Category Archives: The Ins and Outs of Us

the little people are coming

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are coming to stay, that is. We have some friends that had to be out of town somewhat unexpectedly this weekend and their two older kids are staying with us tomorrow and Tuesday (1st grade and 4th I believe). Sadly, this is the first time we’ve had company since we’ve bought this house, other than those that have come to stay to work on the house that is. I write sadly because the house is just now safe really for kids to be around as far as wires not hanging around and holes not being around for kids to fall in, etc. There are toilets that work, showers that work~ya know the basic things in life.

We aren’t accustomed to little people. We are used to animals. The type that when we get tired of them we can lock them in the back yard. The type we only have to feed twice per day and even then it is the same thing every time. My sister already asked, “what’re you going to feed them..they need to eat, you know”. We may not have had little people over for several years but let me tell you what, we aren’t that rusty.

It will be 36 hours of sugar, pizza, video games, nail-painting and playing, I tell ya. Adam is taking off early to pick them up from school both days and screw figuring out what to feed them ’cause we’re going out! All kids like pizza we figure…burgers too for night two. We have a new soda fountain in town that Adam happens to love. Lucky for him he’ll have little people to accompany him for an after school snack.

So, as we’re cleaning last night…cleaning places we haven’t cleaned yet in preparation for the little people I told Adam, “phew, I’m glad I got all that dog fur up, now I won’t worry about their poor little lungs”. Adam said, “that’s why we’re cleaning? I thought we’re cleaning so they wouldn’t tell their parents how messy we live.”. Silly, Adam.

For my mom

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Delphia

You’ve read many times about me picking on ol’ Philly, my mother’s more well-endowed kitty. Here’s her other one. Yesterday my mom said she just wants to come home. I can tell she is tired and is ready to come home but keeps plugging forward taking care of Pepe. So, here is Miss Delphia for you Mom.

On another kind of funny note (more sad I guess). Our furnace went out this week. It’s new so still under warranty, thank goodness. We have a furnace and a/c unit for each level of the house so the upstairs one was fine just the main level was a little chilly shall I say. About 50 degrees actually. Anyway, we don’t let any of the cats upstairs. All I could think about yesterday was how cold poor Philly must have been. Here he used to be with all of this thick fur and we took him and shaved him bald. At least he had his boots on I guess.

I’m so proud

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…of my Husband, that is.

Besides the fact that he is the best, is the most supportive man ever and takes care of me. He wraps his arms around me (both literally and figuratively) at all times.

BUT on to the good stuff. He tells me last night as we are eating supper that he was one of three guys nominated for employee of the month. I’m all, “that’s soooo cool!!!”. Then he tells me there are two other guys. My first thought is how tough is the competition? I mean, it’s game time, right? Ha ha. He says, it’s pretty tough because they are nice guys and have been working there for a long time and he has only been for four months (which I gave him a standing ovation right then and there because heck, being nominated after that short period of time he deserves it!!!). My next thought, of course is, well…what does he get. I mean, what if it is an all expense paid trip to Hawaii (I can dream, can’t I?). In reality, though it is a parking space for a month and an all expense paid gift card to Wal-mart ($25). Wowsa, we’ll take what we can get! Put your game face on, babe…I know you can do it!!!

Onto the next fabulous thing Adam did this week (he’s so good). His work has this wellness program and a couple of weeks ago he had to complete this scorecard dealy. It included the basics like do you wear your seat belt, do you smoke, when was the last time you went to the dentist, had your blood sugar checked, had your cholesterol checked, etc. Being married to the freak that I am he is current on all of that. For some odd reason all of his blood work is pathetically normal. He called me to find out what his levels were and I told him to just put on there that his doctor said just that…”pathetically normal” (which after seeing his scorecard in person last night I see now that he literally put that).

