102.6

Baby Dallas finished his first round with I.V.I.G. on Wednesday morning.

By yesterday afternoon, we saw our first smile in a week.  You'll have to excuse the snot and dried apple cinnamon oatmeal on his face in this pic, but I was so excited that I just grabbed my phone and took a pic.

His temp stayed low all day yesterday, and this morning (Thursday), we were literally signing the papers to go home when I thought he felt a little warm.

"Maybe let's check his temp one last time," I said.

102.6

As we unpacked everything and I tried not to let the baby see my tears, I took a deep breath and thought of all your kind words, encouragement, prayers, and the personal stories you have shared, and realized that I can get through this.   However long "this" lasts.

I also realized that this is an opportunity for me to live out what I tell you every day.  To be able to see (and choose to see, even when we don't feel it) that God has a plan, and that He is always in control.  I heard someone say today that when we are in a storm, it's not so much about the storm as how we set our sail that determines where we end up.

I love that.

So, you will hear me on The Fish tomorrow.  I'm going to take a few hours break from the hospital (my mom-in-law flew in from Texas to help), and I promise I won't cry on the air or bring everyone down.  I want to encourage you, and show that, even though I've had my share of shaking-my-fist-at-the-sky moments over these past 10 days, I am choosing hope.  I am choosing joy.  I am choosing ThanksLIVING (I wrote about that in a previous blog).

So, here's the latest Baby D update:  A pair of (gulp) infectious disease specialists met with us tonight, and they are ordering more tests to see if there might be something instead of/in addition to Kawasaki disease. Although, since he responded so well to the I.V.I.G., they are thinking that's what he's got, and that it might just require another dose to really knock it out.  They started the second round a few hours ago, and after it finishes will observe him for another 24 hours to see if his temp stays normal.  

I rocked him to sleep a little while ago, singing "Jesus Loves Me" while kissing those little rosebud lips and smoothing his curls behind his ear.  You know, after he was first born, all I wanted was for life to go back to "normal."  Now, I can't imagine a day without my little bugaboo.

I'm going to wrap this up--they're drawing more blood while my husband and mom-in-law hold Dallas down in the room next door, and I want to be ready for him when he comes back in.

Here's something my mom just emailed, and I pray that it blesses you.  "In tough times, we don't have to know why.  We just have to know Him."

Here's to knowing Him.  :-)

Paging Dr. Bear

I wanted to give you a quick update on what's happening, and just thank you a million times over for your kindness and prayers for me, Dj, and Baby Dallas.

Dallas's fever was close to 104 again this morning,  and his bloodwork was starting to look worse, so the docs decided to go ahead and start treating him for Kawasaki disease.  The news was delivered by a doc that my husband has named McDreamy.

"Wow!  Look at that hair!" he said as McD left.

The staff here has just been wonderful, btw. Thank you for praying for guidance for the folks treating our little guy.  One of the nurses brought him a little stuffed bear dressed in scrubs, and Dallas has been clinging to him.

The treatment for Kawasaki is I.V.I.G.  (again, please excuse my spelling and lack of knowledge of medical stuff) for 12 hours, along with high doses of aspirin.  We are almost six hours in now, and Dallas is whimpering a little less, cooling off a bit, and actually said "Dada" for the first time in days.  It looks like his fever is down to 101 now.

Praise God!

You know, I took a break from all of this today for a moment, and the first two songs I heard on The Fish were Praise You In This Storm and How He Loves.  Thank you, Lord, for the reminder that you are good, you have not turned away from Dallas,  and oh, how you love us.

One of my sweet friends spent years in and out of the hospital with her daughter, and she told me today that one thing that really helped her was sharing her faith and comforting other parents that were going through the same thing.

So I want to ask you if you would do something for me.

Once things calm down over here, would you send anyone that you know in a similar situation my way?

I would love to pray for them and encourage them.

Just a week into this whole thing, I am also  realizing how much time I have spent on work and just being "crazy busy," almost wearing that as a badge of honor.

It hasn't taken much to convince me, really convince me, that I never want to look back one day and feel like I could have spent more time with the people I love, but chose not to.

As the guys in Revive sing in the song Blink:  "When it's all said and done, no one remembers how far we have run.  The only thing that matters, is how we have loved."

I'm going to look for ways to simplify my life, and pray that, if you are longing for more time with those you love, that God would make a way for that to happen.

I've been reading the Bible on my phone here at the hospital (Biblegateway.com is a wonderful site), and also reading Mary Beth Chapman's (wife of Steven Curtis) beautiful book, Choosing To See.  There are some incredible quotes in there that I"ll be sharing with you over the next few days, and I wanted to start with this one from Philip Yancy:  "A person who lives in faith must proceed on incomplete evidence, trusting in advance what will only make sense in reverse."

And one day we really will see the whole picture, and understand the things that are on our hearts tonight.

I love you, and I"ll be in touch soon.

I Work From My Bathroom. Maybe You Can, Too!

(Here's an article that I wrote for HisAir.net.)

When I found out I was pregnant last year, I knew that there was no way I could spend 10-12 hours away from my baby every day in traffic and at work.  Yet, I needed to work for financial reasons, and I also happen to still love what I do after all these years.

