Anna's Arm Appointment

We had a very full day going to town today for Anna's orthopaedist appointment.
But Anna did wonderfully!

Here, she's enjoying a few minutes with a bare arm right before going in for more x-rays. I was surprised to see a bit of yellow-green bruise still on her elbow. I can only imagine what it must have looked like a week ago.





















The bad news is that it is definitely fractured. The Dr. was great with both Anna and the boys, whom Rebecca brought back to the room to see how a cast is put on. He kindly obliged me and showed the x-rays to the boys, who were duly fascinated.




















Anna was a trooper for the whole appointment. She cried when we first got back to the room, as they needed to lay her down to measure her height. But the nurse was wonderful, and Anna warmed up to her right away and calmed down. She was really cooperative for x-rays. When we had to lay her arm out palm up, she cried out in pain, so I knew without the x-rays that it was indeed still fractured! But she sat really still for getting the cast put on...we were all impressed with how well she did-thanks for the prayers!
(Is she not the cutest thing?!)






















Here, we're just waiting for the cast to dry before heading out. When they asked her what her favorite color was, she pointed to her pink shirt, so pink she got! The dr. was questioning what I wanted to do for her cast...that we could do another splint/soft cast to take off for bathing if we wanted to, depending on how active she is. I just shook my head and started to say "She has two older brothers..." I didn't even need to finish my sentence and he was nodding my agreement with a hard cast! The good news is that the cast only has to be on for three weeks, not the six we were expecting. Thank you, Lord! Three weeks is much more manageable!


















After having lunch with Rebecca (thank you so much for coming to wait with the boys!), we ran errands...some of which were stopping at 2nd-hand stores to get some shirts and a coat from which to chop off the right sleeve. I think we're set. One broken bone down, hopefully none to go!

Cool with her cast

Just a few shots of Anna over the past few days...

We were instructed to continue to ice her arm a few times a day, and the boys are loving the extra movie-watching going on around here. Jacob was totally into the movie. Anna was just happy to have recently found her long-lost sunglasses!




















A few days after Anna broke her arm, my mom brought her several books about hospital visits and such. One is The Boo-Boo Book, which is wonderful! It cracked me up to see Anna laying her own casted arm on the picture in the book, totally unprompted by anyone!

Wagon Ride!

How much fun can one Gramps and three children have with a tractor and trailer?































































A LOT!!!!!

But riding in the wagon might not be as much fun as driving!

Here's Prayin'...

Tuesday.

We head to the orthopaedist for Anna's arm. They will x-ray again, and proceed as necessary.

Anna insists that "my owie betta, mommy."

We'll see! Join us in praying we won't be dealing with a cast for the next six weeks!

Post-Baptismal Service

After a baptism service, the tank becomes...

A swimming hole
















A dog dish...















A baby splash zone...




















And a wading pool!

Baptism Service

It was very exciting this summer to have several people who wanted to affirm publicly their desire to follow Jesus by being baptized! Mark has had the privilege of baptizing over a dozen people in the years he's been a pastor, and it's one of our favorite parts of church life!





















I don't suppose that in every church the pastor has to buy a stock tank through the local Ace Hardware, then haul the water in his pickup to fill it up just to baptize some folks, but he does what needs to be done!














We gathered outside our house for the service, and what a perfect day. We actually had some really hot, sunny days this summer (I mean a real hot...like in the 80's). And this was one of them! For baptisms in the past, we've used a hot tub at a local B & B. Then we tried to do a baptism with the new tank in the church on Easter Sunday, but, well, after about 4 inches of water in the tank, the, umm, floor wasn't going to hold out! After the floor started buckling, the water was pumped out in short order!

Mark with the six believers he baptized...two are teenagers, one was a summer visitor, one a young man who was saved this past winter, and another man who was saved a few years ago, and has been growing steadily ever since!
God is good!!!

Dianne's Visit!

In July, we enjoyed a long-awaited visit with our friend Dianne from Missouri! I think we figured it had been six years since we had last seen her (which was actually also the first time we met her!), and it finally worked out for her to come back to Alaska.
It was great for our church family to finally meet the woman who has been showering us with blessings for years now...and we were thrilled that she was able to be with us for a baptism service and bonfire/cookout!



















