'Fine'

Dennis says I have a different reality than his which means he thinks he was 'fine' and is 'fine' but I say people who are 'fine' don't have to go back to the ER and don't lay around 5 days later with flu like symptoms and yellowing eyes. He is doing well now. The blood test showed that the liver was somehow blocked and causing the infection which seems to be gone now. The sonogram didn't show any escaped stones so it must have just been infection. He goes back one more time for blood work to get the A - okay. Now, I say he is 'fine'.

Nathan Wins Big

At this year's soccer presentation night all the kids were given trophies for being a part of the team. (we're in the day and age when everyone regardless of whether or not they even come to games and practices regularly has to get an award so we don't hurt anyone's feelings)

Nathan plays for the Whitehaven Amateurs where there are two teams for his age group - the B team which in reality is the A team and then Na's team, the A team which in reality is the B team. No one is fooled by the name switch. Anyway, Nathan primarily plays as the goalie though he would really love to be a striker or midfielder. His team never won a game this year and last year only won a couple. However, Nathan stays very busy as a player. He has stopped countless goals this year and although he obviously let balls in, he stopped far more than actually went in. He never blames his team for not defending or scoring - he just sticks to his position. At the end of each game the opponent's coach chooses a player from your team that they believe is the Man of the Match. Though we missed many games on Sunday mornings, Nathan still got more Man of the Match titles than anyone else so he received the Player of the Year Trophy for his team!

The night is a real Cumbrian experience. There are trivia games, raffles and lots of alcohol. Julie got to have pies and peas (ground beef pot pie kind of thing with flourescent green peas) We were team America for the trivia games - we lost but largely due to the fact that we couldn't always understand what they were saying. Julieanne and AC kept themselves entertained and Julie too with silly faces and giggles.

The parents of the team also choose a Parent's Player of the Year which Nathan won. A real honor. Next year the two teams will combine to make one new team and they will play full pitch. Nathan plays like fireworks - lots of speed and sparks but then fizzles out so he will need to work on some endurance.

Well done Nathan!!!!!!!!!

Southern Girl in England

Elegant, gracious, soft spoken, talented, passionate about Christ, attentive to details and people talking, not self absorbed, a great role model for the Thompson girls; these are some words that describe Julie Blakey who was just visiting here from Augusta. She is in herself, as well as represents to us, so many precious people and memories of home. The time she was here flew by taking with it incomplete activities rendering her in need of a follow up visit.

On Sunday I met her down in London for a brief, packed 24 hours. For Julie maybe the highlight was seeing famous places only known on a screen before but for me this time it was seeing the original Magna Carta, the Guttenberg Bible, Handel’s Messiah, and Alice in Wonderland all in the British Library. I didn’t see the original Winnie the Pooh which I was most disappointed about as it is one of my true favorites. Another highlight was getting kicked out of the Ritz because they have a dress code you know and it wasn’t blue jeans.

While in Cumbria we were able to experience our first English High Tea in a gorgeous old manor that was a certified member of the English Tea Guild. This was important of course for us to have the real deal! We even had a tea timer so we would know precisely when to take the tea bags out. Pinkies up! The ginger scones and strawberry truffle were the favorite tea treats. It was Julie’s favorite UK moment which I think was helped with the music playing in the background – total Julie music! Pinkies up!

Julie soaked up the stunning scenery and views from our daily drives. She thoroughly enjoyed the narrow roads dotted with obstacles such as bicyclists, sheep or other cars. She was a trooper having the traditional pub fare when in a pub and having a go at the trivia game at Nathan’s soccer presentation night.

She and AC took a day trip via train to Edinburgh where they hiked way into the sky in a medieval spire, read all of the doggie memorials at the Edinburgh castle dog cemetery and walked the Royal Mile each step with guidebook in hand.

Nathan was not to be ignored and had his date with Julie walking to town and enjoying a McFlurry. He was especially thrilled to have a new sparring partner on the swing ball game. We introduced her to some of Dennis’ work colleagues at dinner at our house, the ladies in my Bible Study, some of the kids' friends and some new friends at church. All were easily captivated by Julie’s million dollar smile, warmth and genuiness.

There was lots of talking, laughing, shopping, driving, picture taking and did I mention talking? It was great! The week ended with a powerpoint of some of the 600 or more photos Julie took complete with music and topped off in prayer. We look forward to her follow up visit.

