1530 miles of harmony

As I was sitting in the OB office with Andi this morning, I read a copy of American Baby. There was an article with all manner of wonderful travel games to play with your kids on vacations. Learning your ABC's by finding signs beginning with sounds. Learning to add by adding the numbers on the license plates of cars as they pass. Practicing your memory skills with the "I'm going on a trip and I'm taking a ............" game. Guessing the number of seconds it will take to get from point A to point B.

That's all well and good. We've even done a bunch of their suggestions in the past. I've even played a game where we see who can get the most things that start with a certain letter from one mile marker to another - combining several games into one. We are just wild like that.

But I'm here to testify about the power of the almighty buck. The greenbacks speak volumes. My trip meter shows we traveled 1530 miles last week without a single fight in the car. Not one tear shed. Not one hair pulled. Not one person was hit - except for slug bugs.

500 dimes were thrown into the trip fund for the person spotting motorcycles, U-hauls, planes, Super 8 signs, Cracker Barrel signs and a variety of other things over the course of the trip. Any arguing over who "got it first" and you were out of the game. Nobody was ever expelled - because there was no arguing.

I'm sure this mode of bribery isn't for everyone and that's fine. But for me - it was the most peaceful trip I have ever taken and well worth every cent. Now I just have to survive the shopping frenzy to come that $171.00 will buy for four happy kids.

Home Sweet Home

We got home from our vacation this evening. I know the kids will have memories of this trip for the rest of their lives. Everyone had a great time -- including Suzy, Teresa's family dog who had to be in the picture - even if it was through the glass door.

This post just contains a mumbo jumbo of pictures. At Amazement Square, a wonderful children's museum in Lynchburg, the kids are pictured in the trees. Carly and Ryan are having a bike race where their speed controls the riders on the wall, while Wesley checks his heartbeat, via the drum, after his bike ride is finished.
After a few days at Teresa's house in Virginia, we took off for South Carolina to visit Gwen. Once we arrived, we were in awe of the beautiful front yard and back yard view they she and her husband, Brian enjoy every day.


Well, I was in awe of that view. The kids were more in awe of this one:
The kids practiced their moves, while we "judged" them. Carly's diving technique (or at least her entrance into the water) certainly needs some practice, but she gets points for perseverance. Long after her legs were beet red from hitting the water, she kept right on practicing.







It was wonderful to spend time with Teresa and to finally get to meet Gwen after years of knowing her on-line. I was able to find one down side to the beautiful scenery. Fire ants - OUCH.

I'm just throwing in this picture of Jacob, because it makes me smile and I want to keep it on my blog. I can do that you know. Throw things in randomly. Such power.

We came home a few days earlier than we had planned on - not because I'm broke from traveling with 4 little angels but for one other reason only.........

Fear of missing the birth of my first grandchild. Sophie has dropped down considerably and is making her intentions known. The doctor told Andi on Friday that he was certain she would be delivering early. When Andi called to tell me this, we were on our way to South Carolina and she encouraged me to go on - that she was fine. So I did. After about 10 minutes she called back to see if I was still going or was on my way home. Jacob was shocked and I think she was too that I hadn't turned around yet to head home.

So I called - frequently - to check on her to see if she was exhibiting any signs of early labor. During one call as soon as she answered, I heard Big Guy yell, "NO, she hasn't lost her mucus plug yet." Gotta love a dad to be with a sense of humor.

Still, Andi was quite relieved when I told her I was coming home early. She told me that she was just freaking out on Friday night. She said it was like she had a little banner going through her head and it said, "I'm having a baby and momma's not here." Over and over and over.

Knowing that - here I am - and here I will be, until Sophie makes her entrance into the world, surrounded by people who are already so much in love with her.

Andi said the doctor told her it would be at least another week. However, this is the same doctor who told me one day back in 1984, "see you next month" and yet he was delivering my son 13 weeks early the next afternoon.

So although I realize it may still be a couple of more weeks, we can always take another vacation - while some things just can't be rescheduled. It's good to be home.

Just checking in

Everyone is having a great time at Teresa's. Jacob and Teresa's son, Ben are the same age and seem to have become conjoined twins. Jacob is certainly going to have withdrawal symptoms. We have been to some fun places, but I can't load the pictures till I get home.

