Happy Heart Day (a little late)!!

Hello all you blog people!  This is Daniel.  I’m writing for my Mom tonight, ‘cause she’s kinda embarrassed about forgetting to write about an important day on this blog.

I can’t believe she forgot to write about it!  Shhh….don’t tell her I said so!

It’s OK, though.  I’m not mad or anything.  I just thought it would be fun to tell you all about it myself!

A whole bunch of days ago (OK, mom said it was a YEAR ago…whatever that is!), I got dressed up in this funny shirt thing, and there were lots of strange people coming in and out of a small room to look at me and talk to my mom and dad.  They all said how cute I was and lots of other stuff like that.

Mom and dad seemed kinda’ worried.  But they were giving me lots of snuggles and kisses, so I was A-OK.  We walked down a hall with one of the guys that came in to talk to us, and then they let him hold me.  He was a really nice guy.  I didn’t even cry at all! 

And then I went to sleep and when I woke up things were reeeaallly weird!  There was all this stuff on me and and I was in a weird crib and there were lots of strange noises and lights.  And I got to see my mommy and daddy again.  And they looked so happy!

Mommy said that all those things were helping make me better.  And when I was all better stuff like eating and playing would be so much easier.  After lots of days sleeping in that weird crib, we got to say “Bye” to all those nice people that kept saying how cute I was and go home to my own crib.  And I got to see all my brothers and sisters again, and my Dad too.  Boy, I missed them a lot!!

And now I’m such a big boy!  I can crawl super fast like a spider, and I can even walk around if I have something to hold onto.

You can see that line on my chest where they fixed me up.  My mom likes to call it my zipper.  I don’t know what that is, but I’ll always know that I can do everything I do because those doctor guys put that zipper in my chest.  I like those doctor guys!

So Much To Catch Up On

We moved.  And my drive apparently went on strike and stayed at the house we left, because it feels like I haven’t done a whole lot of anything lately.  Well, except put miles on the Suburban.  I’m really good at that!  We currently live in a house that is smaller than the main level of our other house.  And it’s by a dairy.  So we call it “The Little House by the Dairy.”  Catchy, eh?  There are a lot of flies and spiders (and I killed a centipede on the kitchen floor yesterday), and at certain times of the day the air is smelly.  But we have enough space to live, a garage big enough to hold all our stuff, and a street quiet enough that the kids can ride their bikes.

Moving wore Caleb right out!  He’s asleep in a box, which is under a desk.  How would it be to be able to sleep anywhere?!?

Caleb started preschool.  FINALLY!  That two-week wait after the others started was tough.  But he’s a tough kid.  And pretty funny too.  His new catch-phrase is, “That’s INCREDIBLE!!”

Not a great picture, what with the squinty smile.  But he held still…just long enough to get the picture snapped.

Our new house is moving along.  It looks mostly the same from the outside, so no point in posting a picture.  Actually, I don’t think I even have one to post!  We’ve been trying to figure out who to go with for cabinets.  Believe it or not, there are plenty of options, even in our lil’ ol’ valley.  When we figure that out, we can decide on flooring.  The windows are coming this week, and the front door next week (maybe?), so then the brick can go up.  Just in case you didn’t know already, I am not good at making decisions.  I AM good at second-guessing any decision I make until I have driven Jared absolutely crazy (and anyone else who’ll listen)!!  For the record: I am never going to build a house again.  It’s great to get to have things (mostly) the way you want.  But it’s a headache, and somewhat nightmarish.  Really.  I go to sleep and dream about ridiculous things like cabinets and water heater vents and drain pipes. And for someone who is as challenged in decision making as I am, it’s just not a good idea.  The end product will be worth it, though.  I think…:)  I am looking forward to the days when the biggest decision I’ll make is what to have for dinner!

The End of an Era

Jared was released from the Bishopric today.  Four years, two months and three days ago he was sustained as the First Counselor to our new Bishop.  (For those of you reading who may not be LDS, a Bishop is the leader of a local congregation in the LDS Church.  He is assisted by two counselors.  The three men together make up the Bishopric.)

That equates to 218 weeks.  Which means I was a Sacrament Meeting Widow for roughly 200 Sundays.  Though I did have my awesome friends Hillary & Alex on the bench to help me for about half of that time.

I had been anticipating this day for, well, 218 weeks!  I couldn’t wait to have Jared sit on the bench with us again.  And to not have to deal with coordinating his responsibilities with my Young Women responsibilities sounded pretty darn good.

I was shocked at the sadness I felt when this day finally came.  I don’t even know if I can explain it.  But there’s something comforting knowing that Jared was doing what the Lord wanted him to do.  I never worried about him.  I never really worried about us.  Our lives got pretty insane at times, but I knew we would be OK.  It felt like we were in a little bubble, safe from the world’s problems.  Don’t get me wrong, though – we had plenty of “stuff” in those 4 years.  A broken nose, a broken arm, a cat attack and subsequent hospitalization, knee surgery, the birth of a baby, Down syndrome, heart surgery, three sets of ear tubes between two kids, four tax seasons…oh, and a harried wife/mom for a good 218 weeks, just to name a few.

As much as I am relieved to know that Jared will be back on the bench with us, it was a tender mercy to be able to look up at him on the stand every Sunday and have him smile at me or pass a “You better behave!” look to one of the kids.  It was a blessing for me to see him from a distance every week and be reminded of how much I love him and how much I need him.

While the past 218 weeks have been the most difficult of my life, I will always be grateful for them.  We are better and stronger and happier than we were 218 weeks ago. I think we’re all a little closer to being who we’re supposed to be. We have been blessed immensely.

Building a House: A Roof Over Our Heads

We’re thankful to finally have a roof over our heads – in more ways than one!!  Here is a view of the house with its roof and the “felt” that makes it waterproof.  It got done just in the nick of time, as we had quite the downpour early Saturday morning.

Next up on the docket is getting the stairs in, finishing up the framing, and then the heating/cooling systems and plumbing.

We also have a roof over our heads for the next 3 months.  A little house in the west end of town.  Emphasis on “little.”  But the garage is bigger than what we currently have, so it should be a great storage unit for most of the stuff we have accumulated in the past 13 years.