Rain, Rain Go Away!

If you have not noticed, I have not really been blogging lately. It has not been that I have nothing to say (far from the contrary on that one!). It has not been that I have not had time (it really does not take that long!). But oh the sorrow....I have been computer-less. And therefore blog-less.

The old expression "when it rains it pours" seems to fit around here at the Robinson house. Just when we were in the middle of reconstructing our house after the burst pipe, and just after Riley was recovering from her surgery, JP had to leave for a week on a business trip. Originally it was supposed to be 11 days, so I was pretty glad it was only a week, but nevertheless (I love that word!) I was here at home all by myself. Making decisions about the house, organizing the schedules of all the laborers, taking care of the kids, working, painting cabinets, cleaning, trying to live in utter chaos.....all by myself. Yes, I am having a little pity party for myself here but hey, it is MY blog!

But that week ended and I survived. JP made it home safely only to spend the next week preparing to preach on Sunday. That requires at least 30 hours of work, so even though he was home, we did not see him very much. But it was okay. Until my computer crashed. It caught some virus and just stopped working. So now, on top of a busy life with home remodeling, trying to keep up with my husband's crazy schedule, trying to be a halfway decent mom, and working, I had NO COMPUTER!!! And I had a fair amount of "stuff" on that laptop that I wanted recovered.

I realized that I am a slave to technology. I used my iPhone to check email and get on Facebook, but it wasn't the same. I was frustrated and very sad.

Then this past Monday (6 days ago), JP took the day off and spent it with me, doing family stuff. He assembled our new kitchen table and then took me to Mac Authority!!! I'll admit, he was definitely more excited than I was, but hey, I am new to all this Mac stuff and you it's hard to be excited about the possibilities if you don't even understand what they all are! I was just happy to have a computer again! And I am already loving being a Mac user. I guess it is something you don't understand til you try it!

So now that things are somewhat back to normal around here at the Robinson house, we are tightening up the purse strings. It seems like money has been running through our fingers like water (between the house and computer issues!). But March 1st starts "The ABCs of Financial Freedom" at our church and boy am I glad. And I am praying for the end to this "rainy season".

Perspective

Tonight we were at small group and sharing prayer requests. JP asked for prayer for us as we are trying to put our house back in order. He said he knew how hard it was on me to live in such disarray. And he's right. I absolutely HATE living in this chaos. There is dust everywhere. My dishes are in the bathroom and my oven is in the living room. I couldn't find a wooden spoon if I needed one. My food from my pantry is upstairs in my office. The only thing I have been able to consistently locate is my coffee pot and coffee. And besides all that I feel like the rest of my life is at a stand still. Everyday I am working around letting people in and out of my house. I am trying to plan the best way to make a dollar stretch to try and redecorate our new kitchen and living room. I am organizing receipts and bills to submit to the insurance company. I am painting cabinets or moving things from one room to the next. I have not been grocery shopping or to the gym. I am barely making it through the laundry!

But as we sat in small group asking for prayer to make it through this time in our lives, I had to confess that today I felt convicted about feeling sorry for myself. I may be living in a dirty, messy, costly house, but I am living in a house that we own. We have a roof over our heads and floors under our feet. We have plenty of food to eat (even if it is right outside our bedroom door). We have clothes to wear and jobs that help pay for all of this. So I guess I don't have it too bad do I? In fact, I'm pretty darn blessed. And that was my healthy dose of perspective for the day. After 10 years together, maybe JP is influencing me after all!

Update on Riley

This is long overdue, but as I have been busy tending to a three year old this past week, I have not had a chance to blog.

I want to say first and foremost "Thank you" to all of you who have been praying for Riley and our family. It is insane the number of emails, Facebook messages, texts and phone calls (gotta love technology!) that we got from people all over the world who were praying for us. And let me tell you that God hears and answers prayers!

Monday morning we woke Riley up just before we had to leave. She is an apple juice fanatic so the thought of her not having her morning apple juice was like me not having my morning coffee...not pretty. So we waited to the last minute to wake her up. She was actually pretty excited to go to Vanderbilt for our sleepover (I guess I did a good job on working that angle!). When we got there she was fascinated by the waiting room and the fish tank. Just hanging out, talking, and only asking for apple juice a few times! She started to get nervous when they called us back to register us. It was funny because she just looked at me and said "Mommy, I'm scared.". I wanted to answer "Me too" but instead chose the reassurance method.

