JENNA'S 14!!

Happy Birthday chicky!!
We have been blessed to have Jenna in our lives! She's been with us for 3 1/2 years. WOW! Has it really been that long? Jenna has grown so much-- physically, spiritually and emotionally. She is a hard worker, especially when it comes to homework. She has the MOST awesome laugh. When you hear her laugh, even if you don't know why she's laughing, you can't keep from joining in. She has a beautiful smile and a beautiful singing voice (when she's not afraid to share it). She doesn't care what others think of her, she is her own person, especially when it comes to her sisters. She is HILARIOUS!! Catch her in the right mood and she'll have you wetting your pants! She loves to make people laugh.

Jenna- thank you for entertaining us and for your sweet spirit. We love you!

To be or not to be...........

This is my sweet grandparents. This picture is a few years old and I "borrowed" it from my cousins website, but I love this picture. As I said before, they are supposed to be coming to live with us soon. Last Friday Grampa went into the hospital and had a very hard weekend. My dad drove over to see him, my aunt flew in from Texas, my uncle went to see him. I have another aunt that was already there and has been caring for them for about 6 years now and another uncle that couldn't make it. Needless to say, we all thought it was good-bye. He's very weak and gets tired just talking on the phone. Tests have shown that he is working with 10-15% of his heart capacity. He's on oxygen 24 hours a day. He actually coded twice on Friday but asked them not to shock him again because it hurts. So, they had to make him a DNR. That was hard!
So,my dad sat with him for quite awhile on Sunday morning. He went in for (what we thought)the final "oldest son to dad talk" Near the end of the talk my dad asked him if he was ready to go and offered him a release blessing. He's been in pain for a long time. He can't do much without getting completely exhausted. Basically what happened is that he told my dad there will be time for that, but it's not time yet. He told my dad he's just not finished but he'll let him know when he is.
He spoke of coming here to be with us. He commented that he still has a great-grandchild he needs to get to know (he hasn't met Kyra yet) He did speak with all of the kids on Sunday. Even though Kyra hasn't met him, she ended up crying and saying what a sweet man he is. Which is very true. He helped me through some rough patches in my teenage years. Telling it like it is and trying to get me to listen to the people around me that cared the most.
So, my uncle, who is in the medical field, is trying to find a way to move him here without anything bad happening. He can't fly. He can't handle the long drive from San Diego. I don't know what's going to happen. But, my dad says he is determined to live until he can get here.
I spoke with Gramma on Saturday. She said even if he doesn't make it, she would still like to come live here. I don't know if that will change. I just know we are taking it day by day. Which is killing me since I'm a planner. But there's so much in my life right now that is unpredictable and un-plannable. I'll just have to get over it!! So it's just a waiting game with lots of praying. I really want to see my Grampa again and I know my kids would love to get to know him better. But we all know how hard it is for him to fight and we just want him to be able to rest.
So,here's one of those many times where we put it in the Lord's hands and accept what comes our way.

Running Club update

I never followed through with the other 2 running club events. Bad mom! Both races have come and gone. The 2nd race--Jake, Jaren and Natalie all qualified and they ran their little hearts out. Sadly, none of them placed. But they did their best and that's all I ask. By the time race #3 rolled around--Jake had an eye infection, Natalie had a bladder infection and Jaren didn't want to run by himself. So we missed that one! Last week was the party for all the runners. Ice cream and every topping you can imagine. Farewell running club until next year. It was fun!!

My sickies

Whenever one gets sick, especially with something weird, they all join in!
A few years ago Natalie scratched her cornea (no idea how) she ended up needing surgery and expensive drops and almost permanently lost her vision in that eye. At the same time this was happening, Jacob (who was 9 at the time) had a kidney stone. That's right folks--a kidney stone!! That was fun. He had to pee through a screen until we were sure it was gone. Lots of pain later, he passed it. Yeah!! Natalie's eye finally healed. And I think I remember that a few of the other kids were sick with normal stuff at the time but that was the least of my worries.

So,here we go again! Almost the same kind of problems but they switched places. Natalie has a SUPER bad bladder infection. They did an ultrasound of her bladder and kidneys to make sure it's not another kidney problem like she was born with. She had surgery for that when she was 1 but has had problems on and off her whole life. Jake has an eye infection! He is now on expensive drops. Alaina has had colds on and off (more on than off) for the last few months. She is sick of being sick. I told her I'll deal with it when the other 2 are healed.

On top of all the sickness and pain, we are having more problems with Ty and his issues. The school is still trying to be helpful but some of them seem to not be handling it as well as they should.

I just keep telling myself it could be worse! At least they don't have anything fatal or anything that requires major treatments (for now). So I will continue to love and enjoy motherhood as long as I can. I will be grateful that my children are alive and fun and cute! Let's just hope it's another 2 years before we have anymore weird things happen :)

Jury Duty

I was always told that if you weren't registered to vote, you couldn't be given jury duty. So,not wanting to ever do jury duty cuz of my schedule, I never registered to vote. At one time my grandmother pointed out to me "if you don't vote, you can't complain" So,I've always tried to not complain about our elected officials cuz I don't have the right. After all, I had nothing to do with them being elected,right?? So here I am, 30-something, and I've never voted! Well, that just went out the window folks!! Turns out you can get jury duty if you aren't registered to vote. Dang-it!! So now I guess I'll go register to vote and go do my jury duty in a few weeks. Hopefully it's something exciting!!

A Childs Prayer

Every time we have a meal prayer or family prayer, Natalie and Ty fight over who gets to say it. They both LOVE to pray. That's one fight I don't mind listening to!!
Last night, Ty won the fight. We have been trying to teach our children to not say the same repeated prayer and to put thought and love into the words they are speaking to their Heavenly Father. So, part of Ty's prayer went like this "Please bless that Heavenly Father won't get sick or poisoned. Please bless that we will be respectful to everybody around us." I thought it was a very original and sweet prayer for a 5 year old. I hope my kids always love to pray as much as they do now.....