Holiday Weekend Recap

First off,  our entire family agrees that Wayland could have played the lead role in Paul Blart Mall Cop  (no offense, Kevin James).  We all laughed heartily on Friday night – well, those of us who stayed awake laughed heartily.  I won’t name names. 

Saturday morning I made Blueberry and  Fiber One Apple Cinnamon muffins.  (I’ve decided anything from Fiber One is my new best friend.  Really, the commercials are true…doesn’t taste like cardboard and IT WORKS!!! – That’s all you really need to know).  Okay, so as I am making muffins, Luke comes downstairs with his right arm extended as if he were holding hands with someone. 

“Momma, this is John.”

I assume he is referring to the invisible boy beside him.

“I’m holding his hand so he doesn’t get lost.”

“That’s really nice of you, Luke.  Is he your friend?”

“Yes, and he’s hungry.”

“Okay, muffins will be ready in a minute.”

Luke grabs a place-mat and sets it on the table.  He goes back for another and puts it right beside his own.  It doesn’t take long, and I bring Luke a plate with a blueberry muffin on it along with a cup of milk. 

“Momma!!! I said John was hungry.  He wants a muffin too.”

I bring over another muffin and  a cup of milk just to be on the safe side.  I warned Luke that he was going to have to eat anything John didn’t.  That wasn’t a problem.

For the next hour or so, Luke enjoyed John’s company; walking around holding his hand, having conversations with him, even allowing Anna E. to join in on the playtime. 

Around lunchtime, as Luke was walking by, I bent down and asked, “Luke, are you and John ready for some lunch?” 

You know that look that teenagers give their parents when they have said something that was totally uncool and immensely embarrassing?   Yea, I got that look.

“Mom.  That was just pretend.  Don’t you know that?”

All-righty-then.

The rest of the weekend was far less humiliating.   We had some friends over on Saturday and cooked out.  On Sunday we went over to cook out with some more friends at their house.  Yesterday, Wayland got up with the big boys and went wade fishing in the White River, then we all went to see the matinee of  Night at the Museum 2.  A terrific day if I do say so.  We had meat leftover from our cookout, so lunch and dinner were all taken care of.  I’ve never seen more hamburgers and hot dogs eaten in a three day span in all my life. 

I’m just about to pick up the kids from school and take both boys to the orthopedist.  Hopefully we’ll all be cast free by five o’clock.  Only two more days of school;  I simply cannot wait.  We have so much coming up in the next couple of weeks – mission trips, camps, swim lessons, etc…  I know the weeks will fly by and August will be here before I know it.  I am going to be intentional about making the most of every day I have with all four of them at home.  Anyone have any great summer memory making ideas they’d like to share?

Foul Odor – Be Gone!!!

Late one night last week I heard a sawing noise coming from behind our fridge.  I knew it was either some kind of animal, or we were going to be shopping for a new refrigerator in the next few days.  I listened intently, and then went to wake Wayland up to help me solve the mystery.  That was useless, of course.  Wayland doesn’t wake up easily when he is “resting his eyes” on the couch, snoring so loudly the pictures sometimes rattle.  I finally mustered up all the courage I could, walked up to the fridge, stomped my foot as hard as possible, and then ran away squealing like my six year old daughter.  The sawing noise stopped, and unfortunately that really didn’t help me feel any better.  I figured it had to be some kind of vermin invading my home and that made me really upset.   (I just kept picturing that gopher from Winnie the Pooh doing construction in a tunnel under my floor – the sawing noise was really loud!)  The next morning I mentioned it to Wayland and he totally blew me off.  He accuses me of being crazy sometimes.  Little does he know. 

