A Remarkable Gift

Growing up in Garden Valley, we always had a black and white picture on the wall of a cute little girl with dark hair, sparkling eyes and a sweet smile. I had asked about her and been told by Mom that she was my older sister, Gail. I asked why she didn't live with us and Mom replied that she lived with her own mother. I did not meet that little girl until I was full grown. While she did not get the opportunity to share in the many experiences we shared in that home, she was still there. She is a part of the family. I have rarely had the pleasure to meet anyone so kind and generous, so accepting, and so loving. She is a remarkable woman and a great example of graciously sharing love. We were blessed in November with the opportunity of taking a "Family" picture and for the first time, we were all together in person. That was a joyful experience. I look forward to sharing many more memories.

Happy Days!

Last night Kerry watched me walk down the stairs and said, "You're really starting to get your shape back." What I heard was, "Boy are you getting fat." That just goes to show that we are not always on the same wave length. Anyways, I weighed myself before going to bed, and the good new is..... I have now lost 24 lbs!!! That puts me only 3 lbs over the weight I was when I met Kerry 15 years ago. So - I'm thinking it's time for some family pictures. I'll post them as soon as we get them done. It is amazing the difference in my life since the surgery. I catch myself giggling, a lot.

Talented Grandkids

Thanks to Taylor for the modeling show of all the new clothes. With her long legs she might end up on a runway as a model - the luscious long lashes and beautiful blue eyes could help get her there. Her flare for the dramatic hand flourish was, naturally, a lot of fun. Sorry that we missed Torey in her stellar performance. Tell her it is okay to start practicing her Oscar acceptance speech now (with a shampoo bottle) so it will be perfect when she needs it! And, by the way, The boy in the hat looks like he could be a contender for "Anonymous"......

Lucky Winners

We attended the monthly flint knap in, which also happened to be the annual party. Had a great time and Kerry had his first lesson on how to make a "Danish Dagger" from Dick. The blade and handle are all one piece of stone. After feeding us a fantastic lunch they held the annual raffle. Kerry bought $20 in raffle tickets (20 tickets). There were about 30-40 people in attendance, with 50 prizes up for raffle. We won seven prizes! Two people offered to pay to take us to Vegas if we would gamble for them. We had a lot of fun. Check out our prizes... We were amazed to win not just one, but two points by Bo Earls. The Larger signed point is published in the catalog!!

• 2 1/2 x 5 3/8 Point signed by Bo Earls along with copy of Modern Lithic Artists catalog Volume 4 August 2008
• 1 1/2 x 2 7/8 Point signed by B0 Earls
• Honeycomb Onxy wrapped in green wire by Jacki
• Mookite point wrapped in gold wire
• Mahogany Obsidian blade on antler with rabbit fur made by Larry
• Heavy duty black blanket with bronze deer

Flint Knapping Hobby

Several years ago I met with a talented man named Finn. He gave me a lesson on basic flint knapping. The method he showed me requires quite a bit of hand strength, which I don't have, so I didn't do much with it. My brother-in-law asked me to show him how to do it, so I did. Then Kerry wanted to know, too. Kerry has "Cowboy Hands", according to his nephew, Jeff. Manly- man hands, so he was good at it from the first day. It's been almost eight months and now Kerry can complete 6-7 pieces in a weekend ranging from small bird points, to 8 inch knife blades. He can do anything, and do it well. Kerry can even "bop" which means breaking a rock apart using percussion blows and eventually ending up with a bi-face (spear point in layman's terms). He created two yesterday at the knap-in at Bo's garage.

Here are some of the points that Kerry has made. Several of the other points have been given to family and friends.

Happy Valentine's Day for us:

• Sleeping in
• Homemade waffles and bacon for breakfast
• Flint knapping a circle with my sweetheart "So cool!"
• Homemade brownies with a Carmel melted in the middle (decadent if you've never tried)
• Kadee played with Sam
• "Faithfully" came on the radio while we were in the car and we both claimed it
• Take out dinner from Outback
• "The Boss" and I watching Christopher Titus's show on Love (Kadee upstairs watching Sunny with a chance) so we could laugh without censoring
• Staying up late to enjoy our minutes together
• One last snuggle before going to sleep

Just about perfect. I hope all of yours were great, too. Love to all!