Anna and Dianne enjoyed getting to know each other!





















It was a great visit...hopefully we won't have to wait another six years to have another one!

Mountaintop!

Note: I'll put this in it's proper place back in JULY eventually!

To finish off April's trip up here in grand style, my wonderful husband rearranged his schedule on Saturday so that we could have a "girls only" day. We headed to Girdwood to visit April's cousin and ride the tram up to the top of the mountain. It was a gorgeous day, and we were thrilled to be headed off on an adventure together!





















After the easy part (riding the cable car up), we decided to hike up even further...and had a fantastic snowball fight in July!


















When we got to "almost the top," there was a climbing rope teasing us to clamber up just a little further. I, being in my sandals, didn't intend to give in and climb up the rocky slope. But April's description of the view was just a little too tantalizing, so I ventured forth, sandal-footed and all. Somehow April ended up with most of the good pictures!



















The climb down was a little more nerve-wracking than the climb up. But it was a thrill, and worth it by far! To give you just a glimpse of perspective, see the colored spot in the picture below on the right? That's a ski lift building. And in the picture in the bottom left? That's the same building, from above it. So yes, we hiked. I wish I knew how many feet up we were when up above the ski lift. But perhaps if I knew, it wouldn't seem nearly as impressive... :)

I hope you followed the links to check out April's pics that are posted on their blog...thanks for the memories, April!

On the mend

Thank you for your prayers for Anna!

The past two nights, despite having a hard time falling asleep, she has slept through the night! And yesterday morning she was actually standing in her crib, so she's obviously feeling less pain and is able to maneuver herself better. And she hasn't had even Tylenol...just cleared out her system yesterday, and she's still feeling fine.

Her stomach issues are largely resolved. She complained one of a tummy-ache after her nap yesterday, but that was it.

So, we're on the up and up here! I'll have to post pics later of her running around in her pj pants topped with one of Jacob's undershirts...too cute!

Prayers, Please!

Anna had a rough day today...and not so much from her arm as from her stomach hurting.

I don't understand it, really. I gave her Tylenol (plain, no codeine) before bed last night, and then she was awake from 3:30-5 a.m. She didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort. She had a BM that needed changing, and toward 5 a.m ish she said she was hungry (though I managed to get her to sleep w/ promises of b'fast after more sleep)!

But when she woke up at 9 a.m., she wanted nothing to do with food, and complained about her stomach hurting, which went on all day. I gave her just Tylenol at b'fast (in her juice), so she hasn't had ibuprofen or codeine in over 24 hours, yet her tummy problems persist.

I guess this is all just so much rambling-I'll end it here with a request for prayers for her sleep (I really don't want to see 3:30 a.m. for the third night in a row), for her stomach pain to resolve, and for a miraculous healing of her bones so that when they xray on Tuesday she won't need a cast anymore!

Thanks! :)

Oh, brother!

The boys have been both sweet and funny about Anna's broken arm. They were and have continued to be very concerned about her, but sometimes things get lost in translation, as they say.

Andrew was keenly perceptive of the first misunderstanding at hand. Since Anna and I didn't leave the ER till 3 a.m., we went and crashed at my mom's, and didn't arrive home till about 10:30 that morning.

Andrew had been up early and Mark had given him the scoop on Anna. Jacob, however, slept in, and hadn't gotten the full story.

When he finally inquired as to our whereabouts, Mark explained that Anna had broken her arm, so we had gone to the hospital and would be home soon.

I wish I could have seen the look on his face...obviously Andrew noticed the dread, quizzical expression, because he quickly piped up, "Her arm didn't break off, Jacob. It's just the bone inside her arm had a crack in it." The relief that flooded Jacob's face made it clear that Andrew had been right on it!

Of course we filled the boys in on instructions to be gentle with Anna, be careful around her arm, and absolutely no playing rough around her.

