Words are Not Necessary...

Riley Posts

Hi, my name is Riley.  It has been awhile since I've posted.

SoAmazed and her family have gone on vacation

and I have a dog sitter staying with me.

 While my family is away, I feel a tremendous burden

to protect the family's property.

Let me give  you a quick overview

of all my responsibilities.

There is a chipmunk that jumps from the

deck onto the bird feeder.  I station myself

under the feeder and keep an eye out for

that little critter.

 Along the back fence I sniff for evidence of intruders.

 Even the slightest noise puts me on guard.  

I believe this picture was taken when someone

walked along the front of the house and I 

needed to see who it was.

 Inside the house, I can see out the front door.

I've been known to stand in this spot for periods

of time waiting for people to walk past the house.

 After the sniffing and patrolling, I do take a break.

Laying on the couch is allowed by SoAmazed 

so I know I won't get in trouble when she gets home.

 I miss SoAmazed.  Often she cuddles with me

on this very couch.

 After my break, it is back to work.

Standing on the deck, I check out the backyard.

 There was a disturbance that needed my attention here.

 My second favorite spot in the house is this chair.

I can stand in this chair for hours.

From here I can see any bird, dog or person

that moves outside.

 I take this job seriously.

I bark and bark and bark and bark and bark...

if I see movement outside.

Even if I sit, I have a great view.

 My kennel is a haven.

As I get older, I find that I enjoy

a little R&R in here even when I

don't have to go in.

When SoAmazed leaves the house,

she and and the family put me in

here.  If I don't go in here, I

get tempted to dig through garbage cans.

I guess I get bored...

 The dog sitter does a great job feeding me.

I love my food.

Does anyone have any questions about me

or what I do around the house? 

SoAmazed, would you please come home.

All of the extra patrolling 

and barking is wearing on me.

I miss my family!

Let's Play Ball

The hockey equipment is dried out and packed away. 

Baseball gloves, balls and the hitting machine have been set up in the family room (yes, you read that correctly) for several weeks now.  All in preparation of the baseball season.

Kidlet Three has been involved in three nights of baseball tryouts to secure a place on a traveling baseball team. 

Last night was the final night and he did make one of the two teams and we are all so excited.  And we are very proud of him.

The Husband and I will have a social life again now.  Since hockey ended, we've been rattling around in the house together missing all of the other hockey parents.  Isn't that a selfish reason to have your child play sports...for the social life!

So with great excitement we look forward to many evenings and weekends watching games like this one...

And I look forward to adding my chair into this line of moms watching the game... 

The Husband always grills during tournament weekends so he has been eyeing the tub of grilling supplies in the garage in anticipation...

And even the rainy ballgames will be fun and something to look forward too.

Let's play ball!

A1c Result

Woot! Woot!  There is celebrating going on in our house.

Every three months Kidlet Three has a blood A1c test.  This amazing test reveals the blood glucose levels for three months.  It is like our blood cells store 'history'.  There can be no secrets in the blood cells.  The A1c level will tell if diabetes has been in control or not.

A person that does not have Type 1 diabetes might have an A1c level between 4.5 and 5.5.  A person with Type 1 diabetes, with good control of their diabetes, will have an A1c between 6 to 8.

For the seven years Kidlet Three has had diabetes, his A1c levels have ranged between 8 and 8.9.

Which isn't bad.  I'm told there are children that have A1c levels up to 11.

But we don't want a level that 'isn't bad', we want the best possible level!  Keeping diabetes in control will keep Kidlet Three healthy and hopefully keep diabetes complications from not occurring.

Exercise, stress, teenage hormonal changes, and other factors affect blood sugar levels.  The past three months with Kidlet Three playing traveling hockey and growing several inches, have been a challenge.  The balancing act of keeping the blood sugar levels (from the finger poke blood sugar checks) in the 80 to 120 range by figuring out how much insulin to give, continues to be the challenge in management.

Drum roll please...

