Not Part of the Plan

Today was suppose to be a fun filled day with the kids.  All 3 boys had earned a Ft. Wayne Tin Caps ticket with their reading this spring.  They were a little disappointed that Daddy wouldn't get to go, but I got an extra ticket for Maddie and I so we could join them to see the Tin Caps!  

We actually went as a family last year on Maddie's birthday.  In case you forgot about that, you can see the day in pictures here.

Well today didn't end (or begin) quite like we had envisioned!

First some background.  Nathaniel had to be picked up from school on Monday with a fever and a headache.  Tuesday he didn't go either.  No fever, just the headache.  So last night they were all outside playing for a bit and I had everything ready for the Tin Caps today.  When I got them all cleaned up and in bed I thought we were good to go for this morning.

I woke up this morning to Nathaniel burning up!  So I knew the day would be a little off.  Then Ronnie started complaining of a headache!

This afternoon I took them in and they are both battling sinus infections. The doctor said that the crazy allergy season is to blame.  Nathaniel usually has allergy issues, but this is a first for Ronnie.  So we have some meds and hopefully they will both be back to their normal selves in a day or two.  

In the meantime there were a lot of tears today about missing the Tin Caps!

Eli came to me at about 11 and just had tears streaming down his face.  I grabbed him and asked what was wrong. 

"I wanted to go to the game."

"I know you did bud, but I told you hours ago that we weren't going, why are you crying now?"

"Well I was trying to stay busy and not think about it and now I am thinking about it"

Oh, I love that kid!

Nathaniel's response - "Mom, I read xxx number (I can't remember how many) of minutes to go to the game, why can't I go?"

I wish things were easy.  I wish I didn't have to have disappointed kids!

I am thankful that we know what is going on now and I'm thankful that it is not more serious!

We are just laying low today and this evening.  I had to cancel Youth for tonight because, it was just me anyway, with Ron gone!  Not sure why it pours around here the weeks that he is gone!  I do know we're ready for Daddy to come home!

Routine

It seems we are back to our routine! 

 

The boys went back to school today, Nathaniel even said he was excited to go back :)

 

Ron left early this morning for Phoenix and Evangelical Church meetings - wish we weren't back to the traveling part.

 

Maddie and I have a few more days off before kids start coming again, but we're getting back into the swing.

 

We trust that 2013 will be filled with blessings, faith builders and reminders of God's goodness!

Frustration

I'm beyond the point of frustrated.  I have been trying to get pictures on my computer for a week now.  My computer is old, I have known that for some time, but I have been downloading pictures onto an old laptop that my sister left and then was able to email them to my computer to put them on the blog.  Probably sounds confusing and is probably more complicated in my mind than it really should be, but the reality is that it's not working anymore and I can't get the pictures.

This is extremely frustrating.  I had some good pictures of our visit to see my Grandma Donna last week.

And even more frustrating because we are celebrating Maddie's birthday today!  Grandparents are going to be here and we have lots of plans on her real birthday (Monday the 30th) - and I want to post pictures of my little girl's big day!

So if you think about it, pray for me crazy computer and my lack of computer skills.  I really want to make this work!

Crazy Busy

We are keeping busy around here! It seems the week leading up to Ron leaving for KY and the week after his return are always just "insane" times with a lot going on.

We are offering a "What we Believe" class right now for new members, those wishing to be Baptised, and a confirmation class all combined. That is meeting weekly!

We had an Ash Wednesday Service this week. Additionally Ron and I are both involved in Discipleship Groups and adding to them. Pray that Jesus would give wisdom as I seek to lead ladies to desire and be in deeper relationships with Him!

My mom is here again last night and today for Grandparents day at the boys school.

Additionally there are meetings with 2 churches, school stuff for the kids, PhD research, visitations, baseball meetings (the season is almost upon us), and many other things that fill up our time.

We are seeking to Honor Jesus in all we do!

Downside to Weight Loss

Last July I started taking serious my desire to loose some weight. I started exercising regularly and eating better. In 4 months time I lost 20 lbs. While I was pretty proud of myself, there was more to do. By the time those 4 months were up it was holiday time and I slacked off on the exercising. I still haven't really picked it back up well. I'm still doing better with my diet, but not as good as I had been. I plan to get back on track. One thing I am proud of though is that in those months since the weight came off, I have kept the 20 lbs off! So that's good.

In fact, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized there is a HUGE downside to weight loss. Yesterday right before service started at Ney I realized that my wedding ring was missing. Now first let me tell you that I have known for some time that it needed sized. (like nearly 6 months) I knew it was not fitting well, but sometime in the past couple of days it slipped off and I have no idea where it is!

That's the hard part. The weekend here was a little crazy. In fact I told Ron that the 3 days he was gone last week were harder than the whole week he was gone to Montana. Not sure why, but it was a long 3 days around here! So I honestly can't tell you when or where my ring slipped off - possibly while I was cleaning the house, doing laundry, putting winter clothes away, making beds, playing kickball with the boys in the yard, watching a baseball game - who knows! I've searched all over and I can't find it.

