Grace's Birthday Cont.

To celebrate Grace's birthday we decided to go to Dollywood and bring a couple of Grace's friends. We are about 20 miles from it so we bought season passes. Dollywood, for those who not followers of Dolly Parton or do not live in the Southeast, it is an amusement park replete with terrific rollercoasters (seriously) and of course canned Dolly music plays throughout. It was Memorial Day so we thought it would be croweded but with the threat of rain looming, it kept people away. We had a great time and the skies broke as soon as we were leaving Pigeon Forge. I have disparaged Pigeon Forge earlier but it is growing on me. We found the old part of town aptly named Old Mill. Very charming with a real working mill.

A couple of days later one of Grace's friends had been out of town and had missed the day we went and wondered if it was too late to go. Of course not. So we went to again. Unfortunatly I was sick so I dragged myself around while the girls rode ride after ride. Once again, there was a threat of rain. We are prepared for such an event with disposable rain ponchos. It came down for a ten minute period during that time they decided to go on the water rides. They had a blast (literally). While we were there a huge family was enjoying the day. We found out that the had their own show called 18 kids and Counting(?) I have never seen it but Hope overheard them talking about it with other park patrons. We had great fun and plan on going back June 12 the Kratt Brothers from the PBS show, Zaboomafoo are here (this show I know).

Birthday Week 2009

Well, we have just come through a week that included my birthday and also Grace's birthday. I remember hoping that Grace would be born on my birthday. Now that she is 12, that just simply would not have worked! She is awesome, but likes her own stuff and would not want to share her day. She started saying at the end of May "it's almost my birthday"!

I worked on my birthday (Thursday) and it was an extremely busy day. We are putting together an employer forum and I am doing much of the legwork. The day was spent contacting and inviting employers and business owners. That evening was spent grilling, relaxing, opening gifts and enjoying family time.
Grace's birthday was yesterday. Most of the day was spent just lounging around the house. Grace chose dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Then it was back home to open presents and a fantastic ice cream cake made by Tina!
All in all it has been a great week! I am counting down the days until this Forum is over when I can breathe again.....

Weather today 87 degrees and absolutely beautiful!!!!

It's Spring In Tennessee!

Along with the spring weather, things have changed. Everything is in bloom, the kudzo is green and the weather is just picture perfect. I recently had my iron level checked and I am in the normal range (by a hair). I have also got a new job at the airport Starbucks and start this Thursday. It was a tough decision and I will miss my friends but I feel like its time.

This weekend was the end of the Dogwood Arts Festival which featured sidewalk arts and miles and miles of dogwood trails along with music and fun. It also was the weekend of the Rosinni Italian Festival. We all saw the opera Don Giovanni and walked around enjoying the sights and sounds of all things Italian (with a touch of Appliachian).

First Post of 2009!

Looking at my last post I see it has been awhile since we've added anything here. Tina has completed a series of iron infusions; seven iron tranfusions in total done at the hospital. They tried her on a different iron and it caused anaphatic shock that shook her up pretty good. She has had two of the IVs infiltrate leaving her bruised and in a lot of pain. She seems to have more energy following this series. But it been pretty rough on her since she has started working again. A couple weeks ago Tina and the girls went to Atlanta to purchase Hope's fencing equipment, the nearest place to purchase such equipment. HVA had started a fencing club that has now developed into a team. Come springtime (wait a minute, isn't it spring!) she will be competing in tournaments. This trip just before Tina's infusions so she was very fatiqued and felt pretty worn out when they got home. I had to work so they went without me. I did get to play a couple rounds of disc golf while they were gone.

