A cute little blessing

This was something that really perked my day up! Look how his left foot is resting up on the bench...lol.

 

 

I bought this cute little picnic bench corn cob holder at the local farm supply store, it was a Father's Day gift for hubby.

 

 

Look at this guy...lol. He has Dunlap's Disease, his belly has done lapped over his belt...lol.

 

Hope this blessed your day as much as it has mine.

 

Mayo Clinic Day #5

Not much to report, the child went on some tours around the clinic again, we relaxed and enjoyed our time. Doctor told me to go home tomorrow after a final blood test so that we did not have to spend any more $ on hotel bills. He told me that he would call me next week and let me know how it all goes.

I would love to come back to visit Mayo and go sightseeing. There are some really neat tours to go on. Everyone here that we have met has been so night. Even the 2 ladies that we met from our area that were here for treatment were nice.

Our son was blessed by meeting a number of families down at the pool and playing with the kids.

On the homeschooling front we kept seeing people carrying Sonlight bags and name tags on a lot of people. Our son noticed the name tags and read them, he was excited to see that there was a homeschool convention going on that weekend right there. LOL...We could have killed 2 birds with 1 stone had we know that earlier. lol.  Oh, well maybe next year.

So we are about to come to the end of the Mayo Clinic road.

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

Mayo Clinic Day 4

We finally felt settled in and had a routine going. I can find my way in the Subway alone (without my child as my guide!) and not get lost, know which set of elevators goes to the 18th floor and such.

Today was a pretty slow day, just had to get a blood test at 8am and 4pm, then collect urine in a jug for 24 hours. The child went on some nice tours of Mayo and a few other local buildings. He had a wonderful time and met a number of people from around the country and other parts of the world. You know how those unsocialized homeschoolers are! lol.

Enjoyed the pool and loved the skylights, relaxed and chatted on the phone with my best girl friends (Brenda, Lee, Sue & Val) under the stars.

Had a bit of a worry when it started sleeting and then snowing, but we lucked out and did not get all the snow that they got up North.

Steroids are finally kicking in and I'm feeling mighty fine!  We actually went jogging in the Subway around 10pm. We spent part of the evening at the library and walking through the mall. This place is like a self contained city.

Below is a picture of the Mayo Brothers that started Mayo Clinic, if you have a chance to read their story (we got it free from the library) it's really interesting. They also were the first to research Cortisol and that is what I am here for. YIPPE!!!  I am so thankful for the 2 doctors that told me to come here, if nothing else we have had a good time and met some very nice folks along the way. And I am blessed with doctors that took the time to get to know me and feel comfortable in telling me that they I needed to look else where for answers to my health issues.
Moe


This picture was on a post card. I could not find this statue or I would have had the child sit on their lap for photo op!

Christmas & Only Children part 2

In the coming days before Christmas you will see some posts on things that our family does to help in raising our only child to be a caring individual and ward off the evil selfish behavior that is so prevalent in our world today. This would fall under Character Training and is taught on a daily basis in our homeschool.

What are the hardest things to teach an only child?
*How not to be selfish
*How to be giving
*How to be thoughtful

What can you do to teach the above things?
*Teach them to think of others first
*Give them opportunities to serve others
*Teach them about taking care of others

How does our family teach these things?
*Make placemats for Meals On Wheels
*Play the piano & sing Christmas carols at a nursing home
*Buy Christmas gifts for needy children

Here are some pictures of the placemats that we made.

 

They are simple to make, we just used construction paper, markers and scrapbooking stickers. We decorated them up and we will delivery them to the local Meal On Wheels to put out as tray favors.

We have also done this at other times of the year and they are very receptive to it. You could also use  old Christmas cards by cutting out the pictures and gluing them on, scrapbook paper scraps, use punches, Cricut machine, die cuts, rubber stamps or have the kids draw a picture on them.

 

Check back in the coming days for more festive ideas for you and your only child :O)

Moe

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We had a wonderful time last night, I spent the evening scrapbooking with our son, he worked on his camp pictures and I worked on his 6th birthday pictures. Around 11:00pm we both decided that we were tired and so we cleaned up our area and headed off to the living room to snuggle up and read. Dad was putting in some overtime at work so he missed out on the fun. But I packed him up some goodies in his dinner, bacon wrapped green olives, deviled eggs and some special Munchies chips.

Today we vegged out, I did a bunch of cooking and our son fell asleep on the couch from 1pm-5pm lol.....so a quiet day all the way around. I spent some time going over things for the next semester, since I may be facing a major surgery, I needed to look some things over and plan ahead.

Heard an interesting thought on Christian radio this week, it talked about waiting on God and how we need to look at it as "a waiting room experience", thought that was pretty neat. So as I wait for my medical tests at the end of January, I can just sit back relax in the GREAT physicians waiting room, it really removed some stress for me.

