Fact or Science Fiction?

I wish I could remember what this is called, but the kids and I were fascinated by it yesterday at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It is about the size of my hand and wiggles its way through the water. It is always interesting taking all 5 children somewhere by myself, (Ron was in a conference) but they were terrific - even Connor who was enthralled with all the fish.

Happy Birthday Connor

We made it through ...

...a possible surgery scare at 2 weeks old

...Brandon and Tyler

...a sick winter

...Brandon and Tyler

...a very real scare, helicopter ride and hospital stay at 4 months

followed by 6 weeks of going NO WHERE

...Brandon and Tyler

...a sort-of-sick spring

...Brandon and Tyler

...Andrew and Joellyn learning to drive

...Brandon and Tyler

...crawling up the stairs

...falling down the stairs

...Brandon and Tyler (enough said)

...learning to walk

Happy Birthday Connor

Rain, rain, go away (maybe not)

Rainy days call for some indoor activities even though Brandon and Tyler would rather be outside playing with the new Civil War guns on the new swing set.

Rainy days make moms nervous - what to get the kids to do that doesn't include electricity?

I love this picture.

Trip to Gettysburg, Part 2

Brandon and Tyler enjoyed our trip to Gettysburg even more than I expected. A gun and a hat each (one blue and one gray, of course) has already provided for hours of fun!! I get a big kick out of watching them outside as they fight each other and then join together to fight the enemy.

















They are SOOO serious!!

















Most of the time :)

Trip to Gettysburg

We spent the day on Monday, July 3rd at Andrew's favorite place on earth - Gettysburg National Military Park. We were able to enjoy a beautiful day and the special lectures offered on the anniversay days on the Battle at Gettysburg. The kids (above) are relaxing at Devil's Den waiting for their Dad to read every inscription on every monument. We started the morning learning about the battle at Little Round Top and then went to check in to our hotel only to find out that they couldn't find our reservation. They searched everywhere and unfortunately I have forgotten to bring the confirmation number with me, but I knew they had charged my card so finally we called the Discover Card to verify that me card had indeed been charged. This whole time the staff of the Travelodge was extremely helpful and worked with us to solve the mystery of the missing reservation. They finally figured out that I had made the reservation for June 2 instead of July 3 and that is why my card had been charges - because we had not shown up. The manager graciously gave us rooms that night for what had already been charged to my credit card. If you every go to Gettysburg - give the Travelodge a try - they have great service!

Then while the rest of us took a rest Ron, Andrew and my dad did a three hour walking tour/lecture following the North on the last day during Pickett's Charge. Then we ended the day at a campfire talk about General George Meade - Connor didn't enjoy that one very much!

Connor didn't particularily enjoy the hotel room either, so he and mom (me) ended up going for a ride in the van at 3:00 am and then just sleeping in the back so we could all get a little sleep. The next day Andrew, Joellyn, Brandon and Tyler were supposed to go to State College, PA for the fireworks with my Mom and Dad, but because of the thunderstorms headed that way we they decided not to take the risk and we all headed home. Which got a little scary when we hit the thunderstorms and Mom and Dad's windshield wiper motor was broken. We had to pull over once, but ended up really pushing it to get home before dark. Thankfully we made it!!

Picture Update 2

More pictures of Connor. These have been taken at
various places over the last couple of months. I wish
knew how to arrange them better - but I'm still a
beginner at this. What a cutie!!

Picture update

Connor making goofy faces

Family trip to the Cincinnati Zoo.

These things fall into the "I can't believe it" catagory:

• Next year (June, 2007) I will have a high school graduation (Andrew) and a kindergarten graduation (Tyler) to deal with (and still a one year old at home)
• If they both make it Joellyn will graduate from high school in 2009, Andrew from college in 2011, Joellyn from college in 2013 and Brandon from high school in 2016
• If both boys progress accordingly, Tyler will graduate from high school in 2019 and Brandon from college in 2020.
• Then Tyler will graduate from college in 2023 and Connor from high school in 2024
• Our last boy (Connor) will not finish college until 2028 when Ron and I will be 62 - that seem like a really long time from now!!!

