What a month NaBloPoMo has been!

The writing prompt for today asks what we’ve learned from posting daily this month.

I’ve just reviewed my previous posts, and I’m amazed by the changes that have taken place in my life in the past 30 days.  If it weren’t so time-consuming, I’d post every day of every month, just to chronicle our life and times.    

But posting daily has been time-consuming.  Although I usually keep a journal, I don’t worry about being grammatically correct or even about sounding totally coherent in my journal.  

I’ve had to make a bit more effort for this blog, knowing that anyone from almost anywhere in the world can read it if they choose to.

Having a daily deadline has forced me to override my inner perfectionist.  It’s not easy to go ahead and post something when that little voice inside my head is screaming, “It could be better!” but I’ve done it without embarrassing myself too badly. 

It’s been hard to focus with the baby so fragile and my emotions tied up.  I’ve found it difficult to write at times as many of these posts have been written from the hospital waiting room. 

However, I’ve learned that it is possible to discipline myself to write under less than ideal circumstances.  That’s an important lesson for any writer to learn. 

Recording the events of our grandson’s first weeks of life has prompted me to reflect on the wondrous workings of our bodies.  I’ve thought about lessons in human physiology that I hadn’t recalled since high school days.

It’s amazing how effortlessly our organs systems function together when operating normally.   

The whole process of trying to medically manipulate what nature does so easily is humbling…and frightening. 

Therefore, I’ve reestablished in my heart and mind the importance of prayer.  There is no greater comfort than to know that the One who set the principles of nature into motion can also supersede them. 

I believe He has for Clay.

I may not continue to post every single day in the future, but I will be posting frequently on my homepage.  I hope you’ll check out Homespun: My simple life in Appalachia and keep in touch! 

Kentuckians wear their quilts on their barns...

Because my creative well is running low...the weather outside is frightful...and we could use a little spot of color...here's a sampling of the beautiful painted barn quilts scattered around the countryside in Estill and surrounding counties. 

This is called "Grandmother's Flower Garden." 

Nestled in the heart of Red Lick at the base of Still House Hollow, this barn quilt is called "Ohio Snowflake." 

and again...so lovely in the summertime.

I'm assuming this one might be called "Sunflower."  We spotted it in the Red River Gorge on the way to a zipline tour. 

This beauty is mine!  It's called "Sister's Choice."  My sister and I, along with the help of our three daughters, painted it a few springs ago. 

My hubby risked life and limb to hang it.  :)

Not quite what we were hoping for, but...

Our first grandson was given a trial-off the ventilator today, which has been providing only minimal support for the past week.  However, the poor little guy struggled under CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure, which is a step between mechanical ventilation and nasal cannula). 

This was telling that his body is not quite ready to be breathing on its own. 

Tests of his blood gases also revealed that he did not tolerate the trial well, so the decision was made to reintubate him. 

Naturally, this was very disappointing to us, and I can only imagine how Hannah’s and Eric’s hopes must have been crushed.

Even in disappointment, there are reasons to be hopeful.  The doctor ordered an Echo while Clay was on CPAP and his body under some distress.  The doc was pleased with how the right ventricle of the baby’s heart was performing.  A couple of weeks ago, there were still some major concerns with how well his heart could handle such demands.

Also, x-rays taken during the trial again confirmed that the lungs have opened up considerably more than expected. 

Apparently Clay’s difficulties today stemmed partly from the fact that his diaphragm muscle is weak.  That’s an obstacle I hadn’t considered, but one that makes sense.

 When Clay was born five weeks ago, his diaphragm had a large hole in it.  That’s how the organs slipped up into his chest cavity.  Surgery repaired that hole, but the diaphragm is not quite up to the challenge of breathing on his own just yet. 

 We just don’t think much about our diaphragms, do we? 

What this means is that Clay’s healing will take longer than we had hoped.  We are disappointed, but we are trying to keep in mind the big picture that--one of these days--he’ll be off that ventilator. 

It is painful to think of little Clay struggling to breathe.  How we take for granted the involuntary functions of our body that keep us alive from hour to hour, from the continual pumping of blood to the intake of oxygen and exhalation of toxins.

I’ll have to say I’ve received a refresher course in human physiology these past few weeks—one that has served as a reminder that our bodies are indeed “fearfully and wonderfully made,” as Psalm 139 says. 

“Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” 

Meet Clayton Cash...

