This day marked two years since my double mastectomy at the hands of Dr L. and the start of the reconstruction process by Dr S. Three months later all surgery would be complete. One year following that I would have a final procedure to normalize my look.
Two years later I still struggling with the whys?, the what ifs?, the shaking of my head and the sobbing over what was lost. On this day two years out I was serving some beautiful women on a weekend renewal. I had asked my team to cover me in prayer because anniversary dates are difficult and I really didn't want to go down in a sobbing ball of messy while serving women. I made it about halfway through the day without a thought to what the day meant in my history. And then....I glanced up. A simple black t-shirt with a large pink ribbon caught my eye and my breathing became shallow and the tears started pouring. I quickly excused myself from the room and headed for fresh air. I pleaded with God to make it short, this weekend wasn't about me and I didn't want it to turn that way. A few of my team mates saw me hit the door and prayed for me. The attack was blessedly short lived and did not reappear the rest of the weekend.
I learned a few things this past weekend.
1.God is present even when I am pushing Him away
2.Prayer is powerful
3. Good friends who pray are powerful
4. Pray now not later
5 Time does heal wounds but scars are always present.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Girls Weekend
This year one of friends couldn't make it. Logistics just couldn't be had. God has a reason for that....but it sure was a different time without her, besides we all know how much getting away recharges us.
I plum wore myself out this weekend. Time was spent walking all over the riverwalk, and alamo. Eating whatever I wanted, and doing whatever struck our mood. We also managed to run a 5k at Sea World after the above walking! Good times.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Bright Ideas Press WONDERMAPS
WonderMaps by Bright Ideas Press is well, wonderful! This is a fabulous product that makes finding and printing maps for your specific need very easy.
This year my kids are studying American History with a little bit of world thrown in to set up some timeline correlations. As we study each time period of American History I need to find about a dozen different maps with the detail or with the click of a button lack of detail that I need. Wondermaps provides that and more.
So let me give you an idea of what I mean. We are currently studying a bit about the Civil War. I needed a map that showed confederate and union states as they were at that time. Navigation is fairly easy in the program. I searched using the thematic maps. I also browsed over where the Mystery of History and All American History curriculums are mapped out to see how easy it would be to use if I was using those curriculums. Once I had the map I could decide how much detail I wanted. Rivers, key, labels etc could all be selected. This works beautifully for quizzes. You can use the same map for teaching and then remove the labels and present the same map for testing. No more white outing!
As I briefly mentioned above if you are a user of Mystery of History or All American History then the maps for those are organized for you in their own section of Wondermaps.
WonderMaps isn't just maps. There is a teachers guide as well that has ideas, mapping projects, how to make a salt dough map and much more.
Below is a video that Wondermaps created that gives a fantastic overview. See for yourself how the program works.
I really enjoyed getting to use Wondermaps. Not having to search all around the internet for a clear map of exactly what I need to teach my kids is a blessing. I love the fact that you can select more or less detail as you see fit.
You can get WonderMaps from Timberdoodle for $44.95. This is a product that will span the entirety of history teaching. You can get a Free homeschool catalog from Timberdoodle as well.
Disclaimer: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of WonderMaps in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.
This year my kids are studying American History with a little bit of world thrown in to set up some timeline correlations. As we study each time period of American History I need to find about a dozen different maps with the detail or with the click of a button lack of detail that I need. Wondermaps provides that and more.
So let me give you an idea of what I mean. We are currently studying a bit about the Civil War. I needed a map that showed confederate and union states as they were at that time. Navigation is fairly easy in the program. I searched using the thematic maps. I also browsed over where the Mystery of History and All American History curriculums are mapped out to see how easy it would be to use if I was using those curriculums. Once I had the map I could decide how much detail I wanted. Rivers, key, labels etc could all be selected. This works beautifully for quizzes. You can use the same map for teaching and then remove the labels and present the same map for testing. No more white outing!
Here my son is coloring in the confederate states
A close up of the maps. This one is from the All American History II.
