CFL Kicks Off

Concord Football League (CFL) kicked off on Saturday morning. This is a developmental league, teaching skills and the game of football. It's for 4-6th graders. Quinn got to play the QB this game and loved it. He likes to throw the ball a lot but it rained the entire morning so it was mostly a rushing game.

Tony is one of the 4 coaches. It takes a lot of coaches for football, each focusing on different things. They practice 2 evenings a week and play every Saturday morning from 9-11am. There are 6 different teams this season. Quinn plays for the Colts. : ) Go COLTS! (in real life too!)

First day of school for the big kids

First day of school for the big kids in Indiana. Madison (and Heather) are going into 8th grade. They have a brand new $32million building to go to this year. It's an awesome new Junior High.



Madison thinks I should be done taking pictures now. What?! Already?! I didn't even gotten one with her cute new book bag. It's on the other shoulder. This bag is just her soccer junk for after school. SIGH. She has a cute Aeropostle green bag on the other shoulder that the world will now not get to see since I only got to take about 3 pictures of her.



Quinn (and Nate) now go to the 5th/6th grade building which is the old junior high building. It's had lots of spiffy make-overs too and is pretty sweet looking itself. It's called "Concord Intermediate School" Like Quinn's shirt?... first day ever for the CIS school. They are in 6th grade.



Quinn had a few extra good-byes for Cooca this morning. They are used to hanging out together all day. Poor Cocoa will be without her buddies. She can hear the school bus rounding the corner in the afternoon and gets quite excited when her BFFs come home again!

Off to Kindergarten!

It was an exciting day in Kansas as Jade went off to kindergarten on Monday morning!
Archie did a great job by getting several pictures of the big morning (with some strict intructions by me. LOL). She's got a new backpack filled with all the needed school supplies. It's a little bittersweet. Michelle would have loved to celebrate this very important milestone with them. It makes us miss her even more on days like this.

Does she look a little excited or what? She's more than a little excited to get to ride the big school bus like Pakka drives.

M.O.M. to Moms logo and more exciting news...

We've got an official M.O.M. to Moms logo! How do you like it? I love it! Our family got to have a "say" in what we were hoping for in a logo but Senad really was the clever graphic designer that made it all come together. Senad is Archie's sister-in-law's brother. I know you might have to read that again. We met through facebook. He is a graphic designer in Des Moines and made this logo as a gift to us. Awesome! The feet are designed to also look like 2 mothers facing each other. The big toes are their heads. The little toes can be their braids or even babies in a papoose. I just received cloth labels in the mail this week and already have sewn a few onto the blankets that I'm making... so we now have our own "clothing label." hahaha. Aren't you so impressed? I've learned a lot about clothing labels in the last few weeks. That's felt like a weird thing to learn about. : ) I'm actually amazed at how expensive they can be.

In other exciting news, we've taken another big step today with M.O.M. to Moms and we committed to hosting a baked potato bar at the MCC sale (http://www.mennonitesale.org/) on September 24-25. This means that we are going to need to be prepared to sell about 500 plates of loaded baked potatoes. That's our current estimate. The MCC committee is going to talk about it and try to come up with a firm prediction for numbers of people our booth would actually serve and then we can start planning. They also agreed that 100% of the donations/profit that come through our booth can be designated for MCC Newborn Kits in honor of Michelle's memory. How great is that? So, anyone want to help work some shifts at the sale and sell baked potatoes? We would love to have your help! Some of the ladies from work have already "signed up" on our sign-up sheet (that only exists in our minds right now). We've got all kinds of ideas about wearing matching t-shirts or hoodies with our logo, having a display of Newborn Kits present and may be decorating the tables with Mr. Potato Heads. Do you have any clever ideas for us? Our family would love to have your help, in whatever way you want to give it.

Thanks everyone!

Hoping I can return your love and support some day, some how.

