Glory to God in the Highest

I realized today that the Lord preserved our child from much greater damage from Crohn's. We visited our GI doctor in mid-July (only one month before her symptoms began) for the first time. Our middle son had been having bouts of inexplicable vomiting for over a year, and our lackadaisical pediatrician finally agreed to give him a referral to a GI doctor at Johns Hopkins. We went and had some testing done, discovering that he likely has a condition called Cyclical Vomiting which is usually a precursor to migraines (something both my husband and I suffer from). After being blown off by our pediatrician regarding our daughter's worrisome symptoms for two months, I took the bull by the horns and made an appointment with the GI doctor for the beginning of November. Thank God she saw us, agreed that there was something wrong, and ordered testing. If we had not already been patients, we may not have been able to get in so quickly. If we had waited, our poor girl would be in much worse shape!

Pretty Paper Stars

I folded some pretty paper stars today while watching Chariots of Fire with my family! There's a YouTube video entitled "How to Make Simple 3D Paper Stars" by Oziy Design, if you prefer. I used a book of scrapbook paper that I found at Michaels a few weeks ago. It's full of pretty papers reminiscent of Rifle Paper Co.

Dried Oranges and Grapefruits

I think our dried orange and grapefruit slices came out the best they ever have this year!! I set the oven on 150 degrees Fahrenheit and placed them directly on the oven rack rather than a cookie sheet. I flipped them a few times over the course of three or four hours.

Home from the Hospital

We got home at about 11:30 last night and tried to get right back into our routine today.  I spent some time at speech with our youngest and had a meeting with our daughter's school to discuss the Crohn's and how to help her catch up.  We are really fortunate to have such a caring group of people teaching our girl.  I have a lot to be thankful for!

Day Four

The hospital's Artist in Residence stopped by to teach our daughter how to needle felt this afternoon! She made an owl and is already asking to get the supplies to try her hand at other animals.  

We also took advantage of having a Child Life Coordinator and started the process of learning how to take pills in a fun and easy way.  She has chocolate sprinkles, Nerds, mini M&Ms, Smarties, and Tic Tacs to try swallowing.

 

We're really looking forward to discharge tonight.  It will be so good to see our boys!

Day Three

 Another beautiful hospital sunrise and late-night movies with my girl.  Day three in the hospital was rough (and included finding out the hard way that she is allergic to Barium).  We have a diagnosis of Crohn's Disease and will be starting treatment tomorrow.

Day Two

Today was pretty rough for our little girl.  She had a few tests that required some unpleasant preparations and was unable to eat until everything was over (She ate breakfast at 7am on Monday and didn't have anything else until 7 or 8 pm on Tuesday).  Fortunately, I think that the worst is over and we will just have to wait for results and a diagnosis. 

It was wonderful to see a gorgeous vase of flowers from Auntie Anna and Uncle Justin when we came back from the tests.  They've really brought some cheer to the hospital room.  We're also fortunate to have a large window that overlooks the city and the hospital's helicopter pad.  It sounds like we'll be here for few more days, so we really appreciate these little luxuries!

Getting to the Bottom of Things

 Our daughter has been having some tummy trouble for months and the time came, today, to finally get to the bottom of it all.  I am thankful for attentive medical staff, loving family, our girl who smiles through all the invasive tests she's had to endure so far, delicious yarn to work with, and a window with a gorgeous city view.

A Stripy Shawl on My Needles

Saturday

 Our friend, Mirona, has been hard at work on an icon of the Mother of God for our parish.  It has been wonderful to watch her daughter (my goddaughter!) so that she can work!  It's a win-win for me:  baby cuddles and the pleasure of seeing this beautiful icon emerge.  Thank you, Mirona!!

Work by the Fire

The boys have work to do, but the fire is so warm and inviting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dried Flower Pumpkin

I bought this pretty pumpkin in September and it has been bringing me joy ever since.  I keep it on our dining room table and I love seeing it glow in the early morning sunlight.

