Greetings! I plan on updating my blog more regularly than I've been doing. The last six months were very hard with my grandmother being ill and then passing away. It's time to get back on a regular schedule. She would have wanted it that way.
The Kindle
I'm sure most of you reading this blog are technologically savvy and I'm sure you've heard about the Kindle. It's taking the world by storm. I just saw this weekend that Amazon.com has caught up with its orders and now the Kindle is available right away. I read somewhere that it was taking from two weeks to a month to get the Kindle when the supply was short. It's good to know they've caught up.
The Kindle, in my opinion, is going to revolutionize the publishing industry. I am so excited by what this new technology promises. No more huge inventories to have to maintain. This is going to save a lot of trees! No more waiting for days or weeks until a book is delivered to your door -- you can have it in the blink of an eye. No more having to hunt for a dictionary to look up a definition for an unfamiliar word -- the Kindle has a built-in dictionary. What a wonderful tool this can become for college students, or even more importantly, for backpack-laden, sore schoolchildren around the globe. Imagine having all your textbooks in something the size of a paperback book -- and you can highlight in it, take notes and even store additional, supplemental resources there, too. Some backpack companies may feel the pain with the advent of the Kindle.
Many years ago when I was first working on The Heart of a Father, I envisioned an eBook version of the book. I could see us having photos, videos and even music all in a book. I was thrilled to think of what it would look like, feel like and sound like, even though the prospect of learning about all of that was daunting. With the Kindle on the market now, I wonder how that will change the way I see our book? I already discussed this with my marketing vice president and we've agreed we need to make our book available on the Kindle. I'm curious about what exactly that will mean.
As I learn and discover more about this phenomenal publishing format, I'll keep you all posted.
Iron Man
This weekend Alexander and I went to see Iron Man with some friends of his. The movie was excellent. In fact, it was so good, Alex went to see it the next night with his dad. He enjoyed it even more for seeing his dad's enjoyment.
As our children age, it's so easy to step back and step away from them. Their taste in books, music and movies is often different from our own. But I think that's an even more important reason for us to share, share, share.
Homeschooling allows me more opportunities than most parents have for sharing. Almost everyday Alex and I read aloud together. When I was homeschooling Joey, too, I went though a long phase of reading nothing but Newbery books or classics. When Joey left the homeschool, Alex got a twinkle in his eye and said, "Now we can read what we want to read!" I found this very funny, but also on target. His brother is not a lover of fantasy and science fiction like Alex and I are so he wouldn't have appreciated the books we've shared over the last year and a half.
We started with the entire Narnia series. Of course we enjoyed the movie when it came out, too. We read the Snow Spider trilogy by Jenny Nimmo. Then we moved on to the Eragon series (and its movie!). Because of my book club, I was able to throw The Pearl by John Steinbeck in the mix, too. Lately we've been reading the Charlie Bone books.
Hollywood really needs to make some movies based on the Charlie Bone books. They are great. In between all of that reading aloud we also shared books that we read to ourselves -- most notably the Percy Jackson series.
What I loved about Iron Man was his message: It doesn't really matter what you do in life, how rich you are or how famous you become if you don't do something for someone else. This is something that I talk to Alex about a lot. I believe Alex's life has a purpose. His life has inspired so many people. In some ways, Alex is an Iron Man. I found it fascinating how the character's weakness -- and then his strength -- dealt with his heart. Just like Alex.
Percy Jackson
I wrote about Alex and me meeting Rick Riordan months ago. Lucky Alex gets to meet with him again! My friend, Cristy, has graciously offered to let Alex accompany her family to another book signing by Rick Riordan. I am jealous! Joey has a German National Honor Society Induction ceremony the same night at the same time, so I can't possibly go to both.
I'm going to ask Cristy to take a picture and I'll post it on the blog for you all to see. Mr. Riordan really inspired Alex. It was after he met this awesome writer than he came home and really started writing with a passion. Hearing Mr. Riordan say that the hardest thing for him is to actually finish a book was something that Alex could relate to. Now when he gets stuck on his story, we discuss how even famous authors feel the same way and how you just have to slog through it sometimes.
Just recently Alex and his father (Frank) joined a writers' group in Austin. The group meets specifically to talk about science fiction and fantasy writing. Alex came home so psyched after that meeting that I couldn't get him to bed until after midnight! He was too busy editing his outline and a chapter of his book. When he goes to the next meeting, he's bringing two chapters of his book to share in public -- something he's never done before. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes.
I hope all of you have something to be excited about, something to be passionate about and something to share with others today.
Peace,
Anna
Monday, May 5, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Death, Near Death and Feeling Thankful
It is amazing how time can get away from you when you are grieving. I am sorry for taking so long to post to the blog again. It's been a little too painful for me to write, but today I feel the need to write.
The beginning of the year started the way it did last year -- with the completion of Robotics season and heavy-duty swim season. The District meet for swimming is in February so January and February are full of practices, meets and time spent making hotel arrangements and trip arrangements. This year was no different except that Grandma was sick and we kept spending time at the hospital in addition to our already-full schedule.
Joey was actually at his Regional meet at the University of Houston when I got a call from my dad. Grandma was being admitted again. She was not feeling well. I was a little relieved. Alex, Frank and I had visited her that week and she didn't look good. When Frank saw her, he felt she was doing fine and didn't need to go to the hospital, but I was worried.
My sister was supposed to come to the swim meet to cheer on Joey. He was the only swimmer from our whole county who made it to the finals in Houston. When she heard Grandma was being admitted, she drove to Temple instead. I was glad and eager to get on the road myself. Joey didn't know what was going on; I didn't want the news to interfere with his swim. He's hoping to make it to Junior Nationals sometime this year.
