Little School in the Ozarks

December 2011

2011-12-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

Grandpa John came for a visit this month and we had a good time hanging out, playing rummy and making raised beds for a garden next summer.

Adler, Grandpa and Erik

Adler was asked to MC his scout troop's Advancement Ceremony. He did a great job! He is really enjoying any opportunity he can to 'take the stage' and improve his public speaking skills.

Our Formal Adoption application was submitted this month. We have also opened an Etsy shop in order to raise money for our adoption. Check it out at

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ransomedredeemed

November 2011

2011-12-13T13:26:00.001-08:00

Adler and Joe had the privilege of performing in Ozark Actor's Theatre's production of White Christmas this year. It was great fun for both of them. Adler found out he can dance and had a wonderful time learning several numbers with an ensemble. Joe was in a couple ensemble numbers and an extra who dressed up in nice suits and sat at restaurant tables.

Snow!

Dashing young man!

Here they are shown with the group in the final ensemble 'White Christmas'.

October 2011

2011-12-13T12:43:00.000-08:00

Schoolhouse Rock LIVE! jr.

Interplanet Janet

The boys participated in Fine Linen's production of Schoolhouse Rock this fall. They had a great time learning the songs that their dad and I grew up on.

Crazy Faces

In October our family also made a big announcement! We are applying to adopt from Haiti. More on that (and probably a different blog) later. God is really humbling us in this process.

September 2011

2011-12-13T12:35:00.001-08:00

Erik entered a Lego building contest at a local toy store. He didn't win (it was a Facebook 'Like' contest) but he enjoyed seeing all the other entries.

This summer we added on a bit to Adler's room to solve a leaking problem so we can remodel our kitchen. I made new curtains for it and the inside still needs some finishing. The best news is-no more rain in the kitchen!!!

The addition is on the left side of the upper floor, above the breakfast nook.

August 2011

2011-12-13T12:09:00.001-08:00

August brings us the Hecker family reunion. It is always a wonderful time to catch up with loved ones, but it always goes too fast! Here is a great picture of all the First cousins that were able to attend.

On the way home, they boys always like to stretch their legs at the state capitol.

Our homeschool picnic this year was a fabulous success! The planners encouraged everyone to make a "family banner", so we broke out the scrapbook supplies and gave everyone a corner and created this masterpiece! I am really happy with how it turned out and how much fun we all had working together on it.

July 2011

2011-12-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Happy 12th Birthday Erik! Turtle Cheesecake!
(there is a little glimpse of the broken arm)

This is the cake he had at his cousin's house. He loved having more than one party. We also got to make our own pizzas for this party. It doesn't get any better than this!

We took a big family trip this month to Minnesota to go to the Severson Reunion at Mavis' cabin. It was so good to see my
cousins again and get to meet their families. We also got to camp with my brother and sister and their families.

We took a day to go to Blackduck and visit Grandpa and Marion on the lake. It was a special time to go back to a place I hadn't visited in many years and for my family to see the places I tell them stories about from my childhood.

June 2011

2011-12-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

We don't have pictures of it, but Erik goes on record as the first one of us to have a broken arm. He was just being a boy and tried to jump on a milk carton that still had the lid on and try to make the lid fly down the sidewalk. Those lids hold well! Not only did it not pop off, the jug threw him on to the sidewalk. Just a soft velcro cast for a month and he was good to go. He has hardly had a skinned knee, so this was tough for him.

May 2011

2011-12-13T09:48:00.000-08:00

Erik is really into building stuff with Legos. This is just one example of the creations he comes up with.

Here is some magic trick fun that Adler has been doing. He reads and studies tricks a lot. His friends hardly trust him to shuffle a deck when they are playing a game any more!

April 2011

2011-12-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

In April, Joe and Adler were in Fine Linen's production of Seussical the Musical. It was a FABULOUS performance, with a packed house every night for 8 performances. Always great fun hanging out with our friends at Fine Linen.

Cadets! Butter side up or down?

A Who family

Circus clown
Judge Yertle the Turtle
with Horton and The Marshall/Wickersham Brother

March 2011

2011-12-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 14th Birthday Adler!
Presents! A summer sleeping bag for Scout camping.

