follow up

My daughter took her daughter to the DR on Monday for more testing and follow up from the testing on Friday. The Friday testing revealed markers for leukemia.

The DR told my daughter, "I don't know what we saw on Friday, but there is nothing here today."

Her potassium is still low, but vitamins or bananas will fix that.

We are ecstatic over here. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes and positive thoughts.

prayer request

I haven't been faithful to the blogging thing, doing more posting on facebook. I am finding myself these days more of the voyeur and less of the exhibitionist. What I share with y'all today is more of a prayer request than a post, but a post nonetheless. If you are a praying sort, I am asking for those prayers. If you are not, send whatever positive thoughts or energy you can muster in our direction.

My daughter, Audrey has a 7 year old daughter. Kyleigh is a bright energetic replica of her mom. She had blood work done today pursuant to some recurring headaches. The blood work came back showing high lymphocyte levels in her white blood cells, high creatine levels in her kidneys, and low potassium. The Dr's told her to bring Kyleigh back in on Monday for more testing, but are leaning toward leukemia. It is not a confirmed diagnosis. It is just where they are starting to look. However, as you can no doubt imagine, Audrey is extremely fearful.

I would appreciate your prayers. I know that the God we serve is a healer. I know the power of life and death, health and sickness are in His hands. As you pray this weekend, and as you pray at church this weekend, please include Kyleigh and Audrey and Adam in your prayers.

Thanking you in Christ,

Ron

Kyleigh with her Halloween pumpkin last year ..

A Journey

How do you measure a journey

Is it in the time captured

Is it in the number of steps

Both carefully measured

And haplessly carefree

Do you count it in the years

Or the months, or the weeks

Is it in the details of the day

Or in the broad strokes of time

Viewed and reviewed

Is it measured

In the seeds that are planted

Or in the crops that are harvested

Is it in the lasting effect

Or the immediate response

How do we know

When the journey is too short

Or tell when it is too long

For the journey is, simply,

From a beginning to an ending

When and where it began

Can be definitely pinpointed

But the end of the journey

Is never really known

As long as someone recalls

As long as the stories are told

As long as the memory holds

As long as the yearbook is read

And the bold signing beheld

The journey continues on

We will take you to a place of rest

We will sadly recall the past

We will recount the good times

We will measure them against the future

And some will think the journey has ended

We will know

It is far too soon to measure this journey

For while one may count the seeds in an apple

We will scarcely know the apples in a seed

And the journey continues

Ron Simpson, Jr.

October 14, 2009

For Allen Terry

February 20, 1988 - October 11, 2009

been facebooking

I have been facebooking. Amazing how we make verbs of the nouns we use.

There has been much happening. The highest on the list of event has to be Chris' release. Chris was released from Three Forks Regional Jail at 12:01 AM on September 1. The jail told us they would hold him til morning if we wanted, Tammy assured them that would not be necessary. we were there at 11:30 to begin the process. We, being Tammy, me, Chella, Kyle, Sierra, Nick, Cloe, Kiera, Jeff, Michelle, Becca, and Stacy, gathered at the doors. We welcomed him to the outside for the first time without having to return. Then we gathered our train and headed to the parking lot of the Dollar General to meet Granny, Granny was a cook in the kitchen and grew close to 'juggy' as she called him. They visited for a bit while the Beatyville police drove by. It seems that midnight meetings in the parking lot of the Dollar store are not the norm in that town,

It is great to have Chris home.

Nick did his Nick thing again. He went AWOL. Idiot. He has has three leaves while in the Army and has gone AWOL every time. Eventually, he goes back before it become desertion. That would mean time in Leavenworth. He is back in Korea now. Sierra is looking for a new place to live. The drama continues.

I am still out of work and looking everywhere.

We are still paying the bills and keeping the roof over our heads.

Time goes on. I am drawing and writing. I have drawn over 100 portraits this year. It is still fun. I have been thinking of doing some painting. We will see where that goes. Some I have been reading on Facebook, Some I keep up with by email. Some I still keep up with here.

I am sure more will follow ...

