It Took A While

And we are by no means out of the cold weather for good...but today we did have record high temps.

83*

This is now a nightly occurrence at our house.

And God forbid anybody should try to take him out for a walk but me! 

He reminds me of an exclusively breastfed baby who WILL NOT take a bottle from anyone. Crude analogy, I know, but it fits.

Gangsta Style

It's Spirit Week at school. 

Spirit Week has basically no purpose other than to give the kids a week of fun at school where they can have "themed" dress days.  The Middle and High School follow a reverse chapel schedule which leaves them 45 minutes at the end of the day for a fun activity.

Today was comfy day - I don't work on Mondays and I HATE missing comfy day. Grr.  Anyway, Zack wore his Florida gator pj pants and a matching gator t-shirt and, somehow, won the award for the best boys dress of the day...actually I think it was his brother's panda sleep mask that pushed him to the top!

Tomorrow is "70's Gansgster" Day.  Say what?  I've never heard of such a thing...so I turned to google images.

This is what we could come up with...

I wanted to go to Goodwill to find a derby hat but he didn't.  And I wasn't about to spend money on something I didn't know if he would wear or not.

Also, he is choosing not to wear a tie.  And he is borrowing my sunglasses - which I better get back in one piece because I need those!

Dinner Out With My Boys

It's hubby's weekend to work nights and I love our tradition of going out to dinner - just me and my boys.

I actually really miss the days when C.J. was still here and all three of us would go out.

Anyway, Zack and I really like Buffalo Wild Wings but Jon won't go there so, instead, we go to our old favorite...Tortilla Flats.

It is so hard to get a good picture of the boys...neither one want their picture taken anymore.

Here Jon is making plans with his friends for later in the night and Zack is trying hard to be silly.

We love the chips they serve before the meal.

And they have a great fish fry on Friday nights.

Back on the Path

It has finally hit 70*

And that means the return of the nightly walk.  Last night I was planning on skipping the walk since after dinner I was compulsively cleaning the house.  But, Ollie had other ideas and would not calm down until I finally gave in at 7:30 and walked him around our yard.
Jeesh!

Today I thought we'd check out Terrell's Island - the first time since November.

And everything was going well until we came upon this scene:

several hundred birds who would jump into the water as we got closer.

and this is what they left behind

Apparently, it's nesting season until the end of July so Ollie will have to be leashed.

I leashed him as soon as we got close to the birds and the eggs - but he didn't really seem to care about either one of them.  He'd smell the eggs and just walk away.

Once we turned around it was funny watching all the birds getting out of the water right away to get back to their eggs.

Then I let Ollie off leash again and we finished our walk.

Could it FINALLY be Spring?

A few early showers, then some sun. Mild and windy this afternoon. Patchy clouds overnight with weakening winds. Some fog possible NORTH after midnight.

Saturday

• 67°
• 44°

Partly cloudy. Mild, but cooler lakeside.

Sunday

• 69°
• 51°

Sun and some afternoon clouds. Mild again.

Monday

• 66°
• 52°

Mostly cloudy with scattered t'showers, especially at night.

Tuesday

• 75°
• 54°

Morning showers, then partly sunny. Warm and windy.

Real or Not

Ever since we got our big screen hi-def T.V. Ollie reacts to seeing dogs on the screen.  Sometimes I won't even be watching the T.V. but I'll hear him start whining and get all excited. And, sure enough, when I rewind the T.V., there will have been a dog on there.


The other night I was watching the Wizard of Oz.

However, I ended up turning it off halfway through the program because someone would go crazy every time Toto was on the screen.

 

 

I though that eventually he would settle down and ignore Toto but - nope - he kept it up for at least 45 minutes until I finally turned it off.

Crazy!

First Walk of the Season

FINALLY...last night was nice enough (average temperatures) that I could take Ollie out to explore around the yard.

Waving to us from his bedroom window.


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Looks Can Be Deceiving

This is evidenced by the way our weather looked yesterday.

Looks gorgeous out doesn't it...but in reality, it was only about 35* outside at this point - which was about noon.

Yeah, so let's not re-hash my feelings about this weather...the pictures are merely to back up my point of this post.

Sometimes...looks can be deceiving.

I need to begin this post with my beliefs...which may be different than those of others.  I am well aware of that. 

First, I believe in God and I believe in Jesus.

I also believe in Satan

I believe that the Bible is the true word of God and the road map by which we should live out lives.

I believe that each of us was created with a purpose and a plan for our life.


I say all this because I also believe that God has amazing and great plans for my son's life...so amazing, in fact, that Satan is trying his best to interfere!

If one were to visit my house on any day you would see a happy, personable, kind, and helpful young man.

 If you were to have a conversation with him, you would, no doubt, leave thinking he is a sweet, intelligent and charismatic person.

But looks can be deceiving...

Jon struggles with the inner demons of depression and anxiety. 

Most days, these demons remain unnoticed by those around him because he either does a good job of covering them up or they lie dormant waiting for a weakness before they attack him.

But eventually, and usually during a time of weakness for him, those demons will surface and attack leaving him feeling worthless, hopeless, and unhappy.