Anyway, about two days ago, I thought something might be going bad in the fridge.  I had just cleaned it out a week or two before, but I decided to double check all the leftover dishes and drawers to see if I could find the source of the stink.  Yesterday, the smell was worse.  By the afternoon, I was pretty sure we were dealing with a dead something.  Wayland, once again, looked at me as if I were insane and blew it off.  It didn’t take long, however, for him to come around to my way of thinking.  He pulled the fridge out from the wall, checked in the back of it, checked in the front of it, pushed it back in and confidently told me nothing was there – it must be ”mildew.”  I wasn’t buying that.  Luckily, we all had to be out of the house for games, plays, etc… last night, but when I walked back in at almost 11:00 pm last night, I thought I was going to pass out.  Wayland had left the dark side, and was now completely on board with the “there is something decaying in our house and it is going to kill us all”  theory.  I told him I thought it was in our wall.  He didn’t like the sound of that and said we would deal with it tomorrow.   After waking up like every hour last night, gasping for some kind of clean air to breathe,  I promptly pushed Wayland out of bed at the first hint of daylight and sent him to the crawl space on a dead animal search.  No luck.  Then the attic.  Again, no luck.  I knew it was in the wall, and either it was coming out, or I was packing up and moving out myself.  I was walking around gagging and sighing, huffing and puffing, annoying the living daylights out of my husband.  There was no other choice,  he had to go in.  He cut a hole in our wall big enough for him to stick his hand in, turned on his flashlight and found the biggest, most disgusting, raccoon sized  tiniest, little mouse you can imagine  putting off  the most foul, unbearable odor I have ever smelt in all my thirty-two years of living.  I mean, really. 

After Wayland removed the rodent, I soaked the floor in bleach, and then sprayed it over every other surface within a 10 foot radius.  The smell dwindled a bit.  It has now been about eight hours since removal, and I am still catching faint “whiffs” of foulness.  At least I can breathe without having to run outside every two minutes to take in some fresh air.  I told Wayland that if God did end up calling us to the mission field someday, He had better go ahead and remove my sense of smell, because I don’t handle things like this well.  Seriously, I think that is the closest I have ever been to dying.   Unless you count the time I was almost mauled by two huge Dobermans as my dear husband (who was my boyfriend at the time)  looked on from across the street and didn’t bother to move a muscle.  That, however, is a story for another day. 

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!  We’re kicking ours off with Thompson Family Nacho night and Paul Blart Mall Cop.  Let the goodtimes roll!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes: Philip’s Future

TEAMThompson turned into “Team Philip’s Future” yesterday as we participated in our first (but definitely not last) JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.  What an experience.  We had a blast!!!  We left Friday afternoon and headed toward Southern Indiana to join up with other Type 1 supporters for this great event.  It is beautiful down there – rolling hills, tons of trees, lots of friendly smiling faces.  We woke up bright and early Saturday morning and headed over to Holiday World, a theme park whose president is also a Type 1 diabetic, for the walk.  I was surprised to see so many people involved.  There were over 40 family teams participating, and an estimated $310,000 was raised toward finding a cure!  One team had over 85 people in their group (next year we’re putting the pressure on you to join us )  Not to toot our own horns, but our team of seven (one of Philip’s buddies came along) raised almost $1,700!  The recent t-shirt sales, coupled with Philip’s wish for donations instead of gifts for his birthday ended up raising quite a chunk of change!  It was really neat to see the kids with Type 1 represented by so many friends and family members.  We thought about all of you that have supported us, prayed for us, and encouraged us.  We ended up selling over 50 shirts to help raise money for the walk – we pictured all of you who purchased one standing with us yesterday.  Thanks to the many prayers that went up for good weather, the 70% chance of strong thunderstorms ended up only being a brief afternoon shower – it was a little cool, but wonderful!

Who's Ready to Walk?

Team Philip's Future

 Notice Anna E.’s hands.  She is doing the chicken dance during the picture. 

Opening Ceremony Dance Off

During the opening ceremonies,  they had a t-shirt competition for the best team shirt (I know, we should have won)    and a dance off (except that no one was ”offed.”)  You can see Philip on stage at the very back in the blue floral swimsuit bottoms.  I don’t know how we caught a picture of him – he wasn’t up there but for a second or two.  Anna E. and Luke, on the other hand, were hamming it up at the front of the stage.  I don’t know how we missed that photo opp. 

Quick hug from Santa during the Walk (It is Holiday World - remember?)