Kiera Jo

for all my non-facebooking picture viewing life following friends :

Kiera .. born August 10, 2009

Squirt

Everything changes on the face of it

Amazed at how one singular event can do that

Amazing more still is the commonality

And yet complexity of said event

It happens about four times every second of every day

It is a staggering statistic to view all at once

But to each individual involved in this statistic

It is a singularly significant event

Sometimes planned and sometimes not

Eagerly anticipated for months

Building to a physical and emotional crescendo

And topped with a miracle

I wonder if you listened from the inside

While we planned and discussed about you outside

I wonder if you felt the love that held you

Even before our hands and arms held you

I wonder if you fussed in there

When we invaded your privacy

When we took pictures with sound

And examined you up, down, and side to side

Did you feel some bit of understanding

As we touched and rubbed your temporary home

As we awaited your flutters and kicks

As we wanted to feel and be felt in return

Could you sense our impatience in there

As we wrestled with what we wanted the most

And what we knew was the best for you

And how we waited .. and waited .. and waited

Did you know the beautiful violence

That would move you from your warmth

To the warmth of our multiples of affection

And the tenderness of our loving gaze

Will you ever know the fullness of the love

That brought you here to us

Far above the love felt betwixt a man and woman

Until the day of your own singularly common miracle

A little hard labor

A couple pushes

And there you were, squirt

Kiera Jo Faith Bolton

August 10, 2009

another week whizzes by

Another week and another weekend have passed. It was a not a non-event week. I worked on some commissioned pieces (portraits.)

The week started kind of rocky. I went to town to put some money in the bank. I was on my way when TJ called me. Her brother (51 years old) called and he was in the hospital. He was very cryptic and told us he would tell us all when we came up. I finished my business in town and came back for Tj. We went to the hospital to see James. The news was bad. He has cancer. They didn't know where yet, when wee were there. They were running tests to find all of it. He told us that they did tell him a time frame based on what they did know, but would not share with us what it was. I respect his wishes in that. He was on the 6th floor/Oncology unit.

While I was there at the hospital, I went down a few floors (2nd floor/Cardio) to visit my sisters mother-in-law who was there for fluid around her heart and high blood pressure. I talked with her and prayed with her before I left her room. While there, Mom called and asked if I would visit a lady from her church that was on the 4th floor. I went to the 4th floor and visited and prayed with her before leaving her room to head back to the 6th floor.

The rest of the week slowed down a little bit.

Saturday, we went to see Chris. The jail has limited visits on Saturdays to one per inmate. Saturday was the day before Chris's 23rd birthday. His fiance wanted to see him as did the family. so we coordinated to be there at the same time and all go in as a group. That way, we all get to see him and no one is excluded. TJ and I were giving him money into his account to use for incidentals. It has been an education, of sorts, for us, these last two years he has been in jail.

I used to think, (as I discovered many other Americans thought,) that inmates, while having limited freedom, were getting a free ride on taxpayer dollars. This is not so. Yes, we are paying for the facility to house them. Yes, our tax dollars pay for the utilities and the meals. I suppose that there is a system where the cost of incarcerating some prisoners can be offset by considering the cost of them being free in theft, vandalism costs, and loss of life. For what it costs, spread across the population of taxpayers, it could be considered a good investment.

However, I found other things that surprised me. The inmate has to pay for DR visits and other medical treatments. Inmates pay for incidentals such as writing or reading material, when it is allowed. In some jails, (the one Chris is in is one) all outgoing calls from inmates must be collect. They cannot use calling cards. These calls are limited to 15 minutes and cost the callee $4.95 for the full 15 minutes.

There are many other things that inmates must pay for out of pocket. Since the inmates are not paid, per say, for work in the jail, all the costs must come from families. So, our birthday gift will be used for a candy bar hare and there, a soda occasionally, or a colored pencil or paper so he can write home.

The ride up and back was fun. We left MS and headed up the back roads to Beattyville. We planned to stop along the way and get the money order for the gift. Well, in the 50 miles between here and Beattyville, there are no stores that sell money orders. Once we got to the jail, I dropped off TJ and the kids and headed to the booming town of Beattyville to find a store that sold MO's. I eventually found one, purchased it, returned to the jail, and had enough time to walk in and wish Chris a happy birthday and exit.

Sunday was good. Church was good. Fellowship was good.