Weekend with the family I'm not related to

I decided not to go to Atlanta to be with my family this Thanksgiving.  I visited my sister and her family in late October, so it wasn't a big deal to skip seeing them for the holiday.  Mom and Dad were in Atlanta and that was the main reason I had thought about going.  But the idea of traveling at the same time as the rest of the country and right after the fall retreat with the high school kids made the idea a lot less attractive to me.  Then Mom said that it was okay if they didn't see me until Christmas and, well, my mind was made up.  So, instead of spending the long weekend with the family I'm related to, I spent it with the one that I'm not.  And it's been a great time.

Wednesday evening was Thanksgiving service at church.  I love when my church does evening services.  We only do them a couple of times a year (Maundy Thursday, Thanksgiving, Lessons and Carols before Christmas, Christmas Eve and a handful of other all church events that usually include a meal and more of a devotion rather than a full service) and each time they're great.  Most of the evening services are very laid back, relaxed times.  Not that our Sunday morning services are terribly formal, but the evening events are just smaller, more intimate, more comfortable.  In a very real way, it's family time.  Wednesday evening was definitely that.  And it was a lot of fun and a neat time.  Most of our college students were home and it's always great to see them and have a chance to catch up with how their semester is going.

Thursday I watched Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade...they weren't showing the Detroit parade but I did get to see the Georgia Tech marching band twice (thanks to different stations being at different spots on the parade route).  It wasn't quite the same.  The Smurf balloon isn't near as cool as Chilly Willy (the big penguin balloon that escaped one year due to wet ground and high winds the night before Thanksgiving.  He was found floating in the Detroit river, fished out, repaired and made the honorary grand marshal the next year.)  But it was still cool to hear The Ramblin' Wreck on my television as I put together my caramel apple pie.  I had dinner with the Olson family (from my church) including some of their extended family and a couple of other people who were without family they're related to, as has become my tradition over the past few years.  Having been made an honorary Olson a while back, I figure it's only fitting to spend at least one holiday with them each year.  I was seated at the "geek table" (there was also a "history" table and one for the "general audience") with Eric, Alexis and Peter (all non-honorary Olsons) and one of Alexis' professors from when he was an undergrad at UT-Arlington (he's now a PhD student in math at A&M.).   After dinner we sang some hymns and shared what we were thankful for.  Again, a very laid back and comfortable event with people I consider to be family.  The group broke up sometime around nap/football time and I headed home for some quality time on the couch (which is always my cats' favorite time of any weekend.)

Friday, after taking advantage of some Black Friday deals (Half Priced books had a good sale.  Target was a little crazy.  I shouldn't have bothered to even stop at Best Buy for the three minutes that I did.), I got ready to have friends over to play some games.  Mostly, it was a chance to get together with friends who are family, drink Kool Aid and play Settlers of Catan.  The Olsons kids, almost half of the Sneeds, and two other friends from church showed up and a good time was had by all.  Although, it would have been nice to have another Settlers game since only six can play at a time and no one was really interested in playing much of anything else.  But that was okay.  Again, it was a nice, laid back, comfortable way to spend some time with more of my family that I'm not related to.

Saturday I was mostly on my own, although I did see a few friends at the gym and chatted with some others over IM.

Today was church of course.  Attendance was a little lighter than usual and, for some reason, everyone seemed to clear out more quickly than usual.  Then, this evening, we had our Advent celebration.  It's another of my church's evening events.  This one includes advent crafts, dinner and a devotional time.  As with everything else this weekend, it was a lot of fun and a great, laid back, comfortable time to be with family.  I got to chat with some friends, helped prepare the food and clean things up, helped make a wreath that will be given to our friends at the nursing home when the youth go there in two weeks to sing and visit, made silly faces at little kids (and some big kids) and just had a great time. 