The Walk was a little over a mile long, and took us through the amusement park.  The kids really didn’t understand why we kept passing all the cool rides when the lines were so short.  They asked us several times if we would just keep walking and they could catch up after a quick trip on a roller coaster.  We didn’t give in.  The Walk culminated in the picnic area where lunch was served.  I’ve never seen so many people check their blood sugar at one time.  After lunch and insulin, we headed out to undertake all the thrills we could muster.  I have to say, my daughter is taking after her momma in one area.  She loves her some roller coasters!  It was the cutest thing to see her going up a big rise with her hands stretched high above her head.  Wayland asked her if she was nervous on one ride and she said, “NO! Why would I be?”  That’s my girl.  Luke really didn’t know what to think.  Being his first trip to an amusement park, he really didn’t seem all that impressed.  During some of the rides, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry – he ended up doing a little of both.  He froze his little patootie off in the water park area (considering we decided to swim when it started raining didn’t help) and stayed wrapped up in a towel a good portion of the afternoon trying to get warm.  Of all the things he enjoyed, nachos and funnel cake may win the prize.  The big boys went a mile a minute trying to see how many times they could ride each of the three wooden roller coasters in a row without slipping a disk or vomitting.  Good times. 

Anna E. liked this one - Luke said once was enough

Raging Rapids soaked poor little Luker

 

Sleeping with his eyes wide open

 

All in all...

...a splendid day!

Thanks again for all the donations, the prayers, and the great support you have offered our family.  One day, we’ll be doing a celebratory walk when we find a cure!!!

Well, Happy Mother’s Day to Me!

It has taken absolutely everything inside of  me to not delete that last post.  Yes, it was super sweet for my hubby to bestow all those kind words upon me (although I think he may have exaggerated just a bit), but really – one picture would have been more than enough.  Have you ever seen more colors and styles on one woman’s head?  The bad thing is, I still haven’t found one that I like enough to stick with.  Hair therapy.  I’m just saying – if you know someone who specializes in this, please send them my way. 

So, quick recap on Mother’s Day weekend.  We celebrated on Saturday morning with breakfast at a great local cafe.  I got the most precious cards, beautiful pictures,  a poem that is making me tear up right now as I think about it, coupons for goodies and services, delicious quiche, a strawberry filled pancake the size of a dinner plate, and about 14 cups of coffee.  It was absolute bliss!  We parted ways after we rolled away from the table…the big boys and Wayland off to baseball games, while the little ones and myself headed to the indoor pool for some swimming fun.  We had a blast!  Anna E. is so much more comfortable in the water (thank goodness!) going down slides, and putting her head under.  Luke and I worked on blowing bubbles and floating on our backs.  It made me really excited about summer coming, and the opportunity to hang out near the pool all day long. 

After our swim, we took a walk/bike ride around a little pond near the rec center.  We fed the fish, saw some enormous crawdads, chased geese and froze our tail ends off!  (Yes, it’s still cold and breezy more days than not – you need a jacket just about every day)  We came home, thawed out, I fixed a big banana pudding and pot of beans, and we headed out for a neighborhood cookout.  Good food, good friends, lots of laughs – this is destined to become a regular event. 

Sunday morning came way too early after a late night, but since we had all volunteered to work the early service at church, we made ourselves crawl out of bed.  My favorite volunteer position is kid check-in.  I get to see all those precious faces as I welcome them to church, I get to sit in a chair the entire time, I push buttons on a computer, have brief and somewhat insignificant conversations with the families, and never ever run the risk of having to change a diaper.  When you’ve been changing diapers for almost twelve years straight, there is absolutely no reason to invite the opportunity to increase your numbers.  At this point, I do not need more practice – I can guarantee you, I have perfected this skill. 

Why that tangent, you’re asking?  You’ll see.  Oh, you’ll see.

I had mentioned to Wayland that after I got through doing check-in, I thought I would head over to the coffee shop, get me a latte and read a while.  He didn’t even hesitate – he just pulled the biggest guilt trip out of his pocket and very gently suggested that I instead come help him out in the four year old room.  Okay, four year olds – no diapers. But if someone needed wiping, I was sending in one of those teenage girls – that was my final offer.  I wasn’t in that room three minutes when the director of the children’s ministry team came and got me.  The teacher of the room next door (three year olds) had to leave early.  She asked if I would help out the rest of service.  Sure.  No problem.   I’m so naive. 

