Update of Cindy

Thanks for the prayers. Cindy did pretty well in getting her teeth cut out even though we ran into a few unforeseen complications on the way. First the two wisdom teeth that the oral surgeon thought he could get out without cutting away any of the bone were deeper than the X ray showed so all four required removal of pieces of bone. secondly, Cindy has mutated teeth with three roots on each. The third root is also a very long root that had to be drilled out on all four. Even though this procedure took twice as long as a normal removal of impacted wisdom teeth, the oral surgeon feels that it went well and does not expect any problems like paralysis, punctures into the sinuses, or other such risks. She will probably have quite a bit of pain and twice the swelling as normally expected but he has armed us with a pain medication, a pain medication/ anti inflammatory, a stronger anti inflammatory,and an antibiotic. She will take all of these , except the strong anti inflammatory for a week or more. She will go back in a week and hopefully get the stitches out then. Your prayers for a quick recovery are most appreciated.

Please pray

This evening I ask for prayers for Cindy tomorrow. First of all she has a financial aid work shop in the morning from which she will be going straight to the oral surgeon. She is having all four wisdom teeth removed. All four are impacted .Two are not so bad but two will require the removal of pieces of the bone which they are impacted in. Usually this would be done with general anesthetic, but due to Cindy's Pseudo cholinesterase deficiency (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudocholinesterase_deficiency)
and the fact that this surgery with general anesthetic has a good chance of causing her vocal cords to go into spasm which requires the paralytic Succedocholine to be administered to paralyze the vocal cords and stop the spasm from causing permanent damage, we have decided that Cindy's life is not worth taking the chance so she is having the whole procedure done with Novocain. Please pray that she has no more than minimal pain and no complications. Please also pray for a quick recovery . She has taken a week off of work and hopes to be 100% by the weeks end. Thank you all in advance for your prayers !

Busy !

I am still praying about the cruise deal but the thought of passing it up is getting easier to bear, so I think we will be passing on this one. Besides that it has hit me that the kids only have a few more weeks of summer vacation and in that time, Cindy will have her wisdom teeth along with parts of the bone which they are stuck in removed( Aug. 12th ). Then we have to make sure that the boys have everything that they need for back to school . So I think this month just may be close to capacity and every time I try to push beyond capacity my stress level seems to go with it. Oh well there will be another time that things will work out perfectly .
Tonight Mike and I will go to The Funny Farm comedy club. For the last few years we have had summer passes and have frequented the club a lot. However this years busyness has had us missing most weekly shows . It has gotten so bad that when Mike called for reservations, the owner asked if anything was wrong. No Mike replied just graduations, small trips and life. The biggest was that Cindy didn't have a Drivers licence until last month so we had to pick her up at work at ten thirty which would be the middle of a show. So unless she was off we couldn't attend and of course when she was off we had other things planned( sigh) but now that she is driving, it is working out again. so hello Dave, We're back !

Am I nuts or what ?

I haven't even completely unpacked the suitcase from North Carolina but I opened my E mail this morning to a cruise offer that I so would love to take. It is a two day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau Bahamas. Since I have never been on a cruise, it would be perfect and I could squeeze it in at the end of the month before school starts and the best part is that for Mike and I both the cruise part would be under $300. The problem is the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. Delta has a decent sale of less than $200 per person but there is a stop in Atlanta involved and if any flight is delayed, late, or canceled, I could miss my boat so that makes me nervous. US Air has a pretty good sale too and it is a straight flight which sounds good but still there is no guarentee that we get there on time. Mike doesn't have unlimited vacation so leaving a day early is out of the question. Oh what to do? I asked Mike and he said his only concern is that we don't have passports but I read that we only need birth certificates, social security cards, and photo Id,for this cruise which we have. If we do end up going it would be just Mike and I and the kids would be home alone. This should be Ok because Cindy is 18 and has a car and if an Emergency arose, my parents live fifteen minutes away. I don't know what to do, deals like this don't come by every day. So I am off to pray about this while unpacking the suitcase from last weekend and do some of the dirty laundry within. A quick prayer that God lets me know wether or not he is behind this deal and intends for me to go or not is surely appreciated !

