What a blessing it is to have a church family.
Most of our family is not in the immediate area. Having kids sure makes us wish we were closer to all of them. Even though we don't have our family, we have an amazing church family that we are so thankful for. So many have offered to watch the kids for us. So many have done so, especially when we've had unexpected things come up. There are still so many we can call upon that we haven't yet. There are two women in particular that have been a tremendous help during this season of craziness with two young babies.
One night a couple months after Makena was born, I shared with our small group how tired and exhausted I was and that I needed a break. I was practically in tears. Our friend, who is a special ed teacher, was soon going to be on summer vacation. She offered to come every Thursday afternoon for about three hours. It was great to have some time alone and a few hours to get things done. It was a huge help for me, but it also filled her desire/need to serve. She and her husband were unable to make it to Sundays for a few months to serve regularly, so she saw this as another way to serve the church body.
When our friend had to go back to school (so sad for us...), I was in a much better place. I had a routine and was no longer in "survival mode."
A few months later, another women from church offered to give me a morning off. Her children are teenagers and she still remembers the challenges that young moms face. I took the opportunity and got my nails done and ran a couple errands. She then offered another morning... and then another morning just last week... This last time, when she was leaving, she told me she wants to come every Thursday. She said first and foremost, her heart is to bless me. However, she is going through some personal things and coming out to spend time with the girls has been good for her. She needs the time here. How could I say no? I plan to use the time not just to run errands, but to take some personal time to reflect and refresh.
So I'll always remember that I got through this challenging season with a great husband and partner, an awesome church family, and a God who supplies me with lots of energy and endless love for my two great kids!
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Sunday, September 26
Thursday, June 11
Another Rough Week
As if having my car die on me last week on the freeway wasn't bad enough! =)
On Sunday morning, I was in a rush to get to church. I hit the back of my head against the car when I was getting into the back seat to put the baby’s car seat in. I guess I didn’t duck low enough. The blow hurt pretty badly, but I shook it off and felt fine the rest of the day.
Derek remembers me telling him in passing that I had a headache on Monday evening. It must not have been that bad because I don’t remember telling him that. I woke up Tuesday morning at 7 am with a headache right behind my eyes. I took a Tylenol capsule (I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and I hate taking medications. The fact that I even popped one pill is an indication that I was experiencing a significant amount of pain). The pain progressively got worse as the day went on. The back of my head began to throb and then my whole head was in pain. It hurt to move my eyes and turn my head. Even walking increased the pain each time my foot hit the ground. I took a couple more Tylenol pills and a short nap but nothing changed.
By around 3 pm, Derek convinced me to call the doctor’s office. It was too late in the day to visit
the office so they recommended that I go to the ER. As I waited in the waiting room, the tears began to flow. They were not only from the pain I was in, but from the fear of the unknown. I had never felt so much pain in my head and my mind wandered to the worst case scenarios.
Once I made it past the triage, they gave me a shot to relieve the pain. At that point, I ranked my pain an 8 or 9 on a 10-point scale (for me, a “10” would be a hot knife jabbed in my brain). The painkiller only reduced the pain to about a “7” and it made me so nauseous – not something I needed with all the pain.
They ran a CT scan and everything looked fine. They concluded it was a concussion. There was nothing more they could do so they discharged me. Again, tears started rolling down. I almost wanted something to be wrong so that I didn't have to go home in so much pain, especially not knowing how long it would last.
Getting up from the bed was excruciating. Sitting up in the wheelchair was painful. When I got to the lobby, I got really cold and my teeth started chattering. By the time I got into the car, I was in bad shape. Derek went back into the hospital and told them what was going on. I was re-admitted.
I had the chills and a low grade fever which are not symptoms of a concussion. They wanted to rule out everything deadly, so they ran some blood tests and did a lumbar puncture (similar to an epidural but instead of injecting, they extracted fluid to test for a brain hemorrhage and meningitis).
The lumbar puncture did not go very smoothly. The physician’s assistant couldn’t get the right spot so he had to poke me three times along with giving me three shots of local anesthesia. Then he called for the doctor. I kept praying that God would give this man wisdom as I continued to wiggle my toes to make sure I wasn’t getting paralyzed through this. The doctor came in and reinserted the needle for the fourth time which sent a shock wave down my left leg. So scary! But it worked and they were able to get the four viles of fluid they needed.
The results were good and they figured that the chills and fever were probably due to a viral infection. They discharged me again. I still wasn’t feeling well but by this time it was almost midnight and I was ready to go home. It took awhile for me to be able to put my clothes back on and get in the wheelchair. The journey from that bed to my bed was long and painful. My head was throbbing and I was extremely nauseous (and vomiting). We made it home and I was finally in bed at 12:30 am.
