"Come what may, and love it!......Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seem to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result." ~ Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

July 29, 2010

and this one's about Heidi.

Heidi is one of my friends.
A good friend.
Definitely worthy of the title best friend.
She's been an instrument in answering prayers of mine.
She came over tonight. She just showed up out of nowhere.
My house was dirty and I hadn't showered for the day.
Heath had a meeting at church and was leaving soon.
She walked up and said, "What can I do? I came to pickle your cucumbers and I have jars in my car if you need them." (something like that anyway)
She played with the boys, giving me a break.
She picked up my toy filled living room while teaching my children.
She cut up all the cucumbers and pickled them for me.
She swept and picked up my kitchen, emptied my dishwasher and (if that weren't enough) she watched the boys while I took a shower. AND after all that she asked me what else she could do.
I love that girl. Really, I do.
Oh, and wait, wait, wait...She's also 28 weeks pregnant and works full time.
I'm sure she was probably tired after working all day and had plenty of her own things she could have tended to.
She thought of me and my little family and my messy house and my cucumbers and my casted up little baby.
What a friend. She is as great as she sounds.
Hope you have a friend like her.


This is the only picture I can find right off hand but you can visit her blog HERE.

THANK YOU HEIDI!!!

July 28, 2010

The cast.

Everyday we get a little more comfortable with the cast.
Heath and I with picking him up and holding him.
Noah with being careful with him.
He is getting more comfortable walking with it. We found that if he falls he usually doesn't get hurt.
It's like body armor really.
He climbed the stairs today.
I was behind him for one of the times and the other time he was sneaky and made it pretty much
all the way before I caught him.
Today he was able to go from sitting on the ground to standing and pick something up without falling on his bum.
We went to Sister Bonks memorial service today. It was nice.
I didn't cry but almost had to keep myself from smiling.
There were pictures there that caught her personality and it made me happy.

My brother called yesterday. Said he felt impressed. Glad he did.

A sweet conversation -
Asher fell
Noah: Asher, you OK?
Asher: OK

It was simple and short and I think you had to actually be there or be the mother to understand all it's sweetness.



It's true that Asher gets called smash, smashy,  and smasher. He responds to all. Also true that my kitchen is a disaster and I have over 40 cucumbers that need to be pickled. Yep, good luck!

July 27, 2010

It's been a while. I have a lot to tell.

Heath had a dentist appointment today to get two teeth filled.
The dentist gave him the option to be numb or not. He chose not.
First of all what dentist gives a patient that option? Second of all who chooses not to be numb?
I'll tell you who, Superman and my husband.

The Sunday before last Noah noticed Asher's shoulder for the first time.
They were eating breakfast at the table and I was running around the kitchen getting things done.
Noah got up from his seat, went over to Asher and pointed to his shoulder said, "oh, no, what happened?"
Because the muscles in Asher right shoulder are atrophied his shirt sometimes falls down.
I told Noah that his bones were a little smaller on that side and that it was a special shoulder. I assured him it didn't hurt Asher. He seemed ok with that answer and went back to his seat and continued eating.
I thought it was interesting that at 3 Noah could tell that something wasn't "normal".

There have been 3 deaths in our ward this year. This past Saturday night a sweet little lady passed away. I
I was her visiting teacher for a while and had her granddaughters in my young women class.
She was in her 60's, very funny, very nice, and easy to talk to. She was not very active at church but when she came to church I kissed her cheek and she kissed mine. She got into a car wreck with a semi and was in ICU for a month before she passed away.
I remember hearing the news and thinking, "Oh, no, not Sister Bonk. It couldn't be!"
I kept her in all my prayers.
She was not doing well but I felt at peace when I prayed for her. Not that she would necessarily live but that she would be right with our Heavenly Father before she passed away.
I wanted to go see her in the hospital but was unable to.
Heath went up and gave her a blessing.
He said she couldn't really talk much. She was trying so hard to say something to him but all she got out was "babies". He assured her the boys were fine. She was always asking me about Asher and how he was.
She really was a neat lady and I hope I'll get to talk to her again someday.

Also, there are a lot of old cemeteries here in PA. Today we had some time to kill in between picking up Noah from school and an appointment. So, we drove around a really old, huge cemetery.  I know seems kind of weird but it was really neat. Oldest person that we saw was born in the late 1700's.
I told Heath that I want him to make my grave stone out of clay and that I want it to be a little bench so that people could come to my grave sit down, and talk to me. The bench would say something like "sit down and stay a while". I then thought about my Nanaw who passed away years ago. I don't think I've ever been to her grave site. I think I'll go when I'm in Texas next time and chat with her.:)


I forgot to add this picture to the last post. Asher loves to go fishing with the boys and one day he grabbed  the fishing pole while saying pole (sounds like po) and headed toward the pond. I didn't think he would be able to walk and carry the pole but he did. Oh, also, his last weigh in he weighed 18 pounds 2 ounces at 18 months old. He's still in size 2 diapers. He can point out Jesus in picture and can say Jesus. He knows that the animals with the antlers are for hunting (he sticks out his finger and makes a shooting noise) and yes he learned that from his daddy.

