Locks of Love

Last night, Becca did a very generous thing. She cut off all her beautiful hair and is donating it to an organization called Locks of Love that makes wigs for children with cancer. She had heard of the organization and announced last fall that she was going to grow her hair long and donate it. As a nine year old, it surprised me that she was so determined. Not once in the last year has she ever considered changing her mind. Ever so often, we would get out the ruler and measure her ponytail to see how long it was getting... five inches, then seven, then nine. When it got to the required ten inches, we scheduled our appointment and then Louie ended up in the hospital so we had to postpone the Big Day.

So last night, we went to the salon with our Locks of Love instructions, a camera and a plastic bag in hand. Our friend Crystal is a hairdresser and she measured not once, but three times to make sure we had the right length. Everyone in the shop grinned as Becca squealed when Crystal began to cut off her ponytail. Becca couldn't get over the fact that she had worked for over a year to grow out her hair and it was all gone in about 30 seconds.

Crystal quickly trimmed up her hair into a cute little style that I think suits her bubbly personality. When I asked Becca if she missed her hair, she said she wasn't going to miss the tangles. When she left for school this morning, I almost had to look at her twice to recognize her. She looks far too grown up now. But aside from how she looks, I'm more proud that on her own, she took it on herself to think about someone else, commit to help them and then stick to her commitment over a long period of time (even while I was brushing tangles out of her hair). I will never cease to be amazed at how much I have to learn from my kids.

Here are some pictures of the before, during and after, along with a picture of Becca with our frined, Crystal.

Here, there and everywhere

Well, this week was far less crazy than the last few weeks... it was only slightly crazy. It's fall, which brings to mind beautiful trees, the smell of apples, and in our house, the countdown to the World Series. But it's also back to school which for every mom in America means back to busyness. Right now, we're juggling a lot of things. Let me summarize...

Becca's fundraiser is over and I'm happy to report that she met her goal of selling 15 books! What was the secret of her success? Bringing her order form to a Labor Day family reunion and then standing alongside her grandpa who explained the fundraiser while she smiled sweetly... need I say more? Last week, she went to the Barboursville Fall Fest parade and carnival with her good friend Molly. She also just completed a project for school that required her to collect samples of different leaves, dry them, then put them in a booklet and correctly label them. (And she only need a little help- she wanted Garrett to help her, not me)

Hannah has kept me in the car more than anyone. She's already half way through the volleyball season. I can hardly believe it. She has a new coach this year that she thinks is lots of fun (I'm sure it doesn't hurt that he's a young MU grad student) but unfortunately, they haven't won many games. One exception was last Monday. We drove waaaay out in the country to play and they won 4 out of 5 games. Each games was very, very close. I screamed so loud that I embarrassed Hannah. She's managed to develop a wicked little serve that often just skims the net and drops in. Next week, we have to drive waaay out in the country again, this time hours away, south of Logan, for a game. A win would certainly make that drive worthwhile.

Garrett is at the Huntington High football game tonight with his little girlfriend, Alyssa. They met last summer at church camp and have been seeing each other ever since. She's in the band, on the dance team and twirls a flag. It's been pouring the rain, but he's standing out there at the game to see her... ah, how sweet.

Garrett's a junior this year and his work at school has really intensified. He has more homework and none of it is busywork. His favorite class, I think, is biology. He loved his old teacher who retired, but finds his new, young teacher loads of fun because he 's always experimenting with things. Garrett and Hannah are in the same biology class this year. Their teacher has arranged for them to visit a medical school in December where they'll get to see a fully dissected human body... it's optional, so Hannah is not going. Garrett can't wait.

