Test Results

The PA called today with a glowing report. Basically, my heart is in great shape and the Cardiologist does not anticipate any cardiac incidents in the foreseeable future. So, I'm happy.
Etienne family update: Got on line and looked up what the two elementary school aged kids would need for school. Then Jerry & I filled the list. Took the supplies over today. Jean Marie will have a book bag waiting for him at school with some supplies in it already, we just filled in the blanks. Maritha's bag weighs a ton. She was sooooo happy when I told her these were HER supplies and the boys couldn't have any. They had to take everything out of the bag (6 pks of paper, 6 folders, 10 spiral notebooks, crayons, colored markers, pencils, colored pencils, glue, scissors etc.) and then put them all back.
I told the older boys I would get them a back pack each and see what supplies they need.
It is great to see what they are learning already. Words like hi, hello, Thank You!, numbers etc. Even the Papa is picking up words.
The neighbors have really opened their arms to this family. There is a boy (frosh at G-Prep) living two houses down. He is over quite a bit just talking and getting the kids used to English. There seem to be a few other refugee families in the area because a man from Rwanda came by today - he recognised the World Relief worker as she was taking the kids to the park and wanted to say Hi to the parents. And some women that were at the school meeting I attended last week came by to visit.
Wanted to get to the garden today to harvest the tomatoes before it freezes (yes, that ugly word is creeping into the weather forecast already). Didn't make it. Sewing class tomorrow. Maybe Wednesday? Who knows. At least I have brought my houseplants in.

Yes, I'm still alive.

I have never been so "Up tight" about a test before in my life. I arrived at the Cardiologists 15 minutes early and the took me right in. Hardly had time to unwind the cord on my i-pod. The nurse gave me a quick rundown on what to expect and told me to put on that little gown with the ties in the front. She stuck at least 10 patches to my chest and hooked me up to the EKG leads. Another nurse came in and started the IV. I was shaking. NEVER have I been that nervous. Hind sight... There was nothing to be nervous about. They ran a base line read from the leads and took them off. Next a guy comes in carrying a lead box with a lead encased syringe containing radio active stuff that he injects into my IV. Then I was laid out on a the X-ray table and for the next 15 minutes the machine commenced taking pictures. Whoops! My liver got in the way and I had to have them retaken. First I was lead back out to the dressing room to drink some apple juice and eat some peanut butter crackers. Time to dig out the i-pod and chill. I kept it going when I climbed back on the table. This 15 minutes went by much more smoothly. And the pictures were better. Then they hooked me back up and put me on the tread mill. I had to get my heart rate up to 160 - And tell them when I only had 2 minutes left in me. How does that happen. Anyway, when I hit the 160 beats mark, I said enough (and had to go two more minutes). They pumped more radio active stuff in while I was still walking, stopped the machine and had me sit and rest for 15 minutes, then back on the X-ray table for 15 minutes more of pictures.
Thanks. Those look good. We'll give these to the doctor and he'll write up a report and send it to your doctor in three or four days. Next week I'll get a call from my doctor saying every thing is fine and I'll be OK until .... whenever.
The fact that I don't smoke, don't have a family history of heart problems, have decent cholesterol, and get daily exercise all contribute to a good prognosis. I'll keep you posted.

???

Went in to the Dr. this morn to have a check on this acid reflux that's been bothering me of late. He ran an EKG and found a slow heart rate and a funny thing going on on the T (what, line? bar?). Anyway, I'm off to the Tread Mill EKG Thursday morning. Running on a Tread Mill for two hours shall surely put me under.
More later.

Hooray for me!

Started line dancing on Monday. Two left feet? Let's say that my left foot doesn't know what my right foot has done so it doesn't follow well. But it is fun.
Got to the lazy point this summer. Munching a lot. Couldn't get those jeans zipped. Back to weight watchers. Problem is they have this neat charm thingy I'd love to earn but you have to loose 10% of your body weight to get it. 10% of my body weight is more than my goal. My scale says I've lost 10 pounds (those same 10 I put on this summer) - theirs says only 4. Why is that? Both scales were synced when I started. Oh well. It's all weight gone (for a while - wait, that's defeatist).
Entered items for the grand girls and myself in the fair. As expected Casey (the one who likes to "do" sewing) came away with a lot of Red ribbons (needs improvement) and Sydney (who likes to "learn" sewing) got mostly Blue (first place). Surprisingly (or not) mine all got Blue and two of them got Purple. I took pictures but can't find them right now. I'll post them when I do.
Off now to a Red Hat meeting then to a Lay Speaker Training in Coeur d'Alene. Never a dull moment.