Last weekend Hope participated in a shoot for a American Ladders, a commercial that is being shot locally by a group of University of Tennessee students. She is one of the zombies and is the youngest undead. This evening we are going for the final shoot. The students are creating this film to submit it to people who fund such things. All shooting last week was done in a huge warehouse and required multiple shots. It will look pretty neat once it is all edited together.
This past Tuesday we attended our first HVA PTSA meeting. It was pretty interesting to see how other Presidents run the meeting. There was a good turnout and I was not the only dad there! PTA is extremely active here in the Knoxville area. It is great to see all the opportunities that are available and the community support. We served as PTA Board members at the girl's schools and in 13th District in California
for a number of years.
I have been busy in my new job attending networking meetings with other supported employment providers in eastern Tennessee and activities with the Chambers of Commerce. We had a great meeting with a local hotel that could be very advantageous for them and the people we serve.
Most recently, I have been attending Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. The 13 week video version was offered at our church, so I have been attending on Thursday evenings. It comes with a great kit of resources and tools to eventually become debt free. I can't wait to get to that point, house and all!! There is a link to Dave Ramsey's website to the left of this post.
As you can see we have been pretty busy with life here in eastern Tennessee. Tina told me she was driving back from work the other day and thought "I like the south". I agree. It is beautiful. Hearing about the housing market, unemployment, fires, drought and everything else going on around the country, we feel very blessed to be here in a place we really want be. Now that we feel pretty acclimated to this area we have a goal to get out and explore the Smokys and other sites throughout this region. There's alot to do and we can't wait for Spring!!!

I think that might be all for now.

-Norm

Old Year Challenges, New Year For Opportunities

Here on the eve of a new year it is good to reflect on the past year. It has had it's challenges. Tina's surgery, both girls starting new schools, Hope's new dog-Annie, Tina's job ending, balancing finances, I started a new job. But then there are the good things, our new church community, Hope's new dog-Annie, new friends, our small group, learning to play disc golf, discovering new things to see and do. With this coming year I know there will be more challenges and more good things-I look forward to both. God has provided and is still providing in all these situations.
Before Christmas, I sent an email to a friend and former coworker in California. I learned through her "out of office" reply that she would be out until this week. Yesterday, I received a reply and it was great to hear from her. I needed a few forms that were used there and she faithfully attached them to her message. The best part was that she also forwarded my message to other coworkers. I received email messages from her and other coworkers throughout the day. It was great to see messages arrive from friends I had not heard from since moving from California. Almost like letters from home (even though this is our home now). Add these to the good thing list. A great ending to this year. I did make a call to Peggy (another former co-worker) when I got home to catch up with her as well. In my conversation with her I learned that my friend Sam had stopped by and had moved back to California. She will be sending me his contact information. I look forward to catching up with him as well.

Advent Conspiracy

We were introduced to the Advent Conspiracy during last year's Christmas season. Their video presentations really make you rethink Christmas. Here is one from Rick McKinley from Imago Dei in Portland, Oregon. It was presented this morning at Crossings. Please post your thoughts.

-Norm

Joy To The World.........

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare Him room, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven and nature sing, And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world, the Savior reigns! Let men their songs employ; While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders, of His love.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish. John 1:14 (The Message)

Merry Christmas!

Norm, Tina, Hope and Grace

Our Community Is On The Move........

Since May 2008 we have been a part of Crossings, a faith community in Knoxville. We are currently meeting as a community at Downtown West theater in west Knoxville on Sunday mornings, but that is all about to change! We will soon be moving to The Square Room at 4 Market Square (4MS) in Downtown Knoxville. Our first meeting there will be on January 11 with two services. Cafe4 officially opened for business on Monday morning and The Square Room hosted it's first concert on Saturday evening.

WATE aired a report about the Open House of Cafe4 and the Square Room this past Friday evening. It was very cool!

Our family (along with 1,000 other people) had the opportunity to attend.

Have a look....

Eastern Tennessee Honor Choir

Hope was picked by her choir teacher to participate in the East Tennessee Honor Choir. The choir consisted of students from Chatanooga, Knoxville and the Tri-Cities and all points in between. She worked for several weeks on the music at her school then joined the rest of the choir for the last three days. They changed the location of the event; this year it was held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
The place was so packed we had to leave after Hope's portion. It was a bit surreal watching Hope do the same thing I had done Cali with the Bay Area Honor Choir lo many years ago. I've never pushed Hope to singing; she hasn't had that much interest, but she had a great time.

Psalm 100

On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence. Know this: God is God, and God, God. He made us; we didn't make him. We're his people, his well-tended sheep. Enter with the password: "Thank you!"

Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him. For God is sheer beauty, all-generous in love, loyal always and ever. -Psalm 100:1-5


This week-make yourselves at home-thanking God, praising him for all he is!

I'm Back!

I haven't blogged literally in months. While things have been happening, my life changed dramatically. I had no idea what I was in for when I finally visited the doctor about three months ago. I haven't felt really good in so long I can't remember but things started to worsen for me about five months ago. RaChael, Buck and the girls visited us in August and RaChael talked to me about my health and made me promise to go the doctor.

