross-country course at campus today. He rode the mower and I led the way around the course picking up limbs and broken branches. Thank you, honey, for helping me.

I then had the chance to tackle the bunk bed in HAWK's room. I've been wanting to take the top bunk off for sometime now. It took a while to get Hawk to go along with the idea. The wood from the bunk just needed to be cut down into a single with room underneath the mattress for two rolling storage units.  I'd do pictures, but for some reason after the last computer crash, the computer doesn't want to read the camera when plugged in.

With taking the bunk out, it freed up two twin mattresses. Commander and I need a new king size, since the hand-me-down has started coming apart at the seams. I squeezed the two mattresses into the platform frame, filled the  extra length with folded quilts and put the memory foam mattress over the top. It feels great!. Now we just have to get the old mattress to the trash. Anyone have any recycling ideas for a mattress?

Tomorrow, our youth director and I will be taking about 8 kids to PowerPlay for the afternoon. Afterwards we will drive them up to church camp (1 1/2 hours away) for the night. THey will then be ready to help clean the building. After committing to the trip, I remembered that the college kids are back in school - they had spring break last week, thus, we have practice. Then after Thursday's meet, we also have a "Consequence" meeting with one of the athletes. I'll be ready to hit the bed Monday night.

Still praying for Commander's job to extend for another year. They didn't look at his packet this past week, so we are still waiting to hear. Drop dead date is 26th.  I really enjoy having him at home. He is a big help with the boys and their activities. He likes doing his TKD class and helping out at church more. I'm not looking forward to him traveling again.  Your prayers are coveted.

Praising God with the Stars and Whales

This is awesome. It gives you chills. I hope you will take the time to listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWKm-LZWm4&feature=player_embedded

Feet, feet, feet and a busy summer

I need some new feet.
 I didn't know this a few years ago - but everytime I worked out in the back yard and my toes started tingling then burning and going numb, I was irritating a nerve and making it swell. 
Now, I need surgery to cut those nerves out.
We tried wider shoes with more padding, we tried advil and icing too, then we went for cortisone injections and came away feeling like I was in a chemo nightmare. Steroid side effects were worse than the chemo - but I can't remember the chemo, so I can say that. Anyhow, we moved on to alcohol injects to kill the nerve and the nerve fought back. The first allergic reaction was just a red spot on top of the foot above the injection site and a lot of pain, 2nd round was all the way back to the ankle and swelling and a lot of pain. You know how a baby's foot looks fat? That's how mine looked. I had to see a different podiatrist when they swelled up. She took a picture with her cell phone to send it to the other doctor at the other office. She'd never seen this reaction before. I spent the weekend on the couch with my feet up. A forced relaxed weekend. I liked it!

He told me yesterday that I couldn't have anymore injections (like I really wanted one) because my "throat would swell up and I could die". He was even mock grabbing his throat. Just like a boy. 

So, I'll wait until track season is over and then try the surgery on the worst foot. I also found out last night that Commander needs to have a big toe operated on so it can move. Three surgeries this summer? Don't know if our schedules can take it.

Has your summer already filled up?

Hawk - gone first two weeks.
Gluten gone first three weeks
Herogian gone 2nd, 3rd, 10 and 11th
4th week is VBS and week 9 might have the two boy scouts out again.
weeks 10 and 11 might have the Commander traveling - to Hawaii  - of all places.
Hawk might even do more, but we don't have it scheduled.  He will be helping our youth pastor care for his two sons while they are all at church camp. Yeah. Hawk getting out of the house willingly. As Commander says, he'll never have children after babysitting with two lively boys for two weeks. Just getting him to church camp is good.

Have a great weekend.

itchin

A lot of itchin' going around here this week.   The most irritating one has been the feet. I had the second round of alcohol injections into my feet to sclerosis the nerve (Morton's Neuroma).  I broke out later that evening with red swollen areas above the injection site. By Friday afternoon, they were swollen all the way back to the ankles. I went to show the podiatrist and had to see his partner. She was so shocked, she took pictures with her phone to send to him at the surgery center.   AFter lying around for the rest of the weekend with feet propped up and taking benadryl, I'm doing better, just in time for the 3rd round of shots due Thursday. We will see if we can even go through with them.
This really brought on memories from chemotherapy. Getting sick from a shot that is supposed to help, fighting the side effects and by the time you start to feel better it's time for another round. UGH.

