Two Tragedies Side by Side

My last post was of the fire at a friend's house and the resulting loss of their dog who crawled to a back bathroom in an attempt to flee and died there. I've spoken to one of the family members this morning and their faith and strength is amazing to me. Jay is going over to help salvage things tonight after work. Then I checked my e-mail and found their next door neighbor, another friend, lost their ill, infant grandson yesterday. It's just heart-wrenching, but again, their faith is so great and I am left to wonder how anyone without a spiritual support system can cope with such challenges, such great loss. Both of these families have been huge support systems to us during our unemployment and financial struggles. I can't imagine having NOT had them there. Now I just hope we can return this precious service in their times of need.

The grandson, Dexter, was only 3 months old and had struggled since birth. It's remarkable to me what a blessing such a short life can be in the lives of those around him, but it is so clear reading his mother's blog and listening to his grandmother speak about him that he has been that and so much more. Our family sends prayers of comfort to these friends and hope we are able to help in some way, just as we have been helped and have seen them help others.

Heartbreaking

Some good friends of ours are in Utah awaiting the arrival of another grandchild. While they were gone, their house caught on fire and their youngest son barely made it out. They lost their dog, their son's actually, who was a big, lovable Saint Bernard in this fire. And, of course, irreplaceable personal items that chronicle their lives. My heart is breaking for them, especially because I can relate to this particular loss. When I was 14 years old, our home burned to the ground while we were on vacation. My own brother was the only one home, home from college, and barely made it out himself before there was an explosion. Thankfully, our pets survived, but nothing was left but the ends of the trailer we lived in. It was a hard thing to experience as a child, but my parents lost a good deal of their lives in it - antiques, Hummels and oil paintings from Germany, china from their wedding. And this was their 2nd fire in their life together. They'd had another shortly after they were married. One thing that was positive was that a box of photos and slides had been stored in a back closet and was salvagable.

I don't know how severe our friend's loss is, but the house is not habitable at the moment. My husband will be helping their sons move what they can salvage out of the house tomorrow night. I know, and I know they know, that the important thing is that their son is safe, but that does not remove the pain of the loss of a lifetime of personal items. I just wish there was something I could do for them. Holding it in all day, now that the house is quiet, I've been able to let out the tears I've been pushing away all day - for the loss of their sweet, lovable dog and all the material things dear to their hearts, but especially for their son who despite this clearly being an accident, was cooking dinner and fell asleep and I'm sure is feeling a great deal of guilt.

The 2009 Spring Blizzard!!!!!!

Yeah, not so much. Okay, we got a lot of snow, but a blizzard? Not really. Still, they closed the schools yesterday and today which means two things: We're behaving like southerners when they get a rare snowstorm of a quarter of an inch and it shuts down the whole state and lots of mom's pulling their hair out for two days as they cope with their bored children. Thankfully, I only have one and she's really happy these days to read, watch a few movies, go make a snowman or two and play on the computer. As for the schools closing down, it's the meteorologists fault. They said this was going to be a big one.

It is still lightly snowing. We have some movies we checked out from the library. We do have maybe a foot of snow and it's slick out. All in all, it's a descent, much needed snowstorm because we've hardly had any snow at our lower elevation (the mountains have still scored well) and we needed the moisture. Our dog, Daisy, has enjoyed romping in it and I'm planning to curl up with a book for a while today, then clean house later (or tomorrow), make some homemade bread and drink some hot cocoa. I love days like this.