Leah

Staycation Over

We had lunch with Don and Isy today. We ate out at Buffalo Wild Wings after church. Isy continues to improve each day. She was walking with a cane today but doesn't use it inside her home. Still whispering and looked tired. I think our lunch did her in for a few hours. We showed her the pictures we took of her in the hospital. I was right, she laughed at them. : )

It's hard to believe my week off this summer has gone by so quickly. I'm sad to see it end. I had such a great week. We got to do so many fun things as a family. Madison and I had an especially fun week. I'm so glad she still likes to spend time with her mom. : ) Several times I offered for her to invite a friend over but she was just happy and content to do things with me (us). I'll take this time with her while I can get it because it may not always be this way. I've been thinking of the "life skills" that I want her to know before she grows up and leaves our home and this week we got to work on a few, such as our kitchen fun and some sewing on our baby blankets. I really, really, really wish I could spend more time at home like this. May be I (we) appreciate our time together even more because it doesn't happen as often. ??? I don't know. I just know that I certainly don't take a week like this for granted when others might not blink an eye because it's actually their "normal." It makes me wonder what my "normal" things are, what do I take for granted, that others wouldn't. Something for me to ponder as I go back to work. This week was a gift to myself. A gift earned by hard work during the day away from home, taking care of what can be a very challenging patient population (chronic pain). I love my colleagues at work. It will be fun to see them again. I'll do some praying about my excitement to see my patients again. : )

Have a good week everyone! I'm going to do my best to make sure mine is a good week too!
Love you all,
Leah

Salsa

Madison and I spent most of the afternoon making salsa from scratch. This was a first for her. She really made it all by herself. I just supervised. It's fun to have the completed product. It's a not quite as spicy as we would like it to be. We know we will change the "heat factor" the next time we make it. We enjoyed making it together though!

(Dbl click on the picture and you can see it much better)

Rodeo Pictures

Thought I would post a few of my favorite rodeo pictures. Madison and I went to the 1pm rodeo on Friday afternoon and she some how talked me in to staying and going to the 8pm rodeo too! I thought we would probably be home by 4pm, it turned out to be 11pm instead! I told her she could just give me the mother-of-the-year award now (while walking to the parking lot). She handed me my pretend trophy. It will always be so special to me. : )

Grilled Pizza

This afternoon we happened to watch "Barefoot Contessa" on the Food Network. I don't think I've ever seen this show before but she was making Grilled Pizza. Madison said, "Let's go make that right now!" And since I'm on my staycation, I said, "OK! Let's do it!" Hahaha. We've had so much fun this week. Madison made the grilled pizza basically on her own, with me to just supervise. This was her first time to use yeast and a cooking thermometer etc... The pizza turned out really, really good. We will definitely make it again.
I should note that we use a charcoal grill and that's what makes it taste so good. I don't think it would taste the same over a gas grill. Yummy! Thanks Barefoot Contessa! (I'm sure she has a real name but I have no clue what it is.)

Almost 3 weeks out...

Several of you have asked how Isy is doing so I thought I would just post a general update again. She continues to get stronger each day, no longer using the walker or cane to get around inside the house and much more steadier on her feet. She hasn't been out and about yet. Just to the porch and back inside. Still working on her energy and endurance. She has really appreciated the meals from their friends at church. She certainly isn't strong enough to be making meals yet. I saw her this morning (Wed) and I can see big improvements just since I last saw her on Sunday. One of the challenges right now is that she hasn't gotten her voice back. She's at a total whisper. I'm presuming this is from the irritation caused from the tube in her bronchial area for 10 days and the resulting bronchitis that this caused. She's still using nebulizer breathing treatments about every 2hours and this really helps with the coughing and tightness in her airway... just hasn't improved her ability to speak out loud yet. If anything, it's gotten worse because last week she could squawk out some sounds but as of the last few days, it's only a whisper sound. It will be 3 weeks tomorrow that she started coughing up blood, and 1 week ago tomorrow, when she was just coming home from the hospital. When we look back even 1 full week ago, it's amazing to see the great improvements since then. She has a couple of doctor's appointments coming up. I'm sure they will be happy with her progress. Thank you again for your thoughts, prayers, meals, cards and concern on her behalf!

