Groftzoo Updates – Page 3

Stocking up for the Global Pillow Fight

My big gift this year was money for a new comforter. The trick was finding one that matched the red in the curtains and the blue in the cosleeper. (Which will probably be set up in some way in our room for at least the next two years, so it may as well match.)

The shopping for it was a bit of an event. Gus hates shopping and seems to scream through every attempt I make at it. We wandered the bedding area at Dillards, only finding things that had red but not blue or blue but not red or that had both but were really ugly.

But we found it! We even added some decorative pillows to top off the look. There are positively piles of fluffy stuff on there now!

Happy New Year 2012!

The new year began for me with picking up kids from the family New Year Party. But then came sleep in a toasty bed.

In the real morning (not just counting when the clock turns to AM) I found the little ones (mostly) happily coloring and keeping (mostly) quiet while the older kids slept in.

Around the lunch table, we toasted the new year with sparkling cider and a “Please, let it be better than 2011!” and everyone shared their resolutions.

Molly: Nurse
Lily: Say a Hail Mary Every Day
Max: Be more careful to be neat in his seat work at school
Tessa: Pray a decade of the Rosary every day
Ben: Run more
Posy: Get a job
James: Purposeful practice of his music, eat healthier
Jay: Go on a date night once per week (I like that one!), keep his truck cleaner
Me: Read 12 books (1 per month – or more if possible), and blog more

Last year I tried the Picture a Day challenge and didn’t last very long with it. This year I am trying a more modest approach with a goal of 2 picture based blog posts per week. I think that will be much more doable.

2011 – The Year in Review

How to sum up 2011? It was a complex year.

It was by far our most medically challenging year as a family, and as a result financially challenging as well. And the financial upset of that will last all through 2012 as well, I’m sure.

We began the year with a new family member on the way, which is always exciting and always a little overwhelming as well. Thankfully I experienced only mild (normal) morning sickness.

In March, Jay lost the tip of his right middle finger in a work accident. It was a very painful injury, since the finger had been crushed off instead of cut off. Weeks of pain and recovery followed.

In April, Molly was hospitalized for dehydration resulting from a stomach bug. A bright spot in our year was Tessa’s first communion and a visit from her godparents. Then in the summer I had my big illness, with a kidney stone, sepsis, emergency hospital transfer, near miss at an early delivery of the new baby, and weeks of recovering.

Soon after we headed into the last weeks of pregnancy and one of my hardest births ever. But Gus was finally in our arms and we could move on with “normal” life again. Or so we thought. Gus, it turns out, is one of those babies who needs to be held, by MOM ONLY, at virtually every moment of the day. Don’t get me wrong, he is a sweet, precious baby. He’s just a little on the demanding side. And with Molly being barely two… well that has kept me from doing much else.

As for the rest of the family: Paisley is working retail these days, and while the pay is not great, she is so wonderful with people. She really does a fabulous job at it. And I am certainly enjoying the makeup perks! James just finished recording his CD and is busy copying it and distributing it. He quit Hot Dog on a Stick in October after working there for two years and is now just working sound for masses at church. Posy has been eyeball deep in school work and has a driver license now, but still needs more practice before we set her loose on the roads. Ben is busy with school as well, and excited to finally have a cell phone. He works on his music too every day. Tessa is headed straight into the pre-teen years, half child, half teenager. She is still everyone’s sweet heart, but she is sick of being lumped in with the younger siblings. Max loves to read and draw and dirt seems to follow him around and jump onto his body. But that may just be what being a 7 year old boy is all about. Lily is desperate to learn to read, and anything else she can learn about her world. Molly is 2, defiant and lovable, still enjoying being babied, but wanting to do impossible things all by herself (like put on socks). And I’ve already told you about Gus.

Jay is working hard at Westest still, and working hard at the church, and working hard around the house to pick up my slack when my arms are full of babies. That man never gets to rest!

And so, 2011 is done and we can only hope and pray for what is to come in 2012. May God bless us and protect us, bind us together as a family and draw us closer to Him. Only He knows what the next year holds for us.

Brainstorm

James’s CD is finished and available through our website or by contacting us. You’ll love it! See the side bar to the right.

Gus is 2 months old

Gus had his 2 month well baby visit today and, aside from being another Groft with ridiculously sensitive skin (covered in contact dermatitis or pre-eczema), is as healthy as can be.

