IN THE ARMS OF HIS LOVE

Today Steve gave me this gift.
He cried when he first saw it.
He knew I needed to have it.
He was right.
I cried too.

Caption: In the Arms of His Love

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Today is "Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberence Day"

I thought this gift perfect for this day.

Link: http://www.october15th.com/

FRIENDS

When I arrived in the PICU with Ben yesterday, THIS is what I saw...

A BIG blow-up thingy,
along with THIS and THAT! A big THANK YOU to all my PICU PEEPS! :)

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WAIT...there's more...

The day I came home from my "emergency D&C", this arrived in the mail...

(I LOVE you Kristen!)

and this arrived on my doorstep...

(thanks Lynne)
I feel blessed to have so many good people in my life. They say it takes a village to raise a child...well,

it takes a whole lot more to raise ME!:)

Thanks (from the bottom of my heart) to all those who love me, pray for me and keep my spirits lifted.

I LOVE you guys!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

Join us, won't you?

For a Birthday Celebration.

We're 35!

So kick up your HEELS,

Dance a JIG,

Sing a SONG,

Pull your shorts up HIGH,

Eat some CAKE,
Make some FUNNY FACES,

and Send along some birthday wishes.

*****

How are YOU spending OUR birthday?

(Ben's Blog)

SUFFERING

"The cavity which suffering carves into our souls will one day be the receptacle of joy."

Neil A. Maxwell

TODAY

Did I say I was laughing about my latest drama? Today I'm not. In fact, I've been a bit weepy. Not sure why. Probably those darn hormones. Maybe it's because I'm in pain. Could be that this latest surgery is another reminder of what I've lost. Possibly my pain meds have worn off. All I know is that today I'm not feeling so well. Good thing I have that pint of Ben and Jerry's in my freezer. Thank you for being there Ben, you always know how to make things better Jerry. For that...my heart (and stomach) thanks you.

SERIOUSLY?

Hello my husband, goodbye my husband

(saw him for 15 min. since arriving home Tuesday night)

I really didn't just fall off the face of the earth. I promise you were not left hanging from this continued DRAMA in my life intentionally. You can check back over at Ben's blog for the "rest of the story" (as Paul Harvey would say). Why the delay? Well...I've been incapcitated for the last 48 hours or so. While up at Dartmouth I failed to mention that I too needed to be seen because I was hemorrhaging. They did blood work, gave me an exam and then sent me home because my blood work looked good and there was no sign of infection, etc. Both Ben and I got home from the hospital around 11pm and we both went right to bed. Around 1am I woke up covered in blood. I changed and went right back to bed because I was so tired. Again I woke up an hour later covered in blood again. This time I called my doc. and again she assured me that my blood work looked really good and that I should just keep an eye on things over the next couple of hours or so. Well, things continued to progress and the hemorrhaging seemed to be picking up. At 5am I called her back and she told me to go to the ER. I woke Steve and off we went. By 8am I was told that I needed an emergency D&C due to the continued bleeding. I wanted to be transferred up to Dartmouth but realized that I was too medically fragile to travel 1 1/2 hours away due to the hemorrhaging. They performed the D&C around 9am and kept me overnight because I had lost so much blood and my hematocrit went from 38 to 26 overnight. I had also developed a fever and needed oxygen for some time after the procedure. I arrived home today around noon. Apparently my life hasn't seen enough drama.:) So now I get to recover from yet another procedure for the next few days or so.

Hoo-rah!

OFF TO DARTMOUTH...

I'm off to Dartmouth because Ben's left arm is really swollen - worried about a possible clot. They want him up there now. It might require a hospitalization depending on what they find. I will update from Ben's blog, you can access it by clicking on his picture on the right hand sidebar. Please keep him in your prayers...I'll be in touch.

KALEB'S HEARING

Last week I took Kaleb back to Dartmouth for a hearing test. He was routinely getting these every 3 months or so. Remember that he had surgery back in December of 2007 to fix his hearing problem, but according to his hearing results 3 months after the surgery there was no improvement. We were sad, but happy that Kaleb could finally hear well with his new hearing aid. He's been doing well with it, wore it faithfully to school everyday. I know that it has helped him improve in his daily work. Well...at this latest hearing test we found out that Kaleb's hearing is now within normal limits. We were all shocked. Nobody expected this, not even his own mother. My jaw was on the floor. Their only theory is that his body must have taken longer to heal than normal. My theory? Maybe all that wrestling with his dad knocked things back into place. Whatever the reason we are thrilled! He will have to hold on to his hearing aid "just in case" for about a year. He'll continue to have hearing tests every 3 months and as long as things are stable, he'll be able to donate his hearing aid to their hearing bank. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

ANGELS ON THIS SIDE OF THE VEIL

...Remember the quote about angels from my previous post? Well today I'm going to elaborate a little more on that subject.

