Reflections

My sister has a Christmas card on her fridge. In it, the family declares that 2009 was their most boring year ever.

Maybe 2010 will bring that for us? Not holding my breath- but I can dream right?

2009 brought many, many blessings, some in pretty good disguises. Some of those blessings came wrapped in trials, but were blessings none the less.

For my short little goal list- here is how I fared. Losing weight- not so much. My doctor says welcome to my 40's. My baby was baptised and it was a wonderful day and night. My Outpatient did Return With Honor- and although it is not a perfect world and that return brought some heartache and transition, it is good to have him home and moving forward with his life. He is currently dating a hockey loving gal- and she is studying accounting. We have had the opportunity to have her stay with us a few days and getting to know her better. She also has a lead thumb on a snowmobile. I can't imagine :) As for the babies- the seventh one arrived safe and sound just three days before Christmas and is a beauty (well- handsome) and brought the count to 5 girls and 2 boys. The blessings of babies in a family are so wonderful. We spent quality time as a family, and are looking forward to even more of that. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching Oldest in Primary and am now looking forward to being Middle's Activity Day leader. I can say with firm confidence that I did support the DR in every aspect of his life.


As for blessings- I hope I have done a good job of documenting those- Miracles have been most abundant.
My sister- cancer free- year two.
My mom- half way through year one- just had her most recent scan- but so far, so good.
Babies- those who have had issues- are doing really well, and the others are all chubby and healthy and loveably squishy.
Safe return on two wonderful missionary boys, and the sending out of three new ones; plus the DR's parents.
The DR- still my number one Fan ( some days I am his number 2 priority- but that is okay)
Outpatient- mostly wonderful, blessed in his schooling situation right now.
Oldest- going to be a wonderful young man.
Middle- growing into a beautiful young girl.
Youngest- progress in her issues, and a joy.
Sophie- my devoted permababy.

It has been quite the year. Certainly not boring. Certainly not easy. But definitely Worth It!


May this new year be as full of the Tender Mercies of the Lord as 2009 has been.

Bring it on.

Dental Drama

The patients and I just endured a grand total of 7 hours in the dentist's torture chamber- I mean- chair.

Outpatient was in for the first time since his mission (he did have a root canal while there, but no regular visits).

Both girls had regular check ups and cleanings. Prize for the best teeth this trip goes to Youngest.

I had a tortuous repair of a back molar that went south on me. I hate my teeth. They are crappy. and wimpy. and break easily. And I need like 6 crowns- which means I need a loan the size of a house loan. SIGH.

But the true sympathy belongs to Oldest. He came out down by 8 teeth. Yep. EIGHT. The dentist originally planned on taking out 4, maybe 6, then when it came down to brass tacks- he ended up taking all 8 baby molars. with massive roots. He could have taken 4 more teeth out- but he took pity on poor Oldest and called it a day after 8. His baby teeth refuse to fall out, and his adult teeth are not bossy enough to move them out of the way.

We are having family pictures taken tomorrow. Not my plan or fault. Won't we look cute- he and I - as the chipmunk branch of the family?

Tender Mercies Tuesday

I have no time for blogging but I simply must take a minute to post three things. I promise I will get caught up this week, but for now,

I took Middle and Youngest to sing at the funeral for one of the TaVaci students who passed away right before Christmas. Sobering, humbling, tearful experience. He was 12, just a little younger than Oldest. I just don't even want to imagine.

There have been several more mercies of the variety I can't detail. Heavenly Father loves us so much.

And I just met an angel dressed in Carhart overalls.

Alumni Victorious

Tonight the Outpatient, Cousin T, and Bo got to play with many of the guys that they started playing with years ago. It was a nostalgic night and lots of fun! The Alumni won 7-4, and I talked to a few of the moms of the high school team. They didn't have anything to feel bad about- it was a pretty darn talented team on that Alumni bench. Many of whom hadn't been able to play together because of the age gap- but of the guys on the team, 10 of them played when Outpatient started. I miss those days and the families we got to know.

