Blog Updates

Leah and Krista wanted me to let everyone know that they have finally added a couple of posts to their blogs, so check them out. (Links on the right)

Our Old Hideaway

After reading Patrick's blog and seeing his "new hideaway" I thought I'd post some photos of our old hideaway, which used to be just like Patrick's new one.

But we neglected to secure ours to the deck, and a couple of months ago, heavy winds literally picked it up and blew it onto our roof in the middle of the night, making a horrible sound that would have scared me to death if I hadn't been expecting it. But I had been expecting it since the day we put it up. We kept saying we were going to secure it, but just never did it. Lesson learned!

We have a new gazebo now, and it is secured to the deck! We have already used it a couple of times. It's so nice not to have a bunch of flies flying around the food!

Only in My Dreams

The hallway is long and dark. My footsteps echo as I walk to the end and turn right. For some reason that somehow makes sense, though I can’t remember why, there are two guards outside her door. The tall one nods almost imperceptibly at me as I turn the corner. I’m just going to walk by today, too exhausted to face the pain. She’s been in a coma for several days. She’s in her last hours now. The end is near; I feel it in my heart, and the ache is unbearable.


But as I am passing her room, I hear my name.


“Deb!”


Though the voice is weak and raspy, I know instantly that it’s hers, and I am at her bedside in a heartbeat. She is sitting straight up—her thin, frail arms outstretched. Eyes that were once grey-blue are now a light, pale blue, but unseeing and ethereal. She knows I’m there by her side, and she smiles. For a fleeting moment, hope rises up within me. Could this be the miracle we have all been desperately praying for?


“I knew you’d come to say goodbye.”


My heart sinks with the realization that the miracle wasn’t going to come.

“I can’t,” I say, desperately trying to hold back the tears so she won’t know.

“It’s almost time. I don't want to leave without saying goodbye.”

Panic rises up inside me. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“We’ll be together again soon. But Dad is waiting for me now.”

Her voice is getting weaker now. I can barely make out what she’s saying. I know she’s leaving. It’s very, very close now.


An overwhelming sadness washes over me. . .

The crushing feeling stays with me as I wake up. She’s really gone.

And I miss her terribly.

Junior Olympics 2008

A couple of weeks ago, the girls competed in the Junior Olympics, which was held at my alma mater, El Capitan High School. The girls each competed in two events. Here are a few photos from the day. Boy, was this a LONG morning in the HOT, HOT sun. (Yes, I still like San Diego, I just don't like to sit in the sun on metal bleachers for 5 hours in 98-degree weather.) But the girls enjoyed it--especially Krista.

Opening Ceremonies (Krista's school is in yellow)

Closer shot of Krista's group

Leah's group

Leah in the 7th grade girls long jump

And here's the video of a different jump (she didn't place in this event)

Krista winning her 4th grade girls preliminary 100-meter dash

I don't know why Gene didn't move the camera to get the end of the race, but she actually did win this one though the girl in the green almost overtook her at the end.

She placed 5th in the final 100-meter dash

Krista in the 400-meter relay

She quickly overtook the girls in front of her

Krista's relay team won 1st place!

Leah placed 4th in the 7th grade girls 400 meter run

(She's going through that "I'm too cool to smile" phase)

TGIF: Life

This morning I'm feeling . . .

melancholy

pensive

reflective

. . . thankful.

My friend and former coworker at the Rock Church just gave birth (on Mother's Day) to her long-awaited baby girl. They have known for some time that the baby had some problems, but they didn't know what the extent of the problems would be. They are learning the extent now. What should be a joyful time for her and her husband is now filled with tests, consultations with specialists, and discouraging news. It's likely that their baby has Cerebral Palsy. She may also have kidney problems. The list of potential problems is long. They are struggling to find joy in this difficult time. My heart is hurting for them.

But V and D are amazing people, and I know that they are the perfect parents for their "Sweet Pea." And, although I can't imagine the pain that comes with having a special needs child, I think there are also special joys that come with it that the rest of us will never experience. I imagine that, while the lows are probably lower than our lows, the highs are probably much higher than ours, too. Nothing is taken for granted.

With my daughter's third baby due in September, this has hit home with me. It's something I really never thought about when I was pregnant. I just took my babies' health for granted, never giving it a second thought. Maybe it was because I was so young, and I didn't think about the possibility of having a child with special needs. It just never entered my mind.

