InstaFriday - iSmile

The last full week of July - a July that will live forever in Harris lore.

This week was full of some crafting, cake, and clouds. All caught instantly, with my handy dandy iPhone.

iSmile.

I smile because our Hannah is not a procrastinator at all. She is crafting like crazy getting things ready for her apartment in Fayetteville during her last year of college. AHHH! Her last year of college...is that possible?


I smile because God's word speaks like nothing else.

I sent this to one of our young 'uns this week because they were a bit down.

I smile because my sweet man is feeling a little better every day since his bike wreck just over 2 weeks ago.

It's tough to keep him out of the kitchen...he loves to cook!

I smile because, once again, when I turned on my cell phone I was surprised and greeted by a new lock screen photo. How I love our sweet Faith!

Smile Mon

I smile because when Lou and I stopped by his office, I noticed anew this print, which I've always loved. It hangs outside Lou's exam rooms.

Many people over the last two weeks have prayed to Jehovah - Rapha, the God who heals, for my Lou.  That kind of care and petition does something to you. In you.


I also smile because of what literally was in me.

Cake.

Yummy cake made in the shape of a heart by dear friends.

I smile because I got to see this X-ray! Is that cool or what?

That's Lou's new metal plate on his collar bone kind of holding things together. Modern medicine never ceases to amaze me!

I smile extra big because my oldest had a birthday on the 24th. Our Luke is 23!

A 9 year old Luke...all smiles. Love that boy!

We celebrated his birthday by dinner out at Zio's in Springfield. It was also Lou's first big outing since the accident. These are my 3 favorite guys on the planet!

Lou, Luke, David

Family pic (minus 2) outside of Zio's. I am trying to smile, but I'm in pain here from the sun!

I smile because this last picture was taken by that celebrated 23 year old on his iPhone.

Is it cheating that I had him send it to me?

It was just too cool not to share. He took it on his birthday while playing golf with his brother.

The heavens declare the glory of God!

That definitely makes a person smile!

Hope you have something to smile about as you approach the end of July. Thanks for sharing my week with me!

You Can Quote Me...

On Thursday, January 20, 2011, I pushed the "publish post" button for the first time on my blog. To say I was quaking in my blogging boots is an understatement. But there comes a time when you have to quit thinking about doing something, and just do it, whether it's as perfect as you want it or not.

I've been thinking about adding a "Quotes" page on my blog for a while. But, true to my form, dadgummit, I've procrastinated because I want whatever I do with my quotes to be "perfect," whatever that is. I mean, when someone comes to my blog and sees that I have a quotes section, they need to say, "This is the most amazing quote section I've ever seen on a blog!" Or, "This is the most profound quote I've ever read in my entire life...and I found it on Shelley Harris' blog!"

Is that kind of thinking a ball and chain, or what?

I wish those kind of thoughts never crossed my mind, but they do. My goal, my hope, is that when they do cross my mind, they do just that - cross - and then mosey right on out instead of staking a claim. 

With that in mind, here I go!

I've been spurred on in this quote vein because lately, I've picked up this book again:

In the preface are these two sentences:

"The point is that much reading of many books may be like the gathering of wood, but the fire blazes forth from a sentence. The mark is left on the mind not by the kindling of many pages, but by the red-hot iron of a sentence set on fire by God."

That rang true with me. 

It's sentences - quotes - that stick with me. That change me. Now, I'm not advocating not reading, mind you. It's the reading of the whole book that colors the quote to make it even more powerful. Context obviously matters. But often, it's a few distilled lines that velcro themselves to your soul.

If you read my blog back in October 2011, I shared 29 quotes that I've been hearing in my head for years.  They have stuck with me. They have changed me.  They are my "start up" quotes on my quote page. If you look at the top of this post, you'll see three tabs labeled,  "Home," "My Crew," and "You Can Quote Me." When you click on the "You Can Quote Me" tab, it will take you to the page where I keep those 29, plus the new ones I plan to add.  