Tacos for dinner

Strawberries and Angel food cake
You are a great young man!

Erik the big winner!!At our credit union's Annual Meeting, Erik won a drawing for $100. He had lots of great plans to spend it on, especially LEGOS!

February 2011

2011-12-13T07:37:00.000-08:00

Erik was working on a Boy Scout Merit Badge in Pet Care. This required him to take care of our Dog for several weeks. For the most part, ever since we got Daisy, Adler had been her main caregiver. This time gave Erik and Daisy a new, special bond. He did very good on his responsibilities, and since Daisy was not a good candidate to take to the troop meeting, he and Adler filmed this video to show to the troop. Things like this are more special now as they are the memories that we hold on to since we lost Daisy in August. (read more about that in the August post)

January 2011

2011-12-13T06:54:00.000-08:00

Hanging out by the fireplace before heading outside for the night.

Hot cocoa is a must!

The year started out with Adler's scout troop doing a "Freeze-Out". They raised money for a local food pantry and a homeless shelter and experienced what it was like to be homeless. They spent the night in cardboard box "houses" that they designed themselves. For some reason, we didn't get a picture of the box!

2011 the year in review

2011-12-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

It has been nearly a YEAR since I posted anything. I wonder if I really should be a blogger! I think about doing it a lot, just never get it done. Sounds like a great New Year's resolution! Joe and I are on a business trip and I have the whole day to myself, so I am going to attempt to recap the whole year, TODAY! Enjoy!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

2010-12-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling a bit like Charlie Brown this year and getting frustrated with the commercialism of Christmas. We decided to forgo most of our decorating this year, and only put out a few manger scenes. We also decided for the most part to forgo the gift exchanging at our house. Sounds pretty boring. But my kids tell me it was their best Christmas ever. Just before the season, I somehow happened upon a very inspiring blog. www.aholyexperience.com. Their experiences were the impetus for our celebration.

For the last year and a half, I have been doing books for a local ministry that provides a chaplain to a facility that serves children who have been removed from their homes for some type of treatment. The chaplain and his family decided that they were going to spend the day on campus and invited us to join them. Thanks to several generous donors, we brought some bounce houses and stockings for each of the kids who were unable to leave campus to be with family. We were blessed.

First LEGO League Robotics

2010-12-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

This fall the boys were invited to join other homeschoolers on a robotics team program sponsored by FIRST and LEGO. They met every week to build a robot and work on a research project. We took 3 teams to Mountain Home, Arkansas, for competition on December 4^th.

We brought home trophies for Robot Performance, Robot Design and Quality Design. Our teams were also finalists in the award categories of Innovative Design, Champion’s Award, Quality Design, Gracious Professionalism, Programming, Project Research Quality, Judge’s Award and Robot Design.

Each team was required to do a research project on a body system and how biomedical engineering is used to help in that area. At competition, the team presented the project to judges. The teams chose vision, lungs and voice for their projects.

In the Robot Performance Competition, our teams placed 4^th, 5^th and 16^th out of 35 teams. One of our teams went on to win the single elimination competition.

I forgot to take pictures of the robots, but if I can get one from someone else, I will post it.

More Scout Photo project

2010-08-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of Erik's pics!

Scout Photography project

2010-08-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Erik's Scout group had a photography workshop last week. Here's what Erik shot!

Miss Angie- our instructor!

Erik's first Cardinals game!

2010-04-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Go Cards!

A friend gave Joe 2 tickets to the Cardinals for today and since he and Erik have been wanting to do an outing for just the 2 of them, this was perfect. They headed home after the seventh inning stretch when it was still 0-0, and as I post, there is still no score in the 14th inning. Enjoy the pics!

FLORIDA!

2010-03-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

It has been a long hard winter. We received plane tickets to Florida as a Christmas gift. Couldn't have come at a better time. We enjoyed getting away while our friends back here in MO got 6 more inches of snow. Florida wasn't particularly warm this winter, but anything is better than what we were dealing with in MO. Here are some fun shots from our trip.

