Happy Birthday, Trev!

Tall

Responsible

Entertaining

Very organized

Outstanding student

Rarely takes a picture without his mouth being open! 

 

We love you Trev-Man!  Happy Birthday!

 

Sacrament Meeting Talk

Hooray, Hooray...the talk is done today!

I'm grateful that's done...it's always good to check that one off your list.  I felt pretty good about it overall, and as the subject was gratitude I had a lot of time to think of all the many blessings I enjoy.  It's a great exercise to ponder all  you've been given, and you come to realize how truly blessed you are. 

If you'd like to read my talk, you should be able to do so here.

Thankful Thoughts

After 5 months of living in our new ward, we've finally been asked to speak.  The topic: Gratitude.

I've been looking around for the past few days for ideas and thoughts for my talk, and I thought I'd share a couple of the things I've run across that have been "food for thought".

*Don't just count your blessings.  Make your blessings count. 

*Yesterday I went to WalMart.  As I walked through the parking lot I came across a car with a shopping cart with a 24 pack of Diet Coke parked toward the back bumper, and a lady sitting in the front seat of the car.  I said to her "Is this your soda?  Do you need some help putting it in your car?"  She said yes, and it turns out she had some back issues that made it hard for her to get it in her car.  She was very grateful to me for stopping to help.  After I put her soda in her car, she said to me "What's your name?"  I told her Libby, and she said "Thank you, Libby, for your help."  Later that evening as I thought more about that little episode I was touched by the fact that she wanted to personally thank me...not just a generic thank you to a stranger, but a specific thank you to Libby, who had helped her.  For some reason that meant a lot to me.

 *It is not happy people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are happy.

*One of things I am truly grateful for is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is such a blessing to my life.  This past weekend we had Stake Conference and the youth sang for the Sunday meeting.  One of the songs they sang was called "Pilgrim Song", and I think its lyrics are a good representation of how grateful I am for the gospel and the wonderful blessing it is now and eternally.  You can read the lyrics below, and if you want to experience it even more than just reading, you can listen to this song done wonderfully by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir here.

My brethren I have found, a land that doth abound with fruit as sweet as honey

The more I eat I find, the more I am inclined to shout and sing, “Hosanna”

 

Chorus:

My soul doth long to go where I may fully know the glory of my Savior

And as I pass along, I’ll sing the Christian song, I’m going to live forever

 

Perhaps you think me wild, or simple as a child, I am a child of glory

I am born from above, my soul is filled with love, I love to tell the story

 

My soul now sits and sings and practices its wings and contemplates the hour when the Messenger shall say come quit this house of clay and with bright angels tower  

 

 

As I've thought about gratitude over the past few days I've of course thought about all that I am grateful for.  Honestly, it has been completely overwhelming.  I have been give so much, and am so blessed, and I can't even begin to say how wonderful it all is.  So, I guess all that I can do is say

 

THANK YOU.

 
 
 

Day 24--I'm done!

Well, I'm tired of this 30 day blog challenge.  I've hit the point where everything left on the challenge sounds not that thrilling to write about, so I'm done.  Sorry if you wanted to hear about anything left of the list.

I will write though today about a "break through" I have been having this past week.  You know (because I just wrote about it)  how I had gallbladder surgery almost a week ago?  Well, I have been trying really hard to just TAKE CARE OF MYSELF this week.

Now, as I am a woman, you should realize that is pretty amazing actually.  I mean really, what woman do you know who takes care of herself?  It's usually take care of everyone else, right?  But this week I've tried really hard to just take it easy and take care of me, and no one else.

• I am not getting up in the morning with the boys to make either their lunch or their breakfasts (I normally make their lunches one day, breakfast the next.) 
• I have not made dinner (But a huge thank you from the boys who would have had to cook for themselves to everyone else who has made dinner for us!) 
• I had lounged around.  I have watched a lot of TV (I told my hubby I was maybe getting addicted to BYU Tv...but surely that's better than some of the other stuff on TV, right?)
• I have tried really hard not to go out of the house (except for going to get the mail.)

 I have tried hard to take care of me, and I think that's been a really good thing.  I feel pretty healthy, so far there's been no feeling like I've "overdone it" as I try to get back into doing things too soon.  I actually feel as if my batteries have somewhat been "recharged" taking this bit of a break. 

One of the things that I think has been most energizing has been the feeling that it's ok to just take care of myself, I am worth it.  Maybe that's because so often I personally put what everyone else thinks and feels and wants ahead of my own personal self. I feel so obligated to do everything I think I'm supposed to for everyone else and feel guilty if I'm not taking care of that.  But, it's ok to take care of me.  It's ok to let others take care of me.  It's ok.  I am worth it.

