My Man and My Dog

Here is a little background for you. 

This is My Man:

This is My Man’s Man Cave:

It is a large Man Cave, about 12' by 16’.  He drew up the plans and built it all, by himself. 

This is my dog Yuki: 

We rescued her from a shelter a couple of months ago.  She has likely been abused and has never completely settled into our home.  She has, however, bonded with ME and is my new baby.  She will spend her days in the far corner of my closet if I am not around.  I usually won’t let her stay there though.  I make her at least come out and lay on my bed.   

On Saturday afternoon, Yuki got under the Man Cave somehow, which is really not that uncommon, but this time, she got WAY under.  I had been gone for quite a while in the afternoon and evening, and so it was after dark when I realized that she was still outside.  So I called for her to come out, but she didn’t come out.  A little later, I tried again.  No luck.  So I got a flashlight and looked under the Man Cave.  The Man Cave sits on a “grid” for lack of a better term, like a tic-tac-toe thing, and she had gotten into the “center square.”   And she couldn’t get out.  So I called Barre’ out to assess this situation with me.  His response:  She got in there; she can get out.  Hmmm.  Well, I didn’t think so.  So I sat out there and called for her over and over.  I lay down on the ground with a flashlight and looked at her.  I tried to get her out by offering her lunch meat.  I called and called.  And then she started to whine for me.  And then I started to cry.  And I mean CRY.  I just KNEW that she would come out to me if she could.  So I went back in to get Barre’ to come out again.  He still thought that she could get out but conceded that if she was still there in the morning, he would go borrow a floor jack from his friend and lift up the house and get her.  WHAT?  It was supposed to get down to 36 degrees.  She’s an INDOOR dog.  So I begged, “PLEASE go now!”  So at 9:30 at night, he went to get the jack.  I’ll be honest and say that I don’t think he was too happy with me when he left.  But My Man did it anyway.  So when he got back, he jacked up his Man Cave enough for her to get out.  My poor Yuki!  She was so cold and scared.  So I let her go into the closet with her comforter, and I just lay there on the floor with her. 

Oh, My Man!!  I love him so much!

So, Sunday morning, he let Yuki out, and she, well, dropped a dooki and promptly WENT RIGHT BACK UNDER THE MAN CAVE.  You have GOT to be kidding me. 

So, I began AGAIN to try to get her out, with just a little bit less compassion this time.  And I, too, am starting to think that she can just get herself out.  But alas, she couldn’t get out.  So after church, I tried some more, AGAIN laying on the grass, and now she is in the left middle square.  I was able to get her leash on her and then tossed it to the top middle square.  So then I go to THAT side of the Man Cave and lay down, and I stuck my hand way in there and grabbed her leash.  She started to come to me, but when she got to the edge, she was stuck.  (I could picture her saying I TOLD YOU SO!)  But I just kind of pulled on her, and she lay on her side, and she was pushing with her feet and she FINALLY got out!  Thank You LORD!!!!

And this is lattice: 

And it is now all the way around the bottom of the Man Cave.

Happy Birthday Grunt!!

Today is my Grandma Fretia’s birthday.   She would have been 91 years old.  I still can’t believe how much I miss her, every single day.  If you were blessed to know her, you would know that she was a truly amazing woman.  So in honor of this incredible, talented, awesome woman, I’d like to share some memories.

I can’t remember a time when my Grandma didn’t take me camping. 

Sometimes it would just be Clayton Lake; other times it would be Cimarron Canyon.  Usually my brother Brent was with us and most often Kenny.  I know my parents went some times too, but not always.  As I think back now, I wonder if she didn’t take us to the lake to give them a break!  I remember her washing dishes with that smelly old green Palmolive dish soap and boiling water!!!  She and I usually had to share a bed, and I have always been a restless sleeper.  So I would be tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep, and she’d finally say in frustration, “Dammit Kelly Jo!  I’m going to get up and smoke a cigarette until you can get to sleep!”  I remember taking cold baths in the stream and sitting by the fire at night.  And then when I was older, I remember she would stop by a liquor store in Clayton and get a bottle of Boons Farm Strawberry Hill and let Brent and me have a glass!  And she would always say, “But we don’t need to tell your Dad!” 

