Surgery Update

I have attempted to write this post a couple times.  It has been harder then I anticipated and even the simple task of putting a few sentences together has been a struggle.  I am okay.  I must admit I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I sincerely believed that I would be pretty out of it for the first week and by the second week begin to feel much better.  HOWEVER, it has been 9 days since surgery and I am a mess!

The pain is pretty much under control.  Mornings are the hardest because I am beginning to sleep well at night and so I go longer without pain medication.  Which means I need to catch up a little  on the pain in the morning.  I spend the morning fairy nauseous, from lack of food and lack of appetite which is paired with the need to take tons of meds.  I'm taking Iron, B 12, D2, and thyroid medicine because I need them.  In addition I'm taking Oxycodone (every 4 hours for pain), Vit D for 8 weeks to help rebuild the bone that was cut, a stool softener, multi vitamin, vitamin C (to help absorb minerals better), Baby aspirin (blood clot preventative), 2 extra strength Tylenol every 8 hours for pain, I was taking an oral nerve block 3 times a day for pain but that has ended, I did have a pain ball which was a catheter directly into my nerve to block the pain, but that has come out.  I also have an anti nausea medicine which has been helpful.  I think the amount of medicine has been causing headaches too.  I feel in a fog.

However, I also have felt very loved.  Randy has been wonderful.  Andrew has been awesome.  The little girls have been precious.  Jackson and Sophia are also ever willing to serve.  They have truly served and blessed me as has our church body.  Wonderful meals,

thoughtful gifts

cards, childcare, verses, flowers, treats, visits, texts, emails, phone calls,  prayers. I am overwhelmed with the love others have shown.

I am also frustrated.  I can do very little.  I fold a basket of laundry and have to take a nap. 

Sophie rigged up a system for the hangers on my scooter!

Not just a little rest, like a 2 hour nap!  I try to go along on a quick errand and end up in bed for the rest of the day.  I am worn out.  I had no idea surgery would be this hard to recover from.  I thought I would be right back in the swing of things.  That has not been the case!  I get bored.  I'm not really much of a TV person.  I like to keep busy and my lack of energy makes for a lack of productivity which is difficult for me!

I am following Dr. orders and am completely non-weight bearing.  I did stumble once and banged my big toe on the floor and that was very painful but so far I have had no other mishaps.  Praise the Lord!

So that's how things are going.  I'm resting up and looking forward to my appointment on January 5.  I anticipate the splint I am in coming off and I think that I will get a quick glimpse of my new foot before it is casted for another 6 or so weeks. Sigh.  We plan to start back to school Monday, so that should be very interesting!  Big discussion at our house is what color cast do I get.  Leaning towards green to support CCA swimmers!

I would appreciate prayers for my spirits to stay up.  I do tend to get a bit discouraged.  Also prayers that my quiet times will be fruitful and I am able to retain some of what I am reading. I'm having a very hard time focusing and I really need to stay in the word. Prayer for safety and protection from falls or injury is also appreciated.  Prayers for my family to have extra measures of endurance and patience in putting up with a very limited Mommy.

This road is longer then I realized!

Weekly Update

Things are busy at our house these days.  Andrew leaves so early for his school swim practice.  Like 5:30 early.  So some mornings I don't even see him before he goes to school.  I guess that is good practice for next year!  After school most days he goes to his year around swim practice. Between swimming, school, and homework he keeps busy. 

Monday's are always busy days at our house we have lots of extras on Monday:

Gymnastics
Piano
Clogging
Swim team, Andrew is not our only year around swimmer, Sophia is also swimming.


This Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment to get a second opinion on my foot.  So that added to the busyness of the week.  The orthopedic I saw agreed with the surgeon that recommended the foot surgery and said he would recommend the same procedures and he would let the surgeon I saw operate on his foot.  Having a second opinion makes me feel more confident that I am making the right decision. I should hear Tuesday if the 21st is still the date. 

Wednesday is the day our co-op meets.  So the morning was filled with school and the afternoon was filled with co-op.  Our co-op does History, Science, and Writing.  I LOVE IT!  The younger kids do History, Science, and have an Activity Class.  After co-op we go to church.  So it makes for a late dinner and an even later night.  However it is worth it! 

