Joanne Heim

Resolution (Joanne)

I was thinking the other day about my New Years resolutions from back in January and realized that I have kept them all. Not by my own power. It's really been a gift from God I think. Why? Because I can't control these resolutions. So what were they?

1. No needles of any kind.

2. No ambulance rides.

3. No surgery.

4. No hospital stays.

5. No 911 calls.

So far so good. Add I even had very few doctors appointments this year!

Joanne

 

 

Fall Update (Toben)

I think most of the leaves have fallen from our trees. a few are making a game effort at hanging on but I am predicting they will all be on the ground by this time next week. You know what that means: leaf raking. Last year we pulled about 25 lawn and leaf bags out of the back yard. I expect we'll be close to that again this year. Of course what I'm hoping for is that a huge windstorm blows just in our backyard with enough force to blow the leaves over the fence into our next door neighbors yard. Doubt that will happen. Darn!

Audrey is home this week; she has fall break. It's 11:24 a.m. and she just texted me that she is up. Good for her! I hope she gets a ton of sleep this week. She is headed to my folk's house for a couple of nights. They spoil her plus they have TV which the girls are usually glued to it when they go down there. Can't blame them really. If I was down there you would have to drag me away from ESPN. 

Last night Audrey went to a Harvest Party at Wade and Kristen's church. She dressed up like she was from the 80's. And she NAILED it. The makeup, the clothes (especially the leg warmers, the accesories; all spot on. I had to laugh because if she was alive 30 years ago she would have looked like any other kid getting ready to head out for the evening. But now it's a "costume." In 30 years will kids dress up in their parents old Abercrombie and Fitch clothes with a sense of irony? Will they listen to the music and laugh? Kind of funny to think about how the grand kids will do it.

Emma has school. She is bummed because she only got three days for Fall break and Audrey gets a whole week. But Emma loves school (except for PE and math). She brought home her report card for the first quarter and was freaked out that she got an A-. Out of all those A's it's that A- that she just can't deal with. She went on and on (and on) about it until I got her chilled out. The funny thing was that it was in choir or something like that. That kid is going to have a stellar academic career.

Joanne is off having lunch with friends. Hope she has a blast! She hasn't seen a couple of these ladies for some time so it'll be really good for them to reconnect. Tomorrow is a big day becasue Joanne is going to get her haircut. Here is the challenge: she has me to style it each morning. So almost no matter how good the cut is, she is stuck with a guy who doesn't know which end of the curling iron to grab in order to make it look like the stylist did. So it's gotta be low maintanance. And by low maintancance I mean virtually no maintanance. Maybe I should take a class at the local beauty school so I can be on point for doing hair every morning!

I guess that's about it. 

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray that Audrey will get recharaged this week. She doesn't like school too much these days but I would love for her to go back at least well rested!

2. This may seem minor, but it would be great if Joanne got a stellar haircut. That would put a spring in her step.

3. I am especailly thankful this week for my job. Working for Dr. Dobson and Family Talk is a blessing. Plus I get to write for a living. How cool is that!?

Toben

The Blur of Days...or Not (Toben)

Sometimes it feels like the days just fly by. I was talking to my dad yesterday; he called about 5:00 just to say hi. He asked me how my day went and it was just then that I was struck by the fact that it was 5:00, that I needed to get dinner figured out, that we were at the point to start wrapping up another day and to get into our nighttime routine. It snuck up on me! Yesterday literally disappeared. I was a little taken aback. 

For  one thing, it was Emma's last day of fall break. I had intended to get some time with her, to do a little something special on her last day off. But I realized I had almost missed it. To get things straight, I did manage to get her out after dinner to the local DQ for a chocolate dipped cone (a family favorite) and I was very aware that I needed to be in the moment with her instead of thinking about what I needed to finish up last night and tackle this morning. So we had about half an hour to just sit and talk and eat ice cream. She is such a loving kid and needs to feel that love reciprocated. I suppose that's true of all kids. I just wish I could really help her understand how much I love her. I know that she knows that she is loved, but I want her to know it on an even deeper level than just my words can convey. Do you ever feel like you just can't express enough the love you have for your kids?

Audrey is battling to get through this week and then she will have an entire week off for her own fall break. The thing she is looking forward to most? Sleep! I can't blame her. We are up at 6 every morning which may not seem all that early to some of you early risers, but it feels painfully early to others of us! We are out the door by 6:30 for school. Audrey could catch the bus but I know she likes to get that extra half-hour of sleep and she likes to be able to finish getting ready in the car on the drive to school, so that is my gift to her each morning. It's a way to show her some love too.

I talked to Joanne a little about the days flying by and she feels just the opposite. Her days seem very, very long to her.  Makes me realize how different our experiences are even though we live under the same roof! At the end of most days I think, "Where did the day go?" and Joanne thinks, "I can't believe I made it through another day." This is something I need to be more aware of. I need to do a few little things to break up Joanne's day. I need to get her out of the house! She always goes with me to pick up Emma but there are probably other little outings I could take her on just to get her some fresh air and a change of perspective. 

I wonder what it's  like for Audrey and Emma? I need to ask them. Emma loves school so I imagine her days probably go by pretty quickly. Audrey on the other hand doesn't like school and I bet her days seem like an eternity. I'll remember to ask them about that tonight, just out of curiosity.

So do your days fly by or do they drag by? Or is it a combination of the two? What contributes to that? 

Prayer Requests:

1. Audrey is really struggling in school. Please pray that she would have a change of heart and might actually start to like school--I know, that's a prayer for a miracle, but it never hurts to ask God for the big stuff.

2. Please pray that God would give me the ability, the words, to truly express to Joanne and the girls how deeply I love them. I want them to just be drenched in it!

