shorter version

If you tried to read my last post and couldn't get through it for the length, this is a condensed version.
-My dad Ray has Multiple Sclerosis.
-Canada does not have many treatment options for people struggling with MS.
-There is a MS treatment available in Costa Rica that can reverse the symptoms of MS
-It costs $18,000
-YIKES!!
-My dad wants to live without the symptoms of MS.
-He is going to get the treatment.
-We are going to accompany him.
-We are having a fund raiser raffle to help him with the cost.
-The tickets are $20 each.
You can win your choice of either - an all expense paid guided fishing trip for 2.
                                                 The trip is in summer to Grand Rapids. 
                                                 It is for a weekend and includes 
                                                 transportation from the Altona/Winnipeg 
                                                 area to Grand Rapids and back. All food,
                                                 guided fishing for 2 days, tackle and lodging.
                                                               or if you don't like fishing
                                                 -a box of frozen meat including beef, 
                                                  pork, venison and walleye
                                                  and a $100 gift card to the Clarion (spa)
                                                        ($500 total value).


We feel very fortunate to be able to live in a community that cares and supports each other.


We feel so very supported by everyone. Thank you to all the people who have approached me the last few days with questions and the offer to buy raffle tickets. 
                                  I love it!
If you would like to take part in supporting my dad's trip let us know. Our family will all be selling tickets or you can send me a message that you would like a ticket and pay through Pay Pal using the Chip in website. I'll put your name in the draw and send you a receipt.










             Thank you again for your support!!



                                        

Hope for MS

    

Don’t be afraid to step into uncertainty. Leaving room for Him to show up is called faith.

As we are preparing for our next adventure this will be something we will have to strive for. 

Many people in my life may not know my dad. He moved to Alberta 15 years ago and we now only get short visits where we go there or he comes here. 

My dad has always represented strength to me. He was the kind of dad who took care of my screw-ups and never got mad at me. He was the kind of dad that packed us all up in a van when I was 10 and drove us down to Mexico where we lived with a family of Mennonites for a week , there we learnt so much about how different cultures live and how just because people are different doesn't mean they are not worth knowing. My dads always been the type of person who loves people and people are naturally drawn to him.

My dad gave Dean a job and a place to live when my brother brought him home. He also walked me down the isle when we married 3 years later. 

I love my dad...always will. No matter where life has takes us and how many times we all screw up, love is always worth it.

Our love must not be a thing of words and fine talk. It must be a thing of action and sincerity. 1 John 3:1

My dad told me a few years ago how much he loves his grandchildren. When I see him watch them growing up, I see how much he does.

He loves it when we come to visit and he takes us into the foothills to show us cool waterfalls and wild life.

He's the kind of grandpa that lets Miranda give him a manicure...with polish.

        He's the kind of grandpa that Colton loves to hug.

He's the kind of grandpa who likes to show his grand kids new adventures.

This is my dad Ray. 

I love him and want the best for him.

A few years ago, my dad, was thrown a curve ball. He started feeling bad, very unusual for him. It took a long time for the doctors to diagnose him with MS. It took so long because MS is not something a 65 year old man gets. Well that's my dad, always has to do things differently. So after the diagnosis things changed a bit as he finally got some pain relief and some ways of dealing with how he was feeling and what was happening to him. But it was still so different. He was used to getting in his van and coming to see us if he wanted to. He was working doing all sorts of jobs around town and now he had to give this all up. For my dad, this felt like a death sentence. This is not the way he saw himself living his life. Shut in his house unable to move the way he was used to and unable to get through the day without severe pain.


A person with MS can suffer almost any neurological symptom or sign, including changes in sensation such as loss of sensitivity or tingling, pricking or numbness (hypoesthesia and paraesthesia), muscle weakness, clonus, muscle spasms, or difficulty in moving; difficulties with coordination and balance (ataxia); problems in speech (dysarthria) or swallowing (dysphagia), visual problems (nystagmus, optic neuritisincluding phosphenes,^[13][14] or diplopia), fatigue, acute or chronic pain, and bladder and bowel difficulties.^[1] Cognitive impairment of varying degrees and emotional symptoms of depression or unstable mood are also common.^[1] Uhthoff's phenomenon, an exacerbation of extant symptoms due to an exposure to higher than usual ambient temperatures, and Lhermitte's sign, an electrical sensation that runs down the back when bending the neck, are particularly characteristic of MS although not specific.^[1] The main clinical measure of disability progression and symptom severity is the Expanded Disability Status Scale or EDSS.^[15]

Then the glimmer of hope came. A doctor in Europe seemed to find a "cure" for MS. Yeah!! 

