Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Full of smiles and joyful screams. There is nothing really like the awe of a little child. We loved watching them wake up with so much excitement that is was impossible to contain. We had my parents here and loved that just as much. With all the fun of the presents and goodies, what could be better. WELL, watching our children throughout the season and hearing them talk about the Savior and His life and sacrifice topped it hands down. I loved hearing the older ones tell the younger ones what CHRISTmas was really about. Sometimes, we have days that seem like our children never listen to anything we say and certainly don't care. Then, when we aren't ready for it, they blow us away with their beautiful testimonies. I am so grateful for my family. For the gospel of Jesus Christ that shows us the way to be together forever. As I look into the eyes of my Josh and realize that it is truly a miracle to have him here, I am so humbled to count that as a blessing. He is a wonderful peacemaker in our home and although he makes life exciting, to say the least, he reminds us what is really important.

Joshua

Well, I guess Josh doesn't like us to get too comfortable.  I am currently writing from our "hotel" room (Children's Mercy Hospital in downtown Kansas City.) Yesterday morning was apparently a little too mundane for him, so he decided to be completely lethargic and unresponsive.  Which in turn got him a ride in Mom's car to the ER and from there he got to have yet another ride in the ambulance downtown.  I think they must have better cartoons or something, because it wasn't until half way down here that he decided to wake up and "join us".  So for the mean time, he is hooked up to a dozen machines and hating every minute of it.  The room service is awful, the beds are lumpy, the sleeping arrangements horrid, and it is the noisiest place that I have ever stayed in.   Aside from that, with their prices, they are the best "5 star hotel" that we can find.  We are grateful that he gets good care here.  Hopefully, they will have some answers for us this morning.  The kids at home are worried, of course.  My parents are still here which is a huge blessing.  They have just taken over at home.  

I am going to have to have a chat with little Ruth when I get home.  As Josh and I were leaving yesterday to the "doctor", she decided that she needed to tell him, "Goodbye Josh, I will miss you!"  She said it so sad and forelorn that all I could do all day yesterday was hear that in my head.  Not my favorite "mantra".  There is just something about being in a hospital and feeling completely helpless in the situation that does not bring the happy thoughts to mind, so that did not help me much.

He is doing better today, sitting up in the chair right now pulling on all his cords and watching cartoons.  Meaner than Mean.  He will be happy when he can get down and walk around outside a 2 foot circle.  I will be happier when I can take a shower and breathe some fresh, crisp air.  

I continue to be overwhelmed by our blessings and the promptings of the spirit.  I am grateful that I acted on them yesterday and didn't wait to see if he was "just really tired".  Thank you for all the prayers and love.

Thanksgiving

What a wonderful time of year, when everyone turns their hearts and minds to service and love of their fellow beings.  When we are all counting our blessings.  We have seen so many blessings as of late that we continue to thank our Father in Heaven for his numerous tender mercies.  

We had a great time at our house with local cousins, Denver cousins and Grandpa and Grandma from California.  The kids loved all the playmates and the cousins loved helping with all the "farm chores."  (I suppose they are a bit more fun when it is not an every day thing that you do and it is a novelty:)  We all ate way to much food and loved every bite of it.  We were grateful to be able to count our blessings together and very sad to see it end.  I will have to post pictures later.  The kids are all back in school now and counting down the days until Christmas vacation.  Did I mention that I love this time of year?

Update

Bodie started his new job today.  They all went out to lunch today (at one of my favorite restaurants....) and I think that he is excited about this new opportunity.  It will take a few weeks until he feels comfortable in the new setting, but I am sure he will do great.  Josh went back for his neurological check up today.  They are going to change his medication because they think he is having some side effects.  We are so grateful for modern technology and the things they can do. Hopefully, the change will go smoothly and he will be our happy little boy again. 

The kids at home are counting down the days until Thanksgiving.  They love all the food and goodies that we make and they are so excited to have some cousins here for the holiday.  It will be nice to have as much family around as possible.  As for me, I am still just trying to play catch up on all the things that I have fallen behind in.  Someday, I know I will get there.

October!!!

Wow, what a month.  We have seen so many miracles and blessings from our Father in Heaven, that it has been a little bit overwhelming to us. 

 Josh was in the ICU for seizures. He was LifeFlighted to Childrens Mercy Hospital Downtown, where we stayed for the rest of the week. Bummer for him, he got a cool helicopter ride and wasn't even able to enjoy it. He is truly our little miracle.  He seized for over an hour, 20 minutes is life threatening, yet, after some hard work on his part, he is doing great.  He is walking again and showing no signs of the paralysis that plagued him in the hospital.   We have reached his "maintenance dose" on his medication and have seen no problems aside from a really grumpy little boy.  We are trying to cut him some slack after all he has been through.  He really is doing well and seems to be trying more to communicate with us.  We know that the Lord has a plan, I just wish that I could see it on paper and know what I am supposed to do to accomplish His goal.  

