Living on Borrowed...

Internet. That's right, we don't have our own internet in the country yet, so that's why you haven't heard from me in so long. I think I may go into withdrawl soon ;) We are checking out what options we have and will make a decision tonight, so hopefully we will have internet again very soon.

We do, however, have cell phone service now that we changed providers, so feel free to call me if you have my number (it is still the same as before, but Brent has a new number, so call me if you need to get his.)

And for a quick note on my surgery...I got the pathology report from my doctor last week and it turned out to not be a tumor at all. It was a fibromitosis (not entirely sure of that spelling) basically a fibrous mass of tissue. So that means...completely benign. Yahoo!!! Thank you for your prayers, I know that helped a lot with my peace of mind. The funny thing about it (or maybe not so funny...I don't know) is that the doctore said that this is relatively rare. In fact...he has never seen one before. HA! How many times will I hear a doctor say about something to do with me "I have never seen that before"? It's crazy I tell you. The only thing about this mass is that is has a high incidence of recurrence, so I have to do monthly abdominal checks on myself and call a doctor if I feel anything at all. I will see a doctor in 6 months and then have a CT scan in a year and have yearly scans for 3 years, checking to see if it has come back. Hopefully it won't, but at least I know to see a doctor right away if I feel anything at all.

Thank you so much for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers...and hopefully you will be hearing from me again soon :)

Good Friends

We have been overwhelmed with all the things we need to do to get our house ready to sell and to move. And then we added 6 doctor appointments during my last week here. And then we added surgery for me this past Wednesday...and getting ready for our move has been even more overwhelming.

And then yesterday, our friends James and Tammy, called and asked if we wanted them to come help paint. What an incredible gift for them to give us. They came at lunchtime, brought lunch, and are still here working and playing with the kids. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in our life!

Thank you, James and Tammy for your servant hearts!
And here's what the kids were up to while James, Tammy and Brent were all working.

Friday Update

I realize my blogging has been lacking this week and I apologize. It will probably remain a little on the slow side for another week or so. Should you need to hear my excuses, here they are.

First, we (mostly) moved to the country last weekend and our computer is still at our old house. It will be going with us this weekend. However, we don't have internet in the country yet, so to post anything, I will still have to go to another family member's house to use their computer/internet.

Secondly, we came back to the city on Tuesday evening for me to have surgery on Wednesday. There was a lump in my lower abdomen, and my doctor was pretty sure it was an endometrioma, or possibly a hernia. He said that we really did need to take care of it before I moved completely, so less than a week after I met this doctor, he performed surgery on me.

It was scheduled to be a day surgery. Just in and out, no problems anticipated. What we expected to be golfball sized turned out to be as big as my doctor's fist and he now believes that it is a desmoid tumor...a benign tumor that has a high incidence of recurrence. And apparently it is very fast growing because this was only a hard spot whenI first noticed it and asked my OB/GYN about it 4 months ago. We should have the pathology reports on Wednesday at my post op appointment.

Because things are never simple with me, I got to be admitted for an overnight stay at the hospital rather than coming home on Wednesday evening. It wasn't a big deal, just that I wasn't coming out of the effects of anesthesia fast enough. I was released in the late afternoon on Thursday and I was very happy to be home with my family.

The next week and a half or so will be crazy busy with going back and forth between the new house and the old house and getting several more doctor's appointments squeezed in for me and the kids. So even if we do get our internet up and running, I still expect that I won't be posting a whole lot for the next week or two. I will post when I can, I just don't anticipate it being frequent.

Don't worry, though, I will still take pictures of my adorable kids and will write down the fun things that happen so that I can share everything with you once things are going a little more in the normal direction.

Before I leave you, though, I want to share something about Samantha from while I was in the hospital.

When I didn't get to come home on Wednesday evening, or even Thursday morning, Brent explained to her that I was still at the hospital because I was sick and the doctor was helping me to get better. She seemed to accept this quite well, and didn't get upset. But then she told Brent "My leg hurt. Need go hospital." Aawww...what a cutie and so smart, too :)

Back From the Country for Surgery

We arrived back at our old home last night. Brent is here for the day, but the kids and I are here until Sunday. I have my sugery this afternoon, and I have to admit, I am a little nervous.

