Treatment Day

Today was treatment day at our house. That was a good thing, because Maria was definitely in need of "juicing up." This switch back to warm weather has been hard on her. The nurse comes in the morning about the time Jon Felipe gets on the bus and leaves just as he's getting home from school. Currently, Maria is getting her IVIG treatment every three weeks.

Monday Musings - Oct. 3

We have some friends here in Sioux Center who let us just show up at their house and play with their kids' toys. Sometimes their boys come out and play with us, which makes it all even more fun. My two youngest particularly love jumping on the trampoline. We are even thinking about buying one. We worry about injuries and about liability as well since we don't have a fenced yard. We rent one side of a duplex, so fencing the yard isn't really an option. When we lived in Michigan, we had a great jungle gym in the backyard and a pool. Here, we don't even have trees in the yard. What do you think? Is a trampoline a good investment for our family or are we just inviting trouble?

Dust

This FFA (Future Farmers of America) field is right across the street from our house. This year they planted corn.

The other nearby fields were planted in soybeans. Think about what this farmer is spreading on this field. Hint: It isn't plain old dirt!

Think of all this "dust" drifting over this field and into my house.

Is it no wonder that Sioux Center is the dustiest place I've lived.

Fall in Iowa is beautiful. I love seeing all the shades of gold in the fields. I think I'll keep my windows closed, though.

Oct. 1 - Update

We got this hula-hoop on clearance and have been having a great time with it as you can see.

Maria likes to pose for photos.

Jon Felipe's not too into being photographed, but he has been having a great time inventing new games that can be played with the hula-hoop.

I've been MIA for a few months. The needs of the family did not allow for blogging, but hopefully things are settling back down. If I disappear for awhile, it just means my family needs me and, obviously, they're my first priority.

So, here's the big fall update:

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  Colin is still at Dordt. Still majoring in graphic art and enjoying his program. Still working at HyVee in the meat dept.


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  Jacob is attending Western Iowa Tech (WIT) in Sioux City studying video game design. This definitely seems to fit who he is. He is enjoying it very much. He is even thinking he might like to live on campus in the future. He still works at Hardees and they've been very flexible about working around his school hours.


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  Luke is a senior at Unity. He started working as a life guard at the pool this summer. Even though the outdoor pools are now closed, he's still able to get a couple of shifts in a week at the indoor pool.


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  Maria switched schools this fall and is now an 8th grader at Sioux Center Community School. She is happy and doing well. This school building is just over a block from our house so no more riding the school bus, a fact which does not make her sad at all. I volunteer at the school every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon so I see her at school often and we can come home together on those days.


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  Jon Felipe is in 4th grade at Sioux Center Christian School. He continues to thrive there. He has a birthday coming up at the end of this month, so he's busy counting the days.


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  Dwight's position at Ireton Christian School was eliminated for this year due to decreasing enrollment and budget cuts, so he's embarked on a new adventure. He has returned to school to learn band instrument repair and is working with my cousin George in his new music store business. Between going to school and helping with the new business, we don't see as much of him as we'd like, but he likes what he's doing and the store is definitely meeting a need in this area.


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  I'm still at Dordt. Still love it. Still keeping busy. More on that another time.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Haircut for Maria

Before, During, and After Pics.

Dordt Discovery Days

Maria has been attending Dordt Discovery Days this week. She has really enjoyed her week, but it has been packed full of activity. I think she is going to sleep for the next three days. I was concerned about her having enough energy physically to do it all, so we opted to have her come home at 9:00 each night rather than spend the night in the dorms. She would really like to stay overnight with her friends next year, but also admits that even just staying till 9:00 was a lot for her to manage with her MG. Here she is this morning, heading out for her last day at DDD.


Her classes were all theater related. She learned about acting in the morning and did theater makeup in the afternoon. The girls that studied costumes and the girls that studied makeup worked together to put on a "fashion show" for us this afternoon. There was a little story to go with each girl's costume and makeup. Here the girls are waiting for the show to begin.

I didn't quite get all the girls in this picture, but you can see that there was a wide range of costumes and stories.

Maria's character is attending the prom.

I think her friend was dressed as a Southern Belle.

Maria saying goodbye to one of the instructors.

Summer Fun in Iowa

Head on over to Maria's blog at http://mkv-maria.blogspot.com to see some pics of the things we have been doing lately.