It finally happened!!!

Over the past year we've been updating you about Moira's trigger thumb. She had surgery in October and after one month her thumb hadn't released. I took her back in and the surgeon was stumped. He suggested waiting and watching, but Adam wasn't convinced that her thumb would ever release on its own. We had concerns about her development because she refused to use it and she's getting to the age when she is learning to form shapes, lines, letters, etc. She is naturally right-handed but had to resort to her left hand which was obviously more awkward for her to use. So we called the Dr's office and insisted on another surgery to cut more of the tendon. We were also motivated by the cost (which major decision isn't impacted by money?) since we'd met our yearly deductible between Brayden's birth and Moira's surgery. We didn't want to meet the deductible again the following year if we ultimately dediced to have Moira get another surgery then.
We went back to Primary Children's in December to have Moira go under the knife again. Same as before, no complications. The Dr. said when they went in he checked the tendon over extra carefully and "carved" (his word) those pulleys out as much as he could. The only conclusion he had for why the thumb didn't release the first time was that the scar tissue that formed around the tendon reattached it to the pulleys. He said he'd never seen it happen before but he's not putting anything past the human body's ability to heal itself.
It is a month later and her thumb has fully released!!! YEAHHHH!!!!!! For the first time since she turned two years old she has the full use of her right hand (that's a year and a half). I am so relieved that it worked and she has no side-issues with it. The second time she had surgery I asked Adam to give her a blessing because I didn't want to have to go through this again. Sure love the blessings of the priesthood.

Miracle on the Hudson

I took a late lunch today at work. I flipped on the news and they were talking about the plane that had to make an emergency water landing on the Hudson River in New York today. My first thought was that the terrorists must have found a breech in security somewhere and brought another plane down. Then I learned more details about the event. I said a quick prayer in my heart for the people on that plane. The Spirit let me know with no question that God was well aware of the people on that plane, in the water, and in the surrounding buildings.



Think of it, the Hudson river at Manhattan is one of the busiest rivers in the United States with ferries, tourism craft, major international waterway ports, fishermen and so on. None of these boats were in the way, but there were dozens of ships there just moments after the plane stopped and the doors opened. There are bridges and tunnels, all of these were missed.


Witnesses that saw the plane descending described it in terms of a gentle landing. The only major injury was a single passenger of 150 with 2 broken legs. In my short 30 years I have never seen a real water landing that resulted in the plane staying intact. The former Air Force fighter pilot brought this plane down so perfectly that it stayed in one piece. That is a lot to be said because the plane had no power as both engines were knocked out by a flock of birds.



If you did not believe that miracles exist today, this is a great evidence that they do happen. I thank my Father in Heaven to know he lives and sends angels to do good among His people. God hears your prayers no matter how far "astray" you think you might be.

I thank the crew of the airplane each time I fly because I never want them to think they are merely bus drivers in the sky. They have the life of my wife's best friend, and my children's father in their hands.


Adam

Images courtesy MSN.com

How to occupy yourself at the in-laws. . .

Adam shared our adventurous Christmas vacation travels, but left it to me to discuss the ten days in between. Christmas was wonderful. We haven't spent Christmas with my family in four years, none of the kids had, so we were excited about being able to spend this special holiday with them. Christmas morning was not as chaotic as I expected. My family, my brother Brett's family, my sister Annalyn, and my sister Carmell and her partner were there (plus my parents, of course). So there weren't THAT many presents under the tree. Everybody else showed up later in the day and the house was very full for Christmas dinner. We spent the next three days playing, talking, laughing, shopping, talking, eating, etc. This was the first time in over eight years that my whole family has been together. Sad, I know. Sunday morning saw a mass exodus of everyone but two siblings since a big storm blew in later in the day and everybody was trying to avoid it. So it was just my parents, me & mine, and my sister and her kids (husband went home with another sibling to prep for scout campout that week--yikes!).

Sunday night we were talking to my parents about little projects we could help them with around the house to keep son-in-law (namely Adam) occupied for the next five days. My dad had a knee replaced a few months ago and hasn't been up to doing much since then. We started making lists and one thing snowballed into another and before you knew it we were pulling all the furniture out of three bedrooms and prepping it for new carpet. This carpet is so old it's legendary. All of us children had been after my parents to replace it for the past 25 years at least. I'm still a little awestruck about how, after so many years, I was instrumental in convincing my mom AND my dad to just "get 'er done". Not that I'm the reason, of course, but the stars alligned and my enthusiasm and stamina kept my mom going til the bitter end. Carpet was installed Tuesday and Thursday and by Thursday night we had put the rooms back together, mostly. Plus, we had finished a multitude of other minor projects that are stories in themselves. We also encouraged my parents to turn their office into a multi-use room (office/bedroom) so that the next time all their kids come home they'll actually have rooms to use instead of being shunted from couch to couch. That's the project that's not done yet. My dad is ordering new office furniture so that there will be space for a sofa-sleeper in that third room. And my mom is under orders to take her family history digital. It currently occupies two full bookcases (not including the last five years). There's a lot there!

