Saddle Ridge Ranch VBS

You may have wondered where we've been lately.  Well, now you know.

We've been on the ranch.

This past week was VBS at our "other" church.  The kids' involvement in Awana over the past 3 years has really made us feel at home at LifeCommunity Church.  We have made some dear friends and fallen in love with their children's ministries.  Last year, was Carter's first VBS experience and he had the time of his life.  He cried the last day when he found out it was over.  Julia was in the hospital that week getting a blood transfusion and recovering from chemo.  It brought me such joy knowing he was in such loving hands.

This year I was elated to be able to send both kids AND volunteer to teach.

Oh, the difference a year makes! I was the Rec Games teacher for the PreK department.  We had over 50 precious and excited little ones who kept us all hopping all week long! Over 480 kids in all attended VBS this year!

The motto for the week was...

...and it makes my heart smile hearing the kids say this (okay, actually they yell it) all the time now.  I pray these words are sinking in deep :)

The music was great, as usual.  We had been listening to the CD all weekend getting ready and when we walked into Worship Rally Valley the first day, it all just came alive

I love that they teach the kids the sign language to go with the songs they are singing.  It brings such power to the words and becomes such an act of worship to sing them.  By the second day, we were all singing and dancing around the clock.  It brings tears to my eyes to hear my kids spontaneously break into song with lyrics like these...

No matter what anyone says about me,

God says I am who He made me to be.

I am who the great I AM says I am

I am one of His greatest creations.

He says that I am remarkably wonderfully made.

I am who He says I am.

He says I am made in His image.

He says I am one of His children.

He says I'm His friend and He loves me so.

I give Him all of my praise cause I know!

I encourage you to listen for yourself.  You can hear many of the songs right here.

The games they created for the week were really great.  My helper, Jesse, and I did 3 games each day with our five groups of kids.  Lifeway does such a great job creating their resources.  I will definitely be playing many of these games again.  I can see a ranch-themed birthday in our future.  Here are just a few snapshots of all the fun we had...

Lily's face speaks for all of us.  We had some serious fun :)

There was also a serious note.  Every year, VBS does a service project for either local or international missions.  This year they chose to help Brenner's Children's Hospital.  It has been so near and dear to several of the families in the church, they wanted to help a place that has helped so many of us.  Each morning in worship they had a different family share their story in worship.  It was the first time we have shared Julia's story in front of a large group like that.  The morning of our turn, was the same morning Ellie Potvin earned her angel wings from cancer.  As broken as my heart felt, it meant so much to be able to feel like I was doing something to help the pediatric cancer family.  It is a torch we will continue to carry.

It was so powerful to share what Julia has experienced, the life of a child on chemo, the role God has played in her battle, and the plan God has to use each one of the kids at VBS to touch the life of a family at Brenner's.

They collected offering and gifts to donate to the hospital.

In the end, they had collected almost $1,000!!! 

AND all these toys, books, and DVDs....

There is nothing quite as powerful as God working through the hearts and lives of His little children.  So many families will be changed by what happened here this week and so many hearts have been touched.

Including one very special to us.  On Thursday, Carter made the decision to accept Christ for himself!  I was so blessed that he was able to pray with Ms. Flemania who has known our family since Carter's very first day here as a 3 year old.  We pray this is the first of many decisions he will make to live his life for the God who so wonderfully created him.  We are so blessed to have him in our family and watch God's plan for his life unfold. 

At the end of the last morning we all meet for one last time in worship.  We were sad to see it all come to an end, but at the end Pastor Rick made us all laugh when he wallowed in the mud like a little piggy...

VBS is such a highlight of everyone's year it make you wish it happened more often, but after teaching this year, I totally understand why a week is enough.  We were all so exhausted by the end of Thursday.  A full week of being at church at 8am and then being "on" with classes full of kids until noon just wears us all out! It will definitely take a few days to recover :)

Ya'll come back now, ya hear!! 

Next year we head to the Big Apple June 20-24.

Guess What?!

