New Hobby

Whitley's first floral painting

Jamie's first ceramic painting

Art has always been a fun outlet for me. I don't care what it is: crafting, crocheting, scrapbooking, stamping, chalks, oils, watercolor, you name it's fun !

Recently, I started dinking around with single stroke painting of flowers. It is really a surprise to see how two colors will pull through with each stroke. No brush strokes are the same. Mums are a great flower to start with and a simple stem and leaf.

Tonight, two accomplishements occured......I painted my first ceramic piece and Whitley decided to learn. For a lefty, she did great. She was very strong with the petal part of the flower but she felt the leaf was challenging...and she's right; it is!

So, enjoy our first two pieces. Maybe in a year, we might improve, but atleast it is fun along the way.

Prayer Request for Whitley

{The Photo above is an original MRI before Whit's surgery. You can see how much bigger her left kidney is than her right kidney..,about 6 x's the size of her right kidney. Don't forget that her left side is viewd as your right.}

Well, we were hopeful to share some good news with you about Whitley's kidneys, but we just got a call this morning from her urologist. The urologist feels that the kidney looks pretty good, but the radiologist hotly contests his remarks. The only way to solve this is to send her back to Nuclear Medicine, which we were hoping to avoid, so thge repeated radiation does not fry her ovaries. This test clearly reveals function and will settle the dispute between the two doctors readings. We are staying calm for many reasons: 1) The radiologist that read this film did not have a comparison film to show how her kidney looked before the surgery vs. after/now, and Dr. Mohr, our urologist, does. 2) I think that our urologist, who happens to have over 27 years experience, knows what he is talking about over the radiologist 3) we've seen prayer help us before and so we are relying on that once again to take it one day at a time and accept the outcome. The Nuc. Med. scheduler was supposed to call back today because she was unsure as to whether to schedule her at Children's Hospital or Franklin Med. Ctr. We should hear more tomorrow.

We thank you in advance for thinking of us, sending us good thoughts and keeping us in your prayers!

Love-The Rocky Mtn. Ramblers

The Story of 3 Doctors

There is a urologist named Dr. Mohr, who God used to save our daughter's kidneys. He is a talented man and a humble man and we thank him for his services to us. Whitley is to be monitored by him for the rest of her life. In the spring we do a lasix renalgram and in the fall, an ultrasound. Tuesday evening Whit went in for her regular check up on her kidney. We anticipate a good result in a few weeks! We'll share the good new when we find out!

There is another doctor named Dr. Tanzanelli. She will be performing surgery on Jamie July 28th. About a year ago a cat scan revealed a pedunculated tumor. It has now grown out of control and taken over 2 of my organs, so it needs to be removed. I am feeling great but do experience back pain as it is pinching on the nerves in my back. I should be up and around in 3-4 weeks after the operation.

Today we rented a Rug Doctor. We shampooed all the carpets, area rugs, furniture, drapes and the 3 cars. Whew! Perhaps we may be adding to our collection of doctors for our aches and pains when all is done! Let's hope not. Maybe a Dr. Pepper will hit the spot when we are through!

PHASE #3 OF REMODEL COMPLETE

It is hard to say when we will complete the final two phases of the remodel. We are all ready to take a break away from our labors and the dust. It is so good to be back into a real bedroom with clothes hanging on hanger in a real closet and not living out of boxes!

This weekend, we plan to move the office out of the basement and up into the open loft area. Before we do that, John needs to lift the carpet and subfloor in the loft to run some wiring so Whitley can have an overhead light and ceiling fan in her bedroom, which is directly below the loft.

The final two phases of this remodel consist of: 1- hardwood floors upstairs, built in floor to ceiling bookcases in the loft 2-heading back to the kitchen and converting what was the old laundry into a pantry and a space to build in the side by side fridge. Where the fridge once was, will be a work station for the laptop, paying bills, phonebooks.

Until then we plan to rest well at night in our new master bedroom!

A Christening

Today was a special day for our foster daugther. We were so honored to stand up with her family and witness them dedicate her to God.

The picture above is John lighting a candle for her. We promised to pray for her, teach her about God and encourage her faith so that like a candle, her light would shine for all the world to see.

