Got it!

I got my copy of "Mad Church Disease" today!!! It looks SO good!!! Anybody who goes to church should read it!!

Squeaky Wheel

Today, I called my endocrinologist's office to find out if he had seen my thyroid images. Apparently, he has, but has not written any notes yet. The nurse said I would probably have to wait until my scheduled appointment with him in.....March. I sighed and said that is an awfully long time to wait. She asked me if I wanted to schedule with his partner. I actually did an observation in this office, and observed this man doing thyroid biopsies. He is a very neat, older man so I said "yes." I have an appointment with him next week!

Spider Man

I walked downstairs tonight and Ben was arranging pillows and other items on the floor. He said he was building an obstacle course. He was also wearing only his Spider-Man underwear. I asked him, "How come you're only wearing undies?"

His response: "That's how I roll, Mom. That's how I roll."

Ultrasound Today

I had my thyroid ultrasound today. My very special friend wanted to come with me and my husband too. I'm sure it was a very boring sonogram to watch for them though! I should find out what the doc says about the sonogram in a few days. Or, rather, they will be getting a phone call from ME wanting to know what the doc says about my sonogram! Squeaky wheel gets the grease, I always say!

After my sonogram, I went out to coffee with my friend. It was SO nice to step off the studying treadmill and spend time with her. We had such a great talk, and we held hands and prayed together before we left. I love that! I love my friend. It just feels good to know and be known by others. To share life together - good and bad, give and receive, support and celebrate.....It's been awhile since I've had girlfriend time, and I realize that I really need to cultivate that in my life more.......

Thank you Lord, for the dear friends You have brought into my life.

A Time To Laugh

Last night at church, I saw a couple from our "old church." They have been trying it out, I guess. I talked with them for awhile, and told them the story of how we ended up attending the church we attend now. I was uncanningly aware of how I felt as I told the story. I was laughing. I was genuinely laughing. I think that's an indication of healing. Two years ago when I told the story, I was disgusted. Now, I'm laughing.

Wanna hear the story?

Well, you're going to. When we were attending our old church, Amanda had been really unhappy with the youth group situation. I told her that it was OK with us if she wanted to go to another youth group if she wanted to. I took her down to our current church, Puyallup Foursquare, and sat in on the youth service. I was BLOWN away. There was about 400 kids there. Chad, the youth pastor was AWESOME and the worship was jaw-dropping. I came home and told Joe about it. I bawled.

Now, at this point we were not even thinking about leaving the church we were attending. But, when Joe saw how blessed I was from the youth service, he said, "Well, maybe we should check it out for ourselves." I was caught off-guard, but my heart lept at the idea. I had really been struggling with burnout (physically and emotionally) at that church for a little while, and I was ready for a change. We talked, and decided we would not tell anyone about it, but would check out the church and slowly take our time to decide.

The first time we went was at a Saturday night service. It was like coming home. We loved it. We knew. As we left the building that night, someone from our old church was in the parking lot and saw us.

She told on us to the pastor.

We got a phone call Monday morning from him wanting to know what was going on. So much for our "taking our time" to decide! I never came back. Joe finished out a commitment that he had, but I was done.

We've been at Puyallup Foursquare ever since, and it was the best decision we could have made.

That's my story.

Granted, there's a lot more I could say about the burnout experience, but last night, when I told that story to this couple, I think the Lord wanted me to be very aware of my laughing at it. It truly goes to show the process of healing God takes us through when we experience something painful. Nothing is instant. But, when you get there, you know it. It's not that you forget it, you just know you've reached the end of that road of process.

I think we get antsy as we're travelling the road of process. We want to know "why," or we want it to be over, or we start blaming and getting angry. Then sometimes we're stuck on the road because we get stuck in those feelings. And it takes longer. We think we're alone, but we're not.

I think the key to moving forward on the road, albeit slowly sometimes, is to give ourselves permission to feel what we're feeling. Vocalize it, write about it, and definitely express it to God. Trust Him to light the way in our darkness. Trust Him that He really does hear us, really does know we're on this dark road and He can already see the end of it even though we don't. It's our job to keep moving forward by processing and trusting Him at the same time. Then, soon, you'll find yourself looking back at the road you just travelled and find yourself laughing.

It's COMING!

(This picture was pasted to this blog from the website for Mad Church Disease by Anne Jackson. Click on the book image on my sidebar to be taken to the site)


I just got an email from Amazon saying that my "purchase had shipped."

I was confused and thought "I didn't make any purchase...." Then I read the email. The copy of "Mad Church Disease," by Anne Jackson, that I pre-ordered months ago was released EARLY!

I encourage you to buy the book and spread the word. This is going to rock the church's world in an awesome, positive way!!

Thyroid update

I had my thyroid bloodwork done today. They ran TSH and T4. TSH is a hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that tells the thyroid gland to secrete T3 and T4. So, if levels are abnormal it can tell them if I am hypothyroid or hyperthyroid or normal! I usually do that every year anyway. I have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday, January 26th. I am eager to see what they think. I had an ultrasound in 2002, so I'm hopeful they will be able to view those images to use as a comparison. I still would rather have it removed than get poked around, but I will wait to hear what my endocrinologist's opinion is. I'm sure he knows more than I do. :) On the other hand, I hope I can have an opinion, too. And who knows? Maybe all of this will be for nothing, and he'll say it's no big deal and they're going to "watch it" or something boring like that.....

