Catching Up

Life takes a lot of funny turns.  As I sit here, wondering how to jump back into my blog after a month of silence, I’m not even sure where to begin.  Explanations for my long absence?  What’s been going on?  My long-intended posts on our November vacation?  None of the above?

My reasons for not posting are not profound.  I, once again, have simply been doing other things.  That, in combination with some new responsibilities and resolutions, has resulted in a prolonged period away from something that I usually enjoy.  Even now, I’m not sure the future of this blog.  But we shall see!

I was listening to the radio today and these lyrics by Sanctus Real caught my attention:

Whatever you're doing inside of me,
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace.
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see,
but I'm giving in to something heavenly.

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of this song, but I think that it strangely applies to my life right now. 

Maybe a list would be useful right now in explaining how, so let’s go.  Here’s what’s been happening the last couple of months.

1.  I haven’t been running.  My case of IT Band Syndrome simply won’t go away, and, if I don’t let it heal, I might never run again.  So, no running.  I hate it.  I don’t understand why this has been taken away right now, but I’m trying to figure out what I’m supposed to learn.  Maybe that my identity doesn’t come from something I do?  Hmmm…

2.   Jeff and I paid off our house in December.  This is a goal that we have been working on since we moved here in 2006.  Starting in January, our one and only credit card is, for all practical purposes, gone.  (We haven’t cancelled it yet, but we’ve charged nothing to it since the end of November.)  We are back to a cash economy at Chez Wilkes.  That’s been different, but Dave Ramsey sure is right.  When you plunk down cash for things, you think twice about what you’re buying.  I can’t say I’m enjoying this yet, but I’m always up for a good challenge!

3.  Maybe as an extension of or cockeyed tangent of paying off the house, we’ve also been bitten by the minimalist bug.  This is probably even weirder than paying off the house and going off the credit card, but now Jeff and I are majorly clearing out our stuff, especially the stuff that sits around and accomplishes nothing.  At first, we thought we’d just take a few trips to Goodwill.  Now, I think that we’re more along the lines of having enough stuff for a garage sale.  This is not the best thing to figure out in the middle of winter, but, hey, that’s where we are.

4.  We also were really challenged by an Advent sermon series at our church in December and by a book by Craig Groeschel called Weird:  Because Normal Isn’t Working.  To make a long story short, I felt that I was being called to make a difference in an area that really resonates with me.  We decided to sponsor two Compassion International children, Dolores from Honduras and Jonathan from El Salvador, beginning in December.  For what was essentially one of our old mortgage payments, we could help two children for a whole YEAR in their journey to escape from poverty.  Dolores is Charlotte’s age, and Jonathan is Elijah’s; we are looking forward to many years of relationship with these precious souls, as are our children.  In a few years, we may sponsor another one for Jeremy.  What’s the point of being blessed if you are not a blessing to others?  And we are so blessed.

Here are some other, less life-changing things that have happened:

1.  Jeremy gave me a corneal abrasion the week between Christmas and New Year’s.  He managed to swipe the edge of one of his books across my entire right eye.  Hoo, boy, did that hurt, probably worse than anything else I can remember.  Fortunately, the eye heals quickly, so I’m better now.  I surely hope that never happens again.

2.  Charlotte and Elijah both tested for their senior (dark blue) belts in Tae Kwon Do.  This is huge because it’s the belt they will have for the next 18 to 24 months while working toward their black belts.  I honestly didn’t expect this to happen when I signed them up for Tae Kwon Do two-and-a-half years ago, and we are very proud of them!

3.  Charlotte is playing basketball in a new league this season, and she is the only girl on her team.  We told her before it started that her game would either have to step up or she’d have to find a new sport.  So far, she seems to be stepping up.  She is the second tallest player on her team, and she’s played about 75 percent of each game.  (The league guarantees 50 percent play time.)  It’s quite exciting to watch her play and hold her own with a bunch of rough boys.  Now, if only one of her dozens of shots would actually go in…!

4.  Jeremy is growing like crazy and talking more clearly every day.  He’s 21 months old and a delight, especially when he’s not hurting himself or other people.  He’s quite the character.

And that, my friends, is our life in brief!  As soon as I resolve to blog more, I probably won’t, so no promises to break.  But, hopefully, I’ll do a little better about keeping up.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season.  Talk to you soon!

Oh Where, Oh Where, Has This Blogger Gone?

If you can find her, let me know.  I need to tell her to get caught up on her blog posts.  It’s pretty bad when she promises new and exciting posts and then disappears for two more weeks.

I wish I had an exciting reason for not blogging, but it’s mostly just that I spend my time doing other things.  These past few weeks have seemed particularly hectic, possibly because I’ve added two physical therapy sessions each week, and those end up getting squeezed in at the most inconvenient times.

Charlotte told me the other day, “It just seems like we’re busier.”  I must say she’s right, although it doesn’t seem as if two PT sessions should throw our schedule into such an uproar.

Oh, well.  Thanksgiving is coming, and I am looking forward to a nice break!

