Jeff is gone to God's Bible School

On August 15, Jeffrey flew away to become a student at God's Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio. These pictures are from the night before he left.
Daddy and Jeffrey

Mother and Jeffrey

These were taken at Federal Heights during the Sunday School in the evening. Jeffrey did the story since it was three days after Mother's chemo and she wasn't up to it.

Jeffrey has been such a blessing in the Federal Heights work. He has been the song leader for quite awhile. Now I am doing that part. He has also been great at inviting kids and remembering where everybody lives on his route. We really miss him at home and in this ministry, but we know God has plans for his life, and he must prepare for them.

What we do most evenings...

We take a walk somewhere in our neighborhood. It is healthy for both of us. Usually some of our children walk with us. It is good "together time" to talk over the day's happenings. I'm thankful for a safe town that we can walk in. Usually we try to vary our walks from evening to evening, enjoy different flowers, or neighbors, or yard landscapings.... This picture is on the track around the high school football field.

Recent Quilting Projects

This is Mother's latest finished quilt. It is a Five Stripe pattern and is very similar to the one she made for Seth and Alesia Stevenson. She had so many blocks left over, she had to make another. It is oversized, so will work on a King or a Queen former waterbed, like theirs. No more fighting over covers! The cedar chest at the end of the bed is Emily's, which Grandpa Scoles made for her this summer while she was at Joplin.

This is the quilt top Mother made especially for Brent and Alicia Susan, our dear friends who live in Pennsylvania. They picked the fabrics and the pattern (Clay's Choice) when they were visiting us in February. Mother is going to send it to them to be quilted and finished in Pennsylvania.

This is the quilt I (Beth) have started. The top left of the picture, you can see the printout of the pattern the quilt will be. I scanned my fabrics and then created the pattern in Photoshop. I found out it is hard to put a quilt together when you make up the pattern yourself!

Part of what I have together so far. Other things have gotten in the way of completing it so far, but Mother will make sure I stick with it and get it done eventually.

August 24 50th birthday for Janet

Even though this was #50 birthday for me, we didn't think we would be up to having a party. So Beth called and emailed people asking for a card shower for me. As a result, I have heard via cards, email and Facebook from lots more people than could've come for a party!

So far, 103 cards have come; 10 e-cards, over 140 greetings on Facebook. The beautiful roses are a gift from Kevin and Bonnie Peterson, long time homeschool and family friends. The gorgeous Cala Lily is a gift from homeschool friend, Karen Weaver. The shoes are from Rowen; the new mp3 player is from my children. Emily got the Symphony bar and Sunny D for me. (Sunny D being one of the things that tastes good to me during this time, and Symphony being my favorite candy bar!) The box of toffee and the note pad on the right are gifts from Randy and Kelly Kaus, great homeschool and home church friends. The bird card by the shoes is hand drawn by our friend, Beth Ann Worden, from Kremmling, Co. She is Beth's pen pal and is amazingly talented in so many ways, but when we got this in the mail, we realized she is a pencil artist, as well! There are lots of beautiful, uplifting, and funny cards in that pile of cards. If they are still in any envelope, that means they are beautified by glitter.
Oops, I just realized one of the gifts I received is not in the picture. Sunshine Gearhart, another great homeschool friend, gave me a Pampered Chef kitchen gadget for stirring things, beating eggs, etc. Sorry I had already put it in the drawer before the picture!
We enjoyed eating out at Texas Roadhouse in Greeley. Steak tastes yummy to me, where most things don't taste like they normally do while I'm 'under the influence' of chemotherapy.
Thank you to each one who reached out to me with love, prayers, cards, gifts, and thoughts for my birthday!

Book Review: Life Everlasting by Robert Whitlow

Life Everlasting by Robert Whitlow

Can God heal in ways that we have never experienced or imagined? Is there power to heal in God’s Word and in music? How can a person know whether someone is telling the truth? These are questions I asked as I read this book.

There are so many angles of interest in this book: ethical dilemmas surrounding a comatose patient, legal maneuverings to conceal or reveal truth, proper responses to the use or withdrawal of talents, sharing of the gospel of Christ, and even a little romance.

Lawyer Alexis Lindale must sort through the confusion to be on truth’s side as she deals with manipulative, dangerous, comatose, and damaged people. The priority has to be “life everlasting.”