I did get a laugh at the "Old Men" about dying from being out of shape! The age gap was from my age down to 19- and they aren't skating 5 or 6 times a week these days :)

The younger patients had hockey games in the morning, where Middle took a major and illegal hit from a beast bully who was bigger than the Oldest. Outpatient was ticked, DR was impressed because there was no crying in hockey :), her teammates came out for blood, the ref was beyond ticked at the kid and his coaches, and the kid was lucky that Momma Bear wasn't at that game. I had many reports that night at the alumni game from many players and parents about the hit and about how she just bounced right back. Funny side note- when she got home to tell me, she said "I got hit hard, and he got a penalty" guess she didn't know how bad what he did was :) And now, the menfolk in her life kind of understand why this needs to come to an end for her- sadly.
Then we spent the middle of the day riding snowmobiles and tubing, and trying out Oldest's snow skate/ski thing- with some of our neighbors (Kaitlyn, where were you?)

Mission Report part deux-

Outpatient received a phone call on Tuesday from one of his former scout leaders who is now the bishop in a different ward, which happens to be made up of close to half of our former ward. He had a speaker fall through, one of Outpatient's friends and former classmates would be speaking before leaving on a mission to Africa, and would Outpatient please come report his mission to his "real" ward? The Outpatient agreed, although it meant he would miss another friend's report.

The DR, Myself, and Friend CM went to listen. The young man leaving has come a long way, and has earned the priveledge of serving the Lord. His remarks were wonderful and spirit filled. You would have to know him to know how far he came. Then the Outpatient got up to speak. He mentioned many memories with this young man, scouts, primary, contention, football when they were both about 4 feet tall and 80 pounds. He then gave a wonderful talk about finding "the one" who in the premortal existance was promised to be found. He spoke of his very special family, and tearfully mentioned his overwhelming desire to return to Brazil when the family is ready to go to the temple. It was a wonderful outpouring of the spirit, and many of the Outpatient and N's former leaders and teachers were there. I couldn't help but think about the influence these men had on both of these young men. I doubt they knew it at the time, but we have thanked them since. Wish and hope that the Oldest could have such effort in his life.

Anyway- a sweet lady in a bright red suit came up to me, gave me a huge hug and told me she had just told the Outpatient that she was going to give him twenty dollars to help start him on his way back to Brazil. Apparently her husband told the Outpatient something similar as well. Such sweet people. March is coming quickly, so we better get cracking on getting Outpatient back there.

Christmas Report

Well- the week ended up busier than planned- a lot of last minute things, and nothing quite like realizing you completely forgot that there should be a dinner on Christmas Eve to make you wonder for real where your brain has gone to.

Tuesday- the 22nd was a half day for the patients, so I hurried to wrap the rest of their presents that morning while they were out of the wing. Then there was hockey practice, and errands.
Wednesday- the 23rd we heard that our niece had her baby, baked up a storm (it was NOT a good yeast day),tried to clean the house- and I am a firm believer in the adage that trying to clean the house with the patients still growing is like shoveling while it is still snowing. And we did that, too. Delivered what was worth delivering of the baked goods. That evening, a neighbor/presidency member and his wife (one of my VTeachees) came over to bless my life with a new bathroom fan. While he was busy doing that, she was talking to the girlies and something she said reminded me (at 8:30 pm) that I had absolutely spaced off all food plans for Christmas Eve. GAUGH! Where oh where has my little brain gone?

Thursday- the 24th- woke up dark and early to be shopping by 7:00 for the above mentioned brain lapsed food. The DR went in to work for a while- wouldn't you know payroll fell on Christmas day this week? then he came home and took the younger patients off to finish their shopping. I prepped for dinner, and tried to have the house as straightened as possible. We had a later than I like fondue dinner, then went out to drive around and see the lights. Interesting that there were hardly any to be found. I think the economy hit the Christmas lights display area hard. It was cute when we got home, the girlies were running for the door "just in case Santa came early again". Didn't have the heart to tell them it would probably never happen again- the DR was too ornery about it last year- you would think he was one of the kids and someone took his favorite toy away. It was a good feeling, though, to have all my family in one spot- not off in a foreign country. We opened our jammas, I did the dishes while the DR went to get something for his not happy tummy, and the patients decided to sleep in the boys' room this year instead of the girls' so they could watch a movie on the mac (they did NOT go to sleep for a long time- but the DR and I did) Santa hadn't come by 2:00 am- but by 5:00 when a bunch of bathroom needing patients came upstairs, he had arrived (according to the DR; I kept my eyes closed). The Outpatient had been holding them hostage until youngest needed to- and there is no way you can not let her go- but they went back down to the bedroom, and we didn't get up until 7:30.

