Giving Thanks

This is what our house looked like Sunday morning. It was beautiful, and made me very thankful I was able to enjoy it INSIDE in the comfort of my warm home. I wonder how many people did not have that luxury during this storm? Being the week of Thanksgiving, I am grateful for so many things:

My sweet husband. He does so much for our family. He lives with 3 hormonal teenage girls and a pre-menopausal wife, and yet he still manages to keep his sense of humor and positive attitude. How is that not amazing?

His parents. They call every week and take such an interest in our family even though they are far away. They raised such wonderful children and are a great example to all of us lucky enough to be in their family.

My mom. She is such an example of strength. Physically she is so strong I think she forgets sometimes she is 71. You would never know it. I think she can probably still lift as much as me. However, she is also an example of emotional and spiritual strength. She has been through some tough things in her life, but she just keeps going and stays positive. I really sdmire that.

Our kids. They bring so much joy and happiness in to our lives. Seriously, what would we ever do without them? Each one brings a different personality and contribution to our family and they are a great combination of humor, drama, intelligence, and wisdom. I love each one of them and wouldn't have them any other way.

All the wonderful people in my life who love me and care about me. Brothers, sisters, in-laws, ex-laws, friends, co-workers, neighbors, you name it. I am truly blessed.

Material blessings. A comfortable home, a great job, a car that works, health insurance to cover the cost of my aging, falling apart, body....you know what I'm talking about.

Technology. Seriously. A hundred years ago either me or Rachel, or possibly both of us, likely would have died during her birth. 24 years ago when we lived in Okinawa we had no email, no Skype, no cheap long distance phone calls. We only heard from our family via the U.S. post office. How crazy is that? But now....when Britt opened her mission call, even though Corey was away at college, he was right there on her lap top watching her open it with the rest of us. How COOL is that?? Yep...gotta love technology!

My testimony of the gospel. I have known from a very young age, before I really even knew much about the church or anything else, that God existed. No one taught me that, I just knew. I wanted to be good for Him, and I felt bad when I did something I knew wasn't right. I still feel that way. I know in my heart that God lives and that His son, Jesus Christ is my Savior. They say "knowledge is power". How powerful is that little piece of knowledge??

Well, that is the short list. I could write a much longer, more detailed one, but I'll keep that one in my mind and my heart.

The Tale of the Wrong Way Aviator

In 1990 we were renting a cute little house in a small village in Germany called Steinbach. The heat in our house was provided by radiators fueled by coal oil from a huge tank in the garage. We were on a pretty tight budget and it had cost us $1200 to fill the oil tank. It was supposed to last at least a year. Corey was scheduled to be delivered by C-section on the 15th of November. On the 10th our heat went out, and it was freezing! We thought we were out of fuel (the tank sounded empty) and it had only been 3 months! We didn't have another $1200 to fill up the tank and being full of pregnancy hormones and worry I cried myself to sleep. I awoke at about 2am having painful contractions and knew he wasn't waiting for the 15th. He probably wanted to get out of there to cheer me up. :) We called my good friend Beth to come watch the girls and headed off to the hospital in Kircheim Bolanden about 20 minutes away.

We still didn't know what we were going to name this child, and although we didn't know the sex, we were pretty sure it was a boy. When you're in the military stationed overseas the only English speaking station you get on television is AFN (Armed Forces Network). It doesn't have regular commercials, mainly just informational tidbits. I had been carrying this baby very high. As I was laying on the table and we were still trying to decide on a name, my husand remarked that it was like the baby was trying to come out the wrong way. Instantly we were both reminded of one of those little info tid bits from television about "wrong way Corrigan". He was an American aviator who in 1938 set off from New York city headed to Long Beach, CA. He ended up in Ireland! Thus the nickname, "wrong way Corrigan". Corey! We loved the name instantly, even though we still didn't even know if we were having a boy. And of course when he came out just a few minutes later, we loved him instantly. He was so wide awake. They brought him over to me and laid him on my chest and he just stared at me. It was so amazing. :) He was the best birthday present a mother could ever ask for!

We got to spend a nice warm week in the hospital while daddy figured out the heating issue at home. Thankfully, we were not out of fuel, and the landlord was able to fix it in time for us to come home. All's well that ends well...and boy did it end well! Happy Birthday Corey! I love you!

Brrrrrrr!

What a difference a few days makes. This is how the valley looked Saturday when I went for a walk. Beautiful fall colors, snow capped mountains. It was beautiful.

This is how it looked this morning!

Oh winter. I'm so not ready for you.

Fall is in the Air

The sun, lower in the sky, rises later, sets earlier, shortening the day

The air, crisp with the first smells of burning logs in the fireplace

brings the sound of recess, football, crunching leaves

Red hot fire blazes everywhere

Shadows creep, hinting at the beginnig of the end of another year.

What happened to September?