When I received this book to review, I did not know it was Book 2 in a series. As I read, I knew I was missing some of the pieces to the puzzle. I finished reading it, read Book 1 (Life Support), and then read Life Everlasting again. I enjoyed the book both times I read it. The characters are interesting and spontaneous, and there is surprise and suspense throughout. I chose to read this book because of my nursing background and interest in the plight of the comatose patient. I was intrigued and entertained by this book. I recommend it highly.

I received a free copy of Life Everlasting from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for this review.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

4th chemo treatment today, 2/3 done!

Hi everybody,

Thanks for the prayers for my health and my chemo treatments. Number 4 went well today. I think I feel better tonight than I have felt after any of the treatments so far. Everybody says I am looking good. I don't know what that means. Maybe they expected me to look worse! I felt like going to Sams Club after the chemo, so I did that with Jeffrey and Beth, who hung out with me today. Part of the time, they had to stay in the lobby, as there were so many patients today. As I look around at the other people going through treatment, I realize how blessed I am to be well and healthy! So many people have a much harder road to travel than I do. Rowen and I had a long walk this evening, and I know that the walking is good to work the chemicals through my body and help to get them processed and out of me quicker. I am thankful for such a loving and supportive family to stand by me and love me through this!

I will still be on steroids through tomorrow, and I found out last time that the extra steroids keep me feeling "up" for a day or so longer than earlier in the treatments. Last time, I still felt relatively well through Sunday, and Monday was the day I started the bone pain. By Wednesday and Thursday, I was having the gastritis symptoms, but not as badly as the first time through, before I went on Prilosec (Omeprazole). By Thursday evening, I was over most of the symptoms and then had a good two weeks of feeling pretty "normal." I was even normal enough to tackle cleaning our three bathrooms yesterday, which I haven't done since my surgery in April! (Don't worry, they have been cleaned regularly by my right hand girl, Beth!)

My eye lashes and eyebrows are thinning out, so I think they will be leaving me eventually. My blood counts have stayed good, with just a little anemia, and plenty of white blood cells.

My next treatment will be September 1. Tomorrow afternoon, I will go in for the extra bag of fluids, and the Neulasta shot. Sixth and final chemo will be September 22!

I want to thank everyone again for every prayer prayed for me and for so many people who have sent encouraging cards to me. God has been my joy, my help, my strength, my healing, and my encouragement in answer to the many prayers. I could not make it without His touch!

Love,
Janet Albertson

Visit from Tim and Brenda, and Emily is home!

We left Emily in Missouri with Tim and Brenda on June 27. On July 28, Tim and Brenda brought her back home.
This is Thursday evening on our sunset walk around Johnstown Lake.

They surprised us by coming overnight, and that way we got to be with them most of the day Thursday through Monday 1:15 pm when they left for home. It was so good to have them with us. We spent Friday in the mountains, a welcome relief from busyness and heat! What a gorgeous day!


Like I said, it was a gorgeous day in the mountains!
We climbed the tower at the Dam Store because it had been so many years since we had... Brenda took this picture.

We hiked up to this waterfall at the alluvial fan of the Lawn Lake Flood of 1982. This is in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It was so refreshing to sit beside the waterfall and enjoy the coolness, the spray, the sight and sound of the waterfall.

These next few pictures were taken around the waterfall or that hike.







Later, Rowen, Brenda, and Janet walked around Lily Lake. It was a nice, easy walk. The kids took the mountain climb and met us afterwards.

It actually was cool when the wind was blowing over the lake!

After getting home from the mountains, we were privileged to have Jason and Tammy Dodson, Liliana and Lydia, for supper and the evening. They are on their way to China. We are glad we got to see them before they left!

How does our garden grow?

We got a late start on our garden this year, but it has been a good year with no hail storms. The hair scared away the rabbits, so our garden grows well! We have eaten a lot of lettuce. The tomatoes are still green.

We have been eating zucchini for a couple of weeks. Spaghetti squash are on the left side.

These pictures were taken before the first green bean picking.
Yesterday, Jeffrey picked the first green beans. Beth snapped and canned 9 quarts for us. This is her first time to do it all alone, and it was one of her goals for the summer. Great job, Beth!!

3rd chemo day--half way done with treatment

Here's part of our day in pictures. - captions by Beth

The first thing is getting a tube hooked up to the port, and drawing blood to test. (The blue thing hanging down in front is the tube connection.) Also, you've just got to chat with whichever nurse is serving at the moment. This is Kathy; she was Mother's main nurse today.


