Grandparents Day

Today was a good day, but also a little sobering.

We took off early this morning to visit my Grandma Miller and my Grandpa & Grandma Emch, who all live in northeast Ohio. The drive takes a little over 3 hours, and what a pretty drive it was! The autumn leaves that lined the highway for at least half of our trip stood out even more brightly than usual against the rainy gray of the sky.

We met Grandma Miller for lunch at 11:30 (she's in an assisted care facility in Wooster), and stayed for about 2 hours. We've found that is the maximum amount of time 4 young children can last in a nursing home! All through lunch I worried that the others in the dining room would be annoyed with the amount of noise the kiddos were making. They were very well-behaved, but definitely NOT quiet. It was so sweet, though, how many of them came over to say hi to us and tell us how delightful it was to have children around. We couldn't get Malachi to turn around and face the table, and then realized that he was busy flirting with several older ladies across the room!

Grandma showed us her new "apartment" and got out her surprisingly large collection of stuffed cows for the kiddos to play with. Even though she has a lot of trouble walking, she took us down several long hallways to see the brightly-colored birds kept in one of the common areas.

We then headed over to Rittman, to the nursing home where my Grandpa Emch is staying. He had surgery to remove cancer in his bladder several months ago, and hasn't been doing great. There's no telling what each day will bring for him, health-wise. We spent another couple of hours with him, my Grandma and my mom, who is helping her pack up for a move to Columbus next month.

At first Karis and Malachi wouldn't go near him. I think the tubes and hospital bed scared them a little. But by the end of the afternoon, Karis warmed up to the point that she actually played a game with him that involved touching his nose and getting her hand "snarfed." And Moo took every opportunity to tell Grandma & Grandpa that he's now 2, and he had an Elmo cake for his birthday, which Mommy made, and Daddy didn't make it because he had to work. Too funny. And Grandpa may have lost some of his health and memory, but he certainly hasn't lost his sense of humor.

I keep mulling over the day, and I can't help thinking that we need to do this kind of thing more often, and not just with our own grandparents. It was amazing to me just how much just seeing a bunch of crazy, snotty kids can brighten the day for so many people. I think it was good for them, too - to learn about encouraging others by saying hi and stopping to chat a little. They did great today. I was so proud of them.

It's difficult to see my grandparents getting older and more weak and frail. It's difficult knowing that this may be the last day we get to spend with them. Of course, this is true for anyone - we don't know how many days are ordained for us to live - but when someone is very old or very sick, this reality is so much more evident. I'm thankful to have my grandparents, and I'm thankful for all of the older saints that God has placed in our lives. It made for a long day, spending over 6 hours in the van and getting home late tonight, but today was precious, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I Hear You

Last Monday, I received a prosthetic ear bone. It amazes me what modern technology, and a good surgeon, are capable of. But mostly I see it as a gift from God.

With each pregnancy over the last 7 years, I've lost hearing. After Rachel was born I'd lost about 75% in my right ear and 25% in the left. After some testing, the ENT specialist informed me that due to hormonal changes, one of the three bones in my middle ear had malfunctioned, but could be replaced (via laser surgery) with a small prosthetic bone. So, six years ago, I got my right ear back.

Since then, I've slowly lost the hearing in my left ear, until it was basically useless. So, last Monday I had surgery once again. I was disappointed to have to go under anesthesia this time (apparently I was being "uncooperative" - but as I can't recall any of it, I can't defend myself on that count!), but this week has been somewhat surreal. Life suddenly got LOUDER.

For the past several days it has come and gone - sometimes I can't hear a thing, while other times it feels like everyone is yelling through a megaphone right into my ear. This is "normal", the surgeon says, and could last for several months.

I see this as a gift for a number of reasons. But there's one unexpected gift I hadn't even thought about: the gift of music. I didn't even realize how "fuzzy" sounding everything was on Sunday mornings, just sort of dull and the tones always sounded a little off. But this morning . . . WOW. Amazing. I was able to worship like I haven't for a long time, overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of hearing a room full of people lifting their voices to the Savior; the crystal clear instrumentation; the ebbing and flowing and intermingling of harmonies. It all felt like it was right there inside my head! It sort of reminded me of when I got glasses for the first time, and was blown away to see every leaf on every tree in vivid detail.

I think that tomorrow morning, and many mornings to follow, when the kiddos all wake up yelling and carrying on, I will be tempted not to refer to this as the gift that it is (or when Danny starts to snore and I can no longer roll over onto my "good" ear). But I am so grateful for a God who not only gives me what I need, but lavishes on my so many things that are just . . . gravy. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of this morning.

A Time To Work, and a Time to go on Vacation

Last week we headed into uncharted territory . . . our first ever family vacation!

