Wake up!

Jason and I have a clock in our bedroom that gets its time from radio waves. So, it should always have the correct time. I have noticed at least once in the past, that the clock had an incorrect time. Our alarm is set for 6:35 am in order to get Jonah out the door at 7:05 and the other 2 students out at 7:30 am. I usually press snooze at least once.

This morning the alarm rang and I pressed snooze. It rang again 5 minutes later and again, snooze. I continued to press snooze till I looked at the ceiling (the clock beams the light onto the ceiling) and saw that it was 7:20! Agh!!! I yell at Jason and Jonah that they have to get up NOW. Jonah begins to cry out, I am going to be in so much trouble... I get up and go downstairs to wake up Caedon and Ashlyn so that they have 10-15 minutes to get ready. As I am trying to get the very tired kids up, Jason yells from downstairs to check a clock. I do and it reads, 3:35! Stupid clock was wrong and the alarm went off to boot! Thankfully, we all were able to go back to sleep but it gave us a good story to tell!

I have put in another clock that isn't radio controlled in our bedroom, just to keep this from happening again!

It has been a trying week. As most of you know, Ashlyn went to the hospital on last Saturday with a stomach ache. After 7 hours and three consultations from 3 different drs., she was rushed into emergency surgery to remove her appendix. During the 2 1/2 hour surgery, the Doctor had to dig around to find the large, infected appendix tucked under her liver. As she was trying to remove the nasty thing, it ruptured. They flushed it with saline and antibiotics and inserted a tube to allow for drainage. After midnight on Sunday morning, she was wheeled from the OR in one building, outside in freezing weather to the intensive station on the other side of the hospital. She was in a very small room till 2-3 hours later, when she began to wake up and then vomit. The vomiting lasted off and on for 2 days, I think in reaction to the anesthesia. She was put into a room with a 6 year old girl who had her finger operated on shortly after Ashlyn's surgery was done. The doctor said she was very glad that she did the surgery when she did and was glad that Ashlyn's appendix hadn't ruptured before she got her into surgery. Ashlyn had 5 days of antibiotics and pain medicine. After Tuesday, she was able to begin to eat and drink a little, things such as jello and soup. By Thursday, she was feeling much better and we thought she might get to go home by Friday. We were prepared to make a defense for letting her go home (doctors tend to keep patients longer here), but the doctor said she thought she could go by then. By Thursday afternoon, the doctor went ahead and released her and we were happily bringing her home by 4 pm. By just 8 pm Ashlyn had spiked a 102 fever. I was concerned that her infection wasn't gone so we called the hospital and they recommended we bring her back in. So, just 5 short hours at home and she was back in her same bed at the hospital. They tested her blood but gave her nothing for her fever. They just observed her for 36 hours during which her fever went down to normal and they never gave her any antibiotics, fever reducer or IV fluids. Finally, Saturday afternoon she was back at home. TO STAY. The doctor said it was a virus she must have picked up from one of her brothers, but i find that a little strange.

She is doing really well and will have just 2 small scars. She goes back to the doctor tomorrow to check on everything. She must stay out of school for another week and no PE for 4 weeks, which she likes!

I tell this story for several reasons. The main one was to tell about how sweet the boys were to her while she was at the hospital. When they talked to her they were so concerned and asked how she was feeling and doing and would always say, I love you. (they don't say this). Caedon has continued to ask her if she feels okay and told her he keeps asking because he thinks she looks sad. He keeps asking if she has another stomach ache, ....? It was a good time for the kids to think of their sister rather than themselves. Jason and I are glad that everything is better now and we get to sleep in the same house and bed again. My family is intact again. And Ashlyn wouldn't show the doctors how much pain she was having and was very shy. She had to stay a couple nights alone and by the end was saying how she was okay because she knew the doctors and nurses now.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far and thanks for your prayers, if you got updated. October was crazy busy and now that November has been rather eventful, I am hoping that the rest of the month and December will slow down!

Chaos

Just a couple pics from an apple pie I made the other day for house church. Amy said it looked like it came from a magazine, so I thought I would put it on here so this blog would have a picture!

