United Methodist Church of Lake Hopatcong

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved living on the lake and loved her Church family. I have been thinking about my childhood church a lot lately. Maybe because my own church is growing and changing every week and I'm comparing this new church to the one I grew up in. It was the foundation of who I am today. I went to Sunday School and later the United Methodist Church of Lake Hopatcong UMYF Youth Group. The leaders we had made such an impact on my and my leading of the Moosic Alliance church youth that I can't help be keep thinking back to Julie, Bevan and Heather who lead our youth group, took us on retreats, camping, rafting and a host of other things. I never got the get saved, get life message from Julie and the rest of them but I did get a fellowship that I cannot forget. I logged back into my blog after a very long absence to thank them for their dedication so many years ago. If you happen to be one of our fearless leaders from Lake Hopatcong please message me....I'd love an opportunity to thank you personally! The picture is from a retreat I recently took with my current church.....my students thank you too because I talk about you with them quite often.

Back to work.....

I took a big step to regaining my sanity a month ago. I started a new full-time job on Feb 15. I am now a Contract Manager at Cigna here in Scranton, PA. I was very hesitant at first to do this. I really, really loved being a stay at home mommy to Emily. However, I did not love never having enough cash on hand to do what was necessary.
I will keep everyone updated and please pray for my family as usual....we are entering some very trying times.

David has asthma

It was Wednesday night of this past week and I was sitting at my desk helping David with his homework. He's been coughing for months (since his mom resumed smoking I think)and regardless of the medicine we've given him, the cough gets worse. We call the doctor, they prescribe a short term fix usually cough medicines to be take for a week or two. Nothing works.
Homework is moving along, David's coughing is pretty bad this particular night and after a pretty good coughing fit he begins to wheeze. My asthma thinking kicks in, wheezing is bad news and usually does not improve without albuterol or a breathing treatment. I call his doctor and demand an appointment. We get said appointment and David's doctor plainly says, "David has asthma." Something I have suspected for years, but as a step-mother my hands are pretty much tied. We are given a script for Advair and a chest x-ray. David's mom starts up with the "I don't have the money" speaches pretty much right away. Chuck gets mad, doctor tells mom to quit smoking ASAP. Her response? "I don't smoke around David" Right! David chimes in "Mom, you smoke when I'm in the car with you."

As I'm in the process of checking out at the doctor's office. Dr Davis (David's doctor) takes me aside and tells me "You did the right thing in getting him here tonight." This makes me feel a little less like the evil step-mother.
We get home and David's mom meets us there to take him for his x-ray. Pretty much, right off the bat mom starts yelling at David. This isn't his fault and he can't quite figure out why everyone's mad. Chuck is yelling at her saying "Don't yell at the kid, it's not his fault."
I'm pissed because David's mom doesn't seem all that concerned that her 7 year old has just been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening disease. Granted, asthma, when controlled is pretty benign.
Such is life in one of today's modern mixed up families.
I pray that David is well and that what we're doing is best for him.

Dogs will be dogs.....

I woke up a little before 5 this morning, tossed around for a while and finally got out of bed around 6. I let the dogs out, made my coffee and sat down to catch up on the news. I hear Tyler start to bray (bark, howl, agitate) then Rufus chimes in. It's now 615 and I have to pull them in already! Neighbors are not pleased at howling hounds at 6am on a Saturday morning.

Why is it that they want to play and make noise that early in the morning??? Rufus usually will not let me sleep beyond 630 and Tyler will sleep all day if we don't push him off the couch and out to the yard.

I love my dogs, but does the noise really need to start at 630? Tyler takes a seat and just barks to hear himself and Ru can't help by join in with his deep baritone howl.

Christmas...part two

Life is certainly difficult with a "Modern, Blended Family". In our case two of my husbands three sons live in Ohio and we see them occasionally between Sept and July each year. Last year Christmas for "The Boys" happened closer to Valentines Day than Christmas.
This year we get to celebrate Christmas and New Years all on the same day! We are anxiously waiting for their arrival. Emily loves her brother Charlie and will bring people who visit the house over to his picture and say "See, See, Charlie" and thanfully Charlie loves her right back! Merry Christmas, part two, to all of the modern families out there! Hope Santa's second run is as good as his first!

A dog got swine flu....

As I was reading the headlines this morning I noticed one story that struck pretty close to home. An elderly dog (13 years old) on Long Island has swine flu. The story was light on details about how the dog aquired the bug and whether it can pass from canine to human or vise versa.
As a mother to a micro-preemie this is particuarly alarming.....I have three dogs and a few other furry critters. Do I now have to worry about them getting Emily sick? Emily has been vaccinated with the H1N1, however the vaccine was recalled because it wasn't strong enough!!!

Merry Christmas to all....