one last chop

While chopping sweet potatoes for dinner, my (very expensive) Rachel Ray knife met its end. I am devastated. Mostly because it was a wedding gift and I can't replace it at the moment. What am I going to do? I use that knife at least once a day! Maybe I will write her a letter and tell her what happened. Do you think she will send me a replacement? Maybe I can be on her show!!!

it's not like in the movies

It started out as a nice, calm, rainy day. I am working on a paper and drinking tea. Scott got home from work at noon and started on his usual puttering around the house fixing things.

My client showed up for his massage this afternoon. Scott was going wire some switches while I was working. He knows he is supposed to be very quite while I am in session. I got my client all squared away in the massage room and was getting ready to head in there when I hear......

the loudest crash I have ever heard...ever!

Next thing I see is....

Scott's legs dangling from the ceiling in the hall.


I ran upstairs and he was curled up in a ball on the floor. He had pulled himself back up and into the bedroom. I was afraid he had straddled a 2x4 when he fell. Thank goodness he didn't!! He just scraped his leg and chest, but thankfully wasn't too badly injured. As he lay there on the floor, I saw $ signs running through my head. (I am such a bad wife.) Luckily, it wasn't anything a little ice couldn't fix. No trip to the ER. I made sure I was okay and headed in for my massage. He is a client I have had for 3 years so he knows us pretty well. When I got in there, he was wanting to make sure everything was okay. I told him that everything was fine, Scott had fallen through the ceiling. He said it was such a loud crash, he was ready to come out and fight the person who was busting through the front door. He said "you don't want to mess with a cowboy in boxers and boots!" Haha, well luckily all is well. Scott says at least it isn't expensive to fix and that that is a little less popcorn we have to scrape off the ceiling. That is one way to look at it I guess.

As I write this, we are sitting here and laughing about it! :)

should I be worried?

Before....

After.....what is wrong with this picture?

Scott has been rewiring the upstairs and down so he had to take up the flooring upstairs. I hope it gets all back in place soon. It seems like every time I turn around there is another hole in the wall. I am just trying not to freak out. So far it is iffy. This big room will double as a bedroom/entertainment room when it is all said and done. Hopefully that is sooner than later.

I have been making baby blankets and burp clothes for clients and friends for their babies. I have an actual sewing area now that we have more space. I had to dust off the sewing machine, I hadn't used it in a while. Monkies for one and duckies for another.

baby Chance update

Chance appears physically 'normal' and is doing all that a newborn does. An MRI done last night shows that he doesn't have Holoprosencephaly after all. He had several major bilateral strokes early in gestation which caused acute constriction resulting in his brain not developing. There is basically just water in his head. He has a brain stem which functions only to the point of 'baby stuff.'

He could live years, functioning as a baby. He's not at high risk for seizures because he doesn't have enough brain cortex. He could potentially pass away from infections as a result of no mobility. His heart is not an issue as was previously thought. The pediatric cardiologist ruled out heart issues prior to delivery.

Praise God for this wonderful report!

life: a learning experience

The events of last night have got me pondering about the purpose for coming to the earth. What are we here to teach others? What can we learn from others and their trials? What can we learn from the tiniest miracles...babies...who are so innocent and pure. They all come to this earth for a specific purpose. Even if for only just a short little while.

At 12:35am this morning, Chance was born. His mom came to Gladney a few months ago. She had a routine sonogram done in February to determine the babies gender. It was a boy, but it showed he had a brain defect. His brain was fluid filled. He was given a grim prognosis at the time. If the baby made it full term, it was presumed likely the baby would not survive outside the womb. I was with her at that appointment when she received the sad news about her baby. That was my hardest day at work yet. After that sonogram, she was referred to a specialist at that point. The high risk specialists ran several tests and did sonograms to determine the extent of the condition as best they could. They gave the condition some big fancy name that I can't pronounce. I had been attending several of her appointments with her since that diagnosis. She was due last Friday, the day my baby would have been due, so it was extra significant to me to be involved. When she passed her due date, the doctor scheduled an induction for this coming Friday.

