Welcome back to an update about the goings on in the Couch family. To be honest life just keeps happening and it is hard to pick out the things that y'all might be interested in.
David is in First Grade now and loving every minute of it. He is good at Math and really enjoys the social aspect. He also takes after his dad in his love for reading. We watch a couple of neighbor kids after school and they all ride the bus home together. Today, Sam and DJ came through the front door and, after waiting a moment or two, I asked where David was. You can usually hear the three of them from a mile away, so I was surprised not to hear someone telling the other two what to do. The oldest looked at me with a stunned look on her face and said, "I don't know." She then turned around and asked her brother DJ where David was. He had the same stunned look on his face. "I know he was on the bus!" "So where is he?" "We don't know." Commence frantic calling of school. School commence frantic calling of bus driver. Home phone rings. David is still on bus. Bus returns to stop. David gets off. "I was reading and forgot to get off." Oh yeah, he's my son.
Andrew started Pre-K this year and is loving it. He is also a big fan of reading, and reads anything and everything. He doesn't always get it right, but what he says always makes sense. He is not afraid to stand up to his big brother, and does so regularly. The sound of boys screaming at each other has become the symphony of two young men learning to be individuals and working out their social skills. Oh yeah, they are my sons.
Lisa has been soldiering on. It is amazing how much she is able to accomplish, in spite of the pain. Social Security finally came through and she is now officially disabled...I just looked at my last post and it starts out almost exactly the same way. Truth is there is not a whole lot of change in her situation. We found out the blood clot she had was related to a genetic disorder and we are lucky it hadn't killed her before now. We are very thankful for God's mercy and protection. We have both discovered Facebook and are busy getting re-acquainted with all our friends. Lisa is having a blast reconnecting. It is really good so, if you haven't yet, ask to be our friends, we'd love to have you.
Me? Well, drum roll please, I am still at Avaya. This has to be some kind of record. Amazingly enough, cutbacks are happening all around me, but God has decided to keep me here. We are thanking God for his provision. I have been able to help out with this year's Christmas production at church, and was actually asked to direct our campus' performances. It is a ton of work, but I am finding I like it almost as much as being on stage myself. I am having a blast. I have also done some extensive re-writing of the script and am really enjoying the flowing of the creative juices. Nothing like getting to tell people what to do and what to say. It feels like having a little brother again. "No, Han Solo would NOT say that, and Luke has to win. He is the hero, he ALWAYS wins."
There isn't anything earth-shattering going on right now, just enjoying every day. God has really been teaching me that, no matter what is going on, we can trust Him. I might not like where He is taking us, but that is OK. It is better than where I could go on my own. Once I've let go of the controls it makes this whole thing become one big adventure, and I can't wait to see where we are going. I am really enjoying life with my family, all the little special times we have together, the laughter, the love. Even though there are no big things happening, our lives are rich and full with what God is doing in all the small things. This is truly a fantastic journey. 'Til next time, thanks for sitting and chatting awhile on...
The Family Couch
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Summer 2008 - July
Well it has been a little while since I last posted, so I thought I would bring things up to speed.
David graduated from Kindergarten last month and found out that his little circle of friends will be with him in First Grade next year. This includes his two girlfriends. I found out he even talked a First Grader into giving him her phone number while he was standing at the bus stop one day. I have a feeling we are going to have a little trouble with that one. Speaking of First Grade, school is starting back up again in just a few weeks. I guess with them switching from a year-round format to a modified regular school year he gets a shorter vacation this year. Either way, I know he is really looking forward to it. Apparently the big thing for him is he is going to be eating in the cafeteria. We'll see how he feels about that after eating there a few times.
