Pics from 29 Palms

We visited my parents at the end of June. Mostly we just hung out and ate. Mom's soup....yum! My youngest brother was there, and he's looking good, too. The group photos of my parents and our family are all on their camera. However, here's some photos my daughter and I took of our trip.



We visited with Doug and Clary and their kids up in the Monument (oops...I mean the National Park). They went rock climbing at Indian Cove. Brings back memories of when I was a kid!


We celebrated Joe's birthday while we were at my parents' home. This was Joe's cake. Cool, huh?


Say "Hello" to the Gecko!



Kelly fell in love with this little gecko! He's on my parents' coffee table.


Here's three of the kids having a tooth brushing party! :-)

I also dropped in on my friend Kristi at work, and it was so great to see her! She just looks better and better as time goes by! I hope some of it rubbed off on me while I was there. :-)

My daughter, nearly 15, couldn't resist this opportunity...sidewalk chalk, and an empty street with lots of "STOP" marks. When I saw this photo on my computer, it made me think about the times when we DO stop believing...in others, in our dreams, in ourselves. I'm thinking my daughter (and Journey) had it right...Don't stop believin'!

There are more than enough negative voices in the world. Few of us need another person telling us where we are messing up. What we need is to hear (and believe) in the positive ones! And we need to turn that little critic in our heads into a force for change and good in our lives. The effect of giving ourselves and others positive feedback is more than just a pep talk. When you have something good to say or share, and you take the opportunity to make it real by saying it aloud, you give it power. You make it more than just noise in your mind...you give it direction and allow it to influence your path as well as the paths of others around you.

When I reach the end of my existence on this earth, what I hope people will say about me is that I tried to uplift and encourage others. (I'm still working on how to do this for myself!). What I hope they remember about me is that I made them see and feel their own genuine worth. Now I'm not talking about meaningless, pump-up-the-ego nonsense, nor that false self esteem from empty compliments. I'm talking about really seeing both the reality and the potential in others, and speaking those things that are both true and meaningful. When we are more positive with others, they can pass that positive energy along to those they encounter, and together we can create a wave of goodness, kindness, and truth that builds up the greatness in those we meet. We can help people believe in themselves and in their dreams.

In the process, we may even discover that we facilitated our own dreams. Now wouldn't that be something worth stopping for!!

Near Miss

Last night, I chaperoned a dance for church youth in our area. I took Laine (to avoid the inevitable war between her and Johnny) and she and I baked cookies at the dance. We had a good time, and the dance was packed. Kelly invited her friend Franny, who is not a member of our church, and we stayed til the event was over.

After the closing prayer we headed home. We were stopped at the intersection of Barstow and First, waiting for the green light. It was about 11:15 pm, and the traffic was very light. The girls were singing and making a ruckus, and the light turned green. I stepped on the accelerator, and for some reason, my foot slid right off. I've been driving for almost 25 years, and that's never happened to me. I looked down, thinking "What the heck?" then looked back up quickly, and right in front of me, two inches from my bumper, a truck went past going 45 or 50, who had run the red light.

I knew instantly that our lives had been preserved by God. I failed to see the truck due to the obstruction of the vehicle beside me, and he failed to stop. If I had accelerated as planned, we would have been in the hospital or dead. Guardian angels at work! We all thanked God that we were safe, and I drove very slowly all the way home because I was shaking so badly. At first, my mind was filled with the near miss...trying to determine exactly what had happened. But afterward, I began to ponder what would have happened if we hadn't been protected, and it became a wake-up call. If I had died, had I properly prepared my children to be successful spiritually? Had I prepared them to be healthy, wise, responsible adults? Had I taught them right from wrong? And what of my own efforts...had I put first things first in my life?

I knew I was getting carried away when I began to wonder....Who would miss me if I was suddenly gone, other than my children? Would anyone come to my funeral?

Nevertheless, because of what happened last night, I am recommitted to being a better parent/family member, a better role model, a more thoughtful friend, a good citizen, and a better human being. I am determined to put forth more effort into drawing closer to God and my Savior, to being more like Jesus. I am so grateful for this life upon this earth. Despite my mistakes, my hard-headedness, and all the things I've done wrong, I know I want to be with him, and I know I can if I am humble, teachable, and give myself to loving others and God.

I'm grateful for the knowledge I have that I am a daughter of God. I'm grateful for the truths He has taught me, for His grace and his patience. I pray he helps me get it right!

Moments that move

I thought I'd write about a few moments that have moved me this last few weeks.

My youngest son struggles when his feelings are "too big" for his body. The other day, the kids were teasing him, and he could sense he was beginning to lose control. He ran to hug me, and cried out, "Make it stop, Momma!" I could feel his body shaking at first and then calm down as he regained control, but he didn't stop hugging me. It touched my heart so much that I almost cried. I know he needs to learn to stop himself when his feelings start to escalate. For now, he needs me to be his safe haven. How I wish it was easier to manage our feelings! I am committed to teaching all of the kids how to be patient with others, speak kindly, and be responsible for how we feel, but it is so hard!

