The J6 Journey: Year 4, August 23rd-25th, 2019: Finally, Great Weather!

Ok, kids, on your mark, get set, go out and enjoy this perfect 78 degree light breeze low humidity dry weather! But, Mom, do we have to? It's too buggy! The sun is too bright! There's nothing to do outside! Are you kidding me, kids? You complain when it's 80 and above, and you complain when it's below 70. So, we have these gorgeous days for about 2 months of the year, max, where you don't need heat or a/c. GET OUTSIDE, kids! I MEAN IT! No TV today! If you want to pout in your rooms, then fine, but nada, no screens!

Sound familiar?! I just don't get it! We have all the play equipment I never had as a kid. We have a huge yard. We now even have comfy patio furniture in the shade! What's not to love? Ok, friends, we are missing friends to play with, BUT, they could go knock on a couple of doors to see if kids are home. Four of us had haircuts today, and because of my crazy emotional week, I didn't reach out to see if friends could come over. I should have. But I was focused on school and making big decisions. Oh well. Maybe next week! I do have my surgery on Wednesday on my upper arm and then I think a counseling appointment somewhere in there. It was the first week though where we had zero appointments and obligations so I've been trying to establish an old/new routine.

I made Keturah get up at 10 today because haircuts started at 11:15. The rest of us were up on time and such. I woke up moody, but it improved throughout the day. Being with people helped, especially when your hairdresser is the mom of your son's good friend and sings with your oldest son on worship team and went to the same high school at the same time as your husband and when you are so comfortable in her salon (she owns it but has several other stylists) that your youngest son feels free to wander back and forth, talk, and help out sweeping the floor. Then we went to CFA for a late lunch, where we were going to surprise Benaiah who was working, but didn't look up when he clocked out and went out the back door instead of the side door. Whoops. Then Ava came home for the rest of the day. Friday is now their date night because they are both busy every other day of the week. And sometimes, date night involves a night in with very noisy siblings who butt in all the time. Yup, this is our life. Anyway, there's that.

I managed to spend some time outside weeding the very overgrown front garden. It feels like a losing battle though. I think if I can muster enough energy, I'm going to put the black stuff down around the plants I want to keep tomorrow because I don't know when my arm will be better again. We never got around to getting mulch, so I'll just put some bricks on top of the weed barrier to hold it in place for now. I didn't fully protect myself from the sun because there were clouds when I began and I tried to angle myself away from the sun. I just hate the feel of lotion, so I will need to find some sunblock that will work for me. Thank goodness I have some face sunblock I can use for that and my arms. I don't want to put crap products full of chemicals on my body every day. I have the cheap stuff but we use it so infrequently, I don't worry about the chemicals as much. But now, I must care. Thankfully, lots of bloggers have already done the research so it won't take too much effort. It's a good time to buy because it's the end of the summer season.

That's about it. We are meeting one of our Delaware friends for breakfast in the morning because she's in town this weekend and then I think I'll make everyone tackle yardwork at both houses on this perfect weather weekend. Yes, I'll put on sunblock and/or cover up with long sleeves. And here's what I found out today when I called the dermatologist for clarification:

-I have melanoma, not basal cell or squamous or whatever.
-it's .2mm deep, so fully in the epidermous, and only parts of it is in the papillary (second layer) dermis.
-they called it a Clarks level 2 thickness
-it's a focal superficial invasion in the papillary dermis
-it's in situ, so it's stage 0 skin cancer
-becuase it's not deep, there's not a risk of being it in the lymph nodes
-I'll have two sets of stitches, one inside and outside, which will require me to go back to the dermatologist to have them removed.
-no other treatment needed except a full body check every 3 months for awhile
-local anesthetic, 1 hr procedure, Jared cannot be in the room during the procedure. I believe it will be at their office, which is in the hospital, but i'm fine with whichever kind of room it is, exam room, or big surgical suite, doesn't matter.
-lastly, the incision is going to be large, 2-3inches. that's the part i'm not really ok about. I like my arms. I like my freckles. I don't want a chunk of me taken out. I'm also concerned about the pain level. I've never had an incision like that. a lot of otc pain meds don't work for me. and the itchniess, not looking forward to that either.

So, never underestimate calling your doctors back numerous times. And always be willing to go back in for a consult if you've got a lot of questions. I also looked up the woman resident who will be ding the surgery and it sounds like she's very good, even having done some residency in Boston. So, here's to the weekend! And the first week of school going ok. I have things to catch up on because I didn't go over stuff today because we were out, but that's ok, bookwork is for the cold, rainy, and snowy days of winter, lol.

We are in the "doing everybody else's chores is fun" stage!

The befores for Justin. Mr. Shaggy dog, but he likes! Jennae thought it was too thick and poofy.

Justin's after shots. He's ok on the length, but he doesn't like that the poofiness of his hair is gone after it was thinned. Live and learn.

That's his "I don't want to smile face." Jared can keep a straight face 90% of the time, but the kids, nope, they crack up quickly!

Keturah's before shot. She just wants a trim. I got several inches cut off and some layers put in.

After, not much change, I know. And I know she has my hair color, but her hair is much thicker than mine!

