ER Visit with Grace

Yesterday, while Mom and Dad were at chemo, Grace fell and gashed her forehead pretty bad. She came to me, covered in blood and blood still gushing from her head. I realized that head injuries tend to bleed a lot but I also felt that this was a bad one!

Thankfully, Mrs. Raymond was here dropping off a dinner for our family and offered to help in any way. After talking to my mom on the phone, we decided to take her to the ER. So, we scooped her up and Mrs. Raymond drove us to the ER. We arrived, and the waiting room was pretty full--what's new for Mary Bridge! I had to deal with a bureaucratic check-in woman who was really rude--I was already pretty worked up and she made things so much worse! We then waited for an hour, the whole time getting stares. I am sure people were wondering how we were all related and why is that woman wearing an apron! In all the hurry, Mrs. Raymond was still wearing her apron!

We were then called back for vitals and saw the triage nurse, who thought I was Gracie's Mom. : ) She told us it would be a long wait, but 20 min later they took us back to a room. We then saw another nurse who checked her all out and put some numbing medicine on the wound. She told us it had to sit there for 20 minutes. She asked Grace if she had taken anything and Grace informed her she had taken some Arnica. I was cringing--knowing that homeopathic doesn't go over too well in the hospital. The nurse told her that it was great stuff and had been telling someone about it just recently. I was so thankful! A few minutes later, a student came in and did the same examinations and asked all the same questions--"How did this happen?" "Are you Mom (to me)?" "Where is Grace's Mom?" I don't know how many people listened to Grace's heart, examined her body and asked her how she got her cut. She was an excellent trooper and let everyone poke and prod! I felt like telling them to leave the poor girl alone! After everything she already went through, she did not need everyone bothering her.

About an hour later, the Dr. finally came in with the student. Turns out the Dr. was one we had seen years before--that trip she asked Mom and I if we were Amish! :) I am sure she again thought something was wrong with us. You probably don't see ladies in skirts and modest dress in the ER very often! After the string of questions again and wondering how I could be the sister when we looked so much alike, (I felt like giving them a little lesson on genetics--sisters have the exact same genetic make-up, whereas the mother would only have half the same genetics as the daughter. So, there is a pretty good chance that sisters would look alike! ) and comments on how Grace is so adorable, they finally put their stuff together and got down to business.

Grace is so highly sensitive and I am sure some of the numbing medicine had worn off because of the length of time, so each time they tried to irrigate, she would jump. They paused the irrigation and injected more numbing medication. After that she seemed to not feel as much. The Dr. pulled out all her supplies and sewed up the wound. It took eight stitches and Grace was pretty worn out when everything was done. The Dr. told me to apply Arnica oil, which I could purchase at a health food store, and Basatracin to the wound as much as possibly. She told me the oil is really healing and should help with the scar! So, perhaps the medical community is now seeing some good in the homeopathic remedies! The Dr. offered stickers--wondered if she would like Dora or Scooby Doo stickers. Grace looked at her blankly and said she didn't know. The Dr. asked if she watched TV, I told her no. Grace was then offered an Otter Pop, which she refused and the Dr. mentioned how she was a strange child! :) So here we were, a cute little girl who does not watch TV, refuses popsicles and was extremely polite, coming to the hospital with her sister who was wearing a skirt and was femininely and modestly dressed and the family friend who was also modestly dressed and wearing an apron! I was wondering what they all thought!

I was so thankful to be done and walk out of there! I really hate the hospital and don't like spending any time there at all. I now have another story to tell and it was some really good bonding time for Grace and I. It was a challenge to overcome my fear of blood and injury, but as I look back on everything, I realize I was operating on adrenalin and the strength of the Lord. He is able to give us grace and strength to address any situation.

HUGE Update!!

My goodness...time really flies by! Okay David....here is the big update! Hope this makes you happy!!

