Pixiemom

Before I came up here to Chicago, I lived in a small town near Amish country. During the year we lived there, a soldier from the town died in Iraq. The day of his funeral is etched in my mind forever. People from miles around drove into the town. The sidewalks on the streets between the funeral home and the graveyard were packed with people carrying flags. As the funeral procession slowly made it’s way past, you could hear the silence descend upon the town. Hats were taken off and hands covered hearts. Even the children quieted and became sober as the cars passed. After the entire procession had gone past, strangers were hugging strangers. There were many tears for the young man who had given his life for us. Many of us didn’t even know him personally, but what he did was for all of us.

This… this is how fallen soldiers should be honored. They should be given respect for the job they have done. They do this voluntarily. They risk their lives for many people they don’t even know.

They are real heroes.

It’s been three weeks now since I fell. James spilled the mop bucket all over the kitchen floor. I was at the sink and when I quickly turned around, I went down… on my right hand. I thought it wasn’t that bad, so I put on the brace I had here. A week later, it was still really sore and swollen, plus the pinky side of my hand was purple. They did x-rays and found that my wrist was definitely sprained. The tendons or ligaments or whatever they are had been stretched a bit too much and my wrist bones were too far apart. They gave me a better brace to wear. A week later, I went to see the Dr. My hand was still sore, swollen, and purple. I couldn’t grip his hand with my ring or pinky fingers. His diagnosis… sprained wrist AND hairline fracture in the 4th and/or 5th metacarpals (hand bones that go to those fingers). He sent me to get an MRI this last Tuesday and to continue to wear my brace. So far… we don’t have the results of that and my follow-up Dr’s appointment isn’t until next Thursday morning. I ran out of my prescription pain meds a few days ago. I was only taking them at night to allow me to sleep. Now I know how much they were working because I really haven’t slept well since then.

Anyway, I’m asking for prayers. From the way my hand is still hurting and all, I am pretty sure it’s broken, but I’m not a dr. I need to get through this next week without aggravating it anymore. It keeps getting hit or whatever and that part of the brace is soft, so it’s not keeping things from pressing on it. I’m not really supposed to sweep or mop, but I’m a housewife and there is a LOT of dirt that comes in my house… So, pray for me. This is really hard.

We are helping out a friend by watching her baby until school is out. She’s a teacher at the local high school. While we’re watching him, we’re still doing some school, but we’ve slowed down a bit for now. James is loving having baby A here. He’s my main helper. He has even changed a few wet diapers.

Today, I thought this was funny… he had a blow-out diaper, so I pulled his clothes off of him and was washing him up when he let a stream flow. Of course, I was ready and threw a wipey down on him. Since his clothes were already dirty, I let them soak up most of the wetness. The reactions of the kids were funny though. First, they were all going “Ewww” and then they’re all “YIKES! He’s peeing! Get a diaper on quick!” I was laughing so much.

Right now, Christine is feeding him his bottle. This is her first time doing this. I’m glad they are wanting to help out. This is a good thing for them to learn.

I went through my links. I may still have some out of date links in there, but I pulled out most of the ones I know of that are either dead or comatose. I still have to update the theme.

Also, I’ve updated my other site some as well. PixiePhotography.net is still a work in progress, but at least it has something to look at. There’s now another page where you can see all the photos I’ve posted since I began. Kind of like a photo blog. If you go to that site, under the weekly photo, there is a link that says “view more” which takes you to that page.

So, that’s the news for now. I’m sure I’ll have more soon enough.

(I am not a writer. This is something I was imagining one day.)

Hi, I’m Pixie. I’m one of many faeries who live around here. My life is filled with all kinds of different things. What I see is the same as what you see only in a different way. I want to tell you about the things I encounter while I fly around.

In the fall, it’s the leaves. They are easy to avoid while flying as they are usually slow as they drift to the ground. Sometimes, I will grab a friend or two and we’ll find a leaf that is about to come loose and take a seat on it. The extra weight makes the trip a bit faster for the leaf, but if you find one with a good curve to it, you can have a great ride. It will spin and turn, even do some loopty-loops. This is one of my favorite times of the year.

In the winter, I have to stay inside a lot. My wings freeze up and I can’t fly very much. I do go out some though. Sometimes I take a short flight when the snowflakes are falling. When they are big and slow, it is like I am dancing with them. I can’t go out at all if there is sleet or ice. That is extremely dangerous. One of my big brothers lost a wing because it froze. Our wings are delicate things and even trying to move it a little made his break. I shudder when I think of that.

In the spring, oh my… here in the woods where we live, it can be dangerous. We have many maple trees around. When their seeds start falling, you must be very careful. It is hard to predict the fall of a spinning maple seed. The seed part is fairly hard and if it hits you, you may go spinning out of control yourself. The “wing” part of it may not be sharp, but at the speed it is spinning, it can take out a wing easily. I tried to ride one once. I was so dizzy by the time it hit the ground that I had to lay there for a long time letting my head get back to normal. Some of my friends like it, but it was something I really don’t think I want to experience again.

In the summer, I find my bug friends coming around. Have you ever watched a dragonfly as it flies through the air and pauses in it’s flight? That’s probably when it is stopping to say hi to me or one of my kin. They are very friendly and enjoy a good chat. Sometimes we ride on them. They are so much fun. The bees know where to find the best nectar for our food. We have found there is always enough for them to use for their honey as well as providing food for hummingbirds, butterflies, and for all of us faeries. When we go searching for nectar, we usually team up with a bee. They will point out a flower for us and then move onto another for themselves. When our reserves are full, we give them the rest of our nectar in exchange for a bit of honey to put away for the winter months. We don’t associate with the butterflies very much. They are a bit stuck up about their beautifully colored oversized wings when ours are smaller, thin and transparent with no real color of their own, but I love my wings. When the sun hits them just right, they seem to have all the colors of the rainbow.

I wish you could see us like I can see you. Humans seem like such interesting creatures. They come into the woods where I and my kin live. Some of them are not so nice and leave things around that harm us or the animals, but most of them are considerate. Some like to talk and laugh, like me, and then others are quiet and seem to enjoy looking around. I fly up close… hoping that one day, there will be one of you that will see me…. hear me. Hoping that I can find another friend.

I know I’ve rambled a bit, but I do hope you have enjoyed my little story. Sometime, maybe I’ll tell you about other things in my life. Until then, if you feel a light touch on the back of your hand, but see nothing… know that it is me, saying hello.

In the town where we live now, the first Saturday of May is Good Neighbor Day. They have a parade and lots of people cook out. We live on a main street of the town and found them lining up the floats for the parade in front of our house. We watched there for a while before we headed down to the actual parade route and found a place to sit while we watched.

Noelle did not like the beginning of the parade. They had ALL the firetrucks, ambulances, dive rescue vehicles and police cars at the very beginning… all of them having their sirens going.

I loved the marching bands. Those were my favorite part. There were three of them throughout the parade. It always makes me remember my days of marching band in high school… especially Sullivan South down in Tennessee. Those were some really, really good days.

Another thing I liked was how the musical floats and the marching bands were spaced out enough that one didn’t overwhelm the other with their sounds.

The parade was an hour long and they threw out way too much candy, but it was a good one to watch. I really enjoyed it.

In other news, Jeremy and I had our first time actually leading the Youth Group yesterday evening. It took a little while for the kids to get into the discussion, but they did well. What impressed me the most was their willingness to pray for each other’s prayer requests. Afterwards, we had a game of Capture the Flag. So far, I’ve met four of the girls in the group and I don’t what they think, but I know I am going to love working with them.

So, there is my update for today. I’ll try and make sure to update again soon.