Cleveland Here We Come

OK this has felt like one of the LONGEST weeks! So last Thursday I checked my home phone's answering machine because I noticed that there was a message… Normal right? Well, not really in our house. We almost NEVER use our home phone and almost NO ONE calls that number; we really only have it for emergencies so I kind of forget about it most days. Well anyway back to the machine… The message was from the Dr.'s at the University Hospital in Cleveland. EEK! This is the call I have been waiting months for and here it is on the machine and who knows how many days it's been sitting on the machine unchecked!

So I listen. The woman from Cleveland proceeds to say that she has me all scheduled to come on April 7 for meet and greet with the Surgeon and my Neurologist and then appointments on the 8th and Surgery to start placing the electrodes on the 9th… WAIT a MIN. Hold the phone. Did she say APRIL 7?? That's like 2 weeks away! {insert me freaking out with questions and planning here}

I immediately called the office only to find out that the women who left the message was going to be gone all weekend and wouldn't be back until Monday and the person filling in for her couldn't help me at all. So I had to wait. {I'm really trying to get good at that}

{Some of you may just be catching up so this post will serve as a reminder of where we've been and what I'm talking about if you're confused. :) }

Finally on Monday I was able to get a few more answers and figure out the plan for childcare. {insert amazing family and friends here!}

So the plan to this point is for JW and I to travel to Cleveland Sunday the 6th with surgery to start placing the depth electrodes starting on Wednesday, April 9.

I honestly do not know what my capabilities will be when we are there but JW will keep the blog updated if I cannot. If you would like to pray for our team while we are there please do so. Here's who you can be in prayer for::

Home Team {Anders & Joline care team}::

 Please pray for those who will be caring for our twins while we are away. Pray for strength and peace as they take on 2 extra little people into their charge; it is more than a full time job and JW and I are so grateful to have so many loving hands helping with this task! Please also pray for Anders and Joline as they will be away from Jared and I for weeks on end. This will probably be more difficult for Jared and I than it will be for them at this stage since they are still so young but we know that it will be hard for them to understand why mommy and daddy aren't around and why we can only communicate via FaceTime. :(

UH Team::
Hans Luders, MD PhD {Neurologist}

Jonathan Miller, MD {Neurological Surgeon}

So as we look ahead to getting things established here and ready for the big trip we appreciate your prayers very much. Many of you have had questions and we are completely willing to try to answer those for you; please feel free to email- christinawinell@gmail.com JW or I will try to answer your questions to the best of our ability. 

Psalm 95:4-7
"He holds in His hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to Him, for He made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come Let us Worship and Bow down. Let us Kneel before the Lord our Maker, For He is our God. We are the people He watches over, the flock under His care. If only you would listen to His voice today!" 

God Bless, Sleep Well, 

-CW 

Facebook Delete Coming Soon

Ok here goes nothing…I'm deleting my Facebook account. It's decided. I've been on the verge for a while now and I've been waffling back and forth but I've decided to do it.

Spring cleaning is in the air around here and this year more than ever I've felt the need to include some mental 'cleaning' to my spring cleaning routine. In an effort to downsize my mindless web surfing I will be getting rid of Facebook which is the main source of useless surfing time. There are so many ways to connect with people these days and Facebook is not the only source of communication; of course I know this but it's so 'easy' to just shoot a message off or put something on a friend's wall rather than actually trying to connect with them so here's to real conversations and trying to be more intentional. I need to at least try.

"Ugh…Mom! You're not scrolling through Facebook again are you!? Come play with me!" 

I will still be available via E-mail: christinawinell@gmail.com
Here on the blog www.atwinelllife.blogspot.com
and now you can follow JW, the twiners, and I on Instagram @christinawinell for all those cutie pie pics!

The Facebook page will officially close Friday, March 21 so I can get the word out there that I'm shutting it down. :D

Happy spring cleaning to you all!

-CW

Ants, Aunts, and Answers...

Sorry for the delay in posts. These past few weeks have been a blur of sick kids, sinus infection for me (insert huge headache here) and finally getting some meds for Joline after almost 3 weeks of illness and 2 trips to the Dr. they finally discovered double ear infections. :( We've all had our medicine and we've been better now for about a week and a half. Last week for me consisted of a short trip to California to visit my great Aunt. She's 93 (I think I said 94 before but I had it wrong…let's not get ahead of ourselves). She is a fantastic lady with a lot of spunk given her age. While everyone here at home was dealing with -17 degree weather, I was enjoying the first break of rain in a 2 year drought that CA has been experiencing. Most people would be upset to go to CA and have it rain but I was fine with it. The temps were still in the high 60's and the rain was only on and off and then it just felt like our spring with a warm breeze. The best part is they have flowers and grass to look at! Oh it was beautiful and it gave me so much hope for what's to come here in a few months.

Most of our trip was dedicated to helping her around, going to see friends, having lunch with old acquaintances, and helping her around her house since she has no family in CA. We discovered some unpleasant guests in her apartment. Ants. I hate those little creatures. They were just about everywhere and we sprayed and cleaned and tried to convince her to let us call an exterminator…she said the place that she lives has sent one before and it didn't work so she wasn't willing to let us call. :( well, we'll have to work on that from afar; maybe we can still convince her to call.

In passing during this trip I also got to see another Aunt. My Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Dave from IL came in during our last full day there so our trips overlapped a bit. It was fun to see them there since we normally only get to see them at Christmas and then once camping during the summer months.

The trip was not really like a go and chill by the pool kind of vacation since we were really there to see and help Aunt Caroline, but I did enjoy a few moments of down time that I would not normally get at home and that was appreciated. My family was being so well taken care of back home and that makes going away so much easier because I know they are in good hands! It's also really nice that we have fun things like FaceTime…that helps for sure!

During one of these moments of rest I received a phone call from my Dr. back in GR telling me that I have been accepted to the program at the University Hospital in Cleveland for further testing for my Epilepsy. I had to just stop and marvel at God's perfect timing in planning that phone call. Of course I had been waiting for months to know if they would take me and I didn't realize until recently how much not knowing was affecting me mentally and emotionally. It was draining both for me and for my family. Receiving that call while I was away allowed me the chance to sit down and process what I had heard without having to rush into another activity with the kids or laundry or making lunches where I would have just pushed aside what I had heard and not had a chance to process it until much later. This way, God saw fit to allow me to be alone and quiet and just say thanks. It was what I needed.

Cleveland is scary for me in many ways but now I know that I'm ready. Receiving the news and being filled with such peace about it lets me know that I need to pursue this no matter what answer I get at the other end of my testing. I won't know for a couple of weeks when exactly I go; most likely it will be sometime this summer. We'll keep you in the loop. JW and I are so very grateful for your love and support through this life journey.

God Bless, Sleep well,
-CW