It's not that I am any less married than I was last week, but that ring is a symbol that I wanted to hold onto for a lifetime! I still remember Mel Truex, the Pastor who preformed our Marriage ceremony, saying that the circle of the ring symbolizes how our love will continue and be unending!

I'm not really considering that I shouldn't have lost the weight either, although I'm probably going to use that as a excuse now to delay getting back on track! I just really wish I had gone and had the thing sized!

I haven't given up looking and praying that I find it, but until then I'm sticking to the fact that there is a downside to weight loss!

Still Here

Just thought I should take a second and let those of you who check this regularly know that we are still here.
I still want to post my Thanksgiving Post (nearly a week late), but we have been busy with...

Traveling to Grandma's

Poinsettia Sales and Delivery

Sickness (stomach bug, etc.) which resulted in missed school and work

Buckeye Games

Decorating for Christmas

Our First Snow

Jury Duty

and just regular life

So I'll be back, soon, I hope!

Quote of the Month

Let me first start by saying, October has been a very busy month. I know you can see really well, but just look at my calendar.

When Ron and I looked through the month (early in the month) we noticed there were only 3 day without meetings or appointments or something in the whole month! That's craziness. Part of that is because the UMC's Charge Conference is early in November and there are lots of extra meetings to prepare for that. Honestly though, with 2 churches we typically have a lot of meetings each month. You have to consider there will be 2 board meetings, 2 Jr. Church Meetings, etc. (It's even color coded because I was getting so confused as to which church had a board meeting on which night).

So anyway, this morning, I was writing something (I can't even remember what) on the calendar and Eli says,

"I never want to write on my calendar as much as you do."

It took me just a minute to realize what he said (it was 6am and although he was functioning, I was still struggling). When I did, I looked into those big eyes and wondered, "what am I suppose to learn from this little guy today."

I mean just look...
...he's so full of knowledge and cuteness and just Eli!

I love you Eli and I hope you never have to write on your calendar as much as I do on mine!

Lots going on...

Things have been busy around the Adkins home lately. Last week, Maddie and Eli got some kind of stomach virus and so many nights and several days were filled with cleaning kids, carpet and clothes. I love it when the kids get old enough to make it to the bathroom! Anyway, they both seem to be doing much better now, still tired and irritable at times, but not the yucky symptoms. And so far no one else has had it as bad as they did. We're hoping it stays that way.

This week, Ron is studying for the GRE (Graduate Record Exam). He took this same exam last fall, but it is one of those where you can retake it as often as you like (and can afford to) in order to improve your score. If you think about it, please pray for him Friday morning around 8:30 (and anytime in the 4 hours after that). He will go to Ft. Wayne again to take it and would really like to improve his score.

This morning I took Ronnie to the doctor for his yearly check-up. He's grown 3 inches in the last year and 4 pounds. He's still at 75% for height and 50% for weight among other 7 year olds. The doctor told him he needed to work on eating more vegetables - maybe if it comes from another source it will mean more! Who would have thought any kid of mine wouldn't like veggies! (For those of you who are not my immediate family, my grandparents or even my Uncle Mike - that's a bit of sarcasm!) Anyway, Ronnie is doing well!

Yesterday, today and I'm sure again the end of this week - I'll be canning tomatoes! So far I have done 7 quarts each (yesterday and today) and there are many more in the garden. I use my water bath caner for tomatoes, and I like it better. I don't have to wait so long between caners because is doesn't take as long to cool as the pressure caner.

My Mom and Dad spent the last 2 weeks at a Ministers Retreat in Tennessee. They had a great time and although I haven't seen them yet, I can tell they really needed the time and got refreshed while they were there. For the remaining month of dad's sabbatical they rented a cottage on Big Turkey Lake in Indiana. They will be going back and forth between there and home and enjoying one more month before things get busy again. My mom will be starting the hormone pill soon and we are hoping that will be an easy thing with few (or even better - NO) side effects.

My sister and brother-in-law are planning to return to Uganda on Sept. 5th. They are ready to be done with traveling. We have a couple more days planned with them before that time.

That gets you pretty caught up on all the happenings around here.

One more thought to leave you with:

I mentioned in this post about our VBS and how we talked about being Heroes for Jesus. Well, the first nights saying was, "Heroes do the Unexpected". Eli has been going around saying, "Heroes do the Unaccepted". We had to laugh - how drastically a word can be changed with only a few letters! So while we are trying to get our kids to do unexpected kindness every day - occasionally the unaccepted slips in!

Have a great day!

CRAZINESS, to put it Plainly

The last 24 hours have just been insanely crazy. Let me first explain that Ron is right in the middle of his Candidacy Exams (similar to Comprehensive Exams) for Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, where he will graduate in May with a Masters of Sacred Theology. So the questions were emailed to him and he has one week to complete the exam.

Then last night I had scheduled to take a meal to a family at our Ney church who recently had a baby. It was such a beautiful day yesterday and the boys so badly wanted to be outside, so I was cooking, while watching them, while trying to keep anyone from bugging Daddy. I think I did OK at all that (I haven't heard yet, I hope the food was OK!). So I dropped off the food and headed home to eat our meal when the van starts acting funny. At one point I wasn't sure if I would make it home. It was really weird.