On Saturday, my daughter Laine called me on the phone and was in emotional distress. I was riding in the car with my oldest daughter, so I had the phone on speakerphone, meaning Kelly could hear the conversation. My youngest daughter admitted that when she was in 3rd grade (2 years ago), a boy had asked her if he could be her boyfriend, and she said yes. She said she didn't understand what that meant until I had spoken to her on Friday, playing with her and telling her that no matter how many boys thought she was cute, that she wasn't to have a boyfriend until she was 16. She told that boy right away that she couldn't be his girlfriend anymore, but then found herself unable to sleep all night because she had broken a rule. She was crying and telling me how sorry she was on the phone, and again, my heart was moved by her desire to do what was right and make things right. And then, Kelly, hearing her distress, told Laine that it was okay and that she loved her. I was almost in tears myself at that point, because Kelly and Laine don't exactly get along well, and for her to tell Laine spontaneously that she loved her just made my heart melt.

I find myself deeply connected to my children's individual struggles. As they get older and have to take more and more responsibility for their own choices, and as we get glimpses of some of the things they will have to overcome in their lives, I find myself being moved to prayer and reflection, trying to find ways to build their faith and reinforce their good choices. I'm so grateful for having good kids! I hope I can be the mom they need, the refuge they need, to keep growing up in the Lord.

Being the Mom

Sometimes, being the mom stinks. Literally.

Poor Laine's lifelong battle with stomach aches, nausea, fatigue, and bowel issues have now moved to center stage. This year, her problems have become more frequent and severe, and I finally got tired of the doctor's advice...variously: more fiber, stop dairy products, give yogurt with cultures to get rid of the diarrhea, keep a food diary, determine which foods cause a reaction,reduce her stress. I demanded that we narrow down what is going on with her body, because her frequent stomach aches, exhaustion and diarrhea have been causing her much distress as well as leading to missed school.

So I found myself over the past two months taking stool samples, scooping poop (diarrhea and constipation) and stuffing into little bottles filled with equally nasty smelling chemicals, or smearing it onto cardboard. "Scrape along the surface of the stool" the instructions say. What stool, I want to know? What is the "surface" of diarrhea? We've been to the lab so frequently for blood work that Laine is beginning to laugh at the jokes the lab techs make. Seriously, if you knew how bad those jokes were....

After a string of negative results, one of the blood tests came up positive. Laine tested positive for Crohn's disease. So we were referred to a specialist. We have Kaiser, but Kaiser's specialist happens to also work at Children's Hospital and is well respected. Upon reviewing Laine's history, she said that Laine's symptoms match up to Crohn's and the test was positive, but that there are some other "markers" they look for that aren't present. Laine will need to undergo a Esophagogastroduodenoscopy and a colonoscopy. Basically, the doctor will take a camera with a blade attached and look inside of Laine's digestive system to see if there is inflammation present. They will look for ulcers and bleeding, as well as polyps, unusual growths, or swelling. The good news is that Laine will be sedated, and they will do the exam at Children's where all they do is children. The big day will be May 24th.

The day before the exam, we have to administer medicine to Laine to make her clear out her bowels, as well as make sure she consumes one 8 oz glass (til the whole gallon is gone) every 10 minutes of this nasty salt water stuff. She can only have clear liquids the whole day, nothing red or purple. And they've kindly given us something to give her before she drinks all that mess to ensure she won't vomit.

I really hope the test was a false positive. I would hate for Laine to have a lifelong chronic illness that can put her in the hospital. I'm praying hard and I hope that you will too. I hope that we can find out what is wrong so we can try to put things right. In the meantime, we still have one more stool sample to do. Any volunteers??

Beating around the bush

Great news! My fence will finally be installed on Saturday! Terrible news: I have to do SO MUCH pruning before that day gets here!

The fence in question goes along the entire back side of my property. It's about 200 feet long, 30 years old, and has been rotting for years, but with the storms we had this winter, sections of it were just blown down and have become ramp-like. Who can blame her, but my bouncy little beagle took full advantage of that to go exploring my neighbor's lot and yard. Needless to say, my neighbor isn't too happy, and frankly, neither am I. I've been spending quite a bit of the last year putting chicken wire over my fence so that the dogs can't escape. So after much negotiation and frustration, we finally came to an agreement, and at last, my yard will be secure again as of Saturday. ((sigh)) I can hardly wait. The gentleman who will be doing it came with great references and was the least expensive company I could find. God is so good to me!