So we waited to hear more about it and better yet, when would dad get his life back and get this surgery??

When you are waiting it seems to take for ever, for governments and doctors to make decisions that could be so important to our lives. It seems that the verdict is that they will not be doing any MS surgeries in Canada in the near future.
Then we started to hear about people going out of the country to get these surgeries. My dad took very little time to decide that this was what he would do. If at all possible, he would do everything in his power to get better.

The Liberation Treatment

The Liberation Treatment is a potentially ground breaking discovering for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis. It is thanks to the research of Dr Paolo Zamboni and his team that we now know about this treatment.

Dr Zamboni began his research into MS with the desire to cure his wife. Unhappy with the answers that he could find he decided to research what actually cause MS himself.

His initial research related to why the location of lesion in the brains of MS patients were all venocentric. He rationed that there must be a link between the veins and the occurrence of these lesions. And with further study he found that the brain damage was all counter to the flow of blood, meaning that it likely had something to do with the drainage of blood back to the heart.

Next he started to study both MS and normal patients to determine what differences he could find between them, hoping for an explanation. What he found was that in MS patients he could show that 100% of the cases he tested had abnormal veins, he called this condition CCSVI. Specifically that there were certain points where the veins coming from the brain along the next and upper chest were either restricting or blocking the flow of blood. His research proved that in all cases he found at least two abnormalities in the veins.

The next step he took was to attempt to treat these abnormalities, hoping that by doing so he would be able to cure the disease. By all current accounts of this still on going study the results have been very positive.

Although the number of people who have received the treatment are still few, those that have are living with reduced fatigue, fewer or no relapses and their MS symptoms are slowing being alleviated.

Since there has not been enough studies to prove it, we cannot say that this is a cure, but we sure hope it is.

So that brings me to today. Dean and I are going with my dad to Costa Rica to get the Liberation treatment that will hopefully give my dad some relief from the daily pain and symptoms of MS.

We are flying to Calgary to pick him up and will be there with him in Costa Rica as he undergoes the treatment and the 12 days of rehabilitation after. I feel very blessed to be able to spend these days with him that will be filled with hope and excitement for the future. We are also trying to help him with the cost of the treatment by having a raffle. We will be raffling off an all expense paid guided fishing trip with a choice of either Grand Rapids or Pine Falls.  For those who don't like to fish, there is an option of choosing a meat pkg. which will includes walleye, pork, venison and beef.  We will be selling the tickets and all the proceeds will go to dad to help finance the $18,000 trip for freedom from pain and immobility. 

To buy a ticket for a chance to win the fishing trip or meat pkg. and support our dad send us a message and we will get you signed up or look for tickets around town.

The other way that you could support this trip is to go to this Chip in site where you can safely donate cash to support dad's trip.
We thank you in advance for your prayers and support as we prepare for this next step in our families life.

These are dad's grandchildren. The ones who will be at home waiting to hear the good news of their grandpa feeling better. They will be able to spend this next summer with dad, camping and fishing and he will be watching them grow up.

working hard(wood)

The hardwood has finally "cured" or acclimatized so that we can start to put it in. We have a bit of a deadline because Christmas is coming and we LOVE to host. We both love to be able to open our home.So the deadline was Dec. 22 7pm. That was when our fist few people were coming and we wanted to have it finished and all cleaned up.

We started on Monday (Dec. 20). Dean came home from work early so we could get a good start on it. The first day was the hardest. The hardwood start on the whole length of the house had to be either cut or sanded from the bottom so it would be level with the kitchen/bathroom/office/waxing room floors.

As Dean cut and sanded the starting pieces, I started placing the boards. The first day it felt like we didn't get as much done because we had to go all the way down the hall.

Dean did an amazing job with making the hardwood meet the kitchen floor for a very smooth joint.

 We worked until 10:30 the first night and got a really great start so that the next day while Dean was at work I could get more rows nailed in.

We had piles and piles of boxes of hardwood that slowly got opened and used up. We both felt the effects of the bending over. With a little help from Advil and an icepack we gotter done.

Day 2 started for me at 9am. Dean and the kids left for work and school and I started plugging away at making some progress. The second day as I was nailing the boards in. A neighbour stopped by. When he saw what I was doing he asked if I was putting the hardwood in by myself. When I said sure. He asked if it couldn't be screwed up. Sure it could, I said.Why would I want to screw it up though?