The week before Thanksgiving, I took the train down to Oregon to spend a week with my grandparents helping them clean out my great-grandmother's condo. She is 94 and was recently moved to group home with 24 hour care. It was a huge project since grandma saved many things over the 94 years of her life! Part of it was like a treasure hunt--opening a box and not exactly knowing what you might find! :) We found quite a few family items such as pictures, quilts, journals, birth and death certificates, bibles etc. which are really special to have and which have helped us in our genealogy. The family drove down on Friday and my mom helped us clean out the condo and pick out the things she wanted to keep. We went back home on Saturday and left the following Tuesday to spend a few extra days with my grandparents before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

During our trips to Oregon, we were introduced to our grandpa's furry friend. This friendly squirrel sits on his back step right outside his back door begging for peanuts. You have to be very careful that it doesn't run inside. Here are some pictures I took on Thanksgiving.

This pic was taken through the window on the back door

Gracie watching the squirrel--notice the peanut on the door!Isn't it cute??

We had a nice Thanksgiving--we made the whole meal including Jacqueline's sweet potato recipe which was a hit! All the kids took a walk with grandma right before dinner and then we came back and sat down to a lovely feast. After dinner, clean up and dessert, we played games and talked. Here are some pictures from our before dinner walk and Thanksgiving meal.

Here are some dinner pictures..... I didn't take very many....

Jonathan thinks his hair looks really good in the following picture
The next morning three kids and my grandma woke up sick. We all thought it must be some kind of food poisoning and we tried to figure out what made everyone sick. Grandpa was convinced it was the sweet potatoes since the Bittner's sent them to us--the mailman must have spit on them! :) Thankfully it was a short illness and everyone was feeling better the next morning. Saturday night as we were packing the van to leave....Gracie fell ill. After much discussion we decided to drive home even though she was sick. She wanted me to sit next to her so I helped her as she threw up about every 10 min. the whole two hour trip home!! We made it home safely and were all thankful to be home! The next morning I fell ill proving it could not have been something we ate! For the next week everyone had their turn--leaving only my mom and grandpa still standing!!

Christmas Decorating

It took a long time to convince the boys to put up our outside Christmas decorations. Once they started--it was completely comical. James loved to help--he loves cords and thought having so many was wonderful! : ) Here is a slide show which tells the story...



19th Century Christmas at the Fort


The following Saturday, Jonathan, Josiah, Daniel and I re-enacted at a Christmas event out at the Fort. We participated in many activities including 19th century dancing and much music! The rest of the family attended a Celtic event in Gig Harbor where David was piping and Esther danced. We all really enjoyed our respective activities. Unfortunately, I don't have many pics from this weekend. :(

Homeless Care Packages

The next Thursday we went to a friends house to help them pack care packages for the homeless. The dad is a police officer and knows many homeless people in his area. He decided to put these together to give him witnessing opportunities. We were very excited to be part of this project. Having many helping hands made the project go by quickly! We also enjoyed fellowship over pizza! : )

Dialtone Movie Premier

After about a year in production Dialtone is finally finished and we attended the premier last Saturday. It was well attended and it was great to see it on the big screen especially since there are many people in it that we personally know! My dad is an extra and so are quiet a few people from our church. Dialtone has also been accepted in the San Antonio Christian Film Festival and we are hoping it places well. If you would like to buy a copy of Dialtone or would like to find out more about it you can check out the website at http://www.dialtonemovie.com/. It makes a wonderful Christmas gift!

Christmas at Fort Steilacoom

After the premiere we headed to Ft. Nisqually to make a short appearance at a Christmas party and then headed over to Ft. Steilacoom for a Civil Era Christmas re-enactment. Jonathan fiddled all evening and David and I participated in the dancing. We had a good number of re-enactors this year and enjoyed our time. Most of the girls wore silk ballgowns and the guys were dressed as soldiers. The room was lit by candlelight and we stayed (for the most part) in first person. Toward the end of the event it started to snow, so we all went outside and took pictures. I didn't have my camera with me but Nona has a few pics on her blog http://missnonaeleanor.wordpress.com/

Church Christmas Party

The next morning was our church Christmas party. Due to snow and ice, some families were not able to attend and a few came late after it had warmed up some. We had a normal church service and after church each family decorated and set their table. The menu was prime rib and turkey, green beans, roasted poatoes, salad, bread and all kinds of desserts. After people were finished eating, we had a time of family sharing. We shared our music--Jonathan on the violin, David on the pipes, Josiah and I played a duet and the little ones sang a carol. It was really great to see everyone sharing together. After clean up, we did English Country Dancing for a couple hours. By then the snow was coming down again and we left before it was too slick. Even though we left early, we still drove 15mph on the freeway and some people were still sliding on the ice! Thankfully, everyone arrived home safely!

