Christmas Time Joys and Woes

Well once again it's been a month since I posted. I don't know if anyone bothers to check anymore or have just forgotten the site. Here we are in the hectic Christmas season once again. Where does the time go?

Yesterday I read John Grisham's "Skipping Christmas" and then we all went to see the movie "Christmas with the Kranks." They were both funny and we all had a good time, but they also seemed to really hit the mark. Even after 6 years of marriage, we're still trying to sort out various family traditions and create our own. Trying to be with family all over 2 countries and do everything is difficult and stressful. It also means taking time off and adding extra bills. These 2 things don't go well when you're paid hourly with no paid vacations and are barely making the bills as it is. We're supposed to get my first diability payment on Wed. but I'm afraid after waiting so long, I won't believe it until I see it. The back pay should be released sometime next month (we hope).

About now I'm sure that you're wondering where the touching happy ending comes in. All I can say is that we are looking at the problem and talking about ways to find that Christmas Joy once again, to create those wonderful memories for our son. We probably will never go to either of the extremes that the Kranks go to, but perhaps the joy is in the search.

We are getting our tree sometime in the next couple of days - a gift from a couple at church that purchased it to support a charity but are going out of town and don't need it. Tomorrow night is the open house at Nico's school. Uncle Wes will be playing Santa and PaPa Rich will be taking pictures of the kids on his lap. Mom's been playing for a month for all of the games and activities. She's going to try not to overdo it that night. (and for some reason she talks about herself in the 3rd person)

Friday the 17th we will be heading to Canada with a family get together on the 18th at Anthony's brother and sister-in-law's house. We wil stay until Sunday and hopefully bring Josh home with us. He seems to be concerned that if he comes over the weather will turn bad and he won't make it home for Christmas. We're still trying to work it out but can't really do much about the weather until we get there and see what it looks like.

The plan is to go to Muskegon on the 23rd and watch some Christmas movies on the giant screen at the Frauenthal Theater downtown, then have an Oman Christmas that night. PaPa Rich and I would bring Josh to Sarnia on the 24th where we would meet Leanne and Becca, who would bring him the rest of the way home. (I apologize to all of you teachers for my run on sentences)

In January, Mam-maw (my mother) and her friend Pat will be renting a house in Ludington. The boys and I are going to bring our families to stay with them and celebrate Christmas once again. We will also celebrate my niece Lavender's baptism that week in Muskegon. My friend Heather, who was ordained this summer, will be helping to officiate the service.

We hope to make a trip to Indiana sometime soon also. We're keeping our fingers crossed that Aunt Sherrie's fiance, Winston, will get his Visa approved soon and we'll have a wedding to attend!

All in all I think it will a busy but fun time the next month or so. I hope all of you are finding more joys than woes this Christmas season and I wish you many blessings.

Love Wendy

Monster Catch Up Post

Wow - I can't believe it's been more than a month. I've been feeling better and doing more things. I've also been overdoing and needing more rest time. The result - less blogging.

We have a new member of the family - Eddie (but Nico calls him "my new cool dog"). When my brother Shane moved back to Chicago from the farm in Tennessee, Eddie did not adjust well so we have adopted him. He seems to have settled in just fine, but sometimes is overwhelmed with love and affection. I'm not sure he likes his dinner hand fed to him one piece at a time.

Nico was spider man for Halloween. I made his costume to go with the goggles that Mom gave him this summer. We went to Pizza Hut for a costume parade and dinner on Tues. Friday he had a class party and they went trick or treating at a nursing home (where they also sang some fun songs for the residents) Bonser's (a local grocery store where one of the Mom's works) and the administration offices at the high school and elementary schools. Saturday PaPa and Aunt Sherrie came for a visit, bringing lots of goodies for Nico and Mom (Aunt Sherrie is cleaning out Grandma's craft room). Sunday Dad took Nico out for ice cream to give Mom some down time.

The soccer season is over. I think everyone involved had a great time. We will have a team party at our house on this Sat and a league banquet Sun.

Sometime next month we will host a "circle dinner" at our house to get to know members of our church. There will be 2 more dinners (Jan/Feb and March/Apr) where we will be guests. I will also be hosting a Discovery Toys party on Nov 17th if anyone is interested.

The Parent Teacher Commitee is gearing up for the annual Apple Pie sale. We are only allowed to do one fundraiser each year and are hoping to sell 1,000 pies. Pies are $5 each with bottom crust and crumble topping. I am also chair for the Holiday Open House on Dec 7. Wes will be playing Santa for us and Dad is going to take pictures.

I still meet with friends to scrap book 1-2 times a week although it's been hard to get more than 2 of us together at any one time as schedules have been busy. I finished Tim and Dorothy's wedding albumn and I am working on Heather's ordination albumn. There are also some long workshops coming up.