I like that feeling!

Day 23--Write about your first trip abroad

I don't know if I remember much about my first trip abroad.  I would have thought abroad specifically meant overseas, which I haven't really been, but according to the dictionary it's just to another country.  So, except for a brief (like 10 minute) trip to Mexico all my trips abroad have been to Canada.

I'm pretty sure I went on a family vacation to Ontario.  I think I even went there for either a school trip or else a church choir trip when I was a teen.  But, honestly, except for knowing that I went to Niagara Falls, that's really about all I remember about going there.   

I am finding that more often, that I don't remember much about my childhood.  I have vague memories here and there, but not so much other times.  Oh well.  I guess then I can make up whatever childhood I want, eh? ;-)

Day 22--Gallbladder surgery

Day 22 is supposed to be something like review your favorite free software, but since I don't have any idea what I'd write about that, why don't I just write about the gallbladder surgery I had yesterday instead?

Thursday afternoon I was helping clean at a neighbor's house.  Jacob called and said he needed to be picked up, so I left the neighbor's house to pick him up.  As I walked down the street towards my house to get the car, I felt what I thought was some gas bubbles in my stomach.  I got Jacob, went back to the neighbors after we got home, and spent about 10-15 more minutes there helping before we were done and I went home.  My tummy was still feeling gassy, and as I folded laundry it started to get worse.  I thought antacids would help, so I took a couple and waited for them to take effect.

They didn't seem to help at all, and the pains continued to get worse.  I tried to lie down, it didn't seem to help.  I stood up, no help.  I rolled in a ball, no help.  I did yoga cat pose, trying to get what I thought was a terrible gas bubble out.  I called Jacob in to pat my back like a baby who needed to burp, nothing helped.  It was terrible!  I spent the next hour to hour and a half trying to get comfortable, to no avail.  By the time Craig got home I was feeling really yucky and told him I needed to be taken to the doctor.  The pain had seemed to settle in the upper right of my abdomen and reading over things on the internet it seemed to indicate that it could be gallbladder issues.

We drove over to the clinic.  It was pretty much a miserable ride, actually, pretty much a miserable night for me.  Nothing I could do would get me comfortable, and I could only stay in one position for a minute or two before I had to change to see if another position helped me feel better, which it didn't.  The doctor listened to my complaint, did a quick check, and then said that I was obviously very uncomfortable and that the area I said was hurting seemed to indicate the gallbladder area.  He thought it would be best to get an ultrasound and see what was up for sure, so away we went to the hospital for that.

In the end they found that I had two large gallstones in my gallbladder, one of which was blocking the neck of the gallbladder, which the ultrasound tech seemed to think was part of why I was hurting so badly.  They sent me home though, because the radiologists who would read the ultrasound needed to make their report to the doctor before anything else could be done.

I went home, and Craig went off to the pharmacy to fill the pain med prescription that they gave me.  The doctor called a little bit later and said he set me up a consultation with a surgeon for the next morning at 9 AM.  After Craig got home and I got some pain meds in me I felt like I could handle waiting until the next morning.

When we visited with the surgeon in the morning he indicated that his normal surgery days were Monday and Thursday, but he could see if there was an available slot at the hospital that day and take care of it that afternoon.  We decided that would probably be the best, so the hospital was called and surgery set up for 4 PM.

Later that afternoon we arrived at the hospital.  I was admitted and they got me all ready for surgery.  I got a lovely lilac gown, some nice white tights, and they attached me to things that squeezed my legs throughout the surgery to prevent blood clots.  They put an IV in (which I HATE!  IVs are always the worse.  They NEVER feel comfortable to me.), and we waited around until the operating room cleared and they could wheel me in.

When I was in the operating room they got me ready to go, and I really remember only about 3 things before I was fast asleep.  The next thing I knew the nurse was trying to wake me up, which was awful!  You know how it feels when you try to take a nap and you wake up twice as groggy?  That was how I was feeling, but luckily my head seemed to clear pretty quickly. 

The nurse brought me some Sprite and some crackers (both graham and saltine) which I thoroughly enjoyed as I hadn't eaten since the night before.  Before too long I was itching to get up and move, and we took a little walk and she told me that I seemed to be doing well enough that I could go home if I wanted.  I then got dressed back in my regular clothes and Craig took me home.

I came home with a lovely souvenir, one of the two gallstones that was in me!  I slept fairly well last night, although today I am definitely a bit more uncomfortable than I was last night right after the surgery.  I am still doing pretty well, though, and I am hoping to definitely be on the mend!