Now I have been to the doctor in California with the same symptoms and was given iron pills and sent on my way; obviously this didn't work. I went to an internist in Knoxville and explained my symptoms. For the first time I felt listened to. I was so relieved and yet confused when the doctor said 'lets get to the bottom of this, I think you are bleeding internally'. I thought there was no way his hunch was right. But since I am at the age when you start getting routine tests done, I just accepted his radical idea.

While I was on a health fishing expedition, all my coworkers were called in to a special meeting with my bosses. We were told that evening that they were closing up shop as of that moment. So while I was waiting for my colonoscopy, I was job hunting. I was interviewed at Target and was offered a job. I told them the only thing in my future was just a routine test. On the following Monday, I went in for my colonoscopy. During the procedure, I noticed the doctor reacting angrily and the situation got tense. After the procedure, I was told that I had two inch polyps in my upper colon and they would need to be removed....and fast. I called Target and told them I would need about ten days to recover from this minor procedure. They were so gracious and would hold my job.

The doctor pushed for the procedure to be done and a week later I was scheduled for the colonectomy. They were to laproscopically remove the portion of the colon the polyps were located. Once I was out I was suprised; what was supposed to be a two to three hour procedure turned out to last I think about eight hours. I was soon given blood transfusions and fluids. RaChael flew in which was an overwhelming blessing and was there after the surgery. I was put in ICU and heavily medicated. Things are pretty sketchy from my memory so I have relied on RaChael's recollection. I was given I think about four units of blood and two IVs of fluids at the same time. My resting heart rate was 170 and my blood pressure was high; they started sedating me more because when I moved around my heart rate would climb. From what I understand it was touch and go for a while. I was given a diarectic and that corrected the problem.

I was in the ICU for five days; the length of my sister's visit. She was a lifesaver picking up the the kids, cooking and cleaning. During the day she would visit with me. I was so sedated her visits are like faint memories I wish I could remember. I was put in the normal ward for the next five days and give a few more transfusions. I finally got to go home. I was in a lot of pain and could only sleep sitting up.

Okay, I will try to explain the procedure. First, they placed shunts so that the area like the kidneys would not be damaged in the procedure. They started to do the procedure laproscopically, but realized to would have to be an open surgery. The polyps at that point were unknown if they were cancer and I was happy to hear they were not. The doctor told RaChael that they were like old food in the refridgerator; one day they were fine by the next it could go bad. Plus they were the kind of polyps that, if cancerous, would ravage my body. A portion of my upper colon was actually hernaited and was removed. There was also a hole in my colon. There was a hernia on my kidneys along with grossly enlarged varicous veins wrapped around them. They had to take my organs out and rerout and fix the problems.

Once I got home, it was a VERY slow recovery. I ended up back in the hospital a week later needing two more transfusions. It has now been almost two months and I am still in pain (the doctor thinks the anemia is slowing down the healing process), but I am doing much better. I continue to wear a binder around my stomach for support and I am still anemic. I have had rectal bleeding about four times but because of all my rerouting, they can't really scope me properly. If I bleed again, I will go immediatley for a bleeding test. I feel pretty good but it goes without saying I have to pass on the Target job. I am trying to do as much as I can to get back to normal while still be obediant to the doctors.

Our church and family have been a great support through this time; it has been tough to go through for everybody especially being so far from outside support. It was hard on Norm; he have started his new the job the day after my surgery, then he would come home and take care of the house and the girls. Hope and Grace both had to pitch in more. My memory is very foggy; I cannot remember October at all. But God has provided wonderful people in our lives that have been invaluable and I am very thankful to not only them, but the doctors who discovered the problem and took care of it. I am hoping to now start iron therapy and look forward to better health. I have had a lot of people praying for me and I appreciate it so much. I have learned some great lessons through this trial and I have given up the dream of wearing a bikini (ha!), but God is faithful and has been with me through this time and has brought spiritual healing and hopefully soon my physical healing will be complete.

Tina

Psalm 92

This was what we read last night.:
It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts! Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.
But you, LORD, are forever exalted. For surely your enemies, LORD, surely your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered. You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; fine oils have been poured on me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries; my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. The righteous will

flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming,

"The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him." -Psalm 92

We were in the car on our way home from a spectacular Christmas light display at Shadrack's in West Knoxville. Grace also read Psalms 91 and 93. All great readings! We continue our time of Thanksgiving....... -Norm

Psalm 100

We have started something new in our family. As some of you may know it's been a difficult couple of months. In response to this we've entered a time of thanksgiving. We are doing a short reading as a family and sharing what we are thankful for following each day's events and activities.