The other large part of our month has been.........Bodie got laid off.  He found out that it was coming the day after Josh went into the hospital.  With so much on his mind, that he didn't tell me about, he didn't start looking for a job right away.  When he did, he had a new job with in a weeks time.  Have I mentioned how blessed we have been.  There isn't even going to be any lapse in work, he finishes at his current job on the 14th and starts the new one on the 17th.  

We have been so grateful for all the love and service of our family and friends.  We would be drowning without them.  Bodie's Mom came and took over at home for me while I was with Josh and my girlfriends made dinner for a week after Mom went home so that I didn't have to worry about "what's for dinner?"  We will be never be able to repay the debt that we feel to all of them and hope that they know that they are loved and appreciated.  

The rest of the family has been doing well.  We are all trying to adjust back to a somewhat normal routine.  Mike is playing the clarinet in band this year and is great.  They had their first concert a couple weeks ago.  He just turned 11 and was "bridged" into the scout troop.  He is excited about that.  Ben is constantly playing sports outside and causing trouble inside.  He is a tender hearted turkey!  He is really helpful with the little ones, and not so much with the bigger ones.  Eli is the point guard for his basketball team and has my aggressive spirit.  He was awesome at his double header games last Saturday.  He had amazing steals, great ball handling, tricky passing and some great shots.  He loves it.  After his games he even came home with energy to help in the chicken coop and do farm chores.  Ruth is loving preschool and playing outside.  She waits by the door everyday for the big brothers to get home so they can bounce her on the trampoline.  She loved all the time she got to spend with Grandma. (She always gets spoiled rotten!!!) Danny is getting big.  He is nicknamed Truck.  He just carries himself like a semi.  He loves to play with Josh and is quite the rough and tumble little boy.  

We feel so blessed to have our family home and healthy and all together.  Thank you for all the love and prayers.

Race Day Fun

Bodie ran in the St. George Marathon last Saturday. OUR day started at 3:45 AM, whe I had to leave to take him to the finish line where he would catch a shuttle to the starting line. No one was allowed to drive up the canyon, thus the shuttles. The race started at 6:45 am. It started raining at 4:00 am, and was only about 55 degrees, OUCH!!! My sister in law Becky and some of her kids, her sister in law, myself and Daniel drove up to see him running in Snow Canyon at about mile 17. We got soaked as we stood and cheered, some losing their voices later, but we had a blast. After he ran by, we all raced to the car and drove as fast as we could, (without meeting up with the officer at the bottom of the hill for a second time) and went to the finish line. There, Mom and Dad Meline met up with us to finish out our wait for the end. The kids had fun playing in the water and trying to stay warm. The adults all wondered where Bodie was. He finished a little short of his goal at 3:32:33. We were all very proud of him and were glad to finally be out of the rain. Side note, I have decided that he must be cursed with marathons. When he ran the Olathe one this spring, the day before was beautiful and mild temperatures, the same thing the day after. But the day of, it was 50 degrees with 25 mph winds. Yuck. Then in St. George, absolutely gorgeous the day before and after. Not so much the day of. I think someone is trying to tell him something. Maybe it is me saying, "you're nuts for wanting to run so long....... " Just kidding. I think it is awesome, just don't expect me to be doing it anytime soon. I love to be his cheerleader.


I must give credit to the man. After his marathon, we went back to my sister in laws parents house, he took a shower and then we proceeded to go out to lunch and shopping. When we came home, he went to the Priesthood session with my dad and then came back to hang out. We didn't go to bed until around 10:30 that night. What a trooper. You rock Boadster!!!!!

When The Cats Away........

These are just a couple of the fun pictures that I found on my camera after I had been outside working for a little while the other day. When I saw them, I really just had to laugh. Oh, how the old sayings ring true even when you have the best of kids. Eli must have been having a blast, and I think Ben was the one behind the lens on these.

Pre School

I know that I am a little late with this one, but what can I say, I am a slacker.  This was the first week of Ruth and Josh going to school.  They both love it.  We have seen great things coming home too.  My favorite thing is that they are next to each others classrooms and I get a full report of the day for both of them from Ruth.  She doesn't miss a thing.    The older boys have refused to pose for pictures before school thus far, apparently I am going to have to ambush.  Daniel and I are having a lot of fun in the mornings that they are in school.  We get to do things like clean the house, run errands for the PTO, and wait for it, the best of all, clean someone elses house.   I know, I know, I really need to cut some excitement out of my life, but with all this, where do I start:)  

No pictures today, sorry.  It has been a crazy week.  2 trips to the urgent care last week, soccer, band, young womens activities, cub scouts, service projects, church, PTO meetings, laundry, cooking, cleaning, what else?  I am running on low today. Do you ever just have those days where you just don't want to do ANYTHING?  That is today.  I have been wandering around the house all morning and haven't really accomplished much.  The kids are fed, though and happy at the moment, so I guess that is something.  