Yay Me

Yay me!! I've lost 17 pounds and kept it off since my back surgery Dec 20th!! Walking on the treadmill three times a day for 35 minutes makes a difference in the waist line ;) And I have noticed a significant reduction in the flabby uper-arm flyswatting action. (he he)


Sad news today though, my old job doesn't need me anymore - they're getting along just fine without me. That means new horizons for me and a whole new adventure. I'm a little sad though, I'll really miss a lot of them (the good ones of course - not the ones who made for terrible days). This is a sensitive subject at our house so I had best leave the topic.

So, if anybody has any suggestions for what I should do next, let me know...

Pain changes things

Last June we had the opportunity of playing "Camp Host" to our three wonderful grand kids who were visiting from Missouri. Gage, Garret, and Tanner were outstanding guests - they loved every minute of it. The grass at our camp had grown up above knee height so after dinner was cleaned up and the kids were situated in front of the VCR in the trailer, I went outside and started pulling up large clumps of grass from the walkways so the kids could get around easier.

Within just a few minutes Gage came out and started helping me pull up grass gallantly saying that it was not right that I had to do all the work. (What a gentleman!) I let him pull for a couple of minutes but then sent him off to the rope swing to have some more fun before the sun went down. A few minutes later Garret showed his head out the trailer door and upon seeing that I was weeding, he too jumped in pulling grass saying I should not have to do it all by myself. (I believed his sincerity as he came right to my side and started pulling the grass closest to me so I would not have to do it.) Again, I let him help for a few minutes but then sent him off to the swing also. Only about a minute passed before Tanner came to help me pull grass, saying he did not want me to have to work by myself. (Credit has to go to Jen and Doug for raising these boys with a sense of gallantry and fairness.) After a minute, I sent him to swing with his brothers. We stayed out until it was almost too dark to see that night. The last clump of grass I grabbed was just a little too big and just a little too far of a reach and I hurt my back trying to pull it.

I thought I had pulled my back out of alignment so went to a chiropractor for six weeks. When it was not getting any better I started going to my general doctor for help. When she ran out of ideas (in August) she referred me to a physiatrist. My response was to ask her if she thought it was all in my head - you know, sounds a lot like psychiatrist. Turns out a physiatrist is a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of pain. It took a month to get in to see him. The X-Rays showed some arthritis and a small bone spur but nothing that was consistent with the level of pain I was experiencing. The next week I had an MRI, which showed that I had two herniated discs. L4-L5 herniated into the spinal column - the spinal column should have 9.5 mm - mine had 5.6 mm. L5 - S1 was herniated into the left nerve bundle. When I brought the MRI results to the physiatrist his comment was, "I can't believe you haven't been beating down my door for pain medicine. This is serious. The only option you have is surgery if you don't want to risk permanent nerve damage." So he gave me an "urgent" referral to a neuro surgeon.

The next week I wrenched my back. I burst into sobs but got it under control as I had to take Kadee to school and make it to work. I only lasted 2.5 hours before I was sobbing again. I had to leave work and go home. I felt like such a deserter - I was leaving them in the lurch. I had told them the severity of my problem weeks ago and had tried to get everything in order before I left but I did not think I was going to have to leave so soon. That day was Thursday, October 15th.

For those of you who know me, you know the fateful events that occurred Friday. For the rest - my eldest brother had been suffering from an intestinal blockage and he went in for a "routine" surgery to remove the blockage. In the surgery it was discovered that he was stage four Gall Bladder cancer - there is no stage five as the cancer had metastetized to several other organs- only the imminent death of a most beloved brother.

I have never felt so wounded, so sad. Cancer is an unfair enemy. It has singled out the person in my life who has lived every day like it was the most important. He has treated everyone who crossed his path as though they were his favorite person in the world. I would know, I was lucky enough to grow up with him. And, for the last eight years, I was blessed to work in the same company with him, too. I got a "daily fix" of his love - Rick treated everyone like they were his little brother or sister - I really was, so I got more (jabs in the stomach, pokes in the side while I was standing at the copier and didn't see him coming, knee trips that nearly knocked me to the floor, hugs when I was having a bad day, and counselling sessions when it was a terrible day). I will miss him. Thank goodness that families are forever. I know that when he is released from this earthly pain, we will meet again someday, on the other side.

