Listen to your daddy!

When I was sixteen, my dad let me drive my sister Kelly and her friend Kara (the across the street neighbor) to Lake Tahoe. The three of us were going to stay a week with my Aunt Irene.
I thought that this was of course a fabulous idea, after all I was old enough and COMPLETELY capable to drive 4 hours to Tahoe.

Looking back on it now, I don't know if I could have or would have been as gracious as my parents were to let me take that trip. I didn't really realize how tense my dad was about it until he started asking me all these car questions. They were great questions for a dad with 3 daughters that he raised with the ability to mow lawns, and start barbeque's with charcoal from just wadded up paper..... he was making sure I knew where the oil dipstick was, and how to fill the tires with air, where the window cleaner was... those types of things. He made me take $200 cash to hide in my wallet, for just "in case".
Frankly, I was sure that everything was going to be just fine and I thought that he was really over reacting. They he asked me a question that I never forgot.... "What will you do if you have a tire blow out on the freeway?" I was thinking ..... umm dad, that ain't gonna happen.... So I answered " I guess I would step on the brakes and slow down and get off the road." To which I received a very INTENSE response. " NO!! Never ever EVER step on the brakes!!! You just let the car slow down, and ease over to the side of the road!" Seeing that he was very serious, I told him ok.... that is what I would do.
The three of us got into the car, and took off to Tahoe and had a great time..... and everything was fine.

Now it is time to fast forward to a day not long ago, on Hwy 82 in Washington, with a Suburban full of kids, and that same 16 year old girl all grown up.

We were rumbling down the Highway at 70 mph and we had all the windows open, because it is the only "air conditioning" that the beast has. We are on our way home from Selah/Yakima where Tayler had been playing in the State Championships for 14U competitive softball.

When all of the sudden.......... POW!

As soon as I heard the POW!.... and felt the back end of the truck fall, and felt the front end of the truck begin to sway............

The first and only thing that went through my mind was........... " NEVER EVER step on the BRAKE!!!!!!!!!! let the car slow itself down on it's own and ease over to the side!"

Never in my life had I been more grateful for that grilling I got before we left for Tahoe. It all came flooding back.....

So that is what I did.... I just held on and tried to keep the wheel straight and not over correct... and eased the beast over to the side of the road. Then I breathed...



I mean seriously..... tires are not supposed to look like this!!!!


We ended up calling Les Schwab Tires to come out, they have a road repair service, and fix the tire. I called them 10 min before the shop closed, and they still came! It was a blessing, because Jody was drilling in Spokane, and the next nearest relative that could help was well over an hour away. I had NO spare.... and waiting for someone to come could have been quite the road side adventure with 5 kids in the car.

This poor guy was so sweet and full of smiles to calm a frazzled mom that was stranded in 100 degree heat. He had to bang all the tread off the tire by hand... I made sure he got two ice cold waters from the cooler when he was done.

So... the moral to my story is............. LISTEN TO YOUR DADDY! you never know when the things they tell you will save your life............. whether you are 16 or 38.... it pays to pay attention!

out of the mouth of babes

Hunter put me in my place today....

I was sitting on the couch and he was trying to get me to make a muscle with my arm... so he is flexing and contracting my arm and poking my bicep trying to feel the muscle move.... ( like it does on daddy's arm...don't you know....)

After several attempts to feel the muscle.... he says " momma, i can't feel nothing." and still poking adds....." is that blubber? or your bone?"

I just cracked up laughing....

guess it is time to order the P90X system..... so I can get rid of the blubber that is on my bone....

tooo tooo funny that boy is.

Who put the spoon in my pants?

There are things that come out of your mouth when you are a mom, that you never, EVER, thought you would say.
I have had two such experiences in the last week.

It started with.......... "Who put the spoon in my pants?" and just today I can add...... " Let's not use the pliers on people, please."

The pliers on people was one that happened in the nursery in church. There was a toddler that had plastic toy pliers, and she was trying to catch the wispy hairs that were blowing on a baby that was about 6 months old. Better the hair, than an eye or his nose.... but, I am sure that if someone was walking by the window and heard that..... they would wonder what IS it we do at this church!?!?!?!?! ......

The spoon in my pants...., now this one is going to require a bit of back ground....
We are raising a practical joker. He comes by this quite naturally. He finds ways to be sneaky, and executes, flawlessly, his plan........... His name is Hunter, and he may grow up to be a secret agent in the CIA.
He is known for his ability to sneak objects into people's shoes. To him, placing a Lego man or a matchbox car, even a rock in your shoe is a sign of love and affection. Not everyone receives such treatment, only those he loves most. If you find the object in your shoe, and then sneak it back into HIS shoe, you will find it back in your shoe in a day or two.... never a word spoken, just a stealthy game of cat and mouse.....
I am sure you are now wondering what in the world this has to do with a spoon.... hold on to your hat... I am getting there.