Treasure

Do you know what's annoying?  When you spot a nice drop-leaf table in someone's trash pile, but you foolishly continue on to the grocery store intending to swing back when you finish.  You shop quickly, load the car, and find out that the battery has died while you were in the store.  Your husband arrives like a gallant hero and jumps the car,, but it is too late.  The table is gone.

I may have lost that pretty little table, but I did unearth a treasure last week.  I found fourteen gorgeous handcut glasses at the hospital's thrift shop yesterday.  They were each $1 and one has a little sticker on it that says WT GRANT, JAPAN on it.

I have been looking for elegant little glasses like these for quite some time.  We love to have sparkling apple cider with our Sunday dinners, holy days, and holidays, and these are the perfect size!

I quite enjoyed washing each glass carefully and then arranging them in our china cabinet.  I love how everything looks!  I would like to get two more bamboo racks to hold the saucers on the bottom shelf and it would be nice to figure out home to repair or replace the edging that came off the bottom of the cabinet at some point.  That being said, I am so please that we now have there pretty glasses to use with out Sunday dishes! 

A Fire inthe Hearth

 

What a joy it is to have fires in the hearth once again!

American Education Week

Our daughter's school welcomed parents to visit their child's classrooms during American Education Week and both my husband and I were able to go observe in our daughter's seventh grade math class and language arts class!  I also was able to go in to eat lunch with her on Wednesday.  It was a pleasure to see her working and to see the environment that she's learning in!

Self-Portrait

Self-Portrait by Little Man, age 10

A String of Pearls

Our Nativity Countdown

Can you see our Nativity Countdown?  I have our Ostheinmer Theotokos and Saint Joseph figures following a path of 40 gold paper stars.  The children will take turns moving them on a daily basis during the Nativity Fast.  We'll also be reading Welcoming the Christ Child each night.

November Nature Table

A Barbara Pym Heroine

I'm feeling a bit like one of Barbara Pym's distressed gentlewomen today:  I'm in love with my parish priest (luckily, he's also my husband), there's laundry drying indoors on a rack, and I moved our pots of roses to the sunroom for the winter.

Golden November

The Perfect Saturday

Here's an easy equation for you:  

ice skating + tea + frangipane = the perfect Saturday

The Last Waffles and Bacon 'Til Christmas

Celebrate Good Times, Come On

 

We're going to see their new cousin!  Gas station pastries make a good after-school celebratory snack for a girl who got seven As and one B for her first report card!

Hispster

I'm drying clothes outside while we wait for the dryer to get repaired.  The scent brings me back to my childhood when my mother line dried all of our clothes and cloth diapers when there was a baby in the house.  She still uses a clothesline, washes all of her dishes by hand, and doesn't own a microwave.  She was a hipster before hipsters were even a thing.

Moody November

I simply adore the moody and gloomy skies in November.  They somehow make the colors of the leaves and ageing chrysanthemums look even better than they do on bright sunny days.

Election Day

 Pancakes and bacon gave me the strength I needed to face my civic duty today.  Actually, it was more tiresome to deal with social media and the endless nagging to vote than it was to actually fill in the little bubbles and send my ballot off.  I took a photo of my 'I Voted" sticker like everyone else did today, though.  I mean, if I didn't post a picture of my sticker on Instagram today, did I even cast a ballot?

He's Here!

 

I'm picking up bagel sandwiches for the exhausted Mama and Papa. Our little rainbow nephew is here!  Glory to God!

Saint Michael's Day

Saint Olga Romanov, Saint Macarius, and Saint Dyonysius came to our Saint Michael's Day party this year!

The Novermber Beach

The House Across the Street

I love this house across the street from the church and have redecorated it one thousands times in my mind over the years.  It was sold at an auction in July and I think that the new owners power washed the exterior in preparation for new Paint.  I hope so!