Day #365!!!!!!! - This Experience

Expressing daily gratitude through my blog has been a good experience. Thank you to any of you left still reading and taking interest. I feel like one of the best things I have learned from this experience is that there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for - no matter what. As I have counted my blessings I have also come to realize that I could count Joel and each of my children every day of the year. My family means everything to me and I thank Heavenly Father daily for them. I have also come to understand that I could also just as easily write something negative or each day. Imagine the affect it would have had. I really believe that being positive and looking on the bright side can be powerful. Life is hard sometimes, but it doesn't mean we have to react with gloom and bitterness. There is plenty of good to experience and enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day #364 - Mess - taken care of

We have a tree that got weighed down by snow and cracked. Half of the tree's branches came down. It was sad, but also a big job to clean up. Joel and our neighbor took a saw to the fallen branches and piled them up along the side of the house. Because of time issues, Joel got Chris (our neighbor who we pay to mow the lawn) to come and take the branches to the dump. He just finished up today. So grateful we had the help to get the job done.

Day #363 - Lily's feet are improving

First set of casts off for a few minutes. I wish I could show a before picture of her feet. But we never took one.

Before the drama. She did not like the little saw used to take her casts off. We also tried giving her a bath and she went into freak-out mode. :(

Home and happy!

The first set of casts came off today and I was able to see how Lily's feet are improving. They really are looking much better. Lily went for pink casts this time around.

Day #362 - An Arrangement

Joel and I sang a duet in Sacrament Meeting today. It turned out to be a really good experience. Joel talked our friend Gary and a woman in our stake (Sis. Johnson) into working on writing an arrangement of two hymns for us. We now have a hard copy of our idea (and all of their hard work). I feel grateful for all of the time and energy they both offered us so freely.

Day #361 - Re-connecting with friends

Liesl's darling kids

Our family got to spend some time with some dear friends today. We loved re-connecting with Liesl and her family who we haven't seen for over a year. Her girls are so tall and sweet. I enjoyed seeing them and of course spending time with Liesl. She will always be a dear friend. We also stopped by Joel's friend Dana's to see his new baby. Talk about cute! It was kind of interesting to see him 10 years behind Joel in the kid department, having just had his first baby. We can't wait to see him grow in his role as a father.

Day #360 - Helpers

I was sick today. In bed all day. Emily took the two little ones for a few hours. Becca stepped in and helped put the kids to bed. Steph brought dinner over. Thank you everyone!

Day #359 - Lily's Nap

Lily has given up on napping recently. Or you could say that I have quit trying to get her to nap. It became too difficult once she realized she could make herself throw-up. :) So, imagine the pleasant surprise to find her asleep on Lila's shoulder today at noon. She ended up taking a two and a half hour nap on her couch! Nice.

Day #358 - D.I.

Anna has a school program coming up next week and needed a costume by tomorrow!! She is supposed to look like the woman their school was named after. So she needed to look like an older woman from like the 60's. I went to Deseret Industries and found the perfect little outfit for $8. I love being able to take my old stuff I don't want to D.I. It's nice to know that someone else could get use out of things collecting dust at my house. And of course, I love being that person who has a new use for someone else's cast-off item. :) Check her out. She looks pretty cute.

Day #357 - Seating Specialist at Shriners

I appreciate the Seating Specialists at Shriners. They really know what they are doing and they delight in keeping children mobile and comfortable. Lily got a new back for her chair today. The one she had was wider and got a little in the way of her arms as she pushed. It was great to work with them today.

Day #356 - Young Women Helpers

Since I am trying to avoid a break-down, I decided to call the Young Women President and enlist the help of the Young Women in our ward with Lily. I feel like I am not getting much done because she needs more attention. We agreed to have the girls sign up to come in and play with Lily two days a week for one hour. Today was the first day, and I was grateful to be able to feel like she was occupied while I got a few things accomplished. I wish I was a super mom. But until I become that amazing woman/mother I want to be, I am grateful for the support!!

Day #355 - Teachers who prepare so well

Sitting in Sunday School today our teacher mentioned that she was up at 5am finishing preparations for her lesson today. In Relief Society the teacher also referred to the days and weeks spent preparing for her lesson. Sometimes I don't think about all of the work that people put into the great lessons I hear every week in church. Today I feel grateful for those teachers and for all of the work and time they put into being prepared.