Bladder is gone but not done

Last Thursday Dennis had his gall bladder removed by key hole surgery which means 4 small incisions vs. the large c-section type incision. Dennis had decided he would go with NHS (National Health Service) which is socialized medicine. You have to get something for your 17% tax on everything along with 50% employment tax. He could have used our private insurance but chose not to. What does private do for you? Well, you get the same doctor at the same hospital but a different building and supposedly faster more attentive care. Let's hope we don't ever get another chance to choose between the two.

The main hospital is clean and well attended but definitely gives you the feeling of stepping back in time from the nurses uniforms to the decor and even some of the equipment. It just looks like they got stuck in time probably due to funding.

Dennis and I arrived at 8 a.m. for the surgery. We sat in a waiting room while people like the anestesiologist, nurse and intern came to talk with us about some details. At 12:00 they brought him a robe and told him to come along and told me visiting hours were at 7 pm. "Wait, does that mean I should leave and not come back until tonight," I asked. How will I know if it went well?"
"Oh, you can call the ward to check on him," the nurse told me.
"Yeah, right, like they are going to discuss a patient over the phone with some lady they've never met. I don't think so." I thought to myself. Still, I complied; after all, I'm a foreigner, I don't how this system works.

A few hours later, I got a text that read, "Happy Anniversary. I'm out of surgery. No complications." (He had the surgery on our anniversary) Naturally I called to talk with groggy Dennis. At 7:00, the kids and I went to find Dennis. He was in a bed on a ward with 4 other beds in his curtain partitioned area with another 4 just across the walkway. The ward was full of people huddled around their loved ones recovering from various ailments. Dennis looked good but a bit pale, dressed in one of those cute pale blue hospital gowns. (They are like graduation caps - designed to humble whomever might be tempted to think they are big stuff.) We had a good chat - he was so happy to see us and have his family surrounding him. The kids were a little unnerved to see their adventurous, tough Daddy reduced to a hospital gown speaking a little delayed and not quite 100% alert.

Still, he got to come home on Friday and slept most of the day. Saturday was good and Sunday too until that night. Late in the afternoon Dennis was suddenly gripped with the intense abdominal pain he had experienced before having his gall bladder out. Doubled over in pain, he struggled to call for someone to help him. Anna Catherine called 999 (that's like our 911) while they sent an ambulance. At this point you may be wondering where in the world I was? Well, I had left Sunday morning to go down to London to meet Julie Blakey and bring her up to our house. Though the kids heard the siren going by and Julieanne and Na ran down to the road the ambulance couldn't find our house or get up the alley. By this time the pain had subsided enough for Dennis to walk down the alley to meet the ambulance. They all decided that he was okay for now and that if it happened again - the kids should call and they would know how to get up to the house for next time. Sure enough, it happened again a bit later. AC knew the drill and explained Dad's symptoms like a champ to the 999 people while Julieanne waited for the ambulance. Just as the paramedics walked up Dennis threw up, the pain was so bad. He and Julieanne went to the ER in the ambulance while AC stayed with Na who was watching TV the whole time. All the while AC was supposed to be studying for her statistics and chemistry exams.

After several hours in the ER they said a gall stone could have escaped into the duct just before it was removed and was causing these problems. They would schedule a sonogram and let Dennis know. Dennis was feeling better and since it was such a nice evening, he decided he and Julieanne would walk home. That's right, to the hospital in an ambulance, home from the hospital by your own feet. Dennis says it's only about a 15 minute walk but I think he was underestimating.

At 11:00 that night he sent me a text in London wishing me a less eventful day than his, mentions ER, ambulance, long walks, lost ambulance. Everyone was asleep when I called so I had to wait to hear the drama until the next morning when Dennis was on his way to work. He said he didn't want to ruin my time with Julie so he didn't let me know until the end of the day.

From here he continued to go backwards in the recovery progress continuom. By Tuesday afternoon we were at the GP (General practitioner's office as the surgeon was on holiday and it's protocol to turn you over to your GP anyway) Dennis was starting to look jaundice and had no energy, constant massive headache and generally felt like he had the flu without a fever. They have decided it may be an infection for which he started antibiotics or it could be the gall stone blocking the liver a bit. After 24 hours on the antibiotics, he is feeling better but not great. He's hardly eating anything as that has gotten him into trouble. It didn't help that before surgery the intern had told Dennis he could basically eat whatever he wanted after the surgery within reason. Okay, I don't have my medical degree but even I knew that was bad advice. Anyway, he's having the sonogram on Friday and had blood work Thursday. He's still not feeling great but improving no doubt. So the gall bladder is gone but we're not quite done.