I love those little baby hairs on top growing where her big boo boo was that finally healed. But now we don't have money or occasion to color her hair, grr!

Abishai's before shots of his beautifully sunkissed hair.

You can't create fun color like that!

Abishai insisted he sit in the big chair all by himself. But I still had to be nearby. And he didn't disagree about getting a haircut this time!

Abishai's haircut. He looks so different! I still like it long though.

First time (?) in the shampoo chair. She was smiling but didn't giggle like Jennae's daughter apparently does.

Abishai decided he wanted to be the stylist! So he put the Angry Birds cap on me and pretended to snip away. I sat in the chair next to Jennae's area, but we didn't touch anything else, promise! And the rest of the salon was quiet with just one other client. Thankfully, Jennae and her colleagues have kids, too. I'm glad we feel comfortable here.

I pretend to cut your hair mommy!

I'm a big helper! And that bucket Jennae is stepping on is a floor vacuum! You just sweep everything up to it and it sucks it right up! Nice!

Comfort food after a long hard emotional week. Gourmet salad with all the fixins', Cherry coke, and fries.

Testing out the new mac and cheese. It passed with flying colors!

Keturah said it was 1 1/2 thumbs up. Ok, then.

Looks yummy! We saved some for Daddy, too.

What?! I just want to go home because if I'm out for more than a few hrs I melt! - Justin

Abishai was stir crazy ALL DAY LONG.

In case you are curious, I'm at a stage 0 melanoma.

Hiding from Ava.

Trying to scare Ava and Benaiah who were watching a movie but they just thought he wanted to come inside. Oh well.

Where is Abishai? He dumped out two full cubes of vehicles just so he could show off to Ava that he can do this.

Uh, guys, that's a bit too much wait on there! Be careful!

Some of us had dinner oustide.

Starting a new project!

Don't try this at home! Benaiah left a pencil in his backpack which needed washing because an energy drink exploded in it. Well, it made it through the wash and then went into the dryer and the tumbling action shaved down all the lead at the tip of the pencil until it was this perfectly rounded shape. But the lead got all on the dryer drum and on all the clothes! Thankfully, none of my favorites were damaged much. But one of Jared's white undershirt got a lot and several of Benaiah's t-shirts are stained. I'm going to rewash them and see if the lead will come out. But now both my washer and the dryer are completely clean!

How does a dryer do this?!

Saturday morning we met up with some Delaware friends that are in town visiting none other than one of the sons of the pastor there at The Crossing in Delaware. How crazy is that?! Micah Magee is interning at Mt. Gilead and is dating, Mackenzie, the daughter of our Shelby St. campus minister, Eric Denney. How stinking crazy is all of that!? He must have met her at Johnson University or something. Anyway, 21yr old nice young man, studying to be preacher under none other than Jeff Faull! So crazy the connections we make between our churches. Anyway, Michelle, the person we stayed with in Delaware is here with her friend Mary visiting Micah for the weekend! All while Jim, her husband, is entertaining the Tim Cook family, who pastors The Crossing church plant in Nova Scotia, and who we have also stayed with! It's so crazy! And Micah might do a residency in NH! I don't know how people live without a church community and the connections we can all make with each other. How do people find friends to hang out with? I like my Christian church bubble and how we can operate. It was fun to meet up with them for breakfast without Gary and Leah around. Jared and I got to ask Micah all kinds of questions that Gary would have asked about his internship at Mt. Gilead. It wasn't fun footing the bill, but it was worth it. I'm sure Gary will ask the same questions of everybody when they get together with them on Monday morning. Gary and Leah are out of town this weekend to West Virginia of all places! So 4-5 hrs east! Again, crazy travelers! Oh, and we picked a local chain called "Flap Jacks" and Micah went to the wrong one! Mackenzie had said it was a great chain and boy it was! Very speedy service, satisfying food, lots of choices and they are only open for breakfast and lunch. Prices were similar to Denny's and such. It's a "greasy spoon" type of place but was plenty clean. It reminded of a place in Charlottetown that Gary would go to often when he visited us there. Flap jacks is a perfect spot for a quick breakfast meeting. So I'm glad we got to enjoy something new and different. Different in that we got to ask "20 questions" and "host" and in a new place. We did good!

These two crack me up! Proud of them for being them!

Today we did our "apple job" picking up crab apples at Grandpa's house. I helped him, as long as he was actively working, with the brown smooshed ones, using a glove. We filled up the bucket and had more to pick up! But there's still many more on the tree, so every time we go over to Grandma's, we are supposed to get a bucketful.

Jared decided this was going to be his project today. We both wanted to show the kids you could spend a good part of your day outside in weather like this. Abishai joined us for some of it. I made the other two come outside to help with parts of my project. And I went inside to take breaks and cool off because I know I'll be sore tomorrow and I can't take any pain meds before my Wednesday surgery. SO, Abishai defintely wanted to help Daddy with his project! He even went into Lowe's three times today with Daddy!