Her aunt & I were to hold her as she was sprinkled with water over the "fount", which means womb. It is a symbol of the "second birth", which occurs outside the mother's womb. The pastor explained that although she was born into the sin of Adam & Eve, she now would become a "new creation".

The top picture is of both sides of the family: Sean and his parents and siblings and Kim, with her parents and siblings, and of course of John Whit & I, which they have made us feel like part of the family!

May God bless this precious little girl and may she draw close to her Lord, follow Him and honor Him all the days of her life!

The Democratic State Convention

Friday night we arrived in Colorado Springs. It was quite the rush as we raced home from field day, loaded up, made the 90 mile drive. Delegates could do early sign in up until 7pm. By the time we arrived, I had 5 minutes to spare. I whipped through the line in 10 minutes and was good to go for the next morning. I heard had I been about 30 minutes earlier, I would have been in line for a couple of hours. I guess being down to wire has some advantages from time to time.

Saturday morning I arrived at the World Arena around 7:30am. There was a heavy presence of police, although not exactly sure why. I think it was a lot of hype. John & Whit dropped me off and went back to the hotel to swim and lounge around.

I circled around the arena to take my place in a line nearly a mile long, only to find out that it was for the alternates. I then proceeded to a much shorter, fast moving line; how nice! Once inside, hecklers and kiosks showed off their Democratic "wares". For $12, finger puppets featured Bush, Cheney, Rice in a box titled "Axis of Evil". For $4 you could purchase a bumper sticker that said "I believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and an Honest Republican". Needlesss, to say, a conservative Dem like me had no interest in such goods. However, a gentleman carrying iced cold beverages did catch my attention...especially when I said "How much?" and he said "$4.oo" for a 12 ounce drink. WOW!!

I took my seat in the area marked "Jefferson" for the county I reside in. It took awhile to find my floor captain amongst 10,000 plus people, but eventually we caught up. I sat next to some really nice "Hillary" supporters (even though I'm an Obama gal) and I think we all enjoyed each others company.

The day drug on with all the "big whigs" making their speeches and endorsements, a big platform was for Mark Udall as he accepted the nomination for US Senate. Delgate hopefuls for the Nation Convention (held in Denver in Aug.) worked the crowds and solicited fliers asking for our vote.

I decided early on that it mattered not if I was to make it to the nationals. I concluded that I had participated in a civic duty and and was obliged to participate in the voting process, but concluded that I do not eat, drink, breathe this stuff. Some of these folks volunteered 20 hours a day for the last two weeks to make this moment possible and they were the ones who deserved to go to the Nationals.

The day drew to a close around 5pm when the actual voting began to take place. John & Whit picked me up, we headed back to the hotel and there I promptly "crashed".

I awoke a little before 9pm and we ordered a delicious pizza pie! Now there's something Democrats and Republicans can all agree on...agghhh, that's more like it!

Life on the RUN!

Whitley doign thee "Jamaica Jog"

The same three "Peas in a Pod"

1/2 of the 5th grade class

All the girls in 5th grade~~~

Friday morning we awoke early to a light dusting of snow over the grass. Overhead, the skies were an ominous grey and the clouds were swollen with precipitation. Still, we loaded the cooler with water bottles, sub-sandwiches and picnic materials and headed off to the fields.

I was in charge of the "distance" station. My job was to teach the kids where to run, how many times around, and explain to them how to pace their bodies, breathing techniques, and timing them with a stop watch. Although a slight dread came from some of the students, they were thankful to run off the chill of the early morning when they completed their run.

Since there were many events set up in and around the field, I ran ahead of the younger kids so they would know exactly where to go. 6th grade on up, ran a whole mile...they were on their own. All in all, I got about three miles in that day....and I now declare that my running season is back in commission! (I will admit I was a little sore the following day).

Whitley had a great time and took 2 firsts, 1 second and 1 fourth place. Like her Mom, she is a distance runner and found that she did not do as well on the short distances. It was great watching the kids learn about their body's rhythms and strengths!

At noon, the sun began to burn off the morning fog and dry off the field. Meanwhile, the kids ate their lunches while the 8th grade played a game of kickball against the teachers. I lost count of how many times the 8th graders scored on the teachers. Still, it was a fun game to watch!

After a day of exercise and fun, Whit and I hurried home to pack up and head to the convention in Colorado Springs. Even though Field Day 2008 was over, our family was still "on the run"!