Sail away! (it looks better than it is!)

At the beach where Joe lost his glasses. There is some fish or bird that can see now!

Grandpa and the boys

We stayed the night in Kansas City with our friends Jerry and Dale before we flew out. This is Dale and the boys.

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a Merry Christmas! As I write, snow is falling and the snowplows are running past our house. Growing up in MN, I don't ever remember not having snow on the ground for Christmas, so when that happens here in MO, it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me. The following posts contain pictures of the year, because I have been a TERRIBLE blogger this year.

Joe, Adler and I have all found Facebook, and have really enjoyed catching up with many people that we had lost touch with. I had no idea I knew so many people. Look us up!

Erik is enjoying Cub Scouts and is the Denner (a leadership position) of his group. He continues to be a good, motivated student in his home school studies. He also enjoys ANYTHING about Star Wars and frequently is heard saying "Remember in Episode 3...."

Adler is in Boy Scouts, takes piano lessons, is active in the Youth Group at church, plays percussion in the Middle School band and could care less about school ;). He actually is getting more organized with his home school studies this year, which has helped both him and I.

Joe celebrates 10 years with the Department of Mental Health this year. He has enjoyed being in 2 Fine Linen productions, The Pirates of Penzance and 12 Angry Men. He also helps the boys out with their Scout Troop camps, activities and events. Along with the other cub scouts and adult leaders, he and Erik braved the 1 degree windchill this AM to put up flags at the Veteran's Home. Joe is also on the Church Council. He started work on a Master's Degree this fall, and has an A average so far.

I keep thinking of new things to add to our busy schedule. Besides home schooling the boys, I still sell Pampered Chef. For the past few years I have been keeping books for St. James Senior Citizens. The other board members are a delight to work with and the residents are fun to meet(even if most of the time I meet them to make a correction on their rent check) . In August I was approached to be office support for Days Of Hope Ministries, which provides a chaplain to Boys and Girls Town. It is so fun to be a little part of seeing the Gospel shared in this place. I was asked this spring to be on a Comprehensive Planning Committee for our city. It is very interesting to think of what we want our town to be like when I am 70. I also am in leadership in our church, so there is rarely a dull moment around here!

Enjoy the pictures! Hope to hear from you!

Merry Christmas, cont.

2009-12-25T07:44:00.000-08:00

Adler

Erik

Merry Christmas, cont.

2009-12-25T07:31:00.000-08:00

Pirates of Penzance/The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything casts
Erik and Adler are in the 2nd row on the left, Joe is in the top row between 2 policemen

We enjoy the dogwoods in the spring.

Mother's day

Adler's baseball team won First place this year in quite the nailbiter of a last game.

Cousins came to visit in July and we floated the Meramec River

Merry Christmas, cont.

2009-12-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

Joe's big catch-A 4.5 lb bass

Star Wars is it this year!

Adler played Cantina Band for his recital piece

Our house with Christmas lights

Adler with the John Tibbs band at Missouri Youth Fellowship

Merry Christmas, cont.

2009-12-25T06:52:00.001-08:00

Adler's Band Concert-He plays percussion

Erik on his Scout Christmas Parade Float

Adler's scout troop laid wreaths on the soldier's graves

Snowman snow is always a treat!

Merry Christmas!
Erik 10, Adler 12

Left, Left, Left, Right, Left

2009-09-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

Adler got to march in the Grape and Fall Festival parade this past weekend! He is in the middle on the snare drum with red shoes.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

Joe and his boys
My Dad 1967

I am thankful for all the great guys in my life!

Moving on to Baby Step 3

2009-05-26T12:02:00.000-07:00

I recently read Dave Ramsey's response to someone else's question and it made me wonder if we should be paying off a HELOC in Baby Step 2. I found out that if your HELOC is more than 1/2 your income (which ours was barely over)then you should move paying that off to BS 6. So, we are getting to skip BS 2! That will really make us feel like we are making progress. Now our next step is to get 3-6 months of expenses in savings. That amounts to about $10,000. That will take a while. It really is amazing though how we are much more relaxed about money and have the money for the things we need and can step back from frivolous "wants" and keep focused. We hope others will be inspired to try this plan or another one to get out of the debt cycle.