We've also been making 1 or 2 trips to Muskegon each week for my treatments with Dr. Linda. So that keeps us busy. Anthony and I celebrated our 6th anniversary by going out to dinner and then to the show Dad directed "Gross Indecency -the 3 trials or Oscar Wilde" It was very well done and we enjoyed it. We also went over to Canada to spend Thanksgiving with Josh and family.

Speaking of Canada we hope to move there soon, since Bush was re-elected. I can't stand this hipocritical country that claims it is the land of the free then passes a constitutional amendment that denies homosexuals the freedom to marry.

So to hop off my soap box - I will end this novel and say I wish you all blessings

Love Wendy

More Good News - Take 3

OK, I'm so excited that I keep hitting enter instead of tab and posting blank messages.

I just got a call from my lawyer and judge finally made a favorable decision!!!

I won SSI and SSD! I will get medicare from Aug 04 (so all of the wonderful treatments that I just described will be paid for), a lump sum from going back to Aug 02, and monthly benefits from now on.

It will probably be a month or so before we actually get the money. There is a lot more paperwork to get through, but at least we know that it is coming.

Thank you all for your love and support through this whole process.

Love and hugs to all WEN

More Good News - Take 2

More Good News!

This is Amazing!!

Several people had suggested that I try out Dr. Linda Palter who is a chiropractor in Muskegon that works with allergies and chronic pain patients. They all reported amazing results. Of course in all the years that I have dealt with FM and chronic pain, it seems that everyone I meet has some miracle cure. This one drinks aloe juice everyday, that one takes some pill, this specialist gives nutrition IVs, that specials gives you a diet of nothing, one person even told me that she cured herself simply by becoming a Christian and praying. In short I was skeptical and unenthusiastic about starting again with a new doctor; however, this summer was so bad I was willing to try anything. I was going to try and wait until I won the case and had some financial help, but again got so bad that I had to do something now.

So I went to see her. She uses the Nambudrapod Allergy Elimination Technique and it's daughter the Jaffey - Miller Technique (named after the doctors that developed them). The treatment seems very strange. She asks my arm questions, then presses down on it. If the answer is no the muscles will hold tight and she can't press my arm down. If the answer is yes then the muscles weaken and I can't hold my arm up. For example she will ask if my congestion is due to allergens? (arm dip) Inhaled allergens? (arm strong) Ingested allergens? (arm dip)Then she runs a laser along my back repeating "treating for ingested allergens" then she comes back around asks if I am reacting to ingested allergens and the arm is strong. She has me hold vials of different allergens to see if I react to them, using the same arm test.

At first it feels really weird, like she presses harder on some questions, but then you really brace yourself to hold that arm and you just can't. After she treats for specific allergens she has a machine that puts the electronic signal of the allergen into distilled water and then I drink a small amount every 1/2 hour - an hour for several days to accustom my body to it.

After my first treatment, I went down to my Mom's and spent 12 days with no reactions to her cats or the dogs. Even then I was skeptical when she told me was I no longer sensitive to foods that I havn't eaten for years. Chocolate would put me flat on my back with a terrible migraine within 30 minutes of putting it in my mouth. But soon temptation overcame and

YES! I HAVE EATEN CHOCOLATE AND PIZZA!!!!! AND NO HEADACHE!!!

Perhaps I have finally found my miracle cure. I have allready seen increased energy and been doing a lot more things. She said after we finish with the allergies, we can work on the FM, figuring about a month for every year that I've been sick. That means I should be well in around 15 months. The down side is - of course - the cost. It is not terribly expensive compared to most treatments but it is $35 a visit. Currently we're doing 2 visits a week (plus we have to drive to Muskegon for each one). Medicare will pay for it once I win the case, and she is helping us a lot with a payment plan; however, it does mean cutting back and Anthony taking extra hours. No trip to Canada for Thanksgiving.

So that is where I am. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!

Love to all WEN

The Big Game

Coach Martin and Nico had their first soccer game on Sat. 9/25. It was cloudy and cool but fortunately did not rain! Unfortunately they were really outgunned. The other team had 6 players to their 4 and looked to be twice their size.

We have 7 players on the team but 3 were out of town and they were all the older kids. I think it was the first games for all of our kids (all 4 year olds). Paul (the other coach) said that all of his team was the same as he had last year, so they were experienced. They even knew which way they were supposed to kick the ball. We (the parents) stopped counting goals. Our team did have 2 really close calls that we decided should count also. After awhile Nico decided those kids were playing with that ball and it would be much easier if he just got his own ball to play with instead of chasing them around the field. He was very upset when Dad wouldn't let him take it out on the field. Because we only had 4 kids, they all played the whole game, no subs.

Despite all that everyone had lots of fun. One of the boys, Tyler, spent most of the game wandering around collecting rocks off the field. When asked if he had fun, he said yes. When asked what the best part of the game was, he said snacks afterward. He mother said maybe they should have tried a different activity for him.

