I am thankful for...

(in no particular order)

1. Dwight
2. Jessica
3. Jacob
4. David
5. Johnathon
6. Deborah
7. Ryan
8. Medical technologies and great doctors
9. The Gospel
10. My parents and their example of good living
11. My sister and her example of childlike love and kindness
12. My nephews and the way they always make me feel like I'm the most important person in their world
13. My friends
14. My Mom's willingness to learn how to knit
15. Amber for inspiring me to learn to knit
16. The Woolie Ewe for all their patience and the great atmosphere in their shop
17. My ward family for all of their support
18. A spacious home that houses my large family without feeling cramped
19. Airplanes and the pilots that fly and land them safely
20. Dwight's job
21. Dwight's willingness to work hard
22. Dwight's intelligence
23. Books
24. The internet
25. Email
26. All my aunts and uncles
27. All my cousins
28. Water
29. Good food
30. DVR's ... how can you watch live tv?
31. Digital cameras
32. Photoshop to fix all the errors in my pictures
33. The Cub Scout and Boy Scout Programs
34. Good Den Leaders
35. Money sufficient for our needs
36. The Temple
37. My Ancestors
38. Telephones
39. Cell phones ... at least at times
40. The freedoms I enjoy in America
41. Memories of scuba expeditions ... barracuda ...
42. Dwight's patience with me
43. Disposable diapers and wipes
44. My minivan
45. Being in remission
46. Repentance and forgiveness
47. A body that heals well
48. My education
49. Obedient and fun children
50. surviving 6 pregnancies with NO stretch marks! WHEWHOO!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ryan's Biggest Smiles

Okay, I've never done a video before ... hope this works ...

14 Weeks

I was hoping to find a picture of Deborah in her car seat at 14 weeks. I think it's interesting to see the 2 little ones at the same ages. I think they are similar in size. Deborah was a little smaller. I think she was just starting to wear newborn size clothing. Ryan is wearing mostly 0-3 month size clothes. Ryan cannot hold his body or head up enough to sit in Deborah's chair. Not only can he not hold his body up enough to do it, but I think Deborah might be a little bugged by it. We've had to negotiate what has been passed on to Ryan. For example, Ryan gets the crib, but she still gets the swing. She is willing to share it, but still claims her territory. "Baby Ry in my swing."

Speaking of things that belong to Deborah... Daddy. As you may know, our whole family no longer fits in the minivan, and I'm unwilling to loose money trading it in. We typically have Ryan and Deborah's car seats in my van. So they ride with me to church. Church is during naptime, which means that we have a very tired, sometimes irrational 2 year old on our hands after church. For the past month, she has yelled and cried ALL the way home. (Thankfully, we only live about 2 miles from the church.) "MY DADDY!! ME NEED MY DADDY!! WHERE'D GO MY DADDY?" Over and over again with increasing panic and wailing. No amount of reassurance calms the child. No bribes. No threats. (And, believe me, a tired, sometimes irrational mother of 6 can make a lot of threats in 2 miles.) But, once the girl catches a little glimpse of her daddy within reach and the world ... and my Sabbath ... is again a calm place.

This past week Daddy had a brilliant idea ... Deborah rode with him to and from church. THANK HEAVENS!!! Such a simple solution = such a happy little girl = a more sane Mommy.

Speak of sanity... tonight the conversation went like this:

Me: "Did you arrange my music in a particular order when you were setting up my iPod for me?"
Dwight: "No, why?"
Me: "You sure have a knack for giving me music with meanings when I take a day trip."
Confused Dwight: "You know there's a mental illness where people assume the media is trying to send them messages."

No, I'm not mentally ill.... let me explain. A while ago, I drove north about 2 hours to meet a new friend for lunch. Dwight wanted to go with me and I declined. He made me a cd of music to listen to on my way there. "Since you've been gone I can't breath" ... "All by myself" .... etc. Last Tuesday when I ran away from home, Dwight had just lovingly put my music on my "new" iPod. (I've had it sitting unused next to my bed for several months now.) The first song ... "May God's love be with you always!"

Either way ... be it insanity or him not owning up to his doings, I really appreciated the message.

Twilight Fans

Jessica, along with many others, is a HUGE fan of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. These are 2 of Jessica's most recent drawings:

Feliz Dia de Los Muertos

Last Saturday we attended Muertitos Fest 2008 sponsored by Jessica's art school. We were able to purchase one of her works, a graphic done in Adobe that was made into a greeting card. It's impressive. I certainly wouldn't have been able to do it.


There were also fun things to do for the family. The boys tried their hands at making prints, decorating sugar skeletons (a traditional celebration activity), making roses, and getting their faces painted.