The pain was much better the next day. I was still hurting, but it was nothing like what I experienced the day I went to the ER. It took about two full days before I could be up and about. Lots of pain medication and TLC from my husband surely helped!
I have to say, God’s timing is perfect. Derek’s mom’s visit couldn’t have been timelier. She arrived on Tuesday and ten minutes after she walked in our front door, we were off to the emergency room. She has been taking care of Karis ever since. It has been such a huge help to have her with us, and I don’t know what we would have done without her.
Our friends from our small group came to the hospital to bring us dinner that night. They dropped it off just as I was being discharged the first time. When I was shaking in the car, Derek called them to see if they would come back to stay with me while he went back into the hospital. They came back immediately. They, along with many others, have been praying for me. I am so thankful!
I’m glad to have this all behind me and to be on the mends. Even as I type this, my bottles of Advil and Tylenol are close by and I can still feel a slight pain in my head. But, I know the worst is behind me and I’m thankful it was nothing more than a concussion and a viral infection.
On Sunday morning, I was in a rush to get to church. I hit the back of my head against the car when I was getting into the back seat to put the baby’s car seat in. I guess I didn’t duck low enough. The blow hurt pretty badly, but I shook it off and felt fine the rest of the day.
Derek remembers me telling him in passing that I had a headache on Monday evening. It must not have been that bad because I don’t remember telling him that. I woke up Tuesday morning at 7 am with a headache right behind my eyes. I took a Tylenol capsule (I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and I hate taking medications. The fact that I even popped one pill is an indication that I was experiencing a significant amount of pain). The pain progressively got worse as the day went on. The back of my head began to throb and then my whole head was in pain. It hurt to move my eyes and turn my head. Even walking increased the pain each time my foot hit the ground. I took a couple more Tylenol pills and a short nap but nothing changed.
By around 3 pm, Derek convinced me to call the doctor’s office. It was too late in the day to visit
the office so they recommended that I go to the ER. As I waited in the waiting room, the tears began to flow. They were not only from the pain I was in, but from the fear of the unknown. I had never felt so much pain in my head and my mind wandered to the worst case scenarios.
Once I made it past the triage, they gave me a shot to relieve the pain. At that point, I ranked my pain an 8 or 9 on a 10-point scale (for me, a “10” would be a hot knife jabbed in my brain). The painkiller only reduced the pain to about a “7” and it made me so nauseous – not something I needed with all the pain.
They ran a CT scan and everything looked fine. They concluded it was a concussion. There was nothing more they could do so they discharged me. Again, tears started rolling down. I almost wanted something to be wrong so that I didn't have to go home in so much pain, especially not knowing how long it would last.
Getting up from the bed was excruciating. Sitting up in the wheelchair was painful. When I got to the lobby, I got really cold and my teeth started chattering. By the time I got into the car, I was in bad shape. Derek went back into the hospital and told them what was going on. I was re-admitted.
I had the chills and a low grade fever which are not symptoms of a concussion. They wanted to rule out everything deadly, so they ran some blood tests and did a lumbar puncture (similar to an epidural but instead of injecting, they extracted fluid to test for a brain hemorrhage and meningitis).
The lumbar puncture did not go very smoothly. The physician’s assistant couldn’t get the right spot so he had to poke me three times along with giving me three shots of local anesthesia. Then he called for the doctor. I kept praying that God would give this man wisdom as I continued to wiggle my toes to make sure I wasn’t getting paralyzed through this. The doctor came in and reinserted the needle for the fourth time which sent a shock wave down my left leg. So scary! But it worked and they were able to get the four viles of fluid they needed.
The results were good and they figured that the chills and fever were probably due to a viral infection. They discharged me again. I still wasn’t feeling well but by this time it was almost midnight and I was ready to go home. It took awhile for me to be able to put my clothes back on and get in the wheelchair. The journey from that bed to my bed was long and painful. My head was throbbing and I was extremely nauseous (and vomiting). We made it home and I was finally in bed at 12:30 am.
The pain was much better the next day. I was still hurting, but it was nothing like what I experienced the day I went to the ER. It took about two full days before I could be up and about. Lots of pain medication and TLC from my husband surely helped!
I have to say, God’s timing is perfect. Derek’s mom’s visit couldn’t have been timelier. She arrived on Tuesday and ten minutes after she walked in our front door, we were off to the emergency room. She has been taking care of Karis ever since. It has been such a huge help to have her with us, and I don’t know what we would have done without her.
