In Hot Water

As a result of my knee surgery, I have not been able to swim in our pool because the doctor didn't want my incisions to get infected. It has been over 2 weeks and I finally got the ok from my doctor that I could swim now that the stitches were out. I ran my errands for the day, came home and got into my swim suit only to find out that I was in HOT water. Olivia and I didn't even stay in the pool for an hour. I was able to do a little water therapy on my knee though. Olivia had more fun dressing up our Beagle "Rosie", She is such a gentle dog and is always letting Olivia dress her up...like she has a choice in the matter. You think she was a Build-A-Bear animal.

Knee Update

Well, my knee still hurts. I called the doctor yesterday and he wanted me to come in so he could take a look at it. The stitches look good and the swelling has gone way down. I have been trying to walk without my crutches because the take home instructions said I would only need them for 3-5 days. It was not a good idea. I was limping on my knee and that made it hurt even worse. My doctor has ordered me to go to physical therapy twice a week for 4 weeks. He wants me to stay off it and keep it elevated. When I am up I need to use the crutches. My poor Olivia, she has had enough of her mom being out of commission, she says I can't even go swimming or even cook her dinner. Her life is so rough :0( As far as m knee is concerned, I think I am just expecting too much too soon.

It's A God Thing

About 2 1/2 weeks ago I mailed a package to Colette in Ireland. Inside was a prayer journal from our home team, some Cd's I put together with songs of comfort for Colette and her family , and a book called the Season's of Grief. I know exactly how Colette is feeling right now as I have lost both of my parents. I have peace knowing they are with our Lord, but the sadness just never goes away that they are not here with me. Well, Colette finally received the package. I guess they deliver packages over there by bicycle(not joking!). Her brother was finally able to download the Cd on to her mp3 player. Backing up just a little bit, before her dad died, she and all of her siblings were around his bedside singing to him his two favorite songs: You Lift Me Up by Josh Groban and Wind Beneath My Wings. Colette was finally able to listen to her mp3 player and the first song that came on was You Lift Me Up. She began to cry knowing they sang this to her dad before he passed away. The mp3 player was in shuffle mode and the next song that came on was Wind Beneath My Wings. This was a "God Thing" for those two songs to be on that Cd. Her sister asked her if she asked me to put the songs on the Cd and Colette said we never spoke of it. Her siblings couldn't believe the prayer journal and that is was so awesome. Next, Colette signed up on an email list to receive daily emails from a grief website. As she was reading the book, she realized that the emails were exactly from the book. Another God Thing. It's amazing how our great God takes care of his children. Please pray that God will continue to work in Ireland through Colette and her sister Therese to bring her mom and siblings to Him.

Lonely Summer

Olivia announced to Rick and I the other day that she hates summer because it is so lonely for her. This breaks my heart. Her best friend who lives next door spends the whole summer in Iowa with her grandma which leaves her with no one to play with. Unfortunately for her I work night shift and she has to find things to do so I can get a little sleep when I get home in the morning. Lucky for me, she is a late sleeper. Finally when she can't stand it anymore, she comes in and says "MOM WAKE UP, I NEED SOMEONE TO PLAY WITH." A girl can only watch so much Disney Channel and Sponge Bob Square Pants as well as play her games on the computer. She is getting very creative at her craft table I must admit. She is learning to use her camera that she got for her birthday last year, she has good shots and some well lets just say they are blurry. She is trying though. Here are some of her masterpiece photos.

Knee Surgery

Well, I go in tomorrow for surgery to debride the meniscus in my right knee. I have had this done before on my left and I thought that it would be a breeze since It was going to be arthroscopic. Back to work in 1 week NO PROBLEM right? It hurt so bad, I was out of work for a month. This time I am going in with eyes wide open. I know it will be very painful. The silver lining is that I will be able sleep at night while I am off work. Right now I am calm about the whole thing, but tomorrow I will probably be a little more nervous. I will be hungry for breakfast, nothing to eat or drink after 4:00am. I can normally skip breakfast and not be too hungry, but just because I can't eat I was be starving. God will be with me as I go into surgery and He will be singing over me as I drift in anesthesia sleep.