Well, in addition to school and volleyball, Hannah and Garrett sing sometimes with the youth praise team at church and they have even started traveling to other churches to sing. Garrett sings with four other boys in a band called Torn in Two. The band sang a few weeks ago at a youth event for about 50 kids. Garrett sings lead and plays guitar. Also, they are both participating in a community show choir called ARTS All-Star Show choir. They practice 5 and a half hours per week. Then in January, they will compete against other show choirs in competitions. The show they perform lasts about 20 minutes and has several songs and at least three costume changes. It's a lot of work... Hannah has struggled with the choreography a bit, but they like performing. I think Garrett will actually have a small solo in this year's show. They definately get the singing and performing gene from Louie!

Louie and I were talking to his doctor not long ago. He has three kids that are spaced about like ours. The difference is, his oldest two are in college and he only has one at home now. We said something about being busy and he grinned and said that before long, we'll be looking at each other and saying...remember when we used to be so busy?

Getting back to normal

It's been a while since I've been able to post on our family blog because we've had a bit of excitement at our house this week. Last Tuesday evening, Louie came home from work sick- violent vomiting that went on for almost 2 hours. He seemed to be calming down so I went to a brief meeting at church. Louie called me and asked me to come right home. He was having pressure in his chest and was terribly anxious, pacing the floor. He asked me to call an ambulance... almost exactly 6 years ago, Louie suffered a heart attack that was followed three days later by quadruple by-pass surgery. Six years ago, his heart attack started out just like this. So needless to say, we wanted to be extra cautious. It scared Becca a lot- Garrett took her aside and played games with her to distract her. Hannah asked to stay with us and watch the paramedics. The ambulance came and they determined that he needed to go to the ER.

To make a long story very short, they determined that it wasn't his heart but a gall bladder attack. He spent 4 days in the hospital and had his gall bladder removed. The surgeon said it was "particularly nasty"- he ended up having two days of IV antibiotics to fend off infection. He's been home 3 days and he's feeling SO much better. His surgeon said that when people loose a lot of weight, they very often develop gall stones. (In the last 18 months, he's lost 80 pounds)

All I can say about this week was, it made me re prioritize everything. Errands and to do lists were set aside. Simple things like making sure Louie had the items from home he wanted and the curtains closed so he could sleep were more important. All the help with getting kids to school, the kind words and hugs we received from friends and family were invaluable. And while we were in the hospital, we got to visit with a member of our church whose husband was there, too. He also needs his gall bladder out but had already been there two weeks and is far too sick to be operated on. It really helped me to keep the whole week in perspective.

May next week be far less crazy.

P.S. My aunt Beverly pointed out to me on the phone last week that I haven't posted one single picture of myself yet... OK, OK I will! Here's a picture of me and my grandma, Sadie. Last month, amid the basement flooding, my grandmother came to visit us from Mississippi. If she knew exactly what the Internet was and that her picture could be seen all over the world, I think she'd be so embarrassed!

39 and counting

Today is my 39th birthday and it's been a pretty quiet day. I went for a run this morning through the neighborhood (for the first time since I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago), ran a few errands, washed the dust from my car that's accumulated because of our construction and curled up with a book. This evening I had a quick meeting at church and Becca really, really wanted to take me out to eat since Louie was working. So we grabbed some fast food fare- she even gave me the cherry off her milk shake. Louie knows I don't actually love birthday cake, so last night, he made me these giant rocky road cupcake things without icing (because I don't particularly like icing). I've waited until my actually birthday to try them out. Just in case you didn't know, real men bake.



I remembered something today that I haven't thought of in a long time. When my mom was pregnant with me- late 1st trimester or early 2nd trimester, I can't remember- she had to have an emergency appendectomy. There was some serious concern as to whether or not I would survive the operation. It wasn't until I was pregnant with Garrett and reading about how babies develop that I fully appreciated how serious a situation it was. Psalm 139 says (to God), "you knit me together in my mother's womb...you saw my unformed body... " Now, there are probably countless times when God protects us from unseen dangers and we never know. But in this instance, I am well aware. I have no doubt that His unseen hand covered my teeny little self, protecting me from harm and preserving my life. That day, my life could have ended before it began, but He had a very specific plan and purpose for me- three of those little purposes call me mom!



