update on my dad

Someone remind me to update you on my dad. I gotta go to sleep now. You'll see why when you read the blog entry below.

My pile of laundry of a life

I just thought of my friend from Romania a second ago, because I have a HUGE pile of laundry and at the bottom I found some shirts and pants that should not have been at the bottom of the pile because now they need some major ironing. That's when I said "I wish Iuliana was here. She would LOVE to do this ironing" That is actually a really good metephor. The PILE of laundry represents my life right now. It is overwhelming, overpiled with too much to do and worry about and be in charge of. So much that I haven't been able to sleep. I am up now at 4:51am, because tossing and turning usually ends up in less rest than if I just get up. It gets my muscles all in a twitch because I stress out that I'm not sleeping and then I start wondering why, and then all the stress of life comes to mind and I get up and start typing. I'm trying to pray through it, instead of type through it, but I think it is too much to piece together to even be able to pray about. That's where you come in. Sometimes you just need someone else to pray and to sort out the situtation with God for you. Since I know so many prayer people, I thought I'd bring this current mess in my life to your attentions. Please pray for me that I "iron" out the things in my life that need ironing and then that I "clean out my closet" and find a way to put the thoughts in my mind away in the right places and get the "pile of clothes folded" so I can relax and do more important things, like play with my son and teach him new songs. The ironing out, is the processing through all of the things I'm committing to and finding a way to fit them into my life, the cleaning out the closet is trying to figure out what to eliminate from my life, and folding the clothes is getting my life back in order so I can sleep again and work and live without stress and a constant feeling that there's something I should be doing.

You're probably wondering what in the world is causing me all this stress and piles of laundry, right? I'll list it off systematically and maybe that will help me confirm what to cut.

It probably strated with the baby girl that I watch needing to come to my house 3 times a week instead of 2. That only lasted a couple of weeks, and then my business (tutoring and hiring others out to tutor) started a big BOOM, so I had to get someone else to replace me to watch her for one of the three days. That gave me more space to work on my business and spend more time with Matthew and my grandmother on that day. That time with Matthew and Grandma didn't last long though, because I realized I needed to take an online teaching class to keep my credential current, so I signed up for that and added a book to read to my life and the impending class to the load of stress. If that wasn't enough, before the book even arrived, a former student's mom called to see if I could find teachers for her daughter to be schooled at home for 16 hours a week. I found two for her and it was working out, but only for 2 weeks, before the second of the two teachers suddenly quit and I am now forced to go through the interview and screening process to find another teacher for this girl. I also had a number of other students looking for teachers. With the pile of resumes I had to go through for the first girl, I ended up hiring someone for another former student who had been looking to come back but needed a teacher and one other from my church who is teaching math with me. That means in the month of Oct, I added 4 new staff members to the three I already had. WOW. No wonder I'm stressed. But that's not all. The very last thing that I've undertaken has me thrown for a loop, but I really believe there is no one else for the job and at least I have help. My good friend, and mother of the baby I watch has agreed to join me in leading the baby and toddler ministry at our church. It is a group of 13-17 kids who desperately needed the dedication and organization and leadership to have a much better time in the room they stay in while their parents are at church. So while I've been looking for a teacher to replace the one who quit on me, I took it upon myself this weekend to organize the toys, arts and crafts, scheduling of team members, and many other duties for the little ones at our church. To top it all off, my son was sick and my husband was out of town for 4 days. It is now Monday morning, 5:15am. Both baby and husband are asleep and I am without sleep, trying to deal with the pile of laundry that is my life's stresses piled on top of each other.

So what in the world can I cut? I am trying to work that out. I have a couple of ideas and am going to try them out in my mind before attempting to pull them out from under the pile of clothes, in fear that the whole pile will tumble down and create a bigger mess all over the floor. The guest bed is calling to me though because I have an out of the country guest coming and I have no choice but to remove those literal clothes from the bed and then the "clothes" from my life so that I can welcome him properly and spend time with him shopping and catching up on his life. Yes. My former supervisor from Ukraine is coming for 3 days and I'm so excited to have a chance to DROP all of the balls I have in the air and just cater to him. But before I can do that, I need to find places for those balls so they don't just run off and leave me chasing after them in the days after my friend leaves. Well, I don't know where all these metaphors are coming from, but they're helping to keep me in check and realize there are ways to get out of the juggling act and the constant piles of laundry. PRAY and eliminate! And I think I'll go for a walk with Matty and the baby today to sort all this out in my mind. Plus they would love to walk to the park, well, they ride in their double stroller, I walk. As if I have time for that. But I should really make it. It would be good for us. Please pray that I take more walks, get more sleep and unpile the enormous pile of stress I am faced with. Thank you. And find some time to go grocery shopping so we can have some food in the house.

Hope all is well with all of you. Write me back to let me know.

Matty and his buddy Kari

Matty and his buddy Kari,
originally uploaded by write2france.

