Where oh where did our little dog go?

This weekend we had an opportunity to learn an important lesson. My oldest has a puppy. Lately she and I have both been very frustrated about his puppy antics. We both wanted to give him away. God must've heard our hearts desire. Sunday afternoon he went missing. My husband and daughters looked around the neighborhood, in the woods, and everywhere they could nearby. They didn't find him. He didn't come home that night. Yesterday my oldest was so upset she had a hard time focusing on her school work and I too felt horrible for how childish I had been towards the puppy. I posted on facebook, while my husband contacted shelters and vets, and signed into the microchip website to list him as lost. The hunt was on for the puppy again all afternoon, but still nothing at bed time. I had a hard time sleeping last night, between worrying and praying and feeling bad. This morning, however, God answered our prayers. My husband had posted to craigslist this morning and the person who had found our puppy heard about the post. Our puppy is now safe at home. Lessons to learn? For one, the bible is serious, the tongue is like a 2 edged sword and we were dealing with the consequences of our negative hearts and words. Another lesson was to appreciate the gifts God blesses us with. Sometimes they don't seem like gifts at all, but if we could only see the big picture, we'd see all that God is doing in us through others.

Today I went to the eye doctor, for a regular check up. She mentioned contacts and I said I'd like to use them. For the first time in my life a doctor said yes to that. I have PHPV.

Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous (PHPV)
What is PHPV?
Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous is the former name for persistant fetal vasculature or PFV.  PHPV is condition of the space behind the lens of the eye in the gel which keeps the eye in a round shape.  The gel is typically clear.  It is called the vitreous.  In the eyes of people who have PHPV, the vitreous is not clear.  The vitreous stays the way it was while the eye was growing in the unborn baby.   Persistent means that it stays how it was.  It does not change into a clear vitreous.
Hyperplastic does not mean that the gel is like the plastic toys are made out of.  Hyperplastic means it is growing too much. In other words there is too much of the unborn baby’s vitreous gel.  The vitreous gel is hazy and scarred so that it does not let as much light into the back of the eye.
 
Primary means first.  The primary vitreous is the vitreous gel that first formed as the baby was growing inside the mother.  In most people the first gel slowly washes away and is replaced by clear gel.  In people who have PHPV the primary or first vitreous gel stays in the eye.  It is persistent. ~ http://www.csb-cde.ca.gov/Documents/Causes%20of%20Visual%20Impairment/causes_phpv.htm


As far as I know I don't have any other syndromes or anything associated with this and I'm pretty sure my retina is not involved. They took pictures of my eye today and everything they could observe was intact, but the vitreous is in the way of seeing everything. It has limited my eyesight in the affected eye to peripheral vision only. 

In the past, every eye doctor I've asked has told me they will not prescribe contacts to me due to the risk of injury to the eyes. Glasses create a barrier to protect my eyes. The concern is for possible injury to my "good" eye. 

I'm excited for the opportunity to not be weighed down by my glasses, but also wonder if maybe I shouldn't wear contacts and stick with glasses because the risk of blindness for me is there. It is a fear of mine. I'm blessed to have the vision I do have and to see the things I do see. To have that be gone, because of a bad choice... well it isn't worth it. However, I don't know anyone who doesn't wear glasses that suffered from an eye injury from just going about their day. Well, aside from a friend when we were teens and another friend threw a pop bottle that hit her in the eye, but she didn't lose vision because of it. 


To most this problem seems like no big deal, but for me, even my parents were against contacts as I was growing up and my husband isn't a fan of the idea either. For me there is a reason to question whether they are a safe choice or not.

Getting a lot done :)

Well my husband has ordered our chickens! So excited. We spent time this weekend building a new foundation for a shed that we are turning into a chicken coop. Thank God for neighbors with big machines and even bigger hearts who are willing to come and help us out too! Once we were done setting up the foundation we put fresh dirt around some shallow areas of the house to create more of a mound for water to move away from the house. We also filled in some holes the dogs have been digging near the house. After that we headed to the barn. We're talking about getting sheep and after visiting the sheep farm last week, I'm actually getting pretty excited. We had a stall in the barn but not where we wanted one so we tore it down, together. It was great! It felt so good to be a part of all of that.