Brent says I shouldn't be, but I just can't seem to help it. The surgery is supposed to be a simple 45 minute procedure. But I am not exactly known for having anything simple when we are talking medical stuff. The surgery will be at 1:30 this afternoon. Will you please pray for it to be simple, for there to be no suprises and for the recovery to be fairly easy...after all I do have two wee kiddos to be taking care of.

Now, about the country life. Samantha was so excited when we pulled up to our new house on Sunday afternoon. She saw her swing and slide (Thank you, Memaw for taking them and getting them set up before we got there!) and she immediatley recognized them and was excited about them. And she was also happy to see her toybox in her room and her flower sheets on the bed at bedtime. Once again...thank you, Memaw! These things helped her feel right at home as soon as we got there.

Just a few hours into living in our new home, we had the dubious privilege of teaching Samantha what a scorpion is and that she must NOT touch them. And I figured that while we are at it, we would talk about snakes, too. I told her that if she ever sees a snake, she must go away from it and yell for me. She said OK.

On Monday morning, just before we went outside, I asked her what to do if she sees a snake. She replied "Go away, pees." Hmm...while we are teaching her to be polite, even when she asks someone (or something...ie the dog) to go away, I don't think that a poisonous snake deserves that consideration. And since there is no way to teach a 2 year old what is poisonous and what is not, we are just going with the "all snakes are dangerous" approach.

So after her very polite answer, I reminded her that she should not talk to the snake, but just run away and yell for Mommy od Daddy. She said OK. We'll see if she remembers. On the bright side, when we saw another scorpion at Aunt Ginger's house on Monday, she backed up right away without anyone having to tell her to. Woohoo! We will, however, keep the reminders coming.

And just for good measure, I think that we will add spiders to the dangerous category. I know that the odds of any spider she sees being a brown recluse or black widow are pretty slim...but I really don't want to take any chances.

Now for the good things about living in the country...

Samantha is LOVING how much time we can spend outside. She thinks that rocks and leaves and dirt are the best toys ever. And when she wants a taste of civilization, she has a sandbox and her swing and slide. But those don't last long with the allure of rocks, dirt and leaves. :)

We are also able to look out our window in the living rom or the kitchen and see the resident wildlife. We have seen "Daddy deer and baby deer and weally weally 'ig 'abbits!" at various times during the day. We can see hear birds singing, crickets chirping and cicadias serenading us each evening. We can see about a million stars at night. And there are no sirens or car alarms going off that wake our child up and/or scare her.

We still have quite a bit of adjusting to do, especially while we are in this transition of travelling back and forth each weekend to get the house ready to sell, but once we are more settled, I think things will be absoluetly great!

Not Me Monday - Nightmares, Bugs and Dirt

I did not find a green ladybug, alive and moving around, INSIDE my daughter's diaper while I was changing her.

I did not find a fly INSIDE my refrigerator when I opened it to get Jacob's milk.
Samantha did not tell me "I sleep here" (on the floor at the foot of her bed where she had thrown all her blankets) and I did not say OK. And if I had said OK, she would not have immediately snuggled down and gone to sleep faster than she does when she is actually ON her bed.

I did not go into Samantha's room prepared to take away the musical toy she was playing with when she was supposed to be sleeping, only to find my sweet child sound asleep and hear music from the ice cream truck coming through the window.

I did not carry Samantha into my room at 2 am, because she had a nightmare and was all stopped up (told me "Mine nose hurt") and asked me to sit in the chair with her, but I was too tired and convinced her to come to my room instead.

I did not find myself saying "We do NOT stick our crayons in our nose!" several times over the last few days.

And the grand finale...I did not allow my 2 year old to sit in the flower bed and play in the dirt while we packed and loaded up the trailers. She did not rain dirt down on her entire body by throwing it up in the air over her head and get completely covered with dirt. I did not take her clothes off her while we were still outside, then turn around to say something, look back at her and see her putting dirt inside her diaper. I did not proceed to taker her diaper off her while we were still outside, and notice that her entire body was actually covered with dirt and not get my camera out to take a picture because I was rushing to get her into the shower. How on earth did I fail to get a picture of this?!! Oh well, I'm sure it will happen again sometime.

