Home Again, Home Again

It is strange, having two homes. Sometimes I don’t know what to say when I tell people where I am going. I am home, but I came from home. Indy is home, but DC is also still ‘home’. Weird. Anyway, I am home in DC for the week, and then will go home to Indy on Sunday. Confused yet?

Progress is slow and steady. Mornings continue to be the most difficult, as I am still waking up in quite a bit of pain, regardless of how much medicine I take the night before. So, a nap usually follows my morning meds. The afternoon and evening tends to be better, as I have more energy and less pain. Cold compresses also help a lot to reduce the swelling and the pain. I am thankful for the time to rest and heal and am praying these days in DC will allow for lots of both. For those of you who live in the area, I hope to see you while I am here!

One thing I forgot to include in yesterdays update from my appointment was that Dr. Lee was telling me about how the eye pressure gauges are only reliable and accurate to up to between 40 and 50 (remember that a normal eye pressure is between 10-20), and anything over 50 is considered a guess and unreliable. My last pressure check measured at 41 on the gauge, but Dr. Lee said that based on the hardness of my eye when he removed it, he estimates that the pressure was probably somewhere between the 70-80 range!!

My main prayer request for this week is that an infection won’t develop in the eye socket. Since I am in DC, I would have to go to the ER if one develops, which would be no fun at all. Also that my energy will continue to increase, and the swelling and pain will continue to decrease. Dr. Lee said I should notice a difference by this weekend in both areas. He showed me pictures of my small eye and the cyst he removed, and when I called today to ask for his nurse to email them to me, I’m pretty sure she thought I was crazy. I’m ok with that though…..it’s fun to have them.

Thanks for your prayers and continued encouragement! Love you all!

Day 4 and Thankful Thursday

I realized once again that yesterday was Thursday and I forgot to post my list….this time I am blaming it on the Vicodin.

Day 3 was successful – I incorporated real food into my diet and stayed awake much more than I slept (thank you, NCIS:LA!! ) Bath time got pushed until this morning, and it felt soooooo good to get clean! As expected it completely wore me out, and I promptly laid down and napped for about an hour afterwards. The meds are helping somewhat, but the large plastic conformer holding everything in place is driving me crazy. Much of my time is spent laying on the couch with my eyes closed, just to keep my eye from moving and irritating it. I keep thinking that it feels like I have some large, foreign object in my eye, and then I have to remind myself that I do.

In the midst of discomfort though, there is still much to be thankful for this week:

1. Successful surgery and continued confirmation that this was the right decision and the perfect timing

2. My parents being here this week to help

3. Vicodin

4. Rest and time to heal and get well

5. All of my dear friends who have stopped by for a visit, called, texted, emailed, mailed cards, facebooked, etc. I have been so encouraged and feel deeply loved by everyone.

6. Being able to laugh in the midst of the pain

7. My patio and the lake where I can be entertained by the ducks and geese diving for food and sticking their butts in the air. Haha. It is so fun and funny to watch them! Mom took a video today. Maybe we’ll upload it later.

All in all things are going well. I’ve been up for a while though, and need to lay down for a bit. Keep your prayers coming! Love you all and so thankful for you today.

love,

emily

Day 3

I don’t remember much of Tuesday, and yesterday is kind of blurry as well, but today the clearness is beginning to come back. Still really sore, maybe even more so today now that all the anesthesia and numbness are gone, but Vicodin has become my new best friend! Apparently I slept on my right side last night, because I woke up today looking like a raccoon – two black eyes instead of one, and swelling in my whole face instead of just the left side. Gravity must have pulled it over while I was sleeping. It still hurts to move my eye, so I am trying to keep my focus pretty straight and level. Looking down hurts the worst, and turning my head comes shortly after that. So if you come visit me, don’t be offended if I don’t make much eye contact.

Goals for today:

1. Take a bath

2. Be awake more hours than I sleep during the day (this one may have to move to tomorrow….haha)

3. Eat real food and keep it down (I haven’t thrown up again since Tuesday night, so this shouldn’t be too hard!)

If one or two of those happen, it will be a good and successful day. I think my expectations for the recovery period on this surgery were a little too high, as I fully expected to be on the road to normal by now, HA! I keep having to remind myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and it is fine to be a tortoise as long as I get to the finish eventually, rather than trying to sprint and mess something up.

