Wednesday, September 25, 2013

25 Lines to Honor Megan Garven

Today is a special day... missing a sweet girl...  To honor her on this 25th day of September on what would have been her 25th birthday, her parents came up with this brilliant idea for folks to do something with the number 25 to remember her.

So as I was thinking about this... I decided to write a poem with 25 lines.  Now I've always liked writing rhyming poems for fun while growing up.  Haven't done this in a long while so don't laugh at me... but this is what came to mind...

This is a poem

To tell a story

Of a lovely girl

Who’s gone to glory



Full of energy

Beautiful and bright

This child of God

Is pure delight



Touching so many

God’s love she’d share

Teaching children

With tender care



I’ll always remember

Her smiling face

Full of compassion

Full of grace



Up in heaven

I know she’s there

Partying with Jesus

A big fanfare



Heart of gold

Devoted and true

Megan Garven

We love you…



Miss you…







Meg was working at Santiago Christian School as a 3rd grade teacher when she got into a tragic car accident.  The school is planning on building a playground in her honor.  If interested in donating to this cause, you may click here for more info.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Kids and Nosebleeds

The other night, while husband was away on business trip (always seems to happen when he is away)... oldest daughter had a coughing fit in the middle of the night that resulted in throw up and a massive nosebleed all at the same time!  These are so much fun to clean up as you can imagine...

Daughter is not sick but she gets coughing fits in the middle of the night due to a combination of allergies and reflux... and may even have a component of asthma in there... poor child. I have to say this used to happen much more frequently when she was younger.  We seemed to have things pretty well controlled with an air filter in her room and combination of allergy and reflux meds.  So it has been a while... but prompted me to put together this post on nosebleeds.

Nosebleeds are very common in children but can can seem alarming.

Common Causes of Nosebleeds Include:
  • nose picking
  • dry air
  • allergies / sinusitis / colds
  • aspirin use / blood thinners / cocaine use
  • side effect of nasal sprays
  • trauma to nose / foreign body in nose
  • deviated septum
How to Stop a Nosebleed
  • stay calm and reassure the child
  • keep child upright and tilt head slightly forward
  • pinch soft part of nose with tissue or washcloth
  • keep pressure for 10 minutes (try not to check too often)
  • sometimes can add ice to bridge of nose
  • avoid rough play or nose picking/rubbing/blowing immediately following


When to Call a Doctor
  • not stopping after 30 minutes of direct pressure
  • losing more blood than expected
  • any difficulty breathing
  • occurs after direct trauma / car accident
  • has frequent nose bleeds
  • bleeds from other places like the gums or bleeds heavily with minor cuts
  • has something in the nose
  • has recently started new medication
How to Prevent Nosebleeds
  • use vaporizer (warm mist) in the room
  • moisturize with saline mist nasal spray
  • apply vaseline or lanolin ointment to tip of nose twice a day
  • apply antibiotic ointment to red sore areas twice a day
  • may need to see ENT to get exposed vessels cauterized

Monday, September 9, 2013

Starting Public School



Last week, my oldest daughter started her first day of public school.  There was much excitement and anticipation the night before.  The actual day did not disappoint and was filled with shouts of glee and boundless energy.


“Mommy, you can leave now,” she announced to me when she got to her bus stop and was surrounded by other kids from kindergarten to sixth grade.  It was a small crowd of eleven or so and the parents gathered in front to take bus stop photos.  I was a little nervous for her because I remember my own bus experience as a first grader and missing my stop coming home.  My mom had to run after the bus and pick me up at the next bus stop, which thankfully, was only 1 or 2 blocks away.  I was glad to discover that another little girl would be taking the same bus with my daughter and would even be in her same class.


Sending my daughter to public school reminded me of my own experience growing up.  I actually really loved school and going back to school after summer vacation was always a favorite time of year for me.  It was fun to discover who my teacher was going to be and which new classmates were going to be in my class.  However, it had its challenges, especially during the early elementary years because English was not my first language.  


As I attend these back to school welcome meetings and navigate through my daughter’s school computer site, I am struck by how much more challenging this must have been for my own parents when they had to send me to school for the first time.  Well, they did not have emails and websites back then that they had to log onto for information, however, I’m sure they still had to figure out how to get me to school and what I needed on the first day.  Being immigrants from Taiwan, my parents understood the English language some, but were nowhere near fluent in speaking.   

So this post is a “shout out” to my parents and to all immigrant parents out there who place value in education and sacrifice time, energy, money, and comfort… etc to get their kids through school!  Despite the disadvantages of not having fluent English speaking parents who were heavily involved with school or could help me with homework every night…(except for math.. they were brilliant with math)… I think I turned out okay =)