Happy Birthday Quinn!

Quinn's birthday was in May. He really wanted to have a sleepover birthday party this year. I can't believe how difficult it was to find a free evening and free morning for our family and some of his friends! It ended up being quite "belated" while waiting for baseball season to end but Q didn't mind. It was worth the wait. It's getting really hard at this age to set limits on the number of guests to the party. My kids are blessed with lots of friends! He had 6 friends who came over at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. We took them to play Paint Ball in Mishawaka. That was quite the fun but oh. so. hot! The boys wore long sleeves, sweatshirts and Nate even wore his winter coat. Apparently the paint balls sting when you get shot so they weren't taking any chances. They played for a good solid 2+ hours. I made all 7 boys take showers last night. They STUNK! haha
I had to run (fly via the car) Madison to the fair by 8:45 for the 3 on 3 BB game in the midst of the party. By the time we got home, ate pizza for supper, called the boys in from outside at 10:45 and had them all shower, it was midnight by the time we got to the presents and cake/icecream! It was a good thing it was a sleepover. We told them lights out by 2am, I have a feeling some stayed up longer than that. Benjamin won the award for having to get up the earliest, he had to get picked up at 7:15am to head to the fair. Logan won the award for sleeping in the latest, when Jake finally woke him up at 1pm! The last partier left at 3:30.
I had to laugh at Tony. He came off that paintball course FILTHY! I told him I think he enjoyed playing paint ball as much, if not more, than all the boys together. He agreed! He was the only one "so serious" by army-crawling through the woods to sneak up on the other team and was quite proud of himself that he took 4 surprised kids out in one ambush. Hilarious! Check out his picture in the bottom left hand corner. That's as close as I could get to him, while he stealthfully snuck around! LOL

It's been a great staycation so far! : )

3 on 3 Basketball at the Fair

Madison, Shelby and Mac played 1 basketball in the 3 on 3 tourney at the fair on Tuesday at 9pm. They lost but had fun trying. It was pretty rough, aka football on a cement court, at times. Madison and Shelby both had skinned knees. They were in the 13-15yr old category so at age 13 had a hard time competing with the older girls. All in fun... at the fair. The free backpack from the fair was a surprise bonus. : )

4H Fair Fun

Monday was wrist-band day at the fair. You pay $20 and ride as many rides as you want. This is definitely the only way to do rides at the fair. The kids each had friends to ride with and rode rides for about 8 hours this day. Quinn left with an upset stomach... motion sick I think. Overall they had a really good time. They are old enough that we can send them off as pairs and tell them to check back in periodically at a meeting place. They are at a good age for the fair! YES!


Madison's last ride with the Ring of Fire. It goes upside down in a circle and holds you at the top for a few moments. I used to be able to ride stuff like this... not any more! Only rollercoasters for me... nothing that spins you in a circle. Ugh! Makes me quesy just to think of it.



Quinn and I sold Lemon Shake-ups for the Aerospace Club for a few hours. It's easy and he enjoys it a lot.



Madison rammed Jake pretty good during the Bumper Car ride.

Steps Forward

Today was Isy's first full day at home. I think it went pretty well for her. She's amazed at how weak she still feels. Madison and I spent the afternoon with her. She told me that she thinks she has taken a step backwards since she got home. I reassured her that I don't think that at all. She isn't one to sit around and that's basically what she has energy to do and then she looks at everything that needs to be done and things she wants to do... and feels like she's taken a step backward. She was able to move around a little better today too, still needing the occasional boost out of her chair and a walker for reassurance but we got a little bit of laundry accomplished together, that's more than she would have gotten done yesterday in the hospital. It won't be long and she'll be back in the swing of it all together. Don and Madison picked up her handicapped parking tag today at the license branch, courtesy of my nurse practitioner license. : ) I told her that was her reward for enduring being hospitalized for 2 weeks. : )
She still coughs quite a bit, and sounds so tight in her chest, but some inhaled medication is helping that too.

