I have returned

Wow, so far I'm not too into 2009.  The year started out with a fire at my office it has progressed with political developments which I personally classify as nightmarish, and two very close friends of mine have passed away very close to each other.  Needless to say I haven't been much up to blogging of late.  Still though, happiness  to be had.  Below is one of my sources of joy.  Kayleigh came to the farm with me last saturday and after work, we had the opportunity to take a few pictures.  Here are some.

 

Okay, now I feel a little better.

Tom

For better and worse

Dawn is both a little better and a little worse. The treatment increases in dosage every couple of days. Yesterday was her first increase and it nocked her a little further into woozyville and added a bit more to the nausea with which she's been dealing since beginning these treatments. As for the "better," she mentioned this morning that the pain seems to have lessened a little. We're not doing backflips yet, but our prayer is that the easing of the pain will continue through the coming days.



The view from the waiting room holds a nice angle of Billy Penn as the early Sun pushes its light over the tall buildings. This picture is of Mr. Penn's statue, but I didn't take it and the angle isn't from the waiting room window. Still, you get the idea.

Tom

Coupon

We'd like to extend our apology to everyone who may or may not have stopped by this blog over the past couple of weeks. You see, things here have been very busy. We've had new school issues and exciting church happenings as well as a cranberry harvest to get ready for. We are sorry that the tech resources have been diverted to other functions. Please bare with us as we get our heads above water again. I may not be able to blog often in the coming weeks, but I'll try to put pictures of cranberries and such on here so as to make amends.

Thanks,
Blog Management

Please accept this coupon as a token of our appreciation.

Wednesday Worship

There is an apparent trend among American Churches wherein many congregations have ceased holding a mid-week service and a popular argument to accompany the move. Firmly ensconced on one side of the argument are those who adamantly proclaim the familiar mantra from Hebrews 10:25 which states, "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." A wonderful verse and an effective argument for getting together.

Others however are equally cemented within their view that the scriptures defining New Testament worship never call us to a specific mid-week service. There's is also a securely defensible position. Searching the New Testament will provide, to my knowledge, a gaping hole where the command to meet on a specific mid-week day should be.

In view of this, how do we handle Wednesday nights? Should we worry about the lag in attendance and view it as a less than favorable sign of the spiritual maturity of the absent congregants? Should we approach them concerned, pray for and with them and encourage them to more frequent attendance? Should we pull out the Hebrews 10:25 mantra and scold them for their shortcoming? Or should we back off, live and let live? As the trend toward skipping this particular service begins to take hold within a congregation and fewer and fewer come, is the only alternative to cancel the service?

I have further views on this, but I thought I'd toss it out there for your consideration. I've enjoyed reading a posting on this from Patrick Mead's blog and I'll bring up a couple of things he said in further postings.

Tom

I'm Back

We've returned from a wonderful (if not a bit too rainy) vacation camping in Massachusetts. What fun we had. From campfires and Smores to swimming in the lake, we had so much fun. The best part about being home is the dryness and comfort of our own wonderful beds. I'll post more details later, for now please accept these pictorial expressions of some of the fun we had.

First, Christian in his element. He loves the water!

Second, Audrey flying high on the trampoline at an Alpine Slide resort.

Thirdly, Kayleigh enjoying a moment in the water with a noodle.


More to come... Tom

Camping again

In one week the family and I will once again head North for a camping destination. This picture is of me and Kayleigh at the campground last year. Audrey was sitting in the grass just beyond Kayleigh, so it was a good time for Daddy and his girls. There were many other pictures I could put on here, but since I haven't printed them for Dawn to scrap book yet I think it best that I not put many more on here for public consumption. We are looking forward to a great time of camping with family and friends. Everyone attending are "Church Folk" so the week does take on a happy spiritual demeanor.

Also I'm in Blueberry Season now, so I haven't had much time for blogging. Thanks for your perseverance.

Tom

Picnic on Friday, zoo on Saturday

The kids at the zoo.

Butterfly faces, what fun! These lasted until the girls wanted to play with Christian and his friend Justin in the sprinkler at home, then the butterflies were gone.

Fourth of July picnic at the house. Good food, good friends, good fellowship, a pool for the kids and most of all, no rain. What a wonderful day we had to spend with our church family.

Take a kid fishing day

So there we were, all piled out of a bus to a certain spot I know of, with our children in tow and fishing gear ready for a wonderful day of fishing. In the picture below you'll see us in the distance. I'm in the blue shirt, Christian (my boy) is to my right (your left) and Audrey and Kayleigh are beside me. About twenty-five people were involved in one way or another.


It was a very hot day and there far more people involved than there were fish. Although I have to put on my "proud daddy" hat for just a second because the two fish that did get caught were caught by my 5 year old little princess Audrey. Yay for her!

We went back to the church building and had a wonderful lunch (mostly thanks to John and Debbie who cooked and prepared the meat and some desserts, Rene who prepared enough potato salad and beans to feed a small army {other things were brought but I don't know to whom I should credit), and Cindy and Dawn who coordinated and orchestrated).

Thank you Lord for friends, for our children, and for a wonderful day (oh, and for Audrey's fish).

