Stress

Now let's think about it. What causes stress? Peer pressure? Family? Homework? Schoolwork? Take a closer look at it. About 90 percent of stress comes from school. That thing is the stress headquarters. Whether it's homework, studying, projects, different types of bullying or any other troubles, school can be the No.1 thing that factors or causes your stress. If your parents make you take special classes ( and I mean the academic ones that you don't enjoy at all), then you've got double the work. And due to those special classes your brain has to work hard all week with only a few hours of rest each day. Even when you come home from school and special classes and you just want to relax, the minute you start getting comfortable your parents will tell you to stop slouching and get started on your homework / tell you to go take a shower / send you on an errand / do something that prevents you from getting any rest. Sometimes we kids just need a break! Now, I understand exactly how that feels. The so-called "techniques" to help you reduce stress doesn't work for me either. Not evryone has bottles of lavender/rose scented oil just liying around to pour in a bathtub ( and on that note, not everyone has a bathtub ) or float rose petals in! And not everyone has the equipment/skill/TIME to make DIY schedules! Nor do the schedules work for everyone. Instead, I focus on a more simple way to deal with stress. Praying. Sometimes you'll feel like it doesn't help,or that God isn't listening... Ok, maybe a lot of times. But check out Daily Devotions. Anyway, if you really feel like praying doesn't make you feel better, just calm down. Tell everyone you know about it. At least, the ones you can trust. Then just relax, and try to deal with it any way you can. Hope that as helpful. Have a wonderful, stress-free week! - Ferny

My Very First Surgery

  Hi, everyone. Palm here. I wanted to apologize for not having anything new up for so long. Hopefully, it wasn't too long. I was in the hospital for about four days, because I had appendicitis. Let me tell you how it happened. On my birthday ( June 11th) , I went to school as usual. the first part of the day was fine. But at lunch, I started getting a bad stomachache. So I took a pill after my meal and just went on with my day. But the pill didn't help like it wasn't supposed to. In fact, it got worse and worse until, by the last lesson, it was almost unbearable. Mom picked us up a little bit later than usual, and then, when I got home, I told her about it. So Fern ate pizza while watching Frozen , and I had to lie down so Mom could give me a check-up ( she's a doctor). Then she said the symptoms were like appendicitis and she rushed me to the hospital. Without any dinner. Fern, of course, stayed behind and played on our new Xbox with Dad. When I got to the hospital, I had to go to three doctors, get an ultrasound, and a CT scan before they finally said, " Okay, it's appendicitis. She needs to get surgery. Pronto." So Mom called the surgeon, who she knew, and asked him to operate on me. At that point, 'an hour' was by eight o'clock. So then we called Dad and Fern and told them all about it and that they needed to come right away. And after that it was panic ( Fern ), sappiness ( Mom ), nonchalance ( Dad ) , and so-excited-and-nervous-she-can't-stop-smiling ( me) . Since Mom had done appendicitis suegery before, she requested to be in the room with me as part of the surgical team. The team wished me a happy birthday before giving me some..um..anaestetic or whatever they call it..to smell, and I woke up an hour later in the recovery room with an extremely sore throat and a wound near my hip that hurt awfully. But I was also nauseaous and super duper sleepy, so I went to sleep almost as soon as they wheeled me into my room and lifted me onto my bed. Did I mention my bed was remote-control and adjustable? Anyway, I had to stay at the hospital for four whole days and nights to recover. And after that, the doctor ordered a two-week rest from school. Two weeks! I don't know how I'll EVER catch up on all the work. Not to mention all that studying. But if I can make a quick recovery, I might be able to go back in just one week. I'm so sorry for ranting on like this, BTW. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you guys would pray for me. Thanks!