Updates

We still haven't received anything from Estonia, but we have heard they are working on it. We also received 2 new forms to fill out and send back. It feels good to have an assignment.:) It is unlikely that we will be travelling this summer even if we get the documents today. We still need to file our I-800 with USCIS, and I'm guessing that will take at least 6 weeks to process. Then we have to send the approval to Estonia and wait for a court date. The courts close around July 10th and don't reopen until the last week of August,so our chances are pretty slim.:( I'm not really stressing about it, just accepting the idea. Who knows, maybe we will get amazingly lucky, and the papers will come this week. Maybe USCIS will only take 2 weeks, and maybe Estonia will give us a summer court date. Here's hoping!:)

Dan is having a cat scan of his heart today. We are not sure what the doctor is looking for. We were told the ultrasound looked the same as the last one. The last one was supposedly "normal",so why the cat scan? Dan's doctor tends to be verycautious. Hopefully, things are fine.

I ended up having a cortisone injection last Wednesday. I was so scared, but it was fine and not painful. I did have lots of pain over the weekend, though. On Monday morning, my foot felt less numb. The numbness comes right back as soon as I start moving around, but it is less than before. I opted to try another shot yesterday. This one was much more uncomfortable! Afterward, my leg was completely gone. I couldn't even stand up without holding on to something. It hurts ALOT!!! I couldn't go to work today. :( Hopefully, this one works better than the first. If I feel better in a few days, I will have 1 last shot. That is not something I really want to do, but I will if it means I can avoid surgery. It will be a huge bummer if I end up with surgery after putting myself through this!!!!

This has been another grumbling kind of post, sorry. I do have some happier news. Garrett has made the decision to attend the Vineyard Christian School next year.:) We both believe it is a good choice for him. I know it will come with its own set of challenges, but I think he will be happier there. It was an incredibly hard choice for him to make. He loves drama, choir and band, and none of those things will be available to him at VCS. We are hoping to get him involved with one of the teen worship bands there. We are also considering voice lessons and helping him to start an improv club at the school. He may be allowed to swim with the EL team. He will not be on the team and his times will only count for exhibition. Garrett is not competetive enough to care about that. He just wants to swim.

Meredith just celebrated her 14th birthday on April 6th. She is doing very well! She has been asked to join the dance team at church. They perform periodically at the teen worship service. She also has been struggling to fit in, so this is a huge answer to prayer, and a boost to her self-esteem. I need to set up an appointment with the high school guidance counselor to enroll Meredith in band and choir at EL. She wants to continue homeschooling, so I will be trying out high school for the first time. I need to do some homework myself to prepare!!

Connor is also doing well. He is riding his unicycle all over the neighborhood. He sometimes goes 2 miles or more! He is hoping to play spring soccer. He and Meredith are enjoying their parts in the middle school play. Right now, he is working hard to get an A in Algebra this quarter. We just learned that all 7th graders who have less than a 90 average for the year will have to re-take Algebra 1. Connor is NOT happy about this! He is pulling an 88. We were thrilled with that. Connor can be a perfectionist, so we were pleased that he was satisfied with a B. He could have gotten an A all year with a little extra effort. We honestly didn't care if he didn't get into Honors Geometry next year. We just want him to continue to enjoy math. The school has decided that if the students aren't ready for honors level, they shouldn't take geometry until the are ready. The reason I put Connor in school for math is so that I wouldn't have to teach Geometry!!! Yuck! There is no way he will agree to repeat Algebra 1. So, I'm praying he pulls off a high A this quarter!!

There is not much to report on Gavin. He is enjoying our pirate unit study. He has had a blast with co-op this year. He has lots of friends there. We spent an afternoon at the park with co-op friends on Tuesday. It was so nice to sit out in the sun!!!

Medical Stuff

Yesterday, Dan had a 1-yr. follow-up ultrasound of his heart. Last year, the doctor had thought the base of Dan's aorta was enlarged. He put Dan on blood pressure medication and ordered a follow-up ultrasound. The second ultrasound showed a perfectly normal heart and aorta, so the plan was made to take another look in one year. That was yesterday. We are hoping and expecting the results to be normal, but we will be happier once we have heard them.

The day before yesterday, I got the results from my recent MRI. It appears that the same disc L4-L5 has herniated again.:( The radiologist also noted that the L5 vertebrae is slightly tipped out of alignment which may have been a contributing factor in the disc herniating twice. The neurologist who read the MRI is recommending a series of cortisone injections. We have decided to ask for a second opinion. The doctor I saw only does the procedure on Wednesdays and Thursdays which are my work days. I have no benefit time left, so I really can't afford to take off the time. I am also terrified of the procedure itself, and he doesn't offer sedation. There are other local doctors who do the procedure on different days. They also offer sedation for whimps like me. My other reason for wanting a second opinion is that the doctor originally told me he didn't think cortisone injections would help my symptoms of numbness and muscle weakness, and felt they were "not good". At the second appointment he called the same symptoms "not bad", and seemed to dismiss them. Maybe, what he saw on the MRI caused his change of opinion, but he didn't explain it well enough to me.