As you take down your Christmas decorations and pack them away, don't pack away Jesus, keep Him out this year and enjoy fellowship with Him each and every day.

Thanks for spending 2011 with me as we learned about raising chickens, butchered chickens, became gluten free, waited on the Lord, learned more from the Lord, looked through the Word of God and home educated.

Moe

We lost a chicken :O(

I was resting in the recliner on Friday morning when I heard our son come screaming around the house. Now as a mother I know the difference between a 'I broke my arm' scream and a 'something terrible has happened' scream. Well it was the something terrible type of scream. And our son ran in the house crying saying "I can't find the head, I can't find her head." Well he had gone out to do his chores in the chicken house and found one of his hens missing a head and blood all over. It was very sad. I know it was hard when Sicky Chick was ill, but we knew she was ill and then she died, but to be enjoying your day and all the sudden walk in on that, it was very hard. We thought it was a mink or a weasel, but since the head is gone we are thinking more like a dog, since the other two would have just cut the neck and drank the blood. Now on our Christmas cards I will have to cross off 14 chickens and write in 13. Sort of entertaining in a weird way, but when you have been ill, sometimes the most interesting things are funny. lol. She will be missed though.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
Ecclesiastes 3:3-5
I think I have done all of these this past week. It's so wonderful that God's grace extends to all who will accept His free give of Salvation. Won't you accept this gift during the season of giving? Click here to find out more.

Merry Christmas

Sorry to be gone for so long.........

I ended up in the hospital for 5 days with acute diverticulitis. Had an incredible ambulance ride when they transferred me to a larger hospital. Those 3 guys has me laughing all the way there!
I am to be home resting and healing up so that they can do some testing. My dh's family has been wonderful!! His sister has really helped me out tons with doctors, nurses and hospitals, it can all be so confusing when you are very ill and out of your head. My church family has been bringing meals in, how wonderful is that!! It's been a real blessing to see our son step up to the plate while I as gone. He did his school work and chores, made meals for himself and dad, he also knew where all the 'hidden' meals are in the freezer......lol. I always have some sort of chili, soup or casserole in the freezer for a quick and easy meal.

Well my point for being on here today was to share something that I found from the Bible that has been a  real encouragement to me today, as I know that I am not the only person on the Internet feeling poorly today. I was pouting around this afternoon, had a very bad day reflux wise, as I am flared up from my throat all the way down to my colon  :P      Ended up on the phone with the nurse 2x and finally think I will make it through until tomorrow when they want to see me again. So here it is.

Weakness in the Bible: 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
It is a paradox of Christianity that true strength is found in weakness. Jesus himself embodied the world's idea of weakness, even to the point of submitting to an excruciating death. However, just as Christ's saving power worked through that "weakness," so God's power is often most visible in the midst of suffering, humility, and weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (KJV)
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Gospel.com

I do have a few prayer requests:
1. No more reactions to antibiotics (had 3 in the hospital)
2. Antibiotics will be effective since I am on so many stomach drugs
3. No more blood thinners, these T.E.D. Hose are driving me crazy!
4. DH can concentrate on learning his new job, lots of reading and testing along with the stress of me being ill.
5. Insurance issues won't occur, our current insurance ends 12/31 and the new job insurance is to kick in 1/1.
6. Doctors and Nurses will be competent and know what is going on with me. Since I was told that what I have has been missed for many years and severe damage has been done. I have actually prayed that the doctors would be woke in the night thinking of my case, I pray that they will be milling it over in their mind and looking at it from all sides. This new doctors even apologized for the suffering I have endured, that in itself was a real blessing to hear.

Everyone have a wonderful week!

What is for dinner?

Frugal Beef Stew-Donna Rollison

 To get the recipe click on the title. If you look around on the site, please be mindful if you need to be GF/CF only look under the username Writermom77. If you are not gluten free then you can look all over the site for yummy recipes from other homepages.

This was really good!!! I think that the GF Worcestershire Sauce really made it tasty!!

I had some surplus canned goods too I did tweak it a bit :O)

Our local grocery had canned veggies on sale last month for .44¢ and I stocked up, so I added

2 cans of corn

2 cans of greenbeans

1 can of sliced mushrooms

1 can of rinsed Cannelli Beans (not sure how to spell those? They are by Progresso)

4 cups GF broth

Three of us ate on it for lunch, my guys loved it so much that I decided to make more right then and there. So I added 4 more cups of GF broth, another tablespoon of GF Worcestershire sauce and another batch of the above veggies & beans. So I have a HUGE pot of yummy soup instead of a stew!

This ended up being a blessing since my Dh informed me that a family from church had a need, so I plan on taking a container of this soup over there with some store bought dinner rolls.