Thankfully, we close on our Columbus, Indiana house today. Miraculously, we don’t take money, we are actually getting some back….woohoo! I can’t tell you what a relief it will be to sign those papers today. I am looking forward to it. When we established a closing date last week, I began pulling off wallpaper. This weekend I hope to remove the hedges so we can actually see the front of our home. We get to rip out two rooms of carpet that is covering hardwood floors. I can’t wait! There is lots to do, but I love it. I love turning a home into “mine.” I told our realtor friend I am ready to constructive deconstruct!

Something happened last fall that I have not been able to stop. When Mike came back to Indiana and I was still in AR with the kids I noticed I had TONS of gray hair. Maybe it was the stress of being a single parent for 2 1/2 months but I needed to do something. That something is L’Oreal Preference Creme 8G. The stuff is great and it is easy to do. I have had many compliments on my hair color too! (hey, who doesn’t like to be esteemed??!!) However, the actual color has yet to be determined….Is it red or is it blonde????

Back in January my gynecologist gave me a referral to have a baseline mammogram. Like a lot of women I put it off. At the end of April, after hearing and seeing tons of stuff about Susan G. Komen and breast cancer, I decided it was time to make the appointment.
I had a little spot I was concerned about in my left breast.
My appointment came and they asked if I had had a mammogram before. When I stopped nursing Elizabeth in 1998 I had one to check on a little post nursing problem. They only scanned the left side. About 4 or 5 years ago I had an ultrasound to check on the same problem but they did both sides.
They told me after the mammogram that if they had any concerns they would call me. A week went by and I didn’t receive my letter in the mail or a phone call. I called them. They said they were still waiting on the previous scans from Indianapolis. (Columbus didn’t have a breast center back in ‘98) Another week went by. I still hadn’t heard anything. No news is good news, right?
Yesterday, I am relaxing in front of the computer and the phone rings. It was the breast center. Instant panic set in. They said they had a spot they wanted to double check because they didn’t have a previous scan to compare it to. The spot they were concerned about was in my right breast not the left that I was concerned about. Longest night I have had in a long time. The following verses from Philippians popped into mind each time I allowed fear to enter my mind 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This morning we took the kids to school and then took the boys over to Grandma’s. We got to the breast center and I was pretty nervous. The workers there are very sweet and good to put up with my chatting. I chat nonstop when I get nervous. Mike is in the outer waiting room as I go back to prep for the mammogram. I sit in the women only waiting room with a couple of other nervous women. We nervously chat. It is my turn. The tech lady explained that they were doing some close up shots of the area of concern. Hey, I didn’t know my breast could squish that way!!! There were a few different scans. She showed me the lump they were watching.
I go back to the women’s waiting room watching other nervous faces come in and out. My name is called again. I now go in to have an ultrasound. That lady was good. We were talking about colors and how they can cheer us up. For a minute or two I completely forgot what I was there for. Bless her heart…she tried for about 10 minutes to find the lump. She got the films from the mammogram to help her find it. She never did find it with the ultrasound machine.
I go back to the women’s waiting room and I had a peace come over me. Thank you, LORD, for this peace.Another nurse led me to a dark office and Mike walked in. The radiologist had all the scans hanging on the screens. She said it appears that the lump is a lymph node. Two good things: 1. it had smooth edges. 2. there was a black spot in the lump which indicates it is fat. Cancers do not have fat in them. Whew! Then she says she can’t say with 100% confidence that it is a node because they couldn’t find it on the ultrasound to confirm it. She was great. She explained what all the tissues were and why she believes it to be a lymph node. She said because they had no previous scan to compare that side to, they want me to come back in 6 months for another mam on that side. If there are any changes in the lump they will do a biopsy on it. She said if I anguish over it before now and then we can go ahead and do a biopsy for peace of mind. I don’t know why, I tend to trust female doctors more. The fact that she was not too concerned made me feel better. She said, it may be how I am made and that is why I go back in 6 months. That way they will have a solid “baseline” mammogram. I remarked something that made Mike blush and the doctor and nurse laugh.
Most know that I nursed all four of the kiddos and I had pumped at the hospital after having Emma. That means things (what little there is) have become like little saddle bags. Those scans were deceptive…..they looked so perky and firm on there!
Go get your mammogram! Men, tell your women to get one!

Due to a clerical error on my part, the site was down over the weekend. Our domain name expired and the hosting company had an old credit card on file so they couldn’t renew.
Welcome back to the Life Of Riley.

Love, love, love, love, the Gospel in one word is love. Love your neighbor as yourself….love, love, love. Those are lyrics from a song that we sing at The Walk to Emmaus gatherings. I have been thinking a lot about love recently. What does it mean, do I truly love those I am around and think about? The Bible has much to say on the topic. It is mentioned in at least 600 verses throughout the Word. That’s a whole lotta love to share! John 15 9″As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
If it is important enough to be in the Bible so many times shouldn’t we be a little less selfish with our love? Shouldn’t we freely tell those around us we love them?
Next time I see you and I tell you I love you, don’t take it as me being fresh, I am just trying to share God’s love and His joy!