I wasn't able to spend the weekend with my family family, but that didn't mean I was anywhere near alone.  The people who are in my life, especially those who are a part of my church family, are just as important (or almost) to me as my family that I'm related to.  They're the people who I live my day-to-day life with.  They're the people who, just like my family that I'm related to, will always be there for me.  They keep an eye on me and no matter what will be there for me whenever I need anything (and sometimes even before I realize I need something).  And I'm there for them.  Sometimes, when I wonder if I should move closer to my sister and her family, especially when I'm feeling kinda disconnected from the lives of my nephews, I remember that even though I'm not a blood relative of anyone that's in my church, we're no less family members.  When I think about the possibility of having to move for my job (a fairly slim possibility at this point) the idea of leaving my church is the hardest part.  It's not that I don't have family here in Fort Worth.  I just define my family a little bit differently than most people.  And, ya know, that's just fine with me.

So, yeah, I spent Thanksgiving with my family.  And it was a great time...and cheaper and a lot more relaxing than having to brave air travel.

Where's the Kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom!

So, the "storm of the century" (which is what you would have thought hurricane Ike was going to be if you paid any attention to the local or regional media) turned out to be pretty mild here in DFW.  Things aren't great on the coast, and I don't mean to diminish any of the troubles that folks down there are having (or will have, once they can get home), but all we got was some wind and rain.  We've had worse of both in the not terribly distant past and we definitely didn't get the two days of torrential downpours and gale force winds that were being predicted earlier this week.  And, on the "dealing with it" front, that's good.  But, on the "weather nerd" front, it's kinda a let down.  Ah well.  For those readers outside of the metroplex (Hi Mom!), we're fine.  No flooding, no downed trees, no roofs blown off, no evil sounding neighbor ladies being swept up into the twister while still riding their bikes.  I don't think the cats even lost any sleep over it.

I also realized that I'm still not certain what the Texas response to imminent weather disaster is supposed to be.  I mean, growing up back in Michigan, everyone knew that when a massive snow storm was predicted, you went to the grocery store and bought bread and milk.  Even if you didn't need bread and milk, that's just what you bought.  It was expected, maybe even required.  But down here in Texas, there hasn't seemed to be a run on bread and milk.  In fact, in the stores this afternoon, there was plenty of both.  Maybe I was supposed to buy beer and, I don't know, whatever goes good with beer.  Being a non-drinker I'm uncertain.  But, just in case things change, I've got plenty of milk on hand.  (Mostly due to a sale/coupon from Albertsons.)

Other news, my trip to the physical therapist earlier this week was a little discouraging.  The PT did all the things that PTs do (poked, prodded, moved around, had me walk about, hooked a little electrode thing up to some muscles and had me use them while measuring the strength...turns out my right (not hurting) leg is not quite as strong as the left (one that hurts).  I find that odd.  PT didn't seem to.  I mentioned it.  He didn't answer.  Maybe I should have asked again.).  And he determined that he doesn't know why my knee hurts any more than anyone else does.  His current thought is that I'm built a little odd (no surprise there) and I walk a little funny (again, not surprising) and that due to activities and accumulated stress my knee hurts.  He said that my legs kinda go out a little rather than straight down, but that's not uncommon in women (cause we've got wider hips than guys).  He said that I have a tendency towards pronation when I walk (walking more on the insides of my feet) but that's not uncommon in people who have low arches/flat feet (which I do).  And he said he doesn't have a good explanation for why my knee is hurting now and not before now.  At least he's honest in that part.  He gave me some exercises to do, told me to do them two to three times a day and come back and see him in two weeks.  He also recommended new athletic shoes (easy to do, I swapped to a pair that I had in my closet that better meets his recommendations), not walking around without shoes on (which is killing me when I'm at home.  I rarely have shoes on at home.) and not to sit cross legged (hard when I'm in a meeting or otherwise sitting not at a table or desk but I'm surviving).  Basically, he wants me to do everything to minimize stress on my knee.  Although I'm still okay to do "anything that doesn't hurt" at the gym, so that's a plus.