Thursday, I was getting ready to take Jody his lunch, and then we were going to go and run some errands.... while I was making lunch, Hunter got a spoon out of the drawer in an attempt to have a scoop of ice cream before we left the house. He was told " No, you haven't even had lunch yet!!" and I went about my business, thinking he had put the spoon away. I walked around the house for about 10 more minutes, loaded Jeremiah and all the lunch and diaper bag, ect., into the truck and climbed in and away we went. We took the lunch to Daddy and then went up to Walmart. As I am climbing out of the truck I hear this strange metal clunk. Thinking, this is odd, I look back to see what I bumped into, finding nothing on the truck, I look to see what is metal on me. This is when I find it.... neatly tucked into my belt loop, was a spoon...... Then I said it...... " Who put the spoon in my pants?" To which I received a small, smug, smirk from my little sneak..... and it was combined, I might add, with an adorable angelic look..... you know the one.... the one that says...." who me?"

I wasn't sure if I should have been more horrified that he did this and I didn't even feel it.....I mean, I SAT on it for at least a half an hour!!! .... or impressed that it was there and never fell out......I guess he meant to teach me a lesson for not letting him have some ice cream..... ohhh Hunter, you are toooooo much some days!

So the next time you come over, or we are over at your house and you find something odd in your shoe, or in your belt loop..... know that you are very loved by a very, very crafty little boy.

A Sense of Humor

Something that I am very grateful for is my sense of humor. Having one, enables you to see the good in life, even when things just seem to suck. ( yes mom, I used a truck driver word.) When you are able to see things that are sad as funny.... it takes the sting out of some of the pain.

My dad is full of things to say the last few days. Things that are silly, because that is they way his mind works. The way the words come together for him is making him a comedian. Now we could take these things, and say.... oh it is so sad, look at the way his mind is failing him.... he can't even talk right..... and we could become more and more depressed. Instead, we choose to write them down and share them with each other, and crack up laughing.... because being sad, wouldn't be true to our family's nature.

Here are some examples:
"Dad, would you like an orange?"
"No, I don't think so, I mean it sounds good and all, but they don't know their head from a hole."
or
"yuck!!!!" (he was talking about something he was eating) "what kind of lie are you trying to tell me?"

There are many others.... Amy is trying to write them all down in a notebook kept in the kitchen. What a treasure that will be as time marches on and things change..... little moments immortalized forever, that will make us laugh and smile.

A matter of degrees

I don't know how to answer people.........

I don't' know what to say when they ask "how's your dad?" " any news?" "update?"

I am sure to anyone who has a loved one in the middle of an illness, these questions become harder and harder to answer. I know I have friends that have been through so much, and are still in the midst of it, so I might just be venting to the choir here.....

I tell you that the flippant, sarcastic side of me wants to say " Fine, he is great for a guy with three tumors in his head..." or, " still breathing"..... there are others, but really I am sure you get the point.

Then there is the clinical answer.... his tumors have stopped growing.

This is indeed good news, but it gives a false picture, because "how he is doing" is based on so much more than the fact that those vile bumps in his head have stopped growing.

I wish, no, I ache to be able to say " he is all better, back to work and doing great".... but I may not really be able to say that until the Lord calls him home....

The things that we see, that will cause us to tell you he is great.... or doing better, or doing fine are...

He remembered some one's name right without being prompted.
He was able to smoothly speak a sentence without being frustrated over not being able to "find" the words he is trying to say.

He didn't stumble too much today.

He was able to communicate to you what he wanted or needed.

When you tell him, " I love you dad." He is having a good day if he says, " i love you too" instead of " i know you do".

If he is able to comfort my mom when she is sad.

If he doesn't lose his way going from one room to another.

He ate two full meals and a snack, and he didn't tell you his food tasted like crap.

So when we say "fine" know that we are measuring even the smallest of accomplishments.

It is very hard to have to watch someone who you love be overcome by disease and all the side effects that go with it. It is hard to see them trapped by their own mind. To be held hostage as it were, by his brain.

It is even harder to watch your other family members care for him day in and day out with such tenderness and love, and to wish that you were there to help more. Yet, it is comforting to know that God answers your prayers, and has used His church, the members of HIS body, to encourage, uplift and support your family in ways far greater that you could ever hope for.

So for all of you who call, write, message, pray,... when you ask us how he is doing, and we pause.... we are searching for a way to tell you how all the small sweet things mean so much, and if we have a casual response, it may just be because we can't find the words to express it very well ourselves.

Garden is growing!

here are some of my 18 bell pepper plants.... they are growing very nicely and starting to flower and produce fruit.
This one is some of my rainbow chard. The seeds that came up gave me orange, yellow, and some variations of red

here is a couple of my 11 tomato plants. They are planted along the fence and i am training them to grow up the fence so i don't need to have a cage for them... so far so good. It can get really windy here and in past years i have had staked cages blow over, so i am hoping this proves to be a good alternative.

Hierloom red onions.... these i can't wait to see and eat!

these are itty bitty potato plants that are desperately trying to poke through we had to block them off from the ones that are growing so tall other wise they would drown when we added new dirt and never grow

Some more tatoes....

We decided to grow our tatoes in a 30 gallon trash can so that they could be harvested easier. I like potatoes, just not the digging to get them all out of the ground!!

So far we have had swiss chard, and squash from the garden this year. We can't wait to get more in the ground and have more to eat!!

Jeremiah Sleep Eats his lunch

it is super short, because the camera battery died.... but he did this for 5 min. it was hysterical