I am getting really tired just thinking about it!!

Happy Birthday, Brandon

I got so busy with life that I missed my post on Brandon's birthday.

Brandon, born on May 18th, 1998, 9 days after Ron graduated from medical school in Indianapolis and 3 weeks before we moved to Danville, PA for Ron's residency. Poor kid! Completely sandwiched inbetween two other very big life events.

Ron's residency program started right after Brandon was 6 weeks old and Ron was determined to get him to smile before he started. And he did!!!

Brandon is finishing 2nd grade and loves math, recess and reading. After reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with his Dad, he continued reading the series on his own and is now on Prince Caspian. He tolerates his older brother and sister, fights with his younger brother, Tyler, and adores his youngest brother, Connor (almost a little too much).

Brandon is a joy to have in our family and we are so thankful for him!!!

Favorite

I keep threatening to send this picture into a magazine - I think it is that good - maybe I just really like the person in the picture :)

Reminiscing

THE MICHIGAN FAN TURNS 17 TODAY


This is going to sound incredibly self-centered but I'm going to say it anyway.

I CAN'T POSSIBLY BE OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE A 17 YEAR OLD!!!

I don't look old enough, I don't feel old enough and I don't act old enough!!!!

Someone explain to me how time went by so quickly.

I absolutely, completely remember 17 years ago (yesterday and) today. To make a long story short it was the second scariest day(s) of my life. I was 31 weeks pregnant with my first child. It was a simple, routine prenatal visit that turned completely upside down. Blood pressure VERY elevated, lots of weight gain in the previous week, protein overloaded, headache = preeclampsia. The doctor said we had to go immediately to the hospital - no going home to get the already packed bag, absolutely no stopping on the way - just get there ASAP. Once at the hospital, medications to try to relax and bring blood pressure under control, blood taken every 6 hours to moniter progression of the preeclampsia. A night spent in the labor and delivery area of the hospital listening to other mothers labor, trying to relax. A rude awakening at 6:00 am to take more blood and the doctor in my room at 6:20 am to let us know that he was left with no other options but to deliver the baby right away. We (Ron and I) were given 4 minutes to call parents, to cry, to pray, to deal with having a baby TODAY.

Andrew James Wesley Smith was born at around 7:00am Tuesday morning, March 28th, 1989 weighing 3 pounds 5.4 ounces and he was 16 inches long.

Andrew James Wesley Smith was released from the hospital on Wednesday morning, May 31st, 1989 a few days before his due date.

We are so thankful for Andrew!!

Favorite kid picture of the week

What a face!!



Tyler Ronald Morton Smith turned 6 last Wednesday, March 22nd.

This expression shows his personality in ways I could never describe with words :)

We are so thankful for Tyler!!!!

ONLY IN AMERICA...NO WONDER OTHER COUNTRIES THINK WE'RE NUTS

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire, among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued....

AND WON! (Stay with me now)

In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable "fire" and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure the lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART....

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and $24,000 fine.

This is a true story and was the First Place Winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

A Blessing

Coonor continues to do well. He is finally sleeping at night, napping during the day, eating on schedule (his own, of course) and smiling at his equally happy parents, brothers and sister.
Praise the Lord!!