So Thursday is our sleep-in day.  We do school but it is at a much lighter pace on Thursdays.  I spent the morning teaching and the afternoon making chili to freeze for us post surgery.  I made 6 batches and the kids asked how much chili are we going to eat?  We eat 2 batches at a time....so it really was not as much as it looked like!

Then Thursday afternoon Andrew had a swim meet for his school.  I was helping transport kids from school to the pool so we had to leave the house around 2:45.  Andrew swam in two relays and two individual events.  He did well.  He dropped 9 seconds in his 500, so that was exciting.  He won the 200 freestyle so that was great too!  The relays did well especially considering one of their usual relay participants was sick so they had subs.  Way to step up guys!  So neat to see how much the kids have improved.

After the meet ended Sophia, Lydia, and I left to go to Girl Talk.  What a fun
night!   The girls wore their PJ's, made bath salts, gave each other pedicures, ate yummy snacks, and talked about the importance of taking care of their ever changing bodies with the food they eat, the attitudes they have, cleanliness, exercise.  I really do love this program.  These girls are a trip!  LOVE THEM!  So even though it made for a very late night.  It too is so worth it.  Plus I get to hang out with the girls awesome Mama's! 

Friday we went on a field trip with our co-op to the North Carolina Museum of Art.  Which was exciting because it meant we did not have to do school!  That being said I should also say I am not a museum person....so I was not super excited.  However, I do want to expose my children to culture and perhaps some of them are museum people, so we went......I found out they are not museum people either BUT we did have fun!  Our day went something like this:

Early morning swim practice, followed by biscuit breakfast with some friends, and a fun van ride to the museum.  Then we toured and got to see Leonardo da Vinci's Codex.  We've been studying the Renaissance at co-op so this went perfectly with our studies.  The highlight for my family was a picnic lunch on the grounds!  I told you, we are just not museum people! 

This was my favorite piece of art.  It was pretty cool.  It is an upside down Mona Lisa created from spools of thread stacked on wire string.  Who would have ever thought to do that!

After the tour was the picnic.  Food, play, and visiting is so our speed so we ended our field trip in high spirits!  Audrey did not go with us but she did have a fun day too.  She hung out with Mama and Aunt Stacy. When we got home I took a short nap and then did some house work.

Saturday started with our youth group's annual Turkey Bowl. I ran a few errands, which were pretty fun cause I had a friend with me!  We left the Turkey Bowl and went to  Jackson's basketball game.  Jackson had a friend sleeping over.  So he was pumped about that.   Randy, Sophie, Jackson, and his friend got to go to the Duke/Buffalo game.  They had a great time!  Andrew was out for the evening and Audrey was at a sleepover for a friends birthday.  Lydia had spent the day with her grandparents and that evening went with her Aunt, cousin, and grandpa to see Christmas lights in Raleigh.   So I actually had some time alone at home!  It was strange.  That happens....never.

After the Duke game we met for dinner at Pizza Inn, went home and played Spoons, and watched a movie....well part of a movie.  We got too tired and went to bed.

Today was a great day of worship.  Love our church family.  We had lunch and then I had a good nap.  While I napped Lydia researched, wrote, and typed her entire history project on Cathrine of Argon.  She does not want to worry about it on Christmas break.  It's not due until we get back from Christmas break.  She even made the poster on her own.  Then she picked out what to wear because she has to present her project to her class and dress as Catharine.  LOVE that she initiated it and did a great job all on her own.  She is such a blessing to me. 

Randy, Jackson, and I ran a couple errands tonight and had a nice family dinner at home.  The little ones are off to bed and Randy and Andrew are cheering on the Steelers.

That was our week.  Next weeks looking busy too!

Our Thanksgiving Break

We had a nice and quiet Thanksgiving.  Randy's parents and sister were in Texas visiting his brother.  My sister was working and my brother and his family were in South Carolina celebrating with his wife's family.  So it was just us and my parents this year.  We had lunch at Mama's.  It was delicious.  Mom had everything so beautiful and it was very laid back.

That evening we went to a movie as a family, which was a real treat. 

Friday was spent decorating for Christmas.  We went downtown to pick out a tree. 

Downtown was decorated for Christmas!

We went to the Trosa Tree Lot

We walked around downtown a bit.

I had fun taking pictures.

It was a warm and beautiful day for late November.

We all enjoyed our outing.

