Redplaid Time

Friday, October 28, 2005

Kids in the Kingdom

My last post grew into a little dissertation on my basic opinion on children’s spirituality that I felt needed it’s own space. So here it is:

It has been my experience that children come by faith easily and naturally. When you tell them Jesus wants to talk to them and all they have to do is ask, they believe it. I sometimes remind them of the scripture that says, “If a son asks his father for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matt. 7:9) When you ask Jesus to speak to you he will. You don’t need to worry if what you hear is from any other source (like we adults do. Example: “That’s not Jesus. That’s just me. That’s what I want to hear…..”). Children need to be encouraged that they are hearing from God. If they can start the communication now, practice it now, they will know, without doubt, that Jesus is with them throughout their life and they won't be able to turn their backs on him because of their personal experience. That is my hope and my goal.

As parents we need to take our children's spirituality seriously. We need to affirm their spiritual experiences. A while back a friend of mine told me that her 7 y/o son announced to her that he was a prophet. I was happy to hear that her response was, "Yes you are". That is just the attitude we need to have. (btw; I concur. That boy is a prophet.)

Children don't have the doubts and skepticism that adults do. Their spirituality seems purer. They don’t get hung up on the doctrinal issues adults do like, pre, mid or post-tribulation, what kind of music is appropriate for worship, how to act in church and so on.

I like that our church leadership is willing to move towards giving children more participation in church. Alyssa’s word of prophecy is just one example. We closed off one service with the children praying for adults and leading worship (it was an incredible experience for all). A few times the children have been called to the front to pray for others. They are allowed to dance and flag during worship and the worship team is coming up with a plan that will allow children to participate with the them on Sunday morning. It’s a start. A start in the right direction.

Labels: children's ministry

posted by Kellie Huffman at 10/28/2005 11:39:00 a.m.
3 comments

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

My Cold and Jesus speaks to the Kids

Sunday morning: I was so looking forward to going to church. It is killing me that I had missed 2 already.

The first Sunday I missed, the worship team went wide on the percussion instruments and little Alyssa (6 y/o) prophesied. I love that she had the guts to tell the pastor (her grandfather) and that she was allowed to speak to the church. It was just one sentence, "Jesus is saying that he wants to heal people", but it is a step in the right direction. For about a year I have been training the children and teaching them that they are important members of the Kingdom and just as capable of worshiping, praying for others, hearing Jesus' voice and prophesying as adults. I’m sure that her grandfather is the pastor made it easier but it is a great example to the other children and a great lesson for the adults. I plan to talk to the children about when I get back and tell them they can do it to.

Anyway, I woke up feverish, chilled, achy, headache, miserable. Rats! I have Barry’s cold. So now it is 3 Sunday’s missed.

Ashley (who is taking over my class) is doing a great job and having a great time doing it. Two Sunday’s ago she led the kids in some God chasing time (the kids find a place in the room to be alone, no talking or goofing around, and talk to Jesus and listen to him while some quiet worship music plays). I told her that when she does this she will probably feel like everyone is just sitting around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting for it to be over but to be sure to gather the kids around after and ask them what happened. She said it happened just like I said. Her response to what happened during the after-talk was, “They blew me away!” A few said that Jesus told them he loves them (this is the most common and beautiful response. He most certainly does love them!) and 2 others had received a clear word from Jesus that spoke to their specific need and situation. I miss those kids.

Labels: children's ministry

posted by Kellie Huffman at 10/25/2005 08:21:00 a.m.
1 comments

Thursday, October 20, 2005

My Sticking Uterus

To anwser Yvonne's comment to my last post:

Apparently, before I had both ovaries ripped out, I had endometriosis.

“What is endometriosis?

The word "endometriosis" (say: "end-oh-me-tree-oh-sis") means a problem with the lining of the uterus. Endometrial tissue is usually only inside your uterus. However, if you have endometriosis, tissue from the lining of the uterus moves through the fallopian tubes and gets on your ovaries, in your pelvis, on your bladder or in other areas. When you have your period, this tissue swells and bleeds, just like the lining of your uterus. This is often painful, and scar tissue can form in your pelvic area.” (quoted from http://familydoctor.org/476.xml )

Eew! I wrote “apparently” because I did not know I had this condition, no one did, because I had no symptoms. The usual symptoms include, pain, pain, pain, during menstruation, intercourse, bowel movements (thank-you Jesus for no pain!) and difficulty getting pregnant (thank-you Jesus for my girls!). Ok, I had some pain with my period but nothing midol couldn’t handle.

