Just so you know...Having a brood of sick children is detrimental to blogging.
I know, I know...it comes as a big surprise. After all, you should be able to just sit and wipe a snotty nose here and there or give a hug or two and everyone should be happy vegetating on the couch. You would think that would leave plenty of time for internet surfing and blog typing. Not so, my friend.
It pretty much sucks the life out of you and anyone else that haplessly wanders by.
So much so that YOU get sick.
And then there's no one there to wipe your nose and give you a hug and WHY IN THE WORLD would they let you sit on the couch and vegetate when they all feel better and have been cooped up in the house for a week and a half.
And you start feeling very sorry for yourself...
And then...
Things happen to remind you how you should be grateful for all these snot covered moments.
I don't know if you blog stalk like I do, but there are quite a few that I like to read when I have the time. A couple of those are C Jane and her sister Nienie.
This last weekend Nienie and her husband were in a horrible plane crash. The pilot passed away shortly after arriving at the hospital and Nienie (Stephanie) and her husband (Christian) are suffering from serious burns among other things.
There's more to the story if you care to follow the links, but it has effected me more than I would have thought (since I've never actually met them).
It has raised so many questions in my mind: What would I do if something like that happened to me, or Matt...or both of us? So many questions, and not enough answers. I have pondered a lot about their situation and their little family and me heart goes out to them and all those that love them. How quickly life changes...
As I was thinking about them and the questions their situation has brought to my mind, I got a text message from my brother-in-law.
It appears that the excitement about the kidney transplant for Angie was premature. Matt's little brother Aaron is no longer a match...which means we are searching for a donor again. It's tough news to take, especially after she has come so far and done so much knowing that a kidney was waiting for her as soon as she was well enough.
It is still sinking in.
Out of the few coherent thoughts that I've had about it all, I'm most keenly aware that life is a very precious, very delicate thing. And sometimes it takes things like these to remind us of it.
Every moment is one that we should savor...
...even if it's covered in snot.
Showing posts with label Trials. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trials. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
To a grieving family...
http://www.legacy.com/DeseretNews/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=112264312
Thank you for the opportunity to attend his funeral and learn more about what a wonderful person he was.
May the sweet memories of a life well lived comfort you during the difficult times ahead.
We love you Tanya and Nathan! Our hearts and thoughts are with you.
Thank you for the opportunity to attend his funeral and learn more about what a wonderful person he was.
May the sweet memories of a life well lived comfort you during the difficult times ahead.
We love you Tanya and Nathan! Our hearts and thoughts are with you.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The most horriblest day ever!
Today was going great. We got a big project approved at work, I got a lot of to-do's finished, etc. When I have days like that it always gives me motivation to get a whole bunch of things done at home as well. I was all excited to get home and work on some of the projects that have been plaguing me...
And then I got home...
And then the kids decided that they make up for the good morning I had...
The boy wanted to be held, A LOT...and would immediately start crying whenever I set him down.
Alyssa decided to take a stand against potty training and took it out on my carpet...literally.
McKenna just decided she's tired of her little sister hanging around her all the time and used her as practice for a promising career in boxing.
For example: As I was getting Liam out of the tub (have you ever tried to dress a crying and very wiggly child? Loads of fun I tell you...) I heard screams outside the bathroom door. Alyssa came in with a bright red cheek and big crocodile tears streaming down her face. McKenna had hit her because, according to the offender, "She was following me around." OH THE HORROR.
I sent Kenna to bed (with no bedtime story as punishment for hitting her sis) and as she was crying down the hall to her room she yelled in her best 'woe-is-me' kind of voice, "Today is the most horriblest day EVER!"
Yes. Yes it is.
Not really, but it felt like it.
And then I got home...
And then the kids decided that they make up for the good morning I had...
The boy wanted to be held, A LOT...and would immediately start crying whenever I set him down.
Alyssa decided to take a stand against potty training and took it out on my carpet...literally.
McKenna just decided she's tired of her little sister hanging around her all the time and used her as practice for a promising career in boxing.
For example: As I was getting Liam out of the tub (have you ever tried to dress a crying and very wiggly child? Loads of fun I tell you...) I heard screams outside the bathroom door. Alyssa came in with a bright red cheek and big crocodile tears streaming down her face. McKenna had hit her because, according to the offender, "She was following me around." OH THE HORROR.