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"Not all angels are from the other side of the veil"

(Elder Holland)

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Let me tell you about two of these angels. Their names are Al and Ricky. They own "Al's Auto Shop" in town. They fix my car....a LOT! They never charge me. Okay they do charge me...in cinnamon rolls. They are committed to keeping my car up and running so that I always have transportation for Ben. They LOVE Ben. I LOVE them. Need I remind you of my brake troubles from this past weekend? Well today I brought my car to Al's. It was in the shop all morning. It came out with a new brake line, an oil change, studded snow tires for the upcoming winter (they take care of me like that), a new inspection sticker and rotated tires. I came out with a bill for

...cinnamon rolls.

*****

Guess what I'm making tonight?

"COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT"

(my thoughts from today's General Conference)

"Every day has PEAKS and SHADOWS"

(Elder Wirthlin)
How true this is. Just yesterday (Friday) my life was full of shadows...my husband is in Utah for two weeks, I am mothering a sick child (Benjamin) who has kept me up most of the night every night this week, traveled to see Kaleb's soccer game with Stevie and Ben in tow, only to find out they were playing an hour later than expected. I was due in Massachusetts at 7:30pm and was way off course. Picked up Kayla and loaded our two Pugs on my way down after returning from Kaleb's soccer game only to find out 45 minute into the trip the "low brake fluid" lights came on. HUH? Called my hubby in Utah who informed me to get some brake fluid fast. Pulled into a Shell station where I found the said brake fluid and called the hubby back so he could direct me as to what I was doing. Come to find out (I'm seeming to "find out" a lot, huh?) I couldn't get my hood open due to a minor fender bender about a month ago when I bumped the hitch of a tractor trailor. (silly me) Tractor trailor was fine, my front grill was not. I sat there in the dark, creepy parking lot with my four kids and two dogs in tow struggling to open the dumb hood. During my struggles, a man pulled up in his truck, saw me struggling with the hood, went in to purchase two sodas. When he came back out he observed that I was still struggling, and came over and offered his help.
"Not all angels are from the other side of the veil" (Elder Holland)
I was grateful for the help and for another 15 minutes, with him practically under my car, laying on his back, he was able to open the hood. I thanked him profusely and offered him a "handiwipe" - he declined. Now all I had to do was find where to pour the brake fluid. Apparently I must have looked really pathetic because this guy barely got into his truck only to get back out and walk back over to me and offered his help once again. After about five minutes, we located the spot and I maneuvered the bottle way up under the hood and proceeded to pour the bottle in. Yup. I poured the WHOLE bottle in - it even overflowed a little. Mission accomplished, right? I again offered my helper who had greasy hands a "handiwipe", this time he accepted. I shut my hood, got everyone belted again and continued onto Massachusetts. Almost two hours later I arrived at my parents home where I dropped off the older three and the two dogs and continued on to my friend EP's house. (who by the way, has the coolest place EVER!) 5 minutes into the 10 minute drive my brakes went. Yes...I was brakeless. In the dark. With child in tow. In a strange place. Life couldn't get any more exciting. I guess (according to my hubby - what does HE know?) you don't just pour the WHOLE bottle in - that's a no no. That's why there's a FILL line. (of course...but doesn't he know I was working in the DARK?)
"Don't allow stress to get the better of us...The BEST is yet to COME!" (Elder Perry)
I crawled at a snails pace the rest of the way and finally arrived at EP's. The rest of the night was the PEAK, the BEST TO COME part. We had a blast. My spirits were lifted, my belly was fed and I was surrounded by incredible women.
"The next time you are tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead." (Elder Wirthlin)
Thanks for making me laugh!

That's my sister "daily blessings" on the left, to my right are "smart mama" , "ms. I make my own edible fruit arrangements"," ll", and "the hostest with mostest"

Come what may...and I LOVED it!