Dean came home at 4 and then we started to get things done way faster.

 I love the tool that we used this time. The last time we nailed our hardwood in with a hand air nailer. This time we have this fancy hardwood air nailer. You put this tool into place and whack it with the rubber mallet and the air tool pushes the long nails into the floor.

I am barefoot because my socks kept getting stuck between the boards as I nailed them into place.

Ice packs work great with a couple of Advil to get through 12 hours of bending over.

 The second day, We again worked until around 10pm. We figured we had enough done that we should get in finished in time.

 This is all we had left after day 2.
Day 3.We only had a few hours left before company arrived so we had to work quick to finish up and get the house clean and get the appetizers on the table.

This year we opted for a small fake Christmas tree. So we just picked it up and moved it to get the flooring done.

Colton came home after lunch on the 22, so him and I worked until Dean got home in mid afternoon to help. As we started Colton said "You have to do this even though Dad's not home"? Sheesh.

Yeah!! We did it. We finished it in time to clean up and have the house all ready for company!!

We swept/dusted and got the tree back into place. We did it. Having a deadline is the best way for us sometimes.

After we finished we decided that it was really not that bad. After a while your body gets used to the bending over and doesn't hurt anymore. But now we're done so until next time......

I had to remember to get a dining room shot for Tracy.

I picked up one of our pieces of art today. It has been in storage for the last year.

We are hosting our second Christmas party today and we can't wait for them to get here!! We are also waiting for YOU to come and visit. So please don't be a stranger. We miss having you here.

sun rise

As I sit here on my worn couch overlooking our back yard, I smile as I watch the sun rise in the east. I makes my heart full to be able to see this morning after morning. I never tire of the oranges and reds of the morning sun. What a great start to my day.

We are preparing for Christmas and finishing the last parts of the building process. I think about the last year and a half. It has been a wonderful journey together as a family. We have all grown closer.

 Miranda and Colton are in a place where they have a house again and can see the last year of our lives a little more clearly now that they have a room to call their own. It can be hard to appreciate all that we did when your really not all that sure what you will get in the end (a bedroom and all your stuff that has been in boxes for 1 year and a half). Lately I've heard more positive comments (from the kids) about selling our house (they have missed some things, like the old climbing tree) and that is a good place to be, content. They now talk about how much they like our new yard (the forts they can build in the trees) and their new bedrooms.

Dean is a really fun guy to be with. I absolutely could spend every day with him working. Too bad I'm a better waxer than drywaller. Maybe I need to teach him to wax....
We had such a great time together designing, making decisions day to day, nailing together walls, pulling wires, painting and putting up shelving. It has been a blast.

Christmas at our house

Exactly 5 months to the day

We started digging the hole for the basement July 5th and we moved into the new house Dec. 5th. Now that we are "in" the work has not stopped, but now we don't spend as much time driving back and forth to town as much. Dean has also started his church job (building a church). So he isn't here as much during the day so we finish odds and ends when there is time.


Sun Valley cabinet guys came to install the cook top and last bits of stuff to finish off.

                    I am a bit tired of painting baseboards and casings. I think they are mostly done for now.

                                            I will start again once these ones are put on

                              All the boxes have been moved in and I have started to unpack.

                                                              Colton's finished room

                   The other day I looked out the window and there was our cat and a SKUNK!!

                                                               The finished kitchen

                                                                 The hot tub is working!!!

The rug is getting installed in the basement today and tomorrow

feeling a little bit like Christmas

We  have been busy getting the last minute touches done. The flooring is all done other than the hardwood. The unpacking has begun.

 John Wall is our friend of 18 years and our flooring guy. Him and his wife Marlene have done all of our flooring in this house and our last house. They always do a great job.

The unpacking and washing have begun. All of positions have been in storage in a garage for the last 1 1/2 years. The building wasn't mouse proof. We put out tonnes of mouse poison and hoped for the best. We did not have one box wrecked from mice. We found 2 dead mice and one box that had hamster food in it (???) was partially eaten. Why we would have put hamster food right next to all our other boxes is beyond me.

 Cindy and I spent all morning yesterday washing out the kitchen cupboards and washing the dishes and putting stuff away.

         Aww, empty boxes to get rid of. It is like Christmas unwrapping everything from the boxes. Every time I take out a newspaper wrapped parcel from the boxes it is a little surprise.