I sent Kenna to bed (with no bedtime story as punishment for hitting her sis) and as she was crying down the hall to her room she yelled in her best 'woe-is-me' kind of voice, "Today is the most horriblest day EVER!"
Yes. Yes it is.
Not really, but it felt like it.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Oh the insanity!
The weirdness with the schedule continues...
The union has gotten involved.
People have started giving their two weeks notice.
And the officers are having to sign up for a new bid AGAIN today...even though they just did that last Thursday - 5 days ago.
So now...no more weekends off.
And who knows how Matt is going to be able to finish his class.
Oh, and do you have to see each other like, more than 30 seconds a day, to count as a couple? Because it ain't happenin' here...
The union has gotten involved.
People have started giving their two weeks notice.
And the officers are having to sign up for a new bid AGAIN today...even though they just did that last Thursday - 5 days ago.
So now...no more weekends off.
And who knows how Matt is going to be able to finish his class.
Oh, and do you have to see each other like, more than 30 seconds a day, to count as a couple? Because it ain't happenin' here...
Monday, May 12, 2008
Scheduling Nightmares
Don't you love it when people decide to mess with your life without asking you what you think about it first? Fun, isn't it.
(Insert unamused face here...)
Matt works for a law enforcement agency here in the valley and over the last 3 weeks or so they have been messing around with the work schedule. Most of the officers have spouses/kids that they have to work around and it's a pretty delicate balance to keep everyone in a work schedule that works for their personal situation. For example, we work opposite schedules with me getting to work at 5:30am and trading off the kids at around 2:30pm. Everybody gets a manageable amount of sleep (mostly) and the kids get to spend all their time with either mom or dad instead of going to a day care or babysitter. It's not ideal, but it works for us and where we're at right now.
Now they've decided to change the schedule and apparently they have given very little thought to how this will effect their employees (it usually helps if you ask them about it before you change things...). We thought we were done with this last week when they had the new bid. But NOOOOO, now they're talking about going to 12 hour shifts...making things even worse than with the schedule they just put out a week ago.
In short, this is why our lives have been in turmoil the past few weeks and why I've had little motivation to write anything. My mind has been incredibly preoccupied with the whole business and I've taken to holing myself up in the sewing room in my spare minutes so I don't have to think about it. (On the upside, the quilt top got finished!)
Matt has spent every waking moment (and a lot of ones where he should have been sleeping) thinking about this schedule and trying to figure out a way to keep it the way it was and still meet the new requirements. He presented some of his ideas to his sergeant a couple weeks ago and that didn't really go anywhere, but I guess one of the other officers mentioned it to the department head and he asked to see what Matt has been working on. He e-mailed it out to him this morning so it's out of our hands once again. I've got my fingers crossed that this guy will see the big picture and do something a little more reasonable. If you can spare a little prayer for us, it would be greatly appreciated!
In the meantime, we're trying to figure out how we're going to get Matt to his last class to finish school. They turned him down for the time off he needed to attend class.
(Insert another unamused face here.)
We'll not talk about that. I'm still angry about it.
Anyway...hopefully this will all work out and we'll be getting back to the happy fun posts again.
Now excuse me while I go back to pinching myself until I to wake up from this scheduling nightmare to find that life is back to normal.
(Insert unamused face here...)
Matt works for a law enforcement agency here in the valley and over the last 3 weeks or so they have been messing around with the work schedule. Most of the officers have spouses/kids that they have to work around and it's a pretty delicate balance to keep everyone in a work schedule that works for their personal situation. For example, we work opposite schedules with me getting to work at 5:30am and trading off the kids at around 2:30pm. Everybody gets a manageable amount of sleep (mostly) and the kids get to spend all their time with either mom or dad instead of going to a day care or babysitter. It's not ideal, but it works for us and where we're at right now.
Now they've decided to change the schedule and apparently they have given very little thought to how this will effect their employees (it usually helps if you ask them about it before you change things...). We thought we were done with this last week when they had the new bid. But NOOOOO, now they're talking about going to 12 hour shifts...making things even worse than with the schedule they just put out a week ago.
In short, this is why our lives have been in turmoil the past few weeks and why I've had little motivation to write anything. My mind has been incredibly preoccupied with the whole business and I've taken to holing myself up in the sewing room in my spare minutes so I don't have to think about it. (On the upside, the quilt top got finished!)