Our doctor was entertained during the visit by Molly and Lily who crawled around on the floor and acted like cats and dogs.

Gus’s 2 month stats:
13lbs, 4oz
23 inches long
15.75 inch head

He is a sensitive guy and gets overwhelmed easily in loud situations. He wants to be held all the time and only rarely will sleep after being put down. He hates the car, I think mostly because he is not being held. Most of the hair he was born with has fallen out and he is pretty bald except for an old man fringe in the back. When he is not fussing he is full of smiles, so I think he has a bright, happy personality just waiting for the tough newborn stage to pass. He loves to be naked and have his diaper changed. Even when fussy, he will often smile when put on his changing table.

Our Chaotic Days

My arms have been perpetually full lately. I have had tons of bloggable thoughts that have slipped through my grip as I waited for the time to set Fuss Gus down and really type some things out. But there is no time that will just happen. Gus has been passed off to Ben for the moment, and from the sound of things is not yet screaming, so here is my moment. I must blog as fast as I can, blog like the wind…

Here is a sample of how life looks like in our home right now.

On a weekday the alarm goes off on my phone on my nightstand. I hit snooze a couple of times and Molly starts begging to nurse. But Gus is still nursing, so Jay takes Molly to the bathroom, wakes the rest of the kids, and tries to convince Molly to eat some oatmeal for breakfast. I finish nursing Gus and reluctantly crawl out of bed. Very often Gus will stay asleep in bed for a few minutes. This will be the only time during the day that he will sleep without being in direct contact with a body (usually mine).

Jay works on fixing kids’ lunches and breakfasts while I seize the moment to jump in the shower, get dressed and comb my hair. I might even have enough time to brush my teeth. Sometimes Gus is up at this time and gets passed around to whoever is least busy while I shower. Then I nurse Molly while checking email on my phone, Gus is changed and nursed, potty stops are made and with much hustle and bustle, everyone is loaded into the car by 7:20.

We drop kids off at their respective schools and head home to start our day there. After getting home I nurse Gus and Molly, attach Gus to me in the sleepy wrap, try to eat breakfast and make an attempt at the laundry or other household chores. James usually handles the kitchen in the morning.

And then… and then I can’t really say what happens. That is the frustrating part of my time right now. I know I breastfeed quite a lot. Help Molly go potty, change Gus’s diaper, think about how I should switch the laundry and ohmygosh I’ll need to make dinner, what should I make? I find shoes, kick the girls out of the kitchen a few times, sometimes I even get Molly and Lily’s hair combed. In and out of the car for preschool co-op or a doctor appointment or an errand. I listen to Gus scream any time he is in the car or not in my arms. But the morning is nebulous and passes in a fog of bouncing the baby and a vague feeling like there is something I should be getting done.

The lunchtime passes and we eat a little bit too late for Molly to have an effective nap. It never fails, I can’t get lunch on the table on time, even though I haven’t been able to quantify anything (besides nursing) that I have done all morning. So I give up on the nap and put a movie or show on for the girls. In the blink of an eye it is time to load everyone in the car again and do the pick up routine. So I have to find the girls’ shoes (again) and make sure they are wearing essentials like, oh… underwear, change a diaper, make little people visit the potty and we are off and running.

Once home again, everyone is famished and needs a snack. So the kitchen is ransacked and they all scatter, lest they get asked about homework. Thankfully this means that Molly and Lily will have someone else to play with for a while. So I nurse the baby (duh!) and sort mail, finally switch the laundry, make some phone calls, ponder dinner again, and look at all the things left undone again today.

Jay gets home, the older kids get home, and the house is running now at full volume. Poor sensitive Gus begins to get overwhelmed with the commotion just as dinner prep is becoming crucial. But somehow, it gets done. Only occasionally do I give up and resort to pizza.

Then the party starts. Dinner is the best time of day. It’s loud, it’s messy, someone always hates what was made, and someone declares it their favorite, someone spills, someone drops their fork. Poop or vomit are discussed, inevitably. When dinner is over, it gets about 75% cleaned up and then it’s homework time.