Ok, Asher's surgery and then I'll stop. I didn't know until the day before that they were going to do the muscle release and the tendon transfer. I thought it would just be the muscle release so I wasn't prepared until that point for him to be in a cast. I was definitely not prepared for the cast to be as big as it was. We left at 8:45 am to be there at 11 am. The surgery started at noon. For some reason he wasn't as nervous this time. He cried a little when they weighed him but for the most part he was very brave. I went into the operating room sat him down on the table (he started to cry a little at this point but was easily comforted by a hug) while everyone was getting ready. He just looked around. Then they were ready. They used the gas again. He was crying and looking at me. I kept telling him it would be ok. The long blinks started, the crying turned to whimpers and he was out. I was told it would be about two hours.
I ate something, I read, I watched a little sports center with no anxiety.
I just knew he would be ok.
When I saw him afterward he was pretty groggy so I just held him while he slept. I was scared to pick him up with that huge cast so the nurse handed him to me. I wasn't even sure how to hold him.
We left at 5 and got home at 7. long day.
He's been doing pretty well sleeping in that thing. He wakes up a lot to try to get comfortable but falls back to sleep pretty easily.
He doesn't seem to mind that his arm is up in the air all day. Although occasionally he will say "off" or "all done".
I think his balance might be a little better with the cast. We don't let him go too far because we don't want him to fall.
I cried on Saturday. I'm a cryer. I cried because the reality of what the next 6 weeks was going to be like set in . I cried because I felt disconnect from Noah from being at girls camp the week before and having Asher's surgery on Friday and Asher requiring a lot of my attention on Saturday. I cried because my house was a mess and probably would be that way until the cast came off. My mom called while I was crying. She must have been inspired :) We have had a lot of support from our family.
ok I'm done.

Well, it's true that I hope to run a 5K in a few weeks. Also true that I have a new friend named Mr. Dorn.  We compare bread and canning recipes. He baked some really good bread for me and he likes to grind his own wheat too. I'll have to get the recipe. I hope he'll let me share it with you. Well, he is Heath's friend too. He owns a bow shop and shooting range. Hum, imagine that! Oh wait, he has bees, chickens and a large garden. cool.

pictures for the last post.


Asher's therapy.


My garden.



Asher in his hospital gown. 


The cast.


Ice cream before the cast. 


Some people say that if the shoe fits wear it. I say that if the shoe doesn't fit and it's stinkin' cute, wear it anyway.


Love in the back seat of my car. 


Toy Story 3.

July 25, 2010

Hi, it's me again.

It's been 1 month, 1 week and 4 days since my last post.
It's part of an experiment (well, sorta). We got rid of the internet but
that's a post for another day.
Let's see...where to start?
I don't have much time so I won't go into a lot of detail and I tried to post some pictures but it's not working, sorry. 
Well, Asher had surgery this past Friday.
They did a muscle release and a tendon transfer.
He's in a light blue cast that goes around his abdomen starting below his belly button up under his arm pit and on his right arm the cast goes to his wrist. The right arm is up as if he were raising his arm the the square.
I really like the doctor that performed the surgery.
I wasn't really nervous this time.
We have been praying a lot, he received a blessing and I knew that that doctor would be guided.
He (the doctor) said everything went smoothly. I almost had to tell him why. Wish I would of.
2 days down, 5 weeks and 5 days 'til Asher gets his cast off. It's like having a new born again only more frustrating for Asher because he's used to getting around by himself. I got another calling. The Bishop called it welfare something rather but it's emergency preparedness related and I teach a class each month.
Hope you are still preparing and listening to Brother Beck.
I went to girls camp this past week.
It was fun and I had a good time getting to know other people in our stake.
I cut my finger carving a spoon out of a block of wood. It turned out pretty well, surprisingly.
Noah is doing well. He goes to school a few times a week. A man named George picks him up in a school bus (really a mini van). That was a big step for me.
He is doing so well with his speech.
He's such a funny kid.
Heath has been doing random jobs during the summer to bring in some money.
Rex and Lorie sent us a few bucks to take the kids to see Toy Story 3 along with Toy Story 3 T-Shirts. They wore them to the movie. It was so cute. Wish I could post the picture.  Thank you!
Oh, also, I don't know if I told you this yet but Asher is walking.
Well, he was before he got his half body cast on. We're to nervous to let him walk around by himself now.

It's true that being a mother to my two babies has changed my life forever. I will never be the same and how grateful I am.  Also true that Heath doesn't like the spoons from Wendy's and that we have 9 quart jars of pickles from the cucumbers in our garden with some waiting to be pickled. Also true that I went to an educational farm and took a class on what to do with all the cream from raw milk. So far I've made butter. You should look into using raw milk.

That's all for now. I hope to post pictures soon.