Spokane Here She Comes

Amanda received her acceptance letter into Whitworth University today! WOO HOO!! Praise GOD!!!

Dang things

I'm experiencing a rare moment.

I'm home.......ALONE.

Of course, the dog and cat are always close by, but wow - it's so QUIET.

This week was a pretty successful one at school. I took three "quizzes," and did pretty well, I think! (I don't have all the scores back). I am scanning well, finding ovaries and measuring endometriums.....

We started scanning thyroids, and it was discovered that both lobes of my thyroid gland have some "things" on them. In fact one thing is a nodule that is taking up most of my left lobe! Needless to say, I called my endocrinologist the same day, and scheduled an ultrasound and appointment with him! I should find out before the end of the month what the nodules are. The good thing is, thyroid cancer is fairly rare. If it is thyroid cancer, it rarely metastasizes, so that's good, too. Plus, if the gland had to be removed (which it probably doesn't) one can live quite normally without a thyroid gland. Medication would have to be taken for the rest of my life, but I already take some for hypothyroidism anyway. So, we'll see!

The weird thing is my thinking. I think I would rather have the gland removed than have a needle biopsy. I've seen needle biopsies (called Fine Needle Aspirations) done, and it doesn't look very fun. Plus, I've learned that it is common for them not to get enough cells and have to re-do tests (sometimes more than once), and sometimes not ever getting the cells they need to examine under the microscope. PLUS, I have also learned that benign and malignant cells from thyroid nodules can sometimes look the same. I just think it's better to take the whole dang thing out. My teacher says that may be a drastic way to look at it, so I suppose I should wait to hear what my endocrinologist has to say. But, what's the point in doing an FNA if the thing is so big, they would want to take it out anyway?

I've also been thinking about the educational opportunity this affords me. I know. I'm weird. But, I was thinking how cool it would be if I had to get something removed, if I had them save it for me. If they had to cut it up for some reason and couldn't save it, then I was thinking they could take pictures of it for me, at least. I just think it would be so cool for me to have the ultrasound images, as well as the gross specimen. What a great show-and-tell!

I think I chose the right field to get into......I love this stuff.

My Week At A Glance

Well, I made it through my first week of Winter Quarter. Even though it is so hard, I am amazed that its awesomeness doesn't end. I am surrounded by such quality people and teachers each day. I'm not only learning lots about ultrasound, but about how fascinating and great people can be. I am receiving an education in many different ways....

This quarter, I think have 16 credits. It could be 18, but I can't remember. All I know is, my classes are: Pathophysiology II, Gynecologic Ultrasound, Small Parts and Superficial Structures and Physics II. I also have a four hour lab once a week. It's been very interesting scanning uteruses and ovaries, etc. I can't say it enough: I love doing this.

I had to go buy an exercise ball for my hand, because my arm starts to shake when I am scanning for a longer period of time. It's kind of like pinching a pencil very hard and pushing down at the same time with your arm extended out - holding it like that until your muscles start to shake! Anyway, I hope that my arm and hand can get stronger with my new ball.

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I am not an addictive person, but seriously - Facebook has been like a magnet for me. I need an intervention. I have like, 80 friends in my first week of having a Facebook. It has been like a high school reunion, sixth grade reunion, old church reunion, and ex-high school-boyfriend reunion. Sometimes weird. Sometimes cool. Always fun. One person won't be my friend yet, and that is my daughter, Melanie. She won't let me be her friend, can you believe that?! Her very own mother?! The very person who was cut open and has SCARS from giving her LIFE?! Can you IMAGINE? (Melanie, if you are reading this, I hope you feel very, very guilty).

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My sweet boy is turning 8 on Monday! Joe and I went out and bought some gifts for him the other day. It's always so hard to go out and buy gifts right after Christmas. It seems like too much. But, we got him some things he needed. Ben is going to have a bowling party this year. No girls allowed. This is going to be crazy.

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We went to church tonight. It was freaking AWESOME. My church ROCKS. If you're interested, you can hear free podcasts of my pastor's messages. I highly recommend the one from this weekend. You can go to http://www.p4square.com/ and click on "Resources" to find the podcasts there. Let me know what you think of it!

Christmas #3 in Port Angeles

It's always fun to drag out Christmas as long as possible. This past weekend, we visited my mom, her husband and my brother in Port Angeles for Christmas #3. They still had quite a bit of snow, and then it decided to snow again the night we got there. Needless to say, the kids were excited and we stayed an extra night. I took the kids to see where my mom works as well as a visit to Swain's, the local "general store," that I used to frequent as a kid when I visited my Nana and Pa in Port Angeles.

Speaking of Pa, the picture below is my 93-year-old grandfather at his friend's house. The house my mom now lives in is the house my Nana and Pa used to own. It's kind of funny that I grew up visiting them in that house, and now my kids visit my mom there.....

Here is my mom with Amanda and Melanie...

I took the kids to a sledding hill at the Hurricane Ridge information center. Ben turned out to be an awesome snowboarder!

I took the girls to "Bella Italia," which is the restaurant where Bella and Edward had their first date in the story, "Twilight."

All in all, we had a great time hanging out at my mom's house, watching episodes of The Office, laughing at the kids sledding down their long driveway and exchanging gifts.

Facebook

I got a Facebook account. It is WAY too addicting....