I'll be posting my new quotes weekly-ish. (How's that for giving myself some wiggle room?) They'll be on the top right sidebar of my home page.  From there, I'll roll it over onto the Quotes page for safe keeping. Hopefully, every once in a while, a sentence or two will be an encouragement to you!

In addition to my "starter" quotes, and in keeping with the anti-procrastination theme introduced at the beginning of this post, here is my first quote that is kickstarting this thing!  A gentleman said it to me a few mornings ago. It couldn't be more timely.

Quote for July 25, 2012:

"It doesn't have to be perfect. It needs to be done.

InstaFriday-Home

Home.

The best place to heal.

The place we headed after 6 days at Cox South.

My doctor husband was on the other side of the stethoscope after a bike wreck on July 11th played tag (and won) with the right side of his body. I'm really kind of surprised that any of my cell phone pictures are in focus as I've been a bit bleary-eyed.

But InstaFriday isn't about perfect pictures. It's about capturing life with a lens that is always handy nowadays. And my iPhone is always handy. It captured 4 of the kiddos surrounding their dad in Bed 1, Room 810 at Cox South Hospital.

Elizabeth, Hannah, biker-boy, Mary Grace, and David

 One thing I did enjoy about that 8th floor was the sunsets. God so speaks to me in his sky.

On Sunday night about 10:30 p.m., Lou's nurse came in and asked, "Do you happen to know why you are NPO after midnight?" (NPO = nil per os, or nothing by mouth, in layman's terms). Usually one is NPO when surgery is scheduled the next day. We had not been told surgery was happening on Monday, nor had the nursing staff.

Who doesn't love a good mystery when you're in the hospital?

So, we began piecing together what we did know. The traumatologists from MU were going to be reviewing Lou's injuries on Sunday night, and discussing a plan of action.  We had been told that they were at Cox on Mondays and Tuesdays for surgeries. But we had also been told that any surgery that might need to be done on Lou's shoulder would have to be a few days down the road because of road rash in the shoulder area. That would seemingly eliminate any possibility that Lou could be scheduled for surgery by said traumatologists.

Hmmm...

Mystery solved Monday morning. Apparently Lou's road rash was in the perfect spot to not interfere with surgery. So, metal plate along the top of his scapula, here you come. His surgeon did an excellent job drawing for me just what he did.

I hope I don't ever have to say, "Lou's got a screw loose."

His surgeon declared the surgery a success. That's always good to hear.

While Lou was in recovery, we passed a little time by messing with my hair. Faith, braider par excellence, worked her magic yet again.

Our last night in the hospital, I took a picture of our view at night. This is looking north, toward home.

This is Lou's left hand. I know he's got a broken bone on this hand, but what I kept staring at was the cut on his ring finger. His wedding ring bore into his skin during the crash...

Can you tell I looked out the window a lot? I watched the the chopper take off and land numerous times.

Another 8th floor view

Tuesday, July 17, was a big day. It was the day after surgery. It was the day they pulled that blessed/cursed chest tube.

It was the day we headed home.

Waiting for transport

I can hardly talk about walking in our house where all the kids and my mom were waiting. Suffice it to say that everything I saw was blurry.

Those precious kids were blurry.

My mom and the dear lady who sits with her when I'm gone were blurry.

My clean house was blurry.

The "Welcome Home" sign and table were blurry.

Somebody get me an eye appointment...or a kleenex.

As we've been back a couple of days, we are starting to settle into our new normal. Lou's doing more sitting and rocking than usual, and I'm helping him put on his shoes more than usual I ever have.

Some normal is not new, thankfully. I ran to get my iPhone when I heard Mary Grace practicing violin. I love her serenading me for 30 minutes every day.