I also remember that my Grandma was just always with us.  She went on all our vacations with us, to California or Yellowstone.  And when we all took our very first cruise, in 1985, she was with us.  I think we must have all gotten our love of traveling from her.  In the 70’s, she led tour groups in the Middle East.  She was such an open, friendly person.  She never met a stranger.  And she stayed friends with many of the people she met. 

She used to take my friends and me skiing in the winter, to Red River.  One year, the weather was kind of getting bad, and so we were trying to get out of town before my Dad shut down our trip.  We made it to the west side of Boise City, and while I was trying to pass a farm truck, my 1976 Ford Thunderbird spun out of control, slamming into a ditch, packing us into the snow drift.  We hadn’t been traveling very fast, so no one was hurt, but man we were shaken.  After our heart beats returned to normal, a friend pulled us out, and as we were about to get back on the road, Grandma quietly said, “Now we don’t need to tell your Dad about that!” 

Grandma Fretia was also the very first independent business woman that I ever knew.  You see, she divorced when it was NOT a common thing, and she used the amazing talent the Lord gave her as an artist to support herself.  She taught oil painting in a room in her home, at one time having as many as 60 students a week taking lessons.  She taught us all to see the beauty in everything, to see the subtle changes in the colors of a sunset, to look at nature with a sense of awe.  My Uncle Terry turned this love into photography and takes amazing pictures.  We all have pictures that she has painted hanging in our homes, as do many of her students.  She was able to support herself, always remaining independent.  I remember she used to talk about how she would want to be alone at the end of the week.  As a young girl, I thought this was the silliest thing I ever heard.  NOW I completely understand!!  She loved her students so much, but she also loved the sanctuary of her home.

And OH, her home!  There was probably not a square foot of wall space in her entire home that wasn’t covered!  She had paintings and pictures and things she had accumulated from her travels.  And later in life, she had hundreds and hundreds of movies!  She loved to watch mysteries and Westerns and Sam Elliott!  And if she found a movie (like “Last of the Dogmen”) she would watch it over and over.  We didn’t often watch TV with her though because the volume was so loud you could hear it from the driveway!

She was such an awesome Great-Grandma to my daughter Bethany.  She thought that Bethany was the funniest thing ever.  She would often pick her up (at age 2 and 3) and take her to The Cove for coffee!  I am so sorry that McKenna didn’t get to know her, and my husband Barre’. 

I also remember going to church with my Grandma.  At times when my parents didn’t go to church, my Grandma would take me.  We would sit at “our” spot in the back, ready to make our getaway at noon!   I am so very glad to know that she had accepted Christ because I very much want to see her again. 

As I sit here remembering Grunt (that’s short for Granny Grunt, by the way!), I realize I could write all day long about the wonderful memories I have of her and how she shaped who I am today.  Tears fill my eyes as I write because I miss her so much.  But she loved us all well, and we loved her well, too.  I know that I will continue to miss her and I will continue to love her, until we meet again . . . .

A prayer on 9/11

O Father, the evil that invaded our country that day 10 years ago was just pure satan.  Our country has been forever changed from that day forward.  Our country was attacked in such a brutal way and so many, many people died.  So many people were lost.  But so many heroes rose up, too, that day, and in all the battles since.  We are so thankful for the people who rushed inTO buildings that were on fire, for the men and women who are still to this day fighting for freedom and against evil all over the world.  But You, Father, know all about evil and satan and how he destroys.  But before 9/11, all those years ago, our Hero rose, saving us all.  And because of Jesus, this sad, tragic day that we remember with such sorrow is filled also with such HOPE and glory, in Jesus alone!  Thank You Father!!  Thank You Jesus!!!  We cry today and we REMEMBER, but we also think of You and the sacrifice You made for us, Your children, and we say thank you to YOU, too.  Protect our country, Lord, from attacks in the future, and please, please Lord protect our servicemen and women, with Your mighty hedge of protection.  I thank You, Lord Jesus, and it is in Your holy and precious and worthy name I pray, Amen. 

