Bad Ultrasound

Natalie had her hip ultrasound thing yesterday after wearing her harness for the past 4 weeks. If things looked good then she'd be set free. But she didn't pass. Her left hip was still under 50% in the hip socket and whatever angle they measured was still below 60 degrees, so we didn't get any high fives from the doctor and she has to wear her harness atleast for another 4 weeks. Blast. Only difference is that for these 4 weeks she can have up to 6 hours of a break instead of just 4. But I hardly did even the 4 hours, I just left it on her all the time and would let her kick around after diaper changes & baths.

So I was speaking to her last night about her results and tried to make sure that she understood that she did not pass her test, in fact she got a very low grade, she got a D, which is less than average and she was, therefore, in big trouble. I am going to have to tell your father about this...

And Natalie, you know your father's punishments, right?

He'll probably start off with the bend you in half and squish your cheeks with your feet.

Followed by eating your little neck to bits. And a few bites of your chubby tummy.

After enduring her tickle torture session, I trust that she will work hard to see that her score improves by her next doctor visit. I really hate going to the doctor's office. I didn't see the doctor until 90 minutes after our appointment. It was not busy at all, 2 people before me and I was there on time for my appointment at 10, didn't see him until 11:30. Yes, an hour and a half late (see :55). I was getting a little flustered. This is not Valley Forge though, so we shall keep our chins up. I listened to a great devotional address today by Ramona Hopkins titled "Finding the Meaning in Adversity" that helped me gain some perspective, after listening to the first 5 minutes of that I knew that I have nothing to complain about. We are blessed and I love these beautiful children, thank you Lord.

It's the Weekend

Yay, it's Friday! We made it through another week. Here's a picture of Owen and Daniel watching PBS kids this afternoon. Daniel decided to get in a nap while they were there chillin in the chair. Owen with his arm affectionately around him. Such cute little guys.

Owen is a brave big brother, watching out for little D.

When the older kids got home, they decided to unwind too by watching a little tv. They joined the little boys. They're warming up for date night (movie night)

 

Owen, you look like you're nice and relaxed.

We've had a bit of a bug going around. Kids are taking turns staying home from school. Today is my parent's anniversary and they wanted to take all their kids out to eat to celebrate. Corey didn't make it though - he stayed home sick. I kinda felt bad leaving him with all the kids, but I guess I didn't feel bad enough to stay. I got to take the kid car, and that has a working stereo! I ran to Costco before dinner, so I was running late. I left the kids with the van to unload it. The van's radio and tape/cd player has been broken for several months. Annoying, but not Valley Forge. So I was happy to take the Fiesta and listen to some tunes. ...even though it took me forever to get my phone hooked up.  Once it was though, I was blasting The Greatest Showman. I picked up Neil at the Trax station on my way. I like my family.

We had a nice visit. My mom had painted a little wedding couple figure to look like them at their wedding - we teased my dad about his red suit. Something fun about Chuck a Rama this night - guess who was there! It's a piano guy!

I wasn't brave enough to ask Mr. Nelson for his picture, but my little brother, who had already broken the ice and gotten a picture, he went and asked him for me as they were on their way out. We love the piano guys. It was fun to be able to text my kids and show them!

Flight To Heaven

I loved this book. I didn't read any reviews before I read it, got interrupted by kids after starting it on Monday, then last night after they were all in bed, I started on page 78 and stayed up until 2 a.m. reading it, I kept telling myself: "...I really should go to bed... well, just one more chapter..." Finally made myself stop at 163 then finished it today. It was fun to read, some things I didn't expect that I won't talk about here in case it spoils it for you, but if you read it and want to talk about it, shoot me a facebook message and we can chat.