We’re going a bit non-traditional this year.  We had originally expected my brother, sister-in-law, and niece and/or my dad to come here for Thanksgiving, but my dad decided to come the first weekend in December instead.  That weekend offers Elijah in the church Christmas play, breakfast with Santa, and Charlotte’s first basketball game, instead of a big meal and Black Friday.  Then, Zech and Alyse worked it out that they could come that weekend, too, so we are on our own Thursday.

I’ve decided to save the turkey breast I bought for when everyone comes and bought some turkey burgers and turkey hot dogs.  As it’s supposed to be a fairly pretty day (for November), we are going to grill and relax. 

On Black Friday, I will go to physical therapy at 9:00 and smugly revel in the fact that I already have most of my Christmas shopping done.  Then, that evening, we will hang out with some friends whom we saw this summer in Minneapolis as they visit Peoria.  Saturday will bring FOLEPI River Trail Classic with my running group.  As I am currently injured, I will be doing the two-mile fun walk, while most of them do the four-mile run.  And, sometime in there, I hope to put up the Christmas tree!

Instead of cram-packed days, we’ll do something each day we like (with the exception of physical therapy) and spend the rest of the time relaxing.  I can’t wait!

And I’ll end this post with a random picture, just because it’s funny.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get a few posts up about our Great Northwestern Adventure.  But no promises.

Have a good one!

Back at Last

Although I appear to have disappeared from the blogosphere, I was simply out gathering material for my next set of posts.  We returned on Saturday evening from a nine-day trip to Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.  I call it our “silver lining” vacation, as our airfare and rental cars were completely paid for with Jeff’s frequent-flier miles.

Due to a number of factors, which I’ll surely enumerate later, I wouldn’t call this the best of vacations, but it did have some truly memorable and remarkable moments.  One of the factors that may slow down the blogging process, however, is the fact that we forgot to pack the charger for our camera battery.  Therefore, most of the pictures we took on this trip were on our phones.  They loaded to the computer upside down, so it should be lots of fun trying to figure out what was taken where.  Plus, we still have some on the camera.  This should be a fun challenge for me!

But, hopefully, I will have some posts up soon.

In other news, Jeff left for Japan again this morning.  This is our second vacation this year that was virtually bookended by his trips.  He is a bit tired, to say the least.  He comes back home on Friday, though, if all things go as planned.  I am very grateful that he is not headed back to flooded Bangkok on this particular trip.

And that’s our past couple weeks in brief!  Talk to you soon!

Oh, What a Week

Let’s see.

Monday, I found out that my sore knee is actually a fairly common running injury called IT Band Syndrome.  Just Google it if you want details.  The short version is that it’s relatively easy to “fix,” but that “fix” requires not running for three to four weeks, a regimen of Aleve to reduce inflammation, and a couple meetings with a physical therapist to learn some convoluted stretches and massage techniques to loosen up my IT band (which, incidentally, I didn’t even know I had).  After a couple of days of denial, I called a friend who really likes his sports-injury PT to get a recommendation and then set up an appointment.

Bottom line:  I either stop running altogether or I deal with the aggravation of fixing it.  Since I can’t see myself giving up running yet, I guess I try to fix it.

Tuesday was fairly normal.

Wednesday, Charlotte had a follow-up appointment for her sprained ankle and then an orthodontist appointment to get a mouth guard, her Step One in the braces process.

Thursday, when it was barely past 9:00 a.m., Jeremy pulled a barstool over on himself and sliced his chin open.  I called the pediatrician’s office while Charlotte and Elijah, respectively, pressed a cloth against the wound to slow the bleeding and held his arms down.  The nurse told me that it sounded as if stitches were necessary and that I needed to take him to the ER because “they were better equipped to deal with possible head injuries there.”

So, off the four of us went to the hospital.  (Did I mention that Jeff had left for Thailand on Monday morning?) 

This is a home school field trip at its best.

We got to the ER around 9:45 and were very fortunate to find it nearly deserted.  Jeremy went to triage right away, where the nurse determined that, yes, he did need stitches.  Within minutes, the nurse, doctor, and admission personnel had all visited.  I put Jeremy in a gown, and the nurse put a big bandage with numbing liquid on his chin.  The doctor said she’d be back in about 15 minutes to stitch him up.

Well, 15 minutes was more like 45, but Jeremy managed to entertain himself while we waited.  Please excuse the fingers in some of the pictures; I’m still getting used using my phone as a camera!

He tried to relocate the medical waste basket.

He thought the light switches made wonderful playthings.

He wondered why everyone thinks stickers are such great things.

He tried to break something else by climbing up and down on the bed.

Every once in awhile, he let someone hold him.  But that wasn’t as interesting as trying to tear up the room.

The doctor eventually got back around to us, and the real fun began.  We strapped Jeremy into a baby immobilizer, which absolutely infuriated him.  He screamed and screamed and then screamed more all during the stitching process.  His chin was completely numb, but, each time the nurse held his head so that the doctor could stitch, he just more and more angry.  It took three of us to hold him down and still.