Homework time is filled with Max’s protests, Lily and Molly begging to color or do workbooks, Ben trying to sneak to one of the computers to watch something on Netflix and get on Facebook, Tessa slinking off to her room – I hope she is doing homework in there, Gus fussing and needing a quiet and dark room, and either Jay or me presiding over the whole thing trying to keep things on track. Kids get shuffled into baths and showers (sometimes) and get a book (usually) and then its bedtime.

A bedtime snack is begged for, teeth get brushed, medicines and water bottles are passed out. One parent sits in the little kids room and one rocks Gus.

After all that, we are exhausted and brain dead and ready for bed ourselves.

So there you have our “typical” day. But few days are fully typical around here. Sometimes there is a meeting for one of us in the evening. Sometimes Jay’s schedule is different for the day or he is out of town. Sometimes kids need rides places in the evening or a trip to the store for emergency school supplies.

In the midst of this chaos, this post has taken me fully two days to write. Part of my purpose in writing this was to show you why I plan to post much shorter posts.

I’d like to include some acknowledgements here – of people who make these difficult days easier. I offer my sincerest thanks to:

Jay – he gets me through my days and allows me to have a crazy meltdown now and then when the frustration gets to be too much.
Lucy – she’s always available to be a grown up to touch bases with when I feel like I have been sucked into the Twilight Zone of Toddlerhood.
Meg – who brings my older kids home from school and prevents an hour of baby screaming, brings a playmate for the little girls, and is always available for an interesting and stimulating conversation.
Nana – who bails me out when the kids need a ride if I can’t get to school in time.
And last but certainly not least: James – who is another set of hands around the house whenever he can be. He knows when I am losing my mind and jumps in to help.

Gus’s Birth Story

Well, he took his sweet time, and he’s been a handful since his birth, but he is finally here and as snuggly as can be.

Gus was born on October 12 at 9:26pm weighing 8lbs 7oz and 21 inches long.

His birth story actually begins with his daddy’s pain. Jay had been experiencing GI symptoms and joint pain for weeks and we finally were able to get him in to see his GI doctor. The doctor was concerned with the way his symptoms were shaping up, so he recommended a colonoscopy ASAP – the first availability for that was Friday October 14, which just happened to be my due date. Jay made the appointment, knowing that I usually have the baby well over a week before my due date.

And then the days began to tick by. We rounded the weekend before the due date and I began to panic. Saturday night had looked promising – contractions kept me awake most of the night but never got quite close enough to call the midwife and petered out as morning dawned. Thankfully, Sunday night was quiet and I got a good bit of rest.

Monday morning I began to panic. I couldn’t very well have a baby while my husband was having a colonoscopy or doing the prep involved. The prep (er, bowel cleanse) was supposed to start Thursday afternoon, and here I was still very pregnant. I texted Jay and told him that if I hadn’t had the baby by Thursday morning we should cancel his colonoscopy. I felt horrible, knowing that he really needed this, but I needed to know he would be feeling well enough to help me through labor. I also talked to the midwife, who suggested we try castor oil and stripping my membranes. So we set that plan in motion. Castor oil went down the hatch at about 1:30pm, I think. Out of the pure exhaustion that followed later that week, I forget the exact timing of things that night. But contractions started, my midwife came, night passed with a stuttering labor, and labor died out near morning. It was very frustrating to say the least.

The next day (Tuesday) was full of the usual busyness of a full household, with not much time to rest. Night came and labor kicked up again. Second verse, same as the first… contractions, midwife, pool set up, no sleep, then near morning it all stopped again. Well, mostly stopped. I still had sharp, painful contractions, but only every half hour or so. I rested while I could, but I couldn’t sleep because of the contractions. I called a friend who is a chiropractor and asked if she would come over and adjust me. I just did not feel at all up to going anywhere. I hadn’t slept for 3 out of the previous 4 nights, and was in enough pain that I wanted to stay home. She was able to come over in the late afternoon and found that I was badly out of alignment. She adjusted me carefully and told me to sit on the birth ball for a while to help keep things lined up. She left sometime between 4:30 and 5pm. I sat on the birth ball and the contractions began to get harder to handle. After about a half hour there I moved to the couch to lay on my left side and try to get more comfortable. It didn’t help much. Jay was home from work by now and fed the kids dinner. He came in to check on me and all I could do was cry. I was so tired and so afraid of just laboring all night again. After about another half hour, I had Jay call the midwife.