Anyway, this uterine tissue makes your insides “sticky” (a real medical term used by my surgeon). My uterus is glued to my colon. More eew! I ask Mr. Surgeon if I would ever have to have my uterus removed. He did not foresee any reason for that but if I ever came to him and said I wanted it out (…time-out here: did he say I would ask for more surgery? Not gonna happen!) he would send me to Winnipeg where a team of surgeons would work on me. It would be a big deal. My main reason for asking was because I wanted him to say “no”. I never want to do this again!

Yvonne: I don’t know how many times I pushed that morphine button but I too would push it 3-4 times every time I woke up. I also thought I was sleeping for hours at a time but after waking up the 20th + time and it still was not morning I guessed I was dropping off for only a few minutes. I loved that button. I was in control. I got to recognize and love the little sound of the pump pushing out that 1mm of morphine. When my husband told me the next day that it only worked the first time I pushed it and only worked once every minute I learned to harness the power of the pump with the help of the desk clock I had Barry bring in. Cool stuff. I cried when they wanted to take it away but that’s another story for another day.

Labels: endometriomas, endometriosis, ovarian surgery

posted by Kellie Huffman at 10/20/2005 08:16:00 a.m.
0 comments

Monday, October 17, 2005

Two Weeks

Yes, it has been two weeks since surgery and I haven't updated. There is a lot to tell but I'll just give you the basics tonight.

TWINS: I went in around 9:30 am. Despite external and internal ultrasound, x-rays and CAT scan Cysarow was not alone. The surgeon lifted out one chocolate cyst only to discover another attached to the other ovary. So a two-hour surgery to remove one cyst and ovary turned into double duty. Four hours later, after determining that my uterus was steadfastly glued to my colon, wasn't coming out and looked healthy enough and losing a lot of blood, I was finally sewn up and taken to recovery.

I remember nothing until I was taken to my room at 5:00 pm. I remember being lifted and moved to my bed and all I could say was "Pain, pain, pain!" I could hear people telling me I would be hooked up to a morphine pump that I could control myself but I just couldn't shut-up. I can't think off any other time I have been in more pain. But that only lasted a minute or two. They got that morphine pumpin' pretty quick. It worked immediately. My memory is foggy but I remember Barry and my mom being there. I remember Barry telling me about Cysarow's twin (which I named latter, posthumously, Cysalane) and that there was no cancer.

I remember having a basic, almost desperate need to hold Barry's hand. It was like I couldn't effectively communicate any other way. When his hand wasn’t available he offered his foot. I didn’t care. The foot worked just fine.

Latter Barry told me I listened to Coronation Street and then put my glasses on and watched Corner Gas (one of my two favourite shows that I can’t miss). This I have no memory of, which really bothers me. I feel like I missed my fav show…..yet I didn’t. It was about Brett giving up coffee and Emma giving up knitting and crocheting to support him, a story line I would have really appreciated because I love knitting and crocheting and love that Emma is doing it in every show. I love that she is usually making some ghastly looking thing out of cheap acrylic. (Although, in tonight’s episode she was knitting something out of a cozy, nubby yarn in a neutral shade. I wonder if they are real projects that she is working on. She certainly is really doing it; she’s not faking it.) oh well.

That night I must have woke up every 10 minutes to push that morphine button pinned to my hospital smock. And every time I couldn’t help but be THRILLED that I didn’t have cancer. I guess I was more stressed out about that then I realized.

I will try and post more about my recovery and hospital experiences in the coming days. There is much to tell, some of which I wish I had known about before. I have a need to post as much about it as possible in hopes that I can help any of my sisters or friends that might need surgery in the future. (but I really hope not!)

Labels: corner gas, endometriomas, morphine, ovarian surgery

posted by Kellie Huffman at 10/17/2005 09:43:00 p.m.
1 comments

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Surgery Eve

Yah, its pretty stinky up there right now. It is 4:55 and I have survived the first bout of fleet enema cleansing. In a few minutes I must take the second dose. I have had nothing but liquids today, clear liquids. Barry picked up a box of vegetable broth cubes at the health food store and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Even though it took me about 20 minutes to strain it through a coffee filter to clean out the herby bits I am looking forward to doing it again latter. I have had tea with no milk (only barely tolerable, I managed to drink about a ¼ of it), blue PowerAde, granny smith apple juice (wonderful) and lots of water.
For an hour and a half after downing the first bottle of enema I was nauseous and had to lie down. After a couple of hours of toilet time I finally felt pretty normal. Now it is 5:00 and I must go and struggle to get the second bottle in my gullet.

Labels: endometriomas, fleet enema, ovarian cyst, ovarian surgery

posted by Kellie Huffman at 10/02/2005 04:47:00 p.m.
0 comments