We are FREE!

 

Mandy is now 6 weeks out of surgery.  We went back to the surgeon on Friday to see how that was going.  She is starting to heal and they have taken the cast off (sort of, she didn't have a permanent cast) and she is now supposed to start putting weight on her leg and walking with the walker more.  It has been a long 6 weeks of not going anywhere unless Glenn or Kathie were here.  We have done many things to keep ourselves occupied.  Here she is sleeping in her chair.

                     Many, many crafts

Making cookies

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also had to keep Nathan busy which is a bit harder.  We did a chapter on Space and built air crafts that float and checked out our International Space Station and Space Camp in Alabama.  Here is a couple of the pictures of Nathan and his rocket that floats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We also have started back on piano and when Aurora came to visit she joined Nathan on the piano bench.

 

 

 

 

Aurora and Nathan have a special relationship.  I think she thinks he is her brother and he loves her too.

Mandy has successfully gotten into the car by herself and so we are free!  It is nice to be able to go to the car and leave the farm even though we love it here!

A leaning period

The last year has been a learning period for me as intense as the period of time before we adopted Nathan.  We have learned  a great deal about ourselves and what we can and can not do.  We have learned about living in the country and how to work with nature and how to raise and slaughter animals. 

I have  been disappointed in myself many times as I haven't been able to count on my body to function the way I wanted it to and I am learning to accept help from others.  That has always been hard for me to do.  Lately with Mandy's broken leg I have also come to realize how hard it is to live with physical challenges.  Mandy is in a wheelchair for several weeks more and I can see how hard it is to get around to do any kind of business or even your own home.  We are lucky that we have fairly wide halls in our house and we can wheel her around certain areas.  Unfortunately, the bathroom is one of the areas that isn't accessible.  We went down to NASA last week and then to Galveston.  While we could  wheel her in to the building, Mandy couldn't do any of the experiments or go into the play area.  She couldn't see over the counters to see what was going on.  When we went around to the outside areas in a tram, they did have an area to load and unload the wheelchair but it was time consuming and the driver sometimes forgot to come to the back and get her.  She couldn't see into the area's because the windows were too high.   When we went to Galveston we checked into the hotel and they could clearly see that Mandy was in a wheelchair.  Being new to the wheelchair circumstance I didn't think about telling them we needed a wheelchair friendly room.  They sent us to one room and I couldn't get her into the area where the bathroom was.  I called and they sent me to another room.  It was the exact room except flipped and we still couldn't go beyond the front area.  I called and they couldn't understand and so they sent two people up and they redid the room so that we could get through.  By the way, we were across the hall and next door to  handicapped rooms. I'm not complaining but have a better understanding of the plight of the handicapped.  Also, I now have greater appreciation for the caretakers.  We have to lift Mandy into the car, into the shower, etc.  It takes a lot of strength to do that for a child, I can imagine how hard it would be for an adult.

Nathan was  in the hospital last week because of infected lymph nodes, we think.  It was frustrating to have Nathan in the hospital for a week and still not have a diagnosis.  Oh, on another topic while in the hospital I read a book that was enlightening, I think.  For the people that know me best, they know that I read a book many years ago that affected me.  It was by a British author named Nevil Shute and was about a group of English women and children caught in the taking of Malaysia in World War 11 and how they managed over several years.  I found a paperback book by him at the hospital and read it while there.  It was called What happened to the Corbetts and was very interesting.  I recommend reading it.  It is fairly short and an easy read.  He wrote it in 1938 before England joined in the war.  He wrote it to prepare the English for what could happen to their country and many people were mad at him because of the contents.  By the way, it was, as the English say, spot on. 

We are home, Mandy is better but like I said still in the wheelchair for at least two more weeks and Nathan is feeling much better but still has the hard knot on his neck.  We go back to our Pediatrician on Tuesday and then follow up with the ENT doctor on Thursday/Friday time period.  Probably Friday as Glenn will be back.  I am very thankful that both of our children are better and pray they will recover quickly.  Also, I would like to thank everyone for all of the help we have received.