Day #354 - Family Pictures

We were scheduled to take family pictures today and as it got closer to the time for our photo shoot the weather got worse and worse. It was snowing like crazy by the time we arrived on temple square to meet the photographer. I was trying not to freak out. It is such a chore to get everyone ready for the picture, I was hopeful that something would work out so that I wouldn't have to go through all of that again. :) Thankfully we found a covered area and got lots of great pictures. Phew! Kongaika Family Picture 2011 - CHECK!

Day #353 - Daddy Daughter Night

Anna and Joel went to the Daddy Daughter party at the church tonight. This is always a great opportunity for the two of them to bond and have some fun together. Sounds like it was a fun night.

Day #352 - Opportunity to teach

Little Joseph asked me a heart-breaking question the other day. He said, "When Lily gets those casts off, will she stand up?". Basically he thought that maybe the casts were fixing her legs so that she could walk. I forget sometimes that he does not fully understand Lily's situation. The two big girls have a pretty good understanding. But up until now I haven't had to explain things to Joseph. I think I handled it fine. We discussed what her casts were for and also talked about the braces we are going to get to help her stand up. I let myself cry about it later. Sometimes I think it's okay to stop and realize what I am dealing with and to acknowledge my feelings. Then I just have to move on and try to be positive.

Day #351 - Eryn

I always find little pictures and writings scattered around the house that the girls create. I have a hard time throwing some away because I love them so much. Eryn just melts my heart with her little scribbles. Here are a few of hers I have found in the last few weeks. She tells me that what look like poems are really lyrics to songs.

Day #350 - A Table

We decided it would be helpful to have a table in the house that Lily could sit up to in her wheelchair. Since she is spending more time in the house in her chair we thought she would enjoy sitting at a table doing fun activities (puzzles, play dough, coloring etc.). Lila helped us borrow a table from her brother's family (Gary) that would work until we found one we wanted to purchase. We have been so grateful for this little table. It was very useful and has already attracted siblings and friends to play. We have now bought a great table from Ikea that is adjustable in height and will work perfectly.

Day #349 - A Walk!

I have been getting a little stressed out lately. I know Lily being in casts shouldn't be that big of a change, but I guess any little thing can easily throw me off balance. :) This must just be an adjustment period. Lily is getting used to the change and so am I. She definitely needs me a little more than usual, so by the time she goes to bed I am spent. Tonight I put everyone to bed and told Joel I was going for a walk to just get out and breathe. It felt really good and definitely helped me relieve some stress. I should do this more often.

Day #348 - Lily's Patient Personality

Since Lily has gotten her casts on, I have been reminded how patient our little girl is. She makes herself content in most any situation. With this new challenge, she has become content to sit more (rather than crawl all over the house) and to use her wheelchair more in the home. She sings a lot to pass time, which brings us all much joy. Here is a little video clip of her singing one of her favorite songs, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf."

Day #347 - Dear Friends

We attended the wedding of a good friend tonight. We are so happy for Chad and his new bride. We were especially grateful to run into dear friends, the Shumways (Eric and Carolyn) as well as their daughter, Heather at the reception. We love them all and feel grateful for their good influences on us.

Day #346 - Lila and The Little Mermaid

We put Lily's casts on right away at Shriners. The idea with casting the feet is that as the wet cast dries the doctor can stretch the foot muscles into proper position. The cast is then kept on for two weeks (at this age) and then changed to new casts and a new stretched position. After a series of three or four casts she should be in good shape (saying our prayers). To work properly, the casts must go up to mid-thigh.

We brought Lily home and texted Lila a picture of her. Lila immediately wanted to come and visit her. She decided to bring Lily's birthday present over early as a "get well" gift: The Little Mermaid (the dvd). Lily has already watched it twice since she brought it over. She is in love with Ariel. :) Thank you Lila for the distraction. Lily's going to need it.

Day #345 - Dr. Sentora

We took Lily in today to have a check-up at Shriners. I was nervous about this appointment because I had to big requests and I hoped I wouldn't have to fight anybody for them. :) Luckily Joel came to back me up.

We waited an hour to see the doctor and in the mean time did an x-ray of Lily's hips (which looked good). Once we finally were able to speak with the doctor, we had him look at her feet. They have been turning in quite a bit lately and the left foot has given us reason for concern. Her club feet were fixed so well as a new baby, it has been a little disappointing to see them going back even with all of the bracing we have been doing. After consulting with Ortho at clinic we both agree that it would be a good idea to aggressively treat the problem (before things get worse). We asked Dr. Sentora if he would be willing to cast her feet again and he immediately said, "Deifinitely. That's a great idea. Why don't we do it right now." I was a little surprised that he wanted to do it and do it right away. But we were happy that he agreed with that course of action. I am also grateful that we can try to avoid surgery through the casting process again.

