thankful thursdays 1/28

* Garlic-kale-chicken-yumminess. My friend brought over some scrumptious, kill-the-kidney-infection soup today and I am in heaven. It is so delicious! She also brought over some muffins full of blueberry goodness which we are all loving. I will get the recipes from her and share them with you so you can beat your next kidney infection too.

I am utterly amazed that my pregnant friend with eight children of her own would take the time to make me food – what an angel! Thanks Tasha!
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* Music. We have had a great morning playing the cello, violin, and piano. I love music and someday I WILL pass off Happy Farmer from my book one cello book!

My friend, Melissa, says she has a new cleaning ritual for her family. They turn on twenty-minute Ode to Joy and clean as fast as they can. Twenty minutes later they are full of joy because their work is done and they have listened to beautiful music.
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* The sun is shining after days and days of dreariness.
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* My suburban keeps starting! The distributor and cap and rotor ARE broken and need replaced, but it has started all week long. Woohoo!
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* Annesley is the most precious baby ever. I am so in love with her. We just took a bath together and it was so much fun. She was trying to wear Blythe’s snorkel gear, which didn’t work because the face mask is way to big for her. Then she tried Fisher’s goggles and they were also big, but at least they stayed on and she was able to feel like a big girl and try to see underwater. She brings many smiles to my face everyday and I am so grateful I am her mama. She has fully adopted the nickname Blythe gave her when she was born and now insists on calling herself by it as well…”Goo.” It has to grow on you.
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* My elbow is still tender, but is healing quickly.
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Thanks for all the hugs, concern, and prayers last week…and thanks especially to Tasha for today’s yummy food!

kidney infection, not stones

Yes, it seems I have an infection that is causing all this pain instead of my stones. This is good news, I think. I can treat an infection. My body can heal from an infection. I know how to kick an infection…not so much with the stones.

So, I am mounting an attack on the bacteria that has taken up residence and hoping to be pain free soon.

I’ll still welcome your stone advice as they are there and hanging out and I would LOVE to dissolve them.

kidney stones

I need your input…I have some kidney stones. I have had them for 1 1/2 years. They have not caused me any problems for months, but now they are. I am hurting and frustrated. I am sure this has all flared up because of my rough week last week. I didn’t drink enough water for several days in a row and now my kidneys are calling out to me.

If you have any dissolve kidney stone tricks or any way of figuring out what type of stones they are, comfort measure advice, or anything else I might need to know, please send them my way!

Thanks in advance.

haiti

My heart is aching for those in Haiti. My family just watched this video and are going to be making receiving blankets and sending our meager donation to help those who are suffering. I encourage you all to do the same.

Help Haiti

Please.

If we each do something it will add up to something big.

All my tears aren’t going to do anyone much good, so instead I will sew some blankets and send some money and say some prayers and hope that we can be God’s hands to work a miracle for this poor country.

If you want to give to my church, 100% of your money will be used to help the Haitians. Our humanitarian services is run by well-trained volunteers who know how to get supplies and help to those in need, not through corrupt channels that end up taking supplies before they are used to help the ones who are suffering most.

give.lds.org

book bonanza – under the chinaberry tree

Ohhhh, what a delight this book is! I could snuggle up with it and read and read and read. In fact, I have been doing just that.

This book is chock-full of reviews of children’s books, parenting tips, recipes, experiences from the authors’ lives, and simple quaintness.

It is a treasure trove of ideas of wonderful books you will want to share with your children. I have a whole list of them on hold at my local library and can’t wait to discover them with my little ones.

The authors’ focus is on books that speak to the soul of a child, are beautifully illustrated, send messages of family, hope, love, service, connectedness, how to be human, and a delight to read again and again. Many of the books that are reviewed we already have on our bookshelves, but there are hundreds more we will now be checking out on our weekly library visits. We will post our favorite here…but don’t wait for us, get this book today so you can have it at your fingertips.

what are these people thinking?

Richard took me on date tonight. What a wonderful way to end this hard week! I had a wonderful H.O.P.E. class this morning, spent the afternoon with my children and went on a date with my sweetheart tonight.

We went to Barnes and Noble to make a return. We love going to bookstores – all the different books, authors, smells, stuff…all of it…we love finding new books and sitting down and reading a wide variety of topics together for a little while and then walking out without buying a thing. It is a great date.

