"catch up post" #1: the airshow.

As I was looking back through some pictures, I realized there is so much that I missed in sharing on our blog!  So...here is the start of some "catch up posts" :)

So, the first one.  If you remember, my mom and dad visited us back in September (read that blog post here).  During that visit, we went to an airshow.  I had planned to blog separately about it, but I totally forgot!  So here it is :)

My dad loves airshows, and things like that.  So when they were thinking of which weekend to visit us, I remembered that there would be a local airshow, so it made sense for them to come that weekend! 

Kaine was very excited for the airshow--way more than the girls :)

The airshow was really a good one, for being in such a small-ish town!  The girls weren't too sure though--notice Halle's hands on her ears.  She has hated really loud sounds ever since she was a baby!  Haha...and this picture was taken right after we got there!  So anyway, the girls tolerated it :)

It was a good time with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jan :)

But...the girls started to burn out pretty quickly!  The sun was making them grow weary :)  But they kept pretty good attitudes!

We saw a lot of hands on ears :)

And then came the jet truck.  This jet truck is pretty much that--a truck with a jet engine.  Therefore, it is extremely fast and EXTREMELY LOUD.  We all thought it was really awesome!  Daisy...not so much :)

Poor baby :(

But they ended up having a good time anyway!  Here are the guys with the kiddos, coming back after a race to get ping pong balls that had been dropped by an airplane (if the kids could get a ping pong ball, they got a prize!)

Such fun memories :)  Dad and Mom, we are so glad we could share our air show experience with you guys!  We love it that you were there to make memories with our kiddos.

my lasik story.

Background:

• My eyes first started going bad in second grade.

• As a result of this, my parents scheduled me an appointment and purchased me some hideous lovely blue-green plastic rim glasses.  (I should mention that I did pick them out myself--so I can't totally blame my mom) :)  That was the first of many a pair of glasses.

• I was stoked to get contacts in high school!  Thank you, mom and dad!!

• In our early marriage I briefly thought that LASIK would be really nice to be able to get--even though it seemed very scary at the same time.  But at that point, they told me that I wouldn't be a good candidate because my eyes were getting worse at every appointment.  So it would be wise to wait.  (Plus, at that point I'm guessing LASIK would have cost us a TON of money.  So it probably wasn't an option anyway!)

• Speaking of my eyes continuing to get worse...my eyes were REALLY bad.  Like, Nathan was shocked to find out that I couldn't make out the numbers on his alarm clock (on his side of the bed)--and they were big numbers!  Just looked like a bright green blurry blob to me!

• For the past 10 years or so, I hadn't given LASIK surgery a thought.  It kind of scared me to think about, and I just figured I would deal with contacts my whole life.

• Then...just a couple of months ago, a classmate of ours got LASIK in Kansas City.  He came back to classes and told Nathan and I all about it--including the fact that it pretty cheap (for LASIK)!  As he talked to us about it, Nathan started to think that maybe we should consider LASIK for me...

• I was terrified.  No way did I want my eyes cut open with a laser!!  However, Nathan wanted me to consider our circumstances.  
• #1--Even though LASIK isn't cheap, contacts aren't cheap either.  
• #2--Because of #1, I always tried to use my contacts as long as I could stand it.  I think I was supposed to throw them away every couple of weeks or so, but I would try to make them last months.  More than one person told me that this would be very damaging to my eyes later in life!!
• #3--We are planning to move into a remote jungle.  Hiking through the jungle, living in extreme humidity, probably canoeing for hours or even days...lots of circumstances like this.  Worrying about glasses or contacts sounds like a pain in those living conditions.  

• Considering all of this, we decided to look into LASIK...and we decided to give it a try!

So, this brings me to this past weekend...the big day!  I was actually pretty scared for this surgery, even though over the years it has become a very routine surgery!  But still, there is just something about letting someone cut into my eye that just made me nervous...  

We left our kids in great hands--Nathan's parents drove down to stay at our house with our kids.  Thanks so much, dad and mom!  Also, huge shoutout to Nathan's dad, who just recently had knee surgery--we are so glad you felt well enough to come, dad!

