The Power of Prayer

Last night before everyone (my brother and sister-in-law, nephew, sister and brother-in-law, parents, me) headed to home and bed, my mom asked if my brother and brother-in-law could give Dad a blessing before his heart surgery tomorrow. They did so and it was a sweet and powerful moment for me. How special that my baby brother has grown up into a man who can give a priesthood blessing... and even more special somehow that it was for my father.

While we were in the moment of the blessing, my mother also got one for comfort, my sister for help with her problems in her pregnancy, and my brother-in-law for calm and comfort as her is about to become a father. It was very special.

I am a huge believer in the power of a priesthood blessing. I think not many people know, but when Preston was born his newborn screening tests came back positive for cystic fibrosis. They re-ran that test and then ran another type of test and both of them came back positive again. I was devastated. I didn't know what we would do, how we would handle it, what this would mean for our family. I knew that because these were screening tests there was still a possibility that he did not have cystic fibrosis, but I was looking on the negative side and was convinced that he would be diagnosed with the disease.

On the morning that we were to take Preston for the final definitive test that would tell us whether or not he had cystic fibrosis, Aaron and my father-in-law gave him a blessing. The moment that the blessing began, I was filled with a calm feeling that everything was going to be okay. I KNEW that Preston was fine and the test would show us that there were no problems. I don't remember the words of the blessing, but I remember that feeling and my certainty that everything was okay. After weeks of stress and worry, the cloud was completely lifted. The test went smoothly and Preston received a clean bill of health.

Thanks to that experience, I have a strong faith in the power of prayer and priesthood blessings and I will always be grateful that I learned that. As my family deals with everything going on right now, it's wonderful to have the assurance we gained last night from those blessings that everything will be alright.

I miss them already...

We came to Utah for a quick visit and at the end of the weekend, everyone got in the van and headed home. Everyone but me, that is...

My sister is having a difficult time at the end of her pregnancy. She is 35 weeks along and has pregnancy-induced hypertension that has her on bedrest and feeling very ill. My mom is doing a lot to help her right now as everyone keeps a close eye on Melissa to be sure she and baby are okay.

At the same time, my dad has to have surgery tomorrow to have a pacemaker installed. It's a low-risk surgery, but my mom was upset about having to take him out for the surgery and take care of all that on her own. But there was no one who could go with her right now (what with pregnancies, and newborns, and jobs and everything else that goes on in life).

Aaron and I talked about it and decided that I should stick around and give all the help I can just now. So he headed home with the kids so that Haley could go to kindergarten this week. Haley sobbed and told me how much she would miss me. Which made me cry. Which made Preston cry. Brekken was fine. He's such a daddy's boy that he may not miss me much. But I miss him. And Haley, Preston, and Aaron, too.

I'm glad to be here right now, because I always feel bad about being so far away and unable to help when my family needs a hand. But it's going to be a long week away from Aaron and my babies.

And away we go!

We're off to Utah for a weekend visit!

We need to meet my new nephew Kyron - he's still pretty little; probably hasn't lost that "new baby" smell yet. ;)

We need to check up on my baby sister. She's almost 35 weeks pregnant and on bedrest for pregnancy-induced high blood pressure. She probably will be induced in about a week to 10 days and I'll have a new niece, too!

And we need to see my parents' practically new house. They had a flood a few months back. The dog chewed through a hose at the back of the toilet and flooded the whole house. I believe the last estimate I heard was $20,000+ in damage. The whole upstairs, most of the downstairs... everything had to be repaired, replaced, or otherwise fiddled with. My poor parents lived in an RV in the front yard for a month while the work was being done. But they're back in the house now, and from all accounts it is beautiful.

And the kids really need to see Grandma & Grandpa and the various aunts, uncles, and cousins who will be around. They have been excited about this all week. So Utah here we come!