And while we are figuring some new routines out, our dear community is reaching out to us to help. Lunch was provided on Friday by friends and coworkers of Lou's. Wow. We've got lunch for days. It is blessing our socks off. I took this picture to represent the countless many who have given to help. Wow.

Wow.

As we've talked about the generosity we've been showered with, we've been telling ourselves to remember to do the same for others in crisis - once we're a bit past this little speed bump. (Is it too soon to use this metaphor?:)

Well, that's about it for this week. That's enough for this week. Please.

Thanks for sharing it with me.

It's been hard and good. And God has been near.

Blessings!





An InstaFriday P.S.

X marks the spot! Fun!

InstaFriday - InstaChange

How I look forward to this week all year!

For one week of the year every July, my doctor husband signs up to be the volunteer doc at Kids Across America. We've been going to that amazing camp doing this volunteer thing since 1999. He volunteers. I hang out and support him volunteering.

July 8-14, 2012, was our week! Our three youngest girls went with us to hang out too! We always have a creative sign welcoming us, and we have an amazing view from the porch of the guest lodge.

We see interesting carvings and statues around Golden, Missouri, where KAA is located. I did my crazy mom thing and made the girls get out to pose for a couple of pictures.

One of the things I love about our time at KAA is how much walking we do. You walk to get everywhere. Lots of good talk time.

3 of my favorite girls

Another favorite - the view from the porch of Uncle Deek's Guest Lodge. This is sunrise one morning. That kind of peace and beauty speaks to your soul.

Another gift to my soul is this dear friend. God put Louise in my life in 1987. She encourages me in every way a person can be encouraged. She and her husband, Sky, were interns under Lou when he was a 3rd year resident - and we've been close friends ever since. They volunteer at KAA the same week we do!

The above picture was taken Tuesday night.

The night before InstaChange.

Warning - a "rough" picture follows. 

On Wednesday morning around 8:15 a.m., Lou was riding his bike to KAA1 to see a sick camper. The road into that camp is a paved, relatively steep decent with a couple of speed bumps. Lou saw the first speed bump, but because of the dappled sunlight and shadows, he didn't see the second. He flipped over his handle bars, and landed hard on his right shoulder.

In that blink of an eye, he broke 10 ribs, his right collar bone, his right shoulder blade, the transverse process of his 7th cervical vertebrae, the 5th metacarpal on his left hand, punctured his right lung and decorated his skin with a little road rash!

He was, as always, wearing his helmet

Our doctor friend, Sky, and the head nurse at KAA rushed him to the ER in Branson, MO, where the staff there put a chest tube in to treat the collapsed/punctured lung issue. And because initially, liver damage was also suspected, it was determined that he needed to be flown to a Level 1 Trauma facility in Springfield, MO.

His first helicopter ride!

:/

We get to Springfield and spend the night in the Step Down Unit, where he received great care. By day two, he looks like this.

Day 2: Cleaned up a little

This pic is when all the pain meds are working as they should :)

While all this trauma - and I now have a new appreciation for the word trauma - was going on in Lou's life, in our lives, our beautiful, loving community was mobilizing. I began receiving calls, texts, Facebook messages, offers for anything and everything we could possibly need... and prayers.

How loved we felt. How loved we feel. Lou and I are speechless and overwhelmed and humbled.

Thank you. Thank you.

Lou has received/is receiving numerous cards from people. I wish I could show them all, and I certainly don't want to slight anyone, because each one is special and made us smile. I can't post them all - but I did want to give an idea of the encouragement we've had from just a handful of his smallest patients!

The accident happened on Wednesday. Elizabeth's 16th birthday was the next day.

It's one we won't forget. She sat on my lap for a little while in this room that night. I told her I'm sure I was holding her in my lap 16 years ago at that time too.

No milk, but...Cookie cake at the hospital!

Official celebration at a later date...

Thursday, we also got this photo of just how badly Lou had broken his shoulder blade.