So, the good is that I don't have to go in multiple times a week.  That's helps with the budget (I so did not put enough in my healthcare spending account this year) as well as the time.  But it's frustrating that I still don't have a good answer for why my knee hurts nor a good course of treatment that's sure to fix things.  I showed my exercises to two of my trainer friends at the gym (who know what's been going on).  Neither were terribly impressed.  Part of the reason is due to me already doing more challenging, similar activities/movements on a regular basis.  But, as Robin (one of the trainers) reminded me, not everyone works out to the same level that I do and most medical professionals believe that patients aren't entirely truthful about their exercise habits.  Most people can't stand on one foot (especially their non-dominant foot) for minutes at a time (3 minutes is easy for me.  More than that and I get bored.  I can even do it with my eyes closed as long as I don't get distracted.)  And one of my exercises is to stand on one foot for 20 seconds.  So I've ended up creating a sorta hybrid (Frankeinstein?) exercise regimen based on what my PT gave me to do, input from the trainers at the gym and what makes sense to me.  The result is that things in my knee seem to be getting slightly better.  I still can't jump on my left leg without pain.  I haven't tried running, but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't go well.  There are still specific points on my knee where I press and they hurt.  But, going up and down stairs is less irritating/painful.  I was squatting to look at bottom shelves at Half Price Books earlier today and noticed that that was easier than before.  So, while I'm not all there yet and I'm not certain these exercises are going to take me all the way there, at least I'm making positive progress.  We'll see how things go in the next week or so and see what the PT says on my next visit.

Iowa Trip Mercy Moment

A number of people have commented on or asked me about/for the text of the Mercy Moment/report from the Iowa trip that I gave in church last week. I figured I would post it here.

"This is not the way it's supposed to be"
Those words were spoken from this pulpit by Dustin Salter in his sermon titled "A New Heaven and a New Earth" on March 3, 2002. Those were the words that I heard two weeks ago as I listened to that sermon on my iPod while driving one of the vans towards Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And those were the words that continued to echo through my head all week long as we worked and talked with the people of the area. "This is not the way it's supposed to be". People aren't supposed to have water and sewage up to the ceiling of the first story of their homes. People aren't supposed to have to watch as strangers carry their waterlogged, smelly, ruined personal belongings out of their home of 35 years and deposit them unceremoniously on the rapidly growing trash pile on their front lawn. Two weeks ago in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, we saw numerous reminders of how this world isn't supposed to be. But that's not all we saw because that's not all there is and that's not all there is ever going to be.

One day, some day, God will create the New Heavens and the New Earth and as described in Revelation 21, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." One day, some day, rivers won't overflow their banks, causing millions of dollars worth of damage and upending thousands of lives. One day, some day things will be the way that they are supposed to be.

But that day is not here yet and Dustin addressed that in his sermon as well. He said that until that glorious day comes, the job of Christians is to work, in whatever small ways we're able, to restore the world to the way it is supposed to be. And that's why we went to Iowa. The homes that we cleaned out, the floors that we ripped up, the siding that we tore off the houses was all in preparation for the houses or at least the land to be restored or repurposed into somewhere that could, once again, be lived in or used by the people of the community. The work that we did helped to prepare those areas to be back to closer to the way that they are supposed to be. And, just as importantly, the time that we spent talking, praying and sharing meals with the people of the area gave some measure of comfort and hope and offered the reminder that this isn't the way that it's supposed to be and it's not the way that it's going to be. We shared God's gospel in word and in deed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa two weeks ago. In a small way, the team that went, those who helped out with the preparations and all who prayed for this trip helped to restore that area to closer to the way that it is supposed to be.


In other news, I have my physical therapy assessment/first session for my knee tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to at least the results of the therapy. I've had quite enough of my knee hurting, not being able to run and such. I know it's still going to take some time to get back up to full strength and movement, but hopefully this is another step in that direction.

