So what is happening in the Niemann household? 
Most of you know I had knee surgery yesterday after my skiing accident a week ago Sunday.  I'm getting along pretty well although everyone who told me the first couple of days after surgery are the hardest were not kidding...I'm just glad to have a great family who has taken good care of me. And to anyone who is wondering if I'm staying put and keeping my feet up, it's really not an option! Even when I want to get up and around, I'm ready to head back to John's easy chair after about 2 minutes.

John: Along with his new role of chief nursemaid, John is managing the completion of our home gym!  We are turning half of our garage into a really cool workout room...or in my case, a physical therapy room. It looks awesome and he's done a fantastic job making it all come together. The last week at Cargill has been fun as they celebrated their involvement in community service.  One of their cattle buyers was honored as volunteer of the year for Hands on Central California for his efforts with Habitat for Humanity, and today Cargill was honored at a United Way breakfast. They were given the Live United Circle of Excellence Award, and Cargill's campaign manager was the Outstanding Employee Campaign Manager award winner.

Peyton: This boy received high academic honors last week at school and continues to keep his test scores up every week.  In his baseball game last night he pitched and struck out five out of seven batters with a pitch count of only xx.  Since baseball is winding down, he opted to play on the Clovis East AAU basketball team this year.  He is really loving that - the coaches are great and this league has challenged his skills more than any other team/league he's played in. 

Trace: For the past few months Trace has struggled with his grades in school but has been working really hard with a tutor at school and extra work with us at home.  His teacher sent home a note yesterday that his grades are gradually coming up to high C's and B's -- way to go Trace!  The California STAR test is coming up and we are working hard to prepare for that.  He is also winding down baseball season and has enjoyed his team this spring.

Hillary: This girl continues to do well in school both academically and socially...:).  She is my sidekick on Tuesday and Thursday evenings when I teach classes at Fitness One.  She does her homework and then helps me clean up the studio, fold towels and stock the water fridge for the next day.  Last week she was my "demo girl" since after I injured my knee it was a bit difficult to show my classes the different moves!  I'm working on my verbal training skills but until I perfect those Hillary is my girl.
 
All the kids have continued their piano lessons with our fabulous teacher, Troy.  They all do well and don't complain about practicing...too much anyway!  Their spring recital is May 11.

God's Healing Touch

What a crazy experience I (Jen) had this week...one that turned into a true miracle in my life. 

On Monday I got up early as usual, read a chapter in my "Love to Pray" book for the class I am taking at church, did a P90X2 workout, showered, got the kids ready & to school, then headed to work at Fitness Together. I had a couple of trainings, some new client orientations and then spent some time organizing clients in the computer.  After sitting there happily typing away for a half hour or so, I noticed a little twinge in my right ankle - kind of like it needed to pop.  Over the next 10 minutes it started hurting a bit more intensely, and as I packed up my things to leave, it started getting really hot.  As I drove home it got worse and worse, to the point where I had to take off my shoe at a stop light, use my left foot to drive the last mile home.  By the time I pulled into the garage, I was in tears and could not even put it on the ground to walk.  I hopped around the kitchen attempting to make my lunch, and put an ice pack on it when I sat down to eat, hoping it would help.  I couldn't even take my sock off it hurt so badly!  Unfortunately, the ice didn't help at all and it kept swelling and getting hotter.  It was the strangest thing.  I prayed, "Lord, as quickly as this came on I know you can heal it"...I feel like I'm pretty tough and I was just beside myself with the pain!

I was able to get an appointment with my nurse practitioner (who also happens to be my ski buddy) for later that afternoon.  My sweet husband put everything on hold at work and rushed home to pick the kids up at school and take me up to the doctor where I literally hopped into the doctor's office.  After examining me the nurse was as confused as I was -- she called for an x-ray which ended up showing no break, sprain or any bone damage.  After further examination and  me "lighting up" as they put it when the doctor pressed on either side of my ankle, they determined it was a ligament strain.  They put me in a boot and said if it wasn't better by the next afternoon I would need to come in for a shot. 

After being in the boot for just a few minutes the ankle started feeling better.  When we got home I could actually walk around and fix dinner (I enjoyed the extra help and sympathy!).  By the time we went to bed it was feeling quite good and although it was still swollen and warm to the touch, I could even walk on it without the boot.  I started feeling almost guilty about how much better it was already feeling.

The next morning it was still a little swollen but I could totally walk on it and not feel any pain.  I had to be at Cargill most of the day and it was a bit embarrassing when all the people who knew John had left on my behalf the day before came up to ask me with great concern how my foot was.  There I was, walking around like nothing had happened!  My nurse friend couldn't believe it when I text her how good it was feeling and that I felt confident we could keep our ski date on Thursday.  Is that not crazy?

Later that night this thought came to me: Why was I so surprised that my foot was healed when that's exactly what I prayed for?  And why was I claiming to everyone how crazy it was that I felt so much better instead of sharing how God had answered my prayer to heal it quickly?  Why do I pray for things and then not expect the answer to be granted?

It truly was a strange experience that triggered a huge ruckus in our family, caused my nurse friend and our doctor to stay late and disrupted John's day at work.  And in the end, my first thought was not to praise God for healing but to just wonder at how in the world it was back to normal!  I am so thankful for grace and how God gently reminded me of His role as Healer.  Later in the week as people continued to ask how the ankle was getting along, shared instead how it wasn't really that odd I was back to normal so quickly since I had prayed for a quick healing and God opted to show up in that way for me.  What a blessing it was for me and for our family it was a short-lived injury. 

And yes, I did go skiing on Thursday and had a fantastic day with my friends Phil, Karen and Suzanne.  We even skiied the bumps -- a lot!  A blessing of a day.

Jen

Finally A New Post!

Well it's a new year and with that comes a new commitment to the Niemann Family Blog.  There's always plenty to share...that's for sure.

Our latest family news is the addition of a puppy to the mix. She's a yellow lab born on November 5, and we named her Aspen. She's a cutie and so far our "mature" black lab, Dallas, is tolerating her quite nicely.  It's been awhile since we've had a puppy - she's sure cute but I am really glad to have Dallas around to babysit her!  It helps that she has a playmate.  The kids absolutely love her, and John is quite taken with her as well. 

We have also acquired another black lab - a 15-month old trained hunting dog.  It was my Christmas gift to John and his name is Yankee.  At this point we are simply "trying him out" to see if he fits with the family and how he does duck hunting.  So far thumbs are up on all counts.  So we seriously have a lot of 4-legged animals around here right now...you can't forget Cabela, the stray cat we obtained as a kitty in May...:)