Uh Oh, Karina has noticed and started taking Matty's toys. What will he do? He'll have to share!!! Karina is the little girl I watch 3 times a week. She is a year younger than Matty, but a great playmate for him. He will be learning to share before he gets a brother or sister and will be oh so happy about doing so when he or she arrives, whenever that will be. Thanks for breaking him in, Kari (that's what Matty calls her)!


Click on this photo to see it bigger and view more recently taken photos of Matty! (I signed up for flickr.com and it's a cool way that I can finally post pictures to my blog. That other way never worked for me and Mark and Dan never did help after offering. That's ok. I didn't bug them to help either. Too much going on. I like this way better than the piccolo anyway) Gotta go get Matty. Enjoy the pics. France

Life as a mom of a 1 1/2 year old - never turn your back

I finally have a free minute to write a blog entry. It's been a while and so much has gone on. Matty (who is now 18 months, 21 pounds and 33 inches tall) has been constantly wanting to color, swim, watch a movie and play with pillows on our bed or simply walk around the house trying to find something to climb - all which require immediate supervision. The movie on the bed used to be something I could have him do while I emailed, but this throwing of pillows and jumping up and down has caused me to have to be in there. So now I'm up early so I could get a shower in. That has been eliminated from his awake time unless Daddy is home because he had been happy playing in the pack n' play watching a movie until I found him climbed up to the corner about to jump out after a shower last week. Needless to say, I've been a little smelly lately.

I also increased the amount of time I have in home day care with my best friend's daughter (now 6 months and crawling and pulling herself to standing like crazy) from 2 to 3 days a week. I figure they're only this little once, so enjoy the chaos now and do things like shower and write on the computer when they start school :) I used to get computer time in when Matty went to sleep at night, but now I'm so exhausted from the day, my bed time has been about a half hour after his.

I should mention that Matty is not an out of control or dare devil child. He is just exploring and finding ways to get higher. He's pretty cautious as compared to some stories I've heard about more reckless, accident-prone children. He is learning to get down stairs and he always holds on the rail or holds his had up to Mom or Dad to take it. And I'm so excited about the language he's developing. He's in that "copying stage" where he'll attempt anything we ask him to say. My favorite is, of course, "I love you Mommy", which comes out a little muffled, but I know he means it as he repeats it over and over while saying goodnight. He had a couple of weeks where he protested going in his crib, but thankful that is over while he's going for the "say night night to red bear and doggy and lamb (stuffed animal pals)" and then we put him in the crib with them and stay to rub his tummy and say prayers and night nights and I love yous until he calms down to the point of letting us leave the room so he can curl his hair and listen to his music till he's asleep. What a procedure. This replaced reading books and rocking in the chair which he figured out to be his nighttime routine a couple of weeks ago and completely refused to pick up a book anytime after 8pm. I am glad we get reading books in more during the day now, so it's not associated with sleep. We'll have to see how long this saying goodnight to the animals game is going to last though. He's on to our antics :)

Hope all is well with everyone out there on my blog list. Drop me a line and let me know what's going on with you. Blessings. Francine

answered prayer

Thank you for all your prayers. My dad came out of the surgery well. He was also progressing well afterwards, even though he was still sedated. The nurses told him after he woke up the next day (he was out for about 24 hrs), that he was their star pupil that day because he came around so fast with his vitals, etc. I'm so releived and praying for his moods and mom's ability to remain sane during his recovery.

God is faithful and looking after us. I believe He is definitely getting my family's attention. I coudn't believe this was actually happening, until Mon morning when I woke up at 2:30am and realized, "they're cutting my father's chest open today - I have to go see him". I prayed and prayed that he would be ok and that he would have a change of heart spiritually after such a scare. Yesterday when I got to talk to him after the surgery, the prayer started to be answered. He said he knew that God saved him and that was because of my prayers and that He didn't call his number yet because he was supposed to be around longer to be with his grandchildren. WOW. An almost verbatim answer to the prayer I wrote out that morning for him. I didn't think it would come so soon. I continue to pray that he will be a changed man. The man who told me in high school he didn't have time to read the Bible, he had to work. Now he is talking about retiring and isn't even concerned about golfing in 2-3 months. He actually said "I have all the time in the world to golf. I'll golf with Ted (who is in heaven) when I get there. I just have to get better. When something like this happens, you really think about what matters." I should have had a tape recorder for this. My mom and I will have to attest that he said that when it is time for him to really complain that he can't golf yet. I have never heard him talk like this in my life. Praise GOD!

PRAYER FOR DAD

I know the Lord is watching over him, but I thought
I'd get all the prayer we can get tonight and tomorrow
morning. My father was rushed to the ER Sat night
because of chest pains which turned out to be a heart
attack. He is scheduled for early morning
double-quadruple bypass surgery in the morning -
whichever is needed when they get in there. Please
pray for his protection and survival through the
surgery and for my family as we go through this with
him. He will have a rough time recovering and resting,
as he always does after surgeries. This is a BIG one
though, so we'll all have to be on him for rest and
diet regulations.

I think God is definitely giving him a chance here to choose to
get to know Him better and spend quality time with his
Maker. He has already beentalking about early
retirement and taking it "easy".

