Family

It’s been 13 years!

Our family has taken a lot of trips lately. Trips wear me out, plus I have always been a “homebody”, so, I chose to stay home when they left this week…& I’m so glad I did!

Thursday (today) marks (no pun intended) 13 years since my stroke. This week has been my 1st anxiety -free, & stress-free “vacation” in 13 years! Until this week, I did not think it was possible for someone like me to have a “vacation”. (After all, I never get a break from myself…but those who care for me get a break from me!) In “honor” of being home “alone”, thought I’d share my responses to these 2 questions:

How might your life be different if…

you had not married Mark?

Stroke or no stroke, I’d think I’d be divorced, & I doubt I’d be a member of the church, since when my testimony faltered (after my stroke), it was his testimony that bouyed me up, & his words that challenged my negative thinking. If I somehow stayed as a member of the church (like if I hadn’t had a stroke), I doubt I’d be very active in my church…& since my faith is such a HUGE part of who I am, so I’d be a VERY different person!

your kids hadn’t been born?

Assuming I still had my stroke at 30 years old, if I had chosen to work 1st, I question if my kids would have been born! In addition, since I studied childhood development in college, I knew how critical the 1st 5 years are, so –even if the doctors had allowed me to have kids, I doubt I would have! As it was, they were young: 6, 4, & 2 years old…& that was really tough on me having a 2 year old!

However, not having my kids would have been a great loss! Each child has brought a unique spirit into our home–one that is missing when they are gone now, so it’d be missing if they were not born. All the kids bring laughter, love, & music into our lives, each in their own way. In addition, Zach brings a calm feeling & is a peacemaker. We also currently are immeasurably blessed through his service as a missionary! Jessie brings an excitement in the air, a zest for life, & a sense of security. Sophie is very service-oriented, forgiving, & has a good heart (I have always been able to count on her to help me).

13 Years is a long time for my family to take care of me, & each day, I am grateful for their love, support, & service.

Merry Christmas!

Sophie is in this “extra” choir outside of school. They performed this weekend for the holiday season. The day we went (Saturday) was a day filled with small upsets & disappointments, but it culminated when we went to Sophia’s concert, & the ONLY place I could sit was at the very far back of the room (with empty rows in front of us). This is not the 1st time something like this occurred (handicap seating is often crappy), but it was just one more thing that day…

There is this new TV show called ‘Speechless’, & one of the actors is a teenage boy in a wheelchair, who is incapable of speech, & the mom is quite an advocate for her son, who will make it quite clear of how he should be treated…Needless to say, I was thrilled to hear that Mark went all “Speechless” on them, when they tried to be proud of completing the minimum accessibility requirements!

Despite that, I love Christmas. As a child, my favorite tradition was to prepare the manger for Christ: every good deed “earned” a piece of straw for the manger. That tradition never caught on w/my kids, so we did other stuff…

We have tried to keep the focus on Christ (our tree has only nativity ornaments, & most of our decorations are nativity related.–even our advent calendar is a nativity scene, & the while the actual nativity set we display is nice, it is not fragile, so it was ok if little hands touched it– though we also had a Fisher-Price nativity play set that was pulled out & added to their toys in December). Even Santa remembered Christ in our home, & just as Christ received 3 gifts from the wise men, Santa only gave our kids 3 gifts (though when u add in a gift from your parents, from each sibling, from both sets of grandparents, & from Mark’s 5 siblings, & my 6 siblings, there’s a LOT more than 3 gifts–Thank goodness our siblings began to rotate, & do 1 family gift, instead of 11 individual gifts!)

In addition, to make the holiday less commercial & more personal, we continued Mark’s favorite tradition of making gifts for each other. It doesn’t always happen for Mark & me, but we often help the kids make each other gifts. These are my favorite gifts.

However, this year, I don’t feel very “Christmasy”. My kids are all grown up, & it has seemed to loose it’s “magic” when everyone can pick out their own gifts! But this year on Christmas, we will be able to talk to my missionary son (serving in California, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). After all those years of trying to put Christ into Christmas, that will certainly put the focus on Christ on Christmas Day! Who knew I had to wait until now to find Christ in Christmas!

Christmas Concert

If u will be in Austin the 1^st weekend in December, u should really go to this…Maybe I’m biased, but I think it’s soooo good! & this year, my Jessica is doing the biggest bell in the bell choir! And if u can’t pick between attending Friday or Saturday night, I suggest Saturday, because my other daughter, Sophia, is performing with her quartet (I may be biased, but I heard them practice, & they sound AMAZING!)

Tuesdays Rock!

The day of the week that I am grateful for is Tuesday: on Tuesday I get to do my favorite therapy–horse therapy, I get to hear from my son on his mission (it makes me so happy!), & I get to spend time with my husband (usually a lunch date, but it may include going places together). It is by far the best day of my week!

Speaking of horse therapy, when I started it, I got so tired from the workout, that it wiped me out the entire day! Unfortunately, I can’t sleep in the daytime, but once I had the strength to lift my iPad, I’d just sit & listen to an audio book. My horse therapy days quickly became my “audio books day”, cuz that was all I could do!

However, last year, I discovered the secret to regain my strength: don’t know if u’ve ever seen the cartoon of Popeye, the Sailor Man (I swear he’s in toonland at Universal, & he’s on you-tube). Anyway, I used to laugh at how when Popeye was tired, or getting beat up, he’d find a can of spinach, eat it, & his muscles popped out & he re-gained his strength—all from a little can of spinach! It seemed ridiculous! But I found out there may be truth to it, cuz my green supplement (that has spinach in it) really does make me stronger!

I believe that cartoon was created with a stroke victim in mind: spinach not only helps him, but he also can’t seem to use a side of his face, & talks pretty bad, like me! And if u want to hear what I mean, here I am, counting as I do knee bends on the tilt table:

https://youtu.be/VSICDo7oJmw