Audrey fell in love with these little deer.  Unfortunately, they cost a fortune!  So we just took a picture.

I did get a little sentimental remembering that this year will be Andrew's last Christmas living at home full time.  Sigh.

So I tried to get a nice family photo....but these guys are cheesen it up and trying to see who is taller!

Not the easiest crew to get a photo of!

We were pretty low key on the decorations this year.  I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible.

Mindy got tangled in the lights!

Saturday I spent the day Christmas shopping.

Sunday was spent at church, writing lesson plans, and watching football.

It was a nice Thanksgiving Break!

School starts back tomorrow.  2 full weeks of school and then Christmas break!!!!  I can make it!

Love,
Kim

Surgery

I haven't really blogged about this much, because it is very disappointing for me to talk about or think about but I guess now is as good a time as any.  So a couple years ago I lost a ton of weight through diet and exercise.  I was running major miles and really loving and enjoying my active lifestyle.  About 2 years ago I started having intense foot pain and went to the doctor.  I was sure I had a stress fracture.  I didn't. He told me I had really flat feet.  RUDE! 

So he recommended physical therapy and a custom orthotic and to stop running.  Around the same time Randy's grandmother moved into our bedroom and we moved into Audrey's bedroom and Audrey moved into Lydia's bedroom.  Our world was pretty rocked.  Once again I was in survival mode and stopped focusing on taking care for my body and health.  Grandma living here was more then we realized so she ended up moving out and we all got our rooms back and life got back to somewhat normal.  I still was having a lot of pain and still following the doctors directions.  My weight was creeping up.....

Finally I decided the first doctor must have missed something.  I was in so much pain and even walking was irritating my foot.  I have a dear friend whose husband is a physical therapist and he looked at my feet and said I probably should not run and that I had flat feet and that the surgery needed to repair my foot was a pretty big deal but may be where I was headed. 

So....I kept waiting for it to get better.  I would try to walk sporadically but just could not get back in my groove.  Randy kept running along!  I must admit I was jealous!  I started our weight loss....I started our running.  Now he was running and losing and I was sitting and gaining.  Around this time I started back to teaching full time.  Which means cupcakes on a regular basis.  It was always someone's birthday or a holiday or teacher appreciation.  So the gain continued.  My foot was a little better, because I was less active.  Yet it continued to hurt.

My sister worked for an orthopedic doctor who did not do surgery.  So I made an appointment with him.  Still certain I had a stress fracture that the X-rays had missed.  I had a bone spur.  He suggested new orthotics from a really good doctor and said I had really flat feet.  He said I may need surgery.  So I got new orthotics and continued to rest my foot.  I decided I needed a goal.  I was going to compete in a MINI TRIATHLON.  Focus on the word mini!  It was mostly swimming and biking and just 2 miles of running.  I could do it.  Yet even walking hurt.

Then my knee and hip started to hurt on my same leg.  I texted my sister in tears and she said I needed to go back to Dr. B to be referred or to go directly to Dr. T, who was a surgeon.  I made an appointment with Dr. T.  He was great.  I was feeling pretty confident that I was going to leave with a cortisone shot and be good to go for months, maybe years.....Then on a guided X-ray he saw the pain point was not near a joint.  So the cortisone injection would not be effective.  My options were a custom made foot splint and no running and it could relieve some pain but would not fix the problem or a fairly major surgery to rebuild my foot which would fix the problem.  He said I should not distance run ever because the way my feet are but that I would be able to have an active lifestyle and be pain free and even be able to run again, just not long distances.

So....I guess I have really flat feet not a stress fracture.  The pain is not going away.  I stand it hurts.  I walk it hurts.  I work out it is unbearable.  It has affected my life pretty majorly for the last few years.  It is discouraging to see how much time I've lost and how much weight I have gained, but I'm not waiting any more.  I'm having the surgery.  It will be a big deal.  It will be inconvenient.  I think it will be worth it though.  The doctor assures me I will be thrilled after about 3-6 months....

So December 21 I am having my foot fixed.  I'm scared and excited.  I am having a tendon taken out of my calf and put into my foot.  I'm having the tendon in my calf lengthened.  I'm having a wedge built up to support my foot.  I'm having a screw put in my ankle and I am having my heel broken and realigned under my leg.  OUCH!  I will be non-weight bearing for 6-10 weeks.  I will be in a splint for 2 weeks and after staples are removed I will be casted for 6 weeks.  Then I should be able to move to a walking boot and begin physical therapy.