I think they'll eventually get the hang of it. We're just trying to make it fun till the do.

Harvest Festival

Last weekend was the Scottville Harvest Festival. It was small compared to the Muskegon Summer Celebration that I'm used to, but we had a lot of fun.

We purchased an arm band for Nico which gave him unlimited rides Fri night. Anthony and I had to accompany him on some of the rides but we didn't have to pay to go on with him (that was really nice - although we didn't learn this until after we had purchased tickets). We all went on the ferris wheel. Nico liked it although he got tired of it about half way through. He talks alot about the wheel that goes round fast.

Nico loved the helicopter ride, choo-choo train, "star walk" jumper, super slide, fun house, and merry go round (although he likes riding on the bench, not the horses). He did not like the mini-roller coaster. The poor kid had the terrified expression and every time he passed by where we were standing he yelled "Mom, I'm done!" Dad took him down the slide several times and he even got Mom up there once. The slide down was fun but I couldn't take all the stairs to get to the top.

Nico also played some games. He went fishing and won a plastic samaurii sword and picked a duck from the pond to win a big blow up hammer that squeeks when you hit things. Mom wasn't thrilled with the prizes but he was. We ran into some friends down there and Nico loved playing with the other boys. We all had lots of junk food too. Cookies, elephant ears, carmel apples, etc.

We thought about putting Nico in the children's parade but he seemed more interested in the rides so we skipped it. He also had the chance to march in the Grand Parade on Sat with his soccer team but we found it more fun to watch.

Saturday Grandpa Rich and his friend Liz came up and had lunch with us then watched the Grand Parade (Anthony missed the parade because he had to go back to work since his coworker had the day off to be in the parade). Nico loved it. He caught lots of candy and entertained the crowd when a clown came by and patted his head. The clown had a squeeker in his glove, so it squeeked when he patted his head. Nico couldn't figure it out and kept examining his hat and trying to pat his head and make it squeek. We also checked out the craft fair (only 4 booths, much different from the 4 miles of booths at the Muskegon fair) and had more junk food, funnel cakes. Nico rode the choo-choo a couple more times to use up the extra tickets we had purchased the night before.

We didn't watch the tractor pulls but we did walk around and take a look at all of the tractors.

In other news - Nico is on the soccer team that his Dad is coaching. Practice starts tonight and their first game is next Sat 9/25. We are also planning a trip down to visit Aunt Sherrie the first weekend of Oct. We wanted to go to Canada for Thanksgiving (that's Oct 11 if you're Canadian) but not sure if we will make it.

Congrats to all of you teachers who survived the return to school. All of us mothers really appreciate you!

School Days

Nico started school on Tuesday and seems to really like it. We missed the bus because we weren't expecting it to come that early (he has an hour ride on the way there and 1 1/2 hour ride on the way home) so Anth and I drove him in to school.

His teacher this year is Mrs. Gottwald, she is very nice. He is in a regular classroom this year and will not have the individual attention that he had in special ed. He has to do a lot more for himself. Mom likes this. She also likes having some time to herself in the afternoons.

He came home happily chatting about friends, slides, and lots of toys in the classroom so I don't think he had too much trouble adjusting.

If anyone is interested in helping out (and not currently collecting for another school) we do collect campbell's soup labels, boxtops for education, and pop can tabs. You can also sign up for upromise and boxtop boosters that give donations for purchases of participating products. Please e-mail me if you want more info. wjoman@yahoo.com

Nico's classroom is also collecting milk caps, paper towel tubes, styrofoam egg cartons. paper grocery bags, round oatmeal boxes, foil pie tins, old used greeting cards, and stickers or stamps that you get in junk mail. If you have any of that stuff that you'd like to recycle.

Hope all of your school years have gotten off to a great start also!

Home Again Home Again

Nico and I spent 12 days in North Carolina with my Mom and Pat and Ann (Pat's moter who lives with them). We spent a lot of time relaxing and playing in the water. We went out on their boat a couple of times. Anthony got to join us for labor day weekend although he lost part of it due to a flight delay. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed spending time with everyone. I did very well healthwise, no allergy problems, and good energy levels. The trip home wiped me out though and I am spending most of today recovering.

Other trip highlights included a visit to the petting zoo, eating sea food on the dock, sitting in the hot tub on the deck, and checking out the beautiful scenery. Nico also loved watching all his favorite shows, since we don't have cable. Anthony checked out a few hockey games (World Cup) and I saw some neat movies, especially an adaptation of Madeline L'Engle's book "A Ring of Endless Night". It was good but of course couldn't come close to matching the book.

Good News!

Anthony had his 1 year review at work today. He will be getting the standard raise plus a little extra for doing such an excellent job!!!

We are very proud of him and the extra money will be most helpful.

He will also be able to join us down in North Carolina for a weekend!

Blessings to you and yours
Love Wendy