Pruning and getting ready for his arrival is exhausting!! I think I have had a permanent migraine for about a week. Nevertheless, the end is in sight. God is faithful in helping me get through any project. I have met many interesting critters in my bushes, and it appears that there are way more holes in my fence than I was ever aware of! I'm finally ridding myself of a ton of ugly privets that became overgrown and now my pool area looks rather bare. I've no idea what to put in place of all the weeds and such that I'm taking out. I'm hoping some pretty options will present themselves.

That same day, I will be preparing to install a fence around my garden as well. The numerous holes in my garden and the plants that have been sacrificed to my dogs' digging is thoroughly depressing. I'm hoping that I can solve that by some creative and attractive options...assuming of course I can get through the massive tree roots in that area. Wish me luck!

Garage Time

I've been cleaning the garage today. I only have one word for it. UGH!

Who knew I had all these cabinets full of paints, chemicals, miscellaneous tools whose function I can only guess at, car parts, bits of rope, etc! I've been taking photos of some of the things I can identify and I'll be trying to sell them on Craig's list. I hope I can at least get some money for them!

This all started because we couldn't get into and out of the garage without tripping or slipping, and I'd had enough. I tried to put things into cabinets and realized I had no space in there because of all the junk. Well, I can't do it all today, but I got a good, sound start!

It makes me think about all the junk we unknowingly carry around with us in our lives. Every so often, it's good to sort through things and keep what's good, dump what's not, and lay the rest that we can't do anything about at the feet of our Savior. He'll even help us do it, if we are humble enough to ask.

Now, we have the missionaries coming for dinner in half an hour and I've no idea what we're going to eat. Guess I'd better hit the store!!

Nothing Quite Like It!

Johnny was out sick all last week with the flu. Poor little guy! He finished reading a "Molly Moon" book, which is at the upper end of his reading level. He's not "supposed to" read at that level, according to his AR score, but his teacher told him he could try since he has good reading comprehension and vocabulary. He finished it and took the AR test on Monday when he returned. He received a perfect score! He's already gotten 125% of the AR points he needs for this quarter. Now he's on to the next book of Molly Moon. And when he asked if he could check out a particular book from the library for AR, his teacher told him with his AR score, he could read ANY book he wanted. He was so pleased, his grin stretched from ear to ear! He's reading at almost a sixth grade reading level, and even reads above that from time to time. Not too shabby for a boy in 3rd grade. He's already been accepted to Manchester GATE next year, and we can hardly wait. Mrs. Lazarus is one of the best teachers at Gibson, and I'm glad he has her this year!

Menu Planning, Budgeting

Today I examined my budget for where I could find an extra $60/month for my daughter to take Piano lessons. I actually have three children who would like to take them, but I can only do one right now. I decided that we're going to have to figure out how to trim money from our food budget. I don't want to interrupt the current flow of money because the budget is tight and it's working for me. I'm slowly accumulating savings, paying off a little debt I acquired while things were rough for a few years, and keeping a close eye on all my expenses. I've already cut my food budget in half since four years ago, and I'm going to try to cut it by another 25%. What's not used for piano lessons will go to build up my emergency food storage.

People are always shocked when I tell them how much I cut. I'm ashamed to admit that most of the time, I spent more than I needed to. I didn't care where I bought food as long as it was convenient, and FoodMax was a lot of things, but convenient wasn't one of them. I also wasted a lot of food...we had spoilage like crazy. Now I'm vigilant...I know what's in the fridge and I try to use it before it spoils. I plan my menus to carefully use what I purchase. I try to buy the highest quality, least expensive foods that I can. I would prefer to buy all organic, but it's not in the budget, so I grow as many foods as I can. We even have 9 chickens in our backyard so we can have eggs without hormones and antibiotics.

So now I'm wondering...how am I going to cut it down even more? I already make pretty much everything from scratch, but I'm determined that there must be a way to do it and still maintain high quality, low cost food. I'm querying my friends to find out how to make our money stretch even further and improve our diet to boot. This is going to be fun!

Balloon Festival!

Okay, so Kelly was a bit grumpy when I told her that I wanted her to get up at 5:30 on one of the only two days of the week that she gets to sleep in. Still, I managed to get the four kids plus our sleep over guest, Sydney, to get up early and be to the Clovis Rodeo grounds by 6:15. We walked onto the grounds and saw trucks and balloons in various stages of readiness. The kids were saying...well, this is exciting...with sarcasm dripping from their lips. That was the case til someone hit the burners on their baskets, breaking the dawn with the sound of rushing fire. All the kids were hooked from that moment on. As fans turned on to blow air into the balloons, the grounds began to look magical. The kids peeked inside of inflating balloons, Kelly snapped pictures excitedly, the sky began to lighten and suddenly, all around us were balloons. Not quite on par with what I saw when I went to the Albuquerque balloon festival, but still fun and amazing. We all had a great time, and came home to donuts (<> - I know....bad mom). And the best part? The Balloon Festival was FREE!!