Today we went in for Julia's weekly labs at our pediatrician's office. The actual appointment was unnecessarily long and confusing (we were passed off to a different team of nurses/PA/doctor) who weren't familiar with our situation, but after an hour we were out. Unfortunately in all the confusion, I didn't receive my copy of her results, so we had to wait to see the latest results.

Daddy went by to pick it up tonight and I am happy to say Julia's white blood count is in the lowest range of normal right now!! We actually had several categories of normal on her lab report. Every week for months we have seen nothing but a column full of lows. So normal is HUGE progress. Praise God for His great healing! Her red blood count is holding strong, too.

It is such an encouraging sign to see that her body has been able to recover during this two week break. It makes me feel like my stint as her 24 hour short order cook is paying off :) She has also avoided catching the flu Carter had last week. This says so much about the increasing strength of her immune system. We realize it will likely drop again after her next dose of Doxirubicin in August, but she is going into it strong and her body is able to recover on its own.

It is so encouraging to see even a flash of her normal self. I think every parent in this situation wonders deep down what will be left of the child they used to know at the end of all of these treatments. Which of the changes will be permanent? Which of the side effects will we see? What long term effects will crop up in the future? In the same way we can't visualize her with hair anymore, it is hard to visualize what her new normal will be when we reach a plateau in all of this. Little shining lights like this one help me to imagine areturn to good health one day.

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The kids had a fun day today. Lily and Claire came over to play for the day and they swam, colored, pretended, laughed, ate, and sang. The house was full of happy sounds as the kids were filling their love tanks with the joy of their friends.

It still amazes me how much Julia enjoys playing doctor. The past few visits she has been increasingly resistant to going and participating, but its still her favorite thing to play.

Carter was so excited to finally get a chance to meet baby Ava. He has been eagerly waiting for many weeks. This little boy loves babies and is so good with them. It melts my heart to see him hold and love her. On one hand he looks so big and I realize he's growing up, but on the other I see the same fresh innocence in each of their faces and it makes my love for him grow deeper.
Julia is a little jealous of the new arrival. Annmarie holds a very special place in this little girl's heart and life. I think she senses some competition...

Pools, Princesses, Painting, and Peaches

Julia's been having quite a bit of pain since Tuesday afternoon. It's hard to determine exactly where. She has been whining and crying a lot and wanting to be held. She complains that her teeth and jaw hurt. Tylenol has been taking the edge of and helping her to cope. I hate seeing her so sad.

We've been hanging close to home and going with the flow. Tuesday was in the 90s and it seemed like a perfect first day for the pool. We are so blessed that are dear friends have a neighborhood pool close to our home. The greatest thing is that it always empty. This is the perfect situation for us because I can prevent her exposure to other children and just let her have fun. It hit me while we were there that summer has snuck in while we've been at the hospital. I love summer and can't believe it's really here.

The kids only took a few minutes to get back into the swing of swimming and they were off. They both love the water and were jumping off the side in no time...

Carter and Julia have been playing so well together. It is such a nice change from the sibling rivalry and squabbles of last summer and fall. They have found their groove with each other and can play almost anything. It's fun to see them go from baseball to kitchen to dollhouse to cars to tanks to babies. I love having one of each sex where everything is fair game and they are free to play and explore wherever their imaginations take them. Julia has spent a lot of time donning her princes gear...

Carter woke me at 7:20 the other morning saying he needed to paint. I held him off for about half an hour and then we were painting, before breakfast! We've left the easel up in the kitchen and the kids have made many masterpieces...

And one of my favorite parts of June... it's peach season. I LOVE peaches. I have been known to eat 5 a day in June. Julia loves them just as much. We both dove into these beauties as soon as we brought them home...

...and some produce of our own! We now harvest our own greens for salads.and there's yellow squash growing, too.

