Catching My Breathe

I am so sorry that it has been so long since posting here everyone. Things got a lot busier than I had anticipated at the end of summer before we started school. A1 was busy at work with her Dad and A2 was home with me doing summer swim and mowing yard and helping with stuff around the house. Then school started,volleyball games started then harvest started. About the time it settled down I found out I had to have thyroid surgery and that takes us to Thanksgiving and tonight. So I am going to catch y'all up while I catch my breathe.

In August A1 turned 15 and was happy dancing around for quite a long while about how soon she can get her learner's permit, although not literally dancing as she had a small run-in with a trash can at the volleyball overnighter. It took her out of practice for 3 weeks as she rolled her ankle and had to do rehab. She still currently will grin and remind me that I only have a few months left. I just grin back and say that I don't have to allow her to get one. I don't know if I am ready for her to drive or not. Less running for me, yes. Reality that time is flying by really quickly, no.

We nailed down our school year after deciding when we wanted to be done. They kids are doing 1/2 days on Saturday here so we started September 4th and will finish on May 7th. Volleyball team continued to practice two days a week starting in mid-July. A1 made the JV team again this year, her first year in high school.

We started our year off with a fun geography lesson that was extremely tasty and shared it with my parents. After all the chatter on the TLT group about cookie maps, I knew we had to try it. They loved it! What kid wouldn't love making a giant sugar cookie and decorating it then of course eating it.


We made cookies of Africa. My Dad thought that there should be more mountains added as he wanted lots of chocolate chips.



We made cookies of a close-up of the Nile River area in ancient times.

Then of course we ate them. That was the best part.






Both kids are enjoying Tapestry very much and are learning so much. They do very well at our weekly discussion and can expand on what they have read to come to conclusions that apply to things today. It is so much fun to see them making connections and loving to learn.

When we were starting up school we were also repainting out house, outside. Somehow we managed a lift this time. Thank-you to my BIL's connections. DH got it done quickly and it looks great. It isn't green anymore. He wanted a rusty red and that is what we had decided the next color would be we when eenie meenie minie moed between the two the first time. It is really close to BIL and SIL new house at the farm, but if you put them side by side it is different. That is the new color at the beginning of the post. We really love the new color. It changes with the sunlight. It is called Roycroft Copper Red. Sorry the wild flowers don't look as good as usual, it was a dry summer and we planted natives so we would have to water. They were blooming just not as much or for as long.

I had gotten a ultrasound done of my thyroid in September at the request of the Dr. we see for our allergies. He said that he felt a nodule. When the results came back the first week in October he wanted me to see someone for a biopsy. So we transfered info to IN doctors and I went to an ENT the last week of October. I had one brief moment of fear and went to my girls on TLT and posted for prayer. Within 5 minutes of hitting send I was back to total calm. Andy had to hear all this from me on the phone as he was on the road harvesting. Keeping the kids from hearing all the scheduling and questions was tricky too so I made calls from the front porch. We didn't tell them anything right away as we knew they would worry about everything. The same week I saw the ENT for the consultation I went back on that Friday for an ultrasound guided biopsy. The nodule on the right was fairly decent in size, but had calcifications in it and the Doctor said he would be most comfortable taking at least the right side out no matter what the biopsy said. So surgery was scheduled. We knew that if the biopsy during surgery came back positive that I would be losing the whole thyroid and have other treatments to follow. We also knew that again the kids were going to be worried. A2 can't stand anything to do with hospitals and needles. Probably from the times he has had to go in and they can't find the veins for the IV's. We told the kids the week before surgery that I was getting surgery on my thyroid. They didn't ask just said because it isn't working right. We said yes and let it go at that because we had no other answers to truthfully give. My prayer warriors at TLT were praying for this conversation to go well as I was more concerned about them then I was myself. The day before surgery A2 was terrified. Again I called on the TLT prayer warriors for help. I had spent a good 30-45 minutes in prayer with A2 the night before surgery praying for God's peace and calm to engulf him. That A2 would feel God's arm holding him tight and that A2 would see God at work in the whole thing. The morning of surgery he was still looking a little ragged. I had him come to the computer and showed him the emails that had come through in the night and that morning of the girls who were praying not only for him specifically, but also for the surgery. The one that really changed the look on his face was the one that reminded him that our group from TLT goes literally around the world. That we were being held up in prayer around the world. I had been showing him the different states and told him the other countries where others lived to. His whole body just took in a huge breath and he relaxed.

The surgery went fine. The kids had a good time with their cousins at BIL and SIL's farm. I came home by 10am the next morning. DH had posted to the TLT group how surgery went the night before so again I sat with the kids as we watched the praises come in. It was the most awesome thing to have all that prayer coverage and to see all the rejoicing going on. These girls are truly God's special blessings in my life, and I count each and every one of them as sisters. A1 and A2 said that they learned how God listens and takes care of us and the power of prayer. The biopsy results came back the Saturday after surgery-no cancer. I only had to lose the right half of my thyroid. Recovery is going well. My vocal nerve was bruised as the gland had expanded around it. So my voice is rather quiet and I can't talk above a whisper. The doctor at follow-up said it would come back as it heals. He knows he didn't cut it, but said he had to push it out of the way. DH said he is sending the man a fruit basket. BIL asked how long this would last and my own brothers thought it sounded kind of nice. What is a girl to do? Get a whistle :D

We have solved the problem of me yelling the kids name from across the house and them yelling WHAT back instead of coming. It just doesn't work anymore. My voice did come back fully a couple brief times within the last week.

I am typing this so I can do a post for a sweet sister on my TLT group and it was the kick I needed to sit down and write. Well, that and now a touch of the flu. Thank you Lord for older kids who can follow the assignments without a ton of teaching from a Mom who can't talk above a whisper and who is good to go for a couple hours in the morning then naps and a couple hours at night and goes to bed. The levels will be checked on everything and tweeked December 26th. Until then, this type A, first born, perfectionistic planner is having to learn to go with the flow. For those of you who know me well, I am tired of reading :D

We are currently on Week 16 for school studying in Judges, Ruth, Samuel for history and the Israelite and their neighbors. They are learning how their neighbors were allowed by God to effect the Israelite lives and used for the lessons God was teaching them. They are studying The Odyssey in literature as we are working at roughly the same time frame. In week 14 we started with Greece and we will be heading back there again after Christmas. A1 is now not so sure about loving lit. She is having to read the unabridged version, like college level reading. It is the first time she has ever had to really work at her school work, but especially her reading. She is doing an excellent job of grasping it. She gets the questions in discussion right and I think this week will even be able to start expanding on those answers. She didn't think she could do it. I knew she could as she has been testing at this level for many, many years. It was fun to watch her face light up that first week with the Iliad as she got answers right and even ones that the publishers said most first year Rhetoric students miss. It was a boost for her to see that she really was grasping it. A2 is doing the same lit, but at Dialectic level, meaning 6-9th grade reading. I have to tell him to only read what is assigned or he will go through the whole lit assignment in one week. He is having to work some at this as he is starting to get into analyzing the lit and taking it apart. I know he is not ready for the R level lit and since he will be doing this year at R level his junior year we are just keeping him at the D level for everything. He could do the history and Bible, but why if he is doing it again.

We started Latin this week. So I will keep you updated on how that goes. Now that we are in the swing of things, I am hoping to do better about the blog updates. No promises.