Pirates of Penzance

2009-04-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped up another great production with Fine Linen Drama. It has been so much fun to work with such talented people and learn so much. We even had fun! The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything
General Stanley's daughters

the Policemen

The Pirates

(Joe is in the center, standing on the floor)

The full Cast

Baby Step 1 complete!

2009-03-01T12:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it took our tax refund to do it, but we got Baby Step 1: Save $1000 for a baby emergency fund, DONE!

Baby Step 2 is Pay off Debt Snowball. I feel very fortunate that the only thing we have in this category is a HELOC. It is not a small amount, but we are going to get it paid off before its maturity date of July 2021.

All of this is going great. Not perfect or we would have had our $1000 by Jan 31, but we still are making progress.

YEAH!!

Real snow!

2009-01-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

We finally received some REAL snow here. Having grown up in MN, I just can't hardly stand being cold with out snow, and lots of it. We got between 4 and 6 inches in the last 2 days and it is a logistical nightmare for those who have to clean it up or anyone who has to get anywhere, but I love it!

The view out the back door
Out the front door

Miss Daisy

Erik was asking if we were getting more tonight, or how long this would last. It looks like temps won't get too high till Saturday, so we will have it at least a few more days. Joe is coming home from work a little early today to go sledding with the boys. Since my motto is "There are no 'snow days' in Home school," I have been generous and let them sleep in an extra hour the last two days and come to school late. We haven't heard yet if the public school will be in session tomorrow or not.

Promise of a great year ahead

2009-01-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

We were driving home the other day and this rainbow was over the whole interstate. It was so bright and we could see the whole thing. Joe snapped this picture of it when we got home.

One step forward, two back

2008-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Well, don't you know that as soon as I brag about how much we got to save this month, it wouldn't actually turn out that way. But, we are not dismayed! We decided to insure our house for an earthquake after talking to a friend who works for the United States Geological Survey here. He says we are about 50 years overdue for a pretty good size earthquake here. We experienced the tremors from one that happened in Indiana this spring and it was a little unsettling. If the New Madrid fault goes, there is no telling what could happen here. Then we forgot about a little thing here and a little thing there in the budgeting. But, there is still money left, so nothing to sweat! God is good. I hear so much about how the economy is bad, but we have been learning to live with in our means, so we are going to be fine.

On the road to debt free...Baby Step 1

2008-12-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Money and budgeting has always been an interesting topic to me. A frustrating one too. Recently I read two books by Dave Ramsey http://www.daveramsey.com/ Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover. (If you can only read one, I recommend TMM.) This guy is simple and to the point and tells you some great tips on how to get out of debt. He also dispells most of the lies our culture feeds us about debt and money. One of the things I like best about him is that he is a Christian and he believes that the wealthiest people are that way because they GIVE. I love to give, my resources just don't always match the need. That is frustrating.

We have tried many different things over the years, and some have worked better than others. I used to figure out everything, pay the bills and give Joe some money to have in his pocket for what he needed. He didn't know where our money was going and never knew how much we had or didn't have so we decided that he would take it over. He did a much better job at it than I did, because he is a saver and I am a "pay it off as fast as you can" type. But we were starting to get in a rut again, because he was doing all the budgeting and work on this and I was oblivious to where we were at. Dave suggests that we BOTH do the budgeting and decide where every dollar will go every check. What a novel idea!

The book is full of real life stories of people who were so much farther in debt than we are, but made it out. We feel relieved that our cars are paid for, our credit cards are paid off and all we have to get rid of to be debt free is a HELOC and our mortgage. My goal is to be done with those in less than 10 years. We put the credit cards in the oven over the weekend to see if they would shrink like Shrinky Dinks. They didn't do much of anything except get rubbery while they were hot. Then we shaped them and let them cool and chopped them up. Very freeing!!!!

