Saturday, August 27, 2011

Speaking of Events!

My last blog was about events. Then we REALLY had an event !There is nothing quite as memorable as your darling daughter sitting next to you in church and then pitching over in a never before, totally unexpected seizure! It was an event that I had never anticipated in my lifetime and really not what you want to have happen. We spent the rest of the day at the ER. We have since been to get an EEG; no real abnormalities detected and been to a neurologist. We had to make some adjustments to our plans for the next few weeks (we can not leave her unattended) and were feeling a little better about it until Thursday evening when I called her to go with me to run an errand and she didn't respond. When I called again and she didn't respond, I ran up the stairs and to my distress found her on the floor by the couch unconcious (in a post dictal state) and with pillows lodged around her head (freaky how they were configured that way) (there are just two fairly small and lightweight accent pillows on that end of the couch) I did not witness the actual seizure (so unnerving that I didn't hear anything and I was just downstairs doing seminary paperwork) but the post dictal state was very similar to her first seizure (it may have lasted a bit longer. This seizure (from start [my guess] to finish was approximately 6:40 pm to 7:15. We were truly hoping that she would not have a recurrence. She has now been put on anti seizure medication [Keppra 500 mg twice a day] and we will have to consider her as having a seizure disorder. She has been my semi constant companion for 35 years; she will now be my ever constant companion for the foreseeable future as we try to keep her safe and monitored. In an odd twist of events; Nan has for a long time chattered to herself incessantly [we have always felt it was her coping mechanism for the loneliness and isolation that she has felt over the course of her life with her disability] It is a behavior we have aggressively discouraged. She also is a mad dog vacumn-er which can also be annoying. All of a sudden I am encouraging her chatting and any other noise making (vacumning) because I can monitor her from other parts of the house and know she is safe and not seizing! WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Bonjour

Off we went to the lovely country of France. I can't say that I was looking forward to this trip...y'all know me.........and the first day or two was horrific. I must have sworn a thousand times that I was not going to ever leave the country again and that I couldn't stand it and that I HATE overseas flights and that I hate.............well, everything. I do hate overseas flights and when we got to CDG airport, they don't pull up to a gate, they unload you on to buses and transport you to the terminal.....so......... you wait for two hours to leave from the US (overseas flights require early check in) and you sit for hours on the plane and then you wait to disembark and then you ride seemingly endlessly to get to the terminal and then you wait for luggage and then you wait in a line to get a taxi and then the taxi ride to our hotel was THREE HOURS LONG! Hence, the hate language. Fatigued and hungry, you try to navigate the currency and the room and lay down for a rest and decide where to eat. After resting, you can begin to appreciate the beauty of the city called Paris!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

There are Events and then there are EVENTS!

We have had an eventful few weeks and an eventful day. I have been to Michigan in a Penske truck and off to Paris the week after; I returned home to our daughter and her cute baby being here to spend the summer and help us with the dog etc while we traveled; I am off to DC next week and the Caribbean the week after that and then seminary starts and then we head to Michigan again over Labor Day. We have a new Bishop tonight and that is eventful and there are other little events along the way (I hope to blog more about some of these individual items soon)but the thing I wanted to make note of (besides it being Corey and Kerry's birthday today...it really was a fun day 33 years ago when a cute little boy was born on his dad's birthday) Kerry told me this morning that it occurred to him that 40 years ago today he had been baptized. I had forgotten that he was baptized on his 18th birthday and I was impressed with the sense I had in that moment of the magnitude of that event. That is the event among all these events that has had and will continue to have the most lasting influence on the eternal wellness of our family. If he had not chosen the path of baptism, his life and mine and the children that we were blessed with would have an entirely different trajectory and it is a bit frightening to think what it would have been. So there are events and then there are events and as wonderful as the event of my son's birth is/was and as memorable as our little trek to Paris will be for Nan especially and as memorable a day as this will be for our new Bishop Dayhuff, I am most grateful for that event 40 years ago that allowed me to "date only those young men who honor their priesthood" and the influence for good it has had in my life.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Home Sweet Home

The weather is BEAUTIFUL! The azaleas are stunning..there is a ball game on and I am loving the opportunity to spend an evening at home after a week gone and then busy-ness that needed to be attended to. Trip to Utah accomplished and cute Liam and parents visited and now back to seminary and dog and chauffering and funerals and laundry and paperwork and grocery shopping and dentist appointment and much more fun stuff! Not much to say so let's watch Jimmer! (Charles Barkley an idiot!!!!)

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Grateful Hearts

February is heart month according to something I read recently (I think they were referring to cardiac concerns) but my grandkids think of cupids and arrows and all things pink and chocolate and rosy (maybe not so much Johnny) I am once again not a big fan of Valentine's Day-ish kinds of silliness except for of course cutsie stuff for the littles (yes I know, I have holiday issues) but this is what I have been thinking about recently. [Bet ya can't wait.] More than just about anything you can do to show someone you appreciate them and care about them and love them is to express gratitude. We think of gratitude at Thanksgiving time but it is an appropriate expression at Valentine's time as well. I have glimpsed what Father in Heaven means when he tells us there is none against whom his wrath is kindled or 'in nothing doth man aoffend God,... save those who dconfess not his hand in all things...' I think it is a very real part of an expression of love and even though some of those lessons come hard, I hope that I have had that principle sink deeper into my heart these last few weeks and that I can remember the importance of expressing gratitude to those I love. I am kind of lousy at it and being 'not dead yet' I guess I can still work in that direction. So here is a verse I love and haven't ever put in the context of hearts and roses but what is more loving than a Father who delights to shower his children with glory and 'things'....that will bless them?!
And he who receiveth all things with athankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an bhundred fold, yea, more. Happy Heart Month!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Family Photos 2010








My favorite people on the planet!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

My Fam

  • Can I just tell ya how much I adore my fam? Since I am not worried that anyone is going to spend much time reading this, I am just going to be obnoxious and say that I have the world's cutest grandchildren and that I really can't imagine that anything else that one might do in life would be any better than kids and grandkids. I remember that it was hard. I remember that there were days. But the joys of knowing and spending time with such really great people just can't be beat. Liam is a darling little cherub with a happy smile and a silly belly laugh. Coleton is a peaceful little angel with the bluest eyes and the cutest superman stance I ever saw; Cavin says the funniest things and is the funniest kid that looks at you sideways and melts your heart; Caden is mature for his age and clever and full of surprises and quietly always plotting something fun; Ella twirls and skips and runs with grace and ease and flashes her dimples at you; Madi has beautiful hair and a lovely complexion and loves to spend time in the land of make believe and makes you wish you were there with her....ooolala (that's french); and John will forever be my Johnny; sober, careful, obedient, brilliant and curious with a love for books, video games, dinosaurs, Lego's and who manifests a deep concern and care for his sister and his mom and dad. Then there are two darling sons who I am crazy proud of and three lovely daughters who all do hard things and do them with faith and with determination and who nurture and care for the people around them and who are capable and solid and reliable and committed to the task(s) at hand; they have all five of them stuck to hard things and mastered them and held the faith and worked and struggled and persevered knowing that there is much more of that ahead. I am grateful that they honor their marriages (Nan not yet) and that their spouses have sustained them and blessed their lives.I am past grateful that they are faithful and that their spouses have been faithful and support gospel principles and righteous living. So on this 18th day of January, 2011, that is what I am thinking about and what I am grateful for. An entry to begin the year and to record my sense of gratitude for the blessing these kids are to me. Smiles and happy New Year!