inspiration alley

I finally made myself move on my other blog.  I can't believe the long, hard battle that I fought with myself over that one.  It is so incredibly hard to put yourself and your thoughts and ideas out there without any idea of who is looking and what they are thinking and how they are judging.  It has been really good for me though.  I am having so much fun, and it is keeping me busy doing things that I love.  It kind of makes the house less empty and the days go quickly, because I feel, at least a little, like I'm interacting with people and keeping my creative energies active instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, which I may or may not have done for the first month of school...
So head on over and check it out and let me know what you think.  And if you want, follow me!  I have one faithful follower so far.  That was quite an exciting moment for me...

http://1nspirationalley.blogspot.com/

hugs and love to all.
Mel

did you know?

Did you know... that if you forget jury duty the penalty is up to 30 days in prison AND a $1000 fine? I'll let you all know how kind the judges here in Logan are after my appointment with one next week. (which I just discovered I have to cancel because of a doctor appt. for Shawnie in Salt Lake)
Care packages in prison are always appreciated.

enduring it well

We had a bit of a rough day on Thursday. Shawnie had an appointment with the orthopedic doctor in Salt Lake to check the plates in her knees to see if they were ready to come out yet. (they're not...) We've been having some problems getting her to sit up straight for a while, so we asked them to do an x ray of her spine. Well, she has always had mild scoliosis, but her curve has shot up to 80% which basically means her ribs on one side are touching her pelvis. They were able to stretch her out and reduce it to 40% which means it's still flexible but the only solution the doctor could give us was fusing her spine and putting in metal rods. She flew out of the room sobbing, and I had a hard time holding it together as well. Her bones are still growing so his recommendation is a 3 month upper body cast called a risser cast this winter. It may take multiple castings, but he's hoping to hold her off of surgery until she's 13 or so. She's had a hard time coming to terms with it and was pretty weepy even through yesterday morning. (I've been weepy as recent as last night...ok, make that this morning...) The cast will mean light anesthesia, a couple of days in the hospital, no showers for 3 months, and a whole new wardrobe. But she's so tough! She knows what she needs, she deals with the frustration, and moves on to the next step.
I am not being so tough. So I took Shawnie's advice and went to the temple yesterday. It's amazing how fast the spirit in the temple can fill you up and calm you down. I got there just in time to have a few minutes to ponder and pray in the waiting room before the session went up. I was feeling absolutely drained, so instead of pulling out the scriptures to read, I just prayed. When I looked up, the man sitting in the row in front of me was reading the scriptures and it was open to Doc. & Cov. 121. My eyes went straight to v.7 and I read down.

7 My (daughters), peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

10 Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job.

I had a hard time getting in control after that beautiful reminder from the Lord. I got the overwhelming impression that was confirmed multiple times during the session that this life is such a small moment, and if I can just help both of my girls to endure it well, they will be exalted and triumph over all these challenges. I felt a little chastized as I read verse 10, because I need to always remember the love and support that we are blessed with from so many people. I know that Heavenly Father has placed each individual in our life to bless our family in different ways and I know we'd never be able to be exalted in the end without these interactions.

So with the support of family and friends, we'll all endure it well, and triumph over this foe.

get a grip

ok, I'm a little slow with the posting. It's not because I'm sitting around drinking cocoa and watching old movies, though. We're out making memories like crazy. I KNOW I should be recording them but lately there just aren't enough hours in a day even to sleep. Shawnie told me the other day to "get a grip". She also told me, "Mom, you need to go to the temple." It was a great reminder to me from a great source.
Maybe by Christmas I'll be caught up....maybe not....

crazy

So I just realized how bad I really am at recording God's hand in our lives. I knew I'd NEVER do it every day. I thought I'd at least be able to handle once a week. Obviously not. We really are so blessed every day. In fact, this week I'm feeling maybe even over blessed. Between my teaching recertification, substitute teaching, teacher appreciation week, Relief Society, yard work, kid's projects, Keith's end-of-the-semester wrapping up of classes he is taking and teaching, grant writing, consulting work and bishopric responsibilities, we're running on very little sleep and a lot of prayers this week. You know it's bad when you have to remind yourself to breathe...
I'll be posting about Sari's birthday soon. Or maybe later. Or maybe next year...
I can't wait for women's conference!