He Had Compassion

I have a few other things I want to blog about and will get to those, hopefully, in the next week or so. But this morning, I wanted to share briefly what I read during my devotions this morning.

I have been reading through Genesis lately, but today I decided to read in Matthew. Our pastor is currently working through Matthew. I've been learning lots & am trying not to ignore the challenges our pastor gives us!

Matthew 9:36

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

We know from reading through the four gospels that Jesus was constantly bombarded with people. They wanted to be healed, to learn more about His teachings and just simply to be near Him. Jesus had compassion on the crowds of people. He didn't see them as being annoying people invading His space, or as ignorant people. Jesus saw the crowds of people as helpless (physically & spiritually).

Then I asked myself the question: how do I look at people when they're surrounding me, demanding me of my time, etc. Sounds like those "people" are my kids! I tend to get uptight & shoo them away when they are nagging, pestering, invading my space. When I get hungry, tired or busy, I like to have my space (both physically & mentally). It frustrates me when I have to repeatedly tend to my kids (usually for the same things over & over & over...) & all I want to do is be in my own little world.

That's when verse 36 really made sense to me - Jesus had compassion on the crowds of people because they were like a sheep without a shepherd. Surely I could try to have compassion on my kids when they crowd around me and when they continuously crowd my thoughts.

Lord, help me to have compassion on my kids & to not shoo them away. And help me to have compassion on others you bring across my path, to see them with Your eyes - to see them as helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Amen.

Amazing!

A friend e-mailed this to me & I just had to pass it along to everyone! Thanks, Carla!

(If clicking on the Youtube video doesn't work, try clicking HERE - let me know if this doesn't work).

Happy Easter!

I'm sitting here waiting for my kids and their youngest older cousin (does that make sense?!) to finish eating dinner. We have 14 people here for Easter dinner. The younger ones are eating first so we have enough dishes & chairs for everyone else!

My sister & her family are in town from up north & my parents came last night & head back to the Island tonight. We also have my sister's in-laws here for dinner.

I love having lots of family here, even if we're squished. Somehow it wouldn't be the same without the craziness of everyone sharing one bathroom, people sleeping in every sleeping place possible (although we didn't have anyone sleep under the dining room table this time!).

This visit is short but sweet as early tomorrow morning our house will be quiet again.

I hope that you are enjoying time with family this special Easter weekend & that you take time to ponder on the depth of what Christ did for us 2,000 years ago.

And if you think of it, could you please pray for a friend of mine. She had surgery today - hysterectomy & mastectomy. She is deserately wanting prayer for the healing, both physically & emotionally. She is my age (mid-30's), married & has 6 kids (the youngest was born just before her first chemo treatment in the fall). Thanks!

Happy Easter!

ERs & IVs

I'm realizing that the past few posts have been mainly about medical stuff and here I am again about to write about more!

I just thought I'd take a moment to update you on how we're doing. Basically, Jeremy & the kids are fine. We haven't heard back about a surgery date for Becca, Daniel's side effects seem to be subsiding (yeah!), and Jeremy is ready to get back to losing weight (the scale gave him a reality check this morning).

As far as how I'm doing, well, that's a loaded question! It seems to be my turn with all the medical concerns. I had a nasty cold over Spring Break but seem to be over that now (with minor coughing when I get tired). My newest adventure is a kidney infection! I was silly & didn't take care of a bladder infection when I should have. I figured I could flush it out with water & cranberry juice, but alas, it didn't work.

Sunday night (early Monday morning - 3:45am to be exact) I went to the Emergency with extreme pain in my back, knowing it was a kidney infection. I've had one once before when we were first married. I got home about 6am in time to sleep an hour only to get up to take kids to school. Monday things got much better. Yesterday afternoon/evening things took a turn for the worse. We went to our church Care Group and by the time we left I knew I was going to be visiting the Emergency again. I dropped off our babysitter then headed to the hospital.

I was very thankful for a doctor who seemed very thorough. He feels that my antibiotics are working but just haven't fixed things enough for my kidneys yet. Because of that, I had extra antibiotics through an IV last night. It took 3 attempts for the nurse to find a good vein (something about having lots of valves), but she managed to get it in. I was so special that they let me keep it in all night & all day today (yes, typing with an IV stuck in my hand is rather precarious). I get to go back again this evening for another dose of drugs via IV. After that, my special-ness is supposed to end...they'll take my IV out. I have a follow up appointment tomorrow with my doctor & Friday evening my regular antibiotics will be done. I'm hoping that I'll be finished with this craziness soon!

