What I'm Reading This Week

Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal

by Anne Bayse

It came to me one day in the postal mail. I sent Anne a quick e-mail right before the open heart vacation to thank her, even though she didn't exactly know either how I got it. It's newly published.

This book has been my beach reading this week. I'm almost done and now I need to send Anne a much more thoughtful e-mail to really thank her. I googled around and learned that there will be a website developed to accompany the book.

Since I really love reading memoirs, this was terrific. OK, it's not exactly a memoir, but kind of. It's written in first person. Like a journal. A conversation. Honest. Thought provoking. Joyful. Like a friend. And when I got to the part where Anne put on her Jackie O scarf and shades, well, then, of course I knew why I was clicking with this. :-)

Take care everyone! T

P.S. We would love it if you could stop by our care page:

http://www.carepage.com/

page name: CoachSpeirs

patient name: Rob Speirs

Day 4 Open Heart Vacation

Look out here I come.

The afternoon program.

Amy, the Patient, Trey, Rusty, Jennifer ~ My brothers and sisters-in-law.

I can't believe how things just come.

Carol, Ragaey, Olivia and Laila -- Thank you!

Amanda and Ellie, her. . . second cousin? Cousin twice removed? Third cousin? I don't know, but she sure is cute. About the same age as Laila and Olivia.

Aunt Renee and Amanda

Aunt Renee gave us a tour of the St. Mary's "chapel."

So much art around here.

Tonight's program on the Open Heart Vacation:

Bob ~ NBA Draft

Me ~ Free Wifi

Amanda ~ Disney channel in family room

Aidan ~ X box in a pediatric room he just found down the hall

Earlier ~ Dinner aka Supper at the Canadian Honker with Aunt Renee, Ellie, Aunt Laurie, Uncle Bart

Thanks everyone for the great week. And thanks to all of you for coming over to the liver blog. We would love to have you stop by the care page:

http://www.carepage.com/

page name: CoachSpeirs

patient name: Rob Speirs

With love, T

A Scooter Tour of Downtown Rochester

After spending 8 hours on Unit 5F in the Mary Brigh building,

it was time to get the kids outside.

Psalm 121

St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota.

Scooter Tour Point of Departure.

I'm so glad you can't see that my daughter insists on wearing pajama pants.

Downtown Rochester -- Spetacular Sculpture

Spectacular Sculpture

Spectacular Sculpture.

Ragamuffins.

Most important stop.

What used to be the Chateau Movie Theater

Wish it was still a movie theater

Imagine watching movies in the courtyard of a French Castle with stars on the ceiling.

What was the arc that framed the big screen.

Mayo Main Entrance. Can you see the Chihuly's, the blown glass art through the windows? Don't worry, Bob never noticed them either when we came for liver stuff. I always did. Stunning.

Where we almost lived.

Where I want to live.

Scooters and children make for better recovery.

Thanks for coming over, friends. I really appreciate it. If you can, we'd love to have you over to Bob's care page too:

http://www.carepage.com/

page name: CoachSpeirs

patient name: Rob Speirs

Peace and joy! T

Scenes from St. Mary's

This is how we framed the kids school pictures this year. Portable light weight self-standers. Sofar this has blessed six hosptial stays. Actually, we need to thank twins from NYC, Olivia and Laila, for giving us their beautiful pictures in this convenient porta-photo thingie, which we cooped for hospital stays. Secondary agenda with huge photos of the kids is to remind attending health care staff that the patient is a FATHER and not a grandfather, even though the liver made him look like grandfather. Afterall, don't you think they simply must heal FATHERS of young children?

Paramedic Extraordinaire Brother Tom and Mayo One. Tom works on the transport team but mostly on the jet. I might sneak the kids over to the airport tomorrow for their special tour.

During the surgery Tom gave us a tour of the heliport and hangar. Tom, Dad, Mom, Pastor Bob Nervig.

Psalm 121

Atop St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota.

Around the corner from the heliport.

Dr. Rakesh Suri, Bob's surgeon. Canadian.

This is what ICU nurses do non-stop their entire shift. Checking the tubes. Monitoring the vitals. Analyzing the numbers. Chatting with nervous family. Over and over again. One nurse. One patient. We got Tony for two shifts. He said he couldn't sleep last night because he thought he forgot to tell me something about the second surgery.


Come on over to Bob's Care Page:

http://www.carepage.com/

password: CoachSpeirs

patient name: Rob Speirs

Thanks everyone! Love, T

Nature? Nurture?

"Nice paper mache' house," we say to Aidan when he brought this project home from school. "We like the telescope on top."

"It's not a telescope," Aidan says. "It's a bazooka."

Welcome to the liver blog everybody. I'm so glad you could come over.

Could you all bear witness to the fact that we did not raise our son to envision a giant artillery toilet paper roll atop his dream home?