Christmas Report- part two

Santa did indeed come and spoil the patients rotten. Outpatient and Oldest received ipod touches, Middle received a darling beach cruiser, and Youngest received Kaya and her horse- don't think Santa needed to bring Kaya, Youngest was thrilled beyond to get the horse.

Middle had some friends show up and then she was off for their houses so they could all enjoy each others' loot. Youngest had a friend come over to play with her, and unbeknownst to the Outpatient, he also had a friend coming over to visit. She arrived safely and we enjoyed the evening.

Then today, the DR, Outpatient, friend, and Oldest took the snowmobiles out and rode, the DR's parents came for a quick visit, and we had a nice ham dinner, Middle had a friend come over, and so did Youngest. I put highlights in both Middle's and my hair. We tripped over Christmas clutter, and just had a relaxing day and nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Usually we spend Christmas day at their house, but not this year.

Merry Christmas to all...

And to all a good night.

Weekend Wrap-up

This weekend, I stayed home.

Moment of silence for this minor miracle. :) We didn't all stay home, just me, Outpatient, and Youngest. The DR took Oldest and Middle to the middle of nowhere for hockey games and took a couple of other players whose parents couldn't go- so darn, I got to stay home. I actually told my SIL to come take a picture of me, in my house on a Saturday. LOL!

Anyway, I braved the not quite so balmy as Cougartown weather (downright freezing) to do some more shopping and a few errands. Youngest played uninterrupted on the computer whenever she felt like it since her computer hogging siblings were out of the way. We did house cleaning, and mostly had a relaxing day. Bummer deal though- they lost both of the Saturday games. Team skated poorly and played crappy- not as a team. First losses of the year. Hopefully they learned something from the experience, because on Sunday- they only had 6 total players and the team that beat them the worst they ended up tying because they HAD to play team- there was no way with only 5 skaters and a goalie (most of our kids don't play hockey on Sunday which is why there were only 6 players) When the other coach called to tell the DR about the game- he said they tied 4-4 (they had lost 6-0), because they couldn't play puck hog hockey, they had to pass and share because there were no breaks for them. We shall see what happens next time.

Outpatient didn't go because he had his own hockey game here Saturday night so Youngest and I went to watch. Not sure what happened, but they only had 5 players to each team too. No goalies. They just laid the nets down and shot at the little top part to score. It was pretty sad. They played 4-4 so one was resting at all times. Outpatient's team won 13-11. He scored a lot- not sure how many.

So, weird hockey weekend.
Sunday was my nephew's mission talk- and we had some family come out to be here, I made cinnamon rolls, and two salads for my SIL. I noticed that my recipe for the C. Rolls in my MEDFORD OREGON Cookbook left out the 1/2 tsp lemon extract in the dough- so if anyone has that cookbook still- you can edit that :) I don't use that book to cook them- so it was kind of funny that 13 years later, I noticed that :)

Then, the DR came home with a needs assignment from the bishop, so we planned a dinner/ shopping evening for tonight with his presidency members and their families- so we could plan and make a shopping and delivery trip to a family in need in our ward. It was fun- but we are in such a different place in our lives than his whole presidency. One is expecting their first child, one has a one year old, and the other has two small boys- the oldest is 4. Yeah- I am pretty sure we have a couple of decades or so on all of them. :) Outpatient is nearly the same age as some of them. They seemed to enjoy the event, so that is bonus on relieving the stress for someone in need.

My friend/daughter Mickie's family is having a tough week- her niece has been diagnosed with a rare disease on top of a cancerous tumor. We have had them in our thoughts and prayers throughout this weekend. It is a little strange sometimes to find that things you would never think could be tender mercies turn out to be just exactly that. I will post about that tomorrow. Prayers for Baylee Bragg- and her family during this time of trial. Love all of you guys soo much!

TaVaci Concert

The program theme this year was "An Old Fashioned Christmas".
As usual- Our director outdid herself in creativity and the kids did even better. They get better every year, and my girls are on their fifth concert- not counting the other side performances they have participated in.

Youngest was in a specialty number called Spirit of the Season.

Middle and our good neighbors/friends.