Andrew continues to grow like a weed. The kid is tough. He has a habit we are trying to break him of, he likes to hit things with his head. I have no idea why. He will walk up to me and starting banging his head against my arm. The other day I got tired of it, so I pointed my elbow at his head. He promptly thwonked it, said "Ow" and grabbed his head, then proceeded to do it about five more times before it became too painful. Hard-headed is an understatement. He's wearing "big-boy" underwear all the time now, and we are all proud of his accomplishment. Especially me. No more messes, or at least not as many. He is, of course, still obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine. His favorite "outing" as a family is to go to Toys 'R Us where they have a Thomas train table set up and all the Thomas toys. They even sometimes have special Thomas play days where he can chug the trains and listen to a Thomas story. Not a day goes by that he doesn't suggest we might be able to go to Toys 'R Us. His birthday is in a couple of weeks and it looks like it will be another blue-and-red-tank-engine-fest. Both boys are re-discovering Veggie Tales and enjoy singing along with those songs and any other praise songs I can come up with. They have no idea that most of these songs I am teaching them were old when I was little. "Somewhere in Outer Space/God has prepared a place/for those that trust Him and obey"
Lisa is still soldering on. We have made a renewed effort to get the house in a form that is presentable for guests to come over. It is pretty lonely for her when she can't have any friends over, and right now it is halfway decent. She works harder than a lot of able-bodied people I have met. It looks like Social Security is going to come through and label her as 'disabled'. It was pretty funny the letter they sent telling what they thought she was able to do at a job. She could stand for 30 minutes a day, but only for 5 minutes at a time. She could only sit for 30 minutes a day, and that was only 10 minutes at a time. I think she can lift 5 pounds. So, anyone know a job where she can lay down most of the day and not lift a finger? That is the only one Social Security says she is fit for. LOL. We also have what we think is going to be good news from the hematologist. It looks like the blood clot she developed last year is gone, and we are expecting her to be taken off the blood thinner soon. From what we can tell this should've happened nearly a year ago. It is true that you have to stay on top of your treatment, Doctor's these days just don't have the time to personalize like they used to. We are hoping this will bring us one step closer to surgery and recovery.
I am doing pretty much the same. I am still at Avaya and have now broken my record for staying at one job while in the state of Colorado. I am also approaching my record for living in one house and have possibly broken that. Is it possible I might have settled somewhere? It is too early to tell, but let's not give up hope. My contract here is up in October, but they might extend it for another year, so that is a good thought to have. I have been working on my poetry quite a bit and just the other day wrote a decent sized praise song in spanish. Must say, I was pretty proud of that. Mostly I am just working at doing my job and making our family the best it can be for Lisa and the boys. We have instituted "Family Fun Days" and on one of my days off a week, we try to spend most of the day doing something fun, and inexpensive. Trying to make those special memories for everyone. We had a lot of fun on the Fourth of July. Our little green space in front of our house seemed to be in the middle of 4 or 5 fireworks displays and we spent the evening spinning around, trying to see it all at the same time. It was a lot of fun.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you and yours are enjoying life.
God Bless,
Jeff
David graduated from Kindergarten last month and found out that his little circle of friends will be with him in First Grade next year. This includes his two girlfriends. I found out he even talked a First Grader into giving him her phone number while he was standing at the bus stop one day. I have a feeling we are going to have a little trouble with that one. Speaking of First Grade, school is starting back up again in just a few weeks. I guess with them switching from a year-round format to a modified regular school year he gets a shorter vacation this year. Either way, I know he is really looking forward to it. Apparently the big thing for him is he is going to be eating in the cafeteria. We'll see how he feels about that after eating there a few times.