A huge blessing for Isy was that when she walked into her house, after being home only 6 hours in the last 1 month, her house was sparkling from top to bottom. Archie coordinated having someone clean it for her before she got home and she will clean every 2 weeks for her for a few months. Archie is so far away which we all hate. He has such a giving heart, he really does, and it makes us feel closer to him. This is something that he could do to help Isy. I think it's a wonderful idea... such a wonderful gift!

Thanks for checking in on us folks. Each one of you are so appreciated for your love and support.

4H Fair Projects

This year we felt fortunate to be able to get any 4H projects done. We usually work on them in June/July but it was a struggle to get them together this summer. Madison entered her spinning top that she made in school. This was her first-ever woodworking project. She got first place in her 7th grade class in school. Her top spun the longest. At the fair she got a red ribbon and the judge suggested she try something harder, using more skills. I think she did a very good job with her first ever wood-working project! It's a keeper for sure in our house.

She also entered this cute cell phone picture frame that hangs on the wall. It's a cute pillowy project. She got a red ribbon because it was entered in the wrong category. The judge said they wanted to see holiday-type of designs in the wall-hanging category. Too bad the judge wouldn't have stood up and walked it over to the right category for it to be judged in. I told Tony, "I suppose I'm going to have to get on the 4H Fair Board too!" (To make some common-sense changes in their judging system). LOL

Quinn did his research for this Tigherhawk airplane several months ago. Thank you Lord, that he saved it in the computer and could actually find it again. He found all the pictures to print out as well. Aunt Bonnie helped him with the word-smithing and all the family put input into where things should go on his poster. At one point there were definitely too many cooks in the kitchen!! SIGH Anyway... Quinn decided on this lay-out which was a hit with the judge and he earned a Reserve Champion ribbon. There is not a state fair exhibit in this category so the highest ribbon you can earn is the Champion and then the Reserve Champion and then it goes blue-red-white. Thank goodness he knows his airplanes because I'm almost clueless in the Aerospace category of life! LOL

Madison has had her poster idea in her head for a long time. She wanted to take paint and make her hand prints all over the black poster board and her theme was going to be the importance of hand-washing. You can't really see the hand prints behind her written info in the picture but the judge thought it was clever. The judge also commented that she was glad that Madison explained how to use the hand sanitizers too and when to use soap/water or sanitizer. Her Health subject poster was selected for the State Fair! That's quite an honor and a first time for her!

Madison also submitted a jar of frozen strawberry jam that we made early in June. This got a blue ribbon. We already new it was awesome because we all love our family recipe!

I'm off work this next week. I'm so glad! We are just going to have a staycation in the area. Tony is going to take some days off next week too. We will probably spend quite a bit of time at the fair. There is always so much to do there.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Going HOME

Shortly after 8am the phone rang and then I heard a very loud noise, like an 11 year old boy bounding up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him, with a barking dog close at his heels. "Guess what-guess what-guess what- GUESS WHAT! Beppe is coming home today!"

Praise be to God!

One foot out the door

More progress today for Isy. Getting up/down and around much better. Getting stronger every day. PT and OT (occupational therapy) came to work with her today. Not sleeping well at night but that will surely turn around when she gets home and falls into a routine.

A special thanks to Sandy and Eileen (Isy's nieces) who turned those bushels of apples into applesauce! Thank you so much!! It's been almost 2 weeks since this all started. So happy we are looking at the sunshine on the other side of the tunnel!

More Progress

Isy had another good day today and has made even more progress. She seemed much more of her old-self today. Her voice is better and the conversation is easier to follow. : )
She has walked in the hall twice today and was up in her chair most of the day. She waited to do her 2nd walk until we got there tonight because she wanted to show us what she can do. : ) We all watched and cheered her on. She still needs help to get up/down and used a walker in the hall but eventually she will be able to ditch that as she gets her strength back. She's still in the ICU-Step Down Unit, they call it the Intermediate Care Center (ICC) so she still has the fancy IV lines, EKG monitoring etc... I asked her if she felt like having any visitors yet, surely our faces are getting quite old and there's not a lot of new things to talk about. She said yes, she felt strong enough to have a few visitors. : ) So, for you locals, if you would like to go and see her, you may! There is no ICC Bouncer so you are in the clear! : )

She's at Elkhart General, Room 4108, which is a private room. You can either go in the Main Entrance or in the Deil/Arcade Ave entrance (both the same side of the hospital, and this Deli door is a little closer to the elevator). Follow the signs for elevator D and take it to the 4th floor. When you get there, her room is about 1/3 of the way down on the left. Room 4108.