Head over to MckMama's blog to see what everyone else is up to.

Half a Year

Jacob is 6 months old today.

He had his first sick visit at the doctor a week ago. He is still VERY close to crawling, but isn't quite there. He scoot backward and rolls a little, but no crawling yet. I think maybe he is just waiting so that his Daddy can see him crawl for the first time.

He has been eating rice cereal for about a month now, and he is finally starting to do better with it. He might be eating enough of it now that I would feel OK about opening a jar of baby food because I might not have to throw most of it away. So maybe he will get green beans for the first time this weekend.

He generally goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm and sleeps until 4:30 or 5am. He takes 2 or 3 fairly short naps during the day, with the longest being midafternoon for an hour to an hour and a half.

He is wearing 12 month clothes. He weighs 18lbs 7oz. (That is 1/4 lb lighter than last week and puts him down into the 75% from the 90th, but the doctor isn't worried. She said that he has been sick, so this is normal and he will probably go back to the 90th at his next well check...but even if he doesn't he is still doing great at the 75th) He is 27.5 inches (75%) long. I didn't get the exact measurement of his head, but it is the 90th%. Yes, there is no doubt, he is a big boy.

He smiles all the time and loves it when his sister talks to him, lays beside him and gives him kisses. He likes to be held. He hardly ever cries, unless he is very hungry and then he definitely tells you about it!

We are grateful for another month of our sweet, happy, baby boy and we look forward to what the future brings.

Missing Daddy

Samantha has really started struggling with missing her Daddy lately. 2 weeks ago, she refused to say bye to him or even acknowledge that he was leaving. Apparantly she thought that if she didn't say bye, he wouldn't be leaving.

This past Sunday, everything was fine when he left. She gave him hugs and kisses and told him bye-bye.

But at 4:30 on Monday morning, she woke up crying. I went in to comfort her and she cried harder. I wasn't completely sure she was awake, so I spoke to her and told her that I couldn't understand what she was saying and asked what she needed. She sobbed, "I need my Daddy!" I told her that Daddy is at work and it will be a few more days before he is back home. She said "Go away Mommy!" I said OK, I will go back to my room and she sobbed "No!!"

So I stayed with her. She started getting close to hysterical and was screaming...I'm sure her thoat was hurting before it was all said and done. Then, in addition to just screaming wordlessly, she started screaming "Mommy go bye-bye!" then sobbed and said it all over again. And again and again and again.

I'm not sure if she was afraid that I was going to go bye-bye, or if she was telling me to go, thinking that if I went bye-bye, she would have Daddy back. Either way, it broke my heart. I kept holding her and told her over and over and over. Mommy is not going bye-bye. I am staying right here with you. I am taking care of you. I am not going bye-bye.

She finally exhausted herself so much that she fell asleep with little shuddering breaths. And then all was calm. I am so glad that her Daddy will be home with us tonight and we will not have to say good-bye again for a good long while. And that when we do have to say good-bye again, it will not be very often. And definitely not for 6 weeks in a row.

Ready for a Change

I'm not sure I've said that in a REALLY long time. But it's true. I am SOOO ready for a change. I am tired of doing this single parent thing five days a week. It is hard. Those of you who have to do it all the time...I really do admire you for keping it up every day with no end in sight. Knowing that the end is coming is the only thing that has kept me able to keep going every day.

I am tired of hearing my daughter say that she needs her Daddy. When it is only Monday night and we won't see him until Friday night.

I am tired of going to bed by myself instead of having someone to talk to.

I am tired of packing...and packing...and packing some more.

I am so glad that today I will see my husband...and when he leaves on Sunday, we will be going with him. Hooray! I am ready!

Crazy Week

The last 7 (maybe 8) days have definitely been something else. Last Wednesday I called the pediatrician and asked to bring Jacob in. I didn't like the way his breathing sounded and he wasn't eating very much. I told the receptionist that Dr Ramirez would probably tell me that he is teething and has allergies, but that I wanted to bring him in just to be sure. They gave me an appointment for Thursday afternoon because they close at lunch on Wednesdays and it was almost lunchtime when I called.