Becky, who taught middle school for 15 years, said we shouldn't be worried.

*

Just enjoying my favorite Friday night. Family movie. Glass-o-wine. We are watching that buff guy Vin Diesel flick where he is a secret-agent-nanny with ninja next door neighbors. Aidan loves it.

Bob's appointments went well today. A little nerve wracking to anticipate the surgery on Monday and another 2 month hiatus. But honestly, we know there is so much to be thankful for. Oh that sounds so dog gone trite, but it's true. Thanks everyone for your notes and prayers. We so much appreciate them all.

With love, T

P.S. We're firing up the CoachSpeirs care page, please come:

http://www.carepage.com/

password: CoachSpeirs

patient name: Rob Speirs

O I feel so Jackie

I have just discovered the secret to being liked at your workplace. You figure out a way to postion yourself a thousand miles away from all your co-workers. Then they never know your annoying quirks and they keep sending you things like care packages, cards, flowers, and for example yesterday a scarf.

My colors. Silk. From India. Fair Trade.

I love it! Thanks so much everyone. My Jackie O impression actually made Bob laugh. Poor guy, what a nut for a wife he got.

And then there's Joanne who sits a thousand milimeters from me, and well, Joanne's exceptional so that's why she puts up with me.

Anyway since I couldn't figure out how to put these pictures on an e-mail to thank the HQ people, I thought I would just post them here so you all could see this scarf. My Mom gave me two scarves too, when we first realized that there would be a hole in my throat. So I think I will officially consider myself a true lover of beautiful scarves.

And just like clockwork, Margaret came by with East Africa tea and chapati (flat bread) because well, of course, Bob's surgery is Monday and she remembered and is going to give us prayers and support. You may remember that she is the one who developed a leadership program for 80 girls in the slums of Nairobi, her home city. Anyway, I wish I could just superglue her to Amanda for the next 5-10 years or so. Amanda who is now taller than her Auntie Margaret.

Friends, this is the long way of saying that Bob is feeling a wee nervous for his O surgery on Monday. O=Open Heart. Even with his Jackie O-eqsque significant other. Your encouragment and words of support would be so much appreciated. Phone. E-mail. Blog. And we are firing up the care page too. Here's how you get on there:

www.carepage.com
page name : CoachSpeirs
patient name: Rob Speirs
(you'll need to do a one-time registration)

Tomorrow we go to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester for his angiogram thingie and a conversation with the surgeon. Another surgeon. Uh oh.

With love, T

What's your favorite planet?

Hello everyone and thank you for coming over to the liver blog. It's so nice to have you here. If you are a die hard Coach Speirs care page reader you may remember this celestial conversation from a few months ago. If not, no worries. Either way, it continued last night.

"I like Jupiter because it rhymes with stupider," Aidan told me while tucking in on the top bunk.

"I like Uranus because it rotates sideways," I said. "Like me."

"And Uranus is here and here," Aidan said pointing his finger to two places on his body which will remain nameless; with a 2nd grade grin as though we were riding the school bus together.

Dog gone, we've already been through this. The wrong body parts assigned to "Uranus." Get it? "Your Anus." Not "Your. . ." well, you know. I'm not going to say. But a few months ago I did the right thing and used real language and plainly explained to Aidan what was and wasn't Uranus. And now it looks like he still doesn't have it right.

I didn't write it in the Mama Panda job description to have this conversation. I mean, these are my kids, my babies. Do we really have to talk about Uranus?

And then there's myspace.com. And the whole social networking via the internet. Fine. I mean, look at me and my liver blog. But yesterday I had to tell Amanda what a "pimp" is and why I hate the "B" word more than the "F" word. I had to tell her why her 5th grade friends should not be posting pictures of themselves in bikinis. I had to wonder if she even knows exactly what the "s-e-x" word means anyway. Must I think about all this on a Monday evening?

And I had to think on how to tell all this to my dear 'ol traditional Husband whose parental approach is, "No more computers ever! Amanda and Aidan are grounded for the rest of their lives! Burkas for school clothes!"

There is one and only one thing I know. 1.) Myspace.com is not going away. OK two things. 2.) And we have to figure out what to do with it. "We" being us-parents, us-church people, us-anybody who cares about anything about youth. Because it's h-u-g-e.

I did think of one thing. I inquired with Professor Mary Hess here at the seminary. She specializes in media studies and believes that we should not be afraid of media but should consider it a friend and a tool for ministry, for social change. She imagines Wiki software that challenges us with faith questions. (What's a Wiki?) Anyway, she was kind of enough to engage with me even from her sabbatical. I'll let you know what she says.

So there you go. Question of the day. Can't we just worry about stuff like open heart surgery? Or how about this topic -- Aidan's annual summer shave. Now that's the kind of parenting we like. Haircuts. Much better. Here you go.

Take care everyone!

With love, T