Well, tonight, we ventured out into the mall for a few moments. That was all we could handle before we had to escape back into the world of books because really, what are these people thinking??!!

In our few moments in the mall, we saw a group of girls around the age of eleven. They were no where near as old as Blythe as they were much smaller and didn’t have breasts to speak of. They were wearing make-up, skin tight jeans full of holes, shoes without laces, hoodies five sizes too small, and attitudes intended to keep adults a mile away. They were roaming the mall. All alone.

Another group of slightly older girls approached. One had huge, fluffy animal slippers and pajama shorts. Her friend had short, show-your-behind-if-you-bend-over shorts, a barely there tank top, flip-flops, and a beret. Mind you, it is the 23rd of January in the Northern Hemisphere, is below freezing and the ground is covered in ice and snow.

Where are their parents? Where is someone who cares about them? Where are their grandmothers? Why are they all alone at the mall on a Saturday evening?

This may be common American behavior, but I don’t approve. I don’t understand. I don’t agree.

I simply don’t get it and no amount of explaining it to me will convince me this is in any way shape or form good for these girls.

When we got home to our house, Blythe had Annesley asleep, Fisher was looking at books, Blythe was teaching Keziah how to crochet, and everyone was listening to Eragon.

What a welcome sight to these burned-by-teenage-culture-eyes. I really couldn’t take another minute of it and had to rush back into the world of books and out to the car to flee the city and all the accompanying bizarre behavior that goes with city life.

thankful thursdays 1/21

Rough week. Really rough week.

Sprained and dislocated elbow.

Broken suburban.

Abscessed tooth.

Yucky, stinky pus coming out of my gum.

Root Canal under duress.

$1000 bill for root canal.

Sore mouth.

Anesthesia yuckiness.

Starting my period today during a book party when I was completely unprepared for it.

Cramps.

Lots of time away from my children.

Exhaustion.

Piles of laundry.

And yet? I am still going to write my Thankful Thursdays. I need to write Thankful Thursdays to help me remember that it is not as bad as it sometimes seems. As I was saying my prayers last night, my mind filled up with things I am thankful for in spite of the terribly hectic, painful, and frustrating week I have had.

* A skilled dentist that was able to do a root canal and seemingly do it well.
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* Friends I could consult with about my tooth and get lots of advice about who to go to and what to expect.
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* A friend who zoned my feet right after the root canal to help my body recover.
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* Another friend who let me borrow her suburban all day today so I could get some much needed work done.
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* Another friend who took over my job of driving youth to colloquia today.
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* My sweet baby who has coped well with me being gone or out of it for most of this week.
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* My new class that is starting on Saturday is going to be wonderful! I am so excited to start a new year of teaching classes, joining with women in learning, and studying gobs of books to prepare me.
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* The sunshine on Tuesday. It was so glorious to have a day of blue sky and sun streaming through the windows. It helped the pain in my mouth decrease by leaps and bounds.
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* My mother, who made my whole week on Monday when she said she thought families like ours should have as many children as we possibly can. Those words offered me so much encouragement and made me feel like I had my own personal cheerleader rooting for me. Never underestimate the power to build someone up with your words.

In spite of the really frustrating moments in this week, I realize the blessings in my life are abundant. God has surrounded me with people that love me and reach out to help when I am struggling.

My mouth is feeling much better, my elbow is healing, and my children survived my long absences.

Saturday is H.O.P.E. and it will be fabulous for my soul.

With some good sleep tonight I will be doing oodles better.

my fisher and a penguin

Today Fisher and I were reading one of his favorite Usborne books, How Deep is the Sea.

It is about a little penguin who has lots of questions about the world around him, just like my little guy does. Pipkin, the penguin, dives down into the ocean to see if he can discover how deep it is. He meets lots of other creatures on his journey and talks to them. Fisher asked me, “Can penguins really talk?” I said, “Yes, but they don’t speak English,” and he said “Oh, they speak Spanish?” It was so cute to hear him say the word Spanish, I don’t think he has ever said it before.