Teresa babysits for a beautiful 8 month old baby girl who is makig me long for Sophie like never before. I am so looking forward to her arrival. I miss seeing Andi's belly (and the rest of her), so I will be glad to be back home.

Tomorrow, we leave for Gwen's house for a few days of visiting with her. Then we will be headed home.

Poorer but Wiser

It's 604 miles to Teresa's. Practically double the longest distance I've ever traveled with the four little kids in one day. So being the wise woman that I am, I devise a plan for peace and quiet.

I drew a chart with columns for each of their names and a column starting at 23 and counting down to zero. Each number represents 25 miles of travel. I tell each child that for every 25 miles we go that I don't have to tell them to "stop it" or "lower your voice" or break up a fight, they will get a checkmark and earn 50 cents. There were even bonus lines where they could earn a dollar if they had all the previous section of boxes checked. The most that they could earn for this leg of our trip was $15.00 each.

I figure at least part of the trip might be peaceful and I would be spending that money on junk for them anyway, so they can "earn" the money and buy their own stuff.

Turns out - money is a great motivator. I am out 60 bucks. Yes - 60 bucks. It was the most peaceful trip I've ever been on in my life. The same children that can't make the 2 mile trip to Wal Mart without fighting rode 604 miles in perfect harmony.

Carly has already figured if she is good all the way home and on the trip to Gwen's, she will have enough money to buy the new bike she wants. And me, well, I'll be the one making the trip with my sanity intact, poorer but wiser.

Vacation

The kids and I are headed out in the morning to Virginia to my friend, Teresa's. We are all looking forward to spending some time there and then, along with Teresa and her kids, we will all head to South Carolina for a few days to visit Gwen.

We don't intend to do a lot other than visit, swim and let the kids play. The three of us have been in a Yahoo Christian mom group together for about 6 years or so. I know Gwen just had one child when we joined ~~ and now she has 4. They both homeschool their children too.

Teresa has been to my house before, but nobody in our group has ever met Gwen. I'm looking forward to this trip. I've never driven this far with the kids in one day. So although I'm looking forward to the trip I'm not looking forward to the hours of driving.

I am SO NOT a nerd

Your Score Summary
Overall, you scored as follows:


98% scored higher (more nerdy)
2% scored lower (less nerdy).
What does this mean? Your nerdiness is:Definitely not nerdy, you are probably cool.

You're dang straight I'm cool. See that handy little button they provide. There's this nifty little code that goes with it with these directions: To place this image on your web page copy and paste this code: then there is a bunch of gobblgyook in a box.

The problem here is - I'm a nerd. I don't know where I'm supposed to copy and paste that. They should provide more specific directions for those of us who are nerdily challenged. So I couldn't do that part. But here is the link if you want to take the test and see how nerdy you are:

http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_nq.php?im

I also don't know how to edit the button - naturally - but I would like to clarify (isn't that a good nerd word) that I do not despise nerds - except for the candy Nerds which are banned from my house because every time the kids open them they scatter them across the floor.

As for the human kind of nerds, they are extremely helpful to us cool people when we need something technical done.

I think, although since I'm not a nerd, but probably cool, so I'm not about to research this, but I think that if I didn't get such good grades in college, I would have scored in the 1% nerd range.

The rednecks in my family would be so proud.

Carrier Customer Service

A few days ago, flush with the excitement of opening my duplicate light shade that I needed from the Hunter factory I decided to track down another missing piece from our home. A few years ago a knob broke off of the window heater & air conditioner unit that we have in our dining room. Since that time we have just used a pair of pliers to change it from heat to cold. It was no big deal. Since this room used to be our back porch before it was enclosed, this unit is the type you find in motels. I just decided to contact the Carrier corporation by email:

Sent: 7/12/2006 07:08:44 PM
To: contact.carrier@carrier.com
Subject: Customer Relations Request Brand : Carrier
Division : carrier.com
Comments : I just need to order a knob if that is possible. On the back of the knob it has the number 52CO 500394 PS (in a square) REV.B. Please let me know if this is possible and how to pay you. Thank you.

