B-Boo | It's a Vivas Thing!

Nov 15 2009

Warning Label

This post is for my women readers only. Trust me, guys, you'll just want to move past this one!

I debated whether I should write this or not. I wondered to myself if I was crossing the line on the blog world of the internet, but then I decided, women everywhere need to be warned. This is serious!

As some of you may remember from a previous post, I hurt my foot. I've been dealing with foot pain for a while now. It's slowly getting better, but it's not all well yet. To help things along, I was given a resistance band. The idea is to sit down, place your legs straight out and then use the band to pull your foot in to stretch the tendons out properly before walking around for the day. I am to do this three times each day. The nurse showed me how to do it and it didn't seem dangerous at all.

As my foot is getting better and today was a bit chilly, I decided to wear my nicer jeans and a sweater to church. The jeans are a bit long since I am a bit short, so I need to wear my boots with them. I thought that if I stretched my foot good, I would be able to stand wearing the boots for a couple of hours at church, especially since most of the time is spent sitting. I had my jeans and tank top on (no sweater yet) and sat down stretch out my feet.

This is kind of what it looks like, except I only stretch one foot at a time. (That's not me, btw!) The nurse explained that your arms get a good work out, too, because you're supposed to pull as hard as you can and stretch your foot towards you to get the tendons to stretch. I've done this exercise a few times with no issues.

Until today.

I started with my right foot. No problem.

I moved to my left foot. No problem.

I moved back to my right foot and that's when it happened.

Big problem.

This is where the warning comes in.

A) Be very careful where you place the resistance band.

B) Be very careful to watch where the band is at all times.

C) Don't pull too hard.

All I remember is that one minute I was pulling and stretching my foot and in the next instant I was doubled over in searing pain, moaning and screaming with tears streaming down my face. I had visions of the scene in "A Christmas Story" when the dad is downstairs in the basement trying to fix the furnace and unrecognized cursing is being sent up through the vent. I saw a white light. I could hear B-boo's concern as she ran into the bathroom with concern, stating,

"Mom, are you ok? I heard a snap. Did you hit your face? Is your nose bleeding? ARE YOU OK, MOM?!?!?!"

All I could do was moan in pain. Serious pain. Blinding pain. And shake my head, "no" to her pounding questions.

When I could finally catch my breath and wipe the tears from my face, I looked up to find her still standing there with concern on her face.

"No, I didn't hit my face. It hit my chest."

Her eyes widened in realization at what her mother had just managed to do to herself. She got it, because she used to be a competitive gymnast and she knows about resistance bands.

I could tell that she was trying hard to decide if she should let the laughter out or not. She was probably wondering if she'd be in pain for laughing at her mother's pain.

Finally, I had no choice but to laugh at the situation, because, after all, I am a Vivas, and this is definitely one of those Vivas Things. She laughed, I laughed, we laughed together.

And then I told her to leave because I needed to check things.

Except for the three inch wide welt that runs COMPLETELY across my chest, I am ok; I think.

I'm hoping the fiery pain will subside soon.

It's probably a good thing it wasn't my face; I'm sure I'd be blinded for real instead of blinded with pain.

Ladies, please heed my warning. This is very dangerous. You have to pay very close attention to what you're doing.

Oh yeah, my foot feels better, thanks for asking.

Apr 20 2009

Amazing

The past few weeks certainly have been. Yup, that's all I can say…they just have been. A recap if you will:

Three ER visits in less than three weeks; bronchitis, flu, sciatica, fractured wrist, dental stuff, school stuff, homework, drawing, hip hop, karate, visitation, numerous phone calls…the list goes on and on! The other day I sat down at 3:30 pm to finally grab a bite of lunch. I was happily slurping up my soup when I realized I forgot to pick up the littlest one from school! I quickly zoomed out of the house and made it just in the nick of time! 🙂

The kids send me text messages reminding me of their needs during the day, and hope that they've moved up on the list of things to accomplish today!

"Mom, don't forget this."
"Mom, don't forget that."

