I wonder if this is how loud it is at the Jespersen's?

After dinner today, Carrie asked me to teach her how to play the piano. (*insert frantically excited hyperventilation here*) She had gone to a friends' house for a birthday party and found that she was able to play all of her fiddle tunes on a toy piano her friend had because all the keys were labeled with the notes. I pretty much ran to my filing cabinet and pulled out a copy of Leila Fletcher Book One and we started working through each page. I say "we" because i can't control myself when it comes to music.
Where there was a "duet" part for the "teacher" i played it.
Where there were lyrics i sang them.
Where the song called for a small drum, i grabbed a toy tin pot from the desk behind me and dinged it with a pencil.
Where it called for a trumpet, Carrie looked at me expectantly and laughed... and i did my best.
Oh yeah... and Carrie played her piano part. :)
By this time, of course we had drawn a crowd.
Darren: "Why would he stick a feather in his cap and call it macaroni?"
Me: Because he's a nerd... next song! (I was not going to be distracted when things were going so well...we were on page 30!) and then...
Wesley: "POOOOOOP! POOP! POOP! POOP! MOOOOM! poop mom."
At my house that word trumps whatever else is going on... that and the word "barf".
I got up from the piano and suddenly i saw myself and my life from an outsiders' point of view. I was in my nightie at 6:30, wet hair in a towel at the piano, dinging a pot with a pencil and disrespecting Yankee doodle dandy in front of impressionable children. As i trotted Wesley to the washroom (who had taken off his diaper and used the "closet for a deposit" under the not so watchful eye of his father) we passed Sadie. She was riding her new training wheeled bike that she just got for her birthday into the music room.
"Mom! The purple paint shines!!"
Me: "Yeah! So pretty Sadie!"
The kitchen counter was covered with bean plants growing in large egg cartons for Ellie and Sadie's science lesson, and the giggling and piano plunking went on without me. Yes it's loud... and a little chaotic sometimes around here with seven kids...But I'll bet you have days like this too!

The breakfast

I guess i have my own vanity and my friend Andrea to thank for these ridiculous thoughts... Andrea's really not to blame... i'm just not good at taking responsibility for myself. I KNOW no one wants to hear about anyone's weight loss or gain or food intake for that matter! It's really not that exciting....but i'm going to bore you with it anyways.
Awhile back, i asked friends for help regarding post partum weight loss. I got the token "Give yourself 9 months." (...yeah, i may be pregnant by then!) I also got the hardcore workout schedule from one friend. (not gonna happen.) I had already tried the "Pretend you have actually lost weight by buying HUGE pants." and also the "Buy way to skinny pants so that you are so uncomfortable during the day and remember that you need to lose weight." tricks.
Neither of them were working.
Instead... i was gaining.
Then i got a message from Andrea. She told me "Drink lots of water, resist overloading on carbs, and eat *less* than you normally would...Oh yeah! and we will e-mail each other what we ate during the day! Well... I lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks. Then we quit e-mailing menus. Now i'm at a standstill. (p.s. i know why i am at a standstill but i'm not telling that the reason is nachos.) ANYways... I usually have toast in the morning, but I've been trying to lower my carbs intake (which is "epic" as the kids today like to say) so i've been eating eggs. Today it was a soft boiled egg. Usually my kids LOVE hardboiled eggs and i smash up a whole dozen at a time and it doesn't strike me this same way. Today though, my kids found Honey Nut Cheerios more tempting and I was left to have an egg by myself. It is strange cooking breakfast for *one* when i'm used to doing it for 7! I took the perfect compact little breakfast so generously provided by a hard working chicken, boiled it in my little pot and when the time was right, took it out with a spoon and rinsed it under cold water. It was at this point that the whole thing started to feel like some kind of miniature Japanese tea party. So ceremonious was this undertaking of my personal breakfast! First, i used a knife to soundly crack my egg and split it in two. Then, i carefully weilded a spoon and gently scooped out both sides into my bowl. I then took a fork and smashed some butter, salt and pepper into my egg. Is it REALLY this complicated to eat an egg? I need a knife, a fork AND a spoon? All i could think was... "I could have eaten a whole LOAF of bread by now. This is ridiculous!" But it WAS delicious.

Sadie Update

Well, this will be short. The X-rays were clear! :) :)
I talked to Dr B (oncologist) this week and he reported that the x-rays were clear of any lesions and the previous lesion seen on the cat scan did *not* appear to be an LCH lesion. Because of the thickening of the pituitary, however, they will be keeping tabs on Sadie through her endocrinologist to make sure that the thickening is not the beginning of something more sinister. She will continue to have MRI's every 6 months, and she continues with her hormone replacement. Even though we are, in a way, back where we started at the beginning of this roller-coaster of "what-if's", I am THRILLED. :) No lesions, No biopsy, No medication. Just a watchful eye. If she complains of any consistent pain in any part of her body, we need to take her in as it could be LCH lesions.
There is something in me that is changing through this. I feel as though i am being systematically taught that no matter where this specific road leads... i am to *trust* God. I'm to *rest* in Him. The words "*abide* in Him" keep coming to mind. "Abide": to rest or dwell...to remain...to stand still for once, look him in the peaceful face, pay attention to Him alone...and to stop living in the torment of my worries. To live in His strength.
...i am weak, but He is strong. -j