We were planning on driving home Friday but we woke up to snow and decided to not even attempt the passes again until the next day when things would be clearer and warmer. So we had another day to do stuff. My mom decided she wanted to move her upright grand out of the front room and into the family room (she already had a regular grand in the front room). So the men moved that beast and my mom and I rearranged the furniture that was left. By Friday night we had moved 1 large desk, 1 large buffet, 1 overstuffed chair, a large red sofa, three smaller chairs, and boxes and boxes of junk/papers/paraphernelia out of the house. I promised my parents Sunday night that I would not leave them with a job half-done. It would be finished before I walked out the door to drive home. I knew if I left anything undone it would stay undone until the next time I showed up, so I made sure they visited the dump and DI on Friday to get rid of everything. My brother wanted the buffet and it had been parked in the dining room waiting for him to come get it. Well, Adam decided it was going NOW! So he threw it onto the hand truck and carted it down the middle of my parents street to my brother's house. We were not leaving anything undone, if we could help it. For some reason my parents house had become my siblings storage unit (necessary in some circumstances), I just helped move some stuff sooner than later. Now my mom has more space to move, breathe, and just be. It's much more restful now that the rooms aren't so packed with stuff. They wanted to put baseboards in too, but I convinced them there was no time and to save it until next summer when we could rip out the baseboards, old door frames, and old doors and replace them with new. Plus, scrape the popcorn ceilings, re-texture and repaint the ceilings and walls. Now I just have to enlist the help of a couple of my siblings to get this done. I think all families reach the stage where the parents are too old and too tired to maintain their home on their own, so their children get to step in and do the big stuff.

I was really grateful to serve my parents in this capacity and it helped me build stronger bonds with both my mom and my dad. And it kept Adam busy and happy (always a plus). I'm looking forward to taking some time this summer to get the rest of it done. My mom is really looking forward to the prospect of having everything fresh and neat.

Oregon has it out for us

We had a wonderful trip to Washington for Christmas and New Years Day. We drove up to Washington on 24 December. It is normally an 8-9 hour drive depending on potty breaks. This time it took 12 hours from the time we left our home in Utah until we got to Wendy's parents' house in Washington. We made it to the Idaho/Oregon border in the normal 4 1/2 hours. As soon as we crossed the river into Oregon the problems began.

The roads through Oregon were snowy and icy the whole way. Just on the west side of Ontario there is a hill as you come out of town. As we started up the hill it looked like it would be slick so I decided to take it easy. We got about half-way up the hill, the car shifted down, the rear tires slipped and off the road we went. I threw it into 4-wheel drive and got within 18 inches of the pavement, but we were stuck. We said a prayer, I got out to take a look and a police officer pulled up to help - just that quick. Within 3 minutes of us going off the road there were 3 patrol cars there and 2 of them indicated that they had seen it happen. We hooked up a tow rope and were back on the road in just a couple minutes. As we thought about what had happened we said another prayer of gratitude. If we had gone off the road 20 feet in any other direction we would have hit a sign, guard rail or reflector. Wendy did a great job getting the car out of the snow.

So we were back on the road taking it slow in 4-wheel drive. About 150 miles and 5 hours later we were driving through a white-out snow storm when we get a nail stuck in the rear tire. We pulled off the road at the next off-ramp to take a look. The place where we stopped was completely calm - no snow, no wind, no close traffic, lots of overhead lights. The tire still had air in it. In the time it took to check on the tire at the side of the road it went completely flat. We pulled out the spare tire and got it changed. There were a couple good guys that stopped to make sure we were OK. Wendy was very glad that we had a full size spare. We made it down the next mountain pass pulled into a truck stop and checked the rest of the tires. Everything looked good.

From this point, we only faced freezing rain. When we got to Wendy's parents' place we just about kissed the ground. It took us about half an hour to calm down after we got out of the car. That was a trip we did not want to endure again.

On the return trip, it was just about as bad, but it was during the daylight and there were no flat tires or off-road adventures. Just 6 potty stops. That is why I say, "Oregon has it out for us."

Adam

Hair Cut for Brayden

We decided that it was time to cut Brayden's hair. It didn't seem that long until it fell into his eyes. However, when we were at the salon and they wet his hair down and pulled it up it was LONG (at least for a well groomed boy). I sat in the chair and was caped, then held Brayden on my lap and was also caped.

