Validation

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

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!

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."

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.

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 thi...

(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!!

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.....

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

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. Medica...

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 ...

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," ...

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