Notice it was sent at 8:44 pm. At 8:35 the next morning I received the following reply:

Dear Perri ***** : Thank you for contacting Carrier. I will have the requested knobs sent to you at no charge. You can expect to receive them shortly.
Regards,
Susan Woollis
PTAC Customer Support
Phone 800-894-6449
Let me just say the Susan Woollis knows what Customer Support is all about. She must have a major in it. When I arrived home the next day there was a overnight letter waiting on my porch - with not one but two of the knobs I needed.
I checked the DHL site for the rate from their zip code to mine for the "by 12:00 pm" delivery she had chosen:
DHL Next Day 12:00 pm - $24.26
I wonder if she would have been in such a hurry to get it to me if she knew I had waited for over 3 years before I tried to order it.

Splash Park

After the kids finished their school work Tuesday morning I took them to the movies and the new splash park. Ryan made the bad decision to NOT do his school work at home and was sad to learn that he had to do it at the park before his hot little body ever saw the water.

He just saw this picture and asked me, "does that look like a happy face?" I told him no and asked him what he thought it looked like. His reply, "a face that says I should have done my school work at home." Smart boy. Let's see what happens next time.

Everyone else had a blast at the park. Ryan did too AFTER he finished his school work.
We spent our time at the park with the caseworker who placed Wesley with us. All the kids adore her and I will always be indebted to her - not only for Wes, but also because she took Wego for me.

The mayor has said that the splash park is totally paid for with private donations. That's great. I wonder if the mayor can explain why every person I have asked had the same experience as we did when our water bills arrived this month -- an increase of about 80%.

Some things I know for sure in life

and the older I get the more I know this is true. Just because you share the same bloodlines - that doesn't make you family. Likewise, you don't have to share bloodlines to be family.

My friend, Vicki, is a prime example of this knowledge. With each passing year of our friendship, we become more like sisters. We've been through a lot together and I know I can call on her day or night. She is the kind of friend I could call at 4 in the morning and say, "I need you" and she wouldn't bother to ask why. She would say, "I'm on my way." And be praying on the drive over. My kids love her just about as much as I do.

She has 2 daughters, Meagan & Samantha that I absolutely adore. Meagan is engaged to a great guy, Mike, and we are currently deep in discussion of wedding plans. Her husband, Ed (not his real name) is about as funny as anyone I've ever met. You would never know that unless you really know him. He is very quiet normally. When I say Ed is not his real name, I don't mean it's an alias for blogging purposes. I mean Vicki didn't like his real name when they started dating so she told him, "I'm going to call you Ed." So she did. 25 years of marriage later, she still calls him Ed. And we do too.

Vicki made a quilt for Sophie. It has the colors of her bedroom in it. It is simply beautiful. The little dark spot in the second picture is not a blemish. Inside the quilt is handstitched a heart that reads:

Love, Aunt Vicki

Just a special touch from a special friend.










And Andi, knowing someone would comment that they didn't want her hiding her belly behind the blanket sends this shot your way.

Out with the old - In with the new

We have lived in this house almost 10 years and our front door has not closed even once without having to be slammed, pushed, leaned on and manipulated. We all hated it. It was one of the most common heard phrases around here -- "go close the front door good", uttered to one of the kids whenever a visitor would come over. I have found that people really don't like to slam a door unless it's their own, even when they are told, "you have to slam it hard or it won't close."

We finally decided to replace the door. It wasn't a matter of money - although doors are certainly not cheap. It wasn't a matter of know-how since they are fairly simple to do. It was a matter of just doing it. Biting the bullet so to speak and working with Bill to get one out and another one in. The genius who built our house poured the concrete in such a manner that it had to be busted to get the new door in. The board under the door had to be cut out and replaced because it had rotted. The door frame had to be heightened a couple of inches by cutting through the house frame. This of course meant drywall dust and saw dust are floating through the house, resulting in the need for a thorough cleaning. The new heavy door had to be lifted in an out at least 10 times for fitting. THESE are among the reasons it hadn't been done yet.