I walked into the room and the sixteen little children were all separated into groups - some doing crafts, some doing a lesson, some just playing.  I thought the jr high kids seemed to be doing a fine job helping the little ones cut and  glue, so I decided to find the source of the sound of running water that I had noticed when I stepped into the room.  Oh what I would give to have never gone looking for that.  What I found will haunt me for years to come.  The bathroom was a wreck.  Someone had taken brown finger paint, or maybe chocolate pudding – I wasn’t really sure at first, and spread it everywhere.  All over the toilet seat.  All over the toilet paper holder.  All over the wall.  All over the package of wipes on the changing table.  I find the culprit.  He is standing on a stool trying to wash the brown finger paint off his hands.  It’s all over the sink.  All over the soap dispenser.  All over the sleeves of his precious seersucker suit jacket.  He’s naked from the waist down.  I then see what is obviously not brown finger paint all over his bottom, his legs, and yes – even his feet. 

Ever wish you could just disappear?  Yea, me too.  I had been in this room for less than two minutes – this was so not fair that I found  this!!!  I must have groaned, or moaned, or shrieked – I’m not sure which, but the little boy turned around and said “My momma’s gonna be so proud of me.  I’m a big boy.  I dinnit poop in my pull up!”  As I grabbed a pair of latex gloves, I put a smile on my face and said, “She sure is, sweetie!  Let’s get you all cleaned up.”  I then quickly stuck my head out the door and sent one of those teeny boppers for back-up.  I had two reservists arrive in record time, but they took one look at that room and quickly decided they weren’t properly trained to deal with a situation of this magnitude.  Thankfully, one of them called the little boy’s mother.  It took both of us, but we got her little boy cleaned up enough to head toward a bathtub.  (I hope they didn’t have lunch plans).  When they left, I worked on the bathroom (thankfully someone came with a mop and disinfectant for the floors).  I walked out of the bathroom, washed my hands up to my elbows two or twenty-six times, and then fed everyone a snack.  I made sure we prayed before they ate. 

We stayed for worship at the next service.  Good call.  It really helped me re-focus.  Not that I really needed it or anything.  After church,  my oldest son treated me to lunch at Qdoba’s – just the two of us (I had to redeem one of my coupons for an ice-cream date though – shucks!)  After such a busy, crazy, horrifying  great morning, the rest of the day seemed pretty maintanable and mundane.  A couple loads of laundry, helping to spread a little (and I do mean very little) bit of the 10 yards of mulch Wayland ordered for the yard, cooking, cleaning, giving baths, reading books, helping with homework…just another day in the life of a mom.  A life that is my dream.

Happy Mothers Day

I was meeting with the junior high youth minister on Friday and he shared an interesting statistic.  When junior high aged kids were asked who the most influential person in their life was, the overwhelming majority – to the tune of over 80%, said their mother.  That makes a lot of sense to me – especially when I look at our kids.  Their best qualities are no doubt the qualities that Kaleesha models so effortlessly for them.  Here are just a few:

Compassion

Stable Character

Diligent

Committed

Gracious

Fun-loving

Hilarious

Sweet

Ornery 

Considerate

Passionate

Sensitive

and Caring just to name a few (or 13).  Most importantly, she loves her Savior and models consistency in her walk with Jesus.  She does not have to work to teach her children to follow Jesus – they see her live it daily. 

My favorite time with my family is around the dinner table.  Its cliche, but I really believe  the family that eats together, stays together.  I can’t duplicate the feeling of sheer thankfulness when we are laughing (usually at Luke) and time slows down a bit as I look across the table at each person.  Then I look at Kaleesha….. did we really pull this off?  Did we really start a family and get to the point that life is so perfect?  So, to my lovely wife, I just want to say thank you for doing what you do – because although Jesus is the strength of our family, he has uniquely blessed you with what it takes to make this thing tick.  I look at our beautiful children and see you in all the things that make them so incredibly special to me.  That you are so incredibly hot is just icing on the cake.  I love you.   -Wayland

 

 

PS:   To my mom - I love you so much.  You are our hero – from flying up at a moments notice, to playing ball with the boys, trudging through streams with Anna, and playing cars on that cold, hard tile floor in the playroom with Luke  - you never cease to amaze us.

