Interesting week......

I tend to be a bit of a hermit.....so when the opportunity arises to spend alot of time with other folks I will usually shy away from that.  But this week was busy and did not have any time to be a hermit.

Went to church to celebrate their 50th anniversary - beautiful service!  I can honestly say I never expected Bishop Scott to pull out his cell phone and read his scripture reading from his phone!!!!   I kept thinking that 50 years ago I am sure no one would have dreamt this would happen!

Then we had our Rotary Picnic - there we met 6 Australians here as part of the GSE team, Father Alphonse and our K-9 Police team, Jason & Kosmo and Tony & Carla.  It was a beautiful evening shared with approx 70 other folks.  The food was prepared by Rich and Pat Denno - wonderful as always!!

Here is what I learned from our Australians:  Chickens and turkeys are called meat birds;  If a young person wants to farm they must acquire their family farm or it is much too prohibitive for them to do it on their own;  They have had a 20 year drought with a 2 year flood;  Lamb is primarily their main meat source; Vegimon is a spread they use like peanut butter;  Good Day Mate is generally their greeting of choice; They have a horrendously large population of poisonous snakes and spiders;  Malbec wine is not their first choice of wine;   Our food is much saltier and sweeter than theirs;  Kangaroo and crocodile are considered exotic meats - not eaten on a normal daily basis;  Whew, there you have it - and I know I missed some things, but interesting silly trivia to start your Saturday!

Habitat for Humanity had their annual fund raiser.  I had the pleasure of sitting with our new home recipients.  I can say, they are such a sweet family!  Three kids.  11, 7 and 5.  Those three children were able to carry on a conversation and were so very polite!  Chad and Mary Frey were there.  I was dubbed Auntie Kim to their babies.  Awwwww, I have another two kiddos to add to my list!

Had the joy of having lunch with one of my adopted kiddos - Tana. 

Spent time with a group of coffee buddies and discussed ethics.  Ending each statement with "is that wrong" - and based on perceptions there was always a grey area......but many laughs.

Had the sadness of watching a community mourn the tragedy of losing one of our own in a car accident while coming together for the children that remain.  In those tragic moments people here come together.  Very proud of our community.

Life has a way of slowing us down........we must take take that time to listen.....

Wow, just read my last blog.  That was a hard one.  Well, continuing from that moment, the doctors took xrays, did really cool 3-D pics of the heart, did a bunch of tests and it showed that his heart is functioning properly and perfectly healthy.  So, they don't think it is heart related.  It could be spasms of the esophagous (not sure if I spelled that correctly) or it could be spasms of arteries.  BUT in order to come to those conclusions you have to run more tests.  Jerik was tested out.  So, if this happens again, we will do the rest of the tests but for now that is  going well.  Thank you for the prayers and support, they meant alot.

Can't believe how quickly time has flown!  It is almost the 4th of July!!!! Ericka got her Associates Degree in the mail yesterday - we are very proud of her, now she will be on her way to K-State!  Jerik completed his Freshman year at Emporia - he has learned so much - more about himself than he even realizes!!!  I am not sure these two kids realize exactly how proud we are of them - but we are! 

We still have Ray and Olivia in our lives - while I have not given birth to these kids they are very much our family.  I would never consider doing anything without including them, they bring joy, smiles and laughter to our family.  It's funny, we were thinking of a mother's ring the other day and Tim said well, how many kids are you including?  If it's all of them, that ring is going to get awfully big!!  LOL!  But it's true!  I love my own children as well as the children we have gathered along the way - I would name them all but inevitably would be in trouble if I missed someone! 

We had our 25th Anniversary in May.  We went to dinner at Herford House at Terradyne, that is a nice place to go.  Very quiet and loved the atmosphere.  The next 25 years will be so interesting!  I don't want to rush it, but look foward to knowing someday how it turns out!

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July to everyone!!!!

Taking each moment as they come.....this is hard right now

Spending alot of time in my head today.  Our son, a week ago, gave us quite a terrible scare.  He had severe chest pain.  The kind of pain that causes you to hyperventilate, the kind of pain that makes you stare as if you are a deer in headlights, the kind of pain that makes you tremble.  This is my child that never complains or ever registers pain.  The pain was a 10.  And he said he had been having these pains for a year and we didn't know it.  He was scared, we were scared.  We took him by ambulance to the ER and they found nothing.  Told us that this was muscular pain. 


Over the years, I have come to trust my gut instinct.  And this time my gut was saying that the fact that he is a "physcially fit 18 year old male" (as was repeated a few times to us that night) - did not mean anything in this case.  This kind of pain was real.  If it wasn't heart then it was something - I cannot find it - but someone can. 


So, I have prayed for a week that I was being an overprotective mom and that I was calling a cardiologist for no reason.  And today we met with Dr. James Neel a Cardiologist at Galichia.  He was kind and not dismissive.  He ordered a 30 day heart monitor, blood work and an EKG all to be done before we left today.  Then JT was going to get a nuclear stress test scheduled once he consulted his class work.  OK, I could breathe - we had a plan.  Good.  We left and went to lunch. 


Then shortly after lunch, the dreaded call came.  Kim - this is Carla at Dr. Neel's, calling to let you know that the EKG came back abnormal.  I remember asking what that meant.  And of course, she said that it could be several things then stated that it meant more testing had to be done.  And soon.  So, this afternoon we headed back for a CAT scan with CTA.  It is a cat scan with dye that is used to look at all arteries and chambers.  If there is something abnormal, this is better than the nuclear stress test.   So, now we are waiting again, 7-10 days for the results.  My guess is that if it is bad we will know sooner than later. 


So, trying once again to take each moment as it comes and to not worry past this minute.  Word of advice, ALWAYS, ALWAYS trust your gut instinct.  Only you know your family like you do.  Pain happens for a reason, sometimes it makes no sense but always follow through.  I am still praying that we find nothing, but my breath was taken away for a split second when I heard the words abnormal EKG.  We will get through this and I am ever so thankful for insurance and the freedom to choose our Dr.! 


If God leads you to it, then God will lead you through it.  I must keep that in the forefront of my mind.