My surgery to fuse both discs was Saturday, December 20th. My surgeon gave up his Saturday before Christmas to take care of me and I appreciate his sacrifice. I was able to come home on Christmas Eve. It has been a long six weeks. I plan to go back to work this week part time, as much as I can. My assignment from the surgeon is to practice sitting for 15 minutes at a time without my back brace, and to keep walking on the treadmill. In another six weeks I will be able to start physical therapy. They said that it will take about 18 months to work my way back to doing the things I did before the back injury.

I got an interesting perspective on my surgery from Rick - he was glad that I didn't get any surprises like he did. Humbling... beautiful... generous. That's Rick for ya. He is a one-of-a-kind example of grace, acceptance and gratitude. He has changed my perspective on dealing with pain. It's really not that bad, and eventually, my back pain will get better. My goal is to act more like my big brother and treat every day like it's my most important assignment, and treat everyone like they are my favorite member of the family. Rick has the mentality that there are no "strangers", just people who need to be a part of our "family of friends". God bless him.

Kadee Can't Jump

• About two weeks ago Kadee came home from school and described in some detail how the children had been required to learn Chinese Jump Rope. The steps, she felt were somewhat complicated and she really wanted us to understand each one. I had to start dinner but paused at the top of the stairs into the kitchen to listen to her downtrodden voice when she said, "And, it turns out that I can't jump!" We had a chuckle over it and she reluctantly joined in.
  
  That night Kadee complained of a stomach ache. She had been complaining off and on of a stomach ache for the last three days so this was nothing new. I gave her a children's Pepto Bismol and she went to sleep at the normal time. However, at 10:30 she woke up crying so hard that her teeth were chattering together like she had been outside in the ice and snow. I have never seen someones teeth chatter due to pain so I knew that this was more serious than the average growing pains. I called Kerry in to give her a blessing. Immediately after the blessing the EMT in him took over and he started a series of tests with her.
  
  - He had her stand up and stamp her right foot. She did okay - did not cry out or anything. This is to check if impact causes severe pain on the right side. Turns out she was doing it easy on herself.
  
  - Then he had her lay on the bed and he pressed on the left lower abdomen. Again, she did not cry out.
  
  -Then he pressed on the right side. She screamed at that one.
  
  Kerry and I looked at each other and as we often do, we spoke the same words at the same time: "Time to get dressed." While I was helping Kadee get on socks and shoes she questioned why we were all getting dressed and what was going to happen. Thinking that she would be reassured I explained that we were going to take her to the hospital and have the doctors run some tests for the appendix. She questioned what they would do after the tests. I told her the truth, that they might have to do an operation to take it out. (This was a critical mistake because only a month earlier she had witnessed the problems I had with a major back operation.) By the time we were putting on coats Kadee was greatly improved and said she did not think she needed to go to the hospital - the crying had completely stopped.
  
  We took her anyway just to be safe. She was a real trooper! When the doctor pressed on her stomach she calmly asked him to not push on it anymore - there were no tears. The ultrasound technician apologized for having to press so hard on her stomach and again Kadee calmly asked her not to press on it anymore. Kerry was talking to Kadee when the technician was on the phone with the ER doctor so he missed her disbelieving statement to the doctor that she had climbed up on the bed on her own and she was not even crying. Turns out that the appendix was as big around as a string cheese and extremely inflamed. There was no sign of perforation though so she did not have to have surgery until after 7 am - six hours away.
  
  Kadee spent the night in the ER and went into surgery at 7:20. When she was coming out of the anesthesia she became combative, bit down on the naso gastric tube, and promptly threw up. She had to stay an extra day in the hospital because she ended up with fluid in the upper lobes of both lungs. The pediatric nurses were wonderful! When we were checking out Kadee stated that she was not ready to leave. (This might have had something to do with the fact that the nurses brought her presents every few hours - books, activity books, stuffed animals, Popsicles, pop, and new slippers.)
  
  I am thankful that Kerry is a priesthood holder and he was able to administer a blessing right away. I am also thankful that he has the skills of an EMT as that took the guesswork out of the process and we knew right away to go to the hospital. I learned that sometimes it is better to not tell the whole truth when dealing with a child as that could affect the truth you get in return.

I guess we had to cave and join the computer age eventually - why not? So, here goes.... Many thanks to Catherine for the free baby sitting and consequently a "date night". Dinner and a movie, sans Kadee. Love her soooo much, but the break is nice for a change. To friends and family - we love your blogs - please keep up the good work!