Vacation Bible School 2011

It is hard to believe that I have a child old enough to attend VBS.  I better start getting used to it though because as she informed me yet again today, “Mommy, I have to grow up.  I need to get bigger so I can be a mommy someday…”.

We continue to pray that our kids would accept Jesus as their savior soon and we are so grateful that our church is doing their part as well to try and reinforce that hope.  As I was standing in the back of the room waiting for them to dismiss the kids the other day I heard our pastor talking to the group of kids (maybe 50 or so) about how simple it was to be a Christian, yet how important that decision is for eternity.  He also was sharing to those who were already believers the importance to share that faith with your friends.  I was encouraged, and I only heard the last 5 minutes when I came to pick her up! 

A friend took some pictures for me today of Lauren’s pre-school group.  Here are a few to share….

Lauren with one of her friends, Leah

Working on a craft

Game time

The pre-school group

A Schutt Day Off

It has been quite a while since we have had a day off, at home, with nothing scheduled on the calendar.  The weather was nice and the kids have been itching to get out fishing so we seized the opportunity and headed out to camp with our fishing poles.  We started off our time with digging for some worms (which I failed to get a picture of).  Believe it or not but our girly girl was the one to get right in there and grabs the worms.  Jack on the other hand warmed up to the idea after a while but it was not what he was thinking a fun time would be! 

Then we headed down to the water front and loaded the kids in the boat.  Low and behold after the first cast Jesse and Lauren caught a fish.  Jack and I weren’t too far behind but it did take us a few more casts than one!  We enjoyed the evening together and caught a handful of sunfish and blue gills.  Now that the day is gone the kids have been talking about when we get to go fishing again.  We are so grateful for these moments that we can share with our kids and grateful also for a camera to help us remember those precious times.  Here are a few pictures of our adventure!

The first catch of the day.  Lauren was SO excited.

Though his face doesn’t show it here he was excited to get a fish also!

My dear sweet Avie.  What a joy she is to have around.  Give her a few years and she’ll have a pole in her hand too! 

A Medical Adventure

Last Wednesday and Thursday were days off for me and so April and I worked hard on moving firewood as well as beginning to re-roof our house.  At the end of the day on Thursday I was pretty sore from all the bending, lifting, and balancing on the roof.  Nearly 10 years ago I had a back surgery, so I’m not new to lower back pain.  But I was a little surprised at the amount of pain that persisted in my right flank, back, and groin.  After eating supper, the first of several episodes began as my body attempted to expel the kidney stone.  I wasn’t sure what was happening; I just knew I hadn’t felt pain like that before.  Around 9:30, after the second episode, we decided that we had better head into the ER.  A fellow Kidney-stoner, Herbie, along with Lisa were kind enough to come over at a moments notice to stay with the kids.

Once in the ER, I was taken in for a CT scan.  The radiologist confirmed that I had one kidney stone in my right kidney and it was about 5mm in size.  According to the Dr. that is right at the threshold of what a person can pass on their own.  So he prescribed some pain killers and some meds to help with the nausea.  We went back home and spent the rest of the night trying to manage the episodes.  They would range from 20 minutes to over an hour in duration.

Friday and Saturday were spent much the same as Thursday night.  But on Sunday morning the episodes became too strong to bear, so we headed back in to the ER (Thank you to Laura H for coming and keeping Jack and Lauren entertained!).  As this was our second trip to Medford, they immediately put in an IV and upped the strength of my medication.  That helped quite a bit in me getting comfortable.  After a few hours on the IV, they prescribed a tougher narcotic, scheduled an appointment with Urology in Wausau, and sent us on our way.

Right away in the morning on Monday we contacted the Urology department and traveled down to the hospital for x-rays and consultation.  After some conversation with the Dr. we decided the best approach would be to have an outpatient surgery as soon as possible.  So at 2:30 I was prepped and soon after the IV went in, it was lights-out for me!  The surgery was only about 50 minutes and they were able to remove the entire stone.  They did place a stent in one of the ureters, and so I will have to have that removed later this week.

At this point I’m feeling much better, without any of the painful episodes like before.  However, I’ve been immobilized for a few days, so moving around is a bit slow.  I’m sure that will change quickly over the next few days.

Again, thank you for your calls and prayers - It’s been an experience that opened a whole new threshold of pain for me.  I don’t know how I could have endured without the Lord, my wife’s patient care, and your thoughts.

PS - DRINK YOUR WATER!!!