I folded

I gave in and went to see the doctor yesterday. M has been having foot problems since last summer, and I don't want to find myself in the same boat if my toe were to heal improperly. I found out that my toe is, in fact, broken. His suggestion was to keep it taped to its neighbor toe for the next couple of weeks. My toe has been hurting more since having it taped than it was before. And it's a pain to walk with my toes taped together.

I was also able to talk to my doctor about another issue I've been having. If you know me at all, I am sure you know that I am always feeling tired. I have always had low blood pressure (at least as far back as I can remember). I also found out recently that my heart rate is higher than normal to compensate for my low blood pressure. So I asked the doctor if my low blood pressure could be related to my tiredness. He said they could definitely be related. Yesterday, my blood pressure was especially low for me (86/60) and my heart rate was around 100. My doctor wants me to add salt to my diet - salt at every meal. We'll see if that works. I haven't added it to any meal yet. I am curious to see if this will do anything.

I am curious because when I was in high school, my mother was put in the hospital because the doctor thought she had or was having a heart attack. It turned out that she had a virus that made her body think she was having a heart attack. It was scary to me. As a result of that illness, my mom found out she had a heart murmur. At that time, her doctor told her to decrease her salt intake (among other things, I'm sure). She still used it for cooking, but a lot of times she just let us add it to our own food rather than putting more in while she was cooking. I just stopped adding the salt to my food at all (I'm not sure why exactly - did I not like salt, was I being lazy, or was I a little freaked out by the situation?). Since that time, I don't salt my food. I do cook with salt, but I don't add any once my food is on my plate. Let's hope it works.

I really like this doctor that M and I found. He is young - has to be in his late 30s or early 40s. He is friendly. He has a nice bedside manner although some of his sayings are a little hokey. I really like that he had a suggestion for me for my blood pressure that was not taking a pill. I am not opposed to taking pills, but I like that he wanted to try something else first. It seems like a lot of doctors (and patients) are looking for a quick fix, and I would rather know what's really going on.

St Louis Botanical Garden

Here are a few pictures I took at the St Louis Botanical Garden. We had a break in the clouds and rain while we were there Saturday morning. We even happened to go at a time when we got in free (regular price is only $4 for city residents and $8 for non-residents - that's not bad at all in my book). It was a really nice place. We were there a couple of hours and didn't see everything.

This was my favorite plant we saw - isn't the color gorgeous?

Obviously these fish are used to being fed. I was grossed out by how big they are and how much they wanted the food people were giving them.

This was the best of three pictures of us. I'll take what I can get.

Broken?

I think my toe may be broken.

Sunday night after we turned out the lights, I got up to turn off the light on our humidifier (If you don’t already know, we live in the driest part of the universe…what I like to call the booger capital of the world.) Anyway, on my way back to bed I kicked the suitcase sitting on the floor at the end of our bed. It hurt. I can’t tell you how many times in my life I have kicked the end of the bed or any number of things I was walking by. It always hurts but not like this hurt.

This is what my toe looked like the next day. It doesn’t hurt terribly during the day, but it is uncomfortable. It really hurt this morning when Max stepped on it. I don’t even want to remember that my 80+ pound dog stepped on my hurt toe. I told him that was not very nice.

M told me I should go to the doctor – that’s what I have medical insurance for. However, there is nothing the doc could do but tell me, “Yep, it’s broken.” Maybe it’s just really bruised. I’m not sure because I’ve never had a toe turn another color from kicking something. So I’m holding my ground on this one…unless it gets worse this week.

Happy Mother's Day!

M and I spent Mother's Day with his mother in St Louis this year. This was especially special because according to her doctors in Baltimore and Chicago earlier this year she wouldn't be around for Mother's Day. We are so thankful she is still around and feeling pretty good to boot.

We left Colorado Springs early Thursday in a mad dash for the airport. On the way, we dropped Max off at M’s aunt and uncle’s house in Parker (between 1 and 1 1/2 hours from our house). We were at their house maybe 5 minutes because we were in such a hurry to get to the Denver airport. In fact, we were in such a hurry that I forgot to take Max's food with us. Poor Max. We made it to the airport in the nick of time. We would have barely made it, but our flight ended up being delayed an hour. It would have been nice to know about the delay ahead of time. That would have saved us $60 in short term parking. I was thankful we made it at all…and without a speeding ticket.

The weekend in St Louis was nice. It was mostly cloudy and rainy while we were there. We hardly ever see that weather. It made us both sleepy the whole weekend – and we probably had an overload of oxygen that we are not used to. M’s mom is doing well. She is feeling pretty good but gets tired easily and has low energy. We went to the botanical garden and she walked around with us for a couple of hours. We also spent time with M's sister's family. Our nephew will be 3 in August and our neice is 6 months old. They are cute kiddos. M's sister kept asking when we're moving to St Louis. It is nice for someone to want us nearby. We both wish we were closer to family. I am pretty sure neither of us miss the humidity though - and it will be quite hot and humid there soon.