Our friends from our small group came to the hospital to bring us dinner that night. They dropped it off just as I was being discharged the first time. When I was shaking in the car, Derek called them to see if they would come back to stay with me while he went back into the hospital. They came back immediately. They, along with many others, have been praying for me. I am so thankful!
I’m glad to have this all behind me and to be on the mends. Even as I type this, my bottles of Advil and Tylenol are close by and I can still feel a slight pain in my head. But, I know the worst is behind me and I’m thankful it was nothing more than a concussion and a viral infection.
Friday, November 21
Reasons to be thankful
So I added this status to Facebook recently, but figured I'd add it to a blog so that it'd perhaps be easier to look back on later.
"Derek is envious at how his wife always (yes ALWAYS) gets awesome discounts... and, tonight, a free meal for 4. But I'm even more thankful. =)."
Just to add another example of how God is looking after us financially through my wife... oh heck, I'll give you two examples. Tonight, Lena acquired us a Queen size bed for us for free... the one we currently sleep on was given to us and we've now seen the end of its usefulness.
And, we've been looking for a TV stand as we have to get rid of our entertainment center. Lena's had it for 7+ yrs (doesn't include the years it was owned by a previous roommate). The weight of the TV is bending the wood and we don't want it to break and harm a young child. We have been eyeing a stand at Ikea and she saw an ad that if we buy it this weekend, we get a $50 gift card. Not bad. But then she spotted an ad on Craigslist for new in the box for just under 1/2 off. We bought it tonight and I saved us another $10 with my strong negotiation tactics (if you don't know me, that's a joke. I was like, "um, would you possibly consider taking $160?").
While I'm at this... I have other examples... many.... During my unpaid (financial supporters) internship, we got married. We received an immensely discounted cake from Ritz Carlton, discounted videographer as she was just getting started, discounted photography from a friend of a friend, along with other big savings throughout. AMAZING!
Found a 10 yr newer motorcycle with 20,000 less miles for only $1,000 more. Steal of a deal!
Recently, I saved over $50 on a new motorcycle helmet. The other was past its safety effectiveness prime.
We have not had to spend $1 on baby gear or clothes. All given as gifts or purchased with gift cards. Crib donated. Car seat, stroller, and dresser are all gifts (as will be the pack and play).
All the damage to my car from the fallen bicycle and Lena's car windshield cost us only $200 thanks to insurance.
The VW transmission may not be going out... I added some premium gas and some oil and we haven't experienced the "stumbling" transmission.
Maybe I'll add more later. It's late. I'm headed to Disneyland tomorrow with the Irvine team to celebrate all God has done through us at the Irvine campus these past 6+ months.
Praise be to God alone!
"Derek is envious at how his wife always (yes ALWAYS) gets awesome discounts... and, tonight, a free meal for 4. But I'm even more thankful. =)."
Just to add another example of how God is looking after us financially through my wife... oh heck, I'll give you two examples. Tonight, Lena acquired us a Queen size bed for us for free... the one we currently sleep on was given to us and we've now seen the end of its usefulness.
And, we've been looking for a TV stand as we have to get rid of our entertainment center. Lena's had it for 7+ yrs (doesn't include the years it was owned by a previous roommate). The weight of the TV is bending the wood and we don't want it to break and harm a young child. We have been eyeing a stand at Ikea and she saw an ad that if we buy it this weekend, we get a $50 gift card. Not bad. But then she spotted an ad on Craigslist for new in the box for just under 1/2 off. We bought it tonight and I saved us another $10 with my strong negotiation tactics (if you don't know me, that's a joke. I was like, "um, would you possibly consider taking $160?").
While I'm at this... I have other examples... many.... During my unpaid (financial supporters) internship, we got married. We received an immensely discounted cake from Ritz Carlton, discounted videographer as she was just getting started, discounted photography from a friend of a friend, along with other big savings throughout. AMAZING!
Found a 10 yr newer motorcycle with 20,000 less miles for only $1,000 more. Steal of a deal!
Recently, I saved over $50 on a new motorcycle helmet. The other was past its safety effectiveness prime.
We have not had to spend $1 on baby gear or clothes. All given as gifts or purchased with gift cards. Crib donated. Car seat, stroller, and dresser are all gifts (as will be the pack and play).
All the damage to my car from the fallen bicycle and Lena's car windshield cost us only $200 thanks to insurance.
The VW transmission may not be going out... I added some premium gas and some oil and we haven't experienced the "stumbling" transmission.
Maybe I'll add more later. It's late. I'm headed to Disneyland tomorrow with the Irvine team to celebrate all God has done through us at the Irvine campus these past 6+ months.
Praise be to God alone!
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