Happy Birthday, Sarah!!

Sarah is not here with us this holiday since JC had his tonsils out and Todd is on call at the hospital. Usually we celebrate her birthday Thanksgiving afternoon; this year it is from afar.

Love you and miss you, sweetie! Have a Happy Birthday!! xoxoxox

We Love to Read!

And being comfy while we do is fun!

I could not resist taking this picture - the two girls had been reading like this for about twenty minutes during our daily silent reading time.

Thanksgiving Dinner!

What a day we had! Full of laughter, food, and fun. The noise level raised the roof, even with only HALF of our children home!

We had with us our mothers, Curt, Lisa, and Jessica, Leslie and Rick, Jenny, Emily, her mom, and sister, James (Curt's roommate) Kit (Lisa's former roommate; this was her third Thanksgiving with us), and Vanessa, a girl Curt is dating.

Sarah, Todd, JC and Trinity could not be here - Todd was on call at the hospital and JC just had his tonsils out. Kyle, Ashley, Braden, and Adelaide had Thanksgiving up in the mountains at Ashley's folks' home, but they will all be here for Christmas when COLE gets home.

Let the holidays begin!!

JC Makes My Day

I just spoke to JC on the phone. He sounds good, and he was telling me about the balloon bouquet I'd sent him. Then he quoted what I had written on the card that accompanied it, and what he said next warmed my heart. "I like that [the card] the best."

Made my day!!

Tonsil-less

JC got his tonsils out today. He hopped right up on the chair and did not seem nervous at all. The doctors commented on how mature he was. Todd is often in the operating room in his role as a speech pathologist, so he got to go into the room with JC and observe the procedure. The surgeon was JC's former bishop!

Reports say JC is doing well and gobbling down anything cold! And, that he likes the Star Wars balloon bouquet we sent him.

Happy Birthday, Jessica!!

Happy Birthday, sweetie!!

Strains of the song Sunrise, Sunset fill my mind as I think back to when Jessica was born. We had just moved to Urbana a few weeks prior to her birth, and I hardly knew a soul. One or two new friends had offered to care for Sarah when the time to go to the hospital although they qualified that with, "Anytime except Thanksgiving day."

Well... I woke up that day at 5:30 in labor! Fortunately, the Pulsiphers watched Sarah for us and Jessica was born Thanksgiving morning. She is definitely something to be thankful for!!

Here are the lyrics:

(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)
I don't remember growing older
When did they?

(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?

(Golde)
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?

(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

See?? I Knew What I Was Doing!!

Thirty three years ago today, I married the guy dreams are made of.

I met Craig when I was 17, got engaged at 18, and married him at 19. Surely the adults in my life worried about how young I was for such a commitment. But when it's right, it's right, no matter how old you are.

Love you, honey, and have never, every regretted saying "yes" when you asked! Here's to many, many more happy years together.

xoxoxo

"My Favorite Zeus"

I took Zeus in for a check up today, although I had an ulterior motive. I had found a lump in his throat Friday, and he had been wheezing and "kacking" for a while. I'd also noticed that the crest of his chest seemed larger, especially in profile. My suspicions had been raised that he had something serious going on.

I was right. There is a softball sized tumor on his chest which has caused the change in profile. It is a benign lipoma. A second lump on his side behind his right foreleg is also a lipoma. However, the one deep in his throat may be malignant. They aspirated it and I will know more on Monday.

For a variety of reasons, surgery is not an option. He's too old and the tumor is deep. We'd have to take him to Purdue and there are no guarantees he'd survive the anesthesia (he'd be under deeply for an hour and a half) let alone the surgery itself.

Another problem is that he has a narrowed larynx, not uncommon in Labrador Retrievers. As they age, it causes them to pant and wheeze. Having tumors around it can restrict his breathing even more, and these tumors are growing. This would cause more problems for the anesthesia.

Zeus is 11, so this is not unexpected. We know his time with us is growing short regardless. Now we are focusing on making sure he is happy and comfortable. Craig and I both hope he will make it through the holidays so all the kids and grandkids can spend some time with him.

As JC and Trinity said when they were little, Zeus is everyone's "my favorite Zeus."

Remembering

I remember Curt's good buddy, Ian today, two years after he passed away. The two became buddies in kindergarten and remained so until both were grown up.

I sent Jennifer, his mother, a memory I have of her son, and I spoke to Curt to see how he is doing. He'll know what the following means:

Sha-Sha, H-10.

So sad to lose Ian when he was still so young.

The Last Check

I don't believe it. I just now wrote out the last check for Cole's mission. 

It is significant in that it means he is coming home soon. But, it is also the VERY last check I will write out for any of my kids' missions. I wrote them for Kyle, for Curt, for Cole, and now the end is near.

Missions are something you think about as a mother when your children are young.  You know you will miss them yet be so proud of them while they are serving. You wonder how you will react to their absence, and what they will learn. Where will they go? Who they will help, and who they will introduce the gospel to;  whose lives they will change from the sacrifice of their own lives and time?

And now that era for me is coming to a close.