A couple of the friends and our Director.


Some of the picts of the girlie patients from the PowerPoint they had.

and yes- the DR and older brothers are very worried about the future :)

Middle had a duet- she looked and sounded great- unfortunately I don't have a separate clip of her- should have thought to have the DR record her separate on a different camera.

"Gingerbread" House Creations

***sorry- I didn't realize I didn't post this***

Stats: Parents-6; kids over 20 -2; kids 10 to 20 -6; kids under 10 -2;

Batches of Royal icing- 6 (1 1/2 too many)
Decorating tubes and tips 6
Pounds of candy- good question
Time- 1 1/2 hours total

someone likes themselves a little bit :)

Results: Fabulous- well, other than Outpatient who spent so much time looking for a picture of himself that he didn't do hardly any decorating.

Tender Mercies- part II

I temporarily misplaced my brain- if you see it wandering, please be so good as to send it back to me. Thank you in advance.


I debated about posting this rather than keeping it private- but then I forgot what I decided. Tonight I decided to post about it.

Last week, I didn't pick up my mail until right before we were supposed to leave for the wedding festivities. I do that. My mailman knows. He brings me stuff he figures I might want sooner. Like letters from Brazil. But I digress.

Anyway. My mailbox was stuffed full as you might expect. There were a few bills. Sat those aside. Lots of catalogs and mailers- direct shot to the trashcan. And a couple of Christmas greetings. I opened one and read it before the DR finally got home, so I grabbed the other and put it in my bag to read later.

Saturday while the DR was talking to Favorite Aunt about my refusal to buy clothes for myself right now, I pulled out the card with adorable family pictures, an update letter, and then, a few sheets of a personal letter. From a super sweet "claimed" daughter of mine. Guessing when she probably wrote the letter and mailed it, I figure that the Lord let her know I needed to hear what she had to say. I have had a few less cheerful days recently- shall we say. So Mickie- bless your heart! Thank you for being a tender mercy for me this week. I needed it. And- girlie- I love you a lot!

Tender Mercies Tuesday

This past week has been a crazy busy one (do I ever- ever not say that?) but there have been many blessings along the way. There were a couple of huge ones which I am not at liberty to disclose here- but they were very real, very "no logical reason or excuse" for them to have happened in the manor they did. I only testify to you that Heavenly Father knows and loves certain people very much and is doing all that is right to guide and bless without infringing on agency. If I were ever to get to list all the many blessings directly related to the circumstances, many of you would be blown away at just how huge some of the blessings have been.

We were blessed to drive home safely- this was a pretty big blessing since the roads were very cruddy and certain canyon passes in particular were pretty treacherous.

The tender mercy of having so many wonderful cousin and other relatives' examples for our patients. It really does make life easier to have such awesome people leading good lives.

My nephew heard back last night the for sure he is headed to the Provo MTC- and although he really wants to go straight to Brazil- it feels more peaceful to his family to have that settled (his sister is due to have a baby that very day- by the way) and the day difference makes all the difference for them trying to cover all the bases that they are. Please pray for those whose hearts are hardened towards the Church to the point it is causing trouble not only with the missionary efforts, but the humanitarian efforts as well. Rumor has reached us that they are mad at the Church over Prop 8-.

I testify that the tender mercies the Lord blesses us with are very specific to our needs- that He hears our prayers and even though the answer isn't always what we were expecting, or thought we wanted or needed- it is just exactly what we truly need.

Now- we are off to TaVaci dress rehearsal. Someday, I hope Grandma Bunnie gets to see the girls perform at this. She has missed some treasures- and this year, Grandma and Grandpa L are so sad they will miss it-

Weekend Wrap-up

Lots and Lots to catch up on- not the least of which is laundry and housework-so here is a recap of our extended weekend.

Thursday night was the family dinner for the wedding. They had to change the time rather last minute so we were going to be cutting it pretty close. I had the kids checked out of school and the stuff mostly packed and already in the car- but the DR was running behind as usual. We also had to drive two vehicles out, because we were leaving one out for a BIL to use. We finally got on the road, and were a few miles from home when Youngest realized she forgot her homework. Big deal because she has a big presentation report on a holiday tradition due Tuesday and she needed to finish writing it. So, my vehicle turned around and the DR kept driving. Ironic- don't you think? We were all waiting on him for an hour, and he gets to leave first? Anyhow- got back on the way, and arrived safely, with only 10 minutes to change into dress clothes and get to the dinner- we were about 3 minutes late- not bad! Dinner and program, followed by dancing to a mariachi band- fun time. Finally get all stuff gathered back up at one sister's house and moved into another for the weekend (thanks again Ju- you put up with our clan way too often).