Now, you may ask, why is she blogging about this?? It is because I am so excited about this plan and I want other people to see that it is possible to get out of debt and no longer be sold the lie of American Consumerism. (greed)

So, Dec. 4th, we started Baby Step 1-Save $1000 fast. Today we have $645. We hope to have Baby step one done by Jan 31.

Think you can't do it? Read the book, there has to be someone who was worse off than you that made it out. There is hope!!

What's love got to do with it?

2008-12-15T12:55:00.000-08:00

Apparently everything when it comes to singing Karaoke. We had the Davidson Family Thanksgiving at a hotel in Kansas City and after dinner we had some entertainment by family members singing Karaoke on Denise's 8 Track (yes, I know what I am talking about) machine.

Joe and his sisters and Niece

L-R Nancy, Jodi(niece), Denise, Marilee, Joe and Jennifer

Decorating for Christmas

2008-12-15T12:41:00.000-08:00

The boys were so excited to decorate for Christmas that they hauled everything up from the Basement and got to work. They know how to put the tree together and everything! They did a great job!

Santa dropped by for a visit on Saturday, so they had a good time talking to him too. Their wish lists are pretty simple, video games and Legos. Erik was worried that Santa might not know what Legos were, so he thought that maybe he should just ask for a picture book. :)

Fall Leaves

2008-11-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

We have started the annual fall ritual here of raking the leaves from our very mature 8 Sweet Gum trees in our yard. The boys were very helpful this year. They always enjoy the reward of jumping in the piles!

Erik's big jump

Adler's flying leap

My sister's wedding

2008-10-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the pictures taken at my sister's wedding. They had a beautiful day and we had a great time catching up with family in MN.

Samantha, Autumn, Wendy, Jeff and Alex

The bride and her big sis

The Murrays

The Wamsleys

The wedding party

Dad, Alex, John, Jeff, Wendy, Katie, Becky, Samantha, Autumn

Ugandan orphan choir

2008-09-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Our church hosted the Ugandan Orphan Choir last night. We got to keep this fun set of kids for 2 nights. The boys had a great time. We had 2 boys, 2 girls and one chaperone.

Adler is a turkey

2008-07-13T11:45:00.000-07:00

Adler learned how to make this turkey costume at camp. He looks quite silly running around the house with no arms.

Elephant Rocks

2008-07-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd, we visited Elephant Rocks State Park. It is full of huge granite rocks with trails around them. Lots of good picture opportunities, and I even remembered my tripod, so I got to get out from behind the camera! This park is about 2 hours from our house in the most scenic part of Missouri!

The Birthday boy
His big brother
The whole family
The view at the top

State Choir Tour

2008-06-19T09:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with 3 of the boys from our church's state Choir Tour. After the concert last night we came home with Brian, Walter and John and had a good time talking about Camp Sharon and playing guitars. Top notch guys!

The Hike

2008-05-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Some homeschool boys put together "The Hike". Yesterday, Joe and Adler set out with about 20 other kids and parents to hike 20 miles on backroads from Rolla to the organizer's home.

Joe and Josiah

Adler, AKA Willie Makeit

Adler gets a boost from David
The Crew
Rest Break-8 miles is all Adler could take, so mom picked him up
Look at the big kid!

Over easy runny eggs

2008-05-01T18:40:00.000-07:00

Adler has become quite the chef. Every morning he fixes himself two "over easy runny eggs". Here is his recipe...Crack 2 eggs in a pan that you have melted butter in.

When the whites are sort of set up, flip carefully so as not to break the yolk. Use 2 spatulas if necessary.

Nice and easy...

Flipped!

The perfect runny yolk.

Friends

2008-04-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

Catching up with friends was a special blessing when we traveled to MN for grandma's funeral in March. Both of our families had lived and gone to church together in Bethany and we both moved away from there at the same time. The kids didn't remember each other very well, but they all had a love for Legos in common and that broke the ice quite well. Joe also enjoyed getting to read to them while us moms did our gabbing!!!

More Prince and Pauper photos

2008-04-24T22:32:00.001-07:00

Adler gets a black eye from the Makeup artist. Made both of their days. :)

Father Andrew and a street urchin

Kitchen boy and unnamed palace guy

The set.

