Validation

Yesterday, I observed at my endocrinologist's office. My doc wasn't there that day, but two other docs let me come in and see some thyroid biopsies. They use a large needle guided by the ultrasound, and insert it into suspect thyroid nodules to obtain tissue cells. They numb the area with Lidocaine only. Yikes! I was excited to see something new, but after a couple, I was done. Plus, one of the docs I really did not like. I thought he was inconsiderate to the patients and employees. The two patients that this doctor did biopsies on, complained of pain during the procedure, while the first doc (the one I liked) did not. The first doc was gentle, explained things to the patient as he went along and was quite thorough. The other doc hardly explained anything to the patients, and was quite rough on them. He was also very rushed and had one of those anal retentive personalities. Ugh. All in all, I did not like that office. I was bored out of my gourd, sitting at a back desk reading ...

Our backyard explodes with color every Spring. I have many perennials that I look forward to seeing each year, such as the orange Helianthemum and Blue Lithodora that look so COOL together. We get some hot sun in the back, so I have incorporated succulents into the rockery, which also look pretty awesome. I have also planted a lot of evergreen plants, to provide interest during the winter or dormant times for the perennials. I try to stick to plants that can tolerate full sun, and any type of soil conditions for our hillside. On ground level, I have planted various annuals and perennials. I have to water those more, so that's why they're not on the hillside! This purple guy is an African Daisy. I have a few planted in my lower flower bed. I couldn't resist taking a picture right after I watered today. This is one of the succulents I mentioned. I have GARGANTUAN ones. Joe got some from a co-worker, and they love our backyard. I tucked them all over, in between rocks and boul...

Every Spring, our kids are involved in some "end of year" event. Amanda has her big recital, Melanie has a school concert coming up and Ben already had his. Here are some pics of some of their stuff.... Ben and his class, walking down the aisle toward the stage for his first grade music program. They all wore sunglasses, because the theme was "Education Rocks," and they were supposed to look like rock stars. Ben in the front row. Ben and his teacher. Amanda's recitals are huge events (and long). They're not your run-of-the-mill recitals, I can tell you that. These students are top level performers for their age - it's amazing. Amanda took part in a few ensembles. Amanda with her two friends who will be graduating from high school this year (Amanda graduates next year!). After the recital, there is a reception downstairs, where the seniors put up display boards with their high school achievements and letters of acceptance from the college they plan to att...

That title freaked you out, didn't it? HAHA! Here's what this is about: my 9th grader, Melanie, is taking a class at school called "Life Issues." As part of the class, each student is required to take home an electronic baby doll. It is life-sized, and anatomically correct. Each doll is equipped with sensors on a bottle and diapers. It cried, fusses, coos, and SCREAMS. It does so just as randomly as a real baby at ANY time and at ANY hour. It even makes breath sounds constantly. There is one cute thing. It makes the cute little sucking and swallowing noises real babies do when they eat. Every time it makes noise, Melanie is required to respond. The baby reacts to diaper changes, bottle feedings, rocking, etc. It even will react if she handles it improperly. They get points docked for any recording if it's head not being held properly. She wears a wristband with a sensor that she scans over the baby to record her responses. She also has to log everything on paper. ...

Yesterday was AWESOME. I observed in an imaging center for about 8 hours yesterday. I observed two breast biopsies, breast ultrasounds, an intravaginal ultrasound, a couple of renal/kidney ones and some pelvic ones. I was on my feet all day watching (I had to get a band-aid for my foot, as I got a blister!). Two of the breast ultrasounds looked like cancer, which was very sad. One of the women had breast implants, and had found a lump. When they scanned it, it was not a good-looking mass, so they had to let her know they wanted to biopsy it. The poor gal wanted to do it right at that moment, but they couldn't. I totally felt for her wanting to know right away what that thing was. I got to see scans done on a couple of kids and a man, but it was mostly women that I observed. During one of the biopsies, I got to stand right in front of it, and I was curious to see if I could handle watching it as confidently as I thought I could. I did! It didn't bother me at all. Th...

This past weekend was a full one. Joe's parents were up from Arizona to celebrate Joe's Dad's 70th birthday, see family and last night, we all watched Amanda's last youth symphony concert of the season. The birthday party was held at a pizza place with a great buffet. Ben thought the buffet was very cool, especially when he discovered he could get up and down from our table to scout out food for himself. At one point, he used the tongs to bring some croutons back to our table, and run and put the tongs back! haha! It was fun being with just Joe, Ben and I, as the girls were taking part in a large youth event that night. We knew that they would get to see Nana and Papa at the concert (and out for dinner afterwards), so we let them attend the youth event (as Amanda was playing her violin there also). Now that Ben is seven, he was trying to figure out "who was who" at the party. He kept asking me, "Is that my uncle?" "Is that my cousin?" So, I...