He only shared a little bit about heaven (chapters 14 & 15) and they are similar to other NDE accounts. That was okay for me, cause the thing I loved most about this book was the journey of faith he experienced through his broken ankle. He prayed and prayed for his ankle to heal, and there were miracles along the way that eventually made it happen, but for a time doubt set in and he feared along with his doctor that his "faith experiment" had ruined his chance for healing and that he would be crippled for life. He called himself an "untrained unit" in the war for faith, which I liked cause I feel like I'm untrained too and am still learning how to defeat fear and doubt at times. I also liked on page 134 "I wasn't going to make a parade out of my faith this time." I think I've been guilty of that before. Mostly just in my mind, silly things like when I was so sure we were going to with the Body for Life contest - lots of times as I experimented with my faith, it was more of an experiment using "The Secret", trying to "will it" to happen by my will, not letting God's will decide. So I really liked this book cause I related to his story about how he learned HOW to have faith. I think I've had the same journey but in a different way (mostly through MovieMouth). One of my neighbor's family is having their own experience of faith but through the illness of a child (Here on the mom's hospital journal entry on November 14th "Walking Through Water") as I read this particular entry, I know that I've learned that too, but did wonder why they are learning it in such a hard way, my way really wasn't hard in comparison. (Poor me, I had to live out of suitcases for 9 months with 7 kids and live in a small apartment in Chile... boo hoo. Corey said one time in Chile "Come on, this isn't that bad... it isn't Valley Forge!" (At that time he was reading a George Washington book.))

How do we want to view our life? I know that people who look for the good are happier, so I think since I want to be happy, I'll keep trying to do that. (In Costa Rica, I lived 10 minutes from the beach, awesome! In Chile, I only had 700 square feet of apartment to clean! Sweet!) How do we want to look at our life - Are we grateful as we see the blessings or do we like to complain and murmur about the difficulties and inconveniences?

Anyway... learning to Trust God and turn our will over to Him is a journey that all of us need to have, we all need to experience our own personal Gethsemane where our will is broken, giving us a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see verse 7) - giving up what we want most and letting the Lord give us what He wants for us, according to his will. And as we remember that God loves us we will learn to trust him, and we'll recognize that he has and IS blessing us. We will know that whatever happens will be for the best. (amazing talk at that link above too!!)

I'll end here with another part of the book I liked in chapter 10 as he sat in the backyard in his wheelchair and pondered on the change of seasons:

"Up until (the accident), I had always been a doer; now I was learning to just be.

"Trees need the winter. They need time to strengthen for the growth in springtime.

"I had experienced a lot of growth. Now was the time for the energy to be diverted from the branches to the roots. The roots of my faith were going deeper. Much of what was going on with me was going on underground, so to speak, beneath the surface, unseen. Growth can be a lonely place, but it is a necessary place."


So when we go through changes and trials and hard times, keep a proper perspective, remember past miracles and answers to prayers like talked about here in one of my all time favorite talks ever. Trust that things will work out, but that it's a winter season for you before the blessings and beauty of springtime.

Brandywine, Pennsylvania 1777

Ethan posing in front of a Contintental Soldier. Grandma and Grandpa Hibbert and Aunt Beka came out to see some sights on the east coast before she started school (she just returned from her Church mission in San Fransisco). So we (Tiff, Ethan, Hyrum, and Wesley) drove up from Virginia to spend the day with them (Joe and Mel were in school, and Corey was at work). We went and visited the Brinton Farm home, the Brandywine Battlefield, and then to Valley Forge. It was a great day, I loved living back east!

Hyrum with Aunt Beka

Quarantine School and All Negative

So, we're all home and in quarantine. It might last a 10 or 14 days, I've gotten different messages from the school districts. But no need to fear: Teacher Natalie is here!!

Joseph is isolated in the messy basement, which is where the kids usually set up "school" - so for yesterday Natalie set up her class room in the kitchen.

They all have boxes set on upside down on a barstool for their desks. These are the boxes/bins that were holding the Christmas decorations until I gave permission to decorate yesterday. Last night they were storage boxes. Today: school desks. Natalie's students Daniel and Owen. 

And class continued today - different day, but same "desks" and same clothes on these two boys.

