Food, family, and fun in the sun

This Thanksgiving we made our annual trek to the land of sun and cactus to cram as much fun into 6 days as possible.  And 8 hours in the car is made a little more enjoyable when you have a brand new DVD player for the car.

Yes, this is pretty much what they looked like for the entire 8 hours.  

Thanksgiving was spent enjoying our precious 1-year old cousin,

Enjoying our furry 8 year-old cousin,

And discovered new ways to carry a ball

We also got to take family pics with our amazing sis-in-love and photographer extraordinaire

Took all the monkeys to the zoo

And had a close encounter with a very sweet baboon

Saturday night we got to go out with Adam and Kristin, our bro and sis-in-love to our first pro basketball game.  It was amazing to watch the spectacle

And managed to snag a rare photo of the four of us

Sunday evening we went out to dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma.  It was precious for the girls to be able to spend quality time with two grandmas at the same time.  And teaching Grandma the dot game was an added bonus!

We are so blessed, every year, to spend precious time with family.

One More Day

Once again I find myself in a hotel room in Denver, listening to the sweet sounds of my sleeping child.  She is so peaceful, so perfect.

Once again I am reminded of just how passionately and deeply her Heavenly Father cares for her.  While I know in my heart that the last three years of pain and frustration were not in His perfect plan for her life, I also know without a shadow of a doubt that He has used this journey for so much good.

She is stronger than she ever thought possible.

She has compassion and love beyond compare for any child in pain.

She has no fear of doctors, hospitals, nurses.  She considers them her friends.

She has learned to stand up for herself, to express herself, to speak her mind.


Today the Les Miserables soundtrack has been playing in my head, particularly the song "One Day More."  It is a song of promise, a song of hope.  A song that reminds me we can continue to fight one more day.

And one more day is all I have to ask of her.  Tomorrow she will fall asleep under anesthesia one more time.  Tomorrow will be one more surgery.  But tomorrow also holds the promise of the end.  The end of three years of pain.  The end of countless nights wondering how, and what, and why.

Tonight she is snuggling with a stuffed hippo named Sugar.  Sugar will be next to my Nina when she falls asleep tomorrow, and Sugar will be by her side when she wakes.  As will I.

When the answers don't come easy

I don't like the unknown.

I struggle with the what-ifs.

Especially when it comes to my children.

I actually started this post a month ago. I had to leave it alone. Let it sit. Let me sit.

A month ago, we were in Denver, meeting with a GI doctor. Trying to identify why my daughter has battled stomach pain for three years. Trying to rule out possibilities.

Tonight, we are in Denver. Again. My daughter is sleeping next to me. I am snuggling on the couch with 2 sweet kitties who are not my own. My roommate from college and her sweet hubby have graciously put us up for the night while we meet with yet another doc.

This afternoon, I held my daughter in a doctor's office as she sobbed. She didn't understand why they couldn't just do the surgery. Their postponement of surgery equaled "They don't believe me and they don't care" to my tender-hearted girl. She didn't understand that the doctor cares about her so much that she wants to make sure everything is looked at before surgery.

Today, I found out that the stomach pain my daughter has been dealing with for the last 10 months could actually be related to the stomach pain she had 3 years ago. The stomach pain that sent us to Denver to a doctor that didn't understand, didn't take the time to listen. The doctor that, honestly, taught my daughter that doctors cannot be trusted.

Tomorrow, we will drive back home.

Next Tuesday, we will drive back to Denver.

Next Wednesday, we will have yet another round of tests.

Next Thursday, we might actually be able to have the surgery that could make my daughter's pain go away.

But tonight, I sit on the couch with two cats who aren't mine and watch my daughter sleep. I wonder at the wisdom God gives doctors - to be able to see past the test results (or lack thereof) to the root of the problem. I wonder at the journey our family has been on for the past three years - the appointments, the prayers, the pain. I battle my own demons of anger, frustration, fear.

I wonder how this battle will be used for His glory. He promises that. And I intend to hold Him to it.

The Trial and Tribulations of a One-Legged Scooter Driver

Jerome is in town with the boys, playing their first softball game of the year. And, because the game was at 8:25 at night, and because Nina and I must rise with the chickens tomorrow for our grand adventure (more on that in a bit), and because tiny princess Violet got shots today, and because it is all windy and such outside, we stayed home. Which allows me to take a bath in peace with a glass of wine and my phone and a book. I like late games.

My scooter, which had saved my sanity, by the way, was far too boring. So we spiced it up. I think it looks much more fabulous now.

But do you see that back tire? Well, there is a little knob on that tire. A metal knob. A metal knob that I succeed in whacking with my ankle at least once a day. Thus, the loverly photo of my sad, abused ankle.