Tom

After Three Days

Three days after his injury, here's Christian playing in his first band concert. Unfortunately we also had a sick Kayleigh and so one of us had to stay home. Since Dawn had been on sick little girl duty all day, I took a turn and stayed with her thereby missing the show. Dawn took a video camera and recorded it so I have it. They did well. If you look closely, you can see some of his battle wounds. Thanks for all the prayers and concern. As I've said, we are very blessed.

Tom

On the way to church ...

I pulled up to the curb as I always do when we are late. I opened the automatic sliding door on the van and Christian was the first one out. In the blink of an eye he jumped to the sidewalk, jumped up and grabbed the stone blocks that top the wall to the right of the steps. That fast, two stone blocks fell from the wall and one of them hit him on the head and face as it fell to the sidewalk. He stood there for a moment thinking he was in trouble and calmly stated "Well, that never happened before." That is when we first saw the blood. A significant gash had been cut into his forehead at his hairline. Dawn was calm, I got somewhat panicky. We got him to the ER where he had 9 stitches in his forehead which are enhanced by some cuts and scrapes down his nose lip and chin. He's doing a little better now but he will be feeling this for some time. We stayed home tonight and hung out. We also prayed and hugged a lot.

Tom

Been working hard

Wow, what happened. I've been so busy with everything that I haven't had a spare moment to blog. Sorry. I'll try to do better. My special thanks to Jel for her help on a project I'm working on. Her photography is excellent. She let me use one of her shots for a website I'm working on. It isn't completed yet, but you can see Jel's hawk picture on the home page at www.blueskyrep.com. Thanks again Jel.

Also thanks to everyone who has been praying for Dawn. She and I both appreciate it very much.

Tom

RSD

Many of you have been praying for my wife Dawn for a while. I so appreciate your concern for her, but I probably haven't been very good at explaining what's going on. Dawn has RSD. It started after she had surgery this past November to remove a cartilage tumor in her left ring finger. Her cartilage tumor came because a bit of cartilage in that finger never turned to bone. The tumor was benign and they took a small bit of bone from her wrist and put it where the bone in her finger should have been. Dawn should have been better within weeks, but the pain never went away. It actually got worse and moved up her arm and across her shoulders. After going back to the doctors a many times we found out that she was exhibiting all the signs of RSD (also knows as CRPS or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome). I’ve included some descriptions below of RSD. You can see this and more at http://www.rsds.org/index2.html. Not too many people are aware of RSD. We sure weren't. I'm wearing a small orange RSD Awareness wrist band on my left hand. I hate to have things on my wrist, but if Dawn is going through this constant pain in her left hand and arm, the very least I can do is have this supportive minor annoyance on mine.

Thanks for your concern and your prayers.
Tom

RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) is a chronic neurological syndrome characterized by:
* severe burning pain
* pathological changes in bone and skin
* excessive sweating
* tissue swelling
* extreme sensitivity to touch
There are Two Types of CRPS - Type I and Type II
* CRPS Type I (also referred to as RSD) - cases in which the nerve injury cannot be immediately identified
* CRPS Type II (also referred to as Causalgia) - cases in which a distinct "major" nerve injury has occurred
* CRPS is best described in terms of an injury to a nerve or soft tissue (e.g. broken bone) that does not follow the normal healing path
* CRPS development does not appear to depend on the magnitude of the injury. The sympathetic nervous system seems to assume an abnormal function after an injury.
* Since there is no single laboratory test to diagnose CRPS, the physician must assess and document both subjective complaints (medical history) and, if present, objective findings (physical examination).
Criteria for Diagnosing

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I (RSD)
* The presence of an initiating noxious event, or a cause of immobilization
* Continuing pain, allodynia, or hyperalgesia with which the pain is disproportionate to any inciting event
* Evidence at some time of edema, changes in skin blood flow (skin color changes, skin temperature changes more than 1.1°C difference from the homologous body part), or abnormal sudomotor activity in the region of the pain
* This diagnosis is excluded by the existence of conditions that would otherwise account for the degree of pain and dysfunction
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type II (Causalgia)
* The presence of continuing pain, allodynia, or hyperalgesia after a nerve injury, not necessarily limited to the distribution of the injured nerve
* Evidence at some time of edema, changes in skin blood flow (skin color changes, skin temperature changes more than 1.1°C difference from the homologous body part), or abnormal sudomotor activity in the region of pain
This diagnosis is excluded by the existence of conditions that would otherwise account for the degree of pain and dysfunction.

Update on Dawn

I've been a little busy the past couple of days. Dawn is doing alright. She's still in a lot of pain but we have some hope that this operation has a good chance of helping her with her RSD. Some of the medicine that they had given her for the RSD hadn't worked prior to this surgery, but is now giving her some relief. Please keep her in your prayers. If this doesn't work to fix the RSD she will have to undergo some significantly difficult procedures.

Thank you for keeping her in your prayers.

Tom

Operation, The Wacky Doctor Game

Dawn considering a test drive just before we bought our Honda Odyssey

Dawn made it through her second hand surgery. This one was to loosen her tendons and ligaments so that she could have use of her finger, but more importantly so that perhaps the RSD would be somewhat relieved. She has been in significant pain in her hand, up her arm and across her shoulders. She is in a lot of pain at the moment, but we are hoping that as her finger re-heals that her pain receptacles in her brain will reset and she won't feel the constant pain she was in before. Please keep her in your prayers.

Thanks,

Tom