But now it is. The outside is blue - because it matches the shutters, not to mention I love blue. This morning Jacob and I put on a kickplate, house numbers and installed a new light. I painted the inside of the door is red. This is probably my next favorite color for my house. It is darker than it looks in the picture - more of a barn red like my kitchen. I'm not going to think about how many hours I spent putting 6 coats of paint on the inside and 3 coats on the outside of this door. But I can tell you that this door is here to stay as long as we are. You can close it with one fingertip. It is wonderful.


Yes, things have certainly changed around here. Now one of the most common phrases heard is "DON'T SLAM THE DOOR!"

And the doctor says........(drum roll please)

Got a call this morning. The ultrasound showed a "very large" cyst in my uterus, which the nurse said he would most likely want to biopsy. I asked if this would cause the cells to be there. She said no. She said the report was on his desk and after he looked at it they would get back to me, but it might be Wednesday.

About an hour later she called back and said he had looked at it and "it's all good." No biopsy. He's not worried about the cyst, since I'm not going to have more children. The thickness of the lining was acceptable. The cells were just "random ones that must have come down." I don't know exactly what that means, but I don't have to have anything else done - I don't have cancer - and I don't have to go back for another year.

Praising God - and in a weird way I'm glad this all happened. I have had at least 2 dozen women tell me they would schedule or have scheduled because of this or some have already had their Pap smears in the last week. So that is a good thing.

Again - thanks to everyone who prayed for me. I appreciate it more than you know. Now - on with the business of being a grandma to be.

A Quote from the Ultrasound Technician

"Now, remember I'm just the picture taker but, I don't see any blood vessels feeding anything."

Not sure if I find comfort in that or if it's just grossing me out at the thought of something "feeding" inside me that isn't human. Anyway, I guess I will know Monday.

Thank you to everyone who sent me cards, emailed or called me, letting me know you were praying for me today - even making sure to know what time it was where I am so you could be praying at the same time in your area of the country. That meant a lot to me and as I laid back and scooted to the edge of the table - being careful not to fall off - I was thinking of you all praying for me. I wasn't even praying for me - I was just thinking of all the people who were. I'm sure the ultrasound lady was wondering why I had such a peaceful look on my face. Trust me, it had nothing to do with the probe.

Got my mammy done too. It's amazing how much less painful that was since I lost weight. Hardly felt a thing. I spent awhile sitting in the waiting room with a room full of other half naked women - all pretending we were comfortable wearing the little gowns which only had ties working on about half of the places they were supposed to be working.

While I was there, I read the newspaper and found the information to sign all the kids up to play fall soccer. Last year when they played Carly, Wesley and Ryan were all on the same team. In some ways that is great - for practice and such. But the pressure to not miss a game is tremendous. You know if YOU keep your kids home, the team has to forfeit for lack of players. I only did that once - we actually went to the field in the freezing downpour. The kids all stayed in the cars while I listened to the parents on both sides stand around like idiots trying to decide what to do. Unless there is lightening, you are supposed to play. It was obvious that nobody wanted their kids to play, but nobody was willing to say so. I finally told them I would make it easy for them. I was taking my kids home. As I turned and walked away, I could hear them happily blaming me - "well, we can't play now. We don't have enough to play without them."

The kids and I cleaned out the van today so that Bill can take off in the morning for Mexico. It is going to be super hot there. No air conditioning. That's why they are going - to put a/c in an orphanage down there. He is excited to go and I am excited for him. No doubt he will come home with a great appreciation for what we have.

I bought myself a new chair last night. I spend a lot of time at my desk - teaching school with the occasional break to blog. While we were out and about buying a mattress for the pack and play we went by Staples to get a bookcase for Sophie. I sat down to wait while "very nice and helpful salesperson with absolutely no butt so how does his pants stay up?" went looking for it. When I left, the chair went with me. I am liking this comfort. We also picked up some packs of pencils (limit 3) for a penny each. Vicki had cleaned out her purse and didn't have any change. Sure, I thought about making her use her debit card, but in the end I let her have some pennies. She SAYS she will pay me back. Time will tell.

Took Ryan to the doctor today because his ears were hurting. He has an ear infection. We waited almost 2 hours - then had about 3 minutes of the doctor's time. We will be switching doctors next week.