Max spent the weekend with the 4 German shepherds again. He came home mostly unscathed. It turns out this is the weekend he decided to start humping. Unfortunately, he chose the largest and oldest of the German shepherds to try this out on. What a crazy dog! I guess the neutering is now right around the corner. This is a first that I don’t think either of us is upset about missing. Silly Max! He also got out of his crate twice while we were gone. We haven’t used his crate at home since early March. I guess he decided he'd had enough of the crate. I am sure he will be lonely this week.

Weekend with the Fam

**I had a great weekend at my folks' house with my parents, my brother C, and my oldest nephew W. C and W drove to my parent's house Thursday afternoon and I flew in Thursday evening. My mom told me at the end of March that W would be playing in a tennis tournament in Amarillo this weekend. So I booked a flight on Southwest ($49 fare each way - you gotta love that) so I could watch him play. I hadn't ever seen him play tennis before much less play in a tournament. W is only 11 and you can see in the this picture is almost as tall as me and my mom.

**Friday morning we played golf at a par 3 course. Even though I took a few golf lessons a couple of summers ago, I have never actually played golf. This was my first 18 holes to play. For me it was nice to play on a par 3 course just so I could learn what I was supposed to do. I think it was a bit short for my brother. We played a scramble - I was on a team with my brother and W and my mom were on a team. We beat them by 5 strokes I think. We all had a really good time. My dad stayed in the shade and watched us some. He also took this picture of us. (We're wearing jackets because it was windy and in the 40s. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon though.)

**Saturday was W's tennis tournament. I was very impressed with his ability, his effort, and his attitude. There were kids there (11 to 12 year olds) that already had some bad tempers. It's not going to be pretty when they are a little older. W didn't win his matches, but he played really well. I think each time he plays in a tournament his confidence is boosted a bit. I sure hope so. After his second match, my brother passed the mother of the boy W had played. She stopped and told W that she hoped her son learned something from him. In that boy's first match, he gave up after he lost the first set. She was very impressed that W continued to work hard even when he was behind. I was very proud of him. I took about 150 pictures of him playing. That's what I do.

**That afternoon my parents' Sunday school class had an event at a park near their church. They invited the community to come for hot dogs and games. There were some of the air castles for kids to play in, the high school band from their church, food, and some other games. The pastor gave each Sunday school class money to do some sort of outreach event to reach the community outside the church walls. It was a neat event. No one knows for sure how many people came, but a family from the community who had been at the event came to church the next morning.

**My mom bought a Wii a while ago so we played that this weekend as well. W and I played baseball, golf, and tennis on it. That's a pretty fun setup.

**I don't get to see my brother's family often. And even though I didn't get to see his wife or his youngest son R, it was a great weekend. I really enjoyed spending time with them. I am hoping they will come visit us this summer.

**By the way, R is about to turn 7 in a couple of weeks. He started playing baseball this spring/summer. This is his first year to play baseball, and he loves it. So far he is 12 for 12 in hits. His first game he threw a kid out at first base. He is a huge UT fan, but his team is the Aggies. He was not excited about that, but he is really enjoying himself. He was not able to come this weekend because he had 2 baseball games. I hope to watch him play baseball sometime. My brother gave me one of R's baseball cards over the weekend. He has the most serious look on his face. And when he signed the back of it, he wrote really fast like the guys who give you their autograph.

**They are cute kids! I wish I could see them more often. Maybe one day that will be possible. Until then, I treasure the time I do get to spend with them.

May 2008

It snowed here on May 1st. Here's hoping the rest of the month is warm and sunny.

I am rich

Almost every time I hear the word “rich” I think of loads of money. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how that word must mean more than just material wealth. Webster defines rich as follows… (1) “having abundant possessions and especially material wealth”; (2a) “having high value or quality”; (2b) “well supplied or endowed”. I like definition 2b the best of these. It still has a connotation of material wealth, but I am going to use the word a little differently. I have always thought the terms richness and fullness were similar. I could be wrong here, but I am going to use the word rich outside the realm of material wealth.

I am rich in many ways that I take for granted most days. And the beautiful thing is that these cannot be taken away from me.
**God is my God and Father. He loves me unconditionally and wants to work in and through my life. I have done nothing to deserve this. It is a gift from Him. Not only does He give me love, He offers peace that is beyond human understanding. He provides protection, not always from injury, but from eternal separation from Him. He has a plan for my life. He knew me before I was born, before I was even in my mother’s womb.
**My husband loves me well. He provides for me. He listens to me. He enjoys spending time with me. The foundation of our relationship and marriage is the faith God has given each of us. With our foundation secure, we have started to build a life, marriage, home together. I can’t wait to see what the future holds and to one day look back and see what God did in spite of the sinners we are.
**My parents raised me in a Christian home where I saw what day-to-day life should look like. They prayed for me and continue to pray for me daily.
**I have good friends that I ache to be close in distance to again. And I know several of them ache for the same thing.

Every one of these has to do with a relationship in my life. Wow. That has not occurred to me in this way until I just typed it out. If I truly believe these relationships are what make me rich, do I live and view my life as a rich one? These relationships are what bring richness to my life. Do I spend my time cultivating and being grateful for these relationships?