Outpatient dancing up a storm :)

Middle shaking her groove thing with Madison and Elliot

Youngest picking up where she left off last year- only this time her partner is the groom.

Friday, we got up, had kids work on homework, then got dressed and off to the temple for J and W's wedding- Gorgeous couple! After the ceremony, I was getting my shoes on, when a woman came up to me and said- "I am dying to talk to you". Alrighty then- I have no idea who this woman is- but I listen. She doesn't tell me who she is- she asks if I know who she is- it only took me a minute to recognize Favorite Aunt's best friend, Marcee, from high school! So amazing that she recognized me. Crazy small world- she and her husband, who's younger sister cheered with me, are good friends with W's parents! And their daughter is W's best friend and accompanist. Now- the truth is- I most likely wouldn't have recognized her except- a couple of weeks ago I came across her photo on another of Favorite Aunt's friend Paige's facebook- who just happens to know the DR's cousin. Follow that? So- I of course try all day and all night to get sister on the phone so she can talk to Marcee. No luck. That night after the reception and visiting with Marcee and her husband a little more, I get on Facebook to add Marcee- and there are all these pictures someone posted that have Paige in them- and Favorite Aunt from our elementary school. Seriously- what is the deal with old home week for Favorite Aunt? Think maybe she is supposed to get in contact with these friends right now or something?

Anyway- the reception was fun- good food- more dancing- and I completely forgot to take a single picture- although I know Oldest was bugging his siblings by videoing them every time they turned around.

Saturday- in a fit of craziness- I invited the DR to come with me to run our nearly last Christmas errands. Crazy because I don't really like to shop- it is a necessary evil- but I do it marathon style. The DR hates to shop like that. Oh well- we survived. We were also trying to make it back so I could take the girlies to Clara's Tea Party. My niece is dancing as Clara in her ballet company's Nutcracker. She had told us it was at 2:00 so we were hurrying and a few minutes late- but when we got there- It wasn't until 4-6:00! What? I don't even want to admit that prior to shopping I had thrown on a sweater, ran a brush through my hair and called it good- then shopped like crazy in the snow- threw on a skirt to go to the party- without having time to do anything else.

We left and I took the girls to my sister's, hurried over to the mall to mind the DR and try to find myself some new clothes- (NO LUCK- big surprise), hurried back to get the girls for the tea party- only to have the DR call me and tell me his sister had called to let him know they were already running out of food- so needless to say- we didn't make the tea party- and I was really glad there hadn't been someone there to buy the tickets from or I would have wasted the money. There wasn't any point in going clear back across the valley to get cleaned up better- so I went to the ballet in all my snowy shopping, 2nd day hair, glory. But niece did very well, and all the girly cousins and Grandma Bunnie enjoyed it. And I bought another Nutcracker. But!!!! Before you freak out- that brings the total that belong to me up to 7. That's right- 7. All of the remaining 50 or 60 or so, belong to the patients. (The DR didn't really buy that excuse either.)


Sunday we awoke to snow that just got progressively worse- so I finally got a fire lit under the family's rears and we braved the storm to try to make it home. Terrible roads for the first while- then it got better- still snowy but not as treacherous. It took a full hour longer to get home than usual, but we made it.

Then- we had our good neighbor friends over so all the kids and patients could decorate houses. Notice I didn't say gingerbread- because our houses are made of wood- and we reuse them every year. Tons of fun- tons of frosting- tons of candy- good time had by all, I am pretty sure. It is sooooooo much nicer now that nearly all the kids are old enough to have free reign and I am not trying to be three pair of hands all at the same time.

So- I have wasted - I mean- SPENT way more time on here than I should have this morning- so I better get that laundry moving, and the candy remains buried, or something.

Prayers Needed

As many of you are aware, Russia's new rules and requirements for their visas has made it very difficult for missionaries because they have to leave the country, get new visas, then go back in, only to have to leave again in a short time.