On the way to the dr, Thursday afternoon, Jacob's breathing and coughing was so bad that I almost stopped at the hospital on the way. And he got 2 breathing treatments before we left the doctor's office. And we got 5 prescriptions. And a referral to the dermatologist. If you want more details, feel free to go read all about it here.

Friday was supposed to be my first day of not working but due to leaving early on Thursday and not getting everything done, I worked most of the day. My sweet boy still sounded horrible. But he did slowly get better.

The weekend was for packing, but we did take a break Saturday evening to go spend some time at the lake with our friends. Probably not the smartest decision given the fact that my son was still wheezing, but we did enjoy spending time with our friends.

Monday morning we had the appointment with the dermatologist. Monday afternoon I had my annual appointment with my OB/GYN. Now I have to backtrack. When I last saw him, it was for my 6 week postpartum check. A little more than 4 months ago. At that time, at the base and to one side of my scar, my abdomen was hard rather than soft like the other side. I asked the doctor about it and he felt it, then said that he thought it was just some scar tissue. It seemed logical to me, so I didn't worry about it at all.

It continued to grow. I still didn't worry about it. I figured it is just scar tissue growing. I do have a tendency for my scar tissue to grow all over the place. It became a large, hard lump that tends to be tender. Still not worried...it must just be scar tissue.

Awhile back I posted this, about my needs as stated by google. It was just in the name of fun...but perhaps was a bit prophetic. You see one of my needs stated that I need an operation. I laughed it off, it was all a joke.

But now, back to this week. Since I was in the doctor's office for my exam, I decided to ask him about the lump. I completely expected the same answer as before. But that's not what I got. Instead, I got a referral to a general surgeon. They made an appointment for me for Thursday (that would be today.)

Yesterday I had a different doctor appointment, completely unrelated, just taking care of stuff before we move.

This afternoon I had the appointment with the surgeon. He is fairly certain that I have an endometrioma. In spite of the fact that I have not previously had endometriosis. He said that with the timing I was describing and the hardness of the lump, he is almost completely certain this is what I have. Or it might be a hernia. But he doesn't think so. Either way I need to have surgery. Before my insurance ends at the end of the month. His office called me back just before 5pm and told me that I am scheduled for Wednesday. Yes, as in less than a week from now.

Tomorrow morning I have Jacob's 6 month well check and a check up for Samantha at the same time. Then I will drop them off at the babysitter, and take myself to the hospital to pre-register and get blood drawn.

On Sunday I will move with DH and the kiddos so that we will all be in the same town again. Hooray!

On Wednesday I will come back for surgery. DH is thinking that we will make the 2.5 hour trip back to our new home AFTER my surgery. Yes, on the same day. I am not so sure about that. So I will need to talk to the doctor's office tomorrow to see what they say about it. We will need to figure out what we are going to manage to do with the kiddos. I need to figure out what to do about pumping that day.

And in the midst of all of this, I need to finish packing and move! What a crazy week!

Pushing and Protecting

Baby bird is on the ground.


Momma bird watches from the tree.


Momma bird comes to encourage and support.


Baby bird manages to fly onto the sandbox.


Momma comes to support and protect baby from the people who are paying to much attention to what is going on.

Did baby fall from the nest? Or did momma push him to help him learn to fly? Either way, momma was there watching out for him. And encouraging him. And protecting him. And giving him comfort. Sound familiar?

Packing {Wordless Wednesday}

Monday's Child Part 2

There are a few things that I forgot to add to Samantha's Monday's child post yesterday. I'm adding them now so that I don't forget about them since this was all supposed to be published about a week ago already.

She didn't want me when she hurt herself just as I arrived at the babysitter's house. My kisses didn't make her head feel better when she bumped it. She wanted Mrs Nancy instead. This breaks my heart. And it also makes me even more grateful for two things. One that she has a wonderful babysitter who loves her and who she loves. And two...that I will be staying home with her very soon!