Strength

Today has been such an emotional day. I am still trying to recover from the exhaustion of the trip to Ft. Worth. Then this morning, McKenna, Barre’ and I met with her school principal and the health aid to talk about her new brace for scoliosis. And I don’t like it. The “nurse” in me spent time last night preparing a letter for her file, so that everyone at the school would be informed and we’d all be on the same page. But the simple fact is that this new brace hurts her. It hurts her ribs and her hips mainly. But we have to work up to having her wear this for 20 hours a day.







So we have our meeting and Miss Mc is, of course, a trooper. She lets us poke and prod her, showing them everything. She just stands there and smiles as I take the brace off and on to show them how to do it. We made out a plan for her to wear the brace in the morning but then take it off at lunch and just leave it off for the afternoon. Then we’ll put it back on after school when she gets home. Somehow, we’ll work up to that 20 hours.






After our meeting, the principal took McKenna off to class, and my heart just broke all over again, to see her walking off, with this ugly brace making her look so different and her gait so unsteady. But when I went back this afternoon, I went in a little early to ask how she did, and they all said she did just great. She went to the nurse’s office at lunch and they took her brace off. And as she walked out, she was HUMMING. Oh, praise Him for her sweet spirit!!! Isn’t she just amazing?!!






But for the last couple of hours, I have listened to my girl moaning and crying out in her sleep. And I’m just tired of it. I just want to throw the stupid brace away. I just want to take this from her, so she doesn’t have to walk this path. I’ve given her Advil and I take it off every now and then, but I know her body has to get used to it. So I’m lying in bed with her, crying, praying for God to give her rest.






And the word that comes to my heart is STRENGTH. That is what He has given her. And that is what my heart is crying out for tonight for me to have, too, to walk this road with her.

I cried today.

I am not typically a crier. Oh, I might get teary eyed every now and then, but I don’t often CRY. But today has been just an incredibly emotional day for me. For some of you reading this, who are used to me sharing things that the Lord puts on my heart, you might not want to read this. For some of you reading this, who are used to me telling stories that make you smile or laugh, you might not want to read this. Cause today, I just need to “let it all out.”



I would guess that most of you know that our sweet Angel Girl McKenna was born with a “never-before-seen” form of dwarfism. And honestly, for the most part, I think I handle this pretty well, emotionally. I think that Barre’ and I make a pretty good team, and that together with Bethany, we do a pretty good job of taking care of her. We each bring to the table certain attributes that really help her to be the best that she can be, and hopefully, the most confident, healthy, wonderful child of God that she can be.


We see a wonderful dwarfism specialist in the Ft. Worth area named Dr. David Gray. I just can’t say enough great things about this man. He is, by “trade,” a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. And he has trained under the nation’s leading dwarfism orthopedic expert. I think we are lucky blessed to live within driving distance from him. The next closest would be California. Or maybe Connecticut. And in addition to his great knowledge, we just really LIKE him. He is a kind-hearted man who really seems to like McKenna. He is the perfect balance between laid-back and aggressive. And he LISTENS to us.


We started out going TO Ft. Worth several times a year to see him. But over the years, we have gotten to where we just go once a year, typically, and then once a year we have a “scoliosis check” done here at BSA in Amarillo. We have a fantastic pediatrician, Dr. Taghreed Maaytah, who we love just as much, and she follows McKenna for her asthma and normal “kid” things.


SO. . . if you made it through all the background. . . YEAH!


On Thursday, McKenna, Bethany and I made our trek out to BSA for x-rays. We used to do these in July, but since McKenna has her last MRIs of her hips in June of 2010, we kind of got off schedule. So it’s been 18 months since we had these x-rays done at BSA. They have a really cool machine that kind of “scans” her from about her jaw to the top of her thigh, and it just pops right up on the screen for me to see. Well, this time, it literally made me cry. I will just say that you don’t have to be a doctor, an x-ray tech, or a nurse to see that this is BAD.

