GroshLink

Thomas has been faithfully posting updates on my progress but here's the whole story in one place, straight from the "horse's mouth."

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law, Amanda, discovered a lump on my neck while practicing a health assessment for her nursing class.  That sent me to the doctor the next day where I had blood work done to check my thyroid function and an ultrasound on the thyroid the next day.  The bloodwork came back normal but the ultrasound showed a significant sized lump on the right side of the thyroid.  I met with a surgeon a few days later and after he presented the options to me I felt most comfortable deciding to have surgery to remove the lump.  Which is what he did yesterday (1/4).  The pathologist in the Operating Room examined the tissue and declared it benign which also meant that I was able to keep the entire left half of my thyroid.  I'll have blood work done in a few weeks to check thyroid function but the surgeon feels pretty confident that I won't need medication.

I'm feeling pretty good, one day post-op.  It's certainly an easier surgery/recovery than a c-section.  I have some swelling which makes swallowing painful and I'm moving slowly.  I didn't sleep well in the hospital so I've been trying to catch up on sleep since I arrived home today.  The kids seem to be doing very well.  They came to visit me in the hospital Monday night and Eden was quite unsure about entering my room.  She stayed in the hallway with daddy until she was confident enough to venture into my room to play with the buttons on my bed.  My mom took off work yesterday and today to watch Eden and Lily and others are helping us out the rest of the week.  Tom has been mom, dad, and nurse and will surely need a break too soon :)  But he's been great.

Thanks for all the prayers and offers to help.  We've been well-cared for and are much relieved to have a good report.  Praise God!

Last night I came as close as I ever expect to come at being a Jeopardy contestant.  I took the Jeopardy online test which is only given at specific times, i.e. you can't just log on and take it whenever you want to.  It was 50 questions and you have 15 seconds to answer each one.  No going back.

I can't stop laughing, thanks Karen  

This is for all you moms who try not to "look like a mom".  Shayna, you'll especially get a kick out of this.  It's funny because it's so true!

Integration of Faith and Parenting (Theresa Grosh, 10/01)

Note: written for the Graduate Christian Fellowship's (GCF) vocation project (VP).  Now that the GCF site has been taken down, over time I'll post the pieces for your blessing.  Thank-you to all the alum (and in this case my wife Theresa) who participated in this work.  Would love to have to hear your current thoughts on the topic, time for an interview with Theresa  Hope to see some of you at the alumni reunion on April 21.  We'll have a 9am breakfast at the Seigfrieds, a 1pm reception most probably at the Adamson Wing, and an evening opportunity yet to be confirmed.  Email me for more details.  Current GCF activities can be found at http://www.u-connectpgh.org  

How does my faith impact my parenting? I ask myself that question every day. As a parent of one-and-a-half-year-old twin girls I face the awesome challenge of modeling Christ to them and laying the foundation for their future understanding of God. It is important for me to reflect on this responsibility daily.

 In the 30 seconds that Eden allowed me to choose a book for myself from the library last week, I picked up Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir by Daniel Tammet.  It's a quick read and a fascinating look "inside the extraordinary mind of an autistic savant."

in Mount Joy? Now that we've been here for 6 weeks and school has begun, I thought I'd share some random thoughts for anyone who may be interested :)

We live in a rural area in the sense that there's a lot of farmland and not a lot of businesses. But we have neighbors (though we each have about .5 acre of land) and shopping is less than 5 miles away. The closest business is actually about .2 mile up the road

My mother [Tom] finds Persuasion a good film to regular fall asleep to, what are your thoughts on it after watching it this eveing Theresa?

It's ok. I'd watch it again once I forget what happens, that takes about 3 weeks :-) Well I must go to bed darling.

From Tom: Maybe we'll get more tomorrow, even some on Horatio Hornblower as Mr. Eliot was played by the same actor as . . .

Since we're mentioning book endorsements, don't miss mine for Keri Wyatt Kent's God's Whisper in a Mother's Chaos: Bringing Peace Home. Theresa

Hey there, Theresa had the opportunity to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this morning. I can't wait to join members of Church of the Ascension for a Saturday showing, but none-the-less I wanted to set appropriate expectations. So Theresa, what's your initial reaction to the film. Did it meet your expectations(note: if you don't want to read the spoilers ignore more)?

In other news, the twins are looking forward to Kindergarten at Pittsburgh Urban Christian School. They start next Wed. (8/31) but only go until 10:30 am for the first 3 days. The full day schedule starts 9/6. Ellen mentioned that she was a little scared, so we visited her teacher and classroom at the school briefly. Hopefully that will squash some of the jitters. I know they'll enjoy it once they get there. I'm more concerned about getting them onto the bus! I wish we could do a trial run of that. That's about it here.

We're madly trying to cram fun stuff into this last week of summer, so life's rather crazy. But then again, isn't it always???

According to quiz farm (note: a few of the questions are not edifying) . . . Tom is Anakin, w/Darth Vader close behind. The chosen one, father of the twins, lover of Padme, and Jedi Night . . . or is it . . . Sith Lord?

But there is hope as . . .