Such a difficult thing for a mother to watch.  What I want to do is hug and kiss him and make it all better for him. Like when he was little.

And things were simple

But now, at 20, he has entered a new phase of life.  A phase where sometimes "tough love" is the best thing you can do for them...even though it is the hardest for you.

This is the situation we found ourselves in a couple weeks ago.

It started as a normal Monday (and thank goodness I have off on Mondays) as I was taking the boys to school.   I knew even before we got in the car that he was not in a good mood but I was chalking it up to a possible lack of sleep.  He tends to, if he has a test or project, leave it to the last minute and then pull an all-nighter to get it finished.  So, that is what I thought had happened. 

But halfway to his school he began talking about those same feelings of depression, worthlessness, and "nothing to look forward to in life."  He says things like..."Life would be better if I wasn't here."

Even though I know he would never do anything drastic like attempt to take his own life because, maybe thank goodness, he fears death...I finally had felt the time was right to take drastic measures. 

My boy...who has soooo much in his future to look forward to, should not have to live with these feelings.

So instead of school, I drove him to the ER and requested he be admitted for inpatient treatment.  Because he is over 18, and because he was not considered a threat to himself, he had to agree with it but he did not fight it...even though I know he wasn't happy about it.

We spent the entire morning in the ER going through intake information and drug testing before going up to the behavioral health unit.  This is the point that my heart broke...it was nothing like I expected.

In his room was only two beds and two nightstands.  There was no T.V. and he was also not allowed to have his computer or phone.  We toured the whole floor before I left to go home while a nurse finished paperwork with him.  As I left, my little boy was sitting his bed, shoulders hunched over, and crying.  The nurse who led me to the door (you have to be buzzed in and out of the unit) warned me that 90% of voluntary patients do not make it through the first day and that, more than likely, he will ask to be discharged sometime that day.

I went back that evening during visiting hours, bringing clothes and pajamas for him but fully expecting him to be coming home.  Instead, I found him in the common area doing word searches and sudukos and quite content to stay and see what they had to offer him.  I stayed for three hours that night as he and I worked on a puzzle together, did a crossword puzzle, and talked.

The next night I came back and he actually thanked me for bringing him there.  We had a great talk and then he fell asleep for about 1/2 hour because he had just been put on some new medication.  We also participated in group therapy that night which was so great!

Hospital hallway on the way for a visit

By day three, when I arrived for visiting hours, he was playing Trivial Pursuit with another patient and had decided he was ready to come home.

Whew...this is probably the longest post I have ever written.

Anyway, back to how this post began.  Medication is okay... and he is taking a couple of them right now.

But the root of this evil is Satan...and his attempt to interfere with God's amazing plans for my son.  We have also been introduced to a man who does inner healing.  We need to rid his body....this household...of Satan.  Of the one who wants him to believe he is worthless and life isn't worth living...the one who whispers to him when he is weak and tries to convince him that he is not worthy.

The one who is STANDING IN THE WAY of God's plans for him!!!!! 

We are going to get through this and claim this victory for GOD. 

Whatever Works

Another example highlighting Ollie's tendency to find the most comfortable place to rest his little body.

 

 

Nope...doesn't quite look comfy enough:

 

Ahhh...that's better.

Blah...Blah...Blah...Blah

I haven't felt like blogging a whole lot lately because I really don't have a lot positive to say.

And I don't want to alienate the super small reader base that I do have by being a Debbie Downer.

I guess the thing about being so far down in the pits...is that you have nowhere to go but up. 

I still haven't blogged about the intense and emotionally exhausting two night hospital stay for Jon last week - I'll save that for another time.

For today - the complaint is of the weather variety...again! 

Today was supposed to be our service day at school.  This is where our students go out into the community and perform services for those who need it.  My discipleship group was scheduled to go to our city zoo and get the enclosures ready for the animals to arrive on May 1.

But, instead, the service day was cancelled - more like postponed until May 17 - because, after all, who wants to be outside raking and working for 5 straight hours when the high temp today was maybe 40*! 

Snow was a possibility today but instead these crazy things fell from the sky that looked like little Styrofoam balls.

They melted right away.

I guess I should be thankful because my brother-in-law, who lives about 4 hours north, sent me this picture of their backyard today.

Yikes!

Poor Ollie is just waiting for his nightly walks to resume...he wants to be out

but then turns around to come right back in

Seriously!!!! For various reasons, I need to stick around here for at least one more year...but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't on the internet tonight searching for jobs in places like:
- Belize
-Antigua
-Barbados
-Florida
-Hawaii

Florida would probably be the most logical since my whole family is there...but I'm not ruling anything out at this point.

Is it really to much to ask for to be able to enjoy being outside in the middle of April????

Prayers

Thoughts and prayers to all the victim's and the families of the victims of todays bombing at the Boston Marathon.

Lord Jesus...today is another reminder of the sinful, fallen world in which we live.  I eagerly await your coming, Jesus. 

Still a Tradition

We try to play a board game together each night - most of the time it is Sorry.

I love our family time.