It's ok though, cause we're not going anywhere. The kids have also been playing a Santa game where Owen is the reindeer and pulls them around the house, using a red santa scarf as the reins. Pics of them playing sleigh yesterday:

I don't think they deliver presents to anyone, they just go on a Christmas Eve test drive / joy ride around the house. 

They take turns being the reindeer and Santa.

So, we felt a little bad for Joseph being stuck in the basement. I was the chosen person to deliver food and pick up his dirty dishes. I thought he might be happier down at BYU, and if 3 of his roommates were positive for covid too, maybe they could all isolate down there together? I called BYU to check it out, the person I talked to said he should probably just stay here. Joseph was calling and asking too, and I told him he could do whatever he wanted to do - he was welcome to stay, or if he wanted to go, I was happy to take him down. Last night he decided he would prefer to be back on campus, and that they had a room for him in some apartments that they had dedicated to covid students, he just had to be there by 10 pm. So he packed up, we loaded up, did not give anyone hugs goodbye, I gathered some food to last him for 2 weeks if necessary, since he couldn't go to his room down there to get his food. He's set up with oatmeal, pasta, tuna and tortillas, he should survive. Then he sat in the back seat of the van and we drove down with the windows cracked. Have fun in the leper colony, Joseph! 

That's Corey's little joke, he calls it a leper colony. Joseph calls is "the island" like he's on survivor. The door was locked so Joseph walked around and I watched his 72 hour kit until he came and opened the door to get his stuff. It has been a little easier and less stressful with him gone, and I think it was the right decision because we all got our results back today that we are negative. 

That surprised me, I thought for sure a few of us would have it, and that I had it for sure since I've been around Joseph the most, but hey I'm not complaining. We are going to watch ourselves for symptoms and if any of us do show any signs of illness they will go get tested again. But as for now, we're all negative, and with the leper out of the house, we're going to wipe things down again and then we'll be clean and hopefully stay clean and the kids will be able to go back to school soon. I went to get disinfectant wipes at Walmart and didn't notice the 1 item limit they had. The lady at the self checkout was nice and let me take 4 even though I had 9 in my cart. I wonder when this pandemic will end. 

Of all the kids, Abi was the most sad to not be able to go to school. She loves her friends and dance classes. We were gone in Hawaii for 2 weeks, then gone for Thanksgiving break, the get to go back for 2 days and now we're locked up at home again! So sad. This is a pretty good trial to have, if you take a broad view of the history of the world and the variety of trials others have faced. This isn't Valley Forge, nor Martin's Cove. This is ok, we can handle this. A few other pictures and quote of the day - I heard laughing from the tree and Owen was over there but it was Daniel laughing, and I looked and didn't see him, but then got down on my knees and saw a little elf hiding in our tree, so cute!

And Owen's teacher asked for a picture of him sitting with legs crossed for a photo gift they are doing at school. So here's Owen's picture for that - cute boy.

The girls practiced violin today, hallelujah. We had practicing music be the thing they had to do before Corey and I would leave on a date, and thankfully the kids value their parent free time on date night enough that they practiced so that we'd leave. I have been struggling with getting them to practice or with having anything to motivate them and I don't feel like using threats right now. But today, after Corey got Lily to practice her saxophone for an hour, Sophi wondered if she could practice violin for an hour, and it was easy - 20 minutes of scales to my piano guys playlist, then 20 minutes of review, followed by 20 minutes working on her new piece, and voilà - you did an hour! That was easy! I practiced for 30 minutes with Natalie too, and did more on my own, so it was a really good violin day for me, yay. 

We went and got take out at Beaumont Bistro for our date - but first we went by and picked up a backpack kid carrier for Peter for when we go skiing. Corey found this on his own! A $200 carrier, used, but still in good condition, for $35! Way to go sweetie! Corey is excited for all of us to go skiing! Now that we have a carrier for Peter even he and I can go. I comment how if I carried Peter, I'd fall down with him on my back. Corey's reply made me laugh: "Well, you're better than nothing." haha. We had a nice dinner in the car. I had the beet salad. Corey's comment about giving tips: "Would you like to pay more? Allright." We also reminisced on our trip to Hawaii - Corey comments on why Hawaii was good "You can swim in the ocean for the 'this is legit' then come back and swim in the pool 'and this is nice.'" That was a great trip, we should have stayed there and away from all the spiking cases here in Utah! Oh well. It's still good to be back, covid and quarantine and all.