Matt has spent every waking moment (and a lot of ones where he should have been sleeping) thinking about this schedule and trying to figure out a way to keep it the way it was and still meet the new requirements. He presented some of his ideas to his sergeant a couple weeks ago and that didn't really go anywhere, but I guess one of the other officers mentioned it to the department head and he asked to see what Matt has been working on. He e-mailed it out to him this morning so it's out of our hands once again. I've got my fingers crossed that this guy will see the big picture and do something a little more reasonable. If you can spare a little prayer for us, it would be greatly appreciated!
In the meantime, we're trying to figure out how we're going to get Matt to his last class to finish school. They turned him down for the time off he needed to attend class.
(Insert another unamused face here.)
We'll not talk about that. I'm still angry about it.
Anyway...hopefully this will all work out and we'll be getting back to the happy fun posts again.
Now excuse me while I go back to pinching myself until I to wake up from this scheduling nightmare to find that life is back to normal.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Broken Heart
Dad went to a new doctor today. They've been worried about some new symptoms that have shown up lately. That and his hip is getting worse.
So the appointment was at 4:30. At 6:30 I still hadn't heard from them and I needed to ask mom a question about how Liam had done that day so I could report to his doctor. Once I got her on the phone, the majority of the short conversation after asking about Liam went like this:
me: "You're still at the doctor?"
mom: "Yes, we're waiting for some more tests. We'll probably only have about a year."
me: "What?!?"
mom: "They think it might be the cancer or congestive heart failure. We're not sure yet. We'll let you know what we find out."
me: "..."
mom: "I need to go."
me: "Call me as soon as you get done."
mom: "Okay, bye."
I hung up and immediately started crying. How do you deal with this? How are you supposed to handle the news that your father is dying and might only have a year left with you here in this mortal existence? My beliefs about the afterlife aside, it still hurts. It's still scary. And I would still give anything to keep him here with us. He won't be here for all the things I wanted and needed him for. He might not even see Liam's first birthday. It breaks my heart for so many reasons. I want him here. He's one of my best friends. He has always been the one that understood me and the one I could talk to about anything. I want to be selfish and just keep him here with us forever.
I ache for my mom. I know it kills her everyday to see him suffering with pain or to just worry about how he's doing and what is really going on inside his body. They have been a team for over 50 years. How do you deal with the prospect that your companion isn't going to be here much longer? I cannot fathom what she must be going through...or what dad must be going through knowing that he has to leave her. Yet both of them continue to put on a brave face and act like this is just another hurdle to get over and they will be able to handle it like any other trial. Dad was almost chipper when I talked to him later this evening and mom was very calm about everything as she explained it to me.
How was I blessed with such amazing parents? They continue to astound me and make me wish that I had been better at listening to their immense wisdom all along the way. I am in awe of both of them. They are the most selfless and charitable people that I know. Always concerned about other people and always doing the right thing.
So... Now we're back to the waiting game. Waiting on test results. Waiting to talk to another doctor. Waiting to see how much longer we have together here.
I hate waiting.
So the appointment was at 4:30. At 6:30 I still hadn't heard from them and I needed to ask mom a question about how Liam had done that day so I could report to his doctor. Once I got her on the phone, the majority of the short conversation after asking about Liam went like this:
me: "You're still at the doctor?"
mom: "Yes, we're waiting for some more tests. We'll probably only have about a year."
me: "What?!?"
mom: "They think it might be the cancer or congestive heart failure. We're not sure yet. We'll let you know what we find out."
me: "..."
mom: "I need to go."
me: "Call me as soon as you get done."
mom: "Okay, bye."
I hung up and immediately started crying. How do you deal with this? How are you supposed to handle the news that your father is dying and might only have a year left with you here in this mortal existence? My beliefs about the afterlife aside, it still hurts. It's still scary. And I would still give anything to keep him here with us. He won't be here for all the things I wanted and needed him for. He might not even see Liam's first birthday. It breaks my heart for so many reasons. I want him here. He's one of my best friends. He has always been the one that understood me and the one I could talk to about anything. I want to be selfish and just keep him here with us forever.