So....I'm starting over.  I don't have to lose all my weight again, but I do have to lose a lot.  I really think having my foot fixed is the first step.  I am still planning to do the triathlon.  I'm just moving it from Raleigh in May to Chapel Hill in October.  I think that will give me enough time to heal and train.  I may have to race walk the 2 miles...but I'm going to do it.

Faithfulness

Yesterday morning as we stood at church and our voices rang out singing;

The heavens ring
The saints all sing
"Great is Your faithfulness"
From age to age
We will proclaim
"Great is Your faithfulness
How great is Your faithfulness"

Naturally as we sang my mind remembered God's faithfulness.  How He has provided over the years.  He's literally provided shoes, clothes, food, a car when we were needy.  Not only did He provide, but He did it in such unique ways.  Winning a shopping spree when Randy was out of work.  Families from church bringing bags of clothing.  A neighbor literally giving us their car!  He is faithful.  I've seen His plan in my life and in my family unfold.  He is indeed faithful!  As we continued to sing my mind wandered and thought about the older saints.  I started to think of dear Christians who had walked many decades with the Lord and wondered at the stories of His faithfulness that they could share.  I would love to sit and hear them!

This made me thankful.  I was thankful for the family of God.  I was thankful for the multi-generational family God has planted us in.  I love the body of Christ.  What a sweet sweet gift!

After church one of my all time favorites, the Zweigal's,  in true Zweigal fashion invited a complete stranger to ride with us out to lunch, but only after securing a promise from us to return said stranger to their home after lunch!  I loved this for so many reasons.  I love that they could ask us that.  I loved that they were secure enough in our relationship. That is only something you would ask your people.  You wouldn't ask an acquaintance that.   I love that they are bold.  Bold to initiate relationships with strangers.  I love that they care about strangers.  I love that they are not going to be hindered in relationships and Christian kindness because of obstacles. In this case the obstacle was a Prius filled with three little boys and no room for a foreign stranger with only a bike as transportation.  No problem!  Just ask someone else in the family to give them a ride!  Problem solved.  Oh how I love the family of God! 

Because of the Zweigal's initiative and kindness we were blessed.  We got to share meal with a lovely stranger from Cambridge.  He was a legit Christian.  A brother in Christ.  He's leaving to return to his wife and life and home across the ocean.  We will likely never see him here again.  It was one meal.  It was one prayer.  Yet it's just so neat for me to think we will spend eternity with this man in heaven and we got to spend a meal with him here.  I love my local church and I love God's universal church.  What an amazing gift from a faithful God.

Happy Monday!

Tow-Maters

Oh my word.  I have the BEST friends on EARTH.  Sorry.  But really I do.  One of my all time favorites just celebrated her birthday and so we decided to have a 2-hour delay at The Home Builders Academy and go to the farm to celebrate!

It was last minute and it was totally casual and it was exactly the best thing to do.  We ALL loved it!

 

My other bestie Kellie came too and she got MUCH better pictures...my camera (is my phone) drives me CrAZy!  One day....I'm gonna get a real camera!  Until then I will try my best to stop complaining!  Anyhoo---

We ate and we sang and we talked.  The kids played.

It was lovely.  We went out to dinner later that week to have a more proper celebration that included husbands and babysitters.  So that was fun!

Julia would not hear of us leaving without tomatoes.  So we both left with bags full!  Julia keeps my family well fed.  Honey, Eggs, Jams, Pies, Berries, Muscadines.....she truly spoils us!  This time was tomatoes and jalapenos, and basil.  All fresh from the farm.

Let me just say we will be singing her praises for some time. 

Breakfast has been scrambled eggs with fresh tomatoes and basil and a sprinkle of feta cheese.

Lunch has been BLT with her delicious tomatoes and a few leaves of basil for added flavor.

My freezer is stocked with Homemade Parmesan and Tomato Soup.

 

I Just have to warm it up and add the cream and the Parmesan.  Hello Fall!

My fridge is stocked with homemade salsa.  We had the salsa on our chicken tacos last night, its my friend Anna's recipe, and oh. my. goodness.  I could eat it by the spoonful.  It did have some kick with those jalapenos.