By the time I got home from Houston, things were not looking good. My aunt and uncle came from Mississippi. The week was one long roller coaster ride. Things wouldn't look good and then Grandma would rally back, giving us hope that she'd make it out of the hospital and back home with us. She started dialysis. That was brutal. Because her kidneys were in such bad shape, they had to do a series of dialysis treatments. She seemed to do well with the first two, but the third one seemed especially punishing. It was just too much and she had no reserves. She was nothing but skin and bones. A doctor told us that she wouldn't be able to come home to live because it would be too much for one or even two people to take care of her with her needing dialysis several times a week. We knew Grandma would not be happy about that, but still she fought.
They moved her to the floor and we were all relieved that she was in a private room and seemed on the road to recovery. We left for some much-needed rest. When the phone rang at 2 a.m. Frank was the one to answer it. He told me not to worry about anything, he'd go to the hospital to check everything out and call me if I was needed. At 2:30 the call came. I woke up Aunt Terry and Uncle Dean. We rushed to the hospital.
Grandma held on until my sister arrived from Houston. We had a priest come to deliver last rites. He was wonderful and did a beautiful prayer service over Grandma. She would have been pleased. It still seems hard to believe that Grandma left us on February 16th.
Family came from all over the United States. Some stayed with me, my sister and her family stayed with my dad and some stayed at Grandma's house. That was hard for them. I don't know how they did it. When I went to Grandma's house, it felt kind of weird. I kept expecting to see her or hear her voice.
The whole family gathered at my house where we used our pool table to spread out Grandma's generous number of photo albums. The funeral home gave us some 16" x 24" display boards we could use for the visitation. Each of Grandma's children had a board where they put pictures of their branch of the family tree. Then we fixed up two more boards of nothing but Grandma, Grandma and her friends and places she had traveled. How she loved to travel!
In addition to that, we gathered some little momentos to put on display in the visitation room. Grandma played the harmonica and we found some of her old harmonicas to put out. I had a blank book I had used when I was doing a genealogy unit with Grandma and the boys. We each had our own blank book where we shared some stories about our life. Grandma had only written two, but I thought people might like to read something written by her about her life.
My sister, Aunt Terry and I did the readings for the funeral service. The pallbearers included my father, my husband and my son (Joey) as well as Uncle Dean, my cousin Chris and my brother-in-law, Jesse. Uncle Gary and Aunt Susie sang. Grandma would have been proud. It was so unbelievably beautiful.
Near Death
We've all been in a state of grief since Grandma's passing, but we've also tried to focus on positive things. Dad is the executor of Grandma's estate and that is extremely time consuming and challenging. One of the things to be decided was what to do with Grandma's car. Finally, my aunts decided that Dad should have Grandma's car and that Joey really needed a car to drive, so Dad gave us his 1999 Honda for Joey (and eventually Alex) to use. All of this took time, so Joey didn't get the car until sometime in March.
Last Friday, April 25th, Joey called me after school to let me know that he'd have to miss swim in order to work on a film he was making for his IB film class. The money for the swim fund raiser was due that afternoon, though, so Alex and I headed for the swim center with Joey's envelope of donations inside. On the way to the swim center, Joey called me again. This time he started the call by saying, "I'm okay." The sound of his voice quickly conveyed to me that while he was okay, something was NOT okay. "The car," Joey said, "the car is not so good." When he handed the phone to a police officer, I knew things were not good.
Thank goodness for my GPS unit! Joey had been out in the country scouting for a good location to shoot a picnic in a meadow scene when he lost control of his car and ended up on a guard rail. Angels surely took care of Joey and Trent who believed the car was going to flip over. Instead of flipping over the guard rail into a ravine, the car stayed put, on top of the guard rail, allowing the boys to scramble out of the car, completely unharmed.
As if Joey's guardian angel(s) hadn't worked hard to save him during his car accident, more work was needed still. I barely had Trent safely home before noticing that the skies were darkening quickly. "We're in for a storm," I said to Joey. It was much more than a storm. I was barely home before the phone rang. "Anna -- are you listening to the radio?" my father asked me. "No. I just got home," I replied. To my amazement, my dad told me that a tornado had just touched down not far from his home. More were expected in our area. Minutes after Dad's phone call we heard hail on the roof. Luckily for us, no tornado came through our neighborhood.
All of this leaves me feeling so thankful. Thankful my son and his friend were spared, thankful that the tornadoes that did touch down in Bell County didn't do too much damage and no lives were lost, thankful for another day.
Living with Alex, I've come to appreciate the beauty of every day. Having a child with a congenital heart defect means knowing that each day is a blessing and a gift. Sometimes I witness that through my heart-healthy son, Joey, too. I can't help but wonder if Grandma wasn't one of Joey's guardian angels on Friday. I know I feel her presence and I miss her very much.
The beginning of the year started the way it did last year -- with the completion of Robotics season and heavy-duty swim season. The District meet for swimming is in February so January and February are full of practices, meets and time spent making hotel arrangements and trip arrangements. This year was no different except that Grandma was sick and we kept spending time at the hospital in addition to our already-full schedule.
Joey was actually at his Regional meet at the University of Houston when I got a call from my dad. Grandma was being admitted again. She was not feeling well. I was a little relieved. Alex, Frank and I had visited her that week and she didn't look good. When Frank saw her, he felt she was doing fine and didn't need to go to the hospital, but I was worried.
My sister was supposed to come to the swim meet to cheer on Joey. He was the only swimmer from our whole county who made it to the finals in Houston. When she heard Grandma was being admitted, she drove to Temple instead. I was glad and eager to get on the road myself. Joey didn't know what was going on; I didn't want the news to interfere with his swim. He's hoping to make it to Junior Nationals sometime this year.
By the time I got home from Houston, things were not looking good. My aunt and uncle came from Mississippi. The week was one long roller coaster ride. Things wouldn't look good and then Grandma would rally back, giving us hope that she'd make it out of the hospital and back home with us. She started dialysis. That was brutal. Because her kidneys were in such bad shape, they had to do a series of dialysis treatments. She seemed to do well with the first two, but the third one seemed especially punishing. It was just too much and she had no reserves. She was nothing but skin and bones. A doctor told us that she wouldn't be able to come home to live because it would be too much for one or even two people to take care of her with her needing dialysis several times a week. We knew Grandma would not be happy about that, but still she fought.