So…he gets his score back yesterday and only got 31 out of 50. I’m all, babe…that isn’t so good. What’s up with that? What did you fail at? What should we do~I mean do they think you are dying or something? Geesh. He says just wait until you read the survey and then you’ll understand. Here is where he lost points, people (and NO, I am not kidding):

  • If you are male and 50 or older have you had your prostate checked (ahhhh, age 33 right here)
  • If you are 50 or older have you had your colon checked (ditto)
  • If you are female have you had a mammogram (he does have boobies but, well… let’s just leave it at that)
  • If you are female have you had a pap smear (his response to this is I don’t have one of those)
  • Do you carry our health insurance (he has mine as it is better)
  • Did you participate in one of our wellness activities in the past year (ugh…they haven’t had one????)

..and the legitimate ones that I have dug my whip out and have started him working on this morning all ready (can’t you hear his sweating in the background?!)

  • Did you get CPR trained in the last 24 months (his expired in 2007, darnit to heck!!)
  • Do you drink less than 3 caffeinated beverages (I thought he was only doing 2 (I write that like he is “doing” drugs, geesh)…he was sneakin’ them past me to stay awake!!!
  • Do you receive a minimum of two hours per week of exclusive exercise
  • Have you deliberately lost 5% of your weight in the past 12 months
  • Is your BMI greater than 27

So, he needs to become a woman (ugh, that would be a big N-O), cut back on the caffeine and exercise. The good news is he gets and extra $5 each week for his 31 points. But if he was a woman he would probably get $15 (drats). They say they are working on getting a better questionnaire.

I told him, good job, babe…you are such a good boy. His response was….”I’m just a boy stuck in a fat man’s body”.

Holy Buckets!!!

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I didn’t know what else to title this post. I thought about holy cow or maybe, holy heck but settled on holy buckets. I suppose I should just put PRAISE GOD! Because, that is what I mean.

As of my last post about Haiti we thought three things: first, Pastor Corvil and his family were found and alive yesterday! Yay! They are a-ok! I asked Adam’s mom if there is anything left to their home and she said she didn’t know because he just kept talking about how excited he was to just be alive. No kiddin’.

Second, Dr. George and his wife: We thought we had probably lost them. No sirree bob. Not under God’s watch, I guess! Found out this morning that they made it through. He is injured but will be ok in the long run!!!!

Finally (and I save the best for last!): The orphanage. I spoke with Adam’s mom tonite and would you know that every last one of those kids are well and are accounted for?! Not joking. The missionary from Florida that Michael works with for the orphanage is a smart smart man. Before Michael was even involved with the orphanage when this gentleman built the orphanage he built it more like an American building than a Haitian building; therefore, much more sturdy so it handled the earthquake better and protected the kids.

I hung up the phone from my mom-in-law and wept (while driving to Lincoln, mind you). I then called to share this amazing news with my mom, my sister and my partner from the clinic. How incredible is it that every person from this ministry and every child is alive and well? I have goose bumps just thinking about the pure awesomeness of this! How amazing is prayer? They still need us. All of us. Our thoughts and prayers. They are alive which is the most important thing but have little else but that is where the ministry can carry on.

I had my picture taken for my passport tonite and now I know why the airport security screeners have a hard time watching out for terrorists. It looks like a mug shot. You can’t smile, the coloring is horrible. Heck, I look like a terrorist. The Medical Reserve Corps has been sending out regular emails now with requests for medical personnel that have certain experience to go to Haiti so Adam and I decided to go ahead and get my passport expedited so that I have it if I need it~it’ll take about 10 days I guess. If I don’t go now I know I will in the future. There will be a need for years to come.

When I got home I came across this video. This is a friend that I grew up with..he wrote this song and did the entire video, etc. It is basically a worship song and is perfect for how I feel right now.

Update on Haiti

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I have so much jumbled in my mind right now that I want to say so I apologize if this seems a bit muddled. This is the first time I have been able to sit down to write an update.

