Church

School started!

My baby started high school & seminary today (seminary is a worldwide, four-year religious educational program for youth ages 14 through 18).  My kids are quite independent already (they wake themselves up, etc.), so all that is different is that all my kids are gone earlier, & I’m not “hanging out” with her in the morning.

Seminary is at 6 AM, & since Mark teaches them, it was just me & the dog, Cooper, for an hour.  When they left, Cooper seemed to say, “oh, it’s starting again…”, & went to “his spot” on the couch to sleep.  They were back briefly at 7, & when they left again, Cooper briefly looked at me, like, “Who do I play with now?”, & then settled down to rest on his blanket beside me…

Oh, good grief!  I have no kids to talk about, so I’m talking about our dog!  Ah! What will I do in 4 years?!?  I won’t even be 50 years old—my mom had a 2 year old kid when I’ll have an empty nest!

I just want to brag!

I know it’s been awhile, but I just want to brag!  Wednesday, April 27, I got myself dinner…Now, I have gotten myself some “easy” meals, but this was not just any old dinner: I put leftover burger & fries on a plate, reheated it, & gave myself a bib.  J  I love how much more independent this house allows me to be!  (More on that later!)

Concerning my kids (u may be aware of some of this, if u follow me on Facebook &/or Instagram):

Zach opened his mission call 3/31. He leaves June 1 to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He will serve for 2 years in San Diego, CA mission, ASL speaking (the letter said “u will prepare to teach the gospel in ASL” ).  In my opinion, Zach has been preparing for his mission since he was 6 years old!

Saturday, April 23, my son, Zach, came home from college (BYU), & as he unpacked, I sat in his room, & held a CONVERSATION with him!  I’ve held conversations with family & friends just sitting by me, staring at my mouth, but he was able to walk around & unpack!  I’m sure it’s not all me… In fact, I KNOW it’s not!

My youngest daughter, Sophie, competed against several middle & high school show choirs, swing, & jazz choirs in a Show Choir competition on April 1st, w/ her amazing group, the Ringtones, last   They won best vocals & grand champs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-oSBMP-Zy4

This group of girls is so motivated!  Around December. They started hanging out here, & learning songs just for fun. In February, the choir & voice teachers heard them, & got involved, realizing something could happen, & since the school had no show/swing choir, they entered this last competition as the LTMS swing choir.

I know they have practiced hard!  It was good to see the “fruit of their labors”!  & I can’t believe these girls are in 8th grade, & just started seriously practicing a month ago!  They usually practice here, & I don’t get tired of hearing them!

As for my oldest daughter, Jessie, is now 16.  She has been driving for a while (she had a hardship license–since I’m disabled, but I think the license was more of a hardship for us, cuz it rarely helped us!), &  she can now date (heaven help us)!  In fact, this weekend, she is going to “Mormon Prom.”  Last year was the 1st time I got to check it  out, & it was amazing to see EVERY girl wearing a modest prom dress!  It gave a different feel to the evening that was so wonderful!  I am glad my daughter can attend such a great event!

Also, since Mark & I have been so focused on Zach’s mission call, & Sophie’s choir competition, my other daughter, Jessica, took it into her own hands to do April Fools on us this year!  I thought u’d enjoy seeing what she did…

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I’m back!

I haven’t posted in a while, cause so much has been going on: we just moved, went on a Disney Cruise, found & trained  another person to help me, & hI ave been recovering from pain that was in my only working limb (I didn’t even know why it hurt…my guess is stress & tightened muscles didn’t mix with the lack of stretching & lack of therapy in the last few weeks, but it severely “crippled” me—I could barely type, sometimes I was unable to feed myself, etc.).  But good news: I am doing MUCH better, & even made myself my own bag of popcorn!  (Granted, I made a mess too, but it was the 1st time in almost 12 years that I made popcorn, & poured my own bowl!)

 

Since my article is being run again in LDS Living magazine again, I thought I’d share some “updates”, & share some things the original LDS Living article got wrong:

  • My stroke occurred in my Indianapolis, Indiana home – we moved to Austin, Texas to build an accessible home, & be by family.
  • I used to be the compassionate service leader, & a Young Womens (YW) teacher before that, but now  I am the YW Personal Progress Leader (check out this remarkable youth program)–& recently earned my medallion again, along with both of my daughters (who were 13 & 15 at the time)!
  • “I Love to See the Temple” is one of my favorite primary (children)songs, but not THE favorite! (It’s this.)
  • I speak a LOT now.  As u may be aware, I started horse therapy after this article 1st came out (which has been AMAZING & strengthened my core so much!), & my therapist jokes that when we 1st started, I could only say a few words, but “now (she) can’t get me to shut up!”  If u get to know my Sophie, she’s so much like me, & she talks all the time, just as I used to do—so my therapist is correct in her explanation!
  • Our 20th wedding anniversary was in 2014.

Look! No hands!

The other day I realized that I am now able to lean forward with no hands, & hold ia 45 degree angle. I bet that’s thanks to horse therapy AND Cooper:

Our dog, Cooper, absolutely HATES to be alone. Whenever people leave, he sits by the door until he hears the car go, just hoping they will come back. When the car goes, he runs to see if I’m there- (cuz I rarely leave), & he tries to jump on me, as if to say, “Thank u for not leaving me! I love u!” I often lean forward to pet him, & re-assure him that I am really there. So I get practice leaning forward several times a day…

Then, during the day, he naps where he can see me. I recall the ninja-like moves I used to get out of the room w/my babies. I wish I could do them w/Cooper, but I can’t be “ninja -like” in my wheelchair (just turning it on, it beeps like the roadrunner–did they try to be funny when they did that?)! So, if I want to leave, either someone else has to come, or Cooper has to be completely out of it, so I can leave the room…cuz when Cooper finds himself alone, he HOWLS! So I just stay, since he’s too scared of our stairs (I can’t wait to move into our new, one-story home by next month!)

A few weeks ago, I posted a video, but forgot to tell anyone that I did! So, let me share a bit about our Mormon Channel video:

We made that video like 3-4 years ago. When the video was removed from Youtube, we were told it would air it at a “special” time. We thought that the “special time” would be during an LDS conference years ago, but it never did, so we had NO idea it would EVER air! But it finally did air, the 1st weekend of October, on LDS.org, during our church’s general conference–as we had thought it would, only years ago!

I was in Utah when it aired, watching the conference on TV (KBYU), so I never saw it. But the girls were with my parents here, watching LDS.org. My mom saw the intro. & had a feeling it was us, so they were watching, & when it ended, Sophia CALLED (yes, CALLED!) me, she was so excited, & my mom joked they need to update it now!