Also, this evening at church, we had our small group kick-off family supper, hymn sing and old fashioned barn raising (okay, not that last part but that's the running joke with the youth). It was a great night. Really, great. One of those evenings where there was no where else I would have wanted to be. It just felt like home, like family. It's kinda hard to describe. I've been gone a reasonable amount this summer, but I didn't really think I had felt like I was disconnected or anything, but tonight, it just felt like there was this thing missing from part of my life and this was it. It wasn't a really big thing. A potluck dinner and a time of singing. But as I seem to tell the high school kids every time I teach, it's often not the big things that make the difference. A lot of the time, it's the little things that make the biggest impact, mean the most to people. And that was tonight. I've been so blessed to be a part of this amazing church family.

Not torn, folded, spindled or mutilated

So, update on the knee.

I had my MRI on Monday evening.  It took longer than I expected.  About 20-25 minutes total.  I guess I'm used to x-rays which are quick and medical shows on tv which don't have time to show that long of a procedure...plus, if they show the patient in the MRI at all you just know that something bad is going to happen.  And the MRI machine wasn't the tube type thing like you always see.  Instead it was more of, well, imagine a giant hamburger with a section cut out of the burger in the middle so that there was a hole lengthwise (if you can go lengthwise in a circular object...more people will understand that than if I said "laterally").  So, there's this big circular thing on top and a big circular thing on the bottom and there's sides to it.  I got to lay down on a sliding table thing, stuff put around my knee so that it didn't move and then the very nice technician moved the table (and therefore me) so that my knee was right about in the middle of the hamburger shaped machine.  She put on some not terribly interesting music (which we both agreed was good.  I have a tendency to "dance" to music if I have nothing better to do.  Note the quotes, it's more of random movements that may or may not correlate to the beat.  But since I wasn't supposed to move that would have been bad.) and we were off.  I didn't ask how long the procedure took, so I was thankful that the tech came over the speaker at one point to reassure me that I was doing great and let me know I only had about 15 more minutes to go.  I was kinda paranoid about moving and a bit nervous about the whole thing and the weird sounds the machine was making, but I managed to keep myself calm (lots of deep breaths), not fall asleep (I was worried that I would move) and a bit later I walked out with six large films of various bits of the inside of my knee.

I did some googling to see what a torn meniscus looks like on an MRI and after extensive training (about five minutes) and long study (another five minutes) of the MRIs I came to the conclusion that I was pretty sure I could figure out which way was up and which parts were bones.  In the way of figuring out if I had a torn meniscus or anything else, yeah, I had nothing.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon and I'm back at the orthopedists office.  I really like this guy and his staff a lot.  Even when they're horrendously busy they're incredibly friendly and efficient.  If you're in the Fort Worth area and need an orthopedist (and they take your insurance) I highly recommend Dr. Boothby and the staff of Southwest Orthopedics.  Anyway, They got me into the room, I worked on my Sunday school lesson for a few minutes and then the doc came in.  He looked at my MRI films and explained what was going on.  Basically, my meniscus isn't torn.  Neither is my ACL nor the other CL (MCL?).  He said there was a bit of degeneration of the meniscus but that's not uncommon.  I also have a bit of swelling (not surprising.  Spending a week mucking out and gutting houses with a bum knee will do that.) and a minor bit of misalignment of my kneecap (which I learned from the tv show Bones is called the patella.).  But, the good news is that there's no call to do any sort of surgery.  The bad news is that he's not sure exactly why my knee is hurting.

He offered the "don't do anything stupid for a month or so and then come back and see me if it doesn't get better" (not his words) course of treatment first.  I countered with "this has been going on for a while and that hasn't worked" (not my exact words).  He counter offered with anti-inflammatory meds and physical therapy (PT) and the deal was done.  So, I've got a higher dose of the meds my primary care doc gave me before sending me to the orthopedist and, once the lady who does the precertification thingie with my insurance company gets back from her extra long Labor Day weekend (darn holiday weekend) on Tuesday, I'll be scheduled for my PT evaluation and a total of 12 sessions of PT.  And we'll see.  Hopefully the exercises that my PT has me do will strengthen everything up and that in combination with the pain meds and me not doing anything stupid (that wasn't part of the final deal but I figured that it was  kinda implied) and I'll be good to go by Halloween or so.  If not, I guess we'll try something else.