A friend shared today on her CarePages (a way for her to update people on her battle with breast cancer) some verses from Job. Job is suffering immensely when his wife tells him to "curse God and die!" Job responds by saying, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" I know Job's and my friend's examples are much more extreme than my current situation, but I know I can still learn something from them. This morning I didn't feel like reading my Bible but knew God was prompting me to, so finally this afternoon I spent some time reading. Nothing profound jumped out at me, but rather a quiet reassurance that things will be okay. Even if my kidneys are causing me pain and my hand hurts from the IV, I will feel much better if I focus on God (and I do). My heart is at peace again.

Catch Up - Again!

Has it really been a month since I've written on here?!

I'm sitting here waiting for the kids to finish their supper (yup, it's a late one) & hop into bed, so I figured I might as well write a quick update. I can't even remember what I wrote in my last post so forgive me if I repeat myself!

Things here have been rather chaotic lately. Where do I start?

We are wrapping up our first week of Spring Break (this week is technically a "School Closure Days" as a way to for the school district to save $$ & next week will be the official Spring Break). I've been very steady with my business & am seeing the results of my work paying off. So far this year, we've been able to buy Daniel & myself new glasses & we'll be redoing mine & Jeremy's bedroom closet soon - all with my earnings from Epicure.

Jeremy continues to work hard at his work. He is off this week - only a couple more days to go. We originally wanted to visit some friends in Alberta but finances didn't allow for that, which in the end worked out for the best. Jeremy's Grandma passed away so we headed to the Island for the funeral last weekend.

The kids are now tucked in bed & sleeping. I'm in the midst of a bad cold (achy, chills, congested head, swollen glands, etc) so I'm feeling the need to sit & drink some tea. I'll intersperse my sips with some typing.

On the Saturday, we headed to Victoria with my parents & did the "Be a Tourist in Your Home Town". Each year, Victoria hosts this, allowing people to purchase tickets for only $10 each & then tour a number of different places for free or for a reduced price. Because we bought enough for the group rate we only had to pay $8 each. We visited Miniature World, the Royal Wax Museum and the Undersea Gardens. It was a full day but was lots of fun, despite the freezing winds that whipped through the city. We even had snow a couple times that day! We came home Monday but missed the ferry due to a major snow fall. My parents had 6" in their driveway by the time we were packed & ready to head out. It was slow going. If we were tempted to speed up, we were quickly reminded to stay slow from all the vehicles in the ditches, upside down, smashed, etc. We even witnessed a pick-up truck rear-ending a car right beside us on the highway and a 4 or 5 vehicle accident on the side of the road, one of them being a hearse! Thankfully it was empty & it didn't look like it was needed to carry any bodies away from the scene. Yup! It was crazy weather & needless to say, my stomach was in knots till we hit Nanaimo & most of the snow was melted. By the time we reached the ferry terminal, the roads were wet but clear & the sun was shining. Driving off the ferry it looked like the mainland hadn't even had any snow (they received a dusting that morning). We made it home safe & sound!

The kids started free swimming lessons on Tuesday & just finished today. They both loved it and were excited each day. Now to maintain that excitement & put them in lessons again.

I had a doctor's appointment this week. I had a medical concern, but thankfully the doctor had good news and all is well. And seeing as the week would have been boring with just one doctor appointment, Daniel & Becca had one too!

We had another appointment with our pediatrician for Daniel. He's been experiencing some side effect from his new medication. He has been having trouble concentrating, wrestless, "not getting it", and so on. It was really affecting his time at school so we met with the school psychologist, his teacher, Teacher's Assistant, Learning Assistance teacher and some other lady (not sure who she was but I assume she has something to do with learning assistance) last week before going to the Island. They were quite concerned for Daniel & wanted to make sure we were all on the same page. His last 2 days of school last week seemed to better, with better concentration, etc. This week he seems to be good as well but he's also not in a scheduled environment like school, so we'll know for sure when school starts again in another week. The only other side affect we seem to be dealing with is a really bad rash. It's all over his body & is very sore. The pediatrician says to give it a couple more weeks to see if it goes away (as the other side affects have done). If not, then we look into things further. In the meantime, we're being very careful with how we touch Daniel & he's being very careful with getting dressed & undressed. He's such a good sport with hardly any whining. It also seems that we've found a good dosage for Daniel as he hasn't had any seizures for the past week or so.