the scariest night of my life

He's a little bigger than this now, but this is the most recent picture of Connor that I have. He just gave Ron and I the scariest night we have ever had as parents. Now remember that we have had our share of sick kids starting with Andrew being 9 week premature and in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for 2 months and continuing through a Christmas Day 2003 emergency room visit with Tyler for apparently swallowing a puzzle piece, we have never been through anything like last Wednesday night. Connor had been sick since Sunday night, Feb. 19th. It just seemed like a cold that was getting worse. After Ron and the kids came home from church on Wednesday night Ron commented that I should make a doctor's appointment the next day for Connor because he was not getting better. Ron went on to bed while I tried to get Connor comfortable enough to sleep. At about 11:00 pm he started crying in a way I had not heard before and I would try to change positions or walk around with him and I could get him to clam down for a few minutes. Then about midnight nothing I did would calm him down. He sounded especially bad because he had lost his voice the day before because of the cold or the crying - I'm not sure which. About 1:00am I went upstairs to where Ron was trying to sleep and told him I couldn't do anything for Connor. Ron held him for a couple minutes and then said "Ok, let's go." We headed to the hospital on the other side of Springfield because we knew they had Peds. We arrived at the ER (Connor screaming the whole time) and were taken very quickly back to a room. They started to work Connor up - history and physical, draw blood, swab his nose, sent him for an xray. All the while Connor is SCREAMING. They check to make sure he didn't have a scratched eye or a hair wrapped around a finger or toe - anything the try to figure out why he was so inconsolable. At one point I was holding Connor and he started forcing his head back which made the doctor start thinking meningitis. She took Connor out of my arms and laid him down on his back on the bed and started talking to us about doing a spinal tap - which Ron let her know very quickly that he was not opposed to that. At that point, the doctor decided to wipe the gunk(is that a word?) out of Connor's eyes and nose and as she did that all of a sudden he sucked in a deep breath and stopped!! It was quickly obvious that he was no moving air - Ron grabbed him off the bed and put him upright trying to help him . Ron had Connor facing away from him and toward me and I could see the changes going on all over that little face and I knew right away that he could not move any air. I think I said to Ron twice "He's not breathing!!" At that point, Ron went into doctor mode and started barking out orders. The first thing he said was, "This baby needs to be intubated." (Which means a tube down his throat to breath for him). As soon as he said that I immediately grabbed my phone, left the room and called our parents to get them praying. When I came back in the room, they were bagging Connor (forcing air into his lungs) and since he responded they did not need to intubate him. They continued bagging him until it was clear that he was breathing on his own and then they put him on an oxygen mask. At that point his labs came back and Connor had tested positive for RSV and they decided to send him to another hospital better equipped to handle it. We decided we wanted him sent to Children's Hospital in Columbus and they worked on getting him transferred and calling the helicopter.

There is so much of this story that I am leaving out because it would take way too long to write and I'm not that good of a writer, but I can tell you that the hardest decision we made that night was to send Connor off in the helicopter without one of us with him. I wanted Ron to go because I wanted him to be there to make any decisions that needed to be made and he wanted me to go because he didn't want me to drive by myself. In the end we chose to trust the Lord and the helicopter crew with Connor and for Ron and I to go together in the car.

To make a very long night and day and night and day short by the time we got to the ER in Columbus we could see improvement, by the time he was admitted to the Infections Disease floor we could see more improvement and each couple of hours we could see even more improvement until he was ready to go home on Friday night.

RSV is a virus that looks like a cold and most of the time doesn't go beyond that. However, in babies can be very dangerous. Premature infants are particularly vunerable to his virus. As a virus there is no treatment other than time. The doctors and hospitals can give support in the way of oxygen, but cannot do anything other than support the baby and the parents through the progression on the virus.

We are extremely thankful for

• Ron not getting a ticket or in an accident while driving as quickly as possible,
• the Springfield ER staff who resonded quickly in this emergency and once Connor was stable made quick arrangements to get Connor to the best place for him even with Dad breathing down their necks,
• a helicopter crew who knew what they were doing and took good care of Connor without Mom and Dad breathing down their necks,
• the Columbus ER staff who assessed Connor quickly to get him to the right floor,
• the Infections Disease doctors, residents, medical students who know how to care for babies like Connor,
• the nurses who know how to care for babies like Connor and Moms and Dads of babies like Connor,
• family you can call in the middle of the night knowing they will start praying immediately,
• friends who won't yell at you for calling before 7am, who step in immediately with meals, rides for the other kids, phone calls to check up on Mom and Dad,
• Andrew and Joellyn who took over at home with taking care of Brandon and Tyler, feeding themselves, and keeping the house picked up, and finally
• to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who gives a peace that passes all understanding.