They moved her to the floor and we were all relieved that she was in a private room and seemed on the road to recovery. We left for some much-needed rest. When the phone rang at 2 a.m. Frank was the one to answer it. He told me not to worry about anything, he'd go to the hospital to check everything out and call me if I was needed. At 2:30 the call came. I woke up Aunt Terry and Uncle Dean. We rushed to the hospital.
Grandma held on until my sister arrived from Houston. We had a priest come to deliver last rites. He was wonderful and did a beautiful prayer service over Grandma. She would have been pleased. It still seems hard to believe that Grandma left us on February 16th.
Family came from all over the United States. Some stayed with me, my sister and her family stayed with my dad and some stayed at Grandma's house. That was hard for them. I don't know how they did it. When I went to Grandma's house, it felt kind of weird. I kept expecting to see her or hear her voice.
The whole family gathered at my house where we used our pool table to spread out Grandma's generous number of photo albums. The funeral home gave us some 16" x 24" display boards we could use for the visitation. Each of Grandma's children had a board where they put pictures of their branch of the family tree. Then we fixed up two more boards of nothing but Grandma, Grandma and her friends and places she had traveled. How she loved to travel!
In addition to that, we gathered some little momentos to put on display in the visitation room. Grandma played the harmonica and we found some of her old harmonicas to put out. I had a blank book I had used when I was doing a genealogy unit with Grandma and the boys. We each had our own blank book where we shared some stories about our life. Grandma had only written two, but I thought people might like to read something written by her about her life.
My sister, Aunt Terry and I did the readings for the funeral service. The pallbearers included my father, my husband and my son (Joey) as well as Uncle Dean, my cousin Chris and my brother-in-law, Jesse. Uncle Gary and Aunt Susie sang. Grandma would have been proud. It was so unbelievably beautiful.
Near Death
We've all been in a state of grief since Grandma's passing, but we've also tried to focus on positive things. Dad is the executor of Grandma's estate and that is extremely time consuming and challenging. One of the things to be decided was what to do with Grandma's car. Finally, my aunts decided that Dad should have Grandma's car and that Joey really needed a car to drive, so Dad gave us his 1999 Honda for Joey (and eventually Alex) to use. All of this took time, so Joey didn't get the car until sometime in March.
Last Friday, April 25th, Joey called me after school to let me know that he'd have to miss swim in order to work on a film he was making for his IB film class. The money for the swim fund raiser was due that afternoon, though, so Alex and I headed for the swim center with Joey's envelope of donations inside. On the way to the swim center, Joey called me again. This time he started the call by saying, "I'm okay." The sound of his voice quickly conveyed to me that while he was okay, something was NOT okay. "The car," Joey said, "the car is not so good." When he handed the phone to a police officer, I knew things were not good.
Thank goodness for my GPS unit! Joey had been out in the country scouting for a good location to shoot a picnic in a meadow scene when he lost control of his car and ended up on a guard rail. Angels surely took care of Joey and Trent who believed the car was going to flip over. Instead of flipping over the guard rail into a ravine, the car stayed put, on top of the guard rail, allowing the boys to scramble out of the car, completely unharmed.
As if Joey's guardian angel(s) hadn't worked hard to save him during his car accident, more work was needed still. I barely had Trent safely home before noticing that the skies were darkening quickly. "We're in for a storm," I said to Joey. It was much more than a storm. I was barely home before the phone rang. "Anna -- are you listening to the radio?" my father asked me. "No. I just got home," I replied. To my amazement, my dad told me that a tornado had just touched down not far from his home. More were expected in our area. Minutes after Dad's phone call we heard hail on the roof. Luckily for us, no tornado came through our neighborhood.
All of this leaves me feeling so thankful. Thankful my son and his friend were spared, thankful that the tornadoes that did touch down in Bell County didn't do too much damage and no lives were lost, thankful for another day.
Living with Alex, I've come to appreciate the beauty of every day. Having a child with a congenital heart defect means knowing that each day is a blessing and a gift. Sometimes I witness that through my heart-healthy son, Joey, too. I can't help but wonder if Grandma wasn't one of Joey's guardian angels on Friday. I know I feel her presence and I miss her very much.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Family Matters & The Heart of a Father Update
Dear Friends of the Heart:
This last week was bittersweet. The bitter came in the form of a phone call at ten minutes 'til one Thursday morning. It was my sister-in-law. My husband's brother, Jack, was in the hospital suffering from a massive heart attack. We didn't know if he'd make it.
By 6:30 a.m. Jack had undergone 2 cardiac caths. He was stabilized and at a different hospital than where he'd started out. Things were looking up for Jack. Frank flew out later Thursday morning to be with him and our sister-in-law Lee.
The sweet part also happened on Thursday. My mother, two aunts and one uncle were visiting my cousin in Waco from Georgia and I was to go to Waco with Alex for lunch. I called to tell them that we'd had hardly any sleep and I was going to be a little bit late. The rest of the late morning and afternoon were spent visiting with my mother, Aunt Guyla, Aunt Paula and Uncle Otis.
Thursday afternoon Alex and I drove back to Temple so we could help out at Joey's swim meet. It was a good meet, although the much bigger team from a much bigger city romped our small team. :-( Still, the kids swam well and made some improvements.
Friday my family came to visit me in Temple. We went to lunch with my father and grandmother. What could have been an awkward event went well. I'm so glad to see my mother and father can be together without animosity. Joey and Megan (my sister's daughter) will be graduating next year and it would be nice if they could both be present for those special occasions.
On Friday night Joey and I left for a swim meet in College Station. This was a huge meet of 499 swimmers from all over (mostly central and south) Texas. Our team only brought 6 boys and 7 girls. Our boys finished 6th beating out much bigger teams! Joey got two best times and his relays helped earn the boys some good points. It was fun to watch Joey and his team do so well. Landry, our only diver, is one of Joey's best friends and I was happy to see him do well in the diving -- especially since this was the first big meet for him to attend and compete in as a diver.