Cub Scout Camp

Today I got to spend the day at Cub Country. I think Wesley just makes the handbook version of a little scout. Actually all the scouts were pretty cute.

Wesley had a great time and I'm grateful for all the effort put into making camp like this possible. But I do think there has to be a way to run it that works better for the leaders, cause I was struggling a little bit with the letter of the law that they have to run by. And I know they're just trying to be totally sure they protect the kids and themselves from bad things happening, but, I don't know, seems like there should be a better/easier way? So we were told we needed two leaders to go. And for some reason those two leaders have to be the same gender, which I don't get. So our troop already had one mom going, so they needed another lady. So I couldn't pawn this off on Corey or his dad or my dad.... and since no other mom or lady leader was offering I let myself be the martyr. I consider myself a martyr cause I was going to have to take Natalie, which I knew would stretch me, and it did. (but she is cute)

Corey was a martyr too, cause I knew this was going to mess up his work day for him to stay home and do my job of taking care of the other 8 kids, cause he has a ton he's trying and needs to get done before they go to Brazil again next month. So I felt bad for him, and was wishing I didn't have to go cause I didn't think I was really going to be needed up there for any reason at all, and I was right. There ended up only being 3 kids going from our troop, so we had two adults to three kids. And there were 4 other troops in our group and it looked like they had the same ratio as us, cause in our group there were 10 leaders and 15 kids. 

Plus if you add the two scout counselors that ran the show for us, that makes 12 adults/leaders for 15 kids. Just seems like a poor use of the leaders' time? I mean everyone has a hundred things to do, if they need us to come help up at camp, seems like we should atleast really be needed to help in some real way? Some way to please make us feel like we are contributing members of society? 

So here's the leaders for our group ~ I was standing behind holding Natalie after she finally fell asleep (hallelujah, but my biceps are a burnin'...) and we've got 5 ladies on the right log, two more sitting on the left log (alteast they seemed to be having an enjoyable conversation with each other), and then in the distance is a dad in a red shirt and he was talking to another dad. So we are all sitting around doing nothing just watching, taking a picture now and then, but basically just being a body that is present so there won't be any legal problems for the the BSA, right? Just seems a little too much of a sacrifice to ask people to make for no reason. I would have rather not been there, but I'm glad Wesley was cause he finally got to do archery, which was the reason he came. He liked his leader Matthew. And Matthew let him wear his hat cause Wesley's middle name is Matthew, so they are like twins

Natalie did pretty good at not getting totally dirty.

She wore Wesley's hat after he started wearing Matthew's hat.

She's pretty, she's almost 1, I can't believe it.

So, yeah, there's my kinda rant about cub camp, the #1 place in the country for airbound dirt. But Wesley had fun. And, since it appears that he's my last boy, and I hope I've done my time and that I'm done with that for a long time. One cute thing Wesley did - during lunch there was a little boy sitting by himself at the top of the bleachers, Wesley noticed him and asked me if I thought he should go talk to him. I said sure, and he did, and they were up there playing and laughing until the lunchtime song show started.

He's a good kid. I like Wes. I also got lots of pretty pictures of the feverfew flowers up there. Keep trying to smell the flowers, this isn't Valley Forge.