Jessica took a friend and she was a delight to have with us. She is one of our neighbors and is just a sweetheart. It was tough to get a picture of these girls. Jessica is currently in that stage where she doesn't like her picture being taken. (But beware, Jessica, I am stalking you and will get a photo!)

Another beautiful smile

If you haven't been following the Ryan story, you may not understand just how wonderful it is to see this beautiful big smile from Ryan. For those of you who have been following the story, you know the extraordinary joy this smile represents.

The Promised Pictures

Ryan was quite irritated by the hat. But, he made a cute pumpkin!

Deborah really wasn't sure about dressing up in a costume, but once she got a piece of candy it was all worth while!

Isn't Johnathon the smartest (and cutest) Turtle ever?

David was the Joker. I wish I had recorded his mimicking of the Joker's rants. Creepy.

Jacob was a cute Mime ... not a quite one, but a dang cute one! Loved the black hair!

Jessica was Harlequinn. (If you're like me and not into comics, Harlequinn is a side kick in Batman.) I think Jessica just enjoys the creativity of dressing up.

All this for 6 1/2 pounds of candy! Hey, I want the Laffy Taffys!

Let them govern themselves? Really?

Today started off a bit frustrating. Both of our Tuesday co-ops were cancelled due to sickness. With the unscheduled time, I thought we'd do some fun, easy school things. But 15 minutes out of my room was enough to frustrate the plans. I quickly felt very overwhelmed and questioned my "career" choice.

Long story short, I decided to "run away" for the day. (Thanks, Dwight and Jessica, for making my day off possible.) At first, I felt a lot of guilt about taking the day off. But, 20 minutes of uninterrupted time talking to a good lady helped me to put things back into perspective.

While attending Time Out for Women, one of the speakers spoke of Joseph Smith's statement of "We teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." I knew/know it is a correct principle, but every time I hear that statement I think "but it just doesn't seem to work out so well for me." Pause ... let me acknowledge that I know I have good kids and I know that they really do a lot of good things. I recognize that in comparisons to a lot of homes I have very peaceful, extremely well-behaved kids. I don't mean to discount that in any way. Yet, we do have the spirit of contention and disobedience at times. And, lately, it seems that it is much more prevalent than it ought to be.

So... back to my thoughts ... "We teach them correct principles and let them govern themselves." How do I apply this correct principle?

As I talked about this with my friend, I realized that I always hear the "let them govern themselves" and sort of just gloss over the first, perhaps the most important part: "We teach them correct principles." Notice that Joseph didn't say: "We teach them correct principles for the first 8 years or their lives." He didn't say: "We teach them correct principles on Sundays and during Family Home Evening." Nor did he say: "We teach them correct principles on Sundays, during FHE, mutual, scripture study, and any other time it is self-serving or convenient." He said, "We teach them correct principles."

Some parenting experts recommend that we should give our kids at least 10 positive comments for each negative comment in order to ensure success. Perhaps we really out to TEACH 10 righteous principles for each unrighteous thing they encounter. (If we were to teach at that ratio, we'd be so exhausted that we'd have no choice but let them govern themselves! :))

PS Thanks Tami for reminding me of correct principles!

My Friend

This is my friend, Tami. Isn't she pretty? She's also an amazing lady! I have been so blessed to know her and her family. She has been such a blessing inn my life. She's spiritual, and funny, and intelligent, and thoughtful. She sent me a note tonight that said:"I’m grateful for a friend like you. You have been such a blessing in my life. It’s just evidence that when the Lord has something hard for you to go through, He provides a way and friends to help you through it."

This isn't the first time she has sent me a thoughtful note. She's just amazing! Oh, and the best thing about her ...

She's a knitter!

Happy Halloween!
More pictures coming soon...

Ryan Smiles!

Do you see that smile? Isn't it great!!!!

Art

Today we studied the Swiss born artist Paul Klee. Here are the boys' Klee's:

Jacob'sDavid's

Johnathon's

Family Home Evening: Halloween Style

Tonight we did the annual Halloween style family home evening. Everyone participated. Dad and Jessica carved the pumpkins. They did a great job, right?

Jessica's Jack

Dad's Jack

Of course, it takes a while to carve pumpkins and well, the rest of us got a bit silly ...

And, I have amazing, wonderful, inspired, sweet, fun, and thoughtful visiting teachers. Today they brought cupcakes. So we had yummy, yummy treats! (Thanks, Jana!)

(Be sure to click on the picture of Deborah! You don't want to miss the crumbs.)

Happy Birthday, David!

Can you believe David is 10 years old? We are so thankful to have David as a part of our family. In honor of his ten years, I thought I would use 10 words to describe him. Here goes: witty, intelligent, thoughtful, honest, friendly, totally cute, hard working, fun, charming, and righteous.