I cleaned out the back flowerbeds a bit, and then I"m determined to finish this "spring" project of laying down some weed barrier and getting this front flower garden mulched. It just got too hot and we were too busy to tackle it. Plus, I was waiting for the perfect tools and moment and that's ridiculous. Just get it done with what you have. I had to pull as much of the weeds as I could first and then put down the barrier, so I only got a little bit done, but it's a start. I hope to finish before Wednesday. Then I can send the men to get free mulch from IPL (the electric company sometimes has free mulch/wood chips from the trees they trim) and they can finish the job with a little bit of direction. I know Gary knows how to mulch and has had Jared and our boys do it from time to time. I just couldn't trust any of them with the weeding (Gary would have picked out all the wildflowers we like and the boys wouldn't have cared and picked out everything) and putting down the barrier. It's tedious, and there's a great possibility that it won't hold, but hey, I'll live and learn, right?

Putting a weed barrier down is a new gardening to me, but, I've watched enough vloggers to know a bit about it. Plus I've been day dreaming about it for a long time. I need to go back through my pictures to the spring flowers and make sure I leave holes from them, too. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of bunches that will be if I don't.

So, this is Jared's project. He still has some pieces to add. What is it and what is it made from?

It's made from old car rotors he sanded down from both the truck and the van and it's a firelog holder for a fireplace. He's adding some longer pieces on each side to hold the logs better.

When you have to use your diamond head cutting tool on solid metal, you need protection.

I insisted on no TV again today, and see, the kids made up a game among themselves! And Abishai was filthy from playing outside. Justin mowed grandparents yard. And I bet they read and drew and created art, etc.

Wah! Look at how my biopsy sight on my arm is doing now! It's a 1/4 inch in diamater and not as angry looking. But now they have to make a elongated football shape with 1 cm on either side by 3 inches going the long ways down the arm. I'm so sad! I'll probably lose a few more roles and freckles, too. But after doing some research and looking up some pictures online of the pre op lines, the incision while it's open, what it looks like with stitches, and what the scarring could look like, it should be ok. It's not a chunk of muscle like I thought. It will tighten up my loose skin on my arm, though, from their flabbiness. I purchased Myrrh essential oil with my ER points at Young Living (so it was basically free) and have Frankincense on hand to help with healing and scarring. I do have one scar I forgot about on my knee where a tiny pebble lodged in my knee and my dad fished it out. It was traumatic, but the scar is pretty light and I don't mind telling the story. I'm come to terms with it and am now interested in how it all works. I might even look at the incision as they work on it if they will let me and take pictures that I won't be sharing here.

Normal Sunday, so busy, busy, busy. Benaiah was on drums today at Franklin Rd and nailed it! Jared took Justin early so he could sit through the 9:15am service, but because he sat with a friend, who distracted him, they snuck off behind stage halfway through. Whoops. Then he said that the 1st grade room was "chaotic" not because of the 1st graders but because of his friends. Justin accidentally hit Elliot in the head with a ball, so he had to apologize for that. Wolf accidentally gave a child with a peanut allergy something with peanuts in it, so Justin had to calm him down and tell him it will be ok. Oh child of mine, you are my mini me in personality! I would feel "chaotic" too! Keturah was upset because we don't like her being in the building with the crowds of people without one of us nearby. Grandma and Grandpa went to W.Va. for a teaching/preaching gig, so she wasn't there to sit with Justin at the 9:15. With the chaos of the church on a Sunday, although the kids do check in, there isn't an adult soley responsible for the middle schoolers and there isn't a secure checkout policy like in KP. So while we often let them wander the building after the crowds have left and the some of the doors are locked, we don't like to do that when the crowds are big and they can be easily snatched. So we went to church with a grumpy Keturah and returned with a grumpy Justin.

Keturah had KP worship team rehearsal today, so she was there until 3pm. I passed Benaiah in the parking lot on his way into rehearsal before the 4:30 service when I picked up Keturah. Then 30 minutes later, Jared left to go church for nursery. Then he and I passed in the neighborhood when I took Justin back to church for Crave and I went to meet up with my homeschool friend. Then I picked up Justin on the way home so Benaiah could go to Ava's house. Abishai went to church for the 11am service and then spent the rest of the day at home in his "warm and fuzzy pjs" he likes. I did two loads of laundry and a load of dishes in the dishwasher. We had plenty of leftovers to eat. Then I quickly worked for 2 hrs in the flower bed unexpectedly because I didn't realize it was going to rain all day tomorrow and Tuesday. Yikes! So I had to rush and not be too picky but it turned out ok. I'm just hoping it will start the grass growing until I can get a hold of some mulch for free or cheap. I did not want to put on sunscreen today, but I did for gardening. Now my shoulders are super sore. But it's done. I hope I did it right. And if not, oh well.

Service was good again, starting with 4 songs and communion and then the sermon, with the sendoff being a closing prayer and invitation to the porch. "God is Holy, but God is also Loving." Meaning God loves justice and is to be revered because he's holy, aka set apart from us, on another level, and yet he's loving and wants to be with us. There's two extremes, legalism and outright fear of God and condemnation or the lovey lovey "Jesus is my best friend" extreme where there's too much peer relationship rather than Father/Son or Fear and respect. You need both.