Storms

We enjoyed the first tropical depression of 2013 today.  My garden got lots of rain, good soaking rain.  It was good.  Unfortunately some folks had a little damage south of us but all in all, everything was ok.  I LOVE storms.

Thinking about how much I love storms made me start thinking.  When I was a child, I was terrified of the big thunderstorms we get here in Florida.  There were times when our house would shake and I'd be so afraid.  It's funny my kids have never been afraid of storms.  But as I got older, the storms started being more fascinating that frightening.  My bedroom had windows all the way around two sides of it so I could watch the storms.  It was nice to curl up on that bed and feel the wind come in, watch the lightening streak the sky, hear the thunder roll.....  As time went on, storms became comforting to me, and exciting.  One time we ran outside and played in the rain of a hurricane, been amazed at hail at our door one night in Miami....  I love the smell of rain.  Some people can't smell it but I can, I know when a rain storm is coming.

Where we live, literally on the edge of a swamp in Florida, we get a misty rain that I have never seen anywhere else in the world.  It is so beautiful, I've tried to take pictures of it, but there is no way to capture it.  We don't get it all the time, but every few months it will happen.  I've never even seen it anywhere else in Florida...not even in this area.  It's very mysterious and beautiful.  We think it's some type of natural phenomena that happens because of the moisture around us and how low our land is. 

So as you can tell I love storms.  Of course I don't want tornadoes or anyone to get hurt or property damaged....  but I just love the majesty of a storm.  When a little storm like this Tropical Storm is headed towards us, I get all excited.  (I don't feel quite the same when a Category 3 is bearing down on us ok LOL)  Today was my kind of day.  You can almost see the grass, garden and trees growing.  We live on a well and there was one year our old well went dry because there had been a drought and it was a short well.  We had to have a deep well put in and then we had water again but I learn the importance of water that summer!  So when we get a good rain now, I think that is good for our well. 

In Bible times rain was thought of as a blessing, they were farmers and knew the importance of rain.  In fact there is a scripture Jesus said "it rains on the just and the unjust"  In our modern world we read that as "trouble comes to the just and the unjust"  but back then it would have been understood more as "good times come to the good and the bad people"    Since I've been gardening these past 3 or 4 years, I've learned NOTHING can help my garden as much as rain.  Rain is so much better even than the well water because by the time it has gone through the earth and is pulled back in to the well, it's not going to have the same nutrients as straight rain water.  In fact I put out buckets and my wheelbarrow under the eaves of the roof to catch as much as I can when it rains so I'll have it later. 

So maybe the storms of life shouldn't be so dreaded...even the worst storms have moments of majesty in them..... the rains that come into our lives grow us in a way that nothing else can....storms can refresh the garden of your soul. 

Those thoughts just came to me today...thought I'd share them! 

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During the times when I could get on the computer I was busy today looking into stem cell research.  Right after Selah's accident, I put some time into researching it as that is one of the few things out there that offers any type of possible medical hope.  I got no help from doctors, got discouraged and busy with the more day to day things with Selah.  Well my friend sent me that link that I posted in the last blog and that encouraged me to look back into things.  I emailed the doctors in Germany, a doctor at Duke and a doctor in California and talked to his office.   

If we do it, it will be expensive...no insurance will cover it.  The doctor's office I talked to also said most patients do HBOT at the same time and no insurance will cover that either ....on top of us having to get a handicapped accessible van....  not to mention a house that can be modified for her....  I started having my own little storm inside of myself for a little while today BUT I know God will provide what she needs.  He worked a miracle to get her to America and to our family and He is not done with her yet!   As I thought about it, I thought, maybe if we do all of that, she will recover enough we will NOT need a handicapped accessible van or a house that we could modify for her....that would be the greatest thing ever!

And just so no one will feel uncomfortable, the stem cells we are thinking about using would come either from Selah herself or from an O negative donor of umbilical cord blood cells.  The stem cells would not come from aborted children. 

We will see what the future holds, we are open to trying things that have promise as long as the risks to her are small.  I have to put in order the things that are most important for her.  From next week on, we will have some type of therapy every day for Selah.  She is finally starting speech and OT has a set day for her.  So we have to try and schedule her doctor appointments around her therapys. it's challenging but doable.  All the therapist except for Speech come to our home which makes it easier for Selah.  For speech it is being done at the hospital as we will be working with her to get her off the trach and to get her started on taking liquids by mouth and that can't be done at home. 

Please pray about this whole situation...maybe we will just find out about a study she can be enrolled in for free...that would be great!

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This morning, as I'm waking up, I think about my new bread machine and REALIZE I left the tiny small paddle in the middle of the loaf I threw away last weekend.....  the paddle bakes into the bread and is supposed to be taken out when it cools...I forgot completely until this morning and I sat up in bed and said "oh crap!"  We have a dumpster but the pick up is on Mondays...and I threw the little that remained away this weekend!  Otherwise we'd been doing some dumpster diving in the storm LOL!!!!  Normally I HATE ordering anything on line.  But I ordered TWO of the little paddles, thankfully they are only $8, why two?   Well.....I figure this might happen again LOL

Thanks to the boys cleaning the house, I was inspired to cook today:)  I cooked a good supper of spaghetti with garlic bread for supper and I have chicken legs in the crock pot cooking for tomorrow. 

With the spaghetti, I use the kind that is either whole wheat or the kind that has veggies in it - the kids can't tell.  I use the best  sauce, that has the better ingredients, and that supplies a serving of veggies and I used ground chicken- the healthy kind, no antibodics and cage free.  It is much cheaper than the organic beef!   The ONLY kind of bread I can find that does not have vegetable oil in it is Arnold's Healthy bread so I put a garlic butter on it REAL butter and it just all went together.   We also had a salad.  The boys were kidding me about it, said they'd have to clean weekly to keep me cooking LOL!  It's just easier to cook when the house is clean and decluttered. 

I'm still enjoying the emails and comments!  Thanks again friends!!!