What's tomorrow, you ask? Well, it is our grand adventure! Nina gets to visit super Dr. S at Shriner's in Salt Lake for her 6 month(ish) post-op checkup. She is doing fabulous, in my opinion, but it's nice to have medical opinions to back you up. And, because I cannot drive 7 hours with my left foot, nor can Jerome take 2 days off in the middle of the work week to take us, we get a special treat. Shriner Grandpa and Shriner Grandpa's Buddy are going to fly us to SLC in SGB's plane! We will be helping them deliver 80 disposable cameras to the patients at the hospital, and Grandpa gets to see the hospital from the grandpa perspective. After our appointment we will be flown back home the same day. Such service! I guess it pays to know people sometimes.

So now I'm going to go soak my poor feet and prepare myself to wake with the chickens.

13 hours

In the last thirteen hours I have:

Packed the car

Given the dog his meds (more on that in another post)

Driven the hubby to the airport

Driven back home to get the chains for the tires, just in case

Driven 9 hours with 3 kids by myself

Consumed far too much coffee

Listened to too many kids' movies

Caved to the siren's call of the Cracker Barrel

Hugged my grandma

Invaded my sister-in-love's house

Snuggled my niece

Wrestled my nephew

Listened to the beautiful sounds of 5 cousin sleeping

Because We Are Crazy

We loaded all our children into the van at 7am.

We drove them 7 hours.

We threw our stuff into our hotel room, then jumped back into the car.

We got to the Children's Museum and explored bubbles,

and painting

and dress up,

Then we drove across the river to meet up with cousins

and Dinger at the ball park.

Oh yeah, we totally gorged ourselves on junk food.

I posted a photo of my nachos to F*cebook.  They were that good.

The next morning we got up far too early, took our friends to Gunther Tooties for breakfast, then headed to Elichs.

Our day was spent riding carousel horses with friends,

and sisters.

Splashing in the water park (no photos cause I love my camera), discussing world politics in the stroller.

The stroller rentals were $10, plus a $10 deposit that you got back when you brought the stroller back.  Only the $10 you got back was in the form Elichs Dollars, usable at the park.  Kind of a scam to get you to buy crap junk souvenirs, but still the best $20 we spent all weekend.

We made memories on the rides,

and watched our youngest daughter

convince her big sisters to ride all the scary rides.

Who knew she would be the bravest of them all?

Sunday morning, we went to the home of my college roommate and her husband to meet their brand new baby boy.  Such a precious treasure - I was smitten.

Lunch with another set of friends, and then it was on the road again.

All in all, 60 hours of sheer chaos.

And memories.

30 Day Picture Challenge: Day 20

Day 20:

A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel

That beach looks incredible, right?  So pristine, so peaceful.  Perfect vacation spot. 



What if I told you that was Haiti?



Would you still want to go?



I do. 



A part of my heart is on an island I have never seen.



With children I have never met.



But who need someone who cares.

Monday Mugs: Escape

I love the theme for Monday Mugs this week.  Escape.  Just what our family needed last weekend.

So, we hopped in the car and headed 3 1/2 hours south to the Land of Enchantment.

We ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant EVER!

I have been coming here since I was her age.

We took turns riding in the super dino stroller at the Museum of Natural History.

Compared our handprints to those of the mighty TRex.

Did you know the TRex used to stomp all over New Mexico?

Neither did I.

We learned just how enormous some of those dinos were.

Even as babies.

We took Dad to his first Triple A game for Fathers Day, complete with the obligatory parking lot/stadium photo

And the cool statue in front of the stadium shot.

Can I tell you how funny I find it that the pest control ad was flashing behind my little pests?

And of course the obligatory scoreboard shot.

Madi and Daddy got to go on the field before the game to play catch. 

And all of us ladies enjoyed the sun.

We had spent most of the day at the water park inside the hotel, and could use the sunshine.

No shots from the park - I like my camera.

And, when it was time to go home, someone figured out how to milk her daddy one last time.

 

Smart City Planning

Some brilliant mind thought, "Let's put a ginormous shopping/children's museum/planetarium complex blocks away from the hospital.  That way children and their parents could have something fun to do while they wait for their appointments."

Brilliant, I tell you.

So, while we waited to see if they could squeeze us into a couple of differents clinics/labs/tests, we:

played with the magnets,

pretended to be a news anchor,

honed up on our artistic endeavors,

got forced to go shopping in a real store (sigh),

 

then convinced Mom to come back for some fun shopping,

ate our first Subway sandwich that we truly enjoyed (anyone else love a meatball with banana peppers),

then took a tour of the planetarium,

complete with trips to the moon,

and Mars,

and the gift shop,

got forced to do some more real shopping (sigh),

then ended the day splashing in the water. 

They weren't able to fit us into the clinics/labs/tests, but we had a fabulous day.

Heritage

I come from this cabin in Monticello, Utah,

Where my grandparents homesteaded during the Great Depression.

I come from the cliffs of Moab,

when the town was a pitstop for ranchers and roughnecks, not yet a playground for the outdoor enthusiast.

I come from the La Sal mountains,

where they summered the herd on 12,000 acres of pristine mountain wilderness.

I come from this lonely dirt road,

a road with only one ranch,

and a house that seemed so much bigger when I was a child.

And, although my grandparents have not lived in this remote valley for almost 20 years,

The red cliffs and rolling sagebrush still feel like home.