YUMMY....

And guess what....I still have more tomatoes....so today I'm going to can some tomato sauce!


What a blessing Julia is to my kitchen, my family, and my heart.

Love her.

However, I'm also just really thankful for friendship.  The living of life together.  The walking through the good and the bad.  Friendship is such a sweet gift from God.  We share recipes, time, tears, and truth.  Love that I have been so richly blessed with good friends!

Oh NO!

My sweet friend Kellie told a new friend Sara over a hot bowl of oatmeal early one morning as we were grasping to hold on to summer which was quickly waning, "Kim requires a certain level of authenticity in her relationships."

For some reason I keep thinking about her statement. 

People often say I'm sweet....nope. 

People say I'm patient.......not even a little. 

Yet Kellie's statement...Why was it haunting me?.....I think because it is TRUE.

I have 0. None. Nada. Zilch. tolerance for fakeness.  I cannot stand it.

What I did not realize is that this has been a bit of an area of pride.  Being real is a good thing right?  Requiring authenticity is a good standard. 

I love real.  I love messy.  I love authentic.  I love imperfection.  LOVE IT.  It is comfortable.  It is like coming home.  So if you are one of my people....and you know who you are....please know I see a genuineness in you that endures you to me.

Yet something else bothers me.....

Why do I get to decide who is fake and who is real?
For some reason I think I can know.  I hold the realness meter!

Yet now I'm beginning to wonder....Who set me up as judge?

What if these people aren't fake? 
What if they are wounded?  What if they are afraid?  What if they are more then meets the eye?

I think the Lord has allowed this very true statement about me reveal something deeper about me!

I am so quick to judge.  So quick!

My Kellie, meant nothing like that by her statement.  She was speaking truth.  She was stating a fact.  One I liked in fact.  Yet God used her statement to reveal more about my messed up self!

HOT MESS!

Goodbye Summer....Hello School

Today is the last day of summer break.  Tomorrow starts a new school year. 


Summer started with a day trip to the beach with a bunch of friends.

What a fun day!

June was filled with pool days and parties and movie nights.

Lots of Swim team.

July was spent at the beach.  Enjoying friends and family.

 

August has been restful.  Lots of sleeping in and preparing for a new year.  Meeting with our new co-op group and trying to figure out this new curriculum!  We've also had a lot of dancing.

 

 

 

Tomorrow our new fall routine starts.

School with a new co-op and a new curriculum.  I'm anxious to see how that goes!
There will be piano lessons resuming.  Clogging continuing.  Lydia has added dance.  Audrey has added gymnastics. 

Andrew will continue swimming and Sophia and Jackson will be joining in with him.

 Lydia has joined a Girl Talk group.  Sophia will continue hers. 

I'll be hosting a Bible Study on Tuesdays.  We are hoping to be involved in Home Fellowships on Sunday evenings.  Our time is filling up, but I'm excited at how it is filled.  I have a feeling this year is going to be a fast one!  Ready.....Set....Go!

19 Years

I don't remember meeting Randy.  I just remember knowing him.  My earliest memories of Randy are at Faith Alliance Church back in the early 80's.  I remember my Dad being his Sunday School teacher.  I remember doing cartwheels by the window waiting for my Dad to finish teaching.  I remember my Dad telling Randy that my light bulb clip would light up whenever I got a good idea.  I don't know how Randy ended up with that clip, but he still has it!

I remember having running races with him all the time, and winning.  He doesn't remember that!  I remember thinking he was the funniest boy I had ever met.  Crazy, but funny!  Then I remember how he would sit across the room in Children's Church and pull out his hair and show me the roots.  Attractive.

His family left the church several years before mine did and I didn't see him too much.  However, he rode the same bus as my best friend, Lora, in middle school.  I remember he and his friends would throw spitballs at us on the bus.

 

About the time I was 15 and he was 16 both our families were at the same church again, Ridgecrest.  We became friends and started dating when I was 17.  We only dated a few months and he broke up with me and went off to college in Florida.  I was still in high school.  I was really sad.  I remember telling my mom, I thought I was going to marry him.

A few months later he was back in Durham.  Florida did not work out, long....and somewhat funny (now) story. He was working at an Exxon while he was trying to figure what to do next and I wandered in late one night after cheering for a basketball game.  I was shocked to see him and he was shocked to see me and we became fast friends.  After being friends for most of that year we began to date just about the time we both started college.