Andrew continues to grow like a weed. The kid is tough. He has a habit we are trying to break him of, he likes to hit things with his head. I have no idea why. He will walk up to me and starting banging his head against my arm. The other day I got tired of it, so I pointed my elbow at his head. He promptly thwonked it, said "Ow" and grabbed his head, then proceeded to do it about five more times before it became too painful. Hard-headed is an understatement. He's wearing "big-boy" underwear all the time now, and we are all proud of his accomplishment. Especially me. No more messes, or at least not as many. He is, of course, still obsessed with Thomas the Tank engine. His favorite "outing" as a family is to go to Toys 'R Us where they have a Thomas train table set up and all the Thomas toys. They even sometimes have special Thomas play days where he can chug the trains and listen to a Thomas story. Not a day goes by that he doesn't suggest we might be able to go to Toys 'R Us. His birthday is in a couple of weeks and it looks like it will be another blue-and-red-tank-engine-fest. Both boys are re-discovering Veggie Tales and enjoy singing along with those songs and any other praise songs I can come up with. They have no idea that most of these songs I am teaching them were old when I was little. "Somewhere in Outer Space/God has prepared a place/for those that trust Him and obey"
Lisa is still soldering on. We have made a renewed effort to get the house in a form that is presentable for guests to come over. It is pretty lonely for her when she can't have any friends over, and right now it is halfway decent. She works harder than a lot of able-bodied people I have met. It looks like Social Security is going to come through and label her as 'disabled'. It was pretty funny the letter they sent telling what they thought she was able to do at a job. She could stand for 30 minutes a day, but only for 5 minutes at a time. She could only sit for 30 minutes a day, and that was only 10 minutes at a time. I think she can lift 5 pounds. So, anyone know a job where she can lay down most of the day and not lift a finger? That is the only one Social Security says she is fit for. LOL. We also have what we think is going to be good news from the hematologist. It looks like the blood clot she developed last year is gone, and we are expecting her to be taken off the blood thinner soon. From what we can tell this should've happened nearly a year ago. It is true that you have to stay on top of your treatment, Doctor's these days just don't have the time to personalize like they used to. We are hoping this will bring us one step closer to surgery and recovery.
I am doing pretty much the same. I am still at Avaya and have now broken my record for staying at one job while in the state of Colorado. I am also approaching my record for living in one house and have possibly broken that. Is it possible I might have settled somewhere? It is too early to tell, but let's not give up hope. My contract here is up in October, but they might extend it for another year, so that is a good thought to have. I have been working on my poetry quite a bit and just the other day wrote a decent sized praise song in spanish. Must say, I was pretty proud of that. Mostly I am just working at doing my job and making our family the best it can be for Lisa and the boys. We have instituted "Family Fun Days" and on one of my days off a week, we try to spend most of the day doing something fun, and inexpensive. Trying to make those special memories for everyone. We had a lot of fun on the Fourth of July. Our little green space in front of our house seemed to be in the middle of 4 or 5 fireworks displays and we spent the evening spinning around, trying to see it all at the same time. It was a lot of fun.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you and yours are enjoying life.
God Bless,
Jeff
New Features
If you notice over there on the right we have a couple of new features. If you have an RSS reader there is an RSS feed. If you would rather get updates via email, well, you can do that too. Also, drop off a comment and let us know what you think.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Starting it up
The plan has always been for this to be a place where friends and family can come and get the latest information regarding our family. With that thought in mind I decided I would go ahead and get this started. If you found us on Facebook, Welcome! Read on and get a little more acquainted with us. Also if you are a longtime friend, it is nice to see you. If you are a new friend we are excited to meet you. If you are family, when can we send the boys to visit? %)
I guess the best way to get started is to go down the list and give you a little bit of what the status quo of each of us is. I will start with me and work my way down the list. Just for a head's up, this is Jeff. Lisa will be posting whenever she feels up to it, but in general I will be your tour guide.
Jeff:
I am working at Avaya as an AudioConferencing Specialist on a one-year contract. This has the possibility of going permanent and due to delays in the implementing of one of our projects, my one year clock has not started ticking, even though I have been here since October. We have struggled in recent years for me to find a stable position with a steady income and though this isn't permanent it seems to be the best place for me now. If you see me online or notice posts late at night, that is because I am working the overnight shift, from 9:45 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. this actually works out well since I am a bit of a night owl and I get to be around my family more this way. My health is fine and I have been enjoying my church quite a bit. I recently set up a Facebook account and am getting a big kick from reconnecting with old friends and getting to know better others. I also am updating a poetry blog of my work on a regular basis, http://spunthreads.blogspot.com.