This year for his birthday he wanted: legos, transformers, neoshifters, video games, board games, nerf dart guns, a watch, or money. He received legos, a neoshifter, backgammon, a watch, 2 amazing pictures drawn and framed by his sister, and money.


He designed this fun birthday "cake". It actually is pudding with crushed oreos on top, milano cookies as tombstones, and cool whip as ghosts.

I Know!

Tonight I attended a Time Out For Women held here in San Antonio. While Michael McLean was performing/speaking he asked us to listen and think of ourselves as asking the questions. He wanted us to listen for the responses. The first question he said was "Do you love me?" We were to imagine ourselves asking our Heavenly Father that question. And, we were to listen for the response.

As soon as the question was asked I thought, "I know He loves me!" I know it because it is evidenced all around me by all the amazing people in my life. During all of this year's events, I have had so much support. Any time I have started to feel overwhelmed or discouraged, yet another sister has shown up or called to put their arms around me with love and support. We have been the recipient of so many kind acts this year. Thus, I know He loves me! I know He hears and answers my prayers, even the ones that have only been whispered by my heart.

Thanks, Aunt Joyce!

We loved the book & plushy thingy!
We loved the pencils and the straws!We loved the Halloweeny pencils!

and we really loved the ...

GLASSES!

But, most of all, we love you!! Thanks for thinking of us! We had lots of fun today and the kids sure appreciated your thoughtfulness.

Still hurting and you want me to do what?

Today I went back to the surgeon. They removed the cast. Here's what it looks like ...

I'm pleased with how clean the incision is. It's about 4 1/2 inches long, but straight and thin. The purple stuff is actually a marker. (If you look closely on the right end, you'll see where they had me right my initials.) But, the green stuff is not a halloween decoration; it's the remnants of all the bruising.

After meeting with the surgeon and being lectured about 5 times by her and my Sweetheart about my continuing limitations, I was released to the rehabilitation center. They made me a removable cast and gave me instructions for exercises to do twice a day. Here's what my new cast looks like...

So, now the fun begins ... they want me to move my fingers. I can't even straighten out my fingers or make a complete fist. The physical therapy isn't fun. But, I'm hopeful that it'll start feeling better soon.

Eyes

On October 20th we took Ryan to see an Ophthalmologist as Dr. Rhame suggested. His eyes do not seem to move together, nor does he track anything. He doesn't seem to respond visually to any stimulus, and I'm not sure if his little pupils even dilate like they should. Dr. Rhame suggested we have him see Dr. Lina Marouf of Retina Associates of South Texas.

They used some drops to dilate his eyes. Then with Dwight holding him on his lap, they propped his eyes open with some torture-looking devices. Apparently, they poked at his eyes a bunch. It only lasted for probably less than 1 minute. Ryan, of course, cried through the whole thing. I was thankful that I didn't have to hold him. It's hard to watch people do things like that to your children, even when you know it's to ultimately help them.

Anyway ... the diagnosis was good. His retinas are correctly formed. This doesn't, however, tell us anything about his vision. Dr. Marouf referred us to Dr Zwaan or Dr McCash for further review. How can one test an infant's vision? Hmm....

OUCH!!!

So, when they told me I would have surgery I proudly thought, "Heck, I've had 5 c-sections and they were no big deal." I was realistic about it all. I mean I knew it would be very inconvenient to be a nursing mommy with only 1 hand... but, I'm fairly ambidextrous. 2 days of pain killers and bed rest and then I'd be back to normal.

I should have known that wouldn't be the case when I woke up from the anethesia with severe pain in my hand. (You know the scale they always use to judge your pain ... what is your pain on a level of 1-10 with 1 being nothing and 10 being severe. I've never used anything over a 7 before because I've always been pretty confident it could get worse. Well, I said 10!) 2 shots of morphine later it was at least tolerable.

Today I am still in pain. I thought it would be gone by now. I had to call the dr last night because my hand was super swollen and hurting desperately bad. So, he had me take off the bandages over the cast and cut into the top and bottom of the wrapping to allow room for the swelling.

These pictures don't really do it justice, but it will give you an idea..

Too funny...

Deborah loves playing ball! She loves to hold, roll, kick, and throw balls. She just loves it! Well, Daddy had laid Ryan down on the floor and Deborah who was near by took the opportunity to roll the ball to Ryan. Well, Ryan was kicking his legs and just happened to catch the ball with his foot and gave it a good kick! Deborah was thrilled! I'm sure she thought she had just found her perfect playmate! So, of course, she rolled the ball again to him. This is the roll that you see in the picture. What you don't see is where this roll landed ... his forehead. Okay, time to put down the camera and move the baby!