According to the Polynesian tradition, you should not cut your baby's hair for the first year of their life. This keeps them "healthy". I think it has more to do with how hair is cut in a 3rd world nation than the timing of when it is cut. At any rate, we decided after 11 1/2 months Brayden would need his hair cut for all of the photos that will be taken in the next month.

In other happenings, Sabrina and Moira traditionally have the same sandwich everyday for lunch. Wendy got the girls their lunch then stepped out of the room for a minute. When she returned Sabrina proudly showed her what she made from her sandwiches. It took Wendy a second to figure out what it was. Here is a picture so you can place your guess.

If you look close you can see that she took bites in just the right places to turn them into a "R" and "L". Pretty clever!

Adam

Personal Revolutions

As posted previously, I've decided to go back to work, at least temporarily. The more I think about what I'm doing and why, the more I find myself unsure of what label to put on this decision. I'm working again, part-time, in the evenings, for how long? Trying to find the whole work/life balance has seemed elusive over the past two years since I first went back to a full-time job when Moira was one year old. I seemed to drift in and out of working like one drifting in and out of restless sleep. I quit when my balance was off and went back when I regained my equilibrium. In fact, the more I pondered why I did this the more I realized that I always felt this way. Even as a high school and college student attempting to plan out my five and ten year goals, ambitious achievements would top the list. But at the back of my mind was the ever present echo of wanting to marry and have children. I couldn't see how to do both then, and certainly the way is not any clearer now. I did, however, just stumble across an article that articulated my conflict for the first time. I saw myself in some of these women, though certainly not with their list of credentials. Yet, I too was drifting back and forth across the great divide that is career vs. family life.


My first job after three years of maternity leave was at a fast-paced, intense business with many egocentric men. I was only looking for a job. My employer was looking for someone who could keep pace with these high-flyers. After five miserable months I concluded that this environment was not healthy for me or my children. The stress I was under meant that all four members of our family never had a peaceful day. So I drifted out. It took five weeks to reestablish my balance and then I drifted back into another job. I stayed there for six months until my pregnancy became too difficult for my working body. I gave notice and went on bed rest until Brayden was born two weeks later. Then when my son was ten months old my employer contacted me about returning as a Christmas Temp. I considered the idea and decided to go back to work for a few months. Now that I have been working for two months I can see myself working until such time as I don't need it anymore. I drifted back into this position and when I no longer have any use for it I will drift away.

Where am I headed? My long-term goals are consistent, that hasn't changed. But the means I use to get there change as my needs and my families needs change. And I think that is the true definition of freedom: the ability to adapt to one's circumstances without outside constraints.

I know this seems too deep for this blog, but just thought I'd share. If it's too thick, you can come over and try the fudge that I made in my very Susie Homemaker home.

Follow-up on previous posts

Just to follow-up on some of the happenings in our family:

I took Moira back down to Primary Children's to follow-up on her thumb surgery. It was not releasing like they said it would. The doctor took a look at it and concluded that they had failed to cut enough of the tendon to release her thumb. On the good side, most of her thumb has released and when she does "pop" it up it doesn't hurt her anymore. He explained the procedure like this: With children they have to use anaesthesia for obvious reasons and as such they can't check that they cut enough so they have to use their best judgement. If they cut too much it causes the thumb to not retract, so our result is of course the more desired of the two. Our options at this point? Make her use it until it loosens up and hope she grows through it. OR Have her go back into surgery to have the last little piece cut. He advised just waiting, so I'm going to go with that option. At some point down the road if we decide it's not working then he will go back in and do the surgery. He would rather not have to do it because then his track record of re-do's will double. (He's only had one out of the thousands of thumbs he's done.)

Adam is no longer calling-free. They put in a new Elder's Quorum Pres. last week (recalled the EQ Pres. from our dissolved ward--haha) and he called Adam as an instructor. Adam is happy because he prefers teaching to responsibility. All I can say is that the Quorum should be pretty happy now since they won't have to join the High Priests for lessons anymore. *SNORE* I guess it was pretty boring (there's a reason HP's are known for sleeping).

I stopped doing babysitting/daycare, too much stress on me and the kids. Sabrina was starting to have behavior problems again. I think she's extra-sensitive to stressors in her life. When I was working full-time and had the girls in day care she started stuttering pretty badly. When I quit and we took her out of daycare the stuttering stopped completely in two days. She hasn't been stuttering this time, but she was acting out pretty severely. So I had to quit something to refocus on managing and mothering her. I am still teaching piano and working swing-shift for the Postal Service. They are not time and attention intensive the way daycare is. And Adam does a great job taking care of the kids in the evenings.

We are excited about spending Christmas in Washington this year. We will probably drive up to my parents on Christmas Eve and stay for a week or so. Long enough to celebrate Sabrina's birthday and then come home.