For those of you that don’t know, my Fisher didn’t speak at all till he was about 2 1/2. He said “mama” for the first time at Christmastime in 2006. He turned two in September. He didn’t really start talking to communicate till he was about 3 1/2. Even though he has been talking up a storm for the past two years, it is still music to my ears because I honestly didn’t know if he would ever speak. I didn’t know how it would all work out, but I trusted that somehow it would. They magic key to helping him find his voice was music. He loves music and so I started singing with him everyday. Simple songs that he could say a syllable of the last word, then the whole last word, then the last few sounds, then the last line, then the first line, then some of the sounds in the middle, then the words in the middle, and finally, the whole song. Music was our lifeline – with it, he was vibrant and tried his hardest to get the right sounds out. Without it, he was silent and the few sounds he did make sounded like utter nonsense to our ears.

He is still really hard to understand, but now he wants to communicate and he is improving his pronunciation all the time. Because he didn’t speak for so long, he has reams of information in his head that have never come out. Every time he says a new word I find myself jumping with glee on the inside because I know what a journey he has been on and what a struggle it is for his brain and mouth to work together to make those sounds come out.

Today’s word – Spanish.

why i like small towns

I live in a small town, but it is pretty darn big compared to the town I grew up in. I live near a “city” and I am continually amazed at the difference in attitudes between small towns and cities.

Case in point.

I called a small town library 20 miles away from me to find an audio book for Blythe. I am not a member of this library, just of the city library. I explained the dilemma I was having (needing this audio book right away and being on the waiting list for it at my library) and asked if there was any way I could check it out from their library. The cheerful woman on the other end of the phone said “What book are you looking for?” I told her the title and that I had found it in their online catalog and that it was due back today. She looked up who had it checked out and said “Oh, this woman normally comes in later in the day because she takes care of her mother during the day. As soon as she comes in we will save it for you and give you a call. I’ll also go check the drop box right now and see if perhaps she brought it in last night. Thank you for calling – I will do my best to help you get this book today!”

Jaw dropped.

Can you believe that? She actually behaves as if her job as a librarian is to help people find books and check them out!

So many librarians at the city library give off the vibe that they are far too busy to help anyone find a book, check them out, or answer questions in anything but a brusque German army type of manner…you know, with very clipped words with no extra information or a smile that would let you feel like you are actually speaking to a human being.

There is something different in your behavior when you live in a small town. It is as if since you know everyone that lives there and that you will run into them again and again and again for the rest of your life, you treat them as though they are person instead of a number, a being instead of an obstacle, a gift instead of a tool.

I want to be a small town person.

watch where you are going

That is the lesson of last night. I must have really needed to learn it because I ended up in quite a mess by not watching where I was going.

I was walking out of a store with my friend and walked right into a thigh-high statue. Other people may have just banged their leg on it or fallen to the side, but I flew right over top of it and landed very unceremoniously on my elbow. All 130 lbs. of me. Right on my elbow – then my knees came crashing down as well. Then the pain hit. Hard. People were of course staring at me as I was moaning there on the ice cold sidewalk. I was amazed at how much pain I was in and kept trying to figure out how I got from being an upright, put together human being to this crumpled crying life form on the ground.

With the help of my friend I was finally able to make it to the car and I thought I would be okay. After a few minutes, the endorphins were not keeping up with the pain very well and sharp waves of pain would pulse through me and bring on the moaning again. Despite my protests, my friend insisted on driving me home and putting me to bed. Good thing too – the drive home was excruciating. Every little bump jarred my arm and took my breath away.

When I woke up this morning, after a long and uncomfortable night, I tried to stretch my arm a little. A loud wake-up-Richard-from-deep-sleep sound exploded from my arm and then it felt a lot better. It must have been a little dislocated and now put itself back together properly.

Although I am still really sore, I am functioning and able to get around. I went to church and gave my Primary class strict instructions not to touch me.

Now, isn’t this all a great metaphor for life? When we watch where we are going things usually go better. We can avoid many obstacles, distractions, and pain if we will just look ahead of us, be aware of our surroundings, and have a vision of where we want to go.

So many times I have been unaware of where I was going in my life. Bumbling along I would try to make the best of a situation, but I would often find myself in repair, recover, and rescue mode instead of action mode. I spend my time fixing my past decisions instead of being able to push forward with a clean slate.

I am still in that mode (maybe that is why I am frequently running into doors…and now statues!) but I am striving to be in action mode where I can look ahead and set a course to work towards.

My planner (remember my amazing birthday present to myself?) has been helping me greatly in this area. Even though I am still an unorganized fool, I am a million times more organized than I was pre-planner. Now, to tackle the rest of my life!