Afterwards, we grabbed lunch at McDonald's and I went for a haircut. Pay attention to this valuable tip I learned today. IF you are sitting in the chair, zoned out, yet somewhere in the distance you hear the sound of buzzing - do not assume the buzzing sound is intended for someone else. I am 45 years old and never in my life has someone used the buzzer thing on me, but before I knew what was happening, I had a buzzed stripe up the back of my head. Now I ask you - at that point - what do you do? So my head is basically buzzed. Then there was a little buzzy thing to go around my ears. Again - never before. No wonder the boys squirm when Andi is doing their hair. It sounds like a 747 is landing in your ear canal. I have short hair now. Very short. Vicki was griping last week because she said her beautician made her look like she was wearing a skull cap. She felt somewhat better when I called her and told her that after my trip to the butcher shop - I mean beauty shop my hair would have to grow an inch to look like a skull cap.

Andi went for her OB appointment today. She is a "model" patient. She goes again in 2 weeks. I'm going to go this week and make the pictures of the finished nursery and of a beautiful quilt that Vicki made her.

The order form for tickets Toyota's family day at Holiday World came today. Unfornuately, the kids saw it. Now through September 17th I will have to endure daily questions about WHEN are we going.

Had an awesome church service tonight and then several friends over for pizza and yakking. All in all - it's been a great day!

And although this picture isn't me - I feel like it could be. That's about what my hair looks like and what my hospital gown felt like in the front.

Geneva - as in Switzerland - only not

I have a good friend named Cheryl. Cheryl's email yesterday contained this little tidbit:

I gave Mom your blog address. She read everything you had posted and reads it every day. So, you have a new reader:)

And I replied: Everything? That would be a lot of reading.

And she wrote back: Yes, Mom read every word you have written. She told me she had started at the beginning and read everything.

Wow. That is a lot of reading. 421 posts since I started. What restraint to not comment on even one of them. You never know who is reading your blog. I have found this out numerous times when people would say something to me and I must have looked at them like "how do you know that?" Then they say, "I read it on your blog."

So -- Welcome to my blog, Geneva. Feel free to comment. I wish all of you could meet this feisty woman. She cracks me up. Cheryl can sit and tell story after story of their escapades and keep us laughing till our sides are aching. Their late night donut run adventure is one of my favorites.

Going for my tests this afternoon. Cheryl calls her yearly testing "going for my mammy & my pappy." Get it? Mammogram and Pap Smear. Mammy & Pappy. I love it. I am so easily amused.

So -- did you get your Mammy & Pappy scheduled yet?

KABOOM

A few months ago someone told me about Kaboom. This woman swore that Kaboom would just make hard water spots or crust dissolve. One trip to the Dollar General Store and 4 bucks later, I was the owner of my own bottle of magic.

I decided yesterday to clean the inside of my dishwasher. The inside walls of the dishwasher and the spinning water arm was just covered with calcium build-up. I'm talking thick, gross, crustiness that you couldn't really even scrape off. I removed the racks, sprayed the inside totally with Kaboom and went about my business.

Ten minutes later I went back with my scrub brush. On my hands and knees I reached in with the scrub brush, ready to scrub away the nastiness with all my strength. With the first swipe, I nearly fell forward because my brush just slid through the mess. After I recovered, I went and got some paper towels and WIPED away the rest of the mess. I ran a rinse cycle with some vinegar in the dishwasher and it looks like the day it was installed.

Rest and Ront

Yesterday after we finished our school work, I took the kids to the cheap movie ($7.50 for all of us) and then we went to Save A Lot.

Save A Lot is great if you need to stock your pantry and need cases of veggies, fruits and mac & cheese. Save A Lot is not great if your van is in the garage being serviced so your husband can drive it to Mexico and you are driving your husband's truck.

Save A Lot is really not great if while you are filling your carts it starts to rain in gully washer fashion and you have to get all the groceries in the cab of the truck. I was alerted to the rain when all the shoppers around me were suddenly looking as if they had just stepped out of the shower and put on wet clothes - so I didn't buy anything close to what I usually do. Thank goodness for wet shoppers.