To Kelli and our grandmothers – and all the other mothers that read this blog: 

Thanks for the investments you have made in our lives - hopefully we can provide a return on those investments and pay it forward.

Comedy in the Craziness

No big surprise – these past few weeks have been a little mind rattling.  Broken bones, introductions to NFL Quarterbacks, star studded gala’s, baseball games, asthma attacks, more broken bones, colds, bumps, bruises, bloody lips, smiles, laughs, tears…I’ve seen it all!  As we all hopefully just focus on getting better for the next few weeks (Nathanael goes back in three weeks to see if the cast can come off, and Philip is on some new meds to help with the asthma, as well as more aggressive insulin doses to get these numbers under control)  I’m praying the most exciting part of my day will be having to unload the dishwasher two or more times.  In the midst of chaos, as is true in any situation, the normal day-to-day simpleness of life can easily be looked over.  Just thought I’d share a bit of the funny that has accompanied the crazy for TEAMThompson lately…

Anna E. at bedtime the other night:  “Momma, I keep thinking that our house is going to fall over.  I think it like seven times, and then I pray ten times.  Then I think it like fourteen more times, and I pray twenty times.  Then I think it like SEVENTY times, and I pray two times.  I really think you need to pray about it now.” 

Wayland told you about our stop at a restaurant in Kokomo the other day.  Fried Green Tomatoes are not common around here – you stop and take advantage of southern fare whenever you can.  Although it was quite windy that day, the temperatures were delightful and we noticed an unusual number of motorcycles traveling the roads that afternoon.  When we pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, it was obvious that many of those bikers had also come down with a craving for Fried Green Tomatoes, and stopped for a bite.  When Nathanael  saw the sea of motorcycles, he said “Oh great!!!  A place with a bunch of smokin’ bikers!”  About that time two “biker babes” made an appearance.  It took no time at all for Nathanael to see how we were going to take his comment.  We gave him such a hard time – he turned bright red and we all laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes.  Wayland kept saying, “Nate, I never pegged you for the type that would think biker babes are smokin’ hot!”     (By the way, we did have a discussion about making stereotypical judgements about people…unfortunately, they proved us wrong).

The other day we were all out and about, and Wayland noticed Philip rubbing his eyes.  If Philip’s blood sugar is high, his vision can be blurry and he tends to do awkward things with his eyes.  Wayland to Philip:  “Philip, let me see your eyes.  Are you high?  I think you’re high Philip.  Kaleesha, look at his eyes – do you think he is high?”  It wasn’t until later that Wayland figured out why the lady near us was giving him that shocked,  horrified, and disapproving look.  Can you imagine the story she had for her friends about the “high” ten year old whose parents were completely okay with it?  Philip got a big kick out of it after we explained it to him – several times now he has asked me, “Mom, do you think I’m high?  BLOOD SUGAR high, I mean.”  He’s all about the shock value.

It would be hard to give a single example of how Luke brightens our day with laughter.  Seriously, he may have mastered comic genius at age three.  (Unfortunately, he still has not mastered potty training)  As I type, there is a timer next to me set for ten minutes.  For the past hour, I have set Luke on the potty every ten minutes – hopeful that I catch him one of those times with the desire “to go.”  His Thomas underwear are dry, and he must feel really proud of himself.  He keeps walking around with his hands on his hips, accentuating the swagger in his diaper-less step.  He just looked at me and said, “It’s okay, I’m not pooping.”  When I asked him if he was going to poop in the potty he said, “No – I just won’t poo-poo anymore.”  That is not a good sign.  Okay, the timer just went off again.  The first words out of his mouth:  “Momma, you know I’m never, ever going to poop.  Never.  Ever.”

....still waiting

Bedtime update:  Luke made it over six hours in dry underwear!!!  He did all his tinkling in the potty, but no luck with #2 – he’s evidently “holding it.”  Yikes.  Right before bed, he took both his little hands, grabbed Wayland’s cheeks, and said “I can’t do this all day.  I just can’t.”  Guess we wore him out.  Honestly, I don’t know if I can do it all day tomorrow either – it’s exhausting!!!