So on Friday morning, Nathan and I arrived at the LASIK place.  They first had to examine my eyes to even determine if I would be a good candidate or not.  And I was!  That was a relief.  They scheduled surgery for early in the afternoon.

Also during the exam that morning, the doctor had noticed that my eyes are pretty dry.  She really recommended that I get "punctal plugs" before the LASIK.  Punctal plugs are basically teeny tiny little "plugs" that are inserted into the bottom tear duct, which prevents my natural tears from draining as fast.  It helps to prevent dry eyes, which is especially a problem post-LASIK surgery.  So Nathan and I consented to get these punctal plugs put in (mainly because they offered to do them for no extra charge!)  It is a really easy procedure--no pain, they just insert the little plug right into the tear duct.  

However...as history would repeat itself, I passed out while she was putting them in!!  (Remember this post from last semester?)  Oh, this was discouraging to me.  The punctal plugs weren't even in yet, and I still had to undergo lasers cutting my eye open!  Oh boy.  I was nervous. 

By the grace of God, (I know there were lots of people praying for me!) the doctor got the plugs in without any more fainting!!  I really gave God all the glory for that one!  Then I was ready for my surgery...

(as we took this picture, I was really hoping it would be my last time wearing glasses!)

I went into the operating room and Nathan took this picture of me--believe me, that is a nervous smile!!

Praise the Lord, the surgery went soooo well!  It wasn't the most pleasant experience, of course, but it really did not hurt at all.  Just some really uncomfortable pressure, plus the thought of what they were actually doing to my eye was not fun to think about.  But seriously, the whole procedure took mere minutes.  The laser was actually only on for like 30 seconds on each eye!  It was so fast.  I was sooo thankful and just thanking the Lord that it was over so soon.  And I was so glad that I could hold Nathan's hand during it--I am surprised his hands aren't bruised I was crushing them so hard!

So they released me with instructions to keep my eyes closed for four hours!  What??  So I took a nap, but when I woke up, my eyes were burning so bad--the numbing drops from the surgery had worn off.  Nathan quick went to the store to fill my prescriptions (and bought me some Diet Coke...what a great hubby!) and when I started taking my prescribed eyedrops, the pain got so much better.  I could hardly open my eyes though--they were so sensitive to light and they just felt really weird.

Nathan took such good care of me :)

The next day, I woke up--and my eyes felt perfectly normal.  And I could SEE!!  Wow, what a strange feeling to wake up and reach over for my glasses, only to see that I could see clearly already!  I am still marvelling over it.  What an amazing thing technology is!

Nathan and I enjoyed the rest of our time in Kansas City--we had fun going to Ikea and Trader Joe's, and out to eat.  Oh, and we also stopped at Cabella's  (we had to pose in front of the grizzly bears to show our kids!)

If I had to sum up this LASIK experience in two words, it would be thankful and amazed.  I am amazed at technology.  I still cannot believe that just seconds under a laser could correct my vision...Wow.  And I am so thankful that God allowed me this opportunity to get my vision corrected.  I imagine it will be so nice to not have to worry about that when I am living in the jungle!  I am also thankful for so many of you who were praying me through this--thank you, friends!

the LASIK decision

I gotta make this short, but you can pray for me today!  Nathan and I are headed to Kansas City for me to get LASIK surgery on my eyes.  I'll give you more details later, but we have to get on the road :)  

Two prayer requests:

1. That my eyes will be eligible for the surgery.
2. That I will make it through the surgery!  Without passing out that is :)

Thank you friends!  Love you all!

under a tarp with four kids.

So, a part of our Simple Living class was a four day camping trip.  It was so much fun, even thought parts of it were very challenging!  Here are a ton of pictures from our trip...

We were to hike to our campsite, carrying most of our stuff on our backs.  The first challenge was to find our tarps (which would be used for our shelters).  We were given coordinates and our team had to work together to find them, using a compass.  I was very glad the guys on our team knew what they were doing with that compass, because it was NOT easy!  Teammates are so great :)

So here we are, trying to figure out those coordinates, getting stuff ready to go...