Lisa:
Her health is still a big issue as it has been for the last while. It seems that her back pain gets worse by the hour with no end in sight. We have delayed having another surgery for a year now due to a blood clot that formed and blood thinners she was put on. It seems like they still want her to stay on the thinners so no surgery yet. Recently her surgeon said he would also like her to lose some weight. we are looking into the best way to do that, but it is very hard to do with her back the way it is. Her back has also put so much strain on her knees that they are giving her a lot of trouble now. This is all very hard on her. she wants to do more around the house and I know she misses work and the interaction with people. I think the highlight of her week is grocery shopping. %) Through it all she keeps a great attitude and keeps active in the house, cooking meals as she is able and taking care of the kids throughout the day. One of her most impressive accomplishments come from some work she has done online. Through her ability to hunt things down on the web she has been able to save us 50 - 70% regularly on our grocery bills. We also were able to give the boys some name brand toys for Christmas at a fraction of their retail price, sometimes for free. If you are looking for a bargain, Lisa is da man! or da WOman! or whatever...%) If you are interested in how she does it, I am sure she would love to talk to you about it.
David:
David is sailing through Kindergarten right now. He is in his last quarter, I think that is how it is divided, and he loves every minute of school. He is reading way above grade level and making lots of friends. We are very proud of him. He also is crazy about the computer, especially the Webkinz site where he does stuff with the Alley Cat we got him for Christmas. We haven't started any sports yet this year, but I am sure baseball and soccer are going to be starting soon. Other interests include Transformers Animated, Power Rangers (much to his daddy's chagrin) and Ben 10, which he has me hooked on. I know its for kids but really its cool. No REALLY it is. Ya see there is this kid that find this watch and with it he turns into these cool aliens and...umm..uhh...anyway..well, never mind. David spend a lot of time running around the house vanquishing the forces of evil. Well, the forces of evil and his little brother. He also seems to really enjoy going to big kid church, and asking me all kinds of questions that are impossible to answer. The other day he got injured and was complaining that Eve convinced Adam to eat the apple and so sin entered the world and so pain entered the world and so his scrape on his knee hurt. He was very angry with Eve. At least I know he has been paying attention.
Andrew:
Andrew spends most of his day at home with Lisa, we had to stop day care when I took this job. He still spends a lot of the day "chugging" his trains, of which Thomas the Tank Engine is the perennial favorite. His ability to string complexes sentences together amazes us daily, as does his vocabulary. "Mommy, how are you feeling? Is your heart happy? Your mind OK?" Next he will be asking us if we are satisfied with our lot in life. He is almost unfailingly polite, through no fault of mine, and can actually be defiant and polite at the same time. Of course, it is incredibly cute now, but in ten years we will be pulling our hair out over all this. Andrew loves playing games, but has a hard time remembering to keep all the pieces in one place. He also loves having us tell him stories and then trying to get us to repeat them weeks later. On night, late at night, after he had gotten up for the umpteenth time, Lisa, in her drug numbed and sleep addled state, told him some story about Thomas that she only vaguely remembers doing. Andrew asks her to repeat it on a regular basis and will correct her if she gets it wrong. Of course since no one in the family actually remembers the story he tends to get a little frustrated with us. David believes he is old enough to do anything and Andrew believes that he can make all important decisions for himself. We are trying to disavow them of these silly notions.
Well that kind of brings you up-to-date as to where we are now. As new things happen I will post to keep everyone on top of things. So it is tootle-oo for now and drop us a line. We would really like to hear from you. Oh, and if you are family, seriously, the boys would love to come visit and give their parents a break. Really, just for a couple of weeks. We could get David all his school assignments in advance. Wait! Stop running! Come back, NOW!
I guess the best way to get started is to go down the list and give you a little bit of what the status quo of each of us is. I will start with me and work my way down the list. Just for a head's up, this is Jeff. Lisa will be posting whenever she feels up to it, but in general I will be your tour guide.