The "fun" part began when we got back to the pre-op area. Our strong willed child began to show her ugly side. The first battle was getting her vital signs. I don't know why taking the child's blood pressure freaked her out so badly, but it did. She went nuts. Crying, thrashing, all-out fit. At this point, they decided to sedate her. Thank goodness! So now we have a nurse trying to give her medicine, two anesthesiologists talking to us about possible side effects, a billing clerk, JP and I, and a wild child in a tiny holding room. Needless to say, I was stressed! But everyone eventually left and the Versed kicked in and we decided that if we could get our hands on some of that stuff it may make our lives a lot easier! Just kidding. But she was pretty funny. She got this drunk look on her face and she began this chuckle as she was watching videos on my iPhone. JP asked her if it was funny and in her slurred speech she replied "It's hilarious!". They came to take her back to surgery and she did not put up a fight. She let the nurse carry her back and as they took her away, a part of my heart went too.

JP and I went back to the waiting room to wait and pray. Two of our good friends, Denise and Melanie showed up to wait with us (and to bring breakfast!). Within an hour and a half, they were calling JP and I to "the quiet room". Waiting in this room really freaked me out. We had to wait 25 minutes for the doctor to show up in a room by ourselves with "mood lighting". I think I know too much about what sometimes happens in those rooms for me to relax. But he came in and said everything went great. The surgery was successful and they only had to fix one side. We should be able to see her in about 20 minutes!!!

When they called us back to the recovery room, JP and I fully expected Riley to go ballistic coming out of anesthesia. After all, she is a highly dramatic child. But she looked so peaceful and this was our first sight of her.

She did great waking up, just wanted Mommy to hold her...which I was more than happy to do. She didn't like all of the wires attached to her and eventually we got the monitor taken off and she was a little more comfortable. The hard part came when she started crying in pain. This just broke my heart. They gave her some Morphine which took away the pain and made her totally goofy. (JP even took video!). Then the charge nurse came and told us the hospital was full and we may have to stay in this tiny little cubicle for the night. I was starting to freak out. I just wanted our own space to be able to rest with my baby.

Finally we got a room. Actually it was a pre-op holding room that they opened up for post-op patients. It was small but private. And from what I'm told, it is a good thing we were not on the floor because there was so much RSV going around. Riley was still pretty groggy but not really wanting to sleep. She started to get a bunch of visitors which she liked but still was a little confused by things. And the room was SOOOO small! Finally everyone left and it was just me and Riley. She was uncomfortable but was receiving pain medicine every few hours. We hung out and watched TV and she developed a new love for Jon and Kate plus 8! She wasn't really too sleepy so I tried to hold off having her go to sleep until her pain medicine was due. When we finally settled down (her in the bed, me on the cot), she just wanted to talk. I think she finally drifted off around 12am. I fell asleep a little after that, but was awake at least every hour. The IV pump would go off, they would come in to check her, the cot was not comfortable. At one point I rolled over and the cot was so noisy Riley asked me why I had to move (she's so me!). She woke up at 4am and it seemed we were up for good at this point. So much for rest!
She spent the morning sitting up in the chair and coloring. The big obstacle was going to be getting her to drink and walk around. She still didn't want too much to drink. We finally got up for a walk around 9:30am. At this point, she had pain medicine in her and was raring to go! She even found a toy car to play in. She ended up wearing herself out in the car and our trip to the playroom. A little after 1pm the doctor came in and said she could go home. Yay!! I was definitely ready to go!

Our first few days at home went relatively well. She would rest some and then play a little. She slept great the first night home in her own bed. Eventually her resting became less and playing became more. It seemed a little like having a newborn to me. Just as I'd think she'd be doing okay and I could get something done, she'd need me. And at the end of the day I would have accomplished nothing! But we got through it and now, one week post-op, she is as good as ever. You'd never know she had surgery one week ago!

Our biggest challenge though in this has been that Riley has developed an aversion to taking her medicine. Actually, aversion is a NICE way of putting it! She is an absolute demon! The girl who would once take her nightly medicine by herself, now needs two adults to shove the medicine down her throat. It doesn't matter what flavor or what tactics we use, it always ends up in a fight. In fact JP has named medicine time "wrestlemania". (Sorry that there are no pictures of that, but it takes two of us to give the medicine so no one is left to take the pictures!!) So it is taking longer than usual for me to get the full doses of antibiotics in her. But hopefully by the time she returns to see her urologist in March, we will be done with daily antibiotics...FOREVER!!

Whew! That's a really long post, but I wanted to make sure that I included all the details and pictures! Thanks again for your prayers. God has proven to be the Great Physician to our little girl.