Germans have nothing really like pie, so it was fun to take it to the house church and introduce them to an american favorite!

Speaking of chaos, October is about to begin, and it will be a crazy one. (Can you believe it is already October? This year has flown by! )

The first few days of October will be filled with 4 boys whom we are taking care of for 4 days while their parents take a romantic trip to Paris! Jason drives down Friday to Prague to pick them up. On Saturday, we have the 2nd annual Bible Fest and so we will be dragging all 8 children to a church in another area of the city. Our children will be the interpreters because it will all be in German! Jason will take the boys back home on Monday.
On the next Saturday, my parents arrive for a two week visit. We will get to take a trip to Paris to celebrate our 15th anniversary while my parents watch the kids. Since the kids will be out of school for those two weeks, we may head up to Berlin and the Saxon Switzerland park just 30 minutes from here.
Just a few days after my parents leave, we will host a family for a few days so they can see our beautiful city and get to know the work going on around here.
Then it is Halloween (thankfully, they don't do that much here) and on to November.
Whew!!!!!!!!!

School Days

Going back to school is a crazy time here. Especially this year with three beginning school and one having a new school and schedule. Jonah started Gymnasium this year (5-12th grades). Here is a picture of him walking to school on his first day. His school begins at 7:30 and he is out most days by 1:15. (on really hot days he gets out by 11am because the school gets too hot and the teachers and kids can't get work done!)

Ashlyn and Caedon go up to the grade school around the corner. They begin at 7:50 (which I wish was the earlier beginning time since it takes just 5 minutes to walk and not 20, like Jonah) Here is a picture of Caedon at his desk on his first day.

We had to buy new notebooks and folders and workbooks for the big kids, but Caedon had to buy everything. Here is picture of his backpack. It is about the same size as a normal backpack, but hard and boxy. They also cost anywhere from $50 to over $200. The cheap ones probably wouldn't last the whole 4 years he will probably use it. We paid a whopping 89 euros for Caedon's. I am not sure what that is in dollars now but at least $120. (I am not above letting my child be different from the other children to be more economically frugal), but even a decent, normal backpack would be 50 euros and just wouldn't really work for his needs. The Germans want their kids to have the extra support and padding and they carry a lot in the backpacks. Caedon's backpack also came with a gym bag for his gym class and the "federtasche" for his pens, pencils and markers, and a bottle for drinks and a little container for his "second breakfast".


Here is a comparison shot of the various backpacks the kids carry. The first (left) is a cheap backpack that Jason or I would use (or the kids on a field trip), the middle is Caedon's new one and the third is Ashlyn's. We bought hers and Jonah's when they moved to the new school around the corner 3 years ago. I thought I was doing good buying them (1/2 price-88euros) but they are really more like what 4th-7th graders carry. Thankfully, Jonah and Ashlyn didn't care enough to complain or be upset. Ashlyn is finally carrying an "appropriate" backpack and Caedon has at least three classmates with the same backpack!

Jonah is going to have to rent a locker this year because his backpack is just too heavy for him to carry. He has small books, but also workbooks and folders and spiral notebooks and he is complaining how heavy it is.

Random Pics

Just a few pics to help illustrate the busy month I have had. Here are 3 bicycles, two of which are new from the flea market on the river. Logan has been asking for a bicycle for a long time, but they are too expensive to buy for the short time he could use it, so we lucked out and found 2 bikes in good condition for Logan and Caedon.

I bought new dishes to match the kitchen.

A bill we received from UPS for a whopping 1 cent. Apparently when one of our volunteer girls paid UPS to deliver her camera she under payed by 1 whole cent. Do I send the penny in the mail or make a 1 cent bank transfer?

This outlet fried just shortly before Jonah and Jason left at the end of May for Jonah's class trip. We hadn't yet gotten around to calling someone but the husband of the couple we had coffee with yesterday, came over last night and fixed it for free,yea!

The 1500 piece puzzle I finished about a month ago. I had to document the accomplishment before I broke it to pieces and put it up to do again later.

The kids just finished up school for the year (see Dindresden blog) and so we are about to enjoy our 6 weeks of summer before 3 kids begin school on August 10th.