I am so proud of my sons for the time and money they sacrificed on behalf of others, and for how much they love the Lord, enough even to do something of this magnitude. So many years of saving part of their paper route money, of being employed at places like Kmart, Champaign Computer, Clark Lindsey Village, writing music for web sites, etc. all with an eye towards their future service as missionaries for the Lord.

I am a little teary as I write out this check, but as a convert to the Church myself, I KNOW what their service has meant to others, and how great a gift the gospel is.

Kyle, Curt, and Cole, I love you and am blessed to be your mother. Thank you for serving.

xoxox

Sick AGAIN

Or maybe I should say, STILL sick? 

 I have thought that I'd had a sinus infection since a week ago Thursday. Yesterday after school I decided to go to Med Express (the walk-in clinic) and get it checked out since I was getting worse even though it had been 8 days since I first noticed symptoms.

Yup. Sinusitis! And it's aggravating my asthma, so I have two inhalers, one bottle of codeine-laced cough syrup, and (cue the music) an antibiotic the size of a horse pill!!

When I described the flu I had had two weeks ago (that caused me to miss a whole week of work), the doctor said that he was sure I had had H1N1 . Sinusitis or gastric issues are happening about a week later for those who have had H1N1.

That fits with what we have seen  at Hershey - a "second wave" of illness although we are nowhere near the 16% absentee number we had the week I was out.

The doctor also advised me to get the H1N1 shot even though I have already had the flu. He said the virus could mutate, and with my asthma plus working with children all day, I am high risk for exposure.

Now, to find someone who actually HAS a supply!

I-L-L !!

I-N-I!!

These guys know that cheer! And aren't they brave, attending a Purdue/Illinois football game and sitting in the middle of all that gold and black!

Curt and Murph (Michael Murphy, Curt's good friend and ours, too) went to the October 24 game together. Illinois lost, but I am pleased to see that Curt, despite living in Lafayette and being a Purdue student, pulled out the orange and blue for the game!

Go, Illini!!

Surgery for Lisa

Got the text below from Lisa this evening. I replied that I was home if she wanted to call, but she was at work and said she'd try to call later. It's getting late and I think she's probably still at work. Drat.

OK. Surgery scheduled at 8:20 and will be an hour and a half. Ash will be picking me up - she doesn't need to be there the whole time thankfully.

I know Ashley is helping her, and I know Jessica will be there for her, too, but I am missing my Lisa and wishing I was there to help her with this.

(The photo, snatched from Ashley's Facebook page, shows Lisa with "the claw" on her hand, protecting it until tomorrow's surgery.)

Jessica the Pioneer

Is it bragging to say you admire your own daughter? That you are proud of her, and the faith she exhibits on a daily basis? Here's her story:

Jessica has faith in answers to her prayers. She knew through them that the Lord wanted her in Utah. Jessica felt prompted to quit her jobs in Iowa City and move to Utah. She had faith that the Lord would take care of her if she did as He asked. 

So, she resigned from her two jobs, and began making arrangements to move to Provo. Lisa was excited to have her sister moving out, and they made plans to be roommates. In July, Jessica drove her belongings out with Craig along with Sarah and her family as we all went out for Adelaide's baby blessing.

No job. Just a knowledge through faith and prayers that this was right for her.

The job search began well before she moved. She printed over 100 resumes and sent them out. She did some networking through contacts in Iowa City with people in Utah. She prayed. She prayed more. She fasted. We all fasted.

No job. No job. No job. Not even a nibble. A little subbing. A few frustrating possibilities that didn't pan out. Family fasting. Prayers EVERY NIGHT by me (and probably other family members.) Nothing.

Several months passed.

Money dwindled. Still no job outside of a couple of subbing days for other hygenists. A job offer and a lifting of spirits and excitement. Then an, "oops, that was a mistake" withdrawal of the job offer and a plummeting of spirits all around. Phone calls and texts of support were becoming more difficult. After all, it's easy to sit here in my comfortable home as a fully employed person and tell Jess to not worry, that things will work out. I knew they would, but I was getting worried, and my prayers changed to real pleading with the Lord on Jessie's behalf.

But the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, let her have an experience of plumbing the depths of her faith (and her parents' faith, too! )

Finally, in the space of one week, she had THREE job offers. Three!! Good, solid job offers! Suddenly Jessica was employed full time and her trial of faith was over. Needless to say, there was celebrating all around the family! What a relief to have things work out, and to be financially stable again. To have employment, to have her faith in answers to her prayers affirmed. 

Jessica and I both saw a real parallel between her story and that of the Mormon pioneers who left Nauvoo in 1846. Jessica loves Nauvoo and had been attending the Nauvoo temple every other Saturday while living in Iowa. Just as leaving Nauvoo was a huge trial of faith for the early Saints, leaving it was hard for her to do, too.  The pioneers had no homes waiting for them at the end of the trail, very little money, and no idea where they were going. What they did have, as did Jessica, was an abiding faith in God that He would get them to safety from persecution, to a place that was right for them, where they could live our religion without fear. And He did that for them, just as He took care of Jessie.

Thank you, Lord, for loving my daughter and giving her this opportunity to exercise her faith in Thee and to discover, yet again, that she is a Thy beloved daughter.