A couple year later while we were still both in college we got married.  We were BABIES.  I was just 1 month shy of turning 21 and he had just turned 21.  It's hard to believe it has been 19 years.  Most have been good.  Year 1 was ROUGH, I really wondered what I had gotten myself into.  Year 4 was really sad, I wondered if I would ever be happy again.  Year 12 was hard, the building market crashed and we are still recovering! Year 17 wasn't the best.  But we've had a good run.  I'm glad we keep working at it.  I'm sure the next 19 years will have some rough, hard, sad, difficult times too.  It's good to know they pass.  Things do get better.  The bad doesn't last forever.  We've had 6 babies and buried 1. 

We've lived in  9 houses.  Randy has had 4 jobs.  We've buried 5 grandparents. We've changed churches.  We've had 2 cats, 3 dogs, countless fish, and a gerbil.   I've learned the proper way to cut an orange, and believe me that was not an easy lesson! He's learned who has the best crunchy ice and the correct ratio of ice to diet coke. 

The landscape of our lives has changed a lot in 19 years.  It has been busy and wonderful and heartbreaking and hard.  We've driven each other crazy.  We have made each other laugh and we have fussed and we have begun to learn about really loving one another. We have gotten some stuff right and a lot of stuff wrong. 

Most of our wedding gifts have now been replaced; Crockpots, toasters and blenders, pots, and pans.......I really do think couples should wait 20 years and THEN have a wedding shower!  Now I would make much better selections!

So to celebrate this year we aren't doing anything super fancy.  I think we will go out to dinner.  Andrew has an open house at school and Lydia has clogging.

I do know this.  I'm glad I married him.  He's gotten better with age.  I sure do love him.  Happy Anniversary Randy!

Kim

Weekly Update

It's been a lazy week at the Stewart house.  School is getting ready to start back.  We are about pooled out.  A lot of the kids friends are out of town.  So we have mostly just been home.  I've loved it.  The kids not as much!

Audrey and Andrew did get to go to Carowinds with Aunt Stacy.  They both had a great time.  Audrey won a turtle and named him squirrel.  Stacy takes all her nieces and nephews when they turn 8 as their gift.  I think it is such a nice gift.  She needed an extra set of hands because she had Audrey and Gray to take this year.  Andrew got the invite so he was more than happy to chaperon!

While they were off riding roller coasters I stayed home and did a lot of co-op work and we had piano lessons and clogging in the afternoon.

Tuesday was the day of checkups.  Both Audrey and Sophia had theirs.  Poor Sophia had to get 2 shots.  That was the worst of the appointment.  The best; she is officially taller then Mama.  She measured in at 5'6 1/2".  I'm 5'6......

Lydia started dance this week; hip hop, jazz, and lyrical. 

I let Sophia have a sleepover with her friend Joanna.  They had a lot of fun.  Lots of giggles!  I think they stayed up until about 4:00 am.  They were trying to follow in big brothers foot steps and stay up the entire night.  We are still recovering! 

 

 

 

We had a beginning of the school year co-op picnic at the park on Thursday.  It was hot!  I can't believe it's almost time to start back.  I need to get busy!  I am excited to work with these ladies and get to know these sweet families better!

Of course Andrew and Randy left on their big trip to DC to check out American.  They left late on Thursday and will get back tonight!  I'm ready to see them both.  They spent all day Friday on campus.  Andrew LOVES it and Randy says he thinks it may be the perfect fit.  Oh my!  It is a very hard school to get into so I am praying the Lord will either open or close doors.  His will is all I want. 

Saturday they toured the city, they are both such history buffs and Saturday night they went to a Nationals baseball game. 

Today they are going to worship at Capital Hill Baptist Church, have lunch on the mall, and head home!


Jackson has been surrounded by girls all week.  He is so over us.  He wants his Daddy home....NOW!

Audrey's big news: She FINALLY started gymnastics yesterday!  She smiled every. single. minute. of her class.  Adorable!

 

We have been doing some baking this week too.  Trying to stock up the freezer with goodies for all the days I won't have time to bake once school starts!

 

Andrew starts back to school on Wednesday.  We start the following Monday.  Can't believe summer is almost over!