Mandy update

We are home and Mandy is doing very well unless she has to use her walker.  I will probably never get a picture of her and her walker as it is a team effort with many tears and screaming for her to use it.  The only reason we need to use it is the wheelchair will not go through the bath room door and so she has to walk to and from the toilet.

Mandy is smiling and waving here.  Shelly and the girls brought over the balloons and Ben and Asia sent the cutest cookie bouquet.  It is very bright and colorful and the cookies are wonderful. I'll try to get a picture before all of the pictures are gone.  Besides the balloons, Jessi drew a wonderful picture and Sammi made her a necklace with the most wonderful card. 

Thank you everyone for helping and loving our Mandy.

A day or so late and a dollar short

On Wednesday I went up to the hospital to see Gideon and Asia, of course and took pictures and even as late at 7:45 pm was going to post pictures of Gideon for everyone to see.  Unfortunately, Mandy fell on the trampoline and broke her femur and so we rushed to the hospital and on Thursday she was operated on.  Here are the pictures I took - even though I know others have posted pictures also.

Asia, Gideon and Aurora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren't I just gorgeous?

I'm long too!

 

 

 

 

Nathan and Gideon.  Nathan loves babies!

Maybe not the best lighting but Aurora was standing in the window of the hospital room and I had to have a picture.

 

Saturday was a farm day! Warning a Y rating for Yucky!

Every Saturday we usually have something to do on the farm but this Saturday was all day long.  First thing in the morning, we started butchering our meat chickens.   In the Spring we bought 25 fluffy yellow chickens, 15 of them were classified as meat chickens - raised only for their being butchered.  The other 10 were egg chickens.

The time has come to butcher the chickens and put them in the freezer.  I took some pictures but I think my ISB cable is bad as they won't upload from the camera.  I am in the process of getting a new cable.  First, Glenn and Nathan dispatched the chickens, beheaded them and then hung them up to bleed.  It is necessary for them to bleed before you start cleaning them. 

Mandy's job was too watch the hanging chickens while Glenn went and got another one and match sure the cats or other animals didn't have a easy dinner.  She also had the hose and enjoyed spraying the fence.  She also helped me pluck the chickens.

 

Next, we had boiling water and they were dunked quickly into the water.  It loosens the feathers and they come off easily.  Then you finish the job by cutting off the feet, cleaning out the insides, washing them and then packaging them to be put in the freezer.  We now have 10 cleaned chickens in the freezer.  Next week, we will finish the last 4 (one died earlier) and we will be finished.  We will not repeat this process as it is not price/time efficient but it has been an experience.  We now know how to raise a chicken, gather her eggs and when the time comes to kill her and place her in the freezer. 

On to our next farm job - we are still trying to finish up the wood piles from Hurricane Ike.  After the 10 trees were cut down and piled up, it was too dry to burn and so we had to wait.  Then Spring baseball game and we didn't have any free weekends and so we are now trying to finish up all of this wood.  It is unbelievable to me how long it takes to burn a pile of wood.  We have this large tree that fell some time ago and has been standing for awhile and so we piled some of the wood close to it and tried to burn the whole thing.  After a week it is still smoking.  We think it is still hot inside and the tree is acting like a chimney.  I drove the tractor yesterday and Glenn went around and loaded more logs and we compiled a couple of stacks into one and will burn them again next week.  It was also very hot yesterday. 

Who would have thought several years ago that we would be killing chickens and driving tractors and building fences.  I will go back and add pictures when I get my new cable.

Just one person

Today, the 2nd counselor in Primary, I am the 1st counselor had sharing time.  Today was the 5th Sunday and so she decided to talk about the 4th Article of Faith since that is the one we are working on.

She actually talked about the difference one person can make.  She spoke about her great-Grandmother, who was a Comanche Indian.  Her mother died young and the Grandmother and her siblings went to live with a uncle and aunt.  The aunt was a member and the children converted which led to many conversions and on down to today and Kylie standing in Primary.  She also told a story about her Sister-in-law that is from Astonia - one of the small countries split off when  Russia split up.  The sister-in-laws Mother was finally free to go to church and set out to find one.  She found the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that led to many people  joining the church including two Russian orphans that were adopted by her family.