I ache for my mom. I know it kills her everyday to see him suffering with pain or to just worry about how he's doing and what is really going on inside his body. They have been a team for over 50 years. How do you deal with the prospect that your companion isn't going to be here much longer? I cannot fathom what she must be going through...or what dad must be going through knowing that he has to leave her. Yet both of them continue to put on a brave face and act like this is just another hurdle to get over and they will be able to handle it like any other trial. Dad was almost chipper when I talked to him later this evening and mom was very calm about everything as she explained it to me.
How was I blessed with such amazing parents? They continue to astound me and make me wish that I had been better at listening to their immense wisdom all along the way. I am in awe of both of them. They are the most selfless and charitable people that I know. Always concerned about other people and always doing the right thing.
So... Now we're back to the waiting game. Waiting on test results. Waiting to talk to another doctor. Waiting to see how much longer we have together here.
I hate waiting.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Tests
So I went out to lunch with a good friend from work today. She is having some trials in her life that are a bit difficult to deal with so we got started talking about trials in general and I had a little epiphany about my own struggles in life.
I think it's fair to say I'm a pretty impatient person. Once I make up my mind to do something, I have a hard time waiting...I just want to jump in with both feet and get it done. I don't like waiting to become good at something and I'm terribly impatient when it comes to waiting for other people to get things accomplished or learn something.
It seems that a lot of the trials I've had in my life seem to run along a common theme. That being the "stick it out/endure to the end" sort of theme...most likely because this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because of that impatient nature.
I have about 5 million examples of how I can see this looking back through different things I have experienced, but the most recent one would be with being pregnant. I went over my due date 2 weeks with both my girls. While this doesn't prove anything, to me it was a huge hardship. (Yes I know many women go through this and survive just fine...but I'm pontificating here...) Having to wait the 40 weeks was excruciating...then adding 2 more on top of that AND having to get induced were just like nails in the coffin. It killed me having to stick it out that long. And while I realize there are other women with much greater trials and there were a lot of things that could have been worse, for ME, it was a big deal. Being huge and miserable was bad enough, but add to that my inability to wait for things and you get a someone who feels like the entire world is against her.
I guess after all that gibberish, my point is that Heavenly Father knows us and knows what our weaknesses are. Because of that He gives us the trials that will specifically test and help us improve our own individual flaws. I have seen time and time again how each thing I have struggled with has helped me overcome or strengthen a specific weakness. It is amazing to me to look back and just how well suited each of these trials have been to me and what I needed to learn at that particular time in my life.
I am so grateful that we have these experiences, and that we know they are coming in love with the intent of helping us reach our full potential as children of God. What great love He has for us. How well He knows us. It is truly humbling to realize how involved He is with each and every individual life.
I think it's fair to say I'm a pretty impatient person. Once I make up my mind to do something, I have a hard time waiting...I just want to jump in with both feet and get it done. I don't like waiting to become good at something and I'm terribly impatient when it comes to waiting for other people to get things accomplished or learn something.
It seems that a lot of the trials I've had in my life seem to run along a common theme. That being the "stick it out/endure to the end" sort of theme...most likely because this is one of the most difficult things for me to do because of that impatient nature.
I have about 5 million examples of how I can see this looking back through different things I have experienced, but the most recent one would be with being pregnant. I went over my due date 2 weeks with both my girls. While this doesn't prove anything, to me it was a huge hardship. (Yes I know many women go through this and survive just fine...but I'm pontificating here...) Having to wait the 40 weeks was excruciating...then adding 2 more on top of that AND having to get induced were just like nails in the coffin. It killed me having to stick it out that long. And while I realize there are other women with much greater trials and there were a lot of things that could have been worse, for ME, it was a big deal. Being huge and miserable was bad enough, but add to that my inability to wait for things and you get a someone who feels like the entire world is against her.
I guess after all that gibberish, my point is that Heavenly Father knows us and knows what our weaknesses are. Because of that He gives us the trials that will specifically test and help us improve our own individual flaws. I have seen time and time again how each thing I have struggled with has helped me overcome or strengthen a specific weakness. It is amazing to me to look back and just how well suited each of these trials have been to me and what I needed to learn at that particular time in my life.
I am so grateful that we have these experiences, and that we know they are coming in love with the intent of helping us reach our full potential as children of God. What great love He has for us. How well He knows us. It is truly humbling to realize how involved He is with each and every individual life.
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