One year later, I do my daily shows on 95.9 The Fish and 99.5 KKLA from my home studio, along with VO.  And maybe you could, too!  I”ve heard from a lot of moms that are interested in trying this, so I wanted to break down how I approached my boss with this idea, what equipment I’m using, and how it works out on a daily basis.  I’ve also met some fantastic women who also make it work from home, so I’ll share some of their insights, too.

1.  The Ask

If you work in Christian radio, chances are you are already with a company that is family-oriented.  If the reason that you would like to try transitioning to a home studio is to spend more time with your kids, I encourage you to share your heart with your boss.  Radio is still a business, however, so you must also show that what happens on the air and your commitment to doing an excellent job will not suffer.  Start laying the groundwork today by being the best employee at the station!  I am fortunate that I had almost 4 solid years in the office at Salem, so they knew that I was always on time and getting everything done without having to be “nudged.”  You might also put together a proposal that details what you would like to do, and address questions like these: Will you be live or tracked?  If you track, who will load everything in at the station if you mp3 your breaks? Will you work from home every day, or a few days a week? Will you do your show at the station, but then take client calls and do production at home? If you are tracking, what time will you get the log?  In my case, I’m at home every day, and then I come in and do my show from the station when we have fundraisers (about once a month).  I also do 1-2 station events a month, such as concerts. 

Something else to consider is taking a cut in pay.  Most companies just assume that they will pay you less if you are not in the office every day.  If you are able to do that, that is a HUGE motivator in a company saying yes to something new.  Plus, you will save money on gas, car maintenance, and work clothes, since you can now “commute” in your pajamas. I love what Ruthie J from Reach FM said: Basically it came down to the fact that I can give more to the station if I can include hours out of the office and manage them at my own pace. Remote log-in has been necessary as well as having audio editing and recording capabilities at home.  The big issue, though, was coming to the understanding that 1) I am able to give more to the station if I'm allowed to from home and 2) the station benefits from my extra hours. It's been a win-win for all of us and a true blessing for me!  And that brings up something else that makes it easier for your boss to decide this is an awesome idea:  You buy the equipment, or as much of it as you can.  That way, too, if it doesn’t work out, you still have your studio and can take on other jobs.  And please, please, please….get it all in writing, so there aren’t any surprises for you or your company.  And after all of this, if the answer from your employer is still no, you can always pursue tracking opportunities with companies that are already using independent contractors.  I can even recommend some of those to you. 

2.  The Equipment

Most folks that I know who work from home do so in their walk-in closet.  If you have carpet, it is nearly perfect as is.  My friend Frankie Di Vita uses her closet as her VO booth, and then edits everything at her desk in the adjoining bedroom.  We have zero closet space, so we looked into buying a booth.  Besides the fact that they are tres expensive, I was also told that I would run out of air in about 10-15 minutes, which wouldn’t work for a show, so that was the end of the booth.  Here’s a great idea for you, if you don’t have closets, either, and a booth won’t work: Beth Warden purchased an older, Narnia-style wardrobe, lined it with foam, and then built a work station inside.

My hubby came up with the idea of turning the bathroom off of our son’s room into a studio, since he won’t be needing it for a little while.  The hubbs ripped out the vanity and toilet, and we hung some thick curtains from Bed, Bath, and Beyond over the window and shower.  My desk is where the sink was, and the walls are covered in bright orange foam.  I use a Behringer Board, Electro-Voice RE-27 mic, and Mackie speakers.  My computer is on loan from Salem, and I log in to the station from here to run NexGen.  I use Vegas for editing VO.  I also drink tons of caffeine, which seems to make everything run smoother.

3.  The Daily Routine

How will you focus on work if you have kids?  When I was pregnant, I assumed that that Baby Dallas would be peacefully napping or playing quietly by himself while I was working.  Oh, how innocent I was!  I realized that that was not going to happen about 30 minutes after he was born, and started texting everyone I knew for babysitter references.  Since I don’t need someone for 8 hours a day, I have 3 different ladies who wanted part-time that come in during the week to watch my little munchkin while mommy is upstairs doing her shift.  The Fish and our listeners deserve respect and my full attention while I’m working. 

So what will you do?  If your kids are in school, you are all set.  If you’re tracking, you might be able to get it all done while the little ones are napping or after they go to sleep.  Or, like me, you might need someone to care for them, or they could go to daycare.  After my sitter arrives, I prep and go through email.  I may have already updated Facebook and Twitter at this point, and I blog at least once a week.  My shift is 10-3, and when I finish that I talk to clients, go through email again, and prepare everything for the next day.  One other thing that I do is  check the studio right after I wake up.  If there are any computer or internet problems, I know that I”ll be heading in that day to work from the station.   You might consider tracking some emergency breaks for those days (and they will happen!) when everything crashes. 

One last thing I have discovered is that working from home can be, well…a little lonely.  Invite some of your friends over, get baby out for a music class or park visit, or at least keep in touch with friends online.  If working from home is your goal, I hope you go for it and share your success story with me!