Friends

Last post today, I just wanted to put up this fun picture of the kids with some friends of ours. They moved to Southern Kansas 2 years ago and so we don't see them as often as we would like. We took a Saturday just before school started and went down to spend the day. That was the last thing on Eli's list to do this summer, so we were glad that we got to finish his list. We all loved spending time with our good friends. They were our next door neighbors from the time that Ben was 3 months old, until just before we moved to the "farm". That is 6 years. We had a great time watching the kids play and get used to each other again. They all did great. We can't wait until next time.

Awesome Brother

Michael is a huge help, when he wants to be, of course.  These are just a couple of times I have caught on camera of him helping the little ones take a nap.  He and Josh share a  room and many nights we go in to find this scene.  When we don't, Josh stays awake and jabbers until much later than Mike.  Usually, when Bodie and I go to bed, Mike has been asleep for hours and Josh has finally crashed on the floor in front of the bedroom door, waiting for us to pick him up and tuck him back into bed.  Again, how we count our blessings that they love and care for each other.

Best of Friends

We have been having a lot of fun at home.  Here a just a couple of really cute pictures that I caught while we are just having  a normal day.  I am so glad that they love each other so much and are always playing together.  What a blessing from above.  

OUCH!!!

There are many times in a mothers life that we would love to be able to stop time and get to the exact spot we are needed and then start it again.  Oh, just the idea of that is wonderful.  Unfortunately, that is not what happened in Danny's case.  He was just cruisin' along the fireplace,  trying to figure out how to walk like the rest of us, tripped and hit the beloved Clarinet case belonging to the older brother.  Now, Mike refuses to believe it was his case, I think it makes him too sad to think about it.  But, this is just another case of total accident that Mom couldn't stop.  After calling different urgent cares around, and being told to go to Childrens Mercy Emergency Room because of his age, I finally called our regular doctors office back and convinced the doctor on call that I didn't want to pay $500 for 4 stitches.  He agreed to do it for me as long as I was sure that it was not a serious injury, since he cannot obviously see through the phone.  It was a really fun experience to be sure.  I took Danny in to the office by myself, thank heaven, and got to hold a numbing solution on his eyebrow for 30 minutes and then got to hold him down for the next 30 minutes to get the stitches just right.  The biggest problem, and the reason that I didn't just clean him up and steri strip him at home, the top piece of flesh kept wanting to overlap the bottom.  That doesn't make for a pretty scar!  The doctor and I literally worked together with the needle, thread, and gripping tweezers for about 5 minutes on the first stitch to make it line up.  All of this is probably more information than any of you wanted, but it was pretty fun for me.......I need a life, I know.  Anyhow, he is just fine.  After we stopped holding him down, he immediately sat up,  stopped crying and started jabbering at me.  What are we in for???  The older kids were quite upset when they saw the blood gushing from his head, and were pleased that we arrived home in time for them to see him before bedtime.  Poor little Ben was crying for his little brother and Ruthie kept insisting that she get to go help me at the hospital.  Thankfully, Daddy was home in time to intercede on that one.  I don't think she would have been much "help".  When we got home, Josh couldn't keep away from Danny.  He wanted to love on him the entire time, even when Danny was sound asleep.  What a fun day........

Tagged for 4 Things

Delise I can't believe you did this to me in my first week of blogging......

4 random things I like about my husband
His Smile, I can't help but smile when I see it

His Energy, the man just doesn't stop

The way he plays with kids

He makes me HAPPY

4 jobs I have had
MOM
Xray Tech/Nurse

Medical Records Clerk

Demo Girl


4 places I have lived
Kansas

California

Texas

Utah

4 TV shows I watch
The Discovery Channel- Bodie loves all the shows on this channel and I get sucked in

HGTV-whatever is on when I have the time

4 places I have been Most Recently
St. Louis, MO

Branson, MO

GIrls CAMP

That pretty much sums up my summer.....

4 people who email me regularly
family (there's more than 3 of them *smile)

4 favorite foodsDesserts of ANY kind!
Brownies

Ice Cream

Cheesecake (Godiva Chocolate is the best)

Berry Cobbler

4 places I'd like to visit

Denmark
Jersalem
South America
Carribean

4 things I am looking forward to this coming year
being with my family
getting into shape

Fires in the fireplace with snow outside

cousins

A Couple Birthdays.....

Are you serious?  You want me to eat this all by myself?????

     Okay, I think I can handle this.  What is next?

Very perplexed by the candles....

Loved it once it wasn't "on fire".

Just a couple of pictures from some of the birthdays this summer.  How they grow!  We love to just look at them and count our blessings.  What joy they bring to our family, each and every one.  These two are trouble together.  It is like they speak their own language.  One gets into something gets caught and the other sees it and knows Mom is "unavailable" for the moment and is off to the next spot.  Unbelievable!!!!!

A Start

Ok, so here goes.  I have been checking other peoples blogs and loving it.  Finally, today I decided that if I like seeing other families lives, maybe they would enjoy seeing mine.  I know, a huge assumption on my part.  Anyhow, I hope that this will give me the motivation to keep some sort of journal of my family and in turn, let my loved ones have a glimpse into our lives.