Family Resemblance

This is my grandchild.

This is my Grandchild's mother, 21 years ago


The resemblance is uncanny isn't it?

Lauren saw the baby bean today,

she saw the heart beating,

she saw a little arm waving at her,

she gave blood,

she fainted,

she's okay,

Baby is okay,

she's happy,

we're happy.

It's real!

Is there anything more wonderful than new life?

Blog, Interrupted.

This Blog has been temporarily disrupted, pre-empted, interrupted and altogether forgotten by its author.

Blame STAR Testing for which I am the go-to-girl at Liberty (1573 kids x 4 tests each = a nightmare for me.) Or, I can blame soccer and my brainless decision to be the team manager. Or, I could blame Seminary which I continue to want to give my best effort despite the two above issues. Or I could blame Scouting and the two separate hikes/sleep outs this weekend that I need to get my boys ready for. (I know Andrea, scouting is supposed to make them capable of getting ready themselves. Get real) Or, I could blame sunstroke, it was 98 degrees today, (and of course I was at soccer, outside). So, I am taking a few days off during my 'crunch' time. Don't forget me while I'm gone.

PS. Thank you so much for the advice for Lolo, she said thanks!!!

Two items of business

First of all I need help from all the young moms' out there in Blogland. My little momma-to-be has suddenly developed morning sickness, actually, all day long sickness. It's been a looooooooong time for Granniebelle-to-be, (and, keep my secret....I threw up once, yes one time in five pregnancies. I know, you want to slap me).So, I really am not a whole lot of help with this one. What is your best remedy for getting through the day? Please share.


You know this look? The one that says "ugh...I feel like poo-poo and you're going to have to scrape me off this couch."? Can you help?


Second, are you sitting down?
No, I'm not pregnant too. I know that's the first thing that entered your mind Khandrea.....

But it's equally as miraculous, honest.











I said "no" today.
Really.
Someone asked me to be in charge of something, and I said 'no'.
First time for everything.....
And you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Feels good, liberating.
I think the first time is the hardest. I'll let you know for sure.

Just about ready to get that "sucker" tattoo off my forehead.

The week (or 10 days) in review

See if you can make to the end. I guarantee a chuckle if you do.


Review item #1:

Scotty plays goalie in his first competition level game. They lost 6-2. He actually was only goalie the first half. It was torture! I hate it when my kid plays goalie.

Review item #2: I agreed to be the team manager for the above team, The Quakes. I figured it would be nice to help out. 24 hours and 36 e-mails later, can I quote my friend Paige? "It seemed like a good idea at the time...." oy vey, what a nightmare this is going to be.

Review item #3:
We went to Babies R Us to dream and plan. I think I might just die of excitement waiting for baby Evans. Names of the week are Carter or Aiden, Zoe or Macie. Yes, I do have MY choice, but the parents don't care what my choice is.

Review item #4: I Worked all week. Fascinating, I know.

Review item #5:
Friday we went to San Francisco, it was a glorious day, absolutely perfect weather. We walked around Union Square and people watched. I went to Anthropologie for the first time because our nephew's girlfriend is the manager there. Cute store, cute clothes, cute that my husband said it was too expensive to buy a $68 t-shirt. Then we drove down to Fisherman's Wharf and ate at Bubba Gumps. The news here is that I didn't eat anything fried. And why yes, I do feel deprived.

Rachel, the next few items are also for you and Rob...

Review item #6:

Byron and I had the privilege of attending this couple's temple wedding. Geoy (pronounced Joey) and his sweet bride Cindy have known each other since they were 14 when they met at a church dance. Cindy asked Geoy to her Jr. Prom a couple of years later but no romance ever developed. Geoy had a few "lost years" and then came around, went on a mission to Guatemala. Cindy got a college degree and served a mission in Utah. The night she came home he saw her at the church. The rest is history. Geoy is very special to our family, he spent many many hours with us as a teenager and actually lived with us for a few months. They are so happy and we couldn't be happier for them.


Review item #7:

This is Geoy's brother Kurtis, he got engaged the night before his brothers' wedding. And I tell you, I am thrilled! Kurtis was Mitch's best friend in school and has spent a bazillion hours in our home. He is a marvelous young man. The girl he is marrying, Jessika, was in my seminary class for four years, my TA at school, my friend still even though she is away at school. I love these two!! I couldn't have picked a better match myself. I'm ECSTATIC!