The Prince and the Pauper

2008-04-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Joe and Adler got to be in a play/musical with some of the local homeschoolers. Joe had 2 parts, Father Andrew and Nameless Palace Guy. Adler was a street urchin and a kitchen boy. They had a great time getting to know new people. They can't wait for the next one! Look for more pictures in My Friend's Blogs: Nisbetts. They had their performances the last 2 weekends.

Snowman snow!

2008-02-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

It seems like we have been waiting for this kind of snow forever! It wasn't the ideal snowman snow, but we were able to get enough to stick together for one short snowman (or snowlady, just depends on the hat). The boys were good helpers and were out helping Daddy early this morning with the shoveling. Also a couple of snow angels!

Happy Half-Birthday

2008-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

Erik's half Birthday is January 3rd. We always celebrate in a fun little way. He had Chocolate Chip pancakes for breakfast. He got some new books as reading is his PASSION. If you are ever wondering where he is, you don't have to look much farther than behind the nearest book! Hard to believe my itty bitty baby is now 8 1/2!

2008-01-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Santa came to visit for a few minutes on Christmas eve. Too bad Daddy missed him because he went to the store.

You don't have everything until you have a camo Santa hat!

Moving to CarePages

2007-12-29T15:02:00.000-08:00

I have decided to move the health updates for mom to CarePages. Hopefully this will make it easier for everyone to access.

Dear Friend or Family Member ,
You've been invited to visit Sharlet's online CarePage. A personalized Web page, called a CarePage, has been created for Sharlet so you can easily receive the latest news, view photos and share messages of support.
To visit the CarePage, please click the link below:http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=Sharlet&cid=eminvite

After you register, you will need to enter the CarePage name, which is Sharlet.
Thanks!

UPDATE: My mom passed away on Easter Sunday, 2008.

39 years

2007-12-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

I talked to Mom today and the dr said that they will try to be sending her home on Monday. That is also their 39th wedding anniversary. Kathleen Sogge was visiting today. She and mom used to drive the folks home from the DAC in Litchfield. They became very close friends during the time they spent together on the road.

Still there...

2007-12-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Mom had said she would call me when she got home from the hospital, and she didn't call, so I tried to call them. No answer. I called John's and found out that she is going to have to stay in the hospital longer as the chemo is causing her to retain too much water. She couldn't talk long because she was so tired, so she told me to talk to dad cause he was really yappy today. :) They will be getting a hospital bed and hospice when she goes home to help with her care at home. There is a neighbor that will help with housecleaning too.

Headed home...

2007-12-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

Mom is supposed to be heading home from the hospital today. She will be calling me later this afternoon and if there are any updates, I will post it tonight.

Chemo for Christmas

2007-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Mom started chemo last night. She said she feels really good today. She will have a few more days of it and then head home with hospice helping out to keep her medicines straight.
Merry Christmas!

CT scan results

2007-12-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

I talked to Johnny (my brother) today and he said that the CT scan showed a large tumor on mom’s liver that is compromising her lung capacity. That is the reason she is so easily winded. She started IV chemo today also. When I talked to Dad on Saturday, he said the dr. said she would be ready to go home from the hospital Sunday or today, but now that they have the CT results, it sounds like that has changed. I am not sure what this exactly means, but I told John that if he thought I needed to be there, then he should tell me to come.

We are going to watch It's a Wonderful Life with the kids tonight. I don't think they have ever seen it, and I haven't seen it for a long time.

Another update

2007-12-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Dad called last night and if Mom continues to improve, she will be able to go home today or tomorrow. Thanks for the prayers!

Hospital update

2007-12-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

I called the hospital this morning, and talked to mom. She said the Dr. had been in and told her that he wanted to do another CT scan today. She is not sure how she will get the contrast down, but she hopes they will have a remedy for that. Her blockage is caused by an over abundance of calcium in her system, which is caused by the cancer. He suggests that she consider doing Chemo because this calcium problem will only continue and she will continue to be in and out of the hospital if she doesn’t do the chemo. Her appt to decide on the chemo will be on Jan 11th.

