toe-elbow

My three-year-old came to me crying last night, "My toe-elbow hurts!" He had stepped on a toy and his heal was sore. Toe-elbow was easily healed with a Mommy kiss but I didn't want to forget the adorable descriptive so I'm jotting it down here to share with you all. :)

Our Family Passover

Last night we used the book Celebrating Biblical Feast to observe a family Passover Sedar. (Yes, I know passover actually started on Thursday, but we aren't about legalism as much as learning, observing and remembering, so the symbolism was what we were really aiming for.) We had a fun, busy, little-bodies-squirming, some-mistakes make and learned from, and lots of learning and laughter evening. My parents were able to join us and even though my dear hubby came home sick from work and landed in bed before the evening was over, he stuck with us as long as he could.

My mom came an hour before dinner with her long white linnen tablecloth and helped me set the Seder plate while 6-year-old R had fun setting out our china and crystal. She couldn't wait to get dressed in her hot pink Hellow Kitty tights and pink satin dress. I drew the line at the princess crown though, reminding her that the evening was in celebration of the Lord, not her. ;) Dinner took us about 2 hours and I was exhausted by the end, but it was such a worthwhile evening. I was so thankful for my parent's help in clean up as Dad helped calm down excited kids with several bedtime stories and Mom helped me load up the dishwasher and put away food. I only wish we would have remembered to take pictures.

I didn't make it to the grocery store for matza crackers until a couple of hours before sunset on Thursday afternoon, so as you can imagine, the shelves were pretty empty by then! 9-year-old Big-J and I made our first attempt at matza-ball soup and the leg of lamb turned out really well. We did not try the traditional whitefish because Big-J looked green just at the sight of it in the store and I was afraid we were going to need to call for a sick "clean up on isle 5" so I placed that jar of oily fish quickly back on the shelf and made other selections. We ended up with chocolate-covered matza because that's what was still available, but it was labeled "kosher for Passover" and "imported from Israel" so I guess it was authentic enough, but made for interesting "sandwiches" with our bitter herbs! :) I was just glad that we found some kosher items at all, since when I asked about matza at the first store we tried, the clerk gave me a blank look then said I could try the asian or hispanic food sections.

I found another blog this morning that shares another family's passover adventures this year. I think I will borrow some of their ideas for future observances, especially the tips about keeping things simple and focused for younger ones to really enjoy the experience as I know that much of what we did was over the heads of our 3- and 6-year-olds this year!
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Editing on Monday morning to add another family Passover story I found. This one written by a 19-year-old homeschool grad, telling the story of sharing this special meal with her parents and siblings. Since I also graduated from high school as a homeschooler, this young lady holds a very soft spot in my heart, though I've only met her through her blog posts. I enjoyed reading of their family's celebration as well and find it interesting just how many variations there are in the same basic observance of traditions.

Red Envelope Day

I'm dropping several red envelopes in the mail today. Will you join me?

Red Envelope Day is an effort asking everyone who opposes abortion and wants to let President Obama know about it, to send red envelope on March 31, 2009 addressed to:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington , D.C. 20500

On the back you should write:

"This envelope represents one child who died because of an abortion.
It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world."

P.S. Be sure to include your return address on the envelope. Some post offices are routing all red envelopes without return addresses directly to their "dead letter" departments and not delivering them because they are technically not properly address without a return address.

PJ Giveaway

I've been currious to try bamboo clothing for a while now. Having grown up in Japan next to a grove of 60-foot tall bamboo trees, I just can't quite imagine how these could make comfortable clothing, but I've heard over and over that they do. So I've entered this Bamboo P.J.s give-away and thought you might enjoy doing entering too.

Prayers Needed for 5-year-old twins

I'm still sick, my kids are still out of town (and I'm getting terribly homesick for them!), but God woke me up at 4am to pray. May I ask you to join me in praying for the cousins of a friend of mine here in Reno. Addi and Cassi have a rare, fatal disorder called Niemann Pick Type C (NPC) disease. It is a lipid storage disease frequently referred to as the "Childhood Alzheimer’s."

According to their medical blog, both girls will be undergoing surgery this morning to implant ports. These ports will allow infusions of an expirimental new treatment for the girls and their first glimmer of real hope that they might win this battle! Please join me in prayer.

Here is a quote from their website that explains a little more about the battle they are up against:
"Every moment of everyday, harmful amounts of fatty substances and cholesterol called "lipids" are rapidly building up in our spleens, livers, lungs, bone marrow, and brains. Our cholesterol is getting stuck inside millions of our cells — not our bloodstreams — and causing a massive traffic jam which is ultimately killing us. Doctors do not fully understand why this is happening to us but they have some clues. They believe a cascade of events is happening inside our bodies - first sphinosphine malfunctions which depletes critical calcium stores from our cells. When calcium is depleted from the cell it creates a bottleneck of lipids in the cells which kills them. To the outside world, we exhibit progressive neurological symptoms which are ultimately fatal in childhood."

Vertigo

The title sums it up. Hit Tuesday moning. By Thursday afternoon my dear in-laws came and picked up the kids. My parents are out of town for 2 weeks but Mom fixed me up with meals Wednesday night before she left (even though she had a badly broken and infected toe herself)!

My primary care doctor thinks it's viral and I'm on anti-motion sickness meds with the offer of valium if I get to the point of being so nausious I can't keep anything donw (with the idea that the valium would basically "put me in a coma" according to the doctor so I could just sleep it all off). I'm doing a pretty good job at sleeping it off without drastic measures, sleeping about 16-18 out of every 24 right now. Symptoms expected to last anywhere from 1-2 week to as long as 1-2 months.

I miss my babies already, but thankful they are having fun on the farm with grandparents while I'm out of commission. While I "know" better in my heart, these are the time satan likes to play head games with me and tell me that this is what happens when a chronically ill woman pursures motherhood in spite of infertility. As my mom was quick to point out, you don't have to have a chronic illness nor an infertility history to have vertigo and that every mom gets sick sometimes. I just feel my "sometimeses" are coming around a lot lately and I wish these times didn't have to impact my ability to be the Mommy I want to be.

Not going to try to edit, so I hope this post is readable. My world is spinning and I'm crawling back into bed.

When Mom's Not Happy, Daughter's Not Happy!

It's been a long day!
When my physical abilities and emotional energy are both so drained, it noticably impacts our kids. Our 9-year-old is a rock, but I ache for him that he takes so much adult responsibility on his shoulders. I appreciate his strength and stability, but also pray for him as I wonder how much he enternalizes in healthy or unhealthy ways. I want to be his Mommy and protect him for the impact of my illness, but I cannot.
I see some negative impact in our 3-year-old (mostly in copy-cat outbursts following his big sister's example), but our 6-year-old seems to have the hardest time coping. Please pray for her as she has been really acting out this week. She struggles with the same Romans 7 ("For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.") sinful nature that we all face, but for her it seems especially hard. I cover her in prayer and strive to give her extra patience and grace (ballanced with the stability of firm paramaters and reasonable consequences), but this is a hard season for both of us to cope with. Your prayers for her (and wisdom/strength for us as we parent her) would be especially appreciated right now. She is such a precious blessing and I grieve for the heartache my limitations cause her.