We didn't get home until close to 1 a.m. on Sunday. The weekend was half over. But there was still Robotics to do! The X-Bots came over and worked very hard on their missions for a while before taking a break. During the break I talked to the boys about what they were doing and how to talk to judges about how they were interacting, changing responsibilities for missions, programs and building arms and attachments, and strategizing on the best way for their robot to earn the most points. It was an interesting meeting.
Coach Cristy and I also went over their homework from last week and reminded them about the field trip we're taking on Tuesday to the Families in Crisis center in order to continue working on their community service/robotics project. We got a lot done in 2 hours!
Then it was on to McGregor. This is a small town near Gatesville and not far from Hewitt (where my cousin lives) and Temple (where I live). We went to a restaurant called Luigi's which had wonderful food and excellent service. I was impressed.
It was the first time for me to meet my cousin Michelle as an adult. I had met her as a little girl, but that was many years ago. I also had the opportunity to meet her husband Ray. They both seemed very nice, but we didn't have much of a chance to talk because of the sheer number of us at the restaurant and the fact that my family was at one end of the line of tables and my cousin was at the other end. Still, we managed a little bit of conversation and I gave Michelle my card, so we might get together in the future.
Frank didn't get home until midnight on Friday and he had to pick up Alex from my dad's house. Saturday they went to Merit Badge College at Baylor University. We kept up with each other -- and Jack's progress -- thanks to our cell phones. My sisters-in-law (Susan and Karen) were also driving back home to Texas. We had a lot to keep up with and worry about. I know Frank and I both felt so much better on Sunday when we knew everyone was home safe and sound.
After Merit Badge College, Frank dropped Alex off at home and he went on to Scott & White to compete at the Toastmasters International Division Level Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest. Frank represented our Toastmasters club, Texas Stars Toastmasters, and did a fine job, although he went over time by 6 seconds and didn't bring home a trophy.
It looks like Jack and Alex may be able to compare scars someday. Today they did one of a series of 2 MRIs to determine when Jack can undergo open-heart surgery. Thanks to what Alex has been through, I understand a lot of what Jack is going through right now. I never expected so much information to be the same (between pediatrics -- especially since Alex was an infant -- and adult cardiology). The nice thing about that was that when my s-i-ls had questions, and they couldn't reach Frank, they could talk to me and I could explain what they were curious about. I always reminded them that I'm just a mom, not a nurse or a doctor, but when I told Frank about our conversations, he told me I did a good job explaining things. :-) That made me feel a lot better. I hate thinking I know just enough to mess things up!
So with all of these family matters going on, it's difficult to find time to work on The Heart of a Father; however, Dad made time this week to completely finish Chapter 1! Frank is writing the connecting material for the book and he sent Dad what he had written. Dad then completed the line and copy editing and feels the first chapter is complete. I still need to give it my stamp of approval and we still have to run it by all of the authors, but it's much closer to being complete than it ever has before! It's very exciting to see the book coming together.
We were trying to do a chapter a week, but things might have to be delayed a bit. Daddy is having eye surgery this week and he may be out of commission for a few days -- as will I since I'm going to help take care of him. It's a pity we don't have unlimited hours to work on finishing the book without interruptions, but that's just not the way life goes.
I hope all of you have a wonderful week. It's going to be another big swimming week for Joey and me. On Thursday we leave for TISCA in Corpus Christi. This is one of the biggest high school meets Joey will take part in. This time they'll have their whole team together and their relays should be a bit different. It should be an exciting meet. I plan to be back in time for Robotics on Sunday.
Meanwhile Frank and Alex will be attending Merit Badge College on Saturday to finish up Alex's merit badges as he strives to become an Eagle Scout. He still has a couple of years to go, but he is working very hard toward that goal.
When I get back from being out of town, I am hopeful we'll have Chapter 2 done. I'll keep you all posted on how that progresses.
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
This last week was bittersweet. The bitter came in the form of a phone call at ten minutes 'til one Thursday morning. It was my sister-in-law. My husband's brother, Jack, was in the hospital suffering from a massive heart attack. We didn't know if he'd make it.
By 6:30 a.m. Jack had undergone 2 cardiac caths. He was stabilized and at a different hospital than where he'd started out. Things were looking up for Jack. Frank flew out later Thursday morning to be with him and our sister-in-law Lee.
The sweet part also happened on Thursday. My mother, two aunts and one uncle were visiting my cousin in Waco from Georgia and I was to go to Waco with Alex for lunch. I called to tell them that we'd had hardly any sleep and I was going to be a little bit late. The rest of the late morning and afternoon were spent visiting with my mother, Aunt Guyla, Aunt Paula and Uncle Otis.
Thursday afternoon Alex and I drove back to Temple so we could help out at Joey's swim meet. It was a good meet, although the much bigger team from a much bigger city romped our small team. :-( Still, the kids swam well and made some improvements.
Friday my family came to visit me in Temple. We went to lunch with my father and grandmother. What could have been an awkward event went well. I'm so glad to see my mother and father can be together without animosity. Joey and Megan (my sister's daughter) will be graduating next year and it would be nice if they could both be present for those special occasions.
On Friday night Joey and I left for a swim meet in College Station. This was a huge meet of 499 swimmers from all over (mostly central and south) Texas. Our team only brought 6 boys and 7 girls. Our boys finished 6th beating out much bigger teams! Joey got two best times and his relays helped earn the boys some good points. It was fun to watch Joey and his team do so well. Landry, our only diver, is one of Joey's best friends and I was happy to see him do well in the diving -- especially since this was the first big meet for him to attend and compete in as a diver.
We didn't get home until close to 1 a.m. on Sunday. The weekend was half over. But there was still Robotics to do! The X-Bots came over and worked very hard on their missions for a while before taking a break. During the break I talked to the boys about what they were doing and how to talk to judges about how they were interacting, changing responsibilities for missions, programs and building arms and attachments, and strategizing on the best way for their robot to earn the most points. It was an interesting meeting.