We are thankful for nurses who both have a good sense of humor... they keep people coming back--that's for sure. (We actually can't decide if patients want to come back because of the entertainment the two provide, or if it's that they HAVE to come for chemo!)


This is the computer that they type all sorts of information about your vitals and meds in...


Then it's time to get weighed. (The blood they drew is being tested.)


The Medical Assistant, Aubrey, has to check blood-pressure, temperature, etc. and verify medications/vitamins being taken at home.


Mother had a "steroid glow" at this point. First thing when we get to chemo they have to ask her her name and birthdate, which are both on the label (that's on her arm in this picture), to make sure she's the right person!


Visit with Dr. Ann Stroh and check-up is next.


This is the other nurse, April, in her blue gown. The nurses have to wear one of these every time they hook someone up to a new bag of chemo, and dispose thereof in bio-hazard containers. (She was helping someone else in this picture.)


Chemo infusion time.
(Actually, Mother gets some preliminary "juices", before the two chemo meds, and gets flushed with normal saline and heparin at the end.)
This picture was taken right before she hooked up the second chemo. The chemo comes in this big "ziplock" bag; and then the blue gown, gloves, and the first (now empty) chemo bag is put in the "ziplock" bag, and disposed of in a bio-hazard bin.


Mother's reading this book to review it for BookSneeze. I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture of her in her chair today.


Lots of documentation on the computer ...


We didn't get a picture, but we always (three times hand running) have a picnic, because of being there over the lunch hour. Today we brought zucchini cake to share with the nurses and patients.

-----
Chemo 3 report - from Janet

Everything went well today. I took the steroids pills yesterday and that was successful in preventing a reaction like I had last time. Tomorrow I go back for the extra fluid and Neulasta shot. My labs were good. I am a little high on wbcs and a little low on rbcs and platelets, but not enough to be concerned. The Neulasta shot is working, causing my wbcs to stay up there!

If this round is like last time, Sunday will be my hardest day with bone pain from the Neulasta shot. The pain will start on Saturday and last until Wednesday, but lessening each day after Sunday. By next Thursday, I trust I will be feeling mostly normal again. The Prilosec (omeprazole) I take every day for the gastritis symptoms I had the first time, really really helped those symptoms. So I am very thankful for that.

Right now, I feel kinda fuzzy headed and a little bleary, but otherwise good. I am drinking lots of water to flush the drugs so they don't hurt my bladder or kidneys. I will even drink in the night and get up to the bathroom several times in the night. We will take a walk tonight, as is our usual evening activity.

Thank you to each one who is praying for me. God is faithfully helping me. Pray for me on Sunday. I would love to have the pain under control and be able to go to the Sunday School ministry, even if I am in the pew, not doing the story. I love those kids and hate missing every third Sunday.

Jeffrey's 20 today!

On this date, 20 years ago, our family was blessed with our 3rd boy, Jeffrey David Albertson. From the first, Jeffrey was an "easier" child than our earlier models. When I think back on Jeffrey's childhood, I can only remember two really "bad" things that he did. Once he went under the school table, that was disguised as a tent with a blanket over it, and when he came out the front part of his hair was missing! I've told him many times since then, that is why his hair doesn't lay down properly in the front! The other time, we had company, and the adults were busy visiting upstairs. Jeffrey slipped away, got into the game cupboard, and emptied the contents of every game into a pile, and mixed it all up together! That took hours to reorganize.
But most of the memories of Jeffrey as a child are of sweetness, diligence, gentle spirit, helpfulness...About the time he was born, Rowen and I were exposed to more homeschool resources, Christian parenting resources, and after learning a lot of new information, we were ready to be better parents. Thankfully, it wasn't too late for our older two and they benefited from our increased wisdom too.
A couple of pictures from the past...Jeffrey around his first birthday

Jeffrey when he was three years old

I love the expressions of sweetness and joy.
More lately, Jeffrey at Johnstown Lake, wearing the Ukrainian cap he got on his 2009 construction trip to Ukraine. Jeffrey also had the privilege of a Haiti trip in 2009.

Jeffrey is leaving August 15 for college in Cincinnati, OH. We appreciate Jeffrey's commitment to God's ways. He has been such a blessing in our home, helpful and kind, looking for ways to help. He has been a diligent worker and closing manager at our local ACE Hardware store for two years. He has learned much about thinking through people's problems and how to help them. He has a heart for children, and doing God's will above all. We love you, Jeffrey! We are going to miss you like crazy! But we always want you to obey God in everything!