As I briefly mentioned above if you are a user of Mystery of History or All American History then the maps for those are organized for you in their own section of Wondermaps.
WonderMaps isn't just maps. There is a teachers guide as well that has ideas, mapping projects, how to make a salt dough map and much more.
Below is a video that Wondermaps created that gives a fantastic overview. See for yourself how the program works.
I really enjoyed getting to use Wondermaps. Not having to search all around the internet for a clear map of exactly what I need to teach my kids is a blessing. I love the fact that you can select more or less detail as you see fit.
You can get WonderMaps from Timberdoodle for $44.95. This is a product that will span the entirety of history teaching. You can get a Free homeschool catalog from Timberdoodle as well.
Disclaimer: As a member of Timberdoodle's Blogger Review Team I received a free copy of WonderMaps in exchange for a frank and unbiased review.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Been and month in some regards...
....six months in regards to other things.
I have several posts waiting for me to finish them up and publish but my heart hasn't been into writing lately. But that is fairly obvious given the month between posts here. School is going, not as smoothly as it was in the beginning but it is going and for the most part we are enjoying our new curriculum and the addition of Classical Conversations. I am thoroughly enjoying the community aspect of CC. During Essentials class I feel like I'm back in high school writing notes on my white board to the other moms sitting back there with me and stifling giggles. The competition is fierce in those chairs along the back wall during math drill time :)
Speaking of CC. I had my first day tutoring last week. I subbed for the 6 year olds. It went well but I have a lot to learn! I am learning to let go of my procrastination habits but that is going to take awhile to chip away at those old habits.
As for the six months......today I had a six month checkup at the oncologists. I had forgotten about it due to the fact that it never made to my calendar. A phone call Wednesday afternoon sent my heart racing and my head traveling down all sorts of paths. You see an e-maginary friend announced this week that breast cancer is claiming her life. She supported me through my mastectomy with helpful advice and prayer, so how is it this damned disease is taking her out of this world and I got off with surgery? Don't get me wrong I am grateful for my health but incredibly sad to watch someone go through it and not come out ok. Some might chalk it up to survivors guilt.
So with dread I walked into my appointment.....after drying the tears that fell on the way there. I barely made it through the blood draw as two bald women walked by me as my hair fell past my shoulders. The doc spent all of 5 minutes with me and really didn't discuss my iron issues when I brought them up. He claimed the low numbers for me were a result of menses and nothing to be concerned about. WHAT??? Then why did he comment almost two years ago that my red blood cells were puny weak and any other negative adjective you could imagine. Why did he say I probably had an absorption problem an recommend iron transfusions?? Why in the past two years have I wasted over 24 hours getting said infusions stealing 6 days from my family? So I am done with this doctor. Finding a new one brings on all sorts of other issues. If you have never had to sign on with an oncologist then consider yourself blessed. The questions they ask feel like you have one foot in the grave and are just waiting to give you a shove the rest of the way. Did I mention that my husband is out of town so I dealt with the emotional trauma that these damned appointments bring on my own? Friends stepped up and heard me out, helped with the kids etc but John gets me, nothing in this world makes me feel better than to be wrapped in his arms. Must be what it feels like to be wrapped in the Fathers arms.
I have several posts waiting for me to finish them up and publish but my heart hasn't been into writing lately. But that is fairly obvious given the month between posts here. School is going, not as smoothly as it was in the beginning but it is going and for the most part we are enjoying our new curriculum and the addition of Classical Conversations. I am thoroughly enjoying the community aspect of CC. During Essentials class I feel like I'm back in high school writing notes on my white board to the other moms sitting back there with me and stifling giggles. The competition is fierce in those chairs along the back wall during math drill time :)
Speaking of CC. I had my first day tutoring last week. I subbed for the 6 year olds. It went well but I have a lot to learn! I am learning to let go of my procrastination habits but that is going to take awhile to chip away at those old habits.
