Welcome Summer!!

We are ready!!  It always gets to this point in the school year and I am FINISHED with schedules, homework, school clothes and bus stops (have I mentioned how I go THREE times a day??? I'm a little over it...).  Now come August it will be a totally different story... ha!  But, for now, I am ready to get up a little more slowly, mosey to the pool for a few hours and do our regularly scheduled chores (because I do schedule my chores... laundry on Monday, groceries and other errands Tues/Wed, cleaning on Friday... I've tried to fight this tendency but now just embrace it.  It's like trying to fight your hair texture... more work than it is worth!) on a little bit less rigid schedule.  In the spirit of summer we went to the pool for the first time yesterday.  It's always a little less than fun to put on a bathing suit for the first time but the kids wild excitement helps to overshadow my own disappointment over not doing quite enough yoga or eating one too many treats.  :)  I am not quite ready to get in the murky, chemical-filled waters post-surgery but it won't be long before I do that since it has been just about two whole summers of abstinence for one surgery/procedure/treatment or another!  I have been feeling really good.  Still not allowed to return to yoga or to do anything that causes "pressure" or "shearing" to my breast.  I only know that because I had to push my plastic surgeon... at the two-week follow-up I said, "I know that you said that I was allowed to do yoga but I think that is only because you haven't done any yoga recently...".  I mean, I think that he was just picturing people sitting serenely saying "Ohmmm".  Not the kind of yoga that I had been doing!  He laughed and then I had him lay out exactly what I should NOT be doing in order to have the kind of outcome with this procedure that I desired.  It's a good thing that I'm not afraid to express myself... ha!  So... basically I have another 2 weeks of no yoga but I did start running again and have been walking and doing light weight-training for the past couple of weeks.  Thank you again for your continued prayers for us!!  We are getting a little more accustomed to the changes in my schedule but we still desire and need your prayers.  It has been quite the journey over the past several years and it is not without its scars (physical, emotional and relational) and baggage. 

The kids are wrapping up some sports seasons... a very rainy lacrosse and soccer season - and starting some new ones: summer 3v3 hockey for Dryden and a soccer skills program for Parker.  We also have a camp and Bible School on the docket strategically placed in those spaces when the pool starts to get old and everyone is getting on each other's nerves.  We will do our usual local library reading program and maybe some other little cleverly disguised "learning" opportunities as well to keep them sharp.

Yesterday Darin and I took a few hours away (thank you Grandma!!) to do some shopping and found ourselves in the Apple store (I know, take a deep breath Grantie... ).  Darin is a convert since he got his new phone (and can't stop texting Grant and giggling like a schoolgirl... ha ha!!) and we are becoming convinced that if writing/blogging and pictures (I know... I've been slacking... not with the pictures, we have TONS, just with getting them out to all of you!) are my future... then we probably want an Apple.  It sort of pains me to say that, but I really am not that "brand loyal".  Maybe there is just something about their "computers for the masses" approach that makes me feel like I'm buying a volkswagon beetle from Hitler right before WWI. So... we're not there yet but I know that God is nudging me to do something and this is probably our first step.  Darin keeps encouraging me to keep this going but gear it towards my passion for organic living.  It is definitely something to consider.  I know how overwhelming it can be to get started and I would love to put all of my research and careful consideration to work... we'll have to see!

For now we are prepping for a summer free of surgery and virtually free of treatments (now that they are every three months I will have one in July and be free until school starts again!  hooray!!).  It feels like huge relief.  We will continue to trust that God holds our future and will strive to live each hour walking the path He has laid out for us (even when we don't really understand...).

Can't get enough...