Coach Cristy and I also went over their homework from last week and reminded them about the field trip we're taking on Tuesday to the Families in Crisis center in order to continue working on their community service/robotics project. We got a lot done in 2 hours!
Then it was on to McGregor. This is a small town near Gatesville and not far from Hewitt (where my cousin lives) and Temple (where I live). We went to a restaurant called Luigi's which had wonderful food and excellent service. I was impressed.
It was the first time for me to meet my cousin Michelle as an adult. I had met her as a little girl, but that was many years ago. I also had the opportunity to meet her husband Ray. They both seemed very nice, but we didn't have much of a chance to talk because of the sheer number of us at the restaurant and the fact that my family was at one end of the line of tables and my cousin was at the other end. Still, we managed a little bit of conversation and I gave Michelle my card, so we might get together in the future.
Frank didn't get home until midnight on Friday and he had to pick up Alex from my dad's house. Saturday they went to Merit Badge College at Baylor University. We kept up with each other -- and Jack's progress -- thanks to our cell phones. My sisters-in-law (Susan and Karen) were also driving back home to Texas. We had a lot to keep up with and worry about. I know Frank and I both felt so much better on Sunday when we knew everyone was home safe and sound.
After Merit Badge College, Frank dropped Alex off at home and he went on to Scott & White to compete at the Toastmasters International Division Level Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contest. Frank represented our Toastmasters club, Texas Stars Toastmasters, and did a fine job, although he went over time by 6 seconds and didn't bring home a trophy.
It looks like Jack and Alex may be able to compare scars someday. Today they did one of a series of 2 MRIs to determine when Jack can undergo open-heart surgery. Thanks to what Alex has been through, I understand a lot of what Jack is going through right now. I never expected so much information to be the same (between pediatrics -- especially since Alex was an infant -- and adult cardiology). The nice thing about that was that when my s-i-ls had questions, and they couldn't reach Frank, they could talk to me and I could explain what they were curious about. I always reminded them that I'm just a mom, not a nurse or a doctor, but when I told Frank about our conversations, he told me I did a good job explaining things. :-) That made me feel a lot better. I hate thinking I know just enough to mess things up!
So with all of these family matters going on, it's difficult to find time to work on The Heart of a Father; however, Dad made time this week to completely finish Chapter 1! Frank is writing the connecting material for the book and he sent Dad what he had written. Dad then completed the line and copy editing and feels the first chapter is complete. I still need to give it my stamp of approval and we still have to run it by all of the authors, but it's much closer to being complete than it ever has before! It's very exciting to see the book coming together.
We were trying to do a chapter a week, but things might have to be delayed a bit. Daddy is having eye surgery this week and he may be out of commission for a few days -- as will I since I'm going to help take care of him. It's a pity we don't have unlimited hours to work on finishing the book without interruptions, but that's just not the way life goes.
I hope all of you have a wonderful week. It's going to be another big swimming week for Joey and me. On Thursday we leave for TISCA in Corpus Christi. This is one of the biggest high school meets Joey will take part in. This time they'll have their whole team together and their relays should be a bit different. It should be an exciting meet. I plan to be back in time for Robotics on Sunday.
Meanwhile Frank and Alex will be attending Merit Badge College on Saturday to finish up Alex's merit badges as he strives to become an Eagle Scout. He still has a couple of years to go, but he is working very hard toward that goal.
When I get back from being out of town, I am hopeful we'll have Chapter 2 done. I'll keep you all posted on how that progresses.
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
Sunday, November 4, 2007
International Quilt Show -- Houston
This picture is (l-r) J.D. McCain, Nancy McCain, me and Alex at the International Quilt Show in Houston, Texas. You can see one of the beautiful Congenital Heart Defect Awareness quilts behind us.We had a wonderful time at the quilt show! J.D. and Nancy did a terrific job of setting up the quilts, information about congenital heart defects and they even had two sewing machines with a lot of material, an iron, cutting board, rotary cutters and everything else needed to make a block for a heart quilt. They gave lessons, so Alex and I made each made a quilt block. Here are some pictures of Alex making his quilt block.
Here is Alex picking out his material. Then J.D. told Alex how the sewing machine controls work. The third picture (above) is of J.D. demonstrating how Alex would need to use two hands to feed the material into the sewing machine.
J.D. shows Alex where to start sewing the first corner. Then Alex sews the opposite corner on. In the third picture you can see where both corners have been sewn on.
Now you can see J.D. ironing the seams, showing Alex where the big corner piece needs to be sewn on and then cutting the excess material.
J.D. then draws the top center part of the heart that will be blue and he pins the blue material in place. When he was done pinning the material, he showed Alex how it had to be sewn.
Here Alex is sewing one side of the blue material. The middle picture shows J.D. watching until Alex is finished (3rd picture).
Again J.D. irons, watches Alex finish the last seam and then removes the pins.
Once again J.D. works a little magic and TA DA! Alex's quilt block is complete. It's amazing what two guys can do when they put their heads (and hearts) together.
Not to be outdone, check out the pictures of my quilt block and Alex's below. Now our blocks will be part of the Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Quilt Project.
As if that were not exciting enough, we had a chance to meet some wonderful people. Alex met some other people who had been affected by hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Corrie Stassen, President of It's My Heart, came to provide helpful information to passersby. She seemed happy to meet Alex and her baby (Gavin) was precious. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of Alex and the baby, although he did hold him for a while. We also met Heather Vinson and Becky Suggs -- more It's My Heart officers. I wish we could have had more time to talk to these fine ladies.
The last person I met was a woman whose best friend's child had a heart transplant. She took one of my cards and agreed to give it to her best friend to see if her husband would contribute to The Heart of a Father. To my delight, tonight I received a phone call from Maureen and she is going to talk to her husband about writing for the book. I am very excited about that because I've been looking for a successful transplant story for the book and her son is rejection-free and will be 17 years old soon.
