Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Joy in every day

In family news, Amy got her biopsy results back yesterday. The tumor is malignant. With a 90% chance of this, we were prepared for that kind of news. Actually, she doesn't have "regular kidney cancer," she has Chromophobe Renal Cell Carcinoma, which is a pretty rare form of cancer (only like 5% of RCC patients have this form.) Go figure. Amy is special and had to get a special disease. Right, girl? ;-) Surgical removal of the kidney usually leads to a good prognosis. Just keep praying for fast, smooth, and complete treatment and recovery. And pray that her baby Ransom stays healthy and happy while she deals with these extra things on her plate. We could use continued prayer for peace, too. The "c" word is just scary. Staying busy helped me focus and breathe, usually an involuntary thing but I start holding my breathe if cancer stays on my mind too long.

In school news, I'm lovin' this year! It's like I hit my groove and realized just how FUN I could make everything. Our history and science studies have whetted my own appetite for the subjects.

We made this huge timeline for our dining room, that goes across two walls. Now to transfer our history notebook page info.
We're "supposed" to be studying about earth-y stuff right now in science but, in light of recent family events, we have skipped ahead to the human body. Now this is fun and interesting stuff!! After reading about skin last week, we made pages of our fingerprints and then added more body parts to Dash's outline. The kidneys were one of the first things we read about and added to the body. Amy's disease has prompted me to study kidneys more than I ever dreamed I would! For more pictures of the kid-sized human body, click here.
After "official school" (ha), we did royal paintings inspired by Deep Space Sparkle's plan, using a deck of cards for visual aids. Then finishing up the Mouse and Wizard fable lapbook. More pictures here.

I have to share one of our new favorite computer games, Crayon Physics. It is so much fun. The kids love making their shapes come to life. We just have the demo right now, but they've been taking 10-minute turns with it. Gotta love games that are fun, artistic, and teach!

Side activity: Lego Trojan Horse. Gotta love it. :-D

In spite of (or maybe because of,) all that has been going on, I know this will be a good week. We're not taking things for granted. I know my little sister will be okay. I believe that she will see a great doctor, get the surgery she needs, and she will recover quickly. We have a hedge of prayer and protection around her, and any one of us would drop everything and rush to her aid. But still. This makes me realize how fragile we are. And how much I need to focus on things that matter: relationships, quality AND quantity time with the kids, and my husband. We need to live life to the fullest and take JOY in all that we have been blessed with.

4 comments:

Lori @ Just Pure Lovely said...

Praying for your fam, Wendy. That "c" thing stinks. :( Sorry you all have to go through that!

I LOVE your school! Wish we lived closer to each other. I feel alone sometimes, in schooling like you/I do. You're right, it's a lot of fun. On days when it's not fun, the reason is usually because I've gotten too rigid (those "shoulds" bother me sometimes).

Suzanne ~ TheJoyfulChaos said...

i've been praying for your sister. will continue.

love that you're loving school right now. i thought, just today, "i sure miss our school work and the being fun part of it." i know it'll be back, i just have to weather this season! and i have to remember what all they're learning about the human body here as God grows (and soon presents to them!) a new little body.

i love you much, girl! just thought i'd tell ya!

Becca~CapturingSimpleJoys said...

Praying for Amy! I know she must be scared but let her know people she hasn't even met (me!) are lifting her up before the Great Physician!

sara said...

Praying for your sister- and all of you....

What fun you are having in homeschool! Good job, teacher!!