The Puddles

My husband was recently asked about whether or not he got paid for the EMT stuff that he does and whether or not Chris does this on church time.  When I heard this, my first reaction was fiercely protective and I was ready to take on every last nay sayer in the bunch.  I am so tired of the negativity sometimes. But then . . . I took a moment to reflect from the other point of view.  Maybe they haven’t heard the whole story.  Maybe they missed the newsletter article that he wrote about it months ago.  These things happen.

Chris volunteers (yes. v-o-l-u-n-t-e-e-r-s) his time for Angleton EMS.  Once a month and only on his day off for a 12 hour shift.  Why Angleton? Well, it’s 80 miles from Conroe  and . . . my brother works as a paramedic and my sister-in-law also volunteers there occasionally.  I grew up near Angleton and my mother still teaches in Danbury, so I love the fact that he gives back with my brother to my home community.  And although this is the same brother who enjoyed tormenting me growing up, I love the fact Chris gets to hang with Will and bond over something that they both enjoy.

Chris only gets one day off a week.  He may occasionally get a Saturday or a half a day here and there, but he tries to get one full day to himself or for the family.    We are finally close to family after living 10 years out of state, and I love the fact that Chris wants to hang with my family on one of those days.  And he does something that he loves.  Some people go hunting, some people garden, some people golf.  My husband’s hobby is being an EMT.  He loves it.  It is so different from his world as a pastor.

I have a friend who is a doctor’s wife, and she told me once (during the early years of Chris being a pastor) that when we go on vacation we needed to leave town.  Otherwise, even on your days off you can still get called in.  She is so right.  I knew when I married Chris and when we decided to have children that his calling as a pastor is 24/7.  And that we will need to put his role as Pastor above the family’s needs sometimes. I understand that.  But if he doesn’t recharge his own batteries once in a while he is no good to anyone.  The church or his family.  For Chris . . . being an EMT recharges his batteries.  Others may think that this is odd, but that is my Chris.

The better question to have been asked is . . . Does your family mind that you give up one of your days off to serve as an EMT?  And the answer to that is . . . No! We don’t mind at all.  My philosophy for his church ministry and for his hobby as an EMT is the same.  When I need a pastor to be there in an emergency (sick child in the hospital, some one is dying, someone has deep questions about faith), I want a pastor to be there.  When I dial 9-1-1, I want an ambulance to arrive quickly.  It takes people to do that.  I never want anyone to be alone in those difficult moments.  And I am willing to sacrifice our family time with him in order for him to be there.  Chris is a really good EMT and a wonderful pastor.  Trust me you want him to be there with you in those hard times.  He is so often a calming presence in a sea of chaos.

So . . . I am so proud of Chris.  I love the fact that he gives so much of himself to others.  What a wonderful example he is to our children.

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So tired.  That seems to be a common theme here.  Lots of late nights.  Even for the kids.  My coffee consumption is at an all time high.  Girl Scout meetings and church bells last night. Parent Meetings at school tonight.  Visits to the doctor, trips up to school to volunteer, more meetings, and did I mention the laundry piled high, the house that needs cleaning, and the workload that is piled to the ceiling in my office.  Today is slightly overwhelming.  But I must go . . . I have to go up Ainsley from school, argue with the attendance office (who sent me an email that Ainsley was tardy yesterday), stuff folders for one of the teachers, make phone calls for Girl Scouts, make phone calls for  . . .    Ugh!!!

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Don't look Grandma! We are making cards for you.

See my shirt, "Blame it on my sister, I'm innocent."

Our Saturday was . . . great!  I am not sure how else to explain it. It wasn’t especially exciting but I think that this will be one of those Saturdays that I will look back and reminisce  about.  The only pitfall of the day were some tears for the girls and that Dad wasn’t there to share all of it with us (he was working.).  The rest of it was good.

The kids let me sleep until 8:00am (sweet, sweet children). So we had breakfast by and my first cup of coffee by 9:00am.  God bless the children, they requested cereal for breakfast!  Awesome. No hot breakfast to cook for any of them.  Then we went upstairs to clean our bedrooms and get ready for the day.  Again . . . awesome.  They actually did it.  Of course it helped that we got a phone call from Aunt Debra saying that she and Gordon wanted to come over and play today.  Score!!  They were all motivated to get their rooms clean in time for G to arrive.  Luckily Aunt Debra came around 12:00pm.  Plenty of time for all of us to get a majority of our chores done before they arrived.  Because as soon as G entered the house, it was a go for fun time at the Lake house.  My sweet children (after some coaxing) took Gordon upstairs to Ben’s room and played to the music.  And if the photos are any indication (I let Madie have my camera to take as many photos and videos as they wanted.), they were having a great time.