My father, Bob Daigneault, went to the Quilt Show on Saturday and he also met some wonderful people. Dad also made a quilt block, but he neglected to take a picture of it. Drats! He said it was great to talk to Nancy, J.D. and the many other people who stopped by and whose lives were affected by congenital heart defects. He also found a potential author for The Heart of a Father.
What a wonderful experience for my family and me! I hope that next year we will be able to go to Houston again for this incredible show. If so, I think Alex and I will get a hotel so we won't have to do so much driving in one day (8 hours of driving!) and so we can enjoy some of the beautiful exhibits. I also would like to visit more of the vendors. I bought a little something to help me with another quilt project. Working with J.D. and Nancy has given me the courage to want to do more quilting.
I hope all of you enjoyed the pictures. I think it took me longer to upload all the pictures to the blog than it took Alex to make the quilt block. I thought it would be fun to see a boy with HLHS making a quilt block with a grandfather of a child with HLHS for the CHD Quilt Project. I hope all of my visitors agree.
Sincerely,
Anna
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Heart of a Father Progress Report & Heart Quilt Show
I am SO excited to report that we are making steady progress on the book, The Heart of a Father. This project has laid dormant for about 5 years and I started to wonder if it would ever be finished. I fretted about it, but didn't know how I could continue to homeschool my children, run my business and do all of the other things that needed to be done AND finish the book. With my older son going to public school and my father joining my business, I finally found a way to do it all. :-) There is just no way I could do it alone.
Dad and I have broken the book up by chapters and last week we edited the first chapter -- Dads in the Hospital. This week we edited Dads Around the World, but not all of the essays we have are complete. We also discovered that the Dads Around the World chapter could still use an essay or two, especially if they were from Asia, Africa, South America, Central America or one of the many other countries not represented in the book thus far. We could also use more essays for the Catch 22 chapter. That chapter is about the Catch 22 situation so many dads find themselves in when they have to work to provide the health insurance needed for their family and yet they feel they need to be at the hospital with their child OR having to work while the mother and child are sent to another hospital in another town, state or country OR perhaps there is another Catch 22 situation that a dad found himself in. Write to me at jaworski@vvm.com if you have an essay you'd like for me to consider for The Heart of a Father.
We have received a number of CDs with music for the ebook. It's very exciting to see how the ebook is going to be different from the other books I published in the past. The multi-media aspect really makes it a fun project, albeit a bit daunting. We also have video that we'll be incorporating. I know this is going to be a challenge, but even so, I'm so excited about it! It really will be fun to see how we pull it all together.
This Friday Alex and I will travel to Houston, Texas for an amazing quilt show. The quilt show will feature quilts that have been made in honor or memory of special people born with congenital heart defects. I'm hoping Alex's quilt -- Quilt #9 -- will be there. If you haven't ever seen these quilts, please visit my website: www.congenitalheartdefects.com and look towards the bottom to the links to for Congenital Heart Defect Awareness and Legislation. That's where you can find this link.
It is exciting for us to see Jess and Nancy McCain again. We were fortunate enough to see them when we went to San Francisco. It'll be nice to see them again.
I hope all of you have a terrific week!
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
Dad and I have broken the book up by chapters and last week we edited the first chapter -- Dads in the Hospital. This week we edited Dads Around the World, but not all of the essays we have are complete. We also discovered that the Dads Around the World chapter could still use an essay or two, especially if they were from Asia, Africa, South America, Central America or one of the many other countries not represented in the book thus far. We could also use more essays for the Catch 22 chapter. That chapter is about the Catch 22 situation so many dads find themselves in when they have to work to provide the health insurance needed for their family and yet they feel they need to be at the hospital with their child OR having to work while the mother and child are sent to another hospital in another town, state or country OR perhaps there is another Catch 22 situation that a dad found himself in. Write to me at jaworski@vvm.com if you have an essay you'd like for me to consider for The Heart of a Father.
We have received a number of CDs with music for the ebook. It's very exciting to see how the ebook is going to be different from the other books I published in the past. The multi-media aspect really makes it a fun project, albeit a bit daunting. We also have video that we'll be incorporating. I know this is going to be a challenge, but even so, I'm so excited about it! It really will be fun to see how we pull it all together.
This Friday Alex and I will travel to Houston, Texas for an amazing quilt show. The quilt show will feature quilts that have been made in honor or memory of special people born with congenital heart defects. I'm hoping Alex's quilt -- Quilt #9 -- will be there. If you haven't ever seen these quilts, please visit my website: www.congenitalheartdefects.com and look towards the bottom to the links to for Congenital Heart Defect Awareness and Legislation. That's where you can find this link.
It is exciting for us to see Jess and Nancy McCain again. We were fortunate enough to see them when we went to San Francisco. It'll be nice to see them again.
I hope all of you have a terrific week!
Sincerely,
Anna Jaworski
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Miami Heart Conference DVD
I am very excited to report that I had a DVD made of the two speeches I gave in Miami at the American Heart Association Heart Heroes Conference. This is the very first DVD for Baby Hearts Press to sell. We learned a lot making this DVD.
It is always hard for me to watch myself on television because I see so many flaws, but I watched this DVD and was happy with the results. The gentleman I hired to put the DVD together did an awesome job of putting in the PowerPoint slides that I used.
Most of the stories I told in my speeches deal with Alexander and hypoplastic left heart syndrome, but I did talk about some other people I know with different congenital heart defects. I mentioned some people from The Heart of a Mother because every conference participant received a free copy of the book. I even used some of the pictures from the book in my presentation. One of the neat things I was able to do was to show some pictures of people from the book, which was published in 2000, and then later in my speech I showed a much more current picture. It's been so much fun to watch some of these young people grow up.
I wanted to upload a picture of the DVD in my blog, but for some reason, this blog is having problems accepting pictures from me. I'm wondering if it's because I'm using FireFox as my browser. For whatever reason, it's not working. :-( I'll try again later and maybe then I'll be successful.