Safer Products

I've had a lot of conversations recently with moms about safe sunscreens and bug repellants. Here is the results of our research and personal experiences. Thanks for all your help ladies! I love to learn from other's work, especially moms- the smartest people I know :)

I have mentioned before that I try to use safer chemicals in our house whenever possible. I first became interested in this by a science teacher in high school who taught us about chemicals in products we use daily and simple, safe alternatives. My interest was piqued even further in college in a Toxic Planet course. Did you know there are 100,000 new chemicals approved and used in our country every year and the majority are not tested for long term effects? We live in a profit-driven society and so many people naively believe the EPA and FDA are protecting us, which is not the case. I've always been interested in learning more and having kids has driven that curiosity.

When Carter was born I noticed the first week that after his bath when I would rub him with Johnson& Johnson lotion, he would scream. His skin would turn bright red. It turns out he is allergic (as are most of his cousins on one side of the family). It has a hazard score (Skin Deep rating) of 7 out of 10! We needed something safer. When he was a toddler, he was very often eating non-edible items- mulch, paper, soap, shampoo, etc. It really hit me the one day when I was cleaning. After spraying and dusting the coffee table he proceeded to lick the cleaner off the table! Yikes! I know crazy!! I decided that was it, I needed all child-safe products.

This was when I began using Melaleuca products. All my cleaning products, kids' toothpaste, and kids' bath products are from this company and I could not be happier. It is such a relief knowing they are not in danger and they can safely help me clean without my hesitation.

When it comes to sun protection, I love Baby Lizard and Blue Lizard. There are so many dangerous chemicals in sunscreens. The AP just did an article last year that the majority of sun products contain the "oxy-" line of chemicals (turn over your bottle, you'll find them) which are proven hormone and endocrine disruptors, but they are still on the market! As a thyroid disease sufferer (you probably know many yourself) this means a lot to me. I don't want these on my kids, especially little girls. For those of you locals, I get it at HT and Kerr Drug. Buy more than one when you see it because they seem to run out when you need it most.
Another good one is Green Screen (at Amazon) which only has 8 ingredients and relies mainly on zinc oxide (the safe sunblock). It is also organic. The nice thing about this one is you can actually use it on babies under 6 months. Now I am not recommending sun exposure for infants. But we all now there are times when they will be in the sun and you want them protected.
And one more widely available, JASON Sunbrella...

Prevention Magazine did an article on toxic-free bug repellent (without DEET, which has been linked to seizures). The CDC recommends it. Also both chemicals are registered with the EPA and have been proven to have a higher degree of efficacy in the peer-reviewed, scientific literature- results similar to DEET. It's called Repel. It works for 6 hours. Safe for kids too. It's plant based and made from oil of lemon eucalyptus. Works best on mosquitoes and deer ticks. They also said that Skin So Soft is good, but only repelled insects for 10 minutes. Citronella oil is good too, but only works for 20 minutes.
For the ants that seem to come in every spring when the rains arrive, baby powder and a little citrus cleaner works great. Leave it down for 24 hours...

And for the ant hills in the yard, Orange Guard and club soda...

One of my favorite websites is Skin Deep from the Environmental Working Group. It has information on more than 42,000 baby and children's products, lotions, makeup, shampoos, sunscreens, etc. It is very easy to use. Just type in the brand, product, or type of product and the info is all there. They have compiled the chemical and research data on thousands of chemicals. They provide a full breakdown of each product for you to consider. The thing I love about this site is that it ranks each product on a scale from 0-10. It is impossible for us to avoid chemical exposure, but it is our right to be able to mediate that exposure and decide for ourselves.

I know a lot of this information can be overwhelming which is why I'm offering resources for you to consider yourself. I totally respect that is everyone's own personal decision. I did read a good point from a mom recently. She was talking about going organic. In their house they were using organic meat and dairy (the first place to start) and the 'dirty dozen' produce in mostly organic (peaches, apples, red peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes). She was making baby steps from there. She also said for cost, convenience, and efficiency reasons the only people in their house eating almost 100% organic were the kids birth- 3yrs because that is when the most development is occurring and damage is most significant and influential. I thought this was encouraging from a practical standpoint. And to keep all that produce fresh longer, yes Green Bags do really work.