And we are off!  The hike took a total of about 1.5 hours or so.

We were so glad that the team we were on had a ton of kids!  Our kids' really good friends were in our group, for which we were so thankful.  They really had a blast!

Taking a break.  Actually us moms and kids were taking a break, while the guys went into a thick part of the woods to get those tarps.  Oh, and also, another major blessing was the BEAUTIFUL weather!  I remember last fall, the group that went on their camping trip had a very nasty, rainy, freezing cold weekend.  I cannot imagine how hard that would have been--our weather was so gorgeous.

When we finally arrived at our camping site, we had to start building our tarp shelter!  (And by "we" I actually mean "Nathan"...I was so glad he is so good at this stuff!)

He let Kaine use a real saw...which made me a bit nervous.  No injuries though!

My dear friend Emily had her sweet baby Louise to tend to...and Daisy really loved hanging out with them!  Daisy calls Em "Elimy"...which is so stinkin adorable :)

The shelter is coming!

Taking a break to hug his sweet girls...they love their daddy!

The finished product!  It is kind of hard to tell in the picture, but Nathan did an absolutely amazing job on our shelter.  Good job, babe!  He is such a good provider for our family :)

We cooked all of our meals over the fire...

At one point, one of my girls had to go to the bathroom (which was a homemade port-a-potty...really really disgusting!  But at least we had that option, and not just the woods!)  It was a bit of a distance away, and I was having fun talking with friends by the fire :)  So...Halle is now 6 1/2 years old, so I thought, why not?  I sent Halle to take her two sisters to the potty!  But soon we heard bloodcurdling screams.  And they DID. NOT. STOP.  I seriously thought one of my girls fell into the pit.  People took off running to see what happened, and Nathan got there first.  The problem?  A spider :)  Oh, my sweet girls.  How will they survive in the jungle??  Lol.  But to their credit...look at this spider!  It was really big!!  And it was in the little port-a-potty-tarp-enclosure-thingy with them, so I don't blame them for being scared.

We had so much fun hanging out with good friends...

We learned how to make fire starters (vaseline and cotton balls...who knew??)

So the first night, we all slept pretty good!  I layered my kids like crazy (leggings, socks, footie pajamas, and sweatshirts over that...and hats if they needed them!)  It got pretty cold at night.  But we made it through!  Up the next morning to make our breakfast over the fire...

Haha!  I love this picture of Daisy...still pretty out of it early in the morning :)

All throughout that day (on Friday) we had practical classes.  This class was about wiring for batteries, solar power, etc...I will be honest that I still do not understand it all!  Nathan does pretty well, though, so it's all good :)

Some more wiring...the guys had to figure out how to hook up a solar powered water pump, to get water into our camp.

We learned a lot about chainsaws...

I even got to use one!  My first time...I was a little nervous!  But I did it!

There were some staff couples who hung out with us at our campsite, and they helped with the kids sooo much!  Here is Ray, making a bow and arrow for Daisy.  He made them for all the kids!  Thank you Ray!

The kids really had such a blast...

And I really did too! It was really nice to have some good downtime, with nothing to do but talk to people and sit with my kids...I loved it.

So on Saturday morning...sadly, Layla got sick with a stomach bug.  She woke up in the morning feeling sick and then threw up a couple of times.  So we all had a team meeting to discuss our options, and we decided that I should take her home.  So I was pretty bummed to miss all day on Saturday, but it was the best decision.  We took a team pic before I left...we called ourselves "Team Unicorn"...ha!  Kind of a long story :)

While I was gone on Saturday, Nathan got the opportunity to slaughter, pluck and butcher a chicken!  I wasn't too sad to miss that :)  But he was grateful for the chance to learn how to do that!

In the act of killing the chicken...seriously gross!

The camping trip was such an amazing opportunity.  We were stretched in less-than-comfortable situations, but we were so encouraged by our teammates.  What a great time of working with a team.  We are starting to feel the sting of what is coming...having to say goodbye to these people whom we have grown to love so much!  Sigh.  More on that later.  Thanks for sticking with me, through all those camping pictures!  Love ya'll!