I have started taking some initial steps to my application for the ultrasound program. I had my official transcript sent over to the school, even though I'm not finished with my psych class (I'll just send that grade over when I'm finished). Then, I sent in the transcript evaluation form, to request that the program evaluate all of my prereqs. Each of my prereqs grades counts as points. A 4.0 equals 4 points, etc. I can also earn points through completing volunteering and observation hours. And so, last week I set up a few "job shadow" opportunities. The first one I will be doing will be at an imaging center. I have to dress professionally and bring my lab coat. I get to spend several hours there! My second opportunity is actually at my own endocrinologist's office. At my last thyroid checkup, I asked him if I could observe some thyroid ultrasounds there, and it has been approved! I will have the chance to spend about 6 hours there and see some bi...

Our government "economic stimulus" check stimulated ME to go to DISNEYLAND!! One more month!! Yahoo!!

Not only is the Derby Car race a big night, but another big night for AWANA clubbers is the end-of-the-year awards nite! Ben received a very pretty ribbon for completing his first book this year. YAY BEN!! He is almost finished with this second book, so his leader said she would sign off his pages over the summer, if he would like to finish it. It's been so cool to see him so excited about AWANA and memorizing those verses. So many great discussions have come up between us about God this year. Two days after the awards night, Ben said he missed AWANA already. I reminded him to not forget about VBS this summer!!!

Yesterday, we were all eating dinner, and Macy climbed up on her cat tree next to our kitchen table and hung out - literally. She was chillin' good, with her paws dangling over the side of the platform. She was so cute, we were all laughing and giggling like crazy. This kitten is constant entertainment, I tell ya. She just sat there through our whole dinner as content as can be!

Ben had his first AWANA Derby Car Race. Each child purchased a kit with a block of wood they could design a car with. Ben and Joe shaped the car with the scroll saw and sanded it. Then, Ben and I painted it together. He wanted to paint it like Lightning McQueen, so it has eyes and a mouth with a tongue sticking out. He was so proud of his car! When we arrived at 9 AM, it was all hustle and bustle, with kids getting their cars weighed and weights added to them. Each car had to weigh 5 ounces, had certain measurements and the same wheels. The only differences were design, really. Here's the ramp, set up in the middle of the church where AWANA is held. The ramp could hold four cars to race at once. At the bottom, was a digital reader that showed the times for each car. Each child sat at the bottom of the ramp and watched their car race. Here's Ben and Melanie setting up Ben's car for his test run. Ben didn't win any prizes this time around, which made him a little sad. I e...

Happy Mother's Day!! Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!" Proverbs 31:28-29

I wanted to pass on this article to you, sent to me via email from Smoldering Wick Ministries (a ministry for the burned out pastor and ministry leader). It touched me so much as a previous ministry leader, and one who has seen the deep discouragement of a pastor first-hand......... The Plague: Restoring Honor via Clayton King by admin on 4/21/08 I am sure that a post of this sort offers itself to misunderstanding. I write it nonetheless, in hopes that you will hear my heart and glean the good from it.The church in America seems to have lost the ancient, and dare I even say Biblical understanding of correctly honoring the man of God; one who dedicates his life to service to God and God’s people (this could be the worship leader, youth minister, or most often the pastor). We have confused honor with obsession, treat our ministers like hired hands, and become addicted to personalities on TV or the internet and swallow anything they try to sell us while starving our local pastor on a sala...

Everything in my home seems to have gone on the fritz this past year. Now, its my computer. I am typing on my daughter's laptop right now. I debated as to whether or not I would take the thing to be repaired. But, it is a home-built job with inauthentic versions of everything Microsoft. And, we got it for free. It lasted us a year and a half, so I figured I should probably get something new. I am off today to look for that. Our TV has also been slowly dying. So, for Joe's birthday, I said he could get a flatscreen. He was going to revamp our entertainment armoire to make it fit. Well, that didn't work. Now, I am out a very pretty armoire. So, I have to shop for that, too. I guess the good part in everything needing replacing at once in this house, is that everything will be basically new. That's always fun, and I consider it a real blessing to be able to replace all of these things. I praise God for what we have, and I'm thankful to Him for providing f...