Camping

Have you ever packed a family of four to go camping?  I know that some of you have.  For those of you who haven't, let me enlighten you a bit.  I'm a spreadsheet girl.  Some of you know that about me.  I take a spreadsheet to the grocery store with everything I need divided in columns according to grocery department.  Really, I do.  I recently took a strengths test (Get Strengthsfinder 2.0) and discovered that this is just one way that I am using my geek strengths to organize information(they didn't call them geek strengths, but sometimes you just have to face the facts).  I'm OK with that. 

Anyway, the last time we went camping, I filled a few sheets of notebook paper with a sloppy list of all the things that we needed to take on our trip.  This time, I decided to do it on a spreadsheet since we take the same stuff, for the most part, each time.  Included on my spreadsheet are columns for supplies, food, and one for each of the four of us that include clothing and personal items.  How many items do you suppose a family of four needs to go camping?  Now keep in mind that other than clothing and personal items, most of these items would be needed regardless of the size of the family going camping.  Also keep in mind that we are going tent camping, so we can't really buy stuff and leave it in a camper like some folks do.  So how many items are you guessing we need?

221.  That's how many items are on my packing list, and I've probably forgotten something.  So why am I sitting here blogging?  Right.  I better get upstairs and get packing!  It seems like I have a lot to pack and organize, not to mention that since Ava's tummy was bugging her this afternoon, I didn't get the groceries that we need for the weekend yet.  Busy, busy, busy!  So much to do, so little time!

Pandora Radio

It could be that I'm totally behind on this one, but I knew nothing about this until a week or two ago(Thanks Roo for sharing it with me).  Pandora.com is a site that allows you to create your own radio stations for FREE that you can listen to any time you are at or near your computer.  How great is that?  You have to register and create a log-in ID, and that's it.  Then you choose the music that you want on each of your stations.  I have created stations that feature contemporary Christian, worship, country, classical and 80s tunes so far.  Whatever I'm in the mood for that day, I just click on it, and I'm good to go.  This is especially good for me because my favorite Christian radio station doesn't come in very well in my house.  I'm not sure if the plethora of near-by radio towers is blocking the River's radio waves or what(we got rid of our land-line phone a couple years ago because the radio towers messed with it so much that we couldn't hold a decent conversation anyway), but it comes in everywhere you go in central Ohio except for my house, my drive-way included!  Anyway, check out pandora.com!  I think you'll love it!

Photos

I didn't have time to get pictures posted yesterday when I blogged about the weekend, but here they are for you to check out today. 

PHOTO LINK

Rare Blessings

It is an amazing blessing to find a friend whose heart resonates with your own.  It is an even more amazing blessing if you are given more than one friend with whom your heart resonates.  My husband and I have been blessed in such a way.  We know that we have, and we know that our blessing is unique and rare.  Those of you who are equally blessed know what I'm talking about.  You know who your closest friends are.  They are the people who are cooler than you who picked you to hang out with.  The people who wanted to know more about you way back when and who still wanted to hang out with you after they found out that you pick toe jam out of your toenails at the dinner table (they don't want to eat dinner at your house, but they still want to hang out).  Those kind of people are a rare find.

We spent the last few days hanging out with those kind of people, friends who we have grown to love and to think of as family.  We talked, played games (I lost), went to the zoo, relaxed, juggled four children who got very, very exhausted by the end of the weekend, and just spent time being together.  We had no specific agenda on Thursday, their first day here, and it was a perfect day.  On Friday, the kids splashed around in the pool and ran around the back yard all day while Steve and Amy headed to Cedar Point to ride roller coasters reserved for the bravest amongst us.  Yesterday, we went to the zoo.  It was a scorcher of a day, but we still had a great time.  Our kids enjoyed showing their friends the zoo, and we managed to see most of it in the 8 hours that we spent there.  We ended the weekend together with church and lunch together before they headed home to New York. 

Sigh.  I miss New York.  I love where we are right now, but I still miss New York.  Why?  Because the Raus aren't the only friends that are close to us that we miss from there.  I guess it isn't the place that we miss as much as the people, though that part of New York is gorgeous.  We have a great circle of friends there, a circle of friends that is irreplaceable.  On the rare occasion when we actually get to see some of them, it reminds me of how great it was to be living in that place where so many people supported us, prayed for us, and lived life at our side.  What so many churches are trying to achieve with their small group ministries we achieved to a depth that we have been unable to replicate ever since, and I'm not sure I would want to.  We have great friends, and, because of the nearly endless possibilities given to us through the internet, we are able to continue to live life with these incredible people. For that, I am truly thankful, and for this very special few days with the Raus, I am also thankful.  The internet does not compare to actually seeing someone in person, obviously, so this visit was truly outstanding for us.

To those of you who are living in New York or in other places far from here, we would very much enjoy hanging out with you too.  You are welcome here anytime.  Give us a call or drop us an e-mail.  We'd love to see you.  You are among our list of blessings.

From Stacy

This came from Stacy this afternoon, and I wanted to share it with you.  It doesn't have much new information, but it gives you her perspective on things and shows you how blessed they are feeling through all of this!  Thank you so much for praying for this family.  If anything else comes up, then I will definitely post an update here again.  Here is what Stacy wrote:

Our God is so good!

We are praising Him from the roof tops.  Her esophogus looked perfect, as did her stomach. The problem was that her fundoplication had pulled her esophogus so tight that it was practically closed at it's base. So...the surgeon put a series of balloons down there to open it up.  We will be kept her for another 24 hours to make sure the surgery was successful, and if her esophogus doesn't close then we can go home tomorrow!  She will be on a special diet for the next week, slowly building her back up to chewing in seven days (we hope!). 

Please pray that her esophogus doesn't close in during this week.  Her doctor said that this was really just buying us time until he had to do more invasive surgery to undo her fundoplication - but couldn't tell us how much time.  We are just thrilled that for the time being, we have had success.

She is sitting here in front of me, playing with some new toys that her Uncle Brian sent, and is talking a mile a minute. She is thrilled that her surgery is done, and that we are pretty sure we'll be reuniting with her brothers tomorrow (who she misses terribly).

Thanks so much for your prayers.

I'm off to play "babies" with her, and watch Aladdin.

Love,

Stacy