Steph Stew

I've started so many blogs since my last one, but obviously have not finished any of them. Sometimes I will try to write on subject that I think someone in particular might want to read...and that NEVER works.

So let's see. We've been having a productive Spring Break. Not necessarily fun, but definitely productive. My mom came into town on Sunday night, and pretty much the minute she came into town, the purging began. My mom is a great purger. It should be her middle name. She sent two days straight helping Chris and I get our house into order. We filled pretty much an entire dumpster with papers that had needed to be sorted for two years. She also took 7 or 8 loads of laundry to a local laundromat and washed and folded them for us. Why doesn't she live closer?!

We also played a lot of cards and Monopoly. We had friends and family over pretty much every night, which was a lot like my whole teenage years. She also got me a PLANNER...something she's used since she was 18, and something that she's been wishing her disorganized daughter would use for the last 20. I've been using it like crazy so far (all two days)...we'll see if I keep it up after school starts back up again.

Update on Jeffy: Still not walking... so we took him back to the rheumatologist yesterday who decided that the next course of action should be to take him to the pediatric neurologist. He was able to "convince" them to take us in next week. The doctor was scheduled out until June. Not sure if this is a good sign or a bad sign. He used the word "malignant" which is never good, but used it only as something that is naturally at the back of a physician's mind when the SED rate continues to remain so high, but the usual rheumatic treatment fails to change anything. It's definitely not arthritis anymore, not muscular...so we're headed to brain issues now. Please continue to pray for additional wisdom for the doctors, and for protection for our dear boy. He's generally very smiley and giggly, but gets tired so easily, and is just not strong.

Andrew is still doing well, loving life, and very very smiley. He's such a joy.

Kadee Joy is brilliant as usual, and a little too smart and social for her own good. She officially quit ballet after a particularly tantrumish day...I was deeply saddened, but it appears she will have to take her natural athleticism a different way. As she put it she "wants to make her OWN dance." Isn't that the way of it.

My withdrawal from my anti-depressant has hit the more difficult wall of spacing out my doses every three days. I'm great the day I take it, and the next, and then the third day I'm an absolute basket case. The other night I went into "the depths of despair" as Anne Shirley calls it, but was able to intellectually tell myself that it would be better in the morning. And it was. I'm still hopeful that I will be able to wean completely off of it, although the walls have made it seem a much more challenging than it was the first ten days.

Today I coerced Chris into watching "Twilight" with me on DVD. He very graciously did not make fun of it while we were watching it. What a nice guy. We got some much needed snuggle time in while the kids took their naps. March Madness showed back up tonight, so naturally it will be on all night. My picks are winning as of this moment, which is good news for me personally, bad news for my husband. My goals in my marriage right now are to work on the areas of respect and physical affection with my husband. These are issues that we've always struggled with, and seem to go in waves of difficulty. Right now, I am riding a pretty big one. Please pray for me in this area, if you think of it.

I got to go to coffee with a friend of mine today, who did a great job of helping me my own life into perspective, and also allowed the Holy Spirit to convict me in several areas. Not in a "don't gossip" kind of way, but her struggles helped me to recognize my own struggles, and as I proceeded to give advice, I realized that I needed to be giving the same to myself.

School starts up again next week, and I can't believe it's already the 4th quarter. What an insane year. But I will say, it has been a great year.

Okay, off to spend time with my family. I am hoping we will be able to do something fun tomorrow or Saturday before I go back to work. And also hoping that the weather will turn warm again.