Yesterday morning was rainy and I'm still adjusting to the time change so we made it a pajama day. I spent the morning reading about raising sheep while the kids read, played video games, and watched some tv shows. As the day went on I did finally get around to doing some house work, but I was still in a funk.

Today was much better. It's sunny and beautiful. I enjoyed a nice walk with my youngest as we waited for his brother to finish speech. He even walked with me. Normally I carry him in our Beco carrier. So convenient, but this was a nice change. We touched tree trunks, saved worms from the side walk and sun, listened to and watched birds. This afternoon the older 3 were able to, finally, experience gymnastics again. Thankful for our friend who set up the opportunity for us to do it at a convenient time.

This evening will be a catch up time for us. We'll get through any school work that hasn't been completed and then read up on some things related to the Kirsten American Girl series. It'll be a nice, quiet, cozy evening. :) But first, dinner. Chicken with rice and veggies! Nothing elaborate. My husband is the cook.

Sheep, friends, and more

Today we took a field trip to a sheep farm. The kids got to pet, feed, and watch sheep and their lambs. It was exciting for us, because we are planning to get our own sheep soon. Chickens first, though.

This weekend we were visited by some close friends, who don't live close enough. It was great seeing them. An even bigger joy to see the surprise in the eyes and faces of my children when they arrived. My young ones didn't know they were coming. I think it makes it a lot more fun that way.

All this busy schedule stuff is kind of new to me and I'm finding that it is really wearing me out. However, I'm still pleased to be creating such great memories with my family and friends!

March is coming in like a lion!

With strong winds and even some snow, March has made itself known. Another chance for winter to rampage, before spring takes over. May God be with the many people who've experienced loss because of winter weather.

We've been blessed to not have lost anything, except our "Meet Kirsten" book. It is somewhere in this house, I just can't seem to figure out where. We still haven't started lapbooking it, yet. I just haven't made it a priority over other school work and chores. We will do it, though! I picked up 2 books about Minnesota, 1 on pioneers, and 1 on Sweden, for the girls, and I, to learn more about those things.

I realized, this week, that my 4 year old is showing signs of reading readiness. If I remember correctly I was reading at his age. I'm very excited. I love reading and am glad all my youngsters seem to too. I don't think I'll try anything formal with him on that. I'm just going to keep reading to him, playing games related to reading, and encouraging him.

We went to church on Wednesday for the first time at our new church. I spent the whole evening in the nursery with my boys, the pastor's wife, and the children's class manager. It was sad not to participate in bible study, but it was nice to get to know them better. I would've gone to bible study but it took my youngest a while to warm up and even go play with something. It didn't matter to him that his brother was in there with him. He wanted mommy! At one point I did leave the room took take my older son potty. When I came back my younger one wasn't crying or anything. Hopefully he'll be able to go into the nursery, no problem, in just a bit.

We were able to go to a science and nature center on Friday. This kids played a couple of games. They got to build little fabric nests in cups to try and protect some water in a film canister. If it froze their animal didn't make it through winter. We took a hike and saw birds, squirrels, their nests. I heard an interesting bird call. Then they got to pet a rabbit, a something little dragon lizard (I forgot the name), an albino corn snake, and a Madagascar hissing cockroach. It was a lot of fun. The girls also got a lot of play time with their friends this week.

As far as all our projects. My oldest has managed to put the second level of paint on her desk. She wants it to remind her of the beach and ocean. It's very cute. She even has a tidal pool she's trying to make. My husband is making progress on renovating the shed out back to turn it in to a chicken coop. He's hoping to order some buckeyes in the next couple of weeks. However, the poor coffee table is still sitting downstairs for me to work on it. Between school, chores, activities, and play dates, I just haven't been able to work on it!