Workin' Man

Justin will be going to camp to work on Sunday. He got the news today. So we are planning and packing and getting appointments for a haircut and all the stuff that has to be done before one goes off to the woods for a few months. Actually, the camp is really more in the fields than the woods, but you get the idea. He is really ready to go. This is what he does and he is ready to get back to work.

Tonight we saw Prince Caspian. Wow. We really liked it. The special effects were wonderful and the land of Narnia was so beautiful. I caught my breath during part of the movie. The scenery was incredible and it made me feel that I had seen something close to a glimpse of heaven. There is a lot of war in the movie; lots of action but not a lot of blood. It is darker than the first movie, but you know the characters better, so it naturally goes deeper. I think if you have never seen The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you should rent that and see it first. Otherwise you may not understand who the characters are.

Justin's favorite scene was with the griffins. You must see the movie to know what I am talking about. We don't want to ruin even a minute of the movie for you. It was awesome.

Mother's Day

Among other things, Justin gave me tickets to Prince Caspian for Mother's Day, so tomorrow I will be going with him as soon as I get off work. Justin is quite a movie buff (and I am not). I have to laugh because he gives me a play-by-play of the action, even if he has never seen the movie! Evidently there are only a few plot lines and he knows them all, plus the unforseen twists and turns. He will be watching a movie he has never seen and say, "now she is going to tell him to get lost" and of course, that happens. I love it when he says, "wow, I didn't see that coming..." I will probably not hear a word out of him during this movie! We enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and bought the DVD when it came out. Hopefully this one meets our expectations.

Thinking...But Not Too Much

It is so cliche to write almost anything here. I have written it, you have heard it; "I can't believe this is happening", "God has a plan", "everything will be fine", and on and on.

Life is the same so often. It is almost too simple. We learn about God, we have a crisis, we lean on God, we get through the crisis, so we learn more about God, we have a crisis, we lean more on God, we get through the crisis. There are circumstances in between, but there it is again. A lesson to be learned again and again. Justin has been through this many times, I have, you have. It is there, and we do it.

It doesn't matter if you have certain clothes, a special job, a great car, lots of money, a beautiful tan, the right friends, real estate, the great American dream. There will come a day when all that stuff takes a back seat to your crisis. I don't mean this to be depressing. I mean it to be my chance to tell you, "BE READY! Don't wait for a painful time in life to learn how to live with the hardships. Take time now to get to know the One that you can always rely on for help. He can, and will take you through it.

Justin is trusting, knowing that God will help him through whatever the future holds, the good, the bad, and everything in between. I am doing the same thing. This is the best part. God tells us to not worry about tomorrow, for today holds enough problems of it's own. That is comforting for me. So I can think about the future. But not too much.

Roomies

I wondered why I couldn't find a smaller place to live a few months ago. I looked and looked and didn't find anything that was even fit to live in. As usual, now it all makes sense. It seems that I will have Justin as a roommate any time he needs it from now on. We made it official tonight by signing a new lease, listing us both. This way he always has a place here, of course. But he will be out conquering his world for a while!

Soda Pop Free

This is a real record in our house. Justin has not had soda pop for three weeks! A few days before he really got sick, he quit drinking pop. He felt that his heart racing in the middle of the night was from caffiene, so he just went cold turkey. We later learned that it was probably either seizures or pressure from the tumor on his brain. During the time he would normally have caffiene headaches, he was in the hospital, so he missed all of those. I think he is glad to be off of it. Now he is drinking water, juice, and Gatorade. He was laughing because pop is $1.50 a can at camp-he said you'd have to want it pretty bad to pay that! Fortunately, non-soda drinks will be plentiful at camp, so he will be able to stay off of it. Good. I stopped drinking soda when Justin was in 4th grade and haven't missed it. Well, once a year I really get a craving for an A&W root beer, but that goes away. Good for you, Justin.

Humor in the Hard Times

Justin has an incredible sense of humor. It has been a blessing to watch his humor at work during this time in his life. To be able to laugh in the face of adversity is a gift. It didn't take long after learning about the tumor for Justin to see the funny side of things. Laughing is a healthy thing, and it is good if you can laugh every day. I don't think Justin will have a problem with that!

Work Day at Camp

Today Justin and I went to visit the camp where he applied to work for the summer. They were having their annual work day, so we pitched in. There were lots of jobs for everyone and everyone helped, even the little kids. It was a blessing to see the results of the whole team working together, and fun to see the happiness on the faces of those who work at the camp already. You could see that they were thrilled with all the jobs that were getting done. I was thinking about the kids coming to camp in a few weeks and what a great time they will have. I know I loved camp as a kid, and so did my boys. It was the highlight of summer.

Hopefully Justin will be on his way to help at camp late this week. We have been walking as a family and working to build his stamina back--a week in bed takes a lot of energy! He is really looking forward to it and ready to get back into life. His next doctor's appointment is in July, so he will miss a few days of work then , but otherwise he will be able to be there all summer, we think. Justin met some of the staff at camp. One of the guys about Justin's age working there noticed Justin's eyes (they have some blood where the white of the eyes are). He just shrugged and said, "I have epilepsy, too". That made Justin more comfortable. He won't be the only one.

I read up on epilepsy, and found out more about it. I always thought that epilepsy was a disease that caused seizures. But it is actually a word that describes that you have had more than one seizure, for any unknown reason. Any person that has had more than one seizure for any unknown reason has epilepsy. I didn't know that until now. Our doctor told us Justin's cause is known, so we call it "seizure disorder."