We talked about scheduling and changing out the casts and they were about to put us on the "club foot clinic track." This means we come in to less busy doctors on days when lots of club foot patients come in to be seen. We have been to this clinic twice and seen two different doctors. I expressed to Dr. Sentora that I do not like seeing the other doctors and we just want to see him. He kindly worked with us on this and freed up his schedule so that Lily could have her casts changed out by him and no one else.

The second request we had was that he write a prescription for long leg braces. Again he was happy to help and will write it up for her as soon as we straiten out her feet. That means that we will be setting her up for those braces (for standing and "walking") in Janurary. We are so excited and very grateful for Dr. Sentora.

Day #339-#344 - Amy's Visit!

Safe Travels - Amy traveled alone with her three kids on four different airplanes going to and from Utah. So grateful for their safe travels without much drama.

Cousin Time - The cousins all had a great time together on this trip. It's always a joy to see how different sets of cousins pair off and play and get along. I love Amy's kids and wish that we saw them more often. Amy's oldest, Aubrey cried the night before they left, because she didn't want to leave. What a sweetheart.I had to include this picture of Eryn as the toothless witch. Isn't she precious?

James - We all enjoyed getting to spend time getting to know little James. He is so handsome and such a sweetie.
Lily wore her costume!! - I didn't spend much on the big kids' costumes this year. But I did kind of go all out on ebay to get Lily this Cookie Monster costume. We wanted Lily to be able to trick or treat as Cookie along side her cousin, Esther as Elmo. Once the costume came home. . . she was freaked out by it. She refused to wear it. Thankfully after a lot of work warming her up to the costume, she finally relented and wore it Halloween night. Thank goodness!

Good Visits - While Amy was here, we had some get-togethers with friends and family. It was nice to see everyone and to visit. Amy's high school friends (Mike, Kahi and Doug and Jen) were great fun to visit with. I loved how easy and enjoyable the conversation was that night.

Spending time with Amy - I loved having Amy here. I love her so much and was sad to see her go. One night while she was here she sat between Joel and I watching "Hawaii 5-O." We had such a nice time together. It reminded me of all of the dates we used to take Amy on when we were teenagers. We loved spending time with her back then and we still love it. Come again Amy!!!

Day #338 - A clean room!

My sister, Amy is coming for a visit tomorrow with her three kids. I used her visit as an excuse to pull our bedroom together. It tends to be a hiding place or a catch-all for papers and laundry and stuff. Thanks to Amy. . . I was able to organize and clean our room!

Day #337 - Mercy

I was reading the promise of the Book of Mormon in Moroni 10 recently and decided to backtrack one verse, to number 3. It says:

"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts."

After reading this verse, I thought I would try to study and ponder the idea of God's Mercy. As I have studied, I have been humbled to realize that the word mercy is all over the scriptures and is always used in relation to God (or as a description of him). I have come to recognize our Heavenly Father as a loving God of mercy. This has gotten me thinking about how He extends mercy to me personally in my own life. I feel humbled by the idea and have recognized so many merciful gifts and "tender mercies" over the years. Becoming aware of mercy as a "God-like" quality has made me want to show mercy more often to others. I am still human and make lots of mistakes, but my hope is that I might soften and change by study and prayer a little at a time.

Day #336 - Same Day Delivery!

My nephew, Ammon is leaving for Peru from the MTC tomorrow. I decided to try and send him a little package at the last minute. Thank goodness for Dick's Market that offers same-day delivery to the MTC. I bought some yummy cookies from one of my favorite cookie places here and added some cards the kids and I made for him and sent them off! Love it.

Day #335 - Bishop

I appreciate our bishop so much. I have really been thinking about how much time he dedicates to our ward and its members. He serves with so much humility and kindness and I have felt personally blessed by his service. I feel inspired as I have seen him quietly fulfill his calling by reaching out to people with great concern and love. A few examples with just our family:

- He visited Eryn and I in the hospital after she had surgery and brought me a pizza and other treats.
- When he found out Eryn couldn't walk on one of her feet after surgery, he brought her some boxes of candy to the house and left them on the door step.
- He sat down with us in our living room and helped us talk through some of our challenges with Eryn's health problems. He gave us compassion and offered help. He also insisted that the Relief Society get involved in supporting us.
- He always announces over the pulpit how much he appreciates the ward choir and how wonderful they are.
- He just recently asked us if we needed to sit down and talk about Lily's needs for next year in the primary.

I am so grateful for Bishop Salmon and I sincerely pray that the lord blesses him for his service.