Couple facts/funny stories from the surgery:

*My anesthesiologist while waiting to go in to surgery: “I’m Dr Kurtz, your anesthesiologist. I’ll be putting you to sleep when I want you to sleep, and I will wake you back up when I want you to wake up. Also, I don’t get paid to put you to sleep, I get paid to wake you up!!” He was so funny.

*Eyes are supposed to be porous and kind of like a jelly-bean consistency on the inside (I hope that doesn’t ruin jelly beans for any of you ). After the surgery Dr. Lee came out to talk to my parents and told them that when he took my small eye out, it was as hard as a rock! He was amazed and doesn’t know how I was handling the pain, as it should have been much worse! This was also another confirmation that this surgery was the right choice and done at the right time.

*In recovery: Nurse – “Emily, how is your pain level?” Me – “Uhhhh about an 8 or 9.” Nurse – starting at me expectantly. Me – “What? Did you not hear me?” Nurse – “Emily, you didn’t say anything!!” Me – “Oops. I must have just answered in my head and thought I was speaking.” Hahaha. This happened at least three times during my 2 hours in recovery. Those are always my favorite stories. Do you have any funny ones from your times in the hospital?

*Towards the end of my time in recovery, I said I felt like getting dressed and going to the bathroom, and by the time I got back from the restroom, they had already put someone else in my bed, and were escorting me out to my car! They were not kidding about this being outpatient!!!!

A New Chapter Beginning

Today is the last day of life as I have known it thus far, at least as it goes with my eye. Though my appearance is not going to be much different on the outside, the removal of my eye tomorrow will still bring a change. I don’t really know what it is going to be like; what the eye socket will look like, if it will move the same, if it will be majorly different, or if it will feel basically like my current eye. I have no idea how I am going to respond or how I will be feeling about all of that come tomorrow afternoon, but I do know one thing for sure:

The time has come, and this eye has got to go.

Everything has its season, and this little guy (as I refer to my eye), has come to the end of his. I was telling some friends earlier today how thankful I am that the pressure headaches have been consistently bad this entire week. Every day has been a reminder of why I made this decision, and a continual confirmation that this is where I am supposed to be. Every throb, every sharp pain, every time my eye aches, just makes me more ready to get rid of it. If I hadn’t had much pain this week, I could easily see myself wondering if I made the right choice, and if I should really remove it or just leave it in for a while longer. But no, on the contrary, I am so ready for these headaches to go away. Basically, the negative side effects of keeping it now far outweigh any of the positives (and those are few anyway), such that removing it, although final, still consistently wins the tug-of-war in my head and heart.

So now, dear eye, I bid you adieu, tschüss and farewell. I give thanks for 25 years of globe-trotting adventures, practical jokes, conversation starters (and enders), good times, hard times, sad times and celebration times. Tomorrow I enter the world of normal “two-eyed” people, no longer able to claim having three. You have done well up until this end, and for that, I am grateful. The Lord is good all the time, even (especially?) in this.

Surgery is slated for 10am EST, and I should be out in an hour and home a couple after that (crazy? yes, I think so too). Thank you for your prayers! We will update again tomorrow with a progress report once I am home and settled on the couch or my futon.

love,

emily

Two last pictures to remember:

With my shell in, looking "normal"

The last picture of my little eye....bye friend!

Patch Party Pictures!!

I uploaded a bunch of pictures from Monday’s patch making party to facebook. If you are interested and want to see them, click here. It was a delightful evening and I feel so blessed and supported in this upcoming operation by the love shown by so many! Thanks for your prayers and encouragement as it gets closer! 6 days to go! We are under the week mark!

Thankful Thursday

I know today is actually Friday, but I forgot to post this yesterday! So, here are the things I am thankful for anyway.

1. Fresh fruit

2. My Chiropractor – especially the fact that he loves Jesus and loves what we in Campus Crusade for Christ do!

3. My mom (Mother’s Day is this Sunday!! So thankful to have the best mom in the world, and one that I can also call one of my best friends! Love you mom!!)