So today (which is now yesterday since I stayed up so late) I went into to ADVOCATE mode, getting a copy of the report faxed to Dr. Gray. I talked briefly to one nurse and told her that, while I didn’t have a copy of the report myself, it looked worse to me. Apparently she had it in front of her, and she went into CYA mode, saying she’d have to talk to the doctor. Oh, but, he is leaving to go out of town, and she doesn’t know if she can catch him. Oh, and, he will be gone ALL NEXT WEEK.


WHAT? A WEEK?


So on my lunch, I went to get the report for myself and the disc to send to Ft. Worth. They measure the curvature of her scoliosis with something called a Cobb’s Angle. The last time we had this done, 18 months ago, it was at 19 degrees, according to the nice little report I have. Well, today, it reports as 37!!!


Oh, my GOSH. They start talking about doing SURGERY at 40.


So this is when I had my nice little cry. (Thank you Christy for the shoulder. And Tina for listening.) And of course I had a little talk with the Lord, and He tried, He really did. You know how sometimes you just have to CRY? I talked to my husband, too, of course, and my Mom and Dad.


Then I had to wait. But a week? Really?


Then I remembered that in January of 2010, we had some x-rays done AT Ft. Worth, in Dr. Gray’s office. I don’t get an official copy of that. So I whipped out my hot little cell phone, which is in direct violation of policy blah, blah, blah at the stuffy little department I work for, and called Dr. Gray’s office and left a message for the nurses, asking what McKenna’s curvature degree had been.






Bless her sweet little heart, at 4:30 PM, on a Friday, she calls me back, nice as you please, pulls that note right out and tells me that Dr. Gray had her degree at 30 the last time.


Deep breath in. . . .deep breath out. . . OK. That’s just 7 degrees in 12 months. . . OK. . . . And she’s grown, like, 3 inches this year, which ALWAYS causes a worsening. . . so. . .OK. . .Oh, wait, breath again, OK. This is good. Ok. We can do this. OK.


So I am thinking she just needs a new brace. She sleeps in a Providence Brace.

But she still has the same one that she has had since January of 2009. Well, Little Missy has grown TONS since then.


So we are just waiting for Dr. Gray to get back from wherever it is that he is, so that he can tell us what it is that we need to do. I am thinking that we just need a new brace. Now, won’t that be nice and easy.


And after today, the ups and the down, I think things just need to be nice and easy.

PLEASE, Lord, PLEASE!!!!!

I eat my Smarties one color at a time

I have been sick over the weekend, so I’ve been watching a lot of TV. (OK. Really, I usually watch a lot of TV anyway.) So I see this show advertised on TCL called “My Strange Addictions.” One lady sleeps with a blow dryer on, in her bed. One girl eats toilet paper. (Clean, thank you Lord.) Another girl pulls out her hair then eats the follicle. Another girl eats dry LAUNDRY DETERGENT.

 I am completed grossed out by most of this and really quite concerned about these people. I mean OBVIOUSLY there is something seriously wrong here. They desperately need to see a counselor.

But this got me to thinking about how we ALL have our little quirks. My husband makes this little “pfsst” sound with his lips when he pauses while praying. He always clears his throat before answering the phone.

 Now I, on the other hand, have MANY of these little quirky things. Some of them are helpful, like the fact that I lay out my make up in a row each morning, making my total make up application time only about 4 minutes. (Not bad for a 45-year old woman!) And I have my Walmart list in an Excel spreadsheet. I almost NEVER have to backtrack!

And then. . . . there are the Smarties. . . . you know. . . . the candies from your childhood. . . .

Well. . . .I have this habit of opening the little crinkly package, spilling out the candy, and then SORTING them by color. Now I know you’re thinking they all taste the same, and to the AVERAGE person, they probably do. But I am a Smarties Connoisseur!!! I can tell the difference between the green (my least favorite) and the purple (my favorite). And so I eat them one color at a time, starting with green and then yellow and then white. . . .


So. . . . what is YOUR little quirky habit? I’d love to hear it.

But whatever it is, as long as you aren’t eating your hair follicle, I think that you’re probably A-Okay!!!

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