Review item #8:
Byron was in the Young Men's program at our church for 7 years. He had the privilege of working with the wildest, most energetic boys this side of the Mississippi, no one envied him. But we LOVED these boys. We had a snack cupboard for them and they knew they could just come in any time of the day or night and would be welcome. They had tooth brushes and swim suits and shirts at our house, they were our family. Some came back to visit for Geoy's wedding, Byron was practically floating he was so happy to see them! So was I. (we missed you Bobby!)


Review item # 9:

Easter. I forgot my camera. Typical. I'm such a good mom., thankfully my sil took some pictures of my kids. Anyway, we now have about 700 pounds of candy. The Easter bunny just kept buying more because she obviously forgot about what she had bought previously. Just what I need, the temptation of 300 pounds of Cadbury eggs and malted eggs, then 400 more of Snickers eggs, Milky Ways, you name it, we got it, even those icky Peeps.

Review item #10:

The newlyweds left today for their summer job in Portland. One question though...why is it that when they are teenagers in your home they are slobs....they marry, get their own home and become neat freaks....then they come home to visit and revert back? It was like our house exploded! It was so fun to have them here with us and it is so quiet now. I miss them already.

And in conclusion....

Review item #11:

This is the pool table we inherited. We love it, and it has provided hundreds of hours of fun and togetherness at our house. HOWEVER, see that pool cue?

Scotty was playing pool with Skyler. He was holding the pool cue and bouncing up and down, much like Tigger. All of a sudden there is a blood curdling scream from Scottigger. What happened you ask?

Well... Scotty in his bouncy, bouncy moment stuck the pool cue into his eye under the eyelid.
Serious.

He was screaming, Jeff was screaming: "I told you not to bounce with that cue!" (because stating the obvious always helps). Skyler is doing a little freaking out of his own, Mitch (who never gets involved in the excitement) runs down screaming that "Mom! You better come here...his EYE is bleeding!" Lauren is yelling, Jeff is yelling "that blue chalk causes cancer!! (Thanks for adding cancer hysteria to the moment Jeff.) Mitch is yelling, Skyler is trying not to laugh at the commotion that is our family, Scotty is screaming and crying....
I tell you, I expected Scotty's eyeball to be laying on the carpet they way they were all carrying on.

The result of all this noise and emotion?
Scotty did indeed accidentally jam the pool cue into his eye and broke some capillaries. It was bleeding, it swelled up and wouldn't open. Ice and some Mommy loving helped everything. His eye is looking much better now.

Never a dull moment around here.

Happy Pesach!

Warning: Pensive and educational post ahead. Dedicated with much admiration to my friend Mark and his mother, Fran.

The Passover Seder Plate

Tonight is the first night of the Jewish holiday Passover, or Pesach.
I did a post about Passover Seminary Style last fall, you can read it here.

It is always interesting to me that the Jewish holiday Passover which celebrates the destroying angel of God 'passing' over the homes of the obedient children of Israel and delivering them from bondage, is always at the same time as the Christian world celebrates Easter. For me, Easter is obviously about the single greatest act of love ever, the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But because of this great act of love, we can be 'passed over' by the destroying angels of the adversary and also be delivered from the bondage of sin. I am sure that I am not the first to have this personal revelation that the Christian and the Jewish world are not that far apart.

Passover is rich in 3,000 year old tradition. In fact, in the book of Exodus it is noted that the Jews are commanded to remember these events for all time. It is the holiday where family and friends gather around the seder table to celebrate. Pesach celebrates not only their freedom from Pharoah and slavery to him, but it also celebrates the privilege of worshiping freely and having spiritual freedom, which is something we all can appreciate and celebrate.

The Festival of Pesach highlights the observance of the Seder, a unique ceremony performed on the first two evenings of Passover. At the Seder meal, people eat different special foods, and tell the story of departure from Egypt, sing songs and praises, and say special prayers. Children as well as adults participate and it is truly a 'family' time, a time of remembrance, of thanks, of happiness.

One of the most significant observances related to Passover is the removal of chametz (leaven) from the homes of the Jews. This signifies the fact that the Jews leaving Egypt were in a hurry, and did not have time to let their bread rise. Also a symbolic way of removing the "puffiness" (arrogance, pride) from our souls. Most all Jews, observant or not, participate in the removal of leavening from their homes.