Daniel's Birthday

Daniel turned 9 on Tuesday. He went out to lunch with Mom and Dad and ordered a special dinner of Teriyaki chicken with vegtables and rice and he chose Boiled Cake for dessert. After dinner he decorated a gingerbread train, which I think is all eaten by now!

Notice the beautiful wrapping job? David was proud of his work!

The coat was way too big!!

SNOW!!

It is still snowing as I write this. It snowed all day yesterday and we were supposed to have a couple days break, but....it is back! I think we received about 5 inches of snow--most all came yesterday! The roads are very slick and we are really enjoying being at home, playing games, watching movies etc. We are supposed to have another large storm starting tomorrow night and snow is in the forecast all next week except Christmas. Hopefully, we will still have some on the ground so we can call it a white christmas!

Col. Hoganmeier and His Friends

The younger Pollock children were invited to a friends "soldier" theme birthday party. They decided that it would be really fun to dress up. So, this morning we tried to come up with military themed costumes. They all turned out really cute and I took a few minutes to take their pictures.

Col. Hoganmeier....for those Hogan's Hero's fans out there.....

Suzanne --member of the French Underground

Private First Class Pollock--Good old American!

Hannah RN--our little nurse! And last but not least...

Rosie the Riveter--"We Can Do It!"

The whole outfit--we could not get Gracie to be serious...so...

Everyone smiled :)

They are still at their party.....but I am sure they are having fun. I know I had a blast putting these costumes together.

Candlelight Tour 2008

Last weekend was Candlelight Tour, our first person re-enactment event. As I said in a recent post, I was not able to attend the first evening due to illness, but was very happy to be there on Saturday! It was a great time like every year! Hannah re-enacted at this event for the first time and did a wonderful job!

Rag curls took forever to put in! Here we are halfway done!

Completly finished! Looking like a rag doll!

Daniel, portraying William Tolmie. Son of Dr. Tolmie, the man in charge of the Fort. In his lovely night shirt

Esther portraying Cecila Work, the second youngest sister of Dr. Tolmie's wife. Wearing the beautiful dress Melissa made her. Hannah portraying, Mary Finlayson. Cousin of Daniel (William) and neice to Esther (Cecila).

The children with the young ladies who would be watching them for the evening.

Young Ladies--Taylor, me, Melissa, Nona and Monica

Cassie and Nona waiting for the evening to begin

Listening to people speak during the flag pole meeting

All the Pollock children doing a quick photo right before everything starts!

Must have been tired of acting like a lady!

Still looking like a little lady!

Glazed eyes--must have had too much fiddling and dancing!

"It's all over!!"

Christian Heritage Picnic--Battle Ground, WA

Our family assisted the Bryan family in hosting a Christian Heritage picnic in the Vancouver area a couple weekends ago. About five other families attended and we played games, fellowshiped and had a great time meeting families from that area. We were very thankful our picnic shelter had a fireplace because the weather was quiet overcast and cold! Before everyone had their picnic dinners, Dad and Mr. Brannan from the Christian Homeschool Network (homeschool lobby group) both spoke. Mr. Brannan talked about his organization and the up-coming political session and how homeschoolers can be involved. Dad talked about Christian Heritage and its mission, plus encouragement for the new school season. Everyone seemed encouraged and excited for the new school year. Many of the families had already attended the April conference and we are hoping the others will attend this year. Here are some pics from the picnic.

Playing Bocce BallVisitingThese little guys were adorable! Eating dinner--they are adorable too!Miss HannahThe boys listening to Dad speak. When asked if people had attended the Mother Daughter Teas, the guys all raised their hands!No post is complete without a picture of Jonathan!Talking about Christian Heritage Mr. Brannan speaking about The Christian Homeschool NetworkPeek-A-Boo!James found the broom Matt made and helped with the clean up

Lots of little helpers!