It is easy to focus on all the things that aren't going right or the challenges we face each day. We are putting those aside to give thanks.

This was the verse we read and talked about last night: Psalm 100 NIV

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

The first verse so impresses me. Here in eastern Tennessee, Fall is in full swing. The leaves are changing and are absolutely beautiful! Creation is shouting for joy to the Lord through a kaleidoscope of colors. As his children we are encouraged to worship with thankful hearts on good and bad days, even during challenging months. I am grateful for a Father who is good. Since before the creation of time, He has been faithful.

-Norm

Movies and ZooBoos

While we were in California and researching Knoxville I remember seeing information about free movies being shown Friday evenings on Market Square and at World Fair Park. Being that it is October and that last in the series, there was a double feature on the big screen. We saw Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice. The girls and I sat on the Square in our lawnchairs cuddled up in blankets and sleeping bags. It was a cool Fall evening. As we were walking to the car I remember thinking this is one of the things I love about being here.

This weekend Knoxville Zoo hosted an event too. Last night we attended the annual Boo at the Zoo. It was a great time of walking through the zoo as it is starting to get dark and later. There were different treat/candy stations set up on "Treat Trail". Each station was sponsored by different area businesses. The great thing about this is that it is not spooky or scary. There were alot of little kids dressed up and they appeared to have a great time. We really enjoyed ourselves. Animals, treats and time with my girls made for a very good time!

The End Has Come

Well, yesterday marked the final day of my 30-day resignation notice at Sertoma Center. Part of the responsiblities in my now former role as a Residential Coordinator was doing House Visits/Inspections. We were required to be in the homes at least one time per shift per month. The majority of my homes had three shifts per day, two shifts during weekend hours. I finished out my final day doing my third shift visits. I started at 11:00 Pm on Thursday and finished at almost 4:00 Am on Friday. I took the opportunity on Friday to have a staff Thank You Get-Together with my team of house managers. It was great to be together! They all do such a great job! Putting all they have into assuring their residents are well taken care of. It has been my honor to assist and support them in what they do. I will miss them. I had the priviledge of working with two other RCs. They are incredible people. We handled everything from on call duties, staffing houses to delivering cars to homes for weekend outings. I will miss them as well. A difference in management styles, among other things made it necessary for me to find other employment. This past year has been a challenge. I am returning to employment training and will be working at Emory Valley Center in Oak Ridge. I am totally excited about this new adventure! I have been reflecting on my drive across the United States last year heading toward an interview at Sertoma. Unsure of what would be waiting on this end. Thankfully, I was hired and we have been able to reestablish our family in a new area . Now, onto a new chapter in this the story of our lives. -Norm

TN Valley Fair

The Midway
Loverboy

A new calf born during the fair.

Fireworks at the end of the day.

Hope Goes Off With a Bang

Hope turned fourteen Saturday. We went to Shoney's for brunch which is like a cross between a Denny's and a Golden Corral. Once stuffed with bacon, Hope decided she wanted to see Journey to the Center of the Earth again. We donned our 3-D glasses and enjoyed seeing the movie again. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I got a wild hair and suggested we go see Indiana Jones so we drove to the dollar movie and watched that film. That was pretty silly. Her real present though, was seeing the Jonas Brothers in Atlanta last week.

Sunday is Knoxville's celebration of the end of summer called Boomsday. It has the largest fireworks display in the nation on the Labor Day weekend drawing about 200,000 people. I volunteered to work that evening, so we parked at my work and walked downtown and enjoyed the festivities held close to UT. The fireworks themselves, are shot off the bridge I cross to go to work over the Tennessee river.

We walked back and I started to work, but not alone. Grace grabbed a sign and went outside to draw people with her dance moves. Hope helped inside with orders along with the owners. We had a great/busy time. Once the fireworks started business died down and we were able to watch the fireworks with my coworkers and their families. It was a blast (pun intended). The fireworks were spectacular. We hung out for about an hour waiting for the traffic to die down visiting with friends and enjoying a light sprinkle. -Tina

Jonas Brothers Take Over Atlanta

We bought tickets to the Jonas Brothers as soon as they came on sale way back in March, so the girls have been anticipating this concert for forever. Unfortunately its on a Wednesday. I got Grace out of school a little early to drive to Hope's school and be in line to pick her up. To get her out of school early takes an act of Congress so we just waited until school was over.