'Tis the season...to pack on pounds

I’m not sure why Christmas needs to be celebrated with excessive amounts of food, but apparently it does.

Magazines, newspapers, websites, and cooking shows all bid us to try tempting recipes for sweet and savory treats during the holidays. 

I love to look at photos of beautifully prepared food.  I’ve been meaning to try one of the new sweet and salty brownie recipes I’ve been seeing a lot of lately.

I’m a sucker for sweets, I’ll have to admit.  I have several favorites, like these fudge recipes that family members have come to expect at holiday dinners.  If I don’t bring them, they look at me funny. 

This peanut butter fudge recipe is ridiculously easy.  And the chocolate fudge recipe isn’t much harder.  Both are guaranteed to make your jeans fit tighter. 

You don’t believe me? Try some and see for yourselves! 

Peanut Butter Fudge:

2 cups sugar

½ cup milk

Cook this for 3 minutes after it starts to boil.  Remove from heat and add 1 small jar of marshmallow crème and 1 ½ cups of peanut butter.  Mix well and pour into a buttered dish.   Yep, that’s it!!

Chocolate Fudge

4 ½ cups sugar

1 lg. can evaporated milk

Cook this for 7 minutes after it starts to boil.  Add 2 sticks Blue Bonnet margarine, 18 oz. chocolate chips, and about a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans if desired.  Mix well and pour into a buttered dish.  Yep, that’s it. 

With both these recipes, it’s very important not to overcook the mixture or your fudge might be grainy.  So don’t forget to set a timer! 

Oh, Christmas tree...

This is the order of things around here, at least for the past few years--the Friday after Thanksgiving we go Christmas shopping.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we put up the tree. 

I don’t particularly enjoy decorating for Christmas, although I love having decorated.  I especially dread it when I’m running behind on other things, like housework. 

I really wasn’t in the mood to begin decking the halls today, but our youngest daughter was home from college, and she likes to get the tree up.  She holds me to our traditions. 

Although I dreaded getting started, we had fun.  We always do, I don’t know why I drag my feet. 

I enjoyed the time with Chelsea. And I enjoyed having her boyfriend here to help “fluff” the branches, which he has done for four years in a row now.

I always buy our girls an ornament every Christmas, so when we hang them, we revisit a lot of good memories.

Despite my reluctance to get started decorating, I’ll be one of the last to take my stuff down. 

I usually enjoy our tree more after all the Christmas hullabaloo has subsided than I do before.  I especially like having it up when the season’s first snowfalls arrive, usually in January. 

Anyway, my tree is up, and I’m thinking now is a good time for a cup of hot tea and some leftover pumpkin pie. 

  O Christmas tree! 

Are you ready for this?--Take a chill pill!

I apologize for the repeated references to "drugs"--maybe that comes from spending so much time at the hospital lately.

When visiting our grandson today, we took a break from the hospital on this Black Friday to check out the deals at Target.

Maybe those midnight sales aren't such a bad idea after all, because the daytime traffic was pretty light.

But we are home now, and I don't have much time to get a post up, so I'm sharing some restful winter scenes with you--from last winter!

There is something so peaceful about a winter scene.  And a dusting of snow makes every ordinary thing look magical.  

Thankfulness might be the "happy pill" we've been wishing for

All that giving thanks you did today might have been beneficial to your health. 

Yes, the practice of gratitude might have countered some of the effects of the fattening food you ate.

Apparently some folks have studied this matter.  Folks like those from Duke University Medical Center, who claim that there is a science to thankfulness, according to an article on an ABC News website titled “Thankfulness linked to positive changes in brain and body.”  Click on the highlighted link to read the rest of this thought-provoking article. 

It seems research has found that the practice of being grateful benefits all our major organ systems.

Dopamine is released into our system by thinking about the good things in our lives, which puts us in a good mood, which increases our state of well being.  

Maybe this is the “happy pill” we’ve all been looking for.

It seems we humans have developed a “negativity bias.”  Our thoughts gravitate toward negativity in a 3:1 ratio, but we have the choice to give our “stinkin’ thinkin’” the boot. 

Family members and friends will thank us, no doubt, and we will reap the benefits of becoming happier and healthier.

If we put this new knowledge into practice throughout the Christmas season, our inner Grinch will gain no new ground.

Let’s banish the “Bah, humbugs!” from our conversations and spread some Christmas cheer around!