Quick "O' family update

Brian took Emma for her first doctors visit since the wreck. He said that everything went well. They got in and out of the car much more easily then when they came home from hospital. Emma had a list of things she was hoping to be able to start doing, but the doctor told her she had to rest and continue to heal. It is a good sign that she is wanting to try to do more, that means she is feeling better and getting stronger! Thanks for all your prayers for them. Emma is such a productive person, I know it is so very difficult for her to not be busy and to also have to depend on others to help her out. We pray for her daily and appreciate those of you who are joining us in doing so.

Also, our Kind. teacher's husband, who is a helicopter pilot, had a helicopter accident on Sunday. Remarkably, he is doing well also. God is so good! He has cuts and bruises and two broken ribs. He didn't even have to stay the night in the hospital! It is amazing! I wonder how many times a day we are kept by God's angels from being harmed. I probably don't even want to know! If you could keep Jim in your prayers along with Emma it would be greatly appreciated.

How Does One Improve Their Veins?

Okay, this morning, I went to the doctor for the regular blood draw to monitor blood sugar and check on my thyroid changes. First of all....we were on a two hour delay! That means I COULD have slept in. No, I had to get my blood drawn at 7:30 a.m. I made an early appointment so that I would not be too late for school. UGHHHH!!!!! Then, they had to stick me FIVE times to get my blood. I have these really deep veins that tend to roll. They usually don't even go for the arm. I usually get a baby needle in my hand or wrist. The wrist REALLY smarts! I drank TONS of water before going there to try and help the process. I sit down and the girl tells me that she just got a hard stick on the first try, so I am feeling pretty happy about this. Well, she tried once in my left hand. No luck. She fished and fished, but no chance of a drop of blood comming out. Next the second lady tried. She did once in the right hand and once in the left hand. Still no blood. The next lady comes in. She tries my wrist. She fishes around A LOT! No blood. Finally, they called someone in from the lab. This made me nervous. The last time a lab lady took my blood she squeezed 3 viles out of my finger drop by drop! This lady was better! She got it right away! She even got it from my arm! I wrote down her name! I told her I would be asking for her next time!

Does anyone know of anything I can do to help my little rolling pipes along for the next stick? I have tried lots of water, breathing to relax, they have used heat, squeezing a ball.....what next? I will take any advice anyone wants to offer!

Snow Ice Cream

Since my poor boy cannot go outside in the snow, I thought I would bring some snow inside to him. "Back in the day" my friend Peter and I used to make snow ice cream every time we had a big snow. Our recipe had raw eggs in it. Today you can't do that, so I went in search for a recipe where the eggs were cooked. I found this one and it was great! It brought back a flood of memories! Yumm-O! Give it a try. Let me know what you think! Do it quick while the snow is new and clean!

1/2 c. milk

14 oz. can sweet. cond. milk

3 lg. eggs

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2 gallons snow or so

Mix all indredients and bring to a boil over medium heat. Put in the fridge to cool to room temp. Poor over snow a bit at a time so it does not get all runny.

Finally!

Well, we are finally getting the snow I have been wishing for. They say we could get up to 14 inches. We will see what happens. Our county has actually declared a state of emergency because of whiteout conditions when driving. No one is to be out on the road unless there is an emergency until 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I am just sad that Ben is sick and cannot go out and play in it. Maybe it will stay around until he is better! It really is beautiful.

Ben still had a fever in the 100's today. At one point it was 102. This bug is not a fun one! Hopefully we will be over the fever stuff tomorrow. He mostly just laid around today. So did we! We all enjoyed a lazy day catching up on some needed rest! It was good! Tomorrow will need to be a more productive day though! It is a rare thing for me to not accomplish much in a day. I feel guilt. Rich tells me to get over it! Thankfully he went out at six this morning and got more Tylenol for Ben. We would have been out if he had not!

I hope you are all safe and cozy and have enjoyed your day too!

My Poor Boy

So, it is Lutheran School's Week, there are all kinds of fun things planned, and Ben is home sick again this year! It is not fair! He had 102 degree fever this morning. He was so disappointed. I was disappointed for him too! Today we had a drive in at lunch! The seventh and eight graders turned the tables into cars by putting grills on the front of them. We showed the Disney Pixar Shorts on the wall with the projector. The kids ate their lunches, had ice cream floats, and watched the movie in their "cars". They had a BLAST! And my boy had to miss it! I feel so badly for him. Tomorrow is pirate day, we are having a treasure hunt at school with clues. He will most likely miss that too. He still had a fever at noon.

If that was not bad enough, his DI competition is Saturday. He had to miss it last year because he was sick. Hopefully he will be over everything before Saturday and will still be able to be part of his team. It is not easy to work thingls out when someone is missing.

It just seems as though he is not supposed to be part of DI or Lutheran Schools Week. Please say a little prayer for him so that he will feel good enough on Saturday. (That is if we have to go. We are supposed to get some snow. They say 5-9 inches. Thats like two feet for those of you who get real snow.)

She's home!

Emma was able to go home yesterday. Her left arm is broken six times from her wrist to her elbow. It does not have a permanent cast yet. They will see if bone grafting needs to be done first. He right kneecap is broken. She will be walking with a walker. She says her knee only hurts when she puts weight on it. Her right leg has to be straight at all times. Her head has some stitches, but appears to be healing nicely. Her tongue was quite swollen from bitting it, but the swelling is now going down and she is starting to be able to swallow better. We are all still saying prayers of thanks to God for keeping her safe. It still amazes us all! My husband spoke of it in his sermon on Sunday....check it out at his blog!

Thanks for all the prayers and offers of help! We almost have them covered for two weeks of meals already!

Update on Emma

As of late last night Emma was sleeping well. She had surgery yesterday evening on her arm/wrist. They put some plates in and there was no need for pins sticking out. This will make things much easier with the baby. Brian said she has several stitches in her forehead and quite a bit of bruising around her eyes. She is going to be in some pain for a while, but this will be a small cross for her to bear considering what the Lord saved her from! Brian retrieved some things from the car yesterday and said he was sure there was an imprint of her gaurdian angel on that car! THE LORD IS GOOD!