4. My job, and getting to work with the people in the Regional Office

5. Mexican food! We had a great last family dinner last night, and since it was Cinco de Mayo we had a delicious mexican feast, complete with Green Chile Chicken enchiladas, fresh guacamole, chips and salsa, and margaritas!

6. Getting to do life with and grow alongside a group of fabulous, lovely, beautiful, smart, joyful, faithful ladies! For example, this year on Friday mornings a group of young women met at our friend Colleen’s house to talk about Jesus and grow together. It was such a great blessing getting to know Colleen, Lauren, Lacey, Sara, Ann and Rachel! And then, the Lord has graciously allowed me to stay connected to my Berlin STINT teammates, and last weekend Tomi, Erin, Katie and I met up in NYC (where Tomers lives!) for a delightful reunion!

Me and mom in downtown DC a few weeks ago!

The ladies from this year's Friday morning training group - I mentioned them in last week's post!

Tomi, Erin, Katie and me walking across the Brooklyn Bridge last weekend!!

The End

Tonight I took off the little brown dress for the last time of the One Dress Campaign. This month literally flew by, and it is hard to believe it is already over! I am in New York City visiting with some of my Berlin STINT teammates for the weekend, and they asked me today what I have learned that I am taking away from this experience. It was delightful getting to process with these women I love what this month has been like and the things I have learned, and it mostly boiled down to two main thoughts.

One, and this one is pretty superficial, is that we are mostly concerned with ourselves and our own appearance more than we are with others. I wore the same dress for 30 days straight, and only one person clued in and asked me about it. One. With everyone else I either ended up telling them about the campaign, or they just never realized that I was wearing the same clothes every day. (or there may have been some who noticed but didn’t ask me about it!) It made me see that I care so much about my own appearance, but it really doesn’t matter. It made me realize how little we pay attention to those around us, and really how unimportant our wardrobe is in the grand scheme of things.

Two, although I am just one person, there is a fight going on and I can be involved in it. The facts about sex trafficking are staggering and can sometimes be overwhelming, but there are still ways to help. Prayer is a huge one. My times spent praying for these women and girls who are involved have been so sweet, and I have seen the Lord grow my heart for them and deepen my desire to love and serve them however I can. My understanding of the power of prayer is so limited, but I have learned that the more I pray the more strongly my heart is aligned with God and His will. Mind-bogglingly awesome. Being an advocate and spokesperson for these girls who do not have a voice is another way I can be a part of fighting against sex slavery. Becoming more aware of my surroundings and pursuing those who are lost and hurting, seeking to listen and love them as Christ does is something else I want to grow in.

Finally, the end of my One Dress Campaign does not mean the end of learning about this. I want to keep praying, reading, and being as involved in the fight as I can. Hopefully I can continue to be an advocate and continue learning new ways to love and serve both the slaves and those who have been rescued. Thanks for sharing this journey with me!

Thankful Thursday

I got this idea from my friend Tasha (who I mentioned in my last post). She does hers on Mondays, which is awesome. I love alliteration though, and today is Thursday, so I thought it would be fun to start a weekly thankful-for post.

So, without further ado, things I am thankful for this Thursday:

1. Getting to know this group of awesome Butler athletes, and grow in our walks with God together! I am going to miss them this summer!

Part of our weekly bible study group!

2. The privilege of praying for our world (and having it be part of my job!!)

The Operation World room during our day of prayer on Tuesday

3. My team (last picture, obviously…..I’m still trying to figure out wordpress, and how to get the post to look like how I type it. Grrrrrr)

Don't you want to come work with us???

4. Rest/down time

5. Our Friday morning training group (SO excited to see all the lovely ladies tomorrow – I’ll take a picture to post later, because they are all just so beautiful and precious)

6. God’s word being living and active and working continually in my life!

7. 2 more days of the One Dress Campaign!