My Garden

It's a sad little garden. It started off with so much love and enthusiasm. The kids and I carefully prepared the ground and planted the seeds. Then the weeds flourished and the plants did not. We were disappointed that nothing grew. Finally, two little squash plants managed to survive. But even then we thought that we would get nothing from them because they were struggling so.

Then one day... a little blossom appeared on the squash plant. Then another and another. Eventually, two tiny squashes began to grow. We watched them anxiously. We checked on them every day. Did they have enough water? Did they have too much water? Were they getting the right amount of warmth and sunlight?

And then, the little squashes finally grew large enough to pick! What a happy day when we proudly brought the produce from our own little garden inside to cook for dinner. Sure, I had to go to the market and buy a few more squashes to go with ours in order to have enough to go around. But I'm sure I could pick out the ones that grew in our garden. They were the best ones of all!

Make Your Own Checkers Game

I decided to make my kids a checkers game. It wasn't that they had been asking for one or anything, but I had the brainstorm that they might enjoy it. Both making it and playing with it afterwards.

I made a trip to the dollar store to find supplies for our craft project:



It's just some foam-core poster board, some pages of craft foam, and tea candle holders. You could use regular poster board, cardboard, or any other flat surface for your game board. You could also use construction paper instead of craft foam for the squares or just draw the squares on your board and color them in with crayon or marker.

To get started, I let the kids pick two colors for the checkerboard. They chose red and blue. A checkboard is 8 rows of 8 squares each. So I cut out 32 red squares and 32 blue squares. It doesn't matter what size you make them, as long as they are all the same size and they all fit onto your game board.

Next, glue the squares onto your board in a traditional checkerboard pattern. The kids really liked this part... they were a little TOO enthusiastic with the glue. Thank goodness for the wood floors instead of carpet - it made the spills easier to clean up.

I use the tea-candle holders for my checkers. I cut out circles of foam (letting the kids pick the colors again) and glued them to the holders. Here's the final product:

All told, I spent $12 on supplies, a few hours on the project (including glue-drying time), and had fun with my kids in the process. They have had fun playing with the checkers game, too - even if they are making up their own rules!

So that worked for me. Check out the Works for Me Wednesday blog carnival at We Are That Family to see what's working for others!

Haley's 1st Day at School

Normally I will pick Haley up from PAWS (the after-school program) shortly before 6:00. Yesterday I had worked at home (so that I could be there to take her to school in the morning) - I thought about picking her up after kindergarten so I could hear all about it, but didn't because I wanted her to experience her whole day. Plus I really did need to do some work! But my work day ends around 4:00 and by 4:30 I couldn't wait any longer to hear about her day.

When I picked her up from PAWS, she was just bubbling over with happiness about her great day! She loved it all. Some of the highlights:

• She got to meet lots of new kids in her class.
• She got to do lots of coloring.
• She got to eat pizza for lunch. With pink milk. And she remembered her code for the lunchroom computer (she was VERY proud of herself for this!).
• She got to play outside at PAWS.
• She got to play an elephant game of some kind. I don't know what it was, but she enjoyed it a lot.

She went on and on about her day. It was so great to hear that everything went well and she loved her first day of school. Let's hope this sets the pattern for the rest of the year!

Sending Haley Off to School

Today was Haley's first day of school. She spent all weekend looking forward to it and asking how much longer it was until Monday. This morning she hurried through breakfast so she could put on the new outfit she'd picked out for the first day of school. She looked so cute!

We took her over to the kindergarten and dropped her off. She started to act a little nervous when we started to leave, but the teacher's aide was right there and took her aside to stash her backpack and usher her over to the playground. So we left. There were other parents there waiting to watch the kids all go in to the classroom once the bell rang. But from experience with Haley I've learned that she actually does better with stuff like this if we're NOT there. So we headed home.

Of course, I do have the cell phone with me every minute of the day, just in case they need to call me. =)

Today will be her first day of kindergarten, her first time eating in the school lunchroom, and her first day at PAWS (the afterschool program). I can't wait to pick her up tonight and hear how it all went!