More Karate school greatness !

Michael let me know that I left out an important greatness of this new combined school. Saturday Michael was talking to Sensei Tim and was told that he would be offered a Jr sensei position once the school is merged. Many schools do this instead of having a separate beginner class for younger students that get lost quickly in a regular class. For the first usually forty five minutes of class the beginners warm up with the regular class and then break off with the Jr instructor (sometimes an adult who is a colored belt but Since Michael is a 15 year old with a black belt they felt him better suited) This Jr instructor teaches basic stance, kicks, punches, and basic Kata) after the forty five minutes , which is plenty of time to wear out a beginner, the beginners are dismissed and the Jr instructor goes back to the main group for the more advanced part of class. Not only is this position good experience for Michael, but it usually comes with the "pay" of free karate classes. Now that gets my attention. None of the final details about this have been worked out yet and wouldn't be until the merge takes place but the very offer has Michael's head swelling with pride ! Ok I admit that Mike and I are a little proud ourselves too !

New Karate school

Last month it was official, Michael and Robby's karate school was merging with another karate school. This school that they are merging with is run by the very instructor who introduced my family to Shoto Kan karate when my baby brother Curt joined many years ago. The assistant instructor there ironically was , though much older, a fellow student of Curt's that tested for his black belt the same day as Curt did. These two men had not had a school in years but just opened this one maybe two years ago. The whole merge process so far has been a win win situation for our family. First off, tuition did go up but because we have two enrolled we get the second at half price and will pay exactly the same as we have been for now. Second, instead of the twenty minute drive to class ( if we take the rout through a not so good neighborhood, longer if we bypass this neighborhood )we now have a five minute drive. These are all great things but the most wonderful of all is that the karate school is located inside of a really nice health club with every weight machine, treadmill,exercise bike, elliptical, stair machine, spinning bikes , etc that i can think of being in a gym. Also there is a pool, hot tub and sauna.And the best news is that the families of those enrolled in the karate class are allowed to use the facility free of charge while their family member is in karate as well as a little before and after with the karate member.Just for fun I looked at the price for a family membership and on sale for a month only the price would be $800, what a perk !
Though the merge will not be finalized until September, the schools have invited members to join each other for classes this month. This means that we can go Tuesday and Thursday to the school that the boys have been attending and Wednesday and Saturday to this new school, so this month we double our karate for free. Considering that Robby is almost ready to test for his green belt, this is wonderful ! Michael started going to both last Saturday with Curt and since Robby was in North Carolina with us he started last night. During the class I spent 1/2 hour on treadmill and stationary bike, 1/2 hour on weight machines, and 1/2 hour in the pool. Mike did some weight machines with me as his back could handle and then hit the pool and hot tub. I used to love Curves but working out is so much better if Mike can join me so I think this merge was a great idea !

Were back

We got back from North Carolina at about one thirty AM Tuesday morning. We went straight to bed as Mike had to get up at five to get ready for work. Cindy had a little more sleep as she didn't have to be at work until two however she generously got up at nine to go with me to pick up the dogs from PetLodge .This was a good thing because the dogs for some reason were clingy. Clarissa would not take no for an answer as she sat on my lap ( human like on her butt) nuzzling my cheek as I tried to drive away. Clancy was just happy to be in the car and stood on Cindy's lap as we drove off.
The trip itself went very well. It was great to see family that we haven't in awhile. The kids, as always , got along great together.
The only thing is that it is sad when the trip ends. We have had Mike's Dear Grandmother within an hour of us for years and didn't realize how good we had it. It was tough to leave everyone but especially to say good bye to Grandma. After all at ninety years old, our next visit may not be under as good of circumstances. Actually this is true for all of us, we just never know.
This has got me thinking. I challenge each of you to let someone close to you know that you love and appreciate them today. Do something, anything for them to show your love and appreciation for them. I know I intend to