Today is the day of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Tomorrow night, the second night of Passover, is the night that Christ would have celebrated the Passover Supper with his beloved apostles. I am awestruck by the overlap between the two cultures. Tomorrow night, Jews all over the world will be celebrating the same thing Jesus did over 2,000 years ago on the same night. I wish my Jewish friends knew what I know to be true.

Have a wonderful Easter (and Passover)

Shalom

How I found out

The video is dark and hard to see, but I hope you get the message being delivered!

Just call me Grannibelle! (thank you Paige!)


Our family addition is scheduled to make his/her arrival on December 8th.
Proud parents are Skyler & Lauren.

Am I excited?

Is our whole family excited?

Over the moon.

Could life get any better?



Names of the week: Aiden or Macie

PS. No I have not started a quilt, yet.
Yes, I did go buy something baby for them. A grandma's gotta spend!!

A family reunion

I think my parents divorced when I was three. I have no memories at all of them ever together. I do have some faint memories of my Father, him in his Air Force uniform, he sitting at the piano and singing, his train set in the attic of our home, him putting together a banana seat sting ray bike for me when I was eight and had gone to visit him. But together, the two of them, nothing.

After they divorced my mother remarried fairly quickly and we moved to California. My father remarried also and eventually moved with his four new children to Alaska. I went to visit him once for a few months when I was almost nine, at that time he had two little boys, Mike and Tom who were two and one years old. I remember loving my Dad and thinking he was so handsome and my goodness, could he sing!

Life happened and I lived all over with different relatives, in different foster homes etc… and I had no contact at all with him. I don’t really know why, but my older brother Mark and I didn’t see him. But through out all the moves and changes in my life, I kept his last name and for some strange reason always felt connected to my father’s side of the family.

When I was 18 and had just graduated from high school my ‘new’ parents gave me a trip to Alaska and I went for six weeks. At that time my siblings were 12, 11, 8 and my little sister was 3 and adorable! It was fun and I had high hopes of being part of ‘their’ family. Didn’t quite work out as my Dad and his wife separated and I never saw my siblings again as they lived with their mother. My Dad doesn't seem very emotionally attached to his kids to say the least and I wasn't quite sure what to do.

At my wedding reception, I think this is cute, he gave us $$$ for our Honeymoon.

Since I was 18 I have seen him four times, one being my wedding day when he surprised me and flew down and showed up at the temple! I was thrilled and horrified at the same time!! My mother was there, my wonderful foster parents who paid for the whole thing were there and now here was my father. It was bizarre and wonderful at the same time.



Grandpa came to visit once, Kayla, Lauren, Abbie, Mitch and Rachel. He looks happy!



My little sister Amy, who was 15 at the time.

Fast forward……..during Christmas break this year Lauren made a Facebook for me. One of the first things I did was put in my long lost siblings’ names, up popped two of my brothers and my sister. I ‘friend requested’ them and within hours we were “friends”. My sister and I have talked and sort of reconnected. She’s 15 years younger and lives in Minnesota with her husband and three kids. I hope to visit her sometime. My brother Mike lives in Portland and we hope to visit him this summer. Tom, my other brother lives in Seattle. We have messaged each other and yesterday he had business in the Bay Area and I invited him to dinner and HE CAME!! 32 years since we last saw each other!

I was a little nervous wreck for 24 hours. I wished I was thinner, more beautiful, more talented. I wish I had cleaned my carpets, painted my living room, had new cabinets and counters. I prayed that my boys would be good and that I wouldn’t embarrass myself with my lack of an edit button. (which I am sure I did) I hoped that he wouldn’t be allergic to my cat, that dinner would be awesome and that he would like me.

It was absolutely one of the coolest, most wonderful experiences of my life.

My brother Tom (who thought I was 46, bless him...)

We are alike in many ways, not looks, but likes, interests, views etc…there really is something to genetics! We reminisced and shared memories, we discussed our dysfunctional father, asked questions about each other, we laughed, we teased, my kids LOVED him and it was so natural.

My heart is so full of joy because of the experience. I feel like I am floating. As wonderful as my other siblings are and I do love them, I have always, always missed these four kids. I have wondered about them, prayed for them, wished that I knew them, and now, I got to ‘meet’ one of them, and it was spectacular. I hope he becomes a regular visitor as he travels a lot with his profession and is in the Bay Area a few times a year.

I feel like a princess and I had a dream come true.