Thank you!

Another good day

Isy had another good day! No coughing/bleeding. When do you say she is home free? We don't know. That is a little anxiety producing. We have to choose to trust that of the 5 vessels in the lung that were blocked, the correct one was identified and the problem has been taken care of finally. After 10 days in the ICU, Isy was transfered to a medical floor in the hospital today. That is a great big step! She is going to start some physical therapy tomorrow to help her get her strength back. She still needs 2 people to help her pivot from the bed to the chair but she's 100% better than 1 week ago at this time. Madison basically giggled non-stop for the 3 hours we were at the hospital this evening. We all just feel so much relief and Beppe isn't quite "herself" yet, so she is saying/doing some funny stuff and we are finding everything funny. : ) Thank goodness she can laugh at herself too.

Thank you my family and friends, for your continued prayers for a full-recovery.

A great day!

Hello Dear Ones,
Sorry for the late update tonight.

Isy gave me a little scare this morning. I called the hospital to ask how her night was. They transfered the phone right to her which was a pleasant surprise. She said her night was "horrible!" I immediately braced myself. She must have had more coughing/bleeding. "What happened?" Honestly I was afraid to ask. "I slept awful." OH.... what a sigh of relief I felt inside! "I'm sorry you slept awful," I said, and tried to disguise the smile from ear to ear I felt in my heart!

Isy had a very good day today. She sat up in the chair at the bedside and was even eating some chicken by this evening's meal. She still is quite weak and couldn't wait to get back to bed after the first time she's been out of bed in 10 days! She tires out easily which is expected. We had to limit our visits to 10-15minutes at a time. She enjoyed seeing her brother John and Evelyn (from Goshen) and sister Hennie and Mark (from KS) for short visits today as well and we enjoyed visiting with them in the waiting room. I hope that tomorrow they will move Isy out of the ICU and to the regular Med-Surg unit. I would expect her to be in the hospital several more days yet, to work on getting her strength back, at least enough that she could get into the front door at home. : ) She (we, ok...all of us) have some anxiety about future bleeding but she made it 55 hours so far, we are especially thankful for that, beating out the old 40hour record. She's not ready to hear "all the details" yet of the past 9 days. She wants to only talk about positive things... where she is going, not where she has just come from. I don't blame her for that. Thank goodness she missed most of these past 9 days. She does have some very vivid and scary memories which we hope will fade but it makes me sad to hear her talk about them. We have had to get some teasing in though now that she is feeling better. We were talking about the medication they used for 9 days... Diprivan, which is the medicine that Michael Jackson used to try and sleep (why any doctor would try to use that for restorative sleep I don't know... that's another subject for another day) ANYWAY... we teased her that that medicine is the reason she woke up with a white glove on one hand. ; ) She laughed with us and that felt good.

I'm going to close this a little short tonight. We are going to work tomorrow. AJ and Bonnie are leaving for MN in the morning. Archie and Jade have regularly been checking in with us by phone every day from Kansas. It's been hard for Archie to be so far away. We told them not to come. We didn't want little Jade to see Beppe not feeling well and worry about her, especially since she just lost her mommy. Archie would have hopped in the truck as soon as we would have said "come" though. For. Sure. Our kids aren't too happy with us though. "You actually said 'don't come?' I can't believe it... why did you say that?!"

Please continue to pray that the bleeding vessels have forever been healed and for the anxiety of a recurrence of the problem to lessen. Again, thank you so much for your support. I received some lovely emails of encouragement today. While they made me a little teary eyed, they certainly were appreciated. Thank you.

Good-Night!