Sometimes they're just reminding me of stuff for me, because quite frankly, they know I may forget! B-boo continually tells me that she doesn't know what I'd do without her….she's right! She knows what I need these days before I do and will have it in the van as I rush out the door to the next appointment with the next kid. You just gotta love her!

And then there's just life. Honestly, many have asked how I am doing, and it's gotten to the point where I just look at them, really, because, how do you answer that question when you really don't even have the time to sit and think about how you really are? You just are. It's that simple.

What I do know is this:

I know I have an amazing God who really knows how I feel and who really will get us through this. He continues to prove that to us day after day.

James 1:2-3 says,
² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Faith is an amazing thing.

I know that I have an amazing family and that God is working in a mighty way in their lives right now. This comes with much hurt, many tears, and a love that is all encompassing. My children are learning to love in ways that I don't think even they thought was possible.

I know that I have an amazing support system through friends and our church. The outpouring of prayer alone is enough to humble us. This past weekend we had to go through 7 hours of Kinship foster training. We had children fanned out all over the city! Friends were showing up at our house early in the morning to pick up whichever child they were in charge of for the day and just took them and loved on them and gave them what they needed! Another took fluids and soup to my oldest son who was sick with the flu; she'd never been there but knew she lived close and knew I couldn't take care of his needs, so she did it for me. Amazing. Another child needed someone and made a phone call to one of our friends. She didn't hesitate, but jumped in her car and took care of the need immediately. Amazing.

We learned this weekend that these friends who are so willingly helping us are going to need to have their lives intruded on as well. They'll have to be fingerprinted and their homes will have to be inspected. I mentioned this to one of them late Saturday night when she brought back one of our children. She didn't hesitate at all, instead just said, "Sign me up!" Sunday morning at church, her husband was confirming that he was fine with the whole thing, too, when another friend and her husband piped up that they'd be willing to go through the process, too, so that they could be on the list to help out. Amazing that we don't even have to ask. In addition, another friend came up to me and asked what I need help with. I just kind of looked at her and smiled. I don't know what I need, remember? (ha ha) She took control and said she'd bring us a meal on Wednesday; a safe meal for my whole family because two of my children suffer from serious food allergies. Amazing.

I'm learning how to say "no" when I need to and "yes" when I ought to.

I taught a Bible study this weekend on being in the wilderness and looking at the peaks and valleys in your life and how God has, or is, bringing you through. We're in a pretty big valley right now and the mountain seems too hard to climb, but I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to it. There are moments when it seems too hard, and God will send someone amazing who just happens to call right at that moment and offer to pray for me (thank you, dear friend). There are also moments, when I realize just how much God is strengthening me, and so I continue on in Him, after all, He is Amazing!

Mar 25 2009

Laughable Moment #6

In a week where emotions run high, a laugh is most welcome. And boy, did I laugh with this one! With the addition of two children two our home this week, I realized that my nephew, four, did not have a toothbrush. I picked up a package of two, one yellow and one orange. He chose the orange one and ran off to brush his teeth. B-Boo went in to help him and came downstairs a few moments later giggling and stating that I needed to see what he'd done to the bathroom mirror. I was in the midst of dealing with things, so it was a while before I could get up there.

I finally made it upstairs to get ready for bed and walked in front of the mirror, only to notice this:

Yes, that is a toothbrush stuck to my bathroom mirror. Apparently he didn't know where to put his toothbrush. He discovered a suction cup on the bottom of the toothbrush and decided it belonged stuck to the mirror.

Ah…having a four year old brain in the house again is going to be interesting!

Mar 24 2009

Life Everchanging

It's funny how things can drastically change in a matter of days, or even minutes. Just when one thinks life is finally there; we've reached that point, everything changes. And what once was, is no more.

Take my last post about my morning with B-Boo. Those precious mornings are now gone. It's only been two days, but I miss them already. And that's not to say that what they've been replaced with isn't good; it's just that it's no longer what it was. I now have a 6 year old that joins us for our breakfast and bible study. That's good. And before we're done, I also have a four year old that joins us. Adorable. The dynamics have definitely changed; not for the worse, just different.