Our destination was New Bern, NC, a beautiful, historic city located at the convergence point of 2 different rivers. We were about one hour from the Crystal Coast, 3 hours north of Myrtle Beach and 3 hrs. south of the Outer Banks. On the map, the star marks the location of New Bern, and the narrow strip of land off the coast, marked "Emerald Isle" is where we took several day trips - to the beach, aquarium, and Fort Macon.

To be honest, we had no idea what to expect, and were a bit fearful about how the kiddos would do on the 12-hour drive. At the last minute, we decided to leave on Thursday night around 11, instead of Friday morning as we'd planned. Genius! The kiddos slept OK - not great - but did just fine and were awake for only about 5 hours of the trip. Since they hadn't gotten a ton of sleep, we all crashed on Friday night around 8:00! (Danny had only slept for about an hour, and I'd gotten about 3-4 hours.) It was totally worth it.

Since the weather was somewhat rainy over the weekend, we stayed around our condo, used the pool & workout room, and visited a nearby fossil museum. Despite the nauseatingly evolutionary flavor of the museum, we all enjoyed the displays of huge shark teeth and other fossils discovered along the North Carolina coast. The kiddos particularly enjoyed the dig outside the museum, where we spent several hours and unearthed aver 100 small shark teeth.

I'd packed each of the kiddos their own "activity box", with books, coloring/ drawing supplies, and various other activities. This kept them so occupied, they didn't even end up watching most of the movies we'd brought. Their boxes served us especially well during all the day trips we took.

The hands-on paleontological dig outside the Aurora Fossil Museum


Our first 7 shark teeth! (which the wind blew back into the dig, never to be seen by us again)


We spent one day at Emerald Isle, which felt almost like our own private beach!




We walked to the end of this fishing pier, and saw a shark circling at the end of it. One fisherman told us it was an 8-to 10-footer.

The North Carolina aquarium was absolutely one of the most kid-friendly places we've ever gone. The kiddos got to witness a "live dive" - a diver spoke to them and answered questions from inside the shark / sea turtle tank. They also held a baby sea turtle, fed rainbow trout, "petted" stingrays, and saw hundreds of sea creatures, all from North Carolina's rivers & coast.


Fort Macon - a strategic stronghold taken by the north in the Civil war. The whole thing is underground and from a distance just looks like a mound of grass. It's surrounded on 3 sides by the Atlantic Ocean.



How Mr. Moo seemed to spend a great deal of our trip. Nearly every day he managed to fall into the water. One day he slipped in a giant puddle. Another day he fell into the pond behind our condo and thoroughly soaked himself. He spent a lot of time shirtless.


The "home away from home." Thank goodness for the kitchen! We ate all but 3 or 4 of our meals in, or packed them in the cooler. If not for the kitchen, this trip wouldn't have been possible.


Our accommodations included a fold-out bed, a loft and a king-size bed.


Mr. Moo got the large closet. It may seem like child abuse, but seriously - all 4 of them fought over who got to sleep there! He loved it so much that every day, at least several times, he had to take Danny or me back there to show us his "special room." He was so proud of it.


Fun with perspective. "Bern" is the Swiss word for "bear" (the city was settled by the Swiss & Germans 299 years ago), so there are lots of cool bear carvings throughout the historic district of New Bern. This particular bear was about 12 feet tall.


The "Cow Cafe" - a highlight for the kiddos. Everything was cow themed, including the large play room at the back of the cafe, where we all had homemade ice cream.


We visited the Fireman's Museum one morning and learned that in 1922, 2 huge fires wiped out about 1/3 of new Bern and left hundreds homeless. Our tour guide was VERY excited about the city's history, and we were the only customers that morning, so we got an earful!!


View from the highway, which spanned several miles of river.


The historic Tryon Palace, which reminded us of Colonial Williamsburg on a smaller scale. Everyone was in period dress - the time period prior to the Revoluntionary War.


Just one of many perimeter gardens


I found out an interesting fact: I make applesauce the same way they made it over 200 years ago! Who knew? I guess I need to find some new applesauce technology.


The way Mr. Moo spent most of our day at the palace - in meltdown mode. I thought it was brilliant, though, that they have 2 separate tour guides: one for normal people, and one for families with small children! We got our own personalized, accelerated tour through the palace, and the other guests were actually able to enjoy their tour.


Taken at a park where we ate dinner one evening


Just one of many "historic landmark" houses throughout New Bern. We spent a whole afternoon just walking the city streets.


So, thanks to the good friends who made this trip possible, we enjoyed one of the best weeks we've ever had as a family. But, as nice as it was to spend a week away, we were glad to come back home again (although I think Moo missed his closet). And we can now tell you more than you ever wanted to know about New Bern, North Carolina!