We got the results of the latest A1c in a letter yesterday.

Did you hear the hollers of excitement ringing through the air.

For the first time in 7 years, Kidlet Three's level is below 8.  Seeing the numbers 7.6 on the letter brought tears, hugs, and even some jumping up and down in excitement.

This great result is even more exciting because Kidlet Three has really taken over much of his diabetes management.

Woot! Woot!  It is an amazing day!

A Full Platter

Work is really complicated right now with re-organization

My father-in-law calls the house repeatedly from his skilled care room 

Kidlet Three has Type 1 diabetes which affects every single thing he does

I have a friend with serious issues in her life and I've promised to be her advocate

Oh and there is a whole lot more.

A whole lot more issues

Remember I choose to NOT let my mind go over and over the issues in my life

If I do allow my mind to go over the list, it gets just too overwhelming

Which leads me to my complaining session with God

I have a relationship with God

He and I talk about everything and anything

I trust Him and I know beyond a shadow of doubt that He is in control of my life

So I questioned Him about all of the issues that were piling up on me

In reality, my questioning was more like complaining

This all happened as I was walking between meetings at work

My brain was going over all of the issues and soon I was hyperventilating

Fighting to breathe over issues I can't control but are so important to me

And then the picture popped into my mind

A picture of a huge platter

Kind of like the platter Kidlet Three is holding in the picture

As I walked I was able to 'see' this platter get stacked with all kinds of rocks

Big rocks, little rocks, jagged rocks, dirty rocks

The rocks represented all of the issues in my life

In the picture, the rocks were really stacking up

Which led me to yell at God:  see what I mean?

Those rocks weigh a lot and are bringing me down!

God can handle me yelling at Him
I've done it before 

And in His loving way, He changed the picture for me

The picture of the platter changed to see a Hand holding it

Just like in the picture here, there was a Hand holding the rock platter

See, I am the platter

The issues are rocks that are in my life

And God is the Hand holding me up

I don't have to do anything

He holds me up

There is nothing I have to carry

Because a platter can't carry anything..literally

Someone has to carry the platter

Whew!  What freedom came to me when I looked at the Hand

And took my eyes off the rocks

How about you

What are you carrying these days on your platter

Know that God never asked you to carry things yourself

He is the only one that can give real rest.

Check out Matthew 11:25-30 from The Message Bible

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Turning 25

Guess who is turning 25 on March 16...

Our AMAZING daughter!  

Oh what a glorious day it was the day you were born.  

You have grown into a beautiful, loving, helpful, discerning, smart, fun, tender and powerful woman.  

May God just bless your socks off today and in the coming years!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Dad and Mom

The FUNNIEST Show on TV

I wonder how many of you would remember these good TV shows from the past:

Lassie

Bonanza

Walt Disney

I Love Lucy

It is so difficult to find a TV show that doesn't have:

Blood

Guns

Boobs (yup, I typed it)

Dads made to look dumb

Horrific crime scenes

You get the picture.

Well, Kidlet Three and I have found a show that we record each week.  We even go back and re-watch certain episodes because we laugh so hard.

Before I tell you what the show is, I have to remind you that it has always been very important to me that all three of my Kidlets be able to cook several meals on their own before they graduate and move on to college.  They have to be able to sustain themselves in cooking, cleaning and doing their own laundry.  And Kidlet Three is on his way to this independence having mastered a quesadilla!  Well, he is make other meals, too, but that is his standby meal!

Back to the TV show we love.  Have you seen this show?

Watching these adults try to cook and do basic tasks is nothing less than hilarious.  Then put them with Master Chefs Anne and Bobbie and the fun gets 'kicked up a notch'.

The episode from this week had one of the women walking around the kitchen with flour all over in her hair because she hadn't put the cover on the food processor when she was mixing flour and butter.  Oh my gosh it was funny.

Check out this link, worst-cooks-in-america, to watch episodes online.  I would love to hear you laugh as you watch it!