So I think I'm going to finish up this birthday with the same quiet theme of the day... a cup of hot tea (green tea- it's actually pretty good... and full of antioxidants...I am getting older, after all), maybe another chapter in my book (reading glasses required... another sign of my decay) and most definitely, one of Louie's homemade rocky road icingless cupcake things.

"Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"

1 Chronicles 17:16

...a correction

Apparently, my language was too strong yesterday when I described Louie's feelings about his trip to the Wellness Center, so let me restate it: It wasn't that "He liked it", it was that "He didn't hate it". Apparently, there's a difference. I'm glad that's all cleared up. You can go about your day.

It's a brand new day

It's a brand new day for our yard! Our house has been waterproofed, drains have been installed and connected and our gutter downspouts have been routed to appropriately divert water. The large piles of dirt have been pushed back where they go and the yard smoothed out. Later today, we'll be marking out where our new driveway and patio will go and, weather permitting, we'll pour concrete tomorrow!

I was glad to get to head out of town Friday and Saturday with Garrett for a little break from the construction mess. He's participating in a program this year through our state youth called Youth Leader Core. They'll get together for 5 weekends throughout the year. I'm one of the adult leaders on the team. For this weekend, we met at our baptist camp at Cowen, WV- one of my favorite places (it's where Louie and I met). Normally when I'm there, it's with over a hundred campers but this weekend, there were only about 20 of us. It was so quiet. Garret and I both had a good time.

It's a new day for Becca and Hannah, too. Becca is all fired up about a fundraiser at school. They're selling Entertainment Books. Essentially, they're coupon books for a particular town and they make them for cities across the country. Last year, we started selling them in late October after every other school, team and club had already started selling them. She only sold two. So this year, we got order forms really early. She'd like to sell fifteen...we'll see. They're $20 for Huntington and $25 for most other cities. If you use coupons, it's a great deal. Anyway, if you're interested, drop me an email @ johnnarene@verizon.net. Hannah is beside herself because the high school volleyball team is getting new uniforms. Playing well and being a good sport is important, yeah, yeah, but looking good while doing it- now, that is important!

And well, I about fell out of my chair yesterday- twice - over my husband. We met at the doctor's office for a checkup, to go over some blood work. It usually makes me nervous because of his health history. But in the last 3 months, he's lost another 30 pounds and yesterday, his doctor cut his blood pressure medication in half! Then he said that he expects that when Louie looses another 30 pounds, he'll be off that blood pressure pill and his diabetes medication! (near fall #1). Then after his appointment, Louie went to St. Marys to sign himself up for the Wellness Center Fitness Program. He had his gym bag packed and in the car. He used the treadmill, rowing machine, elliptical machine and free weights. (near fall #2) And he liked it- I'm so, so glad. (And my husband loves me so much, he even graciously let me take his picture and post it on the Internet!)

OK, one last thing. I was running around crazy grocery shopping, getting dry cleaning and various errands yesterday when I had a cool thought I want to tell you about. I pulled into a parking space , put it in park and as I started to turn off the engine, I got a bit uneasy. I thought I had pulled in straight... but as I looked at the cars to my right and left, I seemed off. So, I backed up, then pulled back into the space in line with the two other cars. Satisfied, I got out only to realize that the cars on both sides of me had parked crooked! I had pulled in straight, but I had allowed what I saw around me cause me to doubt that I was where I should be. So... I was thinking that there are probably a lot of times that this happens in my spiritual life. What I mean is, I'm going along doing what I believe God wants me to do and I'm right between the lines of His perfect will for me. But then, I look to the person on my right and the person on my left. Where they are is not where I am, and that makes me feel uneasy. So, I readjust until I'm more aligned with the majority. The only problem is, that's not God's will for me. I don't want that! More than anything, I don't want to 'cross the line' of his perfect will.. not ever.

...just thinkin' deeply in the pharmacy parking lot.