Jeff:
I am working at Avaya as an AudioConferencing Specialist on a one-year contract. This has the possibility of going permanent and due to delays in the implementing of one of our projects, my one year clock has not started ticking, even though I have been here since October. We have struggled in recent years for me to find a stable position with a steady income and though this isn't permanent it seems to be the best place for me now. If you see me online or notice posts late at night, that is because I am working the overnight shift, from 9:45 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. this actually works out well since I am a bit of a night owl and I get to be around my family more this way. My health is fine and I have been enjoying my church quite a bit. I recently set up a Facebook account and am getting a big kick from reconnecting with old friends and getting to know better others. I also am updating a poetry blog of my work on a regular basis, http://spunthreads.blogspot.com.
Lisa:
Her health is still a big issue as it has been for the last while. It seems that her back pain gets worse by the hour with no end in sight. We have delayed having another surgery for a year now due to a blood clot that formed and blood thinners she was put on. It seems like they still want her to stay on the thinners so no surgery yet. Recently her surgeon said he would also like her to lose some weight. we are looking into the best way to do that, but it is very hard to do with her back the way it is. Her back has also put so much strain on her knees that they are giving her a lot of trouble now. This is all very hard on her. she wants to do more around the house and I know she misses work and the interaction with people. I think the highlight of her week is grocery shopping. %) Through it all she keeps a great attitude and keeps active in the house, cooking meals as she is able and taking care of the kids throughout the day. One of her most impressive accomplishments come from some work she has done online. Through her ability to hunt things down on the web she has been able to save us 50 - 70% regularly on our grocery bills. We also were able to give the boys some name brand toys for Christmas at a fraction of their retail price, sometimes for free. If you are looking for a bargain, Lisa is da man! or da WOman! or whatever...%) If you are interested in how she does it, I am sure she would love to talk to you about it.
David:
David is sailing through Kindergarten right now. He is in his last quarter, I think that is how it is divided, and he loves every minute of school. He is reading way above grade level and making lots of friends. We are very proud of him. He also is crazy about the computer, especially the Webkinz site where he does stuff with the Alley Cat we got him for Christmas. We haven't started any sports yet this year, but I am sure baseball and soccer are going to be starting soon. Other interests include Transformers Animated, Power Rangers (much to his daddy's chagrin) and Ben 10, which he has me hooked on. I know its for kids but really its cool. No REALLY it is. Ya see there is this kid that find this watch and with it he turns into these cool aliens and...umm..uhh...anyway..well, never mind. David spend a lot of time running around the house vanquishing the forces of evil. Well, the forces of evil and his little brother. He also seems to really enjoy going to big kid church, and asking me all kinds of questions that are impossible to answer. The other day he got injured and was complaining that Eve convinced Adam to eat the apple and so sin entered the world and so pain entered the world and so his scrape on his knee hurt. He was very angry with Eve. At least I know he has been paying attention.
Andrew:
Andrew spends most of his day at home with Lisa, we had to stop day care when I took this job. He still spends a lot of the day "chugging" his trains, of which Thomas the Tank Engine is the perennial favorite. His ability to string complexes sentences together amazes us daily, as does his vocabulary. "Mommy, how are you feeling? Is your heart happy? Your mind OK?" Next he will be asking us if we are satisfied with our lot in life. He is almost unfailingly polite, through no fault of mine, and can actually be defiant and polite at the same time. Of course, it is incredibly cute now, but in ten years we will be pulling our hair out over all this. Andrew loves playing games, but has a hard time remembering to keep all the pieces in one place. He also loves having us tell him stories and then trying to get us to repeat them weeks later. On night, late at night, after he had gotten up for the umpteenth time, Lisa, in her drug numbed and sleep addled state, told him some story about Thomas that she only vaguely remembers doing. Andrew asks her to repeat it on a regular basis and will correct her if she gets it wrong. Of course since no one in the family actually remembers the story he tends to get a little frustrated with us. David believes he is old enough to do anything and Andrew believes that he can make all important decisions for himself. We are trying to disavow them of these silly notions.
Well that kind of brings you up-to-date as to where we are now. As new things happen I will post to keep everyone on top of things. So it is tootle-oo for now and drop us a line. We would really like to hear from you. Oh, and if you are family, seriously, the boys would love to come visit and give their parents a break. Really, just for a couple of weeks. We could get David all his school assignments in advance. Wait! Stop running! Come back, NOW!
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