She was over quick as a wink, knowing that at anytime things could go quickly. She probably arrived sometime around 6pm. I was in so much pain with contractions I told her I didn’t want any cervical checks. She could see that things were indeed progressing now and told me she would only check me if I wanted her to. I moved to a rocking chair in my bedroom. In between contractions I had no pain and mostly just relaxed, enjoying the break. I went to the bathroom a few times, sipped on water, and had contractions. Jay got things set up in between my contractions and softly rubbed my face during them – that was so calming and really helped me to remember to relax.

The birth pool was already set up from the previous night and we had left the heater on to keep it warm. It turned out that the heater worked a little too well – the temperature of the pool was hovering around 104 degrees, too hot to birth in and too hot for me to be comfortable even laboring in. (Ideal temperature for a birth pool is 98-102.) Jay could have brought the temperature down by emptying part of it and refilling with cooler water, but I really could not imagine going through contractions without him right near me. I decided I wanted his closeness more than I wanted to get in the birth pool. So he stayed right at my side.

I moved to the bed sometime later and began to get ready to really do this. Like usual for me, though, I didn’t want to push. I was really hoping this time would be like Lily’s birth and I could wait until a couple of little pushes would get him out. I imitated the positions I labored in with Lily. Eventually my midwife reminded me that Lily was a girl, was early, and probably much smaller than Gus was going to be and I would probably have to work harder this time. She was absolutely right. I got in a semi-sitting position and she put warm compressed on my perenium. That helped me to focus, but the sensation confused me a bit and made me feel like he was moving down when he really wasn’t. After a few wimpy pushes, I asked her to go ahead and check me and see what was going on. She did and found a little lip of cervix holding Gus back. She had me push while she moved it out of the way, which worked great.

Then I hit a wall – that wall in labor where there is so much pain, and pushing only hurts worse, but pushing is the only thing that will possibly shorten the time of pain. But after the previous days without rest, my coping skills were all used up. I could not bring myself to push. I cried, I refused to do it, I just could not bring on more intense pain.

Jay and my midwife encouraged me to try some different positions. I tried the birth stool, which was excruciating, and eventually ended up in a hands and knees position. It was so hard to move because contractions were so close and moving triggered a new one. So I would have a contraction, scramble into a position, only to have a contraction begin before I really got settled again. But once I was kneeling and had my arms resting on a stack of pillows in front of me, Gus helped me out a little. He moved. Oh hallelujah! He moved! And that helped me to push. And once he moved, he didn’t stop. I cried. I said I couldn’t do it. My daughters, scared by my crying and protesting, had left the room. But I did it through my own protests – I pushed as hard as I could. After a few pushes his head was out. But he didn’t come sliding out like other babies. I had to push hard for his body to come out too – it was like pushing out another head. (His chest was 15 inches around, the same as his head.)

But then it was done. He was out. He was behind me and I couldn’t see him yet, but the midwife’s first words were, “He’s big!” Then she and Jay helped me to sit back down and move my leg over him, so I could see him and hold him. He was big – for one of my babies anyway. He barely cried, but was pink and alert right away. He took a little while to start nursing, but he got going after a few tries. I was so relieved to hold him in my arms and that this seemingly endless labor was finally over. It truly was one of my hardest, if not THE hardest labor and birth, and I was a whining, crying mess all through it. I am so grateful to my amazing husband for being my rock all the way through it.

Jay was able to have his colonoscopy as scheduled a couple days later. It didn’t bring us any answers to his issues, but did help to rule out some possibilities.

And now, a month later, it is already a bit of a blur. Gus is beautiful and has already put on three more pounds, mostly because he nurses all day and night and can’t bear to be put down for any amount of time at all. That has made writing this out very difficult. But he has been smiling at us – directly at our faces – since just a few days old. He is so snuggly and loves to be in the sling or Sleepy Wrap. The kids adore him and I am cherishing his days as a tiny newborn. They will fly by so quickly.

Here he is at 1 month old, already 11lbs, 8oz.

At Term!

37 weeks is full term!

Well, I’m puffy all over, from my face to my toes, with a bump that is…
well, fairly spectacular and even makes me stop when I pass a mirror and just say, “WOW!”

But as of now, we are both healthy and in the home stretch, counting down the days until the little guy makes his appearance. One to three weeks from now. That seems like such a short time, but the days are still long and uncomfortable. We’ll keep you posted!