As for the six months......today I had a six month checkup at the oncologists. I had forgotten about it due to the fact that it never made to my calendar. A phone call Wednesday afternoon sent my heart racing and my head traveling down all sorts of paths. You see an e-maginary friend announced this week that breast cancer is claiming her life. She supported me through my mastectomy with helpful advice and prayer, so how is it this damned disease is taking her out of this world and I got off with surgery? Don't get me wrong I am grateful for my health but incredibly sad to watch someone go through it and not come out ok. Some might chalk it up to survivors guilt.
So with dread I walked into my appointment.....after drying the tears that fell on the way there. I barely made it through the blood draw as two bald women walked by me as my hair fell past my shoulders. The doc spent all of 5 minutes with me and really didn't discuss my iron issues when I brought them up. He claimed the low numbers for me were a result of menses and nothing to be concerned about. WHAT??? Then why did he comment almost two years ago that my red blood cells were puny weak and any other negative adjective you could imagine. Why did he say I probably had an absorption problem an recommend iron transfusions?? Why in the past two years have I wasted over 24 hours getting said infusions stealing 6 days from my family? So I am done with this doctor. Finding a new one brings on all sorts of other issues. If you have never had to sign on with an oncologist then consider yourself blessed. The questions they ask feel like you have one foot in the grave and are just waiting to give you a shove the rest of the way. Did I mention that my husband is out of town so I dealt with the emotional trauma that these damned appointments bring on my own? Friends stepped up and heard me out, helped with the kids etc but John gets me, nothing in this world makes me feel better than to be wrapped in his arms. Must be what it feels like to be wrapped in the Fathers arms.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Character Traits
We spent one day in the Magic Kingdom with our two youngest. The older three hung out with their grandparents all day at their home and then drove over to downtown Disney to have dinner together. The park was not that crowded and the littles found a few characters to hang with.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Goodies I love in our school room
I have a few things I love about our school room.
The Room~
First off I feel blessed to have a space dedicated to the purpose of schooling my children. This room was originally designed to house a pool table but educating 5 kids seems a better purpose, my 8 year old disagrees. I don't have a current picture of it but will in the next week as I reveal all the changes I made this year to our setup.
My walls~
I convinced my sweet husband that gluing cork to the top half of the school room walls was a brilliant idea. He went along with my plan and we corked the walls several years ago. Now my kids can stick what they want up there.
My Timeline~
I stole this idea from a friend of mine. The timeline is from Knowledge Quest and I zipped it down to our local Mardels to laminate it for sturdiness. The figures are from Sonlight. Amy Pak also has them.
My storage containers~
I picked these gems up at Garden Ridge I think after seeing the idea in a pottery barn catalog. I spray painted the lids red and voila storage containers that hold crayons, markers, pattern blocks and whatever else I need them too..
My maps/window shades~
I picked these maps up at our local school district surplus store for about $20 I think. They fit perfectly over our windows and store up out of sight behind the cornice when not used. We live in Texas and our state is a little prideful so we have two huge maps of Texas on each one :)
The Room~
First off I feel blessed to have a space dedicated to the purpose of schooling my children. This room was originally designed to house a pool table but educating 5 kids seems a better purpose, my 8 year old disagrees. I don't have a current picture of it but will in the next week as I reveal all the changes I made this year to our setup.
My walls~
I convinced my sweet husband that gluing cork to the top half of the school room walls was a brilliant idea. He went along with my plan and we corked the walls several years ago. Now my kids can stick what they want up there.
I stole this idea from a friend of mine. The timeline is from Knowledge Quest and I zipped it down to our local Mardels to laminate it for sturdiness. The figures are from Sonlight. Amy Pak also has them.
My storage containers~
I picked these gems up at Garden Ridge I think after seeing the idea in a pottery barn catalog. I spray painted the lids red and voila storage containers that hold crayons, markers, pattern blocks and whatever else I need them too..
My maps/window shades~
I picked these maps up at our local school district surplus store for about $20 I think. They fit perfectly over our windows and store up out of sight behind the cornice when not used. We live in Texas and our state is a little prideful so we have two huge maps of Texas on each one :)
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