8. Family dinner thursdays

9. Medicine that works, and fewer headaches

10. Tomi, Katie and Erin, and the weekend we are about to have in NYC!!!

The Servant King

It’s Jesus Storybook Bible time again! I love the way the author tells the story of Passion week and Easter. So, here is the first of four installments:

From Mark 14 and John 13-14

It was Passover, the time when God’s people remembered how God had rescued them from being slaves in Egypt. Every year they killed a lamb and ate it. “The lamb died instead of us!” they would say.

But this Passover, God was getting ready for an even Greater Rescue.

Jesus and His friends were having the Passover meal in an upstairs room. But Jesus’ friends were arguing. What about? They were arguing about stinky feet. Stinky feet? Yes, that’s right. Stinky feet. (Now, the thing about feet back then was that people didn’t wear shoes; they only wore sandals, which might not sound unusual, except that the streets in those days were dirty – and I don’t just mean dirty – I mean really stinky dirty. With all those cows and horses everywhere, you can imagine the stuff on the street that ended up on their feet!)

So anyway, someone had to wash away the dirt, but it was a dreadful job. Who on earth would ever dream of volunteering to do it?

Only the lowliest servant.

“I’m not the servant!” Peter said. “Nor am I” said Matthew.

Quietly, Jesus got up from the table, took off his robe, picked up a basin of water, knelt down, and started to wash His friends’ feet.

“You can’t,” Peter said. He didn’t understand about Jesus being the Servant King.

“If you don’t let Me wash away the dirt, Peter,” Jesus said, “you can’t be close to me.”

Jesus knew that what people needed most was to be clean on the inside. All the dirt on their feet was nothing compared to the sin inside their hearts.

“Then wash me, Lord!”, Peter said, tears filling his eyes, “all of me!”

One by one, Jesus washed everyones feet. “I’m doing this because I love you,” Jesus explained. “Do this for each other.”

Now, one of Jesus’ friends had made a bad plan. No one else knew what the bad plan was. But Jesus knew – and so did Judas. Judas was going to help the Leaders capture Jesus – for 30 pieces of silver. “Go on, Judas,” Jesus said. And Judas got up from the meal, left the room, and walked out into the night.

Then Jesus picked up some bread and broke it. He gave it to His friends. He picked up a cup of wine and thanked God for it. He poured it out and shared it.

“My body is like this bread. It will break,” Jesus told them. “This cup of wine is like my blood. It will pour out.”

“But this is how God will rescue the whole world. My life will break and God’s broken world will mend. My heart will tear apart – and your hearts will heal. Just as the Passover lamb died, so now I will die instead of you. My blood will wash away all of your sins. And you will be clean on the inside – in your hearts.”

“So, whenever you eat and drink, remember,” Jesus said, “I’ve rescued you!”

Jesus knew it was nearly time for Him to leave the world and go back to God. “I won’t be with you long,” he said. “You are going to be very sad. But God’s Helper will come. And then you’ll be filled up with a Forever Happiness that won’t ever leave. So don’t be afraid. You are my friends and I love you.”

Then they sang their favorite song. And walked up to their favorite place, an olive garden.

To be continued……..

Copyright 2007 by Zondervan

The Best Oatmeal (whatever) Cookies

I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies yesterday using my favorite fool-proof recipe! Several friends have asked for it, so here it is!! I call it the (whatever) cookies, because I often substitute raisins, or nuts, or craisins or blueberries or anything else, and they are still always delicious!

Ingredients:

1 C (2 sticks) margarine or butter – I always use butter that is softened but still slightly chilled

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C regular sugar

2 eggs (or 3 egg whites)

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 C flour

1 t baking soda

1 t cinnamon (this is optional when using chocolate chips. I like to keep it in there – makes a unique taste that I enjoy, but they are also delightful without it)

1/2 t salt (optional)

3 C Quaker Oats

1 C raisins/craisins/blueberries/1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chips

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, set aside

3. Beat butter and sugars until creamy

4. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well

5. Add combined flour mixture slowly until fully combined

6. Stir in oats and raisins or whatever you are adding

7. Drop by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets

8. Bake 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown

9. Cool 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet, remove to wire rack

10. Enjoy! This recipe makes about 4 dozen, depending on how big you make the cookies!

(You can also make these great bar cookies by pouring batter into 9×13 pan and baking 30ish minutes)