Creative Ambitions

Here is Eika.

(Jude's 4th birthday cake)

She is capable, she is innovative, she is driven.  Since she was 4 or 5 years old, she has loved making things and selling them at a store she would set up on an overturned cardboard box in her room. Without any help or direction from me (or any other adult, for that matter), she has developed an actual business of homemade body potions, artwork, and jewelry.

After pestering me diligently pursuing the idea for a number of months, she has finally succeeded in launching her presence online.    

Meet Creativity by Eika!

Holding me up

I have been a little hesitant to blog during the early days of my recovery, since I am still fairly reliant on pain medication.  Who knows what sorts of unfiltered nonsense could escape my brain?

But last night Hank gave me an encouraging reminder--something I know is unwaveringly true:

The Creator of the bright yellow-green buds on the lithe dancing willow branches says:

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. 

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and help you. 

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.   

Isaiah 41:10

One of the ways His "victorious right hand" is holding me up is through the active love of my husband.  He has taken the kids on the spring break trip we had planned for the whole family, and has blessed me with the gift of healing silence and stillness.  I love my kids, but I'll tell you what--parenting them is exacting, clamorous, wearying, formidable work.  Hank has taken on the solo challenge for the week because he loves me.

So I get to lie here in my bed, watching the willow tree wake up to the chilly spring day, and enjoy evidence of the noisy, sticky, sunburned mess of Willis kids a thousand miles away.  

 

I love you too, Hank.

Yes, I am having back surgery.

I realize many of you know already that I'm having back surgery in a couple days, and with that knowledge comes many questions.  I don't mind the questions at all, because I have done hours and hours of research to get to where I am in my understanding.  Before such study, I was under the impression that a spinal fusion meant inactivity and thus decline.  However, I have come to see many cases of recent (<10 years) fusions in other young active people that have been decidedly successful!

Long story short, I have degenerative disc disease.  My L5-S1 disc is almost completely gone.  The surgeon will remove what's left of my non-cushioning disc and replace it with this.

Thank you a hundred times to all of you who have (or will) prayed for me, brought meals, watched kids, cleaned my house, and many other helpful things.  I will be completely down for 2 weeks following surgery, and my doctor predicts that I'll be operating at 50% after 4 weeks.  Fifty percent!?!?  I'll take it!! That means I'll be able to play half-games of ultimate frisbee, take half my kids to their scheduled commitments, prune half the orchard, hike halfway up the springtime mountains...right?

If you are curious about scientifically proven research (or have a sinkful of dirty dishes you're trying to avoid), I've included informative links below.  If you wonder if I have tried anything else to help my pain, here are a few of the treatments I have tried with faith and vigor:

walking
magnesium
recumbent exercise bike
massage
physical therapy
chiropractic care
McKenzie exercises
essential oils
tart cherry juice
ice packs
heating pad
lumbar roll
weight lifting
reflexology
TENS unit
lying on the couch doing nothing
yoga
pilates
epidural steroid injections
systemic steroid injections
sacroiliac joint steroid injection
oral corticosteroids
antidepressants
neuropathy medication
narcotics
Shakeology
Reliv
tequila

Many of those things have helped to one degree or another.  The core issue is not an inflammation problem, a muscular problem, or a nutritional problem.

Anyway, that's the news.

Thank you for all your prayers my way!  I have full hope that I'll be on the road to getting better instead of worse by the weekend!

Monosegmental anterior lumbar interbody fusion with the SynFix-LR device : A prospective 2-year follow-up study

Biomechanical comparison of two different concepts for stand alone anterior lumbar interbody fusion

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

My musical Christmas wish to all of you:

Eika turns Eleven

The past year has been a full one for our oldest.  She has created all kinds of things, finally traveled beyond North America, become an aspiring gymnast, and so much more.

 A rug woven using a hula hoop for a frame

Hand-sculpted and painted bowl

Getting acquainted with a crocodile

Pouring out love at Kibuye Hope Hospital in Burundi

Soaking up sunshine on the shores of Lake Tanganyika

Beauty in Bruges, Belgium

 

Looking way too grown up

Gaining confidence, strength, and poise

Making lotion

Dressed as the perfect Pippi

who are you,little i

(five or six years old)

peering from some high

window;at the gold

of november sunset

(and feeling:that if day

has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

               

                                 --e.e. cummings

Instructions for triumphing over Mondays

1. Give your three-year-old a pair of sunglasses.  Tell him they are spy glasses.

2. Give him the vacuum hose.  Tell him it is a spy gun.

3. IF he is wearing his special spy glasses, and IF he says shu-ZAM at just the right moment, his spy gun will magically make things disappear.

4. Point to all the crumbs (dried-up play-dough bits, wood mess and splinters by the wood stove, etc), sit back, and marvel at your genius plan.*

*raisingourebenezer.blogspot.com, the Willis family, Jude the Spy, and Hannah the Spy Mom are not responsible for other items that may inadvertently disappear if your spy is left unattended with his spy gun.

Milestones (or cliffs)

Yes, Henry's birthday was two whole months ago, and I'm just now posting about it.

The day began by opening his few treasured presents:

(a drone thingy that flies, or is supposed to fly, once you figure out what the instructions mean)

There were also Lego sets, birthday money (woo hoo!), and a few boring pairs of jeans and such.

His birthday request was that we could go to the Yaak River, because why would you not want to spend your birthday jumping off a cliff?

We wrapped up the day with the requested angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped cream. I guess this proves that he really is my kid, after all (I know that this issue has seriously been up for debate, considering his love for running).

And just like that, he is nine years old.