Okay, now for the biggie. My baby got her hair cut. Yep, she cut her waist long hair - and donated it to Locks of Love: http://www.locksoflove.org/donate.html

I'm very proud of her. She is giving a wonderful gift to some children who have lost their hair due to cancer treatments. She came up with this idea all on her own and she looks FANTASTIC with shorter hair (shoulder length). My friend who cut her hair straightened it so it would look very stylish as she left the place on Wednesday, but it's gorgeous natural, too. It's wavy/curly and she justs looks amazing! So here's the treat, some pics of the whole process (sorry the order isn't any better but I haven't gotten the hang of it yet, I guess:

Hey, Day 2 And I Am Posting

I am grateful for:

1. A wonderful Sacrament meeting that left my spirit feeling full.

2. Finding out a friend at church is a daredevil, science experimenting, crazy man.

3. How happy Rachel has been lately and how she's really come a long way in controlling her Miss Smarty Pants stuff.

4. This Spring day, not hot, just beautiful out.

5. This video which is cute and reminded me I should use the term "smarty pants dance" more often. That's use the term, not do the dance:

Hahahaha - You'll Post Daily?!?!!??!

Life is so rarely what we anticipate. Well, at least my life rarely is. And I find myself feeling very busy these days. Getting into the swing of working again, even though it's only 6 & 1/2 hours three days a week, and squeezing in everything else has kept me hopping. On Mondays after work, I head right to Rachel's school to mentor the writing club along with two other parents. We come home, quickly do homework and dinner and then head out for swim team practice. On Tuesday I volunteer there making copies for 2-3 hours, then come home and run any errands I need to, work on my book as much as I can and pick the house up as needed - or not. Yeah, that last one hasn't been a priority for a while. On Wednesday I come straight from work to pick up Rachel, head home and we do homework and dinner and then get her off to Young Women's. On Thursdays, I usually do as much writing as I can, pick up the house, do laundry. Rachel is at Newspaper on Thursdays, so I have an extra 50 minutes to get stuff done. On Fridays I rush from work to pick up Rachel, squeeze in any homework she has and then we head off to swim team practice again, an hour earlier than on Mondays. Saturdays are for cleaning and more laundry and whatever else comes up. Sundays, of course, I rest as I can and go to church. Amid all this, I'm trying to do a Family Home Evening every week, usually on Sunday's after church because it's the best time for us, encouraging us to read scriptures daily as a family - this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't - let a dear neighbor who is suffering from cancer and going through chemo right now know that we love her and take some homemade bread and meals in now and then, fulfill my church responsibilities (I'm the building scheduler and a visiting teacher supervisor - neither takes a great deal of time, but then I don't have much of that these days) and do my own visiting teacher. In between all that, with all my free time - meh - I try to stay in touch with my mother who recently had hip surgery following a fall and a break. I don't talk to my dad much because his dementia is so bad he can't really follow a conversation, let alone one on the phone. I try to blog when I can - or when I really NEED to. I try to be engaged with a high maintenance husband who despite having a temporary full-time job and a 2-nights-a-week part-time one still has enough time to be....well, high maintenance. I try to be there, always, for my not so high maintenance, remarkable, sweet and maturing daughter, but I find that easy because she consistently fills my heart. Somehow, amid all this, I find time for some TV - LOL. But I have to be honest that I'm glad two of my shows are having their series finales in the next two weeks. I've told Jay I don't plan on replacing them because I'd like to watch a LOT LESS TV. Oh, and my boss told me next year they will likely want me full time (we're bringing in some big bucks, which is what we're supposed to be doing). If we need me to work full time, I will, but I'd rather just add one more day and work Monday through Thursday. Then I have a day to get all the extra stuff done. And, oh I pray and hope I am done with my book by then and it's either been published (and paid off our debt) or is on its way to being published (and still pay off our debt). Of course, I do have some minor ideas floating around in my head for another book or two or three.

Sounds busy when I put it all down but honestly, I do have free time - which I should be using to work out. Yeah, I'll get there, too. I really need to.

So now I'm off to a craft fair at the local high school. Just window shopping for me, but I've never been before and I want to see what it's like. Here's to being grateful for:

1. A full life

2. An amazing child whom I can't even say enough about

3. Good friends who love me and support me emotionally

4. A Bishop who has had the tenacity to remind me God loves me and that I should not fear the future. My Heavenly Father will NEVER abandon me.

