Welcome Home Computer
My computer is back! Hurray.
I know I had Gregg's work computer to check e-mails, but I was really at the mercy of his schedule to do the other things that needed to get done, ie. pay bills, look for Halloween crafts for Max's school class party, etc. So now, I am free to post to my blog again.
Things at the Petersen Home are all pretty much the same, but as I look back a few things stand out that I should write about.
First, I happen to be the Compassionate Service Coordinator for our ward, and I have to tell you that it is a very rewarding calling most of the time. The members of our ward are very willing to help each other out. It is rare that someone tells me that they can't help, and when they do it is for a good reason.
With that said, I have to tell you of an experience that I had a couple of weeks ago. We have been helping a family in our ward deal with the reality of their son having bone cancer. He has been surviving chemotherapy for about 3 months in the hopes of shrinking the cancerous growth, but when the time came for surgery, it hadn't shrunk. In fact it had grown. He was therefore going in for surgery to remove part of his leg.
I arranged meals to be brought in, but I didn't feel it was enough. What can you do for someone when life handles them hurdles at such magnitude. I was useless. I stayed awake all night pondering what else I could do. Then, I came to the aha moment when I realized that the only thing that could truly comfort them was the gospel and to know that we all love and support them.
I simply can not imagine what they are going through. I was a wreck when I went over to his house the night before the surgery and the Young Men had all signed his leg as a token of encouragement. It was odd to look at his leg (working fine) and know that the next day it would be gone. The mother instinct in me just couldn't get past the injustice of this trial.
To make this story even more sad is that this family has already had to deal with the loss of a daughter/sister to cancer. Apparently there is a cancer gene that runs in their family, and as I laid in bed I kept thinking "why do they have to deal with this again?" Then I felt that this family has already been tested, and now we are being tested. There is no rightness, but I can and do feel empathy, and I can be right by them for as long as it takes.
Jacey and I visited Dallin and even got to ask the forbidden question of, "Wwhat did they do with your leg?" Jacey was invisioning the leg being thrown in the garbage, but apparently they pickle it and save it forever for research. Dallin has kept his humor through it all, he told us his mom he was going to be a pirate for Halloween. He told us he was going to be a Zombie with a fake leg over his shoulder, and his dad following behind him with a chain saw. I told him not to come to my house.
There is going to a run for Dallin if any are interested you can register here: http://www.walkjogrun.net/events/running/Dash-For-Dallin/1993233
The second thing that stood out was that I really don't like "BULLIES".
When Max looked at his class list at the first of the school year, his first reaction was "oh great Astyn is in my class". I had a preconcieved idea who this boy was, and asked for more details. I was told that I was thinking of the wrong boy. Oh good.
Well, since then, Astyn hasn't been a problem, but the boy I WAS thinking about has been.
A couple of weeks into the school year, I had a parent call me up and ask for my opinion of the class setting, and in particular about the influence this boy was having in the classroom. Yes, I conceeded that he was a distraction, but I couldn't go in a demand him being removed. The boy had to be somewhere. Someone had to teach him. I did however, go in to the pricipal' office and volunteer to be of help if they needed it.
I also had a chat with my son. I told him this boy was having a hard time knowing how to behave, and that he needed a friend. He needed a good example to follow. Someone to show him what was right.
Well I can tell you, since I am not always the most knowledgeable about these things, that that piece of advice backfired big time.
Max took me at my word, and tried to help this boy. But when this boy felt that Max was trying to tell him what to do, he threatened my son. So, I went in to talk to the teacher about it, and while I was in the school discussing the incident with the teacher and the principal, this boy attacked Max again.
Now all rules have changed. Gregg and I told Max to stay away from this boy, and if he is attacked again, he has permission to fight back.
It is sad to me that now we have to change how we go about things just to protect my son. Where is the justice in that.
I know I had Gregg's work computer to check e-mails, but I was really at the mercy of his schedule to do the other things that needed to get done, ie. pay bills, look for Halloween crafts for Max's school class party, etc. So now, I am free to post to my blog again.
Things at the Petersen Home are all pretty much the same, but as I look back a few things stand out that I should write about.
First, I happen to be the Compassionate Service Coordinator for our ward, and I have to tell you that it is a very rewarding calling most of the time. The members of our ward are very willing to help each other out. It is rare that someone tells me that they can't help, and when they do it is for a good reason.
With that said, I have to tell you of an experience that I had a couple of weeks ago. We have been helping a family in our ward deal with the reality of their son having bone cancer. He has been surviving chemotherapy for about 3 months in the hopes of shrinking the cancerous growth, but when the time came for surgery, it hadn't shrunk. In fact it had grown. He was therefore going in for surgery to remove part of his leg.
I arranged meals to be brought in, but I didn't feel it was enough. What can you do for someone when life handles them hurdles at such magnitude. I was useless. I stayed awake all night pondering what else I could do. Then, I came to the aha moment when I realized that the only thing that could truly comfort them was the gospel and to know that we all love and support them.
I simply can not imagine what they are going through. I was a wreck when I went over to his house the night before the surgery and the Young Men had all signed his leg as a token of encouragement. It was odd to look at his leg (working fine) and know that the next day it would be gone. The mother instinct in me just couldn't get past the injustice of this trial.
To make this story even more sad is that this family has already had to deal with the loss of a daughter/sister to cancer. Apparently there is a cancer gene that runs in their family, and as I laid in bed I kept thinking "why do they have to deal with this again?" Then I felt that this family has already been tested, and now we are being tested. There is no rightness, but I can and do feel empathy, and I can be right by them for as long as it takes.
Jacey and I visited Dallin and even got to ask the forbidden question of, "Wwhat did they do with your leg?" Jacey was invisioning the leg being thrown in the garbage, but apparently they pickle it and save it forever for research. Dallin has kept his humor through it all, he told us his mom he was going to be a pirate for Halloween. He told us he was going to be a Zombie with a fake leg over his shoulder, and his dad following behind him with a chain saw. I told him not to come to my house.
There is going to a run for Dallin if any are interested you can register here: http://www.walkjogrun.net/events/running/Dash-For-Dallin/1993233
The second thing that stood out was that I really don't like "BULLIES".
When Max looked at his class list at the first of the school year, his first reaction was "oh great Astyn is in my class". I had a preconcieved idea who this boy was, and asked for more details. I was told that I was thinking of the wrong boy. Oh good.
Well, since then, Astyn hasn't been a problem, but the boy I WAS thinking about has been.
A couple of weeks into the school year, I had a parent call me up and ask for my opinion of the class setting, and in particular about the influence this boy was having in the classroom. Yes, I conceeded that he was a distraction, but I couldn't go in a demand him being removed. The boy had to be somewhere. Someone had to teach him. I did however, go in to the pricipal' office and volunteer to be of help if they needed it.
I also had a chat with my son. I told him this boy was having a hard time knowing how to behave, and that he needed a friend. He needed a good example to follow. Someone to show him what was right.
Well I can tell you, since I am not always the most knowledgeable about these things, that that piece of advice backfired big time.
Max took me at my word, and tried to help this boy. But when this boy felt that Max was trying to tell him what to do, he threatened my son. So, I went in to talk to the teacher about it, and while I was in the school discussing the incident with the teacher and the principal, this boy attacked Max again.
Now all rules have changed. Gregg and I told Max to stay away from this boy, and if he is attacked again, he has permission to fight back.
It is sad to me that now we have to change how we go about things just to protect my son. Where is the justice in that.
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