Harvest Carnival

Last Saturday was our 9th Annual Harvest Carnival at Ninos Park.  Here's a recap of the day (with some great photos taken by Jennifer Herring). 

The night before the carnival, a group of volunteers went out to a local farm and hand-picked 200 pumpkins off the vine.  The next morning, they transported the pumpkins to Ninos Park and set them up on the grass to make a "patch."  Each kid at the Carnival got to pick a pumpkin, carve it, and take it home. 

One volunteer collected and washed gently used winter coats and brought them to the Carnival where parents could "shop" for the sizes they needed.  Altogether, over 200 coats were given out.

We had some very talented face painters this year...check out the whole-face butterflies.

And the cupcakes...yum!  A handful of ladies put their heart and soul into baking these for our Cupcake Walk, which is always a favorite activity at the Carnival. 

For the second year in a row, we had Miklantekuktli, an Aztec dance group, perform at lunchtime.  Several of our GreenHouse kids are in this dance group so it's fun for them to be able to perform in front of their families and friends at the Carnival. 

We even had some fun cut-out for kids (and adults) to stick their heads and arms through...thanks to the last minute-handy work of an all-star volunteer. (and yes, that's Jonah as a nurse!)

The Carnival always gives us a chance to connect with old friends - and make some new ones - the most valuable part of the event. 

And all of this is done by an amazing team of volunteers, almost entirely from Sanctuary Covenant Church, who come out in droves year after year for this event. Their dedication, hard-work, talent, and love for our community never cease to amaze me.  All of the volunteers dress-up like farmers....some taking the costume to new heights (like the mullet below on Jeff...who by the way, donated 180 hotdogs from his business "J-Dogs Hotdogs" for the lunch)

The Carnival has become a fun tradition for our family, too - dressing up like farmers and enjoying the day with our neighbors. 

All in all, it was a pretty terrific day!  In the words of one volunteer who hadn't been to the Carnival in a few years, "The lines between the volunteers and the families have blurred.  It's no longer "us" - sitting on one side of the carnival, doing our duties and "them" - participating, but keeping their distance.  We were all together today - enjoying the carnival - as one."  That was music to my ears.

Brotherly Love

This morning, Steve had to be at church early so he took Riley with him to teach him all the ins and outs of running a sound board (actually, he did it to make my morning a little bit easier!).  When Nicolas realized that his brother was gone, he went over to the door and said, "Where's my Ri-Ri?"  It was precious.  Not just "Ri-Ri"..."my Ri-Ri."  I loved that little hint of protection in his question.   

The twins are rarely apart from one another so naturally, they've formed a pretty amazing bond.  If one of them gets hurt, the other one has a phantom owie on the same body part and joins in with the crying.  They definitely do their share of fighting, but when it comes down to the special stuff (treats), they love to share with one another and always make sure that the other one got a treat.  And when they are apart, like this morning, they definitely miss each other.          

It's such a blessing to watch these two boys love, cry, rejoice, laugh, share, fight, learn, wrestle, and grow-up together - best friends from birth.  I am thankful for what they have to teach me about brotherly love. 

Brave or Safe?

I read this sermon today, after seeing it on another blog that I follow.  It gave me a lot to think about so I thought I'd share it here.  Give it a read when have a moment - it's challenging and even has some great practical applications. 

Retreating in Murphys

This past weekend the Board of Directors for The GreenHouse went to Murphys for some team-building, learning, and strategic planning.  Some of the highlights:

• warm and loving hospitality
• majestic Sequoia trees
• canoeing at White Pines lake
• baked oatmeal and apple cake
• a brisk morning walk
• Psalm 139
• Ephesians 2
• ethnic identity and racial reconciliation
• writing poems about our histories
• hearing stories of redemption - evidence of God's saving grace
• feeling thankful for this family
• goal setting and strategic planning
• programs, resources, status, relationships, institutional development, governance
• looking to the future with excitement

The amazing Sequoia trees. 

Did you know they can only grow then they are surrounded by a variety of other trees and plants? 

they are enormous.

enjoying the serenity of a canoe ride on the lake

tired after a lot of hard thinking...but still smiling!

Putting a Face to a Debate - Part 2

So, to finish up the previous post....how does Jonah's story relate to the health-care reform debate?

1. "Pre-existing conditions:"  Since Jonah has a "pre-existing condition" we can't just go out and buy him an individual plan.  He would be denied, or he would be offered a plan at a ridiculously high rate that no one could afford.  Our only option is to get him on a group plan, which can be very tricky when his mom works part-time for a nonprofit and his dad is in law school full time (no group plans here!).  Thankfully, Steve's fantastic employeer (who he works part-time for while he is in school) recently agreed to get a group plan on our behalf and let us pay for it (and he is even paying for part of Steve's coverage).  So, Steve and the 3 boys are on that plan.  I'm on a "cheaper" individual plan.  But, gosh...it sure would be nice if Jonah had the same access to individual plans as everyone else so we didn't have to stress about that so much.  And, it would be better still if any of the plans out there were actually affordable.  Which brings us to #2....

2. Crazy out-of-pocket expenses.  Last year we spent $15,000 on health care expenses for our family of five.  Most of that was our monthly premiums to the insurance company, just to have coverage. But a good portion of it was from the co-pays that we paid each month ($300 per month) for Jonah's medication.  A smaller portion was from co-pays for office visits.   We might as well have a second mortgage with the amount of money we spend each month on health care costs!  We make too much money to qualify for any of the assistance programs, but we don't make enough to afford the premiums we currently have.  So...it would be nice to have an affordable option for those times in your life that you need it, so you aren't going in debt because of health care costs. 

3.  "Prior authorizations:"  A prior authorization is an extra step that insurance companies require before they decide if they will pay for certain medicines.  Jonah's medication requires a prior authorization because it is very expensive and insurance companies do not like to pay for it.  Unfortunately, these prior authorizations can take a very long time, creating gaps in treatment like the one we just had when we changed insurance companies.  It would be nice if this process could somehow be streamlined to prevent gaps in treatment.  And, it would be fabulous if doctors were making the decisions on what a patient needs, rather than someone at a desk in an insurance office who is looking at a checklist (and not physically seeing the patient).

From what I heard on the news today, it sounds as if change is on its way.  Hopefully some of these issues will be addressed and maybe even alleviated?  At this point, we're willing to try anything!

Quick Update

Two pieces of good news:

Yesterday we got our free shipment from Lilly (the drug company that makes Jonah's medicine).  They offer a "therapy maintence" program for the in-between times when you are waiting on insurance approval so we were happy that it finally arrived!  As strange as this sounds, it felt great to give my son a shot last night.

We also found out yesterday that Pacificare (our new insurance company) approved Jonah's "prior authorization."  So, we are back in business and will once again resume our monthly shipments.  yay!