Even still, I think Ryan likes Macaroni and Cheese a bit less now that he has carried the whole case of it on his lap in the back seat all the way home. They all did luck out on the carrying in part though because I sent them in out of the rain and I was the only drenched one.

Jacob and Carly took the pantry goods and put them away. This morning I went in there and was greeted by this new addition to the door.

Jacob and Carly's Rest and ront. I'm not sure what the ront part is, but obviously the rest part includes beds - because it is listed on the sign and there were couch pillows on the pantry floor.

You have your choice of tables - the upside down blue laundry basket or if you prefer counter height sitting, you may choose the white laundry basket, which has the bathroom step stool beside it for a bar stool.

Their aprons, notepads and pencils were sitting there - just waiting for a customer to come along. I suppose we will all have our breakfast at the ol' Rest and Ront this morning. I hate to see such creativity ignored.

By the way, Carly and Jacob had the NEW Beef Stew last night. It got rave reviews. If you want to try out the new eatery, it's open 24 hours for more fun. I'm sure I can get you a table - I have connections you know.

Hodge Podge post

Just to catch up on a few things ~~
The kids planted a tiny garden and it is beginning to show the fruits of their labor -- or in this case, the vegetables of their labor. We have peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, green beans and watermelon growing quite nicely.









Jacob spent some time the other day building a tower of Legos - it had secret passages and everything. He was quite happy with the results. Ryan, however, decided that he should clean the playroom. Which was just code for "I want to tear Jacob's tower down and I can't do it without getting into trouble so I'm going to tell Mom I wanted to clean."

However, when he gave me that lame excuse about wanting to clean, I let him clean the entire play room. That day and the next 5 times - all by himself. I think that should take care of any sudden urges he has to "clean."



Carly spent her time at Nana's learning to cross stitch. Here is her first project - which she has displayed in the living room for everyone to admire. She and Nana made a trip to Hobby Lobby to buy more supplies for Carly.





Jacob is a firm believer in recycling. I cut the sleeves off of an old T-shirt the other day and told him to throw them away. Instead, they became the basis for his new look. At first I thought he had converted - not to mention changed genders and became a Muslim woman, but no - just a Ninja.

Aunt Kathy stopped by on the way out to ride her horse this morning. I'm not sure why, but the kids call this "being ants" - because she is an aunt. Ryan always gets tickled - he loves that he is going to be an uncle - yet he can still be an ant.



He says it was an "accident." During our canoe trip, Big Guy and I instigated quite a few surprise splash attacks. We were also getting ready to be the victims when we noticed several canoers coming at us from all sides. We take off as fast as we can and Eric puts his paddle into the front of our canoe to try and stop us so they can drench us. It slipped and whacked into my shin. That took the wind out of their sails so to speak. Tina said that they couldn't splash me NOW because I was injured. I had to agree.....right before we splashed them all and took off at high speed.

Last of all -- I'm glad I posted yesterday. I have had over 2 dozen women write to me and tell me that they will now schedule their pap smears that they had been putting off. I certainly don't like them, but they must bother me a lot less than some women. I never realized how many women just didn't get them done. Make sure you ladies follow up. Make the call. Keep the appointment. It'll only take a minute.

Weighing the possible good

I wasn't going to post about this, but based on reactions I have received since I shared this news with some of my friends, I have decided to go ahead and post about it. Maybe it will do some good. Maybe it will save someone's life. With that in mind, this is part of the email that I sent after my call from the doctor on Friday.

There is a possibility that I have endometrial cancer. I am going Friday for an ultrasound to check the thickness of the lining of my uterus. I have cells that showed up in my pap smear that absolutely should not be there because

1) I am over 40 and
2) because I have had an uterine ablation surgery.

I should hear from the doctor next Monday, the 17th. Hopefully, it is nothing to be concerned about. If I do have cancer and it is in the early stage, then I would have a hysterectomy and possible radiation. There is an excellent survival rate at this stage (90 - 95%). Of course I have done some research on it and found this:

In the United States, cancer of the endometrial is the most common cancer of the female reproductive organs. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 41,200 new cases of cancer of the body of the uterus (uterine corpus) diagnosed in the United States during 2006. Most of these occur in the endometrial, the lining of the uterus. The American Cancer Society also estimates that about 7,350 women in the United States will die from cancers of the uterine body during 2006. The chance of any women being diagnosed with this cancer during her lifetime is about 1 in 38.