This is not the only country that is being difficult right now. Due to the fact that my nephew is supposed to leave for Brazil at the end of the month, I am now aware that the Brazilian consulate has not been signing visas hardly at all since September. If you recall, there was a new temple announced at October General Conference in Fortaleza, Brazil (my nephew's mission). I find the timing rather interesting. Satan isn't too happy about another temple in Brazil is my best guess. Many of the missionaries have ended up in the Provo MTC and being reassigned stateside. A few visas have finally come through, but not as many as needed. There have not been hardly any American missionaries heading to Brazil since September- Outpatient and his whole group came home, but weren't able to be replaced, and this has happened in the other missions as well.

I think it was President Kimball that asked the church membership to pray that countries would open their doors to the missionaries. I think we need to remember this in our prayers, and pray for the powers that be for their hearts to be softened and for the work to go forward.

Tender Mercies Tuesday- Temple

Winter has finally arrived in Small Town. We awoke to measurable snow on Monday, it continued to snow most of the day, and then today was one of those gorgeous snow all day, big giant flakes, softly sifting powder, kind of days, which was great. I listened to Christmas music, wrapped gifts, shoveled the soft powder out of my driveway and sidewalk. Right up until 4:00 for hockey practice and TaVaci. The snow took a break and the sun came out at about 3:30, perfect timing.

Monday the Outpatient traveled home from the land of USU safely after watching someone wreck right behind him, and our UPS man had a tender mercy :). We walked into the house after hockey practice and youngest answered the phone. Some strange man started telling her he had lost something at our house. She was rather confused by this, so she handed the phone off to me. He told me his name and who he was, and asked if I could see any sign out side of sliding. Well of course I could, I have children, there was new snow, so naturally there were slide marks in the driveway. Anyway- he explained that he thought he dropped his cell phone when he made a delivery to my house. He would hang up and call it, and could I please go outside and listen for it. I did, and he did, and nearly at the end of my sidewalk, buried under several inches of snow was the missing cell phone. Happy ending. I was also able to complete our decorating. All five hundred (ok- slight exaggeration) nutcrackers are on display in various rooms of my house- The top of the piano won't even come close to fitting them all anymore.

Today was busy after school with hockey, taking the van into the shop, the DR had presidency meeting, and it was ward temple night. The Outpatient babysat so I could feel okay going and knowing that he would make sure the other patients went to bed somewhat on time. It was neat to see that my VT companion, and two of the sisters we VT were there. I need to do better at serving them. Ironically enough the message for this month :). So...

My tender mercy this week is the temple. What a blessing it can be in our lives. The peace of removing ourselves from the world for just a short period of time is priceless. Eleven days ago, we attended with a nephew for the first time, and I was in only the second session with Outpatient since his first time, and with several of the DR's family. Tonight it was all about ward family as I came to realize how much progress our ward has made since being flung together nearly two years ago. Then, Thursday and Friday will bring more of the DR's family together in the temple as we watch another of our nephews begin his eternal family by being married for time and all eternity.

My wish and prayer for this coming year would be for those siblings and their spouses who have not made it to the temple, to get there. There are holes in the family circle that we need filled. And for those who have been, but not currently choosing that path- to return. To make those things right in their lives and be worthy and willing to join us in the walls of Heavenly Father's house. I would also dearly love to see a couple of our nieces find a worthy young man to take them to the temple as well. And a few nephews to find worthy women to take there. And for those that are currently able to go, to continue to increase our worthiness, and dedication to the principles taught therein.

Perspective of a mother is an interesting thing. I can see eternity in the temple, as members of our families from several generations worship there together. And I want all of the family there.

No Empty Chairs.

The Christmas Box- Angel of Hope

Last night, Middle and Youngest along with our neighbor/friends were asked to perform a number for the Angel of Hope Ceremony here in Small Town. Last night, the 100th such memorial statue was dedicated in Georgia. It was bitter cold, the wind was blowing, but there were over 100 people who sat there at the far corner of the cemetary with a view of the valley and listened to three wonderfully talented young fathers each perform a song, and our small group of kids representing TaVaci. Two mothers who joined the unfortunately not too exclusive club of mourners of lost children spoke briefly along with a recorded message from Richard Paul Evans. The one mother buried her 21 year old daughter just 6 months ago. I am sure the Outpatient must have known her. The other mother was carrying twins and lost one - she named her Hope. At the end of the program, they invited everyone to place a white flower on the Memorial. The Girlie Patients placed one in memory of their cousins Anakin and Chancy.