Click, Click, Click…

That is the sound of the roller coaster as it moves slowly to the top of the hill for the big swish down the other side. (As die hard roller coaster hater, I tend to avoid that sound, but I have experienced a few.)

And that is the sound I am hearing as we gear up to start school this week. It’s a happy time, not a feeling of dread, but this week is the start of a New Year. This is much more my New Year’s Day than January 1st. Once it begins we will be off and rolling with loops and quick turns and no real time to catch our breath for a while. The kids are happy too, ready to see their friends again every day, excited about their new teachers (most of them, anyway) and just DYING to use the fresh new crayons, markers, and pencils that they have been labeling and organizing over the last week.

I’m feeling a little overwhelmed myself. I spent most of the week on the couch, slowly recovering from sepsis and gaining a tiny bit more energy each day. I am so grateful for friends who are cooking for us, I don’t think I have ever relied on that so heavily as now. Friends are also pitching in for rides for the kids this week, to help me rest. I am sure that will make a huge difference as well. (THANK YOU ALL!!!) But I am looking forward to the renewed structure of our days, even as I will miss our lazy evenings in the pool. And the days will get easier as I feel better and better too, at least until baby comes and then I will have to slow down again.

So Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your year is as blessed as can be!

A Hospital Stay

There is never a dull moment around here. I can’t tell you what I would give for a dull moment.

Last Monday, July 25, I woke up feeling off. I had a fairly nasty backache that radiated around to the front on one side. But since I was 28 weeks pregnant, a backache is not that far outside of normal. I took a shower and got the kids dressed and doing their thing and then put my feet up for a bit, thinking I had probably just overdone it a bit over the busy weekend. Drinking lots of water, laying down, putting my feet up all made little difference in the pain. But it was manageable and later in the day I took a few kids over to target to pick up some school supplies and just get out of the house. I had a meeting at church to attend that evening, but I figured that if I didn’t feel up to it, I would just stay home and rest.

Dinner time came and I wasn’t feeling any worse, so I went to the meeting, squirming a little in discomfort through it. On the way home one of my front tires blew out. Fun. I was able to limp the car home and told Jay about the tire. He immediately set to work putting on the spare, in what was to prove to be a very good decision. While he did that I lay on the couch and iced my back and watched an episode of Torchwood to distract me from the now growing pain.

By the time Jay came in I was in tears. We discussed for a few minutes and he decided that it sounded a lot like his kidney stone and that it was time to go to the ER. So, leaving Posy in charge, we headed to the closest hospital to our home, PBH.

Being hugely pregnant has the benefit of getting you shuttled straight into triage and from there we were pretty quickly sent up to L&D for monitoring. By the time they got the monitors hooked up, I was in agony, and the monitors didn’t help at all, tight against the band of pain. They called in an ultrasound guy, who confirmed a kidney stone. They admitted me to the hospital then, gave me a shot of morphine (which did nearly nothing) and started IV fluids and a catheter so they could just flush as much fluid through me as possible. Jay stayed with me late into the night and then went home to be around for the little kids in the morning.

I made it through the night with more morphine (IV this time, which worked better) and only sporadic sleep. Jay returned in the morning and kept me company as I dozed on and off. At one point in the morning, I felt complete relief and hoped that meant the stone had passed. Shortly after that, I began to shake with chills. Blood was taken for culture right away to see what was causing it, but the results of that would have to wait. They gave me tylenol, and we began a roller coaster ride of fever that was to last the next two days. Tylenol would bring my fever down and one to two hours later it would be back up to 103, with me shaking violently, unable to rest, and hours before they could give me any more. That evening (Tuesday) I was given an x-ray with contrast. During the x-ray I absolutely could not breathe while laying down and shook uncontrollably, causing them to have to take two more films just to get me still enough.

My blood pressure began to waver and drop, and breathing became harder. I figured it was just from the fever, or from laying in bed so long with my big belly. During the night I was taken for fetal monitoring again, and the baby’s heart rate was showing his stress from the fever and low blood pressure. He was hovering between 170 and 190 most of that time. Once back in my room, I tried to sleep again, only to wake up completely unable to stop shaking or catch my breath. The nurses monitored my vitals and, while my O2 was only at 92%, told me that I was having a panic attack and just needed to breath slower and wait until I could take the tylenol again. I resolved not to take any more of the morphine in case that was making it harder to breathe and spent the next hours just trying to breath and not shake too hard.