Dad said that she can stand up on her own today which is an improvement over yesterday.

She is very easily winded, so talking is difficult. Dad is there, so you can talk to him if you want to call. I’m sure they would appreciate the thought.

In the hospital...

2007-12-20T19:42:00.000-08:00

After quite a few days of being weak, dizzy and nauseated, Mom was admitted to the hospital today with dehydration and an intestinal blockage. I have a phone number for her if anyone wants to call her, just email me. Thanks for all your prayers for her and Dad.

Isn't this sweet?

2007-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

My friend Shannon has entered the Wilton Cookie Decorating contest. This is her cookie and you can vote for it next week. I will post the link when the voting starts. Isn't she talented? By the way, if you live in the Rolla area, she can decorate cakes too! Here is the link: vote every day this week!

http://www.cookiedecoratingcontest.com/vote/?id=D970A7C4-423B-522D-FDDB8385990B2A2C&utm_source=vfm&utm_medium=email

Big Thanks!

2007-12-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

I just want to say a big Thank You to all those who have been out to help out Mom and Dad with finishing the bathroom and other fix up projects around the house. They appreciate it so much, and so do I!

Latest Dr. Visit

2007-11-30T15:35:00.000-08:00

Mom saw the Dr on the 27th and they said she is a little anemic, but they are not going to treat it right now. She will have a chest X-ray next week (I think, I can't find the paper I wrote everything down on.) That will determine any changes in the metastisis. She had a very difficult evening on Sunday with difficulty breathing, but was feeling significantly better when I talked to her on Wednesday.

Back from MN...

2007-11-25T13:31:00.000-08:00

We made it back last night after traveling 13 hours. Thankfully the drive was quite uneventful except for the realization that we had left our gas cap when we filled up last time on Wednesday. No biggie, stop quick at the auto parts store and we were on our way.

We were glad to be able to stay with my brother John and his super sweet wife Katie. We don't often get to spend much time with them when we go to Mom and Dad's due to work schedules and such. They hosted Thanksgiving dinner at their house and my sister Wendy and her family were able to be there too. Mom did not feel well enough to come, so we went over to her house to see her after the meal. I spent the day over there on Friday too.

Mom has been enjoying a little book someone else told me about. It is Healed of Cancer by Dodie Osteen.

Mom will have a doctor appt on Tuesday this week to see if she is anemic and do some other blood work.

Thanks for your prayers.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

We hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving. Last night we had our Community Thanksgiving service. A number of the churches get together to celebrate what we are Thankful for. Give thanks to God today for all the things you have to be thankful for, big and little.

We will be leaving for MN in the morning. We get to visit with some friends that we used to work with in NE on the way. Please lift us up for safe travel, good weather and no car issues. I will send an update about our trip and mom's next dr. appt. next week.

Cancer...

2007-11-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

As a friend said the other day, that word stirs up such chaos. Mom was diagnosed with Stage IV cervical cancer last week. Her lymph nodes are involved and her lungs have approx. 40 spots each. She will have another dr appt on the 27th, so we won't know much more until then. Radiation and surgery are not options at this stage and they don't feel that chemotherapy will give her any benefit either. So as is her usual bent, she is looking into natural options to see what she can do with supplements and healthy food.

We decided to go home for Thanksgiving this year, which we have not done since we were married because of the distance and sometimes the weather is a concern. My brother lives close to my parents and he is going to be helping out with dr visits and anything else he can.

My brother and I were talking yesterday and we decided that we are either still in shock or we have accepted that death is just a part of life. The hardest thing for me is sitting still and waiting to leave for the trip. I'm sure there is something I could find to do to help her...

God is in control and I will try not to grab control away from him. Keep us in your prayers!!

First Blog

2007-11-10T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am. As if I don't have enough to do already, now I am committing myself to something else to do! Anyway, I wanted to have someplace to post a few pictures and keep everyone up to date. Maybe even get out of writing the yearly Christmas letter!

My kids are homeschooled and we live on the Northern edge of the Missouri Ozarks. My husband works for the state of MO. We love it here!

This picture is of the boys and I at Silver Dollar City.