I had to open at the store and I have to open the following day, so Norm came with us. I sure he was heartbroken to know we didn't have an extra ticket. He went disc golfing while we battled thousands of girls. Demi Lavato was the beginning act. She was one of the stars from Disney's

Camp Rock. We were a little late because of road construction, but we made it. It was her 16th birthday so everyone sang to her and we watched a montage of her life. Oh, I forgot to mention the concert was held in Atlanta, GA.

The Jonas Brothers held a great concert. Hope and Grace loved it and sang their hearts out. They had a graduation party thing since Joe Jonas just graduated high school. We had to leave a little early since I needed to open. Of course, we stopped by the Varsity for a late dinner and headed home. The sould of thousands of girls are still ringing in my head. -Tina

Happy 222nd Birthday!

Today as I am sure most Tennesseans are aware, marks Davy Crockett's 222nd birthday. Crockett was born on a mountain top in Tennessee...but he spent quite a bit of time in Morristown, a town about fifty miles north east of Knoxville.

We went to the celebration hosted by the Davy Crockett Museum and Tavern. The festivities included Marshal Andy host of PBS' Riders of the Silver Screen, who showed the kids how to rope, play bugle along with telling cowboy stories and leading a sing a long of of old songs (including Davy Crockett song of course). Then a speaker dressed in Crockett attire went through the history of Davy Crockett's life. It was very entertaining and interesting.

Afterwards, they lead tours through the

Crockett home and tavern and served refreshments.

The weather has been perfect for all of

August with mid eighty temperatures

and this just capped it off.

A New Chapter

This week marked the first day of school for Hope and Grace. It came up so fast; I mean, didn't we just start the month of August?! It could be worst, the schools in Maryville started Aug. 4th. This was a particularly challenging start; Grace started Jr. High, Hope- High School.

Grace is going to Powell Middle School, Hope's school from last year. We met her teachers, signed up for PTA (finally) and walked around. She has a new science lab along with a beautiful new gym.

Hope, as written earlier, is starting Hardin Valley Academy; a school that was opened to the public just last Thursday. She went through to her classes so much she didn't have any problem finding them.
Hardin Valley Academy is a new model of high school that incorporates the college model. There are four academies: Liberal Arts (Hope's chosen academy), Health Science, Law and Public Affairs and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics. They must meet all the regular high school requirements in addition to the academy requirements. These will count towards college credits. She will have enough credits to enter college as a Junior in college after high school.

Each academy has its own principal, advisor and counselor and each semester has four blocks of classes . It is the only one of its kind in the state. The principal stated there are all schools from all over the nation coming to learn more about it. The facility is beautiful, each class is equipped with a smart board and two computers. The library has about 25 computers and more shiny books than the Borders. It is also nestled in the foothills and adjacent to one of state colleges. This allows the professors to come and teach at the high school as well.

The grading is stricter that California. All Knox County Schools grade tougher; An "A" is a precentage of 100-93, a "B" is 92-83 and so on. Hardin Valley in order to graduate from the Acamedy you must posess a "B" average. The actual prinicpal over HVA was able to hand pick each teacher: good for us, sour grapes for other schools.

The only draw back is it is in Oak Ridge. The same Oak Ridge that has the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Lab-from the Mahattan Project-someday we will have to rent that movie). So I go to Grace's school about an hour early (I get alot of reading done) to get in first in line so we can drive 20 minutes to get Hope from her school. They both start and end at the same time so Grace arrives early and Hope gets picked up late. Grace doesn't seem to mind; she wants to go there to HVA when she starts high school (I don't even want to entertain that idea just yet).

Grace started her school having friends (yeah). Hope once again started a different school knowing no one. I couldn't believe she wanted to go through that again after facing the same thing just last year. But she never wavered. She loves her classes (her favorites are acting and choir, of course) and has made friends. Grace's favorite is Choir-no suprise there.

We have now etablished our route after much trial and error. Norm would call me at work and tell me how he went, I would see him in the evening and tell how I went. The first day was tough (on me). Ah back to school lunches, projects and No. 2 pencils. -Tina