We were even able to let Aunt Debra run a quick errand to the store.  We ate lunch while she was gone, where Gordon just ate his weight in yogurt.  By the time, she got back we were reading books to Gordon (that Ainsley picked out and helped read) and getting him ready for a nap.  So Deb switched with me and let me run up to church to do another errand. The day ended with Gordon and Aunt Debra staying for dinner.  An awesome meal of one of Grandma Grace’s.  (She makes it better, but sometimes you have to fend for yourself when your mom is not there to make it.)

This may seem mundane to anyone else, but this was great for us. My blood pressure has certainly dropped at least 20 points. We got to spend time with family, hanging out doing things that make us happy.  A great day for us all.

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When I asked Ben to take some things to the mail, he darted upstairs and dressed in his Spiderman costume.  And off he went!  Complete with him humming the theme music as he ran to the mailbox.

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I finally dowloaded these pictures from my camera from Miss A’s Tea Party.  Aren’t they adorable?

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Not perfect. But ok.

Ben told me the other day that he was jealous of a classmate because she got to use a wheelchair (I think she broke her leg.). He wished that he could have something special like a wheelchair.  I guess that Chris and I have done a pretty good job treating Ben as normally as possible. Especially if he feels that somehow he needs something else to make him feel special and not like every other kid.

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We are home from the hospital.  Ben is doing great.  He can walk in a straight line and doesn’t slur his speech anymore!  As soon as Ben heard what he had to do to leave the hospital (take a drink, remove all of his attachments, and get dressed), he got moving (even if it was awkwardly) and was out of there.  The funny thing was that the nurse asked if he needed a wheelchair.  I told her no, that my boy left the hospital after open heart surgery on his own two feet and that he could handle this on his own.  Ben stops me and says, “I would like to do the wheelchair thing.”  I said, “why?” He says,” Because I’ve never done it before.”

So Dad loads him up in wheelchair and off we go to get in the car and go home.  We managed to make it home in time to get the girls off the bus.  Well . . . Chris got the girls off the bus.  I was taking a short nap. It had been an early morning after all.  Now he’s mowing the grass and contemplating on whether or not to go up to the office this evening on his day off.  The girls are home and Ben’s chillin’ in front of the tv.  The world is finally good.

By the way . . . the radiologist said he had 1500 pictures to go through and that he wouldn’t be able to finish his report until tomorrow.  So Dr. Altman probably won’t call us until next week with the results.  At this point, we are just hoping for some answers.  Good or bad. Answers are all we are praying for.

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We are here at the hospital waiting for the doctor to come in and give Ben the “I feel good” drugs. Two things that I love about TCH:

1. They have wi-fi.
2. They give Ben drugs so that he can’t remember the bad stuff. Thank goodness.

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And this time, the child was thrilled about going.  Obviously she didn’t get this level of excitement from her parents.  Chris and I both dislike going to the dentist.  Madie was so thrilled to go that she actually had a hard time sleeping last night.  Poor child.  I’ll get her head examined next week.  The dentist gave the all clear sign!  Her teeth look stellar.  Of course, this only took 1 1/4 hours to get Madie completely through a visit.  The other two children were practically asleep on my lap when Madie finally got done.

Today was my first day to volunteer in Ben’s classroom.  And this is what I learned . . . what the heck are those toys that the teachers are using to teach?  I don’t understand “smart board” and the ceiling mounted projection system.  What happened to the “chalkboard” and the “overhead projector”?  I haven’t taught in a public school for 12 years.  The last school district that I taught in, I had to bring my own computers into the classroom.  All of these new fangled items are foreign to me.  In 12 years, I have become an obsolete teacher.  Geez. I feel old tonight.

And at dinner tonight, we went all out and had Ben’s favorite  . . . meatloaf.  He helped make it with me. He and I had fun together.  And he has requested a midnight meal of chicken nuggets from McDonalds. Chris is bringing it home, but I doubt that Ben will eat it.  It is easier to wake the dead than him.  But just in case, Chris is bringing it home and we will attempt to wake Ben up in order to feed one more meal to him.  Especially since he probably won’t eat until the afternoon.  The guy is going to be hungry.  So we spend all day tomorrow at TCH.  Oh, joy.  Just how I wanted to spend my Thursday!  But I pray that we will get answers for Ben.  Whatever they are.

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It is raining and the children have decided to play in the rain.  This was the first day back to school after labor day weekend, and they all came home with a load of homework.  Even Ben. Poor guy.  He does not like homework. He struggled today. This is going to be a long year when it comes to homework.  So when homework was finally done, it was a well deserved run in the rain.

Ben goes for his MRI on Thursday, so I figure he needs some good moments to cling to when it gets to be unpleasant. He says he’s kind of excited about the test.  I’m glad he is.  He picked out meatloaf, corn-on-the-cob, and spinach (Madie’s influence) for his “last meal”.  It will be his last meal for almost a whole day, so it should be good.

All three are back in school tomorrow!  Yea, even Ainsley!  Of course, I will probably get in trouble for letting her run in the rain, but she did have a good time!  I mean look at that smile.  It makes a world of difference.  She has been living in one room for days.  She deserved to be released into society again.

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