That brought me, of course, to us and the Missionaries that taught us.  Elder Thielet was a convert himself - he joined with his sister when he was an older teenager - and how his service let to so many others.  I thought about Donna and about Nathan and Mandy and about Cameron, Katherine, Nathan, Mandy, David and Victoria who wouldn't be here if our decisions in life had been different.

Absolutely incredible miracles.I think about the strong, strong personalities that Heavenly Father has sent us, either by birth or adoption and the missionaries they will become if  and only if we do out part.  I do believe that it takes a village to raise a child but we can choose that village and who is in it.

Lastly, I am just thankful for all of you. Love you all.

Monday, May 18th

 

On Monday we set out to conquer the Magic Kingdom, which is what most of us think is DisneyWorld (It actually consists of 4 parks and several really cool water parks).  It was my birthday and Disney's "thing" for this year is your birthday is free!  Well, we had actually already bought tickets and so we had a choice of a $75.00 Disney card or free Fastpasses for everyone.  We choice the gift card.

Actually as I look at the pictures I left many wonderful pictures out of Epcot so, I am just going to put my favorites here.

 

  A magic carpet ride in between showers.

 

Here we go on a jungle cruise.

 

Our cruise guy was slightly entertaining.

 

 

 

 

 

Swiss Family Robinson Tree house - I'd live there!

 

 

Mandy walking from one room to the other high in the tree house.

 

 

The outside cooking area.

                                          Cinderella's Castle

One of Nathan's favorite rides.  The kids drive the track. 

Mandy enjoyed the track also.

 

The pictures are scrambled so here is the entrance to Epcot.  Nathan kept saying look for the golf ball!

 

 

 

 

 

  Mandy and I found the fairy garden and butterfly hatchery while Glenn and Nathan went to ride something.  Mandy loved all of the flowers and the fairy's that were in the background. There is Tinkerbell!

I'm not sure what the blue fairies name is.  The gardens were very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Butterflies in flower and on wing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and last for today- Princess Mandy and Minnie Mouse

 

 

More tomorrow.

Blessings

 

I was sitting in a theater in Walt Disney World last week and was very humbled and in awe of the fabulous blessings that Heavenly Father has given us.  First, of course, is our awesome family and friends.  They are absolutely the best and our church family is great too.  We have had the incredible opportunity to see and experience so many places and cultures in our life times and I am very thankful for these experiences.

Walt Disney World is an incredibly well thought out experience.  Everything is done with the utmost care for children and families.  Saturday, May 16th we went to Hollywood Studios.  It is vignettes of many different Disney stories put to action.  There is Toy Story, The little mermaid - which has awesome special effects to the point that they spray you with water and you feel like you are literally "under the sea", and many others.  The grounds are amazing.

                    Wow, Mickey was there to greet us.  We were afraid Nathan   would be afraid of the characters but he did well except with Mike Wysoski (??) from Monsters, Inc.

 

  The magicians hat was huge, our family is dwarfed by the hat in the bottom of the picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It may be hard to see but that is C3PO talking to the other robot (I have forgotten his name). We were waiting in line for Star Tours where you rode a Star Cruiser to the Moon of Endor.  It was quite thrilling.  The wait to ride was made quicker by the scenes from the movies in real size and you had robots fixing other robots, assembly line robot making, etc.  You even had a damaged cruiser.  We are going to have to find a copy of Star Wars as Nathan had a million questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were for Andrew and Jacob!  They were actual car and truck.

 

Remember the movie Honey, I shrunk the Kids?  They had this fantastic playground and you were the size of ants.  It was awesome!

 

 

 

    Mandy refused to climb on to the ant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am glad the bee wasn't real.

 

 

 

 

 

under the grass

 

Mandy and Nathan surrounded by the "back yard"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Saturday was the only day that

 

Saturday was our only sunny day and we stopped on the street to have some refreshing ice cream.More tomorrow on our week long adventure in sunny (not) Florida.