******

One day when I arrived to pick her up, she was very excited to see me and told me she is ready to go home. Then she said Memaw at home. No baby, remember, Memaw told you bye-bye this morning. She went back to her home. Daddy home! No baby, Daddy is still at work, he will be home in a couple more days. Don't want home. So she started playing with the toys again.

*****
She seems to think that if she doesn't say good-bye, the person will not leave. She does this sometimes in the mornings when I am dropping her off. She refuses to give me a hug or kiss, then tells me "Don't want Mommy work" Nancy tells me that she does this when the other kids are leaving, too, apparantly hoping that they will stay to play if she doesn't say good-bye. Then when they are starting out the door, she runs to give them a hug before they actually go. She also did this as Brent was leaving on Monday evening. You would think that she would figure out that it doesn't change things...but not so far.

****
The conversation when I was putting her to bed on Monday night:
Me: Goodnight sweetheart, I love you. Sweet dreams.
S: Don't bedtime bite.
Me: Don't let the bedbugs bite?
S: Yes. (big grin)

The End...The Beginning

I started this on Friday, which was my last day in the office. I didn't get much written, though, so I am sharing it with you today...on my last official day of work.

I am unofficially done at my job. My keys and badge are turned in, and I have clocked out for the last time. My office is cleaned of my personal belongings. I will not be going there again unless it is to visit. Today is my last official day of my job...tomorrow I will no longer be a Denton County employee.

I was surprised that when I signed my separation form several weeks ago, I got a bit teary. And then when I drove back from Denton last week, after turning in my keys and my badge, I flat out cried for a third of the drive. And when I went around my buidling saying goodbye to my co-workers I was crying even more.

I've said before that I just don't do well with change. That is still true. Even changes that I am looking forward to. It takes me a while to adjust. And I will miss seeing all those people that I have been working with for the last nine years. That's a long time...about a fourth of my life, actually.

This is the end. The end of hearing horror stories about things that happen that we deal with. The end of having those horror stories to share. The end of forcing myself to keep going when I am overwhelmed and need a vacation. The end of saying over and over that I am here to try to make a difference. The end of having a potentially huge impact that I have had just by the nature of working with so many kids and families. This is the end.

But it is also the beginning. The beginning of being the main influence in my own children's lives. The beginning of being with them every day and being the guardian of what they are exposed to. The beginning of being their teacher every day. (No I'm not talking about homeschooling, they are only 2.5 and 6 months!) The beginning of being able to share all of their discoveries and triumphs just by the nature of spending so much time with them. The beginning of being a mom the way I have always wanted to. At home with my children. This is a new beginning.

Monday's Child

Samantha's hair is just long enough that it gets into her face all the time. She doesn't usually want to leave a bow in for more than an hour or so, but she did consent to let me put a ponytail in. The first time, she took it out after about 5 minutes. The second time, she left it in all afternoon though. And she has continued to let me giver her a ponytail each day so far. We'll see if it lasts. Doesn't she look cute with her little "Pebbles" do? And what a sweet picture of her with her daddy. It just makes me smile.



Samantha came crawling down the hall like this and said "Me a turtle." I said, "Yes you are, aren't you."



On Saturday, we couldn't find Lambie when it was time for Samantha's nap. After she and I both searched high and low, I finally got the spare lambie out of my closet and gave it to her. I figured that I would find the other one while she was sleeping and get it put away before she woke up. I didn't find it. And I don't know where it was, but Samantha came into the living room after her nap and told Brent "Me have both lambies!" She was smiling big time and had lots of fun playing with both lambies for the rest of the afternoon and even insisted that Lambie and "Other Lambie" both needed to come in the car with us.
While she was pre-occupied with visiting with our friends and playing in the dirt at the lake, Brent moved one of the lambies to the front floorboard with some other things on top of it. The plan was to see if she would forget about the second one while she was distracted and it was out of sight. She didn't say anything at all. Until we got back home, that is. Brent gave her Lambie to go to bed and she asked for the other Lambie. He told her that she didn't need it and she said OK and went to bed. She hasn't asked for it again...maybe she has forgotten that there are two? (Crossing my fingers!)



Sleeping in the car on the way home from church after a VERY busy weekend.