Praying that these 2 rounds of injections will be enough to deaded the nerve so I can at least get back to some normal routine around the track and backyard work.

THe other itchin around here is school for next year. It is already March and even though I know what courses the boys will be taking (mostly) I'm itchin to sit down and lay out the whole year. I do this on excel spread sheets. Then next year I just have to look at the sheet to see what is next. If we have any breaks in the schedule, the spread sheet shows me where we are lessonwise. I do put weeks down with it just so I know if we are starting to get behind too much, but I don't hold myself to being on that weeks work anymore. It's not written in stone - I have to keep telling myself that. Just check off the lesson when it is done and keep moving.

Most of my friends here are in Tornado alley.  Please stay safe this spring and keep your heads down. THanks for stopping by.

Having a great time with friends

I met Terri in seventh grade. I think at lunch time, where we started sitting together with mutual friends. Our friendship blossomed over the years and stayed strong because prayer was a big part of our friendship. We both could ask the other to 'pray for me'.  During a rough part of life, when I moved to California, I felt that Terri's prayers were the life ring thrown out to me (along with family prayers). They were praying for me to improve my decision making process.

Terri married a wonderful God loving man and started having boys. I finally met my Godly man, and started having boys. Terri started homeschooling her four, and it wasn't long after that I felt the pull to leave the classroom and do the same.  Her oldest is 22 and youngest 15, my oldest is 15 and youngest 12. These guys get a long so well, it is amazing.

Terri and Scott came to Kansas City this weekend with two of their boys. One of them is competing with his Robotics team. THey are staying here at the house with us. The new room downstairs has made it possible for them to have a room to stay in, with the boys setting out camping cots and sleeping anywhere. The guys are loving it.

Yesterday morning I had an early doctors appointment. Terri got up and went with me. We then spent the day together "girl talking" - husbands would say we never shut up. It was a blessed day to have time with such a friend. We went out to eat, she drove me to a coaches meeting, took slushies back to the boys, brought "Gluten" to soccer practice then picked me up after track practice.  As a poster says, "Good friends pick up their relationship after long absences as if there was no time apart."

I had a great day.
The boys even had a great day. AFter moving the woodpile from the fence ( this is the dog's way out of the yard) they spent the day playing airsoft, xbox and enjoying slushies and blizzards in payment for the manual labor they completed. Casey Houdini won't be able to leave the yard now. I hope.

Thank you, Lord, for such wonderful friends that will be with us through eternity.

Nice weather about killed me.

Yesterday was beautiful here in Northeastern Kansas. I started snapping branches from the mega kindling pile in the back garden. After a 3 foot high by four foot wall was snapped and stacked, I started on cutting the thicker branches with the circular saw.  This all began because Hubby mentioned a job opening in Kuwait. I needed the time to get my mind wrapped around the idea and become mentally prepared for anything in the near future.  Just like a Boy Scout - you must be prepared. Manual labor helps the process.
 Also, the fact that CASEY the schnauzer/terrier mix has decided that the dwindling woodpile was a great springboard over the fence to freedom. He must have cleared it 5 times yesterday before we finally caught him in the act and figured out where he was getting out. Next job was to move the firewood. THe stack has to be either so high that he can't get on top, or so low that it doesn't help him. Making sure the sides of the piles were steep without toe holds was another chore.

I was ready for bed at 7 last night.

The morton's neuroma seems to be getting better - I was able to work out in the yard, so I'd say it was better. I go in later this week for another shot in each foot of 4% alcohol.  The I'm tough, I can handle any shot you give me, disappeared the following day after the first round of shots into the balls of the feet. My right foot protested all weekend (during a trip to Oklahoma to recruit and athlete and attend a funeral) I was a hobbling mess. The left foot was fine except for the rash on top of the foot over the injection site - I'm wondering if the alcohol has a wheat gluten base.  I get another round of shots THursday and also next week. I'm hoping to be done with foot pain for at least 50 years. Yeah right. We'll see.

Track practice is going well. We will be done with 6:30 a.m. workouts this week. The kids are excited, I'm excited. Hawk has been going with me almost every morning and working out with the javelin throwers. We built him a javelin out of copper tubing with aluminum piping inside. It flys nicely.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.