So, today I'm thankful for my four healthy children.

And I'm thankful for V's special baby girl.

Leah and Me

Just a photo of Leah and me taken a few weeks ago before church. Krista didn't want in the picture, so it was just the two of us. Look how tall she is now! She's exactly 5 feet tall.

I'm not photogenic AT ALL, so I was pretty pleased that I look somewhat decent here.

That's all I have to say about that.

Mother's Day 2008

We had a really nice Mother's Day yesterday. We went to church in the morning, and then Ryan took the whole family out for lunch at Black Angus. He even brought me flowers! The girls each made cards for me, and Krista gave me a butterfly windchime, and Leah is in the process of making some coupons for me.

Gene had roses delivered, and also gave me a card.

After lunch, we played a game of Guesstures. It was Ryan and me against Gene and the girls. We totally slaughtered them! But, of course, it's not about who wins or loses, it's just fun to play. . . But we totally WON!

Hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day, too--especially my mom!

Here are a few photos of our day.

My Beautiful Mother's Day Balloon from Ryan

Bristow & Bennett

OK, as suggested by Rye, here's a photo of our two Jack Russell Terriers. Bristow is on the left and Bennett, the puppy, on the right. Bennett is about 10 1/2 months old, and Bristow is about 2 1/2 years old. Bennett is the most active of all three of our dogs, but for some reason, she is a little roly poly. She reminds us so much of Babe, the pig. We can almost hear her thinking "Baa Ram Ewe!" sometimes. So funny.

Cautiously Optimistic

Well, it's been exactly a week since we took Bristow to the vet, apparently on the brink of death. I truly can't describe the horrible feeling I had in the pit of my stomach at the thought of losing her.

But we painstakingly nursed her through the week, and today she is running around and jumping like her old self. The only evidence that she was sick is her thin, bony body that is in sharp contrast to Bennett's roly poly self--especially now.

So, while we don't feel completely out of the woods (someone threw up last night, but we don't know which one), and we still don't know what the problem is/was, we are indeed cautiously optimistic.

Here's a photo of Bristow as a puppy, just for the heck of it. : )

Bristow Angelina Andrews

My Sick Puppy

She's usually so lively and perky--always jumping and running. But Bristow had not been herself for a few days. She had been throwing up, and was extremely lethargic and pitiful. It was so sad. We figured it was just a little illness, and that she would be better in a couple of days. But after three days of throwing up and getting thinner and thinner, we had to break down and take her to the vet. The last time we took her to the vet it cost $265. She had gotten into some rat poisoning and had to have her stomach pumped and stay overnight. We really hoped it wasn't going to cost that much this time.

Imagine our SHOCK when they told us they had to keep her for a few days, take X-rays, do some blood work, give her some IV fluids, and monitor her progress, and that it would cost approximately $1400! Now, we love Bristow very much, but that was just out of the question. We told them that there was just no way we could do that, and asked what could be done for under $300 (even that was really going to be difficult to come up with). The guy left the room and came back with some "wonderful news." It was possible that we would only have to spend $1200 and we would only have to put half down and could finance the rest. - What?????

Needless to say, we had to tell them we couldn't do that either. So, we were left with a very difficult decision. Take her home and hope that she would recover from whatever this problem is or go even further into debt to try to find out what the problem was. The vet said that she thought it could be her pancreas, which of course didn't sound good. After a lot of discussion, we decided to let them inject fluid under her skin and take some X-rays to see if there was an obvious obstruction causing the problem. At least we would know something.

The X-rays were inconclusive, showing some gas bubbles, but no obvious obstruction. Somewhat reassuring. They injected fluid under her skin and we took her little limp self home. The vet told us to give her Pedialyte and chicken and rice and that if she wasn't better in a couple of days, we would need to talk about euthanasia. Oh my gosh! I had no idea that it was so serious! Poor Bristow. Anyway, it ended up costing us a little over $200. Here are a couple of photos showing the big lump on her side where the fluid was injected.

We have been giving her Pedialyte with a syringe and feeding her little bits of chicken and a food supplement, and she seems to be slowly getting better. But she did throw up again this morning, which is not good.

And . . . now Bennett is throwing up! Argghhhhh!

So, that's what we've been dealing with here. We love our dogs so much, so this has been an extremely difficult week. Hopefully my next post will have some good news. For now, I'm just going to get back to my sick puppies. Oh yeah, and work.