Last night, I was called. She was having contractions and leaking. She and her mom headed to the hospital and I was shortly behind them. It was 8:30pm We had to go to a different hospital than the girls usually birth at because of the extenuating circumstances. Needless to say, they aren't familiar with Gladney procedures and I had to get the staff up to speed on our adoption processes. When it was determined she was in labor, she was taken to a room. When she was comfortably medicated, the neonatologist came into the room to explain the procedures that occur when a high risk baby is born. The condition the baby has is lethal. She explained all the risks involved and what to expect if he lived or died. In the event that he would be struggling right after birth, there would be no efforts to revive him, as that would have caused him too much trauma. Another scenario would be that they would take him away to the NICU immediately to do an assessment. Another would be that he would be alert enough for her to be able to hold him and feed him right away. It all depended on so many things.

Her labor progressed very quickly and shortly after midnight, she was pushing. I have to admit, I wasn't sure what to expect. None of us knew he would look like or if he would be born alive or cry or move. My heart was pounding with each push. When he was born, the doctor immediately clamped the cord and he was placed in the warmer with three nurses and the neonatologist at his side. I heard him crying as I stayed near the mom's side to comfort her. Her birth went so smoothly and she didn't require any suturing. The baby was still fusing and crying. This was a good sign. I listened as the neonatologist explained to the grandmother that the baby had none of the normal physical birth defects like cleft pallet, blindness, and unusual eyes, that babies usuallly have when diagnosed with his condition. He looked like a normal baby. His APGAR score was 9/9. And, that is the best score a newborn can have. That score rates a baby for heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflexes, and color. So far, it appreared as though he was in perfect health. They swaddled him and gave him to his mother. She fed and he ate just fine. He cried. He did all the things a normal baby would do. He was even going to get to stay in the regurlar nursery and not in the NICU. It was hard to imagine that anything could have been wrong with him. I stayed with them until 2:15am. On the way home, I thanked God for the opportunity to be a part of and witness such a miracle.

This morning the baby was to have an MRI to determine the extent of the brain condition. I have not gotten any more information, but I am guessing that means that nothing dramatic has happened. Babies with the condition that Chance has are not expected to lead a long life. Most children die by age two. It is a very sad situation and I have kept him and everyone involved in my prayers continually. Only God knows the plans He has for that little one, but I surly did not take for granted the two hours of his life that he shared with me.

the boy has talent

Henry went to Minnesota over the weekend to record some new songs. Go to www.myspace.com/johnhenryholthus and check him out. Thankfully, he now sings blue grass. He went through a period of playing alternative, you know, the kind that doesn't have words, just a lot of screaming. The song "In Memory of Gilbert" was written about our grandpa who died on 4/9/00. Henry was fifteen and took it pretty hard. The song brought me to tears.

let there be light!

While I rested today to try and kick this bug, Scott tore up the house...literally. He was working to get electricity to the middle of our home. When the previous owners built the upstairs they didn't think that the wiring had to be run from somewhere. Scott also took back the carpet in the hallway upstairs. They had rigged the joists and it isn't very stable to walk on. Can you just imagine a post on a big hole in the sealing that I fell though!? Luckily the spot he took up was also right above the pantry in the kitchen which just so happens to need light. So he is wiring in a pull switch in there. As you can see in the picture below, he cut a hole in the wall in the upstairs room in order to make another crawl space. Hopefully it will get a door soon. I had to quit looking at all the things he was doing. It seems like every time I turn around there is a hole in the wall somewhere else. He keeps saying "don't freak out babe." But holes that mean we will have to paint eventually. Although I really like the color on the walls, I don't know what it is to be able to match it. Last night I got light in the hall bathroom. Very nice indeed.


This is a fun Happy Birthday picture we took before out dinner outing on Monday.
I finally broke down and bought us a coffee maker. He wanted one for his birthday. I got a French press so it won't take up counter space. It didn't take up long to get used to the morning coffee. Plus, we are saving $$$ by making it at home....who knew?
And finally, my favorite new photo of Joely! Is she not the cutest??!!!