See that big gap running across the top third of his scapula? That's not supposed to be there. You can also probably pick out a broken rib or two...

ouch

But big gap in his scapula or not, he's walking! When his pain meds have kicked in.

Day 3 with escorts Hannah and David

He's still sporting the latest in chest tube fashion as I type, and his biggest desire and our biggest prayer right now is for that right lung to heal completely and for that chest tube to get pulled. When that happens, we would probably get a "you get to go home" date. Yes!

We know this accident did not take our God by surprise. He was with Lou coming down that hill, and flying over those handle bars and hitting the pavement.

He is with us now in this hospital room.

The first morning after the accident, I sat down to read Lou some tweets off his twitter account. We paused when we read the following tweet:

Paul David Tripp ‏@PaulTripp

God's care comes in many forms. He cares enough to break your bones in order to recapture your heart. (See Psalm 51:8)

We both are still pondering it...

We don't understand everything. But we trust Him in everything. We pray for healing. And we pray that we honor God in all of this.

This has definitely been a week at KAA that we won't forget. It will be one of those "marker" moments  - a "before the accident/after the accident" kind of things. It will be interesting to sort all that out.

I'll leave you with the verse that I began memorizing on Monday of this week. God met me right where I was.

InstaFriday- First Week of July

Wipe off the sweat and pull up a chair! We are HOT here in the middle of the country - 100° yesterday. 103° today. I must have thought it was too warm for pictures this week, because when I connected the ol' cell phone to the computer, I didn't have too many to download. But I do have a few, so here we go - the first InstaFriday of July.

Simple. Cellular.

Last Saturday, we spent a few hours at S.O.A.R., which offers aviation services at the Bolivar Airport and is a training center for pilots and mechanics entering missionary aviation. The physical plant is getting a little facelift and we went out to help our friends, the Tweedys, who run the show. I painted a little, but the girls had a staple gun in hand and used it to put new vinyl on some seats. Faith made me laugh when she said she thought the seat task would be a good roadblock or detour for teams to perform on the Amazing Race. She's thinking like her momma!

Faith,  Elizabeth,  Marla Kemp & Mary Grace

After that fun afternoon, we attended the wedding reception of the son of dear friends. Mary Grace commandeered my phone, and this is what I found later.

I love these kind of surprises.

Best friends

Waiting for us when we got home from the reception, was fresh corn! Garden aficionado, Lane Nutt, surprised us with a mess for supper the next day. Yummy! I love this kind of surprise too!

Thanks, Lane and Cheryl

The Bolivar Farmer's Market has Purple Hull Peas! But don't go buy any. You won't like them. I just bought some and froze them because I felt sorry for the guy selling them. I'll probably feel sorry for him at the next Farmer's Market. Because they aren't really any good. I promise. Don't go buy them. I'll take care of it.

Remember, don't buy any!

Every time I see a dog like this it fries my brain! How do you ever get to the point that you know for sure that they won't fall off or jump off!

Worked hard at a violin lesson...ate a good lunch...hot outside...cool inside...30 mile car trip home...ZZZZZ

It couldn't be helped. Heck, I was trying not to sleep at the wheel.

Love this girl

This next photo can be filed under the "Did You Know" tab.

Did you know you can cook on Fiesta Ware? I didn't!

The dear lady that sits with my mom let me in on that little secret. These were some chicken breasts she prepared for my mom.

Whose dirty oven is that?

Pinterest! Pinterest! Pinterest!

Elizabeth bought 50¢ jeans at the thrift store, cut them off, and then painted them for our 4th of July celebration. Too cute!

Speaking of the 4th, The Bolivar Rotary Club pulled off another amazing Celebration of Freedom on the campus of Southwest Baptist University. You can't help but "ooh" and "ahh" when those lights explode in the sky! So fun. What a great way to celebrate this amazing country.

Well, with my hand over my heart, I'll sign off for this InstaFriday. Thanks for sharing it with me.

Hope you have restful weekend!

Blessings!