The doctor ended up putting in five stitches.  The cut was deeper than she had originally thought, and she was trying to minimize scarring.  So this was a noisy, tiring, 20-minute ordeal. And that was just for the adults!

Finally, it was done.  Jeremy had gotten so angry that he was flushed red from the top of his head all the way down to his chest.

But, less than two hours after we arrived, Jeremy was discharged.  I think we have some sort of a record for getting in and out of an ER!

And I took this photo of his wound later on at home.  Jeremy has a pretty big abrasion around the stitched area, but it’s healing pretty well.  He will occasionally point to his chin and sign “hurt,” but he mostly doesn’t seem to notice it.

Poor baby!

On Friday, we made up all the school that missed during this crazy week, and then I dropped Charlotte off at church for a junior high youth group retreat.  Elijah, Jeremy, and I proceeded to sit around all day on Saturday, waiting for Jeff to get home and recovering from this crazy week.  It was nice having a clear calendar!

Today, we went to church, retrieved Charlotte, and enjoyed another afternoon with nothing on the calendar.  We got some finishing touches put on our upcoming vacation and watched about six innings of Game 4 of the World Series.

And that’s our week.  Hope that yours was a bit less eventful, with no trips to the emergency room!

These I Love

Because time just seems to accelerate toward Christmas once October hits, I decided to beat the rush and have our yearly photos taken last Thursday.  The upside?  No crowds, laid-back photographers, and plenty of time to pick what I liked.  The only downside (and this is an iffy downside) is that the “Christmas” backgrounds were not yet available.

The upside wins!  I am very pleased with what we got.  Allow me to share a few of my favorites.

Since we had our Halloween costumes, I decided to get a few of the kids in their costumes.  I posted my favorite earlier, but these are pretty cute, too!

Jeremy had a love/hate relationship with the rooms at Portrait Innovations.  Fortunately, we got a quite a few more “love” shots than “hate” ones, but this picture is pretty funny!

Have a good one!

A Week of Bigs

Here are the highlights from a very eventful week.

Big Games:  Elijah scored his first goal of the season a week ago Saturday.  His team lost 6-4, but he played his best game ever.  Yesterday, his team played its last game and won 5-1.  It was a terrific way to end the season.

Big Injury:  On Monday afternoon, Charlotte sprained her ankle at a soccer clinic at a local university.  The people putting on the clinic told us that the kids didn’t need shin guards or even cleats.  However, they then had the kids playing a game of keep-away, in which Charlotte was kicked very hard by another child, who was wearing cleats.  I took her to Prompt Care on Tuesday morning; nothing is broken, but she is on restricted activity until her doctor clears her otherwise.  Bottom line?  One broken leg + one sprained ankle = soccer is not Charlotte’s friend.  The Mama says, “No more.”

Big Appointment:  On Tuesday afternoon, the kids both had eye check-ups.  Charlotte found out she is far-sighted and needs glasses.  We will pick them up later this week.  She’s not overly happy about this.  As she told me, “At least, braces come off.  Glasses are forever.”

Which leads to…

Big Money:  On Wednesday, Charlotte had a consult with the orthodontist.  Braces are also on the near horizon.

Have I mentioned that it hasn’t been a banner week for my daughter?!

Big Leap:  Into the 21st century, that is.  I got my first smartphone on Friday.  With the release of the new iPhone, the next version down was on sale, so Jeff and I both replaced our phones.  While it was a rather large pain manually transferring all of my numbers off my old slider phone and all of my important data off of my iPod, it’s done, and, I must admit, I’m loving it!

Big Taste:  As Jeff’s parents visited this weekend, Jeff and I had the chance to go out on a date.  We went to a place called Sushi PoPo, and I tried, as you might guess, sushi for the first time.  Jeff has been eating it for years, but I never could get on board with the whole raw fish thing.  However, Jeff made our selections, and we were brought the most beautiful food.  I loved it!  I remarked that, after 16 years of marriage, there aren’t many culinary experiences that we have not both shared.  Sushi was one such thing, and I think that Jeff rather enjoyed introducing me to the ins and outs of this Japanese delicacy.

It has been a mad, mad, mad, mad week. 

This week brings a big more madness, as we start out the week with Jeff leaving for Thailand again and my seeing a doctor about lingering pain in my knee.  I haven’t been able to run over four miles for the last two weeks without stopping due to sharp pain in my left knee.  I figure that I might as well get it checked out now before I manage to do any further damage.  As you might guess, this a bit demoralizing after running a marathon, but I’m hopeful that the orthopedist can help me.

And that’s that.  Sometimes, you just have to put your head down and repeat after Dory from Finding Nemo:  “Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming.”

Have a good one!

Hee Hee!

I took the kids to Portrait Innovations on Thursday for Christmas pictures.  We took a few Halloween-costume shots, too.

Here is the definite highlight!

Have a great Saturday!