Bottom line, I don't have to have surgery, but my knee still hurts.  I call it a draw at this point.

In other news, I get to teach Sunday school to my high school kids this Sunday and speak during the "mercy moment" at church.  Sunday school is on mercy ministries and the mercy moment is about the Iowa trip.  If any of my high schoolers are reading this (and got this far), bummer that you have to hear me twice but there will be candy or donuts or something in Sunday school and I promise no role playing or other "alternative learning methods" activities.  I'm not even planning on breaking you guys up into groups and answering questions or anything.  If anyone else wants to sit in on the class, you're welcome to.  Theoretically it should be interesting.

And there's lots to blog about the Iowa trip but I just haven't made the time.  Hopefully I'll do that this weekend.  Ah sweet three day weekend followed by a three day work week and an even sweeter three day weekend (it's sweeter because the stores will be less crowded because not everyone else has a three day weekend.  Plus, it follows a three day week.  It's hard to beat that.)

Off in a blazing cloud of dust!

A former youth pastor used to utter the line "And we're off in a blazing cloud of dust" regularly when we were driving somewhere.  He had an interesting way with words, something that I've always admired in a person and enjoyed.  And, since I rarely think of humorous/interesting things to say on my own, I've incorporated this into my regular speech.  Although I've come to the conclusion that most other people do similar things, they just quote more mainstream/well known sources than I do.  Just another reason I'm proud to call myself "no one's definition of normal".

So, I'm off to Iowa tomorrow morning.  I think I'm finally getting excited about the trip again.  I was all gung-ho about it when the opportunity first came up and then I got distracted with life and work and my knee issues (mostly my knee issues.  I hate being broken, hence the reason I ignored my knee issues for so long.  Now I just want to get it fixed.).  But tonight, I'm mostly packed up (just need to fuss with the gear in my backpack a bit more), have the house and cats more or less ready for me to be gone and aside from being a little sleepy due to getting up early to take advantage of a thing the city was doing where you trade your old, polluting gas lawn mower in for a coupon for a greatly discounted electric rechargeable, green (really, it's a pastel-neon green), environmentally friendly and 75% quieter but with a tiny (14 inch) deck lawn mower and still needing to shower tonight (so that I don't have to in the morning.  My ride shows up at 5:30am.  Wheels up at 0600.) I'm feeling really good and starting to get excited about it.  It's going to be an interesting trip.  This is the first time we've done any sort of "disaster response/relief" work like this.  I figure that the schedule and the work won't be much different than doing a mission trip except that we'll be more on our own than we are when we do the trips with MTW (and there's full-time missionaries already on the ground there).  But, no worries.  I've done 17 short-term mission trips and a bunch of weekend to week-long trips with youth.  And on this trip we can drink the water!  I'm guessing that, as long as my knee doesn't give me problems, I'll be golden (God willing, if you're the praying type I would greatly appreciate your prayers for all aspects of the trip, but mostly for my physical safety with emphasis on my knee).  But we've got a handful of people on this trip who haven't done any trips like this before.  We've also got at least four who have done some sort of long-term missions work in countries where you probably can't drink the water and more who've done a bunch of short-term trips, but I'm slightly more concerned about the newbies.  There's so much that people could stress over and that doesn't help anyone.  And then there's the age differences.  We've got a couple of junior high kids up through retired adults.  And we're all jumbled together in a van for 13 (or more) hours on either end of the trip.  Just imagining the conversations over the preferences for auditory entertainment...the mind boggles.  It's gonna be an interesting week.

Other random things.

Bones - one of the television shows that I enjoy is coming out with a soundtrack.  Yeah!  I've always enjoyed soundtracks and in recent years I've discovered that tv shows sometimes put out soundtracks as well.  I've found it's a great way to discover new music, often by new and/or indie musicians.  And from there you can follow the rabbit trail down the long tail and who knows where you'll come out.  For me, it ends up in the darker corners of my iPod where you'll find Sprung Monkey, Four Star Mary, Common Rotation and a variety of other bands with odd names (I still think Starbuck and her Special Destiny would be a great band name).  So, yeah, I'm excited and will be purchasing.