Quiet Moments by Nightlight

The time I spend with Julia before bed has become one of the best moments of my days. She goes to bed so easily and willingly. She actually says, "I'm tired now Mommy. Put me to bed." She's always been my little sleeper.

We sit in her rocking chair and read two stories from her Beginner's Bible. Then we say her prayers and sing Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children. When she wasn't feeling well I would rock her a little longer and sing some of my favorite hymns. And now some nights she requests it, "Mommy can you sing longer and sing all the Jesus songs?" I cherish that time by the soft glow of the nightlight with her curled up in my lap (I love that she still fits), singing softly, and kissing the top of her head.

I love these quiet moments when the rest of the world just fades away and all is well.

Something new...

I love when I discover something new I didn't know about one of my kids. That happened recently with Julia...

When I put her to bed she holds a pacifier in each hand. When I get her up they are always at the end of the bed, but I never thought about why.

It turns out she actually sleeps with them in her toes!!
I asked her about it and she told me that's how she likes to hold her pacis. Since then I've seen her do it many times. When she's laying in bed awake she will toss them to the end, pick them up with her toes, and put them back in her hands- like a game of catch for one :)

I had to laugh when the dentist asked us if she still used a pacifier. "Well, yes.....in her feet." You're a nut JuJu!

David Crowder Band

What an awesome night!!
Last night we had the amazing opportunity to attend a David Crowder Band concert at our church. All I can say is WOW. It was a packed auditorium, people of all ages, and God was in that place.
The band are a down to earth, on fire for God, tender-hearted, musically-gifted, spirit-moving, praise-inspiring group that God has granted an amazing task on this earth. There are certain musical groups that just move your soul and the spirit within you is released. This is one of those groups. It brought tears to my eyes to see people from 8yrs to 70yrs moved to dance, sing, raise their hands, and praise their precious Savior. Wow. Now, that is music- when it transcends everything. It seeps into your soul and won't let go. I can't stop singing their songs. Visit their website and it will stream into your living room, too :)
(***A quick sidenote: Happy Birthday Dad!!***)

.....Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.......

Coupon Codes

I often buy things online and when I get to the checkout and it asks for a coupon code I always want to find one. I've used deal sites in the past with some luck, but I have now found THE answer......

www.retailmenot.com

It is awesome and easy! You type in the retailer in the big white box, it pulls up the correlating screen shots, and you click on the right one. Then it gives you a list of coupon codes and the success percentage for each. They have everything from pizza to toys to tools. They have 20,000+ sites listed!! (So bookmark it now, so you don't have to remember later.)

I've used it 4 times now and have been successful every time. My most recent purchase was from One Step Ahead. Now that Julia is outgrowing the pack n play when we travel (not to mention it's heavy and bulky to fly with!), we decided it was time to get her a portable bed like Carter's. (He's been using one for 2 years.) It was on sale, I got 20% off, AND free shipping!

It arrived tonight and she loves it. I highly recommend them. It comes in a small carry bag, with a pump, has built in inflatable sides so they don't roll off. (don't bother getting the sheets, you can tuck any sheet or blanket in around the mattress) It's packs up so small we can throw it in the suitcase. As you can see, she's really excited to use it soon.......
So don't ever leave another coupon code blank again!

Seasonal Selections

I don't know why I do this to myself!

I get hooked on products that are only available for a limited time..... and I do it every year. In the winter, it's Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane decaf green tea with Peppermint Mocha creamer. It's pure heaven in a cup to me. I buy up several containers of both when it's on sale at the end of the season, but the inevitable day always comes. The supply runs out. Today I opened my last box of tea :(

Well, fortunately I can move onto my next seasonal obsession............ :) There is hope!

Unfortunately this one comes with way more calories. Who is the crazy mastermind that decided to put out GS cookies right before bathing suit season?! And next season for me is Cadbury Mini Eggs. Luckily my kids like the cookies and chocolate, too, so I won't be the only one eating them :)