So I walked in and told Ron what was going on. He couldn't' get it to start at all and he could smell anti-freeze. Not a good thing, I'm told.

So...that would mean we would need to have it towed from our garage to a shop. Not a small bill since Bryan is the closest town and Ron was thinking we might even have to go to Defiance to the dealership. Ron struggles with asking for help when things are going wrong, but finally decided to call a guy from church and see where he would call. He suggested a 2nd guy from church. Ron called guy number 2 and he said he would look at it and see whether it was something he could do or not.

So this morning, guy #2 checks it out and says, "I can't do it, but I know a place in Bryan that will be honest with you and tell you what it will cost to work on it". So Ron calls the place in Bryan and after a good conversation with the man realizes that the tow and work will cost more than the 12 year old van is worth. NOT GOOD!

So in the meantime, Ron had gotten a call this morning from a lady whose mom was not doing well. Hospice has been called and she wanted Ron to come. He would take the truck and go this afternoon.

Right before lunch, the school called and said, "Ronnie is running a temperature of 102.4, somebody needs to come get him". So Ron went to get him while I called the doctor to try to get him in.

Ron got Ronnie home then took off to the hospital. The lady was sleeping, but Ron had a good chat with her unbelieving husband and got permission from him to return. They he also met another relative whose husband works at a dealership in town and suggested he go there and ask for him and look at some vehicles.

So now I guess we shop for a vehicle. We had hoped to pay off Ron's truck with our tax return, but not to pick up another monthly bill!?!

Back from the doctor with Ronnie and he has strep! So he is home and resting for tomorrow, but should be better by Sunday or Monday.

Oh yeah, and I'm loosing teams right and left on my bracket. I mean Notre Dame, who would have guessed that?

There are some days when we really don't understand all that goes on, but Praise the Lord we know the One Who Orders All Things. We Serve a Risen Savior!

Believe it or not there were some answers to prayer in the last few hours.

• #1 I got a hot meal to the family last night and even made it back home before the van quit.
• #2 Ron was able to contact someone we know and get some opinions on the van before we received a huge tow bill.
• #3 The man at the shop in Bryan was honest with us instead of making us pay the tow and then tell us that it was not worth working on.
• #4 We have a truck that is reliable right now - it will only hold 5 of the 6 of us at one time, but it is reliable.
• #5 Ronnie got a 100% on his spelling and Bible tests today before coming home sick.
• #6 The husband, of the lady dying, agreed that Ron could come back and visit
• #7 Ron had a contact for a dealership
• #8 Villinova pulled off the win
• #9 A good friend, Erin, brought dinner tonight - Thank you so much!

If you get a chance to say a prayer for us, you could pray specifically for:

• Ron's Candidacy Exam's and the time he needs to do them
• A decision we need to make on a vehicle
• the Lord's provision for that decision
• Salvation for the family with whom hospice was called
• Ronnie to heal quickly and no one else to get sick

There's a country song that my dad found (last fall before mom's diagnosis), "Sounds Like Life" by Darryl, Worley. So, there you have, Life in the Adkins home.

More than a Word

Yesterday I went to the doctor. I have had a growth of some kind right beside my eye for about 2 months. It grew pretty rapidly and I knew I needed to check into it. Because of other things we needed to get done, Ron and the younger 2 took me to the doctor and waited in the waiting room. When the doctor came in and took a look she said, well I think it is a wart, but we'll need to do a biopsy to be sure. "A What?"

Biopsy -that word has taken on new meaning in the last 2 months. We've been through biopsies. There was just something in that word that scared me. I'm honestly not worried about results of sending a wart to the lab, but I'll admit, that word threw me. The doc explained what would happen and then stepped out to leave me with my thoughts - not good.

In that moment I felt so alone. Then I heard Maddie. Probably not a great thing, because the waiting room was a little ways from my exam room, but I heard her little screech of excitement. "I'm not alone". Not only is my family with me, but Jesus reminded me in that moment that He was with me. I can't imagine how people get news like we have recently gotten with mom and don't know Jesus. Oh, I know it happens, but how lonely it must be to walk this road of life without the Creator of the Universe.

Ron preached last night at our Ash Wednesday Service on how we have to endure some things (sometimes painful) to get the end results we want and God wants for us. My minor set back was hearing the word biopsy and then the numbing shot and removal of an unwanted piece of skin. Now it is gone and only a band-aid remains.

When I went to the lobby some friends were waiting there. He has had skin cancer and was struggling again. He commented (after Eli's long questioning of the band-aid) that at least it was just one spot.

That's right. I heard that word biopsy and then let my mind wander in my own self pity, but it's just one spot and Jesus is still on the Throne. Even if the results are less than perfect and not what I'm expecting.

Praise the Lord that even though we go through trials and struggles and things in life and with our families - Jesus still remains King of Kings and Lord of Lords - UNCHANGING!