Juno - The movie, not the city in Alaska.  I finally saw it.  Good stuff.  Sweet and fun and heartbreaking and all sorts of funny and awkward and stuff.  Allison Janey channeled CJ Craig a couple of times (man do I miss The West Wing...back when Aaron Sorkin was writing it), Jason Bateman grew up to be a fun actor to watch (apparently that happened back during Arrested Development but I just couldn't get into that show....not sure why.  Possibly for the same reason that, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get into The Office.).  And Ellen "Juno" Page was spot on (and played Kitty Pride in X3.  I knew I had seen her before I just couldn't remember where.).  I'm glad that I bought the movie, it's certainly one I will be revisiting...and quite possibly a soundtrack I'll be purchasing.  Cause, ya know, I like soundtracks.

The wife of the guy who writes the web comic Sheldon writes for How I Met Your Mother.  I don't know why I find this so entertaining/interesting.  I don't watch the show.  I've only read the web comic for about a year or so (yet another bit of media that I found while following a Whedon related rabbit hole).  Maybe it's my kinda recent interest in how television shows are written (mostly fueled by the wonderful blog by Jane Espenson, a writer for Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar and other cool stuff, where I've learned more than I ever thought I was interested in about how television scripts are written as well as learned to think more about language and how that makes jokes funny or, yeah, the other thing.)

Okay and now I'm just killing time until my iPod is done syncing.  It's looking like it might take a bit longer than I expected, so I think it's shower time.  By the time I'm dry and fresh smelling once again it should be done.

Probably no internet access while I'm gone so look for an update after a week or so when I get home.

This made me smile

If I could, I would live in a pair of cargo pants and a t-shirt so this comic made me smile.  And it's especially fitting since I'm getting ready to head to Iowa where I will be spending the week wearing cargo pants and shorts.  Yeah!

Fun at the orthopedists

I had my appointment with the orthopedist this afternoon.  Everything went smoothly and I was impressed with the efficiency of the staff.  I was in the exam room within five minutes of my appointment time (they had me arrive 30 minutes prior to that so that I could fill out all of the new patient paperwork).  Seph (pronounced similar to Seth but almost like if you have a lisp), the physicians assistant came in after just a few minutes, got my history, poked and prodded my knee some and said that they needed to get some x-rays.  After somewhere between five and ten more minutes, Dr Boothby came in, asked some more questions, poked and prodded my knee a bit more and said that he figured that it was probably a tear in my meniscus (the cartilage that sits at the top of your bottom leg bone and acts as a shock absorber).  He got out his knee model and explained this to me and said that there wasn't any need for x-rays because they wouldn't be able to show what he needed to see.  So the next step is to get an MRI.  The staff said that I should be able to get that early next week.  Then I go back to Dr Boothby a day or two later and we figure out where to go from there.

The good news is that if it is a torn meniscus, Dr Boothby says that they can fix me and get me back to 100%.  He seemed pretty certain that this would be the case.  So that's a plus.  From doing some research and reading, it sounds like there is the possibility of non-surgical options for dealing with a torn meniscus.  However, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.  There's some interesting stuff on Wikipedia about torn meniscuses (menisci?)

While I'm not thrilled with the idea of having to have knee surgery, the fact that this is something that seems to have become routine and the optimism of my doctor gives me confidence that it won't be a huge deal.  I'm sure it won't be fun, but I know that I'll be well taken care of.  I'm pretty sure that Mom will want to come down.  Even if she doesn't, I know my church will take very good care of me and make sure that I have all the help I need.  The staff and my friends at the gym will be there to help me get back in shape physically.  And my group at work is always very accommodating.  All of that gives me tremendous peace of mind.  It's amazing how well God has and continues to provide so much for me.