I get up this morning to walk the kiddos to school and take a walk around the block. I am pushing the double stroller so the little guys could also get fresh air. Fresh air…… ah, hard to enjoy it when the humidity is 94%! Takes me back to Arkansas…..the only thing is in AR, the humidity stays until late October! At least here, it will go away after a couple days.

We went out to the Lentz farm today. It is the hog farm we lived on prior to our move to Arkansas. (Elizabeth has been home with strep throat but is feeling better.) I needed to get out of the house. It was a beautiful day so we drove out to the hog farm. Much to our delight there was a fresh litter of piglets. I mean, just birthed……..bloody and umbilical cords still attached dragging on the floor. It was precious to watch the newborn piglets nuzzle, wobbly legged trying to find a nipple for milk. There were 7 of them so she probably wasn’t finished delivering. An average litter is between 10 and 12. On the way back through the barnyard we found a cracked bird egg. We opened it the rest of the way and there was a dead baby bird inside. It was developed but had only about 2 feathers on it.
It was bonus day….we drove over to the property next to Bill’s house where he was on the tractor. Bill was thrilled to see the kids. So much so, he had them ride on the tractor with him to plant soy beans. They got to ride with him to do about 3 rows. He also gave us a soybean to eat. It was actually pretty tasty. I wanted to ride on the tractor too but Elijah was scared of it. We watched from the van. I did receive a lesson in soybean planting from Tom, though. It was actually interesting to me. I would love to live a farming life……don’t think it is in my future though!

Found some bugs in the first version. I think I have most of them accounted for.
Try this new version.

Thanks for the emails, but leave comments so that others can see if their problem has been addressed.

PaperChange - Beta 0.2.0

Today was race day and it was a blast! There were 13 of us from our church, Terrace Lake Community Church, who went up. I didn’t sleep well last night and I felt weird this morning. I was a little concerned I would fizzle out. God answered my prayer for strength, energy, and endurance! The starting corrals are set up according to the predicted length of time to finish as indicated on the registration. So, I started in corral X. The race officially started at 7:30 a.m. My corral didn’t cross the start line until a little after 8:00 a.m. That is what happens when there are 35,000 registered runners/walkers. It was great. My shins hurt around the second mile but after that I was fine. I had one of my power gels at mile 4 and then mile 8 as I was going around the Indy 500 track.
A weird thing happened….I actually ran! During training all I did was walk. Today I would run in intervals. It felt awesome! A couple of times it actually felt better to run than to walk. I maintained a good pace (for me). My goal was to do 15 minute miles. My official pace was 14:28. WOO HOO. All the work paid off. Here is my official standing:
Karen Riley
bib number: 39333
age: 35
gender: F
location: Columbus, IN
overall place: 23604 out of 29211
division place: 1689 out of 2197
gender place: 11117 out of 15244
time: 3:09:23
pace: 14:28
guntime: 1:15:28
5mile: 2:26:41
10mile: 42:42

Considering it was my first mini-marathon, I think I did pretty well. Out of the 13 of us who went, I came in 4th! I am stoked about the next race………….. Our group is talking about going to the Disney mini in January.

Late this week, things were set in motion that will hopefully allow us to remain in and purchase the house we are living in. Karen came to visit me at the office this week. I recently moved to a new building and she wanted to see where I work.
While she was there I introduced her to our HR manager, the lady that hired me.

Karen was talking to her and she asked how things were going with selling our house, etc. Karen explained our situation and that we might have to move again by the end of the month. She also mentioned that she and the kids may move back to Little Rock for the summer to save money and allow me time to find a rental.

The next day the HR manager called me into her office and asked what LHP could do, financially, to help. I told her what I needed per month to buy the house here and still make the mortgage payment in Little Rock. She didn’t seem shocked by the number. She told me she would talk it over with my manager and let me know. On Friday, my manager called me into his office and told me that they would be able to do it on a per diem basis until our house in Little Rock sold.

This is a small company with limited resources. I know this is a sacrifice for them. I’m in manager meetings and know that they have tight margins. Increasing my cost by the amount they did isn’t easy.
My manager told me they were willing to do it because they think I am a good fit for the company and they want me to help grow the company. They want to do what they can to help alleviate stress. I have never felt more valued in my professional life. They don’t realize the amount of loyalty they just invested in. I won’t be going anywhere soon. A company that is willing to go the extra mile for me… I won’t be going anywhere soon and I will be doing my part to help them grow. (On a side note, they all keep reasonable hours, even the owners. I won’t be working 60 or 70 hour weeks.)

I went to the mortgage company Friday afternoon and was approved for a loan on the house. We signed an addendum to our offer to close on the house no later than May 31st.
Things are going to be tight until our Little Rock house sells but things are definitely looking up!

We received an offer on our house today. We received an offer on our house last week, too. When we were in LR in March a man stopped by our house and made an offer on the spot……for $1. YES $1. Well, MR. ONE DOLLAR OFFER MAN finally wised up and made a “serious” offer last week. As expected, it was too low and even with us countering, he couldn’t buy the house.
Mike called to check on the OPEN HOUSE that was held on Sunday. That is when we found out there is a new offer on the house. We countered the low offer but came down $900. Hopefully, with this being the third offer on the house (we had one back around Thanksgiving)….it will be THE one!!!! Let’s pray.