Monday, October 8, 2007
American Heart Association Heart Heroes Conference
I wish I had brought a camera and could have taken a ton of pictures at this amazing conference, but I was too busy talking! It was so much fun meeting the Miami heart families. The children were all over the place having a wonderful time. The parents, you could tell, were relaxed with having the volunteers channel their children's energy into positive experiences. There was an electric excitement in the air. I'm still feeling the effects of it days later.
The keynote address went very well. I had practiced the speech so much before I left that I was afraid it wouldn't feel fresh, but the energy I got from the audience really pumped me up and I think I gave the best presentation in Miami. I know I made some mistakes -- there were some distractions that caught me off-guard, but I know I was forgiven because so many kind parents came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my talk. It really felt good.
I think what made me feel best, though, was when I was out in the lobby during a question-and-answer session and a woman came over to me exclaiming about how Alex was in karate. She turned to her husband and said, "Alfonso can do karate!" Her husband was all smiles and they were so excited to know that they could go home and sign their son up for karate. Apparently he had been begging for years. Now, since they'd heard Alex's story, they were ready to let him try. That makes every minute of preparation I took for my speech worth it.
It was so exciting to see Gene, Ethan and Nathan Bortnick! I met Gene in Philadelphia over a year ago, but I hadn't met his darling little boys. Nathan was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and Ethan is heart healthy. Ethan has been all over the news lately because he is a piano genius. He charmed the conference participants with several songs on the piano. What was so delightful was how he told us the story behind the song he composed himself -- at 6 years of age! Then, at the very end, he had us all stand up and do the chicken dance while he played the music on the piano. He is quite the showman! I'm so happy they were able to attend the conference. I only wish I could have had more time to talk to them.
The break-out session speech went well. After the keynote, I had a chance to get a quick bite to eat and talk to some other parents. In the bathroom, I talked with a young mother who confessed to me that she didn't know the name of her child's heart defect. She told me that she had all of the medical records and she was going to go home and look it up. In the course of our dialog, I asked some questions and talked about the most common heart defects. By the time we were done talking, she realized that she did know the name of her daughter's heart defect -- she had a VSD! Now she knew what it was, she told me that she wasn't going to forget it and she was going to make a point of letting her daughter know the name of her heart defect as she grew up. Another victory! Empowering parents is what this conference was all about!
Right before the last talk I was to give, a mother came up to me and told me about her son's karate experience. She told me that her son, who had aortic stenosis, was the last one to finish running the required laps for his Black Belt test. As he was going around for the last lap, all of the kids in his program got up and ran that last lap with him. What a beautiful story! I had to use it in my speech, but I didn't realize it was going to bring tears to my eyes!
The audience was so overwhelmingly supportive and loving. It underscored the importance of having our heart families get together. No one understands us like we understand each other. I felt such a bond with them. It's been a while since I've been to a heart conference but now I'm eager to attend another one -- this time with the whole family. I haven't felt a need for support in my own journey of living with a son with a heart defect lately. I forgot how wonderful it feels to give that support to others (it's different when you're doing it over the computer than when you are face-to-face). The amazing thing to me was that in giving the support away, I felt so enriched! I know I have in the past, but this time it was different. It's been a number of years since I've spoken to a group of heart families. I've changed a lot as a speaker. I was much less nervous about remembering exactly what words I was going to use this time and more focused on how my message could help as many of those parents as possible.
I really appreciate Pepper Adair of the American Heart Association and all the hard work she put into the conference. It was a wonderful experience for me and I believe we worked well together to help other parents of children with congenital heart defects to feel empowered and able to help their children have a bright future. It was the kind of conference you hold deep in your heart for a long time. I don't know if Pepper can appreciate the kind of gift she gave those families to the degree I can. As a heart mom, I know how frightening the future can seem for our children. I also know that by being united and working together we can make our world a better place. Thanks to Pepper, I had a chance to bring some sunshine and happiness into the Miami area. Little did I know I'd leave with more than I brought.
My dad video-taped the sessions. I gave the tape to a gentleman I know who is great at putting videos together. He helped create an awesome video for me that I can distribute to people who are interested in hiring me as a speaker. I want to put it on my website, but my webmistress says it's too long. Eventually I'm going to ask Peter if he can somehow make the video into 1-minute clips. That's what Sue (my webmistress) says it needs to be. For now Peter has his hands full trying to see if he can turn what Dad taped into a DVD others might want to watch. I'll keep you all posted on what happens. If it turns out well, we'll make it available for sale on the website.
I hope the video does come out well because I feel there is so much we can learn from one another. I was a bit nervous part of the time because I was holding a microphone that had a cord and I felt constrained on how far I could move. I really didn't want to trip and fall over the cords and they were not secured properly. I also used a PowerPoint presentation for the first time in my life. That was quite an experience, but thanks to Dahlia, all of the slides were fine and I was able to click through the pictures with the remote control without difficulty. The only bad thing was that I couldn't move very much because of the projector. I usually like to be out where I can touch everyone and that just wasn't happening with this presentation.
I learned a lot about myself in putting this presentation together. The keynote was about finding balance in your life and in the process of writing the speech, I found myself re-evaluating my own life and making some changes. I did a lot of research on the psychosocial development of children with congenital heart defects. I was delighted to see some actual literature in medical journals addressing this important aspect of raising a child with a congenital heart defect. The best news was that our children's heart defects don't have to doom them to a life of unhappiness. Our children have the same opportunities to lead a normal life as a heart healthy child IF we parents do our part. There is a very small fragment of the population whose heart defects are so severe that they are greatly restricted and cannot lead a normal life, but the number of people who are in that category seem to be decreasing as technology and medical advances are helping to cure or palliate most heart defects.
I think I'm going to have to go farther with some of the ideas and things I learned from putting together two speeches for this conference. I have a whole binder of articles I found on the Internet and I think I'm going to be writing more about these topics. Pepper put her finger on some very important isssues in raising a child with a heart defect. Finding balance, looking forward to a bright future and empowering parents were the themes I was to focus on in my speeches. If I can help other people learn those lessons, too, even though they couldn't be at that conference, I will feel our good deed will be so much better.