Friday's Child

I decided that since Jacob was born on a Friday, we will have a Friday or two each month for you to enjoy his sweet little face and to hear about what he has going on. So, without further adieu, here is the first Friday's Child post.

Jacob is getting SOOO close to crawling. He will get up on all fours and rock back and forth. He will then put his head down onto the ground and move his legs forward...but his head on the ground keeps him from going anywhere. We are expecting him to crawl any day now.

He had his first sick visit at the doctor's office yesterday. He has been coughing for a couple of days now, and on the way to the doctor yesterday afternoon, I seriously started thinking that we were going to have to stop at the hospital rather than driving by to go to the doctor. Really! His cough was that bad.

We found out that he has an ear infection and pretty severe bronchiolitis (dr speak for wheezing) The doctor said that his lungs are very gunky sounding and she gave him TWO breathing treatments right there in the office in order to get him breathing well enough to have somewhat productive coughs rather than tiny gasping coughs. He will probably be diagnosed with asthma later in life, but we are hoping not. However, there is a very strong link between eczema, allergies and asthma. So he may end up with all three :(

We came home with 5 prescriptions. He will be taking an oral steroid for 5 days, have albuterol breathing treatments every 4 hours for 2 days, then 3 times per day until his cough is gone. After the oral steroid is finished, he will be on pulmicort, another breathing treatment, once per day for a minimum of 2 months, and probably all the way until he is a year old. We also got a prescription for an antibiotic to treat his ear infection and singulair which I am pretty sure is for allergies, but I don't remember for sure at this moment. Guess I will be looking at his paperwork to find out.

She also said that she is not happy with the way his eczema is responding, well actually not responding so well, to the medicine she prescribed, so she wants him to see a dermatologist. We will be trying to work that in next week before we move.

Wow...what an afternoon. I am VERY grateful that I decided to call for an appointment on Wednesday, because Jacob would have kept getting worse if we hadn't started treatment and he could have very easily ended up at the hospital if that were the case.

What is truly amazing, though, is that as long as he isn't coughing right that second, Jacob is still just as happy as ever. I am so grateful that both of my kids have been happy babies...it makes everything else so much easier.

Finding his feet...such fun little toys!




The big guy and the little guy.



Getting VERY close to crawling!



Even when he's sick we are still treated to this smile :)

About Water

I've been reading Robert Fulghum's "What on Earth Have I Done?" You might recognize his name from "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" and my favorite "It was on Fire When I Lay Down on It" Mr. Fulghum can make you bust a gut laughing (which is why my favorite is "It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It") and he can really make you think. And this most recent book (at least the most recent that I am reading) is really making me think.

The following poem is chapter 37.

Are you reading these words
Because you've been looking
For something?
Something to hold onto?
A talisman for this day?
Reading this, like walking
Up a dry streambed in September?
Looking for something for your pocket;
A keepsake for taking home;
Kindling to start the fire of memory;
Looking for whatever the flash floods
Of August have picked up, polished,
Washed down and offer you now:
Smooth stones, sanded sticks,
Feathers, bones, seeds,
And unspeakable sounds
That break the logjam of being.
Are you walking up the dry bed
Of this poem looking
For something like that?
To have, to hold, to keep?

Stop.
Go Back.
Wait until the big storm comes in you.
Be here when the flood flashes through.
Stand in the water as deep as you dare.
If what the water does is lost on you,
Then you are truly lost.
Wait.
Stand until you know
What water does.
Hold onto that.
Finder's keeper's.


So what do you think? What does this poem say to you?

I Do It Me-self

No! Me!

Me do it!

No do myself!

No! I do it!

We hear these phrases around our house all. the. time.

While we are glad to have Samantha growing and developing and learning, constantly hearing these phrases can get quite tiring. Our baby girl is most definitely asserting her independence. And that sometimes gets very frustrating. Like the other day when she wanted to put a bow in her hair.

She would not let me touch the bow at all to show her how it works. So I got a different bow to show her how to squeeze the clip part to open it. I told her that I would not touch her hair or the other bow, she just needed to watch to see how to do it. First she wouldn't look at me. The she threw her bow to the other side of the room rather than take a chance on me touching it.