Becca also had a doctor's appointment this week. Our family doctor referred her to a Nose, Throat & Ear specialist to have her tonsils looked at. Becca's tonsils are almost kissing! They are huge & her breathing is often laboured, especially while sleeping. It didn't take long for the specialist to examine her & see that she definately needs to have her tonsils & adenoids out. I signed papers yesterday at the appointment, so we will be hearing in the next week or so when Becca's surgery date will be. Most likely it will be in about 2 months. I'm not looking forward to the actual surgery & recovery, but I'm so glad she's going have it done as I'm hoping this will improve her breathing. Maybe she'll even be able to breathe through her nose & smell things for the first time!

Lets see...what else is there to share?! Jeremy has had this week off & had a long TO DO list. It wasn't till yesterday that he was able to start working on his list. And as always, when Jeremy puts his mind to something, he doesn't stop till he's accomplished it. Our van is now fixed & clean, our garage/rec room now has heat & blinds on the windows (just in time as we have people sleeping in there tonight!), Jeremy has bought a used dishwasher for our basement suite as that one died. Hopefully tomorrow it will get installed. The last big thing on the list is our bedroom closet. But that will have to wait as the cupboard set we want is currently out of stock. Oh it feels good to have things getting done!

Well, I've finished two cups of tea & my bed is calling me. It's 11:16pm & my parents & entourage (their international student, my aunt & uncle & their youngest son - 16yrs old) will be here in about 45 mins. We have to finish getting beds ready & tidying up. Life is never dull here at the Olson's!

I'm not going to proof this so please excuse any mistakes! Until next time...!

Update!

I have so much to talk about, yet nothing much at all!

Our lives the past few weeks have been far from boring, but nothing exciting has happened! It started in January with Daniel having a seizure which has resulted in a medication change. Things seem to be fine in that department. He's been off his original medication now for about a week and so far no seizures. We are praying that God will continue to allow this medication to work for Daniel with no liver damage. We have definately seen an increase in his appetite. I continuously check to make sure he's eating healthy.

Last week Daniel missed 4 days of school as he had the nasty flu going around. He was extra tired, and his stomach was sick in more ways than one (I think that was tactfully put!). He seems to be fully recovered from that & back to his usual energy.

Becca had bronchitis (according to the walk-in clinic doctor - not sure how much weight I put on what they say) and has finished with her puffer & antibiodics. Her cough & nose have cleared up too. I'm hoping that she is finished being sick for the season.

Jeremy has had a head cold for the past several days. Monday night / early Tuesday morning (about 1:30am) Jeremy woke me up to tell me he was going to the Emergancy at the hospital. He had an ear infection and was in extreme pain. He had a lot of ear problems when he was little and now often gets an ear infection when he gets a cold. The heavy drugs (morphine & Tylenol 3's) didn't touch the pain for several hours. Yesterday afternoon, the antibiotics kicked in and his ear started draining, relieving some pressure & pain. Last night right before bed, he ended up getting sick! At this point we're not sure if it's from all the drugs he took yesterday or if it's the flu. He went to work today but came home a couple hours in. He is extremely dizzy & when he moves his stomach feels very nauseaus. He's sleeping right now & hoping that whatever this is will pass through his system quickly and that he will be back at work tomorrow.

As for me, I have so far avoided all the things going around. I've had times of feeling queezy and exhausted (but it's probably from me staying up too late). I'm trying to get to bed earlier these days, hoping that ample sleep will keep me from getting sick.

I know that wasn't a very exciting update, but figured I'd post it, nonetheless.

Oh, and Jeremy didn't weigh himself this morning so there's nothing to report.

Oh (again)! Daniel & I got new glasses last week! I'll try to remember to take pictures and post them soon.

Weight Loss Update

Well, it's a few days past Wednesday but thought I'd post Jeremy's results anyway.

On Wed., Jeremy was down to 240lbs. He just came out & told me that he weighed himself this morning & is down to 239lbs. I think Jeremy's been more purposeful this week in his eating and I'm trying to help him by ensuring I have heathy meals made for supper each night. At times it's frustrating to cook healthy and not just quickly throw together a casserole-type meal, but I know that how I cook greatly influences Jeremy's weight loss.

If you have any recipes that are healthy (low-carb), I'd love to hear about them.

Check back on Wednesday for another update on Jeremy's progress.