The keynote address went very well. I had practiced the speech so much before I left that I was afraid it wouldn't feel fresh, but the energy I got from the audience really pumped me up and I think I gave the best presentation in Miami. I know I made some mistakes -- there were some distractions that caught me off-guard, but I know I was forgiven because so many kind parents came up to me afterwards and thanked me for my talk. It really felt good.
I think what made me feel best, though, was when I was out in the lobby during a question-and-answer session and a woman came over to me exclaiming about how Alex was in karate. She turned to her husband and said, "Alfonso can do karate!" Her husband was all smiles and they were so excited to know that they could go home and sign their son up for karate. Apparently he had been begging for years. Now, since they'd heard Alex's story, they were ready to let him try. That makes every minute of preparation I took for my speech worth it.
It was so exciting to see Gene, Ethan and Nathan Bortnick! I met Gene in Philadelphia over a year ago, but I hadn't met his darling little boys. Nathan was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and Ethan is heart healthy. Ethan has been all over the news lately because he is a piano genius. He charmed the conference participants with several songs on the piano. What was so delightful was how he told us the story behind the song he composed himself -- at 6 years of age! Then, at the very end, he had us all stand up and do the chicken dance while he played the music on the piano. He is quite the showman! I'm so happy they were able to attend the conference. I only wish I could have had more time to talk to them.
The break-out session speech went well. After the keynote, I had a chance to get a quick bite to eat and talk to some other parents. In the bathroom, I talked with a young mother who confessed to me that she didn't know the name of her child's heart defect. She told me that she had all of the medical records and she was going to go home and look it up. In the course of our dialog, I asked some questions and talked about the most common heart defects. By the time we were done talking, she realized that she did know the name of her daughter's heart defect -- she had a VSD! Now she knew what it was, she told me that she wasn't going to forget it and she was going to make a point of letting her daughter know the name of her heart defect as she grew up. Another victory! Empowering parents is what this conference was all about!
Right before the last talk I was to give, a mother came up to me and told me about her son's karate experience. She told me that her son, who had aortic stenosis, was the last one to finish running the required laps for his Black Belt test. As he was going around for the last lap, all of the kids in his program got up and ran that last lap with him. What a beautiful story! I had to use it in my speech, but I didn't realize it was going to bring tears to my eyes!
The audience was so overwhelmingly supportive and loving. It underscored the importance of having our heart families get together. No one understands us like we understand each other. I felt such a bond with them. It's been a while since I've been to a heart conference but now I'm eager to attend another one -- this time with the whole family. I haven't felt a need for support in my own journey of living with a son with a heart defect lately. I forgot how wonderful it feels to give that support to others (it's different when you're doing it over the computer than when you are face-to-face). The amazing thing to me was that in giving the support away, I felt so enriched! I know I have in the past, but this time it was different. It's been a number of years since I've spoken to a group of heart families. I've changed a lot as a speaker. I was much less nervous about remembering exactly what words I was going to use this time and more focused on how my message could help as many of those parents as possible.
I really appreciate Pepper Adair of the American Heart Association and all the hard work she put into the conference. It was a wonderful experience for me and I believe we worked well together to help other parents of children with congenital heart defects to feel empowered and able to help their children have a bright future. It was the kind of conference you hold deep in your heart for a long time. I don't know if Pepper can appreciate the kind of gift she gave those families to the degree I can. As a heart mom, I know how frightening the future can seem for our children. I also know that by being united and working together we can make our world a better place. Thanks to Pepper, I had a chance to bring some sunshine and happiness into the Miami area. Little did I know I'd leave with more than I brought.
My dad video-taped the sessions. I gave the tape to a gentleman I know who is great at putting videos together. He helped create an awesome video for me that I can distribute to people who are interested in hiring me as a speaker. I want to put it on my website, but my webmistress says it's too long. Eventually I'm going to ask Peter if he can somehow make the video into 1-minute clips. That's what Sue (my webmistress) says it needs to be. For now Peter has his hands full trying to see if he can turn what Dad taped into a DVD others might want to watch. I'll keep you all posted on what happens. If it turns out well, we'll make it available for sale on the website.
I hope the video does come out well because I feel there is so much we can learn from one another. I was a bit nervous part of the time because I was holding a microphone that had a cord and I felt constrained on how far I could move. I really didn't want to trip and fall over the cords and they were not secured properly. I also used a PowerPoint presentation for the first time in my life. That was quite an experience, but thanks to Dahlia, all of the slides were fine and I was able to click through the pictures with the remote control without difficulty. The only bad thing was that I couldn't move very much because of the projector. I usually like to be out where I can touch everyone and that just wasn't happening with this presentation.
I learned a lot about myself in putting this presentation together. The keynote was about finding balance in your life and in the process of writing the speech, I found myself re-evaluating my own life and making some changes. I did a lot of research on the psychosocial development of children with congenital heart defects. I was delighted to see some actual literature in medical journals addressing this important aspect of raising a child with a congenital heart defect. The best news was that our children's heart defects don't have to doom them to a life of unhappiness. Our children have the same opportunities to lead a normal life as a heart healthy child IF we parents do our part. There is a very small fragment of the population whose heart defects are so severe that they are greatly restricted and cannot lead a normal life, but the number of people who are in that category seem to be decreasing as technology and medical advances are helping to cure or palliate most heart defects.
I think I'm going to have to go farther with some of the ideas and things I learned from putting together two speeches for this conference. I have a whole binder of articles I found on the Internet and I think I'm going to be writing more about these topics. Pepper put her finger on some very important isssues in raising a child with a heart defect. Finding balance, looking forward to a bright future and empowering parents were the themes I was to focus on in my speeches. If I can help other people learn those lessons, too, even though they couldn't be at that conference, I will feel our good deed will be so much better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)