Happy ending - Connor came home very late on Friday night as continues to do well. He is still sick with a bad cold, but breathing normally, being cute and making the rest of the family very happy. He and his mom (me) will not be going anywhere for a long while.

In Hopelessness and Near Despair

In hopelessness and near despair
I cry to you, my Savior!
My guilt is more than I can bear,
I have not earned your favor.
You know me as I really am:
How much is truth,
how much is sham;
Why should you heed my pleading?
I see my heart's condition now,
My heart's diverse affections

Why do I love the things you loathe?
I'm torn in two directions:
Now prodigal, now pharisee,
O God, be merciful to me;
Who else but you can help me?
I tremble as I feel your hand,
Expecting retribution,
Yet hear no curse or reprimand,
But grace and absolution:

With you there is forgiveness, Lord,
You speak the sweet, consoling word,
And I am sure you love me!
Forgiven, free of guilt and shame,
Grant me some time to render
A gift to glorify your name,
Love to reflect your splendor:

This world must know what I have learned,
That you bestow what none has earned:
THE JOY OF FULL FORGIVENESS!

Words by Jaroslav J. Vajda
Music by Lee Dengler


Choir practice is a highlight of my week. We work on a wide variety of music and right now the one above is my favorite. The music is haunting, sad and in a minor key until you sing the word "absolution" when the chords become uplifting and in a major key. We spend our time practicing and then time in Bible study and prayer - what a sweet time of worship. The whole evening - worship in study, worship in prayer and worship in song.

Random Thoughts

Who every heard of a 16 year old boy who doesn't want to get his driver's license?

How can you hope to help your kids with their homework when your husband (a former high school math teacher and now doctor) helps your daughter with her proof in Geometry only to have his daughter's Geometry teacher say it is all wrong?

What do you say to your 7 year old who only does half of his homework and doesn't want to finish the rest because "at least it wouldn't be an F"?

How do I make myself get up and clean the kitchen when I would rather continue to sit here holding my new baby reading blogs?

Andrew

Andrew, my 16 year old son, has finally been given permission to enter the world of the blogs. You can find his at www.ajwsmith.blogspot.com

Need a good laugh?

Click on the link above for the best laugh I've had in a really long time :)

Christmas 2005

It has taken us a few years, but we finally got a Christmas picture taken in our own home in front of our own fireplace. Ron had every lamp in the house lighting up our little picture and he still thought it was too dark.

Our family took a wonderful opportunity offered by our church to participate in Advent. Our pastor wrote a devotional book highlighting the four weeks before Christmas - Hope, Peace, Joy, Love with three purple candles and one pink candle - each standing for one week of Advent. Each night we, as a family, lit a candle on our Advent wreath corresponding with the week we were in, we had a devotional, sang a Christmas hymn and had prayer together and then on Christmas Eve we lit all four candles plus a white candle in the middle to represent the Christ Child. It was a special time each night giving us an opportunity to celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior.



On the morning of Christmas Eve, we flew to California to spend the holiday with my parents and my brother and his wife and kids. One of the special things we were able to do was to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library where the Air Force I used by Ronald Reagan was just retired and opened to the public in October. It was impressive to see this huge airplane inside the building. If you ever visit Southern California, don't miss seeing this important part of history. In the picture below we are standing in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall. We tried to expain the significance of this piece of wall to Brandon and Tyler - Brandon wasn't following - just notice his feet :)

Angels, from the realms of glory, wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who from creation's story, now proclaim Messiah's birth:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ
the newborn King.

Shepherds in the fields abiding, watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing, yonder shines the infant Light:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ,
the newborn King.

Sages, leave your contemplations, brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations; ye have seen his natal star:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ
the newborn King.

Saints before the alter bending, watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending, in his temple shall appear:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ,
the newborn King.

All creation, join in praising God the Father, Spirit, Son;
Evermore your voices raising to th'eternal Three in One:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ,
the newborn King.

by James Montgomery

1771-1854