Update

Due to Eric's illness, Katie's surgery was postponed in Sept. We have now rescheduled her surgery with an excellent local physician. She'll have outpatient surgery on Fri. Nov 2nd at Cox South hospital in Springfield. I REALLY like her surgeon and I've worked with him for several years now. She will have to be in a cast/splint for six weeks after her surgery.

Love,
Lori for the Cohen family

Poem

I found this yesterday and I have been so moved by it. I have long loved Maya Angelou, as so many have, and she has so perfectly described my feelings about my faith in this poem.

Christians - By Maya Angelou

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting, "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!


Quote of the Day: "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela

Refrigerator Contest

Ryan came to me all distraught on Friday morning. "Mama, something terrible is happening."

I'm thinking his brother has stuck one of his Thomas Trains down his pants again, but he elaborates. "The My Refrigerator Contest on SproutOnline.com is over on October 15th!!!"

He is upset because he wants to enter this contest - he promptly spouts off all the rules and the possible prize of a computer being delivered to our house by a "special sprout friend" who he is convinced is Barney. Now I'm not sure Eric could handle it if Barney ever visited our house, as his dislike for this giant purple dinosaur is surpassed only his hatred of the Wiggles and Teletubbies/Boobah.

(I can't conceive that any of our friends or relations reading this would not know who these vital cultural icons of the toddler/preschool world are, but the "Sprout" television channel is PBS' kids channel that offers 24-7 kids TV. We only let the kids watch Sprout, Nick Jr. and Noggin and they watch WAY too much TV. We are trying to remedy this and to some degree, it is getting better.)

To continue the story, we brainstorm about ideas and I printed out a bunch of coloring pages from the website at work on Fri. am. Ryan spent all day coloring - with Katie and Alex's help.

Then I was up until late last night getting everything else cut out and assembled so that, this morning, we have created and submitted our masterpiece for the contest. I'm warning Ryan not to get too excited, that the chances of our winning are not too good. But, at least, disaster has been averted for now and he had a good time entering the contest.

Now if only I can get some sleep....

A Day Out With Thomas

The whole family trekked down to Oklahoma City on Saturday morning for A Day Out With Thomas. We had a train ride on Thomas and there were kids activities and photos with Sir Topamhat. It was a bit hot - but the kids loved it. They all got tattoos and balloon animals.
Then we went swimming at the hotel pool that night.

Sunday morning we went to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Katie loved the elephants. Alex most loved the playground and the new pink umbrella stroller we bought. He wanted to stay in it all day and refused to let Katie sit in it. She didn't seem to care much so we mostly avoided major squabbling. Ryan loved the cheetahs (he was fascinated by the fact that they are the fastest land animals - "you're kidding!" he said when I told him.) Then he started making up "poems" about each of the animals we saw. Mostly these were long monologues about whatever popped into his head at that given moment. This was all fine until Eric started making up poems about the animals and some un-called for comparisons were made between Mama and the pygmy hippopotamus.

I was fascinated by the gorillas - there were quite a lot of them in separated areas - two big silverback males and two babies. They were stunning and I could have watched them for hours.

The kids were really good on the 4.5 hour drive home and napped for awhile. I do think if I never see another episode of "The Wonder Pets" ever in my life it will be too soon.

Monday morning Eric took all three of the kids to school. Ryan said to him, "Hey Daddy, remember when we went to the zoo? It seems like it was just yesterday...."