... of hanging out in the hospital.  However, I'm bored with Magee so this time we gave Shadyside a shot.  :)  Have to say that it does have a little more pleasant atmosphere and all of the nurses are at least my age or older (does that say something about working conditions??  I think that I've heard it is a desirable place to be and difficult to get a job at if you are a nurse... apparently no one leaves!).  So, the bad news was that surgery was scheduled for 1:30pm.  This meant a L O N G period of time without food or drink (in fact, the nurse on the phone said that I shouldn't even "swallow when brushing my teeth"... seriously??  I've had MUCH more major surgery than this and no one ever mentioned that before... interesting).  Plus they said "absolutely no nail polish" (Kelly & I just had a pedicure last week before Darin & I went to NYC for a few days with his work... oops), but I never mentioned it before donning the booties and no one said boo about it.  And, naturally I did hot yoga the night before (do you have any idea how thirsty I was at 3am??? ugh... maybe not so smart...) and was starving by the time I was lying on the gurney waiting to be marked up and have my throat examined by the anesthesia folks.  This time I was separated from Darin for the "prepping" part (are they afraid that he will see me naked??  Not sure what that is all about...) and had to go through the IV alone.  Fortunately she was a pretty good stick but the anesthesia student who gave me the burny medication (help me out here, Jim...) too quickly was not... I also had the good fortune to be able to watch the end of the US vs. Canada World Championship game (I don't usually have the time to lounge around like that in the middle of the day... no comment from you, Audrey... I only get my "Law & Order" fix when I am doing laundry!!  ha ha...).  After all of that Darin came to hang out while we waited for me to be whisked away.  Finally Dr. Gimbel arrived (running about an hour behind?  But who's complaining... we had blocked out the whole day anyhow...) and said, "now what did you want to do?".  Hmm...  that was a little unsettling but he seemed to come around to what we had discussed in his office several weeks ago pretty quickly.  However, part of me was thinking, "well, since you are asking... how about a little off of each thigh and tightening up this flabby part in my tummy??".  So he drew lots of lines in purple ink and said that they were going to start in the back (doing a little repair on my scarring on my left leg... which is what is particularly uncomfortable today!).  Then the anesthesia people came in to give me the 1 and 1 (the burny stuff and something else... ) and before I was wheeled out I was already feeling groggy.  Then they told me that they didn't want to really put me down until I helped them to position me on my stomach.  I vaguely remember telling them that I was comfortable (it felt like the first time that you finally lower to the floor in yoga, Kel!) and then I was being whisked into a room with people bustling all around me.  I remember feeling so chilled even though I was covered in blankets (how you must be much of the time, Shawna... again, a newfound appreciation for your discomfort!).  I kept asking for more and the patient nurse finally helped me to put my pants on.  I felt like they were rushing me into the lounge chair until Darin appeared and said that it had been almost 2 hours since he talked to Dr. Gimbel at the end of my surgery!  I guess that time flies when you are coming out of anesthesia!  We hung out for awhile longer and then finally set out on - what felt like - the long drive home.  I was welcomed home to a second Mother's Day yellow marigold that suffered a tragic event.  Dryden's was squashed by a careless boy on the bus and Parker accidentally dumped his while trying to deposit it on the windowsill.  After all of  the chaos was reined in, I went straight to bed where Darin brought me a wonderful plate of dinner (thank you Shaw!!!) and tucked me in.  I couldn't keep my eyes open - until 2am, when I then had difficulty keeping them shut... :)  Darin & Dryden were off at 6:15 for 3 on 3 hockey practice and then Dryden's 8:30 soccer game.  Parker's game wasn't until 9:30 and now they are all trying to warm up before their 6:30 lacrosse practice (and I think that those crazy Coffields might be dragging Darin out for his inaugural bike ride of the season somewhere in between there...). 

So... all of this to say that God is faithful and I am so thankful for the ongoing prayer support!  We could definitely feel the prayers yesterday.  Regardless of the waiting (which, if you were wondering, breeds more than increased appetite... it gives Satan a chance to plague you with anxiety, worry and doubt), everything went very smoothly and we are now finished - for the foreseeable future (there is still talk of convincing me to remove my ovaries...) - with surgery!  I think that 5 in two years is probably enough... :) On May 6 Sarah Young says this in "Jesus Calling":  "...I will help you sort out what is important and what is not, what needs to be done now and what does not."  The devotional that day was all about list-making (of which I am queen!) and how we use it to gain control of our lives.  Instead Jesus wants us to put our lives in His hands and use His criteria for what is most important and what should take priority.  This forced downtown in my life is always a good time to return to those priorities and learn again to appreciate His purposes in my life.  I am sore today but I am good.  I am happy for family and friends who circle the wagons right when we need them and ecstatic for a Lord who never leaves me nor forsakes me.  The kids are good, Darin is tired and a little underwater with work... but he is good and Audrey - here again in her supergrandma cape - is good too.  We will relax tomorrow and celebrate moms (we'll miss you, Mom!) and hopefully you will too!