Garage Sale-ing

I so wanted to take Martha (the 11 year old girl) out shopping today for a dress to wear to church. But I got nixed by the World Relief people. First of all I had not gone through the background check required for all drivers and companions. Downloaded the forms, filled them out, and delivered them on Friday afternoon. Then they do not want individual members of the family going on outings without all the rest of the family for a while. I am not about to drive the van with a family of 8 who do not speak English.
So, what to do? We went Garage Sale-ing. Jerry says he had never done that before. How can that be? I got the morning paper out and took down the addresses of 8 sales that said "kids cloths" and "toys". I bought two night gowns, a toy fire truck and some rubber stamps at the first stop. All the others were a wash. I next stopped at the NW Christian Thrift store and found some dresses for Martha. Then had to stop at Office Depot to get some stamp pads for the rubber stamps, a ream of copy paper (for drawing and stamping) and a package of colored markers. Oh, I found an 18 " doll which I'll give to Martha later (after she has been cleaned up) and some maracas which the boys loved.
Took the lot to them and was received so warmly. Martha broke into the biggest smile when she realized that I had brought things just for her, things she would not have to share with her brothers. It will be fun to see which dress (if any of the ones I brought) she will be wearing tomorrow.
It is so fun to see who ends up with what. I take something out of a bag and expect JeanMarie (age 5) to want it, Erike (age 14) latches on to it. Or I thought the rubber stamps would be of interest to Martha or Erike and Raphael (age 17) shows more interest (I think I saw him drawing yesterday).
As we were leaving Jerry told me to swing by the grocery store. Then he proceeded to purchase a watermelon and a dozen large muffins which we then delivered back to the house. By that time there were two car loads of people there. Their friends from the refugee camp who had arrived last month and one of the companion families.
Tomorrow should be organized chaos at church - or not. I do want to see about getting into the coat reserve to see if anything will be of interest to them.

Day Two

Two days of eating regularly and sleeping have really improved the demeanue of the Burundi family. Mom and Dad (Maryana and Mashimango) are always smiling when I pop in. The kids stop playing in Phil's back yard and come running to greet me. Today I took over two "play in the dirt" type trucks for the little boys (Eritie and JeanMarie) and a large red wagon. All six kids had to have a turn at playing with them. Just warms the heart watching their innocence.
Yesterday I played a card game (9 up) with Erike, Raphael and Martha. Using signs I was able to get most of the concepts of the game over to them. They can count in English and could determine (very accurately) their own scores.
I rushed out last night and scoured Value Village for sweat cloths for all of them (coming from the tropics to September in Spokane can be a bit of a shock to the system - they were cold.) Then went to Fred Meyer and spent almost as much just on socks for all. (Haven't even delved into underwear needs). Maryana was wearing a Muumuu today (I didn't give her that) so now I know what to be on the lookout for for her. When I went up today, JeanMarie was wearing the jacket I had picked out for Martha. Go figure.
This is such a brave family. There are other families from the same refugee camp here in Spokane already who have been visiting, much to everyone's delight.
I am told that they will be worshiping with us on Sunday. I can't wait to hear them sing a song to us.

Burundi Family Arrives

Off the plane came today a family of eight refugees from Burundi looking very tired and dazed.

Here they are getting introduced to their interpreter (in the short sleeves - back to the camera). They are all in identical grey sweatshirts.

Imagine setting out from the middle of Africa one day and landing the next in Spokane.

Mom and dad with five boys and one girl. Such a close family. I think that is the girl next to the white fist. The family resemblance is so great I could only tell which was the girl by the sandals she was wearing.

The two youngest boys delighted in the toys I brought for them. They were quietly occupied while the adults waited for the baggage.

I think this boy is the 15 years old. He looked drained. Bet they will all sleep tonight.