Finally, after tears became involved because she couldn't get the bow in her hair, she watched me show her how to squeeze the clip so that she could put it in her hair. Then she worked on squeezing it open herself. She did get it in. It was barely hanging on to a couple strands of hair and it was very askew, but it was in her hair and she was so proud of herself.

Listening to her say "Me do it!" can be very frustrating for me. I want to help her. I want her to ask for help. I want to show her the way to get it done and then let her do it after she sees. But she just wants to do it herself without any guidance from me. And I just shake my head and let her do it. Sometimes I am exasperated. Sometimes I am amused. And I sit there and think "If you would just pay attention. If you would just let me show you. It would be so much easier for you." But she doesn't realize that and she struggles on.

I wonder if God feels the same way about all of us. If he shakes His head at our independence and stand alone attitude. If he gets exasperated when we try to do things our own way for the ten thousandth time. When we don't understand that if we would do things His way, we would have a much easier time. We would get things done faster. We would get it done right. But He never forces us. But I still wonder if He just shakes his head at us. At least I know He loves us anyway. And for that, I am truly thankful.

The Reply from Stampin' Up!

I shared my letter to Stampin' Up! with you the other day. Well, they did reply to me. Here's what they said:

Dear Christy,

Thank you for contacting us with your comments regarding our recently announced Color Renovation. We are sorry to hear of your frustration, but appreciate you sharing your feelings with us. We want you to know that we approached this decision carefully, because we know how important color is to our customers; we researched color for close to two years. We looked at trends in fashion, design, paper crafting, home décor, and more. Color trends tend to cross over several markets—what you see as the must-have colors for clothing or home decorating often carry over to paper crafting. We reviewed the sales histories for each color. We found that several of our colors just didn’t sell. And if we’re not selling them, that means our customers aren’t buying them. It’s simple supply and demand: no demand = no reason for supply.

We all know that colors and styles are constantly changing and cycling—and Stampin’ Up! wants to stay on top of current trends. We feel that a large majority of our customers will appreciate having the most current colors available for their crafting. In order to remain a viable company, we must adapt and change with the trends. If we didn't we would cease to exist. We will; however, respect whatever decision you make regarding your future as a Stampin' Up! customer.

Again, thank you for your e-mail. Please let us know if you have additional questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Melissa
Stampin' Up!®
Demonstrator Support


After receiving this response, it doesn't feel to me that they heard what I was saying. I thought that my letter was pretty clear that it was them going back on their word that I was most upset about. Yes, the whole change of the core colors is frustrating, but I will get over that. It was their not doing what they said they were going to do that was my core issue. But that was never addressed at all.

Yes, I understand that they have looked at things and are having to change things...they made that clear that it didn't make business sense to keep selling what they are not, in fact selling. OK, I can understand that.

But where was the "We are sorry that we had to change what we previously told you and all of our customers and demonstrators."? I guess that was what I was looking for more than anything else.

So now I feel just as frustrated as before I wrote the letter to them. I wonder if they understood what I was saying at all. Or even read my letter completely or just skimmed it? Or was I just ranting and wasn't really as clear as I thought in the letter.

What do you think? Was I clear in stating that not doing what they previously said was the problem? Or did it seem that the actual color changes is my problem? So the real question I guess I am asking you is: Did Stampin' Up! respond adequately to the concerns I expressed? Or did they only answer the smallest part of what I said?

Just a Little Longer

Two more weeks to be exact.

That is how long until we are living in the same place as Brent again.

One more time to say goodbye for the week.

Thank goodness it is only once more!

Samantha was VERY unhappy about Brent leaving yesterday. She cried and cried and refused to hug him or tell him bye-bye. She kept saying she didn't want to. She refused to wave as he drove away and continued crying as she told me "Don't want to Daddy work."

I told her that I understand, that I wish Daddy didn't have to leave, but that he has to go to work and we will see him again in a few days. I told her that in just two more weeks, we will live in a different house and that Daddy will be there every day after work. It took quite a while to get her calmed down, but with the help of my neighbor, she finally did get calm.

We can do this.

Just two more weeks.

It will not come too soon!