Our hearts break. I am sure yours is too. Aren’t the pictures gut-wrenching? Bull-dozing bodies into dump trucks to mass graves?! I cannot imagine. We have a praise report though so I’ll start with that.

Adam’s Dad heard from the pastors on late Friday~Yay!!! Six of the seven are all accounted for (including their families). Pastor Corvil and his family actually lived in downtown Port-au-Prince and no one has been able to locate him so we fear they have perished. All of the other pastors and families are healthy-their homes are gone but they are alive! Again…Yay!

The orphanage….another story. Nothing has been heard.The gentleman from Florida that Adam’s Dad works with for the orphanage has not heard anything either. We have been told that where it was is essentially “gone”. We fear the children most likely perished but we will still pray.

Another sadness….I have been trying to get to Haiti with Michael for two years now to do medical care. The hospital here in Tecumseh has been wonderful and gives me all of their supplies when they expire (can you believe that tongue blades expire?!) and I collect all of the drug samples as they expire. Michael had made a contact with an American doctor and his wife who work at a hospital in Port-au-Prince and all of my supplies I collect go to them. I am ashamed to even type that I have been trying to get to Haiti for two years and haven’t made it…what is up with that?! Why has it taken two years? One thing after another. Time….essentially. The time I had allotted the first year to go to Haiti ended up being used for taking care of my Dad when he became ill and last year ditto with my Nana. The point is, I never made it. I had hoped to go and meet this Doctor. Maybe help someone. But you see, I didn’t and I am crying right now because no one can find he and his wife. They were in the main hospital. It was flattened. They are probably gone. I guess that is what you call a missed opportunity.

If you do not know it I am on the Medical Reserve Corps, a part of FEMA. FEMA was created for disasters on our soil, ie: 9/11, Katrina, etc. I got an email from my director on Wednesday last week saying not to expect any deployment requests, etc from the MRC because the US has different organizations better equipped to deal with international disasters. Surprising everyone, a mere 48 hours later, four FEMA units were deployed to Haiti. An unprecedented move displaying the pure magnitude of the situation; that they are dipping into our homeland reserve already.

Adam’s Dad is already saying he wants/needs to get to Haiti as soon as it is safe~thinking maybe March. I, however cannot imagine that the airspace will be open to commercial flights by then. If it is though Adam and I already talked tonite about our concerns. He is an insulin dependent diabetic. It doesn’t matter how much insulin we send with him if a looter steals his meds. Adam always says, though “if my Dad were to die in Haiti, at least I know he died doing what he loved”.

Money. The pastors need some money. It is amazing that even through all of this there is some store-like areas still up and going around Port-au-Prince and out in surrounding cities but of course, the prices have inflated crazily. The aid is there that we are all reading about but they aren’t getting it dispersed the best. They are trying but the infrastructure in Haiti sucked (lets be honest, folks) before the earthquake and so now there are even fewer roads that can be traversed by vehicles to get water, food, medicine to these people. Michael’s mission has always sent their money via western union as you can’t mail anything safely to Haiti as the government is likely to steal it. But, there is no way to western union into the entire country right now and they do need money. A couple of the pastors left tonite to drive to the Dominican Republic, a long drive in a normal environment to pick up some money that Adam and I sent via western union. They will get it tomorrow we hope and will be able to get water and food (fuel too) for their families and communities.

Pray. Pray for their safety as they are commuting to the Dominican Republic. Pray that they are safe from looters as that is really picking up now. Pray for their health, that they do not catch anything from the water as it is now contaminated. Pray for the aid workers to be strong. God be with them. I cannot even begin to imagine what they must be going through. The sights, the smells, the sounds…the agony.

Adam and his mom got a brief update posted onto their website tonite. They have no means of getting pictures. The pastors communicate with Michael with cell phones that they can purchase a few minutes at a time for. http://www.opendoormissions.com/

On a lighter note, Adam and I went to Kearney this weekend to see my sister and her family and have some funny things to tell. Great trip as always.

Love & blessings. XOXO