Yes, an entire month went by with no post. It's amazing how quickly that can happen. But there really hasn't been much to blog about. School started, the weather was unbelievably warm for this time of year, and we didn't really do much to enjoy it. Unfortunately the 2nd of September I hurt myself moving some furniture and was in pain most of the month. It didn't really hurt when I did it, but the next day my left shoulder was really sore. It just kind of felt like I had slept funny and I though for sure it would go away. But, as the days went by, the pain was shooting down my left arm and I was having tingling, numbing, and muscle spasms. I Googled it of course. I looked up pulled muscles and pinched nerves. It could have been either one judging by my symptoms, and the treatment for both was ice/heat and anti-inflammatory's like ibuprofen and naproxen. So, I did all that. It got a little better for a couple of days, then came back with a vengeance! It was non-stop 24/7 pain. I couldn't sleep, couldn't find a comfortable position. I went for a "trigger point" massage. That didn't help. I just knew if I went to the Dr., like always, they would just say "heat/ice, rest and ibuprofen". Finally I couldn't stand it any longer so I went to the doctor last Monday. I fell apart. She understood that I really was in pain. She told me right off that she didn't think it was my shoulder at all, but more likely a herniated disk in my neck and it was pressing on the nerves causing the pain, numbness, tingling, spasms, etc. She started me on prednisone and muscle relaxants and sent me for an MRI. Sure enough, I have two bulging disks in my neck. One that has been there for a long time, and this newly acquired one which is causing the most significant amount of pain. She sent me to see her husband who is a spine specialist. He told me he would try everything he could, shots, physical therapy, etc., but that surgery is most likely in my future. He hooked me up with an epidural shot of some steroids last Friday. The pain has graciously subsided, but I still have the problems in my arm. I am doing some exercises the physical therapist gave me to help with that. I will most likely need another shot in a week. It's supposed to help in the healing process. I know at least 4 different people who have had the surgery and they say it has fixed them 100%. That's good to know, but I was so hoping to get through 2010 without another surgery. Is this what happens when you get older? What will 2011 hold? I still have my appendix....

Cooking Class

Tinga (basically a Tostada with a really tasty chicken concoction)

The past few weeks Rachel and I have been taking a Mexican cooking class. We love Mexican food in our house! :) Our teacher, Sandra, is from Mexico City and has a beautiful and heavy spanish accent. To her, everything we make is so "jummy jummy". Cute! Yesterday she was teaching us how to make a new dish and I asked her to spell it for us. She started out "A, L, A, M, "V as in Baby"... I swear that is what we all heard. She is so sweet. The first week she taught us how to make several different kinds of salsa. They eat salsa with everything, and you can mix some of them together, or with guacamole, for even more variety. The next week we did appetizers and made a couple of things I have definitely never heard of. I forgot to take pictures. Last night we made entrees. I will post pictures, but right now Blogger seems to be having issues with that. The class has been really fun and I have enjoyed spending time with my Rachel. It is taught at my alma mater, Cottonwood High, and it's been interesting spending time there. The place hasn't changed much since I went there 30, yes 30, years ago. In fact, a couple of my teachers are still there! Crazy. It seems like it was just yesterday. Anyway, we have one class left, desserts! The only Mexican dessert I know is flan, which is what we'll be making. To be honest, I am usually too full after eating Mexican food to ever order dessert. :)

Cute Sandra, our instructor.

Alambras


Enchiladas

Back of Rachel..LOL

Jet Boat Ride

This is a picture from the jet boat ride we took last month at Niagra Falls. Pictured are Peter's mom and dad, cousins Tyler and Shannon, me, Peter, Robin, Jamie and Lindsey.

Funny story. As we were waiting to get on the boat, there was a group of Asian tourists with us. There were three bleachers full of these dark haired yellowish skinned people, and sitting right in the middle of them was our fair skinned light haired little group looking very out of place. That would have been a great picture, but none of us had our camera since we were told we would get soaked. There were several people in the tourist group who pulled out these little ponchos, more like oversized plastic bags with hoods. The girl who gave us the orientation showed us her raincoat, a long, thick, heavy duty jub, and told us that even with that on she would get completely soaked. The Asian tourists either didn't speak English, or didn't believe her, as several of them donned their funny looking ponchos complete with their hats on top! It was great fun to watch as their boat was nearly submerged in the rushing rapid and they were all drenched accordingly. Not a trip to take if you don't want to get wet. It was so hot, and the boat went so fast on the way back, we were nearly dry by the time we docked. It was great fun!

F is for ...

My life is filled with so many fantastic F words. Like these for instance:

Family

Feasts

Footsies

Fire Pit

Firstborns

Flowers on my Hibiscus Shrubs

The Fonz

Freshmen

Fresh Fruit

Fun!

Fluid Filling Felines

Favorite rooms

Furry Friends

Funny Faces

Fabulous Sunsets

and Finally.....a home to call our own. :)

Life is Fantastic!

Niagra

Here are the Canadian side of the falls. The American side is much less impressive. The boat is called the Maid of the Mist. It takes you up close and personal and you are showered with mist. We didn't take that ride as we were going on a much more exciting one later (more on that in another post).

Lindsey getting "misted".

A view from close up. It was amazing to me there were no barriers in place to keep a person from jumping right over. I've been to the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State building where they make it impossible for a person to fall or jump off. Not so here. I thought it was very dangerous.

The little people in the yellow rain coats are going behind the falls. We didn't do that either, but I bet it's awesome. I've seen pictures and movies of Niagra Falls, but it's still really cool to see it in person. Check that one off my bucket list. :)

A Few Canada Pics

Pictures courtesy of Robin. Will post more when we get them from everyone else. (Click on them to see them bigger.)

Peter's family, chillin in his sister's beautiful backyard. Green eh?

Lindsey, Robin, and Jamie with their cousins Shannon and Tyler at the Grotto.

Cousin Shannon, Jamie and Lindsey at the Lakeshore

More from the Lakeshore

Silly girls walking on the wall. :)