3. Praise for how much Emma loves scchool! The fact that she is even at Denver Christian is a miracle and she is loving it (except math).

Toben

 

Fall Break and Falling Leaves (Toben)

Emma is off school for the next few days for Fall break. Needless to say she is quite excited. Although there was some confusion today as Joanne tried to wake Emma up at 6:30 so that she could get ready for school. Emma informed her mom that she wasn't going to school today and reminded her that she is on break! Fortunately Emma was able to go back to sleep and had a nice sleep-in until about  8:00 which is a real rarity for Emma--she is an early riser. She is still in her jammies and I expect that she will probably have a pajama day as there is no where in particular that she needs to be.

Pajama days are celebrated in our house. Do you have pajama days? 

Audrey actually made it up today without too much pushing and pulling on my part. I got up before 6 to wake her up and she was already in the bathroom getting ready. I think that's a first! Usually I have to go to her room three or four times to get her going. I don't know how many of you have high school students, but Audrey has an amazing ability to get out of bed at 6:25 and be ready to go and in the car by 6:35. It's like a time warp! Of course she is finishing getting dressed while we drive ot school, pulling on sweaters and shoes but I have to give it to her; somehow she makes it happen! Her fall break is the week after next and she gets the whole week off. I am so excited for her to have those days off. I think high school is a little more demanding on her than she thought it would be. 

All the leaves on our trees are in their full Fall regalia. We have half a dozen massive trees in our backyard and this time of year they are just beautiful. Of course those leaves end up on the lawn which means lots and lots and lots of raking. On an average year we end up with over 20 trash bags of leaves. I bet my dad will come up and help me rake this year. He loves to help out; he loves a good project to tackle.

My dad spent the night at our house on Tuesday night. He was up taking my mom to the Denver airport--mom is off to Zurich to do some teaching at a women's ministry school. So we got her to the airport and ten dad did a couple of local hikes to take pictures. He is a great photographer. Then he came back to our house and we went to Los Arcos (our favorite cheap mexican place) and then he spent the night in our guest room. He hung out with Joanne on Wednesday while I went to work. He's coming back up tonight for a couple  of business meetings then we will see him again for an hour or so. He is a good man and we love having him around! He and Emma have a special bond--they both love to hike and take pictures. 

Joanne had a good appointment with a new physical therapist at Kaiser last week. Her suggestions: get Joanne in the pool. She feels like aqua-therapy would be very beneficial. Unfortunately she suggested that Joanne spend 4-5 hours in the pool every day. Perhaps a bit unrealistic! But we are hoping to get her in a couple of times a week. I am scrambling to try to find a pool that we can use. We have one at the local rec. center but it is usually pretty crowded and very noisy, which is a but overwhelming to Joanne. So we are talking to them about letting Joanne work out during off hours. Looks like we might be able to do that.

I guess that's about it.

Prayer requests:

1. Thanksgiving for Emma's Fall break. Please pray that it will be restorative for her.

2. In a similar vein: please pray that Audrey can tough it out until her break in a couple of weeks! She is feeling pretty worn out and frayed at the edges. A week off will do her a world of good!

3. Pray that we find a good pool solution for Joanne that will allow her to do some new kinds of exercises and rebuild some strength on her left side.

Toben

 

All Good, All Bad (Toben)

I am struck today by the idea that very rarely is a day all good or all bad. It is almost always a mix of the two. I wonder why that is? I can think back over the last few weeks and find a couple of days that were mostly good. I can also pick out a few that were real dogs! But on the whole, we usually get a little of both. I wonder if that is all about God's grace?Even in the midst of a really cruddy day He allows something good to break in just as a little reminder that he is still up there and still loves us. And those mostly good days? I will take those as grace from above!

Today has sort of been one of those "dog days." Had to have the oil changed on the car and that always ends up costing more than the $29.99 deal Jiffy Lube advertises--they are masters of the up-sell! And then I had to get a prescription filled for Audrey. I was told that it was ready at our local Kaiser pharmacy. But when I got there they told me that the prescription got sent to Westminster, which is about 30 miles north of us! Why the heck did you send it the whole way up there!? So they sent me to talk to our doctor's nurse and that she could straighten it out. And she did, but the whole process went from being a five minute errand to taking just about an hour. 

Then I went grocery shopping at Sprouts. I know I should go to the Walmarts but Sprouts is just such an inviting place to shop. Everyone is so nice and happy and mellow. It's is the polar opposite of the Walmarts. So I picked up the necessities (bread, milk, eggs) and came home.

Happy Holly was here for a visit with Joanne. Have I told you about Happy Holly? For a while there I was giving everyone nicknames so I could remember their real names. And Happy Holly is just that: Happy! I can't think of a time when I have been around her that her cheerfulness hasn't shone through. She and her family have been through a lot but she has an irrepressible spirit. She has been a great friend to Joanne and they always have the nicest visits.

Shanna was over yesterday for prayer time with Joanne and that was awesome too! And we got to have burgers at the Franklin's last Sunday which was a blast even though we didn't get to meet their new puppy who is off getting doggy trained at a prison somewhere in Southern Colorado...but I digress.  Joanne has been blessed with some dear friends. They can be a very good thing in an otherwise lousy day!

And today, being a little on the lousy side, my dad called out of the blue to say that he and my mom are coming up to take us out to dinner just becasue. I can't tell you how much that means to me. they are going to drive 45 minutes up here fromt he Springs just to see us and give us a good meal--I think we are going to California Pizza Kitchen! That is definitely a bright spot in a bummer of a day. 

So why do you think the good comes with the bad and vice versa? Is that karma? Is it just keeping balance in the universe or do you think that it's just the way God works in our day to day lives? Do you think God cares about the little stuff? I'd like to think so.

Toben