Life

Most of life is full of the mundane daily tasks: jobs, school, laundry, shopping, cooking, dishes, cleaning, bills, correspondence, yard work, etc. Of course, we all get excited about the occasional holiday or outing that spices things up a bit but really most of the day, most days of the year, require a certain faithful plodding. Prayerfully, the Lord gives us a perspective and joy that allows us to tackle the mundane without dread or complaint.

The last few weeks the owners of our rental house have been here visiting their family. While in Whitehaven, they have been over many times trying to get to the bottom of our 4 month long electric problems. For no apparent reason and following no set pattern, the electricity goes out at any and all times. It goes out when we are gone and nothing is running, it goes out when we're here and using many things, it goes out in the middle of the night, when it rains, when it is dry. It has us stumped.

They have also come to look at the garden. (They worked in the garden daily and it shows. I don't work in the garden and it shows.) Anyway, being the people pleaser that I am and desirous of showing them we've taken good care of their house, I have been on high cleanliness alert. I've vacuumed more the last three weeks than in two months put together. On our usual family chore day I announced that the house should look like something out of Southern Living when we were done with it to which Julieanne replied, 'Mom, it's good enough.' Whoah Nelly! My come back was, "That's just it, that's your problem, you settle for good enough when you can have the best job done." Well, the house was certainly cleaner but it wasn't picture perfect - you've been around our family - we live - we make messes and don't do the best job cleaning up after ourselves.

Regardless, they seemed pleased and reassured that we were good renters. Though the garden isn't the tip-top shape they are used to, they see that I'm trying and interested which satisfies them I believe. We certainly are enjoying it. I'm sure John and Amber feel a bit like this when we come too...here come Dennis and Julie...it's got to look great.

Back to the mundane. Over here they try not to use their driers (remember from the lice episode they don't have laundromats) so we've tried our hand at the clothes line. One day Anna Catherine came out to help me hang some clothes up and expressed the 'new idea' of the clothesline. It is a skill we have lost in our neck of the woods. AC didn't like the idea of having your undies flying like a flag for the world to see. Tis true but it does save on the electric bills if you don't mind stiff clothes and having to race outside the minute it starts to rain.

Anyway, back to the mundane. Lots of chores always staring us in the face. Our sweet friend Julie Blakey is here visiting from home. Since she arrived on Sunday afternoon - I've been to London to meet her, given her one of many scenic driving tours, had 'high tea' at the coolest old manor/castle place, had Dennis' work people over for dinner, taken her to Bible Study and now she and Anna Catherine have take the train to Edinburgh for the day. Doesn't sound mundane- but their train trip has given me a day to tie up lots of loose ends I've left untied, run errands, do laundry, computer work, etc. When she comes back tonight I'll be ready for more Lake District exploring. There is something good and right about tending to the mundane - it's the warp and woof of each day really. It is good.

Julieanne Gets Her Own Guitar

Since I got a new guitar I wanted to tell yall the story. Well daddy and I went to Carlisle which is a city about an hour away from Whitehaven and we went to the music store to look at guitars (duh). We found 2 nice black electric acoustic guitars we liked one more but then we saw that it was too far above our price range. So we tried out a different guitar which sounded good and looked nice so it was to be the (one). We tried it out in an amp and it sounded really nice so we bought it. Once we took it home and plugged it into the amp that we bought.( when I say we I mean mom and dad). Anyways it didn’t work at home! So mom and I went the next week all the way back to Carlisle and went shopping while they looked at it. When we went back to the music shop they told us that the guitar needed to be sent back to the manufactures to be fixed and since they didn’t want us to have to continue travelling they gave us the other guitar that dad and I loved that was more expensive but for free. How amazing is that. I’m so excited.

Garden Take #2

You remember we planted the garden back the end of April, so we came home eager to see some signs of life. Well, what happened is I had vibrant plants growing that I hadn't even planted. First off, the strawberries were thriving but I can't take credit for those because all I did was add fertilizer to the existing plants he already had. (pictured on the right) Then apparently, when I tilled the soil and added fertilizer, the dormant potatoes from years gone by, got just the food and drink they needed to start growing. (the plants thriving in the left corner)

What happened to the seeds Na and I planted? Nothing. Yep, we had planted them too deep so we've tried again and are seeing growth finally.

I remember years ago Kristin Carnahan mentioning how frustrating it was that the weeds in a garden need no care or special attention to thrive yet the flowers and plants that are desirable take much nuturing to blossom. She said it was just like life - the ugly thoughts and motives needed no special care - they just seemed to come spewing forth but the beautiful attitudes and life giving words took special focus and choosing to blossom. I'm seeing that in full force both in my back garden and life's garden.