Nuevo Amigo

So, last night/this morning at 1am, Corey got back from the airport with a new friend from Guatemala, Victor. He came with greetings and cookies from Joseph. Victor was in Joseph's ward. I say "was" because Joseph just got transferred this week. But a month or so ago, probably at church function in Guatemala, Joseph heard Victor talking about how he needed to use his visa or he'd lose it.  Joseph piped up and said "You can stay with my family! They have people over all the time!" That is true. I might count up someday all the visitors we've had over the years, I wonder if I could remember them all? I think the first was way long ago when we were in the pink house, Corey met a family from Uruguay at the airport who were arriving with no plans, and they stayed with us in our tiny tiny house. There were like 5 or 6 of them, I can't remember. And in the pink house we had between 1-4 kids, cause we had Joseph when we moved there in 2000, and we had Hyrum when we moved out in 2004. Anyway, so yeah, even way back then we were hosting random Latinos, and we have close friends from Corey's mission and business in Brazil.... yes, we do seem to have Latino guests quite often. And we've been on the receiving end of a lot of hospitality from them. So I wish I didn't feel this way, but I gotta be honest, it does cause me stress to have people come stay here. Atleast I get stressed in the weeks of planning for and thinking about it beforehand. Cause we have a busy house and family already without trying to entertain people. It doesn't seem to cause Corey stress. Several months ago, on the last day of summer break when I was at a function for one of our Latino friends, and I honestly didn't really want to be there, I realized that I now understood the stress that Corey feels with a large family, cause I feel it with all the Latino functions, entertaining, travelling to their countries. Yes, I usually agree to go along. Yes, there are moments of fun and joy, but it's a lot of work and stress. I know he has moments of joy with the kids, but I recongnize it is a lot or work and stress. But I'm more built to be ok with the stress of little kids and messes, if it's just us and we're not trying to impress anyone else (like by having a clean house for a houseguest). The kids make Corey feel like we're running faster than we have strength, so I said if we are trying to not be over our heads anymore, we gotta stop. I said I'd be willing to stop having kids if he was willing to stop hosting Latinos. So, here we are.

And so it looks like Peter might not be our last child. Corey took him up the canyon to see Snowbird. I agree, it is always fun to see our home town and state through someone elses eyes. We do live in a beautiful area. 

So Victor is super nice and super low key. It is never bad when people are here, so I don't know why I stress about it so much before hand... I'm gonna guess that it's mostly due to me being in my head and thinking of having another person/people who I need to be aware of and feel like I need to attend to and try and read their minds and make sure they are having a good time and are not bored. But I might not stress about having guests if I could let go of that. So last night I didn't try to clean up the house "because we are expecting company!" I just left us as we are, which right now in the month of Christmas, is messy. Yes, maybe all the reasons why I don't like it are just because of unnecessary expectations in my head. So, I'm gonna take it easy during his visit with us. He will be here for 10 days. Owen and Victor played a little bit of roller hockey in the garage. After school today, Corey took him and some of the kids to go roller blading at the church gym for a bit. I hope they didn't mark up the baseketball floor. And then Corey took him tonight to the Youth activity - which was caroling and delivering gift baskets.

Isn't that a cute picture of Victor next to one of our rather tall neighbors? Guatemalans are so tiny!! Like Joseph isn't as tall as he'd like, but he looks tall compared to them! I think that is Victor in the 2nd picture here....  I'll ask Victor if that's him tomorrow. So, it will be fun to share Christmas with him, it will make it a new and memorable experience. And someday we'll actually have a home with a finished basement and we'll have a proper guest room. Right now I'll prob be a little stressed. Here's Victors spot -

I should have but I didn't clean up my area, where I'm still sorting papers. That is the area with properly finished walls and flooring, so it probably would have been warmer, but it's still a mess, so Corey set it up here.

For once in our life, the lego area is one of the few clean area of the house! And it's stayed clean without me doing it every day or week - it's clean thanks to the fact that most of the legos are gone! We still have 6 of the big bins of legos in the garage! Mel should be coming home this week for the break. So we're probably going to move her into Owen and Daniel's room and let O and D sleep on our floor. Also Valentina might be coming up, so we need to be prepared with a place for her to sleep. I shall not stress. No, even better: I shall tell myself "I am feeling stressed, and that is okay." I will take deep breaths and pray and put on a smile and just control the controllables. I am not like Nephi in the wilderness, This isn't Valley Forge. I can do this." #eternalperspective