I'm not worried or concerned, nor am I a person to sit around and dwell on "what ifs". But that is a pretty high rate of occurrence to me. 1 in 38 women. If this is something that can be initially suspected through a yearly pap smear, I urge you to not put yours off.

So, please make sure that you - or your wife - or your daughters - or your mothers - get their yearly exams. Thanks.

Since I hit the SEND button, I have had almost a third of the people I sent it to me reply that they have NOT had a Pap Smear as they should. I'm sure the number is higher than that because I haven't heard from everyone and already there is almost a third who haven't. Some have not had one for years. But they assure me that they will be scheduling it this week. So maybe I have cancer, maybe I don't. Maybe this whole thing was just so that I can make others aware of the frequency of this cancer and the need for regular pap smears. Maybe it will prevent someone else from letting cancer spread through their body. I don't know - but then there are lots of things I don't know.

While you are at it, you could just schedule a mammogram too - that's what I did. Just make it one big fun day for yourself. Take a friend along. Go shopping. Go out to eat. That's what I'm doing.

If you pray to God and would like to make this a matter of prayer, I would appreciate it. Please pray that God's will be done in my life and if I do have cancer, I handle it in such a way that will bring Him glory.

Canoeing on the Blue

Jacob and I went with about 20 other people from church today on a 7 mile canoe trip down the Blue River. We stopped frequently to fish, swim and rest. There was a hill about 25 feet high that had a well worn mud path down it which became a water slide. It was hilarious to watch everybody slide down that hill and hit the water, women included. We saw dozens of turtles sunning themselves on the banks of the river. Jacob had a blast on his first canoe trip -- occasionally getting out of the canoe to float along beside us as we continued downstream. Big Guy was my canoe partner and we had a good day together, waging surprise "splash attacks" on everyone.

Wes and Ryan stayed with some friends from church and went swimming today, while Carly hung out with Pappaw and Nana. She has been there for several days, no doubt getting spoiled rotten.

PFC Jonathan R. Pfender -- Among those who gave all

When I first heard about the blog Some Gave All, my immediate thoughts went to a young man from our area. I requested that I be given his name to write a tribute. It follows below:

The United States Department of Defense News Release of January 6, 2006 announced:
DoD Identifies Army Casualty

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender, 22, of Evansville, Ind., died in Bayji, Iraq, on Dec. 30, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV during patrol operations. Pfender was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.For further information related to this release, contact Army Public Affairs at (703) 692-2000.

You don't need to call the Public Affairs Office. It is my honor to tell you a bit about Pvt. Pfender.

He was from the Evansville area, the place I go when I'm going shopping or to the movies - or to Lowes - or out to eat. The place my daily newspaper comes from - and from that source alone, I learned enough about Johnathan to know that his family was immensely proud of him. That he was ready to go "all out" - not just join the reserves, but he joined the Army, with the intent of going to Iraq.


His mother, Peggy Hammond said she knew her son, a 2001 graduate of North Posey High School, likely would be sent to Iraq but backed his decision "250 percent." She showed her support by getting her son's picture tattooed on her arm. The tattoo depicts her son in uniform standing in front of a U.S. flag. Family members said that Pvt. Pfender was impressed when he saw the tattoo during a visit home before his deployment.


I read every story about Jonathan. Grieving with his mother as I thought of my own son, who was basically Jonathan's age. I will never fully be able to understand the depths of her grief or the mountainous height of her pride.

It was a cold, rainy day in January when Jonathan was buried. It didn't matter to the hundreds of people who lined the streets to pay their final respect to a young man whose gave his life to protect the freedom so many take for granted.

There was a billboard - pictured below - that his mother had made.

In reality, it should have read.......

Thank you PFC Jonathan R. Pfender. You will not be forgotten. We will make sure of it. You have the thanks of a grateful nation for the ultimate sacrifice you were willing to give.