Thank you in advance for your prayers. For my MOM TOO>
She's been through quite a lot lately with taking care
of her mom, now she'll be taking care of her husband
and quite disappointed they didn't get to take their
Vegas trip they were planning to leave for this TUES
and the heart attack just happened to fall on her
birthday. We went out for a big dinner with the whole
family last night and then it happened after she'd
already gone to bed. Thank GOD the pain woke my dad up
in his chair and he was able to get to the hospital to
"get fixed up", as he puts it. Please pray for my
mom's patience, strength and comfort in the LORD to
continue. Thanks so much. Francine

Grandma is FREE

My grandma finally got released from the nursing home and is in her new apartment. We were so relieved to have her out of the nursing home on Monday night. Mom was wanting to bring her home with her for a couple of days to make sure she was ok on her feet before bringing her back to the apartment, the place where she fell and broke her hip, but Grandma insisted she'd rather go straight to her own place. Now she's been so overwhelmed with all the changes that she's been crying and fighting with my mom, scared to go to sleep at night and calling me each morning to say "what do I do now?". I spent the last two days with her to relieve my poor mother of all the stress she's been under since January - having her live with her, selling her house (Grandma's), finding her an assisted living apartment, then having her fall and break her hip, go through hip surgery and living in a nursing home for a month without being able to walk, and now finally getting back into the apartment and she cries. My sister and I went yesterday with our three kids and had to leave her in the dining room with all the other old people and she almost started to cry. That's when my sister said it's like the first day of kindergarten. She was right. Then I came back at dinnertime and my grandma did cry, at the table. I had to put a stop to that so she wouldn't embarrass herself and no one would want to talk to her. I told her she was fine, just like my sister tells her 4 year old son. "We're at the restaurant Grandma (really it was the dining room to her place - that looks just like a Hiatt Hotel - but she thinks it's a restaurant). You do not cry here. We will talk when we get back to your room." So she stopped and I had to leave her alone to go get something and see if someone would sit by her and be her friend. Very much like dropping off your kid at kindergarten or preschool. Someone did come sit with her, her old friend from 15 years ago who my mom originally went to visit and later talked Grandma into living there. Her name is Rose and she's wonderful. She gave Grandma a pep talk and cheered her up. She told her to make new friends and stop relying on her family. Matty and I went back and ate with them and Grandma was doing a lot better. Later, Chris took Matthew, who had been the star of the whole place, running up to people at their tables to wave and try to beg for more ice cream, and I brought Grandma back to her place and set her up with some beautiful white board creations - so she had her schedule and notes to remind her of things attached to her fridge. And we had a little talk. I told her how much she encouraged me in college when I was lonely or wanted to quit. She always told me how strong she was to be a widow for so long (as long as I've been alive) and that I had to be like her. So the tables have turned and I gave her the same speech, saying she had to be more like herself too. And that this too will pass. She is much like a child now, and has to re-learn a lot of things, but at least she doesn't have to re-learn how to pray. She said she was scared at night and couldn't sleep, but then she prayed to God and felt better and went to sleep. I told her that's exactly what she told me to do when I was alone and scared in my house in college (when roommates would come home at all hours and I heard strange sounds) and it worked! She has always told me that when you pray to God, there He is, everytime! He gives you comfort and company and love, all the time. She has no doubt about that to this day, just needs to be reminded from time to time. Especially now. She is getting through yet another trial in her life and when she gets to the end of it, we will have to remind her to look back at where she's been, because she won't remember. But we remember for her. Then I have to remind my mom that Grandma has dimensia and that's why she doesn't have the correct sense of reality. (I'm wondering now if dimensia might be contageous.) My mom has been so incredible with all of this. I'm entirely proud of her and hope to be as together and selfless as she has been with my own parents and kids when/if they really need me.

FINALLY feeling better - and Grandma gets to walk again!

I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like I'm figuring out what makes me feel better. Vegetarianism is quite the ticket at this point and small frequent meals... I'll see what other tricks my doctor has up his sleeve tomorrow. Grandma gets to put weight on her leg today. She'll be re-learning how to walk for the 4th time in her life. First, as a baby, then after the big accident 33 years ago when my grandfather died and she had been in a full body cast for 3 months, then this Jan when she fell and hurt her back, and now after the hip surgery. She is such an inspiration as she keeps on kicking! Hopefully she'll be able to go back to the assisted living apartment SOON! I'm going to visit her today while one of my staff members watches moody Matty. He wasn't so nice yesterday at our Mom's group family BBQ - he's got at least 3 mollers coming in. And very fond of the word "no" right now. At least I know it goes both ways. I respect when he says no and he does for us :) He was more fun to be around this morning when I had the baby and she slept for 3 hours and Matty and I worked in the garden, organized my make-up, ate lunch and hung around. It was a very quiet morning. Now the baby is playing and rolling - unbelievably quick developer- she rolls both ways at 3 months old - and Matty is sleeping. Better go check and make sure since I hear his music getting louder for some reason. I'll write more after visiting Grandma. Hope she is up and at 'em today!