Jacob put on a soothing, sing-song voice to relay this to Anna: "It's okay, sweetie. Andrew and I will play rough together, and you can just play by yourself."

:)

Her life in a cast...day 2

Anna's been alternating between a poor little waif and one tough cookie. Part of the trouble we're having is that her alternating course of ibuprofen or tyelenol with codeine is making her sick to her stomach. So she doesn't want to eat, and giving her more pain medication on an empty stomach will just make her even sicker, and she fights me tooth and nail to get meds down her anyway...I'm sure b/c she knows she won't feel good in short order. So then her arm really starts paining her, and we're in a nasty vicious cycle.

I just give her the tylenol w/ codeine at bedtime so she can sleep. Poor baby can't stand herself up in her crib with just one arm, so she almost panics when she wakes up. And last night she started crying at 3:30 a.m....she had actually rolled herself onto her stomach in her sleep and was stuck. How sad is that?

Anyway, she was up at 6:45 and hungry, but would only eat 1/2 a piece of toast and a few bites of applesauce because her tummy hurt. The tylenol only lasts 8 hrs (she had it last at 7:30 last night), so I knew she would be hurting sooner than later. By 9:30 she was whiney, saying both her owie and her tummy hurt.

Add needing to ice her arm 4 times a day for 20 min, and we've got an ordeal on our hands.

Solution: A movie with ice pack on and a smoothie laced with ibuprofen.
Doable!


































I could tell when the ibuprofen started working...she perked right up and was ready to read and play.
Add a change of clothes for the first time since Monday night, and she was good to go! One tough cookie on our hands!
















Unfortunately she only slept about 1 1/2 hours for her nap, and is currently back to poor little waif...

She's outpacing Jacob

And that's not a good thing.
Last night, Anna got up from bed to go potty. With the potty-seat insert, she can sit unassisted...but in reaching for a book, she fell off the toilet. And we have never before witnessed Anna in such a state before-she was obviously in a great deal of pain even after getting her calmed down. So, I packed us up to head to the ER in Sol., as starting that very night, the bridge to Sew. was going to be closed from 11 p.m.-5 a.m. We could have still made it in, but wouldn't be able to make it back home. At least in Sold, we could spend the night at my mom's when all was said and done. Mark stayed home with the boys, and off Anna and I went.

We arrived at the ER around 10:30, and broken bones get you moved in much faster than fevers or concussions. Or maybe they just weren't as busy. Either way, they got us through to a room quickly.





















Anna slept the whole way there, and I had started to doubt myself for bringing her in. But her screams at getting her out of her carseat confirmed our decision for me. Mom and Rebecca met us there, and they were highly helpful in keeping Anna distracted and comfortable. The x-rays were of course the worst part of it all, having to move her arm into highly painful positions.

But while we waited after x-rays, the ibuprofen started to kick in, and she was being just plain silly! We kept her arm still, and mom and I took turns holding her. But such a sad situation shouldn't have turned out to be nearly so amusing! Here's one video to show you what I mean...it was one silly thing like this after another.




Her x-rays were not terribly clear, and the ER doc wanted to get a 2nd opinion on them. As is no surprise to me with the way God works, the orthopedic doc was actually in the ER that night helping with a shoulder surgery, he finished up about 1/2 hr. after Anna's x-rays were taken, and was able to take a look at them. He confirmed that her right humerus was indeed fractured. She did remarkably well having the cast put on. It's actually a splint for now, to allow the swelling to go down. We see the orthopedic doc. next Tues. for follow-up x-rays and a treatment plan from there, which will more than likely mean a cast for 6 weeks. *sigh*

















For now she's doing okay. Being right-handed, she needs help eating, and it has been absolutely darling to watch Jacob help her up when she's sitting on the floor. She's being quite the trooper. We appreciate your prayers for a speedy recovery!

Now to go chop off some sleeves on some older shirts...

Concerned?

Jacob was working on collecting the trash from each room in the house today.
He had disappeared into our bedroom/bathroom, and had been strangely silent for a while.

Naturally, I hollered to him "Jacob, what are you doing?"
His response?

"Good question!"