Maybe Baseball Wasn’t Such a Good Idea

***UPDATE***

We just got back from the hand surgeon’s office.  They put Philip in a splint that he should only have to wear for three weeks!!!  If he keeps it pretty stabilized, there will be no need for pins and surgery, which is a huge answer to prayer!  We go back in one week to check his progress and if all is well – it looks like summer camp and possibly even football tryouts will be a “go!”  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  I take Nathanael back for more x-rays tomorrow.  I’m praying for some more good news to go along with this.  We’ll let you know!

Original Post Follows:

Un. Be. Lievable. 

You all know what happened when Nathanael stepped onto the baseball field two weeks ago today.  The hot pink Jay Cutler autographed cast may be the silver lining, but having a broken arm is still an ugly dark rain cloud waiting to flood out anyone’s fun. 

Philip had a baseball game on Tuesday night while Wayland was in Michigan.  It was cold, rainy and utterly miserable so Luke, Anna E. and I stayed in the car to watch the game (or Lady and the Tramp if Philip wasn’t pitching, fielding, or batting).  Nate toughed it out and stayed near the dugout the entire time to keep an eye on little brother.  Philip had a great game (five strike outs in the two innings he pitched) and although they lost by one, it was still a great effort by both teams in such dreadful conditions.  Unfortunately, Wednesday morning Philip woke up with a nasty cold.  Having diabetes and being sick is tricky – blood sugar levels go crazy, and your body is more susceptible to going into diabetic ketoacidosis.  Long story short, nasty cold turned into asthma attack and by yesterday, Philip was home from school with blood sugar levels as high as they had been at his initial diagnosis.  Looks like the medicine we are giving him to help him breathe, is also spiking his blood sugar levels, so we have had to add an additional two insulin injections to our day – bringing the grand total to six shots every 24 hours!!!  Of course, that also means many extra glucose checks, so presently our poor boy is nothing short of an over-sized pin cushion. 

Today, when Philip woke up and was able to actually take a deep breath without sounding like a squeaky toy, we upheld our end of the bargain, and allowed him to play in his baseball game.  I was pretty nervous – constantly checking on his breathing and asking him if he felt like his blood sugar was in range.  It was the bottom of the FIRST inning, and Philip was playing short stop.  The opposing batter hit the ball to center field.  Philip was covering second.  The ball was thrown in;  Philip caught it.  He stretched out to tag the runner, and they collided with enough force to break a bone.  The ball bounced out, and the runner was safe.  Philip finished the inning at short stop (a long inning to be exact) and as he was running back to the dugout, we knew something was wrong.  Actually only Wayland knew something was wrong, considering I was helping Anna E. squat behind the Suburban and tinkle since the bathrooms were about a half a mile away.  That, however, is a whole other story.  When I emerged from our hiding place, Wayland immediately called me over to the dugout.  He told me he thought Philip was hurt.  I asked him the details, and he said his left hand was swelling up pretty badly.  Sure enough – there was a big knot on his left “pinkie” knuckle and it was already starting to bruise. 

We just got Nate’s bill for his ER visit two weeks ago.  $1150.  Here we go again.

It was pretty evident from the X-rays that his hand was broken.  The bone looks like it has been pushed over substantially.  We go to a hand specialist first thing this week.  Please pray for a good report.  A good report considering, at least.  Travel football tryouts are in three weeks – looks like that isn’t going to happen for Philip this year.  The summer camp we’ve been looking forward to since December 30th right after Philip was diagnosed?  Five weeks away – I’m not so sure. 

When he was lying in the hospital bed in the ER this afternoon, he looked at me and said, “There has to be a reason.”  I’m not sure what the reason is - could just be some intense warfare.  I do know one thing for sure.  I’m going to clarify my prayer that God would help us live “outside our comfort zone” and that we would not be satisfied with our “safe lives.”  This is totally not what I had in mind. 

Doc said to keep his hand up to reduce the swelling

 

Look how I caught him watching TV - he's not setting that arm down for anything!