The next morning Jay brought the kids in to see me. Thankfully it was just after a dose of tylenol, so I wasn’t feeling too terrible at that time. They were a little scared of the whole situation and didn’t know what to make of it, especially Molly, who wouldn’t even let me hold her. As our visit wound to a close, I began to shake again and head downhill.

A little while later, the resident came in to tell me the preliminary results of the blood culture. She was alarmed at how much worse I looked and told me that the culture showed Urosepsis, a very serious blood infection. She told me they were going to transfer me to SJH, a hospital with a better ICU and NICU so that I could get the care I needed.

Then things started to happen fast. She left the room and 5 nurses came in and packed up all my stuff, transferred me to a gurney and moved me to L&D triage to monitor the baby and wait for the transfer. While in triage, I was given a shot of steroids to mature the baby’s lungs and FINALLY someone gave me some oxygen. My O2 levels were low, my blood pressure was hovering around 80/45 and my fever was around 103.

After a short wait there, I was loaded into an ambulance for a painful, bumpy ride to the other hospital. Laying down made it so much harder to breathe, and I was laying down the whole way, even if it was with oxygen, bumping along in the hot ambulance.

The first thing I saw at the new hospital was Jay. What a comfort his voice was! Once inside I was brought immediately to their perinatal high risk ward and swarmed again with nurses and doctors. To the IV and catheter were added a blood pressure cuff, oxygen mask, pulse oximeter, two fetal monitors, and several bags of ice. The next hours are a blur of them adjusting things, fussing over me, and not being really too sure exactly what was going on. Jay was there and made some phone calls to update people. Fr. Lopez came and gave me the Anointing of the Sick. A few others were in and out. (I found out later that friends at our parish had held a Rosary for me in the evening, too.)

Night came eventually and I could only fitfully sleep. I had to make Jay go home and get some rest. He had been up with me most of two nights so far, with Paisley and the other kids doing their best to keep things going at home. Every time I moved the nurses had to come in and readjust the fetal monitor and there were constant alarms over my low blood pressure. The medicine they gave me seemed to finally be working though, because my fever didn’t return. Thursday was much more of the same, only at a slower pace. Constant monitoring of everything, more blood tests and ultrasounds. But there were fewer and fewer blood pressure alarms and only my breathing seemed to still be giving me real problems. I spent most of Thursday still on the oxygen just so I didn’t feel like I was suffocating. I was also unable to eat, but the doctors weren’t at all worried about that. They said my appetite would return as my body healed.

Late Thursday afternoon I was moved to a bed in the Antenatal unit, which was lovely because it was a real bed and not just a thin little gurney. The doctors were still trying to figure out exactly which bacteria they were treating, so I was still on a range of meds through the IV, but they were content that I was making progress enough to not need minute to minute monitoring anymore. Finally, I was able to get some sleep.

Friday finally all the tubes and such were removed and I was switched to oral antibiotics but had to remain under close supervision in case the fever came back at all. I was still unable to eat anything and still struggling to breathe, but my O2 was stable and my blood pressure was getting better, so we just chalked it up to rest and time. Jay brought the kids in that evening for a visit. It was so good to see them and made me so homesick. Saturday, they said I could go home if I was still not running a fever by 3pm. I wasn’t, however, the kidney pain popped back up bringing a dark cloud on the horizon. Still the decision was made to let me go home. I was so relieved.

The kidney pain is still coming and going, mostly mild right now. But it is a threat and could stir up this whole storm all over again. I will be kept on antibiotics for the rest of my pregnancy in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the sepsis, and then once the baby comes we will be able to get rid of the kidney stone itself. For now, I am utterly exhausted and spend a good part of my time sleeping or resting. I am told it will take a few weeks for me to really be well again. Jay has been such a rock through all of this – keeping things moving at home with the help of the kids while still staying at my side every possible second he could. Our Church community has come through with a few weeks of meals so that I can rest and recuperate, and our kids have been nothing short of amazing. Paisley especially for her help even on long work days, Posy, James and Ben have all handled snacks, entertainment, naps, swimming, and bedtimes like the pros.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, visits, meals, help around the house, and other wonders you have shown me. Your generosity knows no bounds. I am truly humbled to have such friends and receive your help.