5. A husband finally willing to acknowledge his demons and begin to be healed with whatever help is necessary.

Finding Gratitude

Finding gratitude in every day should be easy. So much in a day is a gift to us, all that we have, all that we can become. Finding 5 things each day should be easy. We shall see. It's my experiment. My attempt to remind myself that although things can be difficult, focusing on the good, the blessings, the things to be grateful for, is the way to look at every day and I will find my life filled with optimism, happiness, gifts. Tomorrow, I will post, making Monday my first day.

Tongan's and The Biggest Loser

Okay, I watch this show obsessively every season. I love seeing the transitions, the improvements and how far they can go from these terribly overweight people (whom I am one of) to these much healthier, thinner, happier beings. I can relate so much to many of them and admire their courage to show the world something they likely rarely look at in the mirror themselves.

This season, there are two men from Tonga on the show. When the first episode aired, Jay said, "I bet they're LDS" - translation for my non-member friends: Mormon. I said maybe, but they might not be. Just being Tongan doesn't mean you're LDS, though the island is small and mostly LDS. Then the episode where they got letters from home came on and in the Tongan's letters from their wives, both said, "eternal wife" or "eternal companion" and we knew. I high-fived Jay for being right - though it had been becoming more and more obvious by their behaviors (and one of them was hanging upside down and the leg of his garment peeked out one episode). Anyway, we already loved the two of them and that sealed the deal. Just because you know their morals, there is a comfort level, a knowing that they understand and agree with your religious views. I don't know how else to explain it. That's not to say that you don't have friends that give that to you and are not members - I do. And it's not to say that there are no bad or inappropriate Mormons out there - sadly, there are. And it's not to say that I don't slip up now and then and not live up to the promises or expectations I have made or should keep.

I think we fell in love with the Polynesian people when we became friends with Kanoe and Mark. Kanoe is Hawaiian and we love their family like they are part of ours. When they moved to Texas, it was really hard to see them go because we'd spent every weekend at their house or they at ours. Their son was like a sibling to Rachel and we still miss them very much. We learned a lot about their culture. We miss saying Aloha at church when they got up to talk and said it first. Then the movie, The Other Side Of Heaven, came out. It's based in Tonga and is a moving, wonderful true story and we fell in love with Tonga. My brother lived in Hawaii for several years and we learned even more about Polynesian culture. They are an easy people to love. Anyway, with all that background, we automatically loved the two Tongans on Biggest Loser.

Today I watched a YouTube video of the Maori Haka, which is actually derived from the New Zealand Maori but the Polynesians have similar dances and the two Biggest Loser Tongans have taken the stance - knees bent, legs apart, arms bent in front of them and, the best part, tongues out. It looks scary. It's meant to as the dance is a war dance. Now I've read that soccer teams are doing the dance before games to incite fear in their opponents:



Here's a lighter look at the dance that cracked me up. It's a commercial in New Zealand:

What Do You Most Desire?

A good sleep-in in the middle of the week. Tomorrow is my day. Jay will get Rachel ready and then off to school while I get to sleep a bit later than usual. That doesn't always go well for me. Sometimes I'm too stressed to sleep and worry about them getitng out the door on time. Sometimes I'm too restless and hear every little noise they make. Sometimes the cats makes me crazy climbing on me when I'm trying to sleep. Apparently they don't think it should be allowed. So, then I'm, allegedly, getting up to work out and then write on my book all day. The second part will happen for sure, but we'll see about the first. Thing is, I know I'll feel better if I get going on this, back to working out 3 to 5 days a week. I'm having a few health issues that can definitely be helped a great deal by getting back into that routine. And then I won't be as tired, either. And my stress will be eased. And I'll start to lose weight - if I'm lucky as insulin drives your metabolism to sabotage you and it takes more than the average cut back on food and increase in exercising to make something happen. But it's all good. I've done it before and I can do it again.

I really don't have a lot to say these days. Just in a bit of a rut. I'm sure I'll jump back on the bandwagon at some point.

Okay, I'm really into Robert Plant and Alison Kraus right now and their Raising Sand album. Here's Killing the Blues. LOVE IT!