I've spent the past few days in a whirlwind of emotions. You see, I'm back in a place where I honestly hoped I'd never be again. I'm exhausted. I'm stressed. I'm overwhelmed. But I have to remember there is a much bigger picture here that only God can see. In order to understand, you have to travel back with me five years into the past. That is when we received custody of our then, 14 month old niece. It was hard; one of the hardest things we've ever been through. And then, after a year of ups and downs and finally getting to where we thought we'd make it, she was taken out of our homes and out of our everyday lives. Honestly, I didn't know how we'd recover. We were crushed. It took time, but we healed and we moved on with our lives. Just last week, we talked about how we were finally out of the little kids stage. Our youngest is 8 1/2. She's old enough to dress herself; independent enough to want to accomplish things on her own. It's great, this new season in our lives.

Until Sunday. This time, not only is our now six year old niece in our home, but she came along with her four year old brother. He's adorable; but he's four. It's been a long time since I've had a four year old. That means bath time and cuddle time and shoe tying time and teeth brushing time and more. It means I have to think before I run out of the house without a plan.

It also means dealing with child protective services once again. Dealing with Family Court once again. Dealing with evil drug addiction and how it tears a family apart once again. And so my heart is broken, once again. Only this time, it's not for what I've lost, but for what these precious babies have lost. For they have lost their ability to have a normal, happy, carefree life. What I hope they gain is the unconditional love that will overflow to them. I pray to God that these children will be protected and that they will be put first.

And I pray for their parents, who are so lost, they don't even realize what they've lost.

Mar 20 2009

Mornings with B-Boo

I'm a morning person; always have been. It's that time when all is quiet and you have just those few moments to your self, or when school is in session, a few moments of one on one with a child. The Talented One has to be at school by 7:00 am. I usually get up around 6 am, have my prayer time and head downstairs. Sometimes he'll want breakfast, perhaps an omelet, other times he wants nothing. We don't have a grand quality time, but we usually do spend a few moments talking before he heads off. I'll do some dishes or make a pot of coffee or tea, depending on my mood for the day. Before we leave to take him to school, I wake up B-Boo so that she can get ready. Her school starts at 8:00 am.

Once I drop off the Talented One, I go back home and make a bagel or toast for B-Boo. She loves a cup of hot chocolate each morning. Now, this is not the type that you add a packet of chocolate to hot water. No! She likes a real cup of chocolate. The kind that is made with real milk and Ghirardelli's chocolate. You have to make sure the milk is hot enough and then add a few heaping teaspoons of chocolate. It's not complete until the top is covered with whipped cream. (This stuff also make the most amazing chocolate frosting!)

While looking on their website this morning I came across more cocoa products! I cannot wait to try their white mocha! It looks delicious! I could probably write a whole blog (or two or three) just on chocolate, but this is not one of them. It's about my mornings with B-Boo!

By the time I finish making breakfast and hot cocoa, B-Boo makes her way downstairs. She'll have a seat next to me and we'll start our daily reading. We've been working our way through the Bible. We started Exodus today. (Sometimes we don't get to read because we're studying for a test.) I've discovered we like to read the New Living Translation for our morning reading because it is a little more story-like. My favorite version is NKJV. Anyway, after reading about Moses this morning, we had a little extra time for fun. Never one to miss a moment like this, B-Boo suggested that we watch a youtube of Veggie Tales as she had a song stuck in her head.

We started off with God is Bigger than the Boogie Man and then moved to the Cheeseburger song and finally ended with I Love My Lips . Yes, she's 14! If you've never watched a Veggie Tale video, I highly recommend it. It's not something you outgrow and your children will love them! We've been watching Veggie Tales forever it seems. We used to love singing them when we'd head out on a road trip…or when we just wanted to be silly.

She's at school now and the other two are still sleeping. I think I'll let them sleep a little longer before beginning our homeschool day, and I'll go watch another Veggie Tale!