Home Sweet Home

I've been suffering quietly from a spiritual drought lately. Feeling somewhat numb, and if I'm honest with myself it's because a portion of my testimony (the part where you believe God loves and knows you individually and cares about you) is struggling. Add a dash of depression to it (not sure which preceded the other) and it's been a personal struggle. A friend from high school asked me a few months ago if I'd be interested in volunteering at TOFW in exchange for a free ticket. I thought "no big deal" but in the end kind of wished I had just purchased my own ticket so I could have been less busy during the event, but volunteering was my commitment to go, and maybe it wouldn't have happened otherwise. It was really good for me, something I really needed. Harmony & Karen, fellow volunteers (Harmony was the one who roped me into volunteering) My good friend Kari had a ticket given to her by her husband but didn't have anyone to go with, so...

This little girl adds so much spice and sweetness to our life! Daisy I love watching you learn and copy your older siblings. It's so fun to see you make new expressions or use new words! You are talking so much! You still take naps like a champ and are a perfect little sleeper at night. One of the blessings of having older and younger children and seeing the love you have for your older siblings Brighton & Adaira (Dale is another story but hopefully you two are friends when you are older!). You absolutely adore Brighton and I love seeing the way he is so tender and loving toward you. Adaira loves to play with you and mother you, but you don't always want her help. You have learned a lot of rascal behaviors from your older brother! I've been pulling you off the countertops for six months now! You can knocked over and broken our candlesticks several times (yay for super glue!) and you also push the chair to the fridge so you can get in and raid for food. What can ...

Picked up Dale from his OT appointment and his therapist sighed with a smile and said "Wow. He has got so much energy!" and proceeded to explain to me how Dale's energy is as if his brain was strapped to a bull. He pushed him for 40 minutes straight before Dale paused and asked for a drink of water (and Dale didn't even touch his breakfast this morning). Therapist said he has high energy kids in t herapy but Dale is the most energetic he has worked with. On the plus side he says that even with that energy, Dale's focus is still right on and cognitively he is sharp. He says Dale is probably behind on his fine motor skills because "it's hard to learn to read or draw when you are strapped to a bull". It's a fine perspective for me to put things in. Rather than getting exacerbated by his destructive behavior and wish he were "better behaved," I have to look at Dale as needing sensory input so he can calm down. He is responding so...

 WHATEVER you call it, we just have to catch up! Justin was the assistant scout leader and convinced a nervous Brighton to come along on one of their overnight campouts (I think it was an effort to relieve me at home from at least 1of our kids). Brighton was nervous about going with the older boys, but he ended up having a good time. Justin said one of the boys (the other leader's son) reached out to Brighton and was really nice to him. I'm glad to see he got in and observed the dinner action. I think this is a great picture of this handsome boy, GOODNESS look at that beautiful face!  Halloween For Halloween we have a SWAT officer, a Fireman, Egyptian princes, and a hula girl. All dressed up for a night out with our friends the Clarks. Daisy and Chase getting a lift and eating as much candy as they can after a long night of walking We recently found out these good friends of ours will be moving to UT this June, sad news indeed. Their kids are ...