What a spirit-inviting way to spend a Sabbath evening at Christmas time. It gave me the chance to think and reflect. One family who was heavily involved in the program are friends whose son died in his early teens. He would be almost 30 now- he was a friend of our nephew, and his sisters are friends of the Outpatient- the younger was his partner in the Junior Promanade. Another family who are even more heavily involved lost their son at 16 in a car accident, he was a friend of the Outpatient's, and had played hockey. Another family is in our ward, and they lost their toddler daughter about 1.5 years ago when she drowned. There were many other families represented there and many others in our community. I will say that having faith in the eternal nature of man seems to make a huge difference in the greiving. I am really glad- and although we nearly became frozen popsicles- that we were able to participate.

Youngest is the pink coat, and Middle is the green coat- she sang the second solo. They had not practiced the solos as they do not sing them in the TaVaci program so I think the girls did great.

Weekend Wrap-up

Saturday the Oldest and Middle had hockey games- actually a tournament here in Small Town. They won the first game 8-1, and the second game 7-1. For those keeping track- they still have not lost this year. They tied the first two games of the season and have won every other game. It is going great and the boys on the team have turned into Middle's protectors instead of tormentors. The DR said that almost at the exact same time, three of the boys on the bench turned to him and say- "did you see that guy try to hit Middle" (of course they didn't actually call her Middle) then swear revenge. It is cute to see them take care of her like that. I know- cute and hockey don't really go together- but with our girls, it does.

Then, as soon as they showered, we loaded up and drove out to BIG City for the Company Christmas party. It was nice and we had a good time. We got to see our great niece Madison, whose family has moved to Korea, they had just flown in that day for Nephew Josh's wedding, which we will be attending this coming week.

Sunday, we made it back barely in time to be a little late to church, then the Middle and Youngest participated in the Christmas Box-Angel of Hope program- which was worthy of its own post.

It also decided to snow, so we can start feeling more like it is Christmas.

December Birthdays

Happy Birthday - Anniversary!

DJ

Amy and Aaron

Addie

(Soon to be) Josh and Whitney

David and Cony

Russ

Amy

Chelsi
Dave

Dad A.

Dustin

Teisha

Other Blessings Progress

Cutie babies every where- One more on the way :) We added two nieces and one nephew in 2009- and four of our nieces had/will have babies by the end of the year. Three girls and one boy there also. And we have a nephew's wedding in a week. Family just grows exponentially doesn't it :)

More good news---

Outpatient made it into the leadership program! Hurray for him!

Do You Believe In Miracles?

Miss Elle has had another miracle! They took her back to surgery, looked at her jaw- and guess what? It is perfect! They are bringing her back out of the anesthesia- and she gets to go home! NO SURGERY this time! I don't know whether to laugh or cry- so in typical me fashion- I am doing both!


Thank you, Heavenly Father- so so much for this GIANT tender mercy.

Tomorrow

is the day.

Miss Elle will have her next surgery at PCH at 8:00 am-(in 12 hours). If you are able, please remember her in your prayers, as well as her family. (also for Grandma Bunnie- she is watching Ava Grace!!!!)

Then Outpatient also has an interview shortly after noon, which is very important for his schooling. I have many things to fast and pray about right now, but those are the biggies.

Tender mercy in my nephew going to the temple this past weekend as I took the opportunity to put their names on the prayer rolls.

Tender mercy in getting a snuggle in with the sweetie last Wednesday since it was the DR's family turn for Thanksgiving- but I HAD to have my fix of her sweetness. And the Outpatient was understanding even though he had friends waiting for him.

The Lord blesses us, so very much. Sometimes it just overwhelms me to realize how mindful he is of us, even when we think he isn't answering our prayers. Maybe, just maybe, he knows best.

Dear Miss Elle,
We will be praying for you, and have you in our thoughts. You are in very good hands, even if you think they are just out to get you. Praying that this procedure does what it is intended to do, and you will be safe to breathe all on your own, all the time.

Much Love-
Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins from the Looney Bin-
Oh, and Sophie too.