Day #260 - Time with my sisters

Went to the movie "The Help" with my sisters late last night. We all read the book and loved it. So seeing the movie together was a treat.

Day #259 - Private Swim Lessons

Anna has had some anxiety about swimming. She loves to swim for fun, but when it comes to swim lessons and learning proper technique, she has become very upset and frustrated. Last year I had to push her into taking lessons and forced her to go. They went okay, but she didn't make much progress. Bringing up the need for lessons again this year made her eyes immediately tear up. Learning to breathe properly has been a struggle for her and she just did not want to deal with it. As a solution we have signed Anna up for some private swim lessons with a very patient instructor and she has thrived!! I am so grateful that we were able to get her the help she needed and the support to work through her fears.

Day #258 - Family Time (for Mon. Aug. 8th. . . I'm still catching up)

We went bowling tonight for Family Home Evening. Surprisingly it is rare for us to do something like this alone without another family or a tag along friend. So I was grateful for the chance to have some fun with just us. Eryn beat us all and helped Anna and the other kids line up the bowling stand just right for their turns. Jojo made all kinds of funny moves while trying to line his ball up just right - eying the pins and lining his arm up with one eye closed. Anna was a good sport (not always the case). Lily really enjoyed playing. She loves to be in places where she can wander around in her wheelchair. She also rolls up to the ball on the stander and pushes it off toward the pins.

Another funny moment with Lily in public: One of the women who works in the bowling alley quietly watched Lily then brought her some popcorn for free as a gift. These kind of things are happening more frequently. It's not offensive to me. I am sure that people have good intentions, but it's sooooo unnecessary and kind of feels ridiculous.

Day #257 - Church

I love going to church. I really look forward to participating in the meetings and partaking of the spirit that is there. I love associating with our ward members and learning from them! I am also so grateful for my kids teachers in the Primary. Each child comes home having learned something, with a happy feeling and a little paper in their hand about something they have learned.

Day #256 - Warm Sunny Days

I was complaining this morning about how hot it is. It has been really warm lately. But seriously. . . I have to stop complaining! I really LOVE the sunshine and all of the things that come with it: the green trees, seeing people walking out in the streets, the colorful flowers, swimming, etc. etc. I love it and as much as I enjoy the fall, I hate to say goodbye to the warm summer.

Day #255 - Anna and Spina Bifida Clinic

I took Anna with me to Lily's Spina Bifida Clinic appointment today. I thought it would be good for her to see what Clinic is like. This is an all morning hospital visit where Lily is seen by a team of experts. Lily was pretty antsy while I talked with each specialist (who wouldn't be after three hours??). So it was really nice to have Anna there. She entertained Lily and followed her up and down the hall between dr. visits. After the long morning, I treated Anna to lunch at the hospital cafeteria afterward (where we met up with one of our favorite SB friends, Jaylee).

A funny thing happened while we were getting our food in the cafeteria. A woman watched Anna and Lily for a while, then she approached them. She commented on how cute Lily was in her wheelchair and then she told Anna what a good big sister she was and handed her a handful of change. Ha ha ha. I totally agree. Anna is a great big sister. The fist full of quarters just cracked me up, though. :)

Update on Lily: Lily is doing very well. All of her specialists were pretty positive about her progress. The concerns right now are:

- getting her on a good bowel program so that we can get her to poop once a day at the same time and keep her from having accidents (I am not too excited about working on this)

- her left foot is turning in pretty bad. We are considering re-casting it in the future.

- Lily's weight gain is really slow-going. We are still trying to get help with her eating issues.

Outside of these issues, Lily is doing great! Physically she is strong and very mobile. Her shunt appears to be working properly and her bladder is in good shape at this point. No high pressures, no reflux, no serious kidney issues so far. I do not take these non-issues for granted! I know Lily is lucky not to have too many complications at this time.

Day #254 - Ileina

Our niece Ileina made our summer extra-special this year! We were able to have her sleep over once a week then keep her for the following full day. She is an only child, so our noise and chaos was a little hard on her, but overall it was a great experience. The kids watched movies, played make-believe, went swimming, performed stuffed animal weddings, drew pictures, danced hula, played games, and much much more together. Leina even got to attend a summer day camp with Eryn while she was here with us. When we look back on this summer in the future, we will all remember it as the Ileina summer. :) Thanks to her parents for allowing us to have her!

Day #253 - Visit from Alissa

My cousin Alissa and her mom made a special effort while she was here visiting to come and see me today. It was so great to spend time together. Alissa is one of my favorite people in the world. She is beautiful, kind, thoughtful, smart and so easy-going. I can't say enough good things about her! I appreciate that she took the time to come and see me. It was great to catch up. :)

Day #252 - Necklace Story

Here I am with Marian and her mom following a Christmas Concert with the Tabernacle Choir.

This is the necklace in Spanish. The words are from the 13th Article of Faith.

The Young Women from Marian's ward in Guatemala.

This past Christmas, the Alvarado family came to visit us from Guatemala. Their daughter, Marian had a wonderful time getting to know the youth in our ward while she was here. The Young Women in our ward were very sweet and included her in a lot of activities and holiday parties as well as their regular Sunday meetings. After she and her family returned home some of our leaders had the idea to friendship her ward Young Women. They made necklaces for every one of the girls in Marian's YW group and mailed them with a picture and a letter. Just recently I got a response from the youth in Guatemala. They LOVED the necklaces and have appreciated the friendship offered. They posted our YW picture on their bulletin board and sent a picture of themselves wearing the necklaces.

I am so thankful for our YW leaders who followed inspiration to do this little project. Having served in Guatemala myself, I know how much this simple act of kindness means to those girls.

Day #251 - Old Friends

Some old friends, Doug and Jen just moved five minutes away from us! It feels so great to have them close by! Joel was able to help them unload boxes and furniture into their home today. We are looking forward to seeing them more frequently!