So this is what the sky looks like today.  It looks like this most days.  But wait, the sun is peeking through the clouds….no, just a hole in the cloud cover.  It’s gone now.

Anyway, my sweet husband took a few days off of work last week–a surprise.  I didn’t know he was taking off any and I found out about each one individually–the night before, the morning of, and the night before.  Each day was enjoyable to do something different than I had planned.  By the third day, I didn’t feel like my life was on a ‘bullet’ train anymore.  I had forgotten how much I just love to hang out with Drew.

Over the last several weeks, we have watched three different ‘Pride and Prejudice’s, and two ‘Sense and Sensibility’s.  I have walked along the beach.  Had a few days without the children at home, and had some evenings without them here.  This week, I am helping a family prepare for a funeral and another family prepare for a wedding.  Also, one of my best friends has had a baby, another is fighting her husband’s cancer…….while my own children are in school, at college and on a mission.  And today I taught young mothers of the value and absolute importance their current ‘family station’ plays in society and in the eyes of the Lord. 

I feel like I have had a crash course in mortality —so many emotions, so many different directions.  Happy, sad, gratitude, loss, being overwhelmed, tranquility, peace, hope, despair, stress, love, joy……all over the place.  I’m not sure what the point is exactly, except that through it all I have felt the Lord’s guidance and love.  I have seen Him work miracles in the lives of my family and friends.  I have seen them grow in their abilities to manage the stress and circumstances in their lives.  Their characters have been altered for the better.  They are stronger, more courageous, kinder, more nurturing, more empathetic.  They have become more patient as the works of the Lord have manifested themselves in their lives.

It is amazing to me that just as we come to a place where we feel like the Lord has given us all that we can possibly handle, we are sure that our bucket of trials is overflowing, and we cannot endure any more, that is when He seems to step in and take over and His works are made visible.  It never happens before then.  We are pushed beyond our ability (we think), way beyond our desire and we desperately need assistance.  Pushed to the point of begging for relief and answers, that we reach deep into our soul and really seek after the will of the Lord—-that is when the answers start coming, or the help, or the relief.

Don’t you wish we would come to that place of desiring His will before that place??  And yet, for most of us, I think we almost have to go there before we are so willing to give up self and really, honestly and truly seek His will above our own.  It is so easy to forget when things are going well and life is good.  Why do we forget??  Why?

I certainly do not enjoy the trials of mortality, and yet I can see their benefit in the lives around me and in my own.  I grow so much because of my own experience.  A dear friend once called those places in our lives, ‘times of compressed spiritual growth.’  I really like that phrase.  It seems to capture it all, doesn’t it? 

So as you ponder the benefits and growth you have had from your ‘times of compressed spiritual growth,’ here is one of my little tiny gifts that reminds me that Heavenly Father loves me.

I love the beach!!  And I love sand dollars!!  I have never found a whole one on the beach any time I have ever been—not one!!  Well, while Drew and I were walking together along the shore on one of his days off, I found one.  (not pictured here because I broke it while I was cleaning the sand off of it at home)  Anyway, it was cute and little.  Then I thought, wouldn’t it be fun to find one for each of the kids.  (I didn’t plan on giving it to them.  I just wanted to find one for each of them.)  Well, during our walk on the beach, I found SIX!!  Six whole sand dollars!!!  It wasn’t until I was walking home that I was gently reminded that I had wanted to find one for each of the children, and I have six children at home.  Wow, really??  You even answer those little silly prayers?  Thank you!!  Thanks!

Well–guess where we were two nights ago??  Think hard…..maybe the title gives you a clue…..

Yep!  The ER!!  My lovely sweet fifth son wanted to sew.  We were just beginning to use the sewing machine.  He was working with some scrap material and I had given him basic guidelines (so I thought).  I needed to go and pick up Scuff from school and  was going to leave Speedy sewing.  So as I was walking out the door, I thought, well, what is the worst thing that could happen to him?  I guess he might sew his finger………’Speedy, what are you going to do if you sew that through your finger?’

Speedy, “I don’t know?”

Carin, “Well, at least call me on the cell phone.”

I wasn’t four blocks from the house when Sport calls and says, “Speedy just sewed through his finger!!”  And I can hear Speedy wailing in the background.  I get home and Speedy is stuck in the machine, which is still turned on, light and all.  I unplug the machine.  Loosen the needle, lift up the pressure foot, cut the bobbin thread.  Speedy is indeed stuck in the machine.  I try to wiggle him loose which causes more pain, realize he is still attached to the top thread, cut that.  Oh my goodness.  The needle is completely through his finger.  Wow!

I call the pediatrician.  It isn’t bleeding much because the needle is in it!!  They say bring him in right now.  OK.  I call Drew and tell him he has to pick up Scuff because we are going to the Dr.  Drew tells me that I should just pull it out……..Don’t you remember first aid???  You don’t remove protruding objects!!

The Dr. takes one look at him and says, you are going to have to take that to the ER.  We don’t have the tools here for removal and we don’t have enough sedating power, and I’m worried he went right through the bone.

We head to the ER where we wait 4 1/2 hours to see the dr. there.  They took x-rays, gave him an antibiotic, and pain meds.  He did stick it through the bone.  Then when we were finally being seen, they numbed up his hand good, had a nurse hold up a towel so Speedy couldn’t see what was going on, and yanked it out with the pliers!!

I’m not quite sure why Speedy always picks the busiest day in ER to have trauma….last time I took him to ER we waited for five hours to have someone stitch up his head.  By the time they looked at us, his head had healed over and they said he didn’t need stitches.  Well now he has a scar in his head where no hair grows!

Anyway, I thought you’d like to see the pictures…are you ready???  X-rays too??  Don’t scroll down any further if you don’t want to look.

OK I cannot figure out how to transfer the x-rays to a photo document.  Right now they are in a word document…..I wonder if I can just copy and paste….I’ll try that…..hang on…….

Alright, I still can’t figure it out.  Sorry, no x-rays on the blog.  (I’ll email it to those of you medical people who really want to see it!!)

Speedy is doing much, much better.  Recovery so far is going well.  Sewing lessons are on hold, but when they resume, there will be no sewing without mother right there!

Well friends,
I have been feeling in a total jazz mood lately!  You may not know it but that is a huge part of me.  I played the trumpet in high school and a little bit of college–marching band, symphonic band, pep band and of course–JAZZ band!  Anyway, Sport introduced me to Michael Buble and I am hooked!  So this first song on the play list is absolutely incredible!!  The best trumpet song ever!!  Listen closely to the trumpets and the brass particularly the high notes and the syncopation (close to my heart because I played first chair).  Our rehearsals were during zero period and when I struggled in the morning to reach the high notes, my director made me stand on a chair so I could reach them.  I did!  Anyway, fun memories and still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the music!

Well…
Today was the day.  Spanky left for BYU—
off to college.  It is such a bitter sweet day, like when Slim left for Brazil.  There really isn’t any other place I would want them to be!  They are doing what they are supposed to be doing and going where they are supposed to be going.  They are becoming who they are supposed to become.

And yet, I know they will not be the same when they come home.  I will miss them.  All the things they do around the house, all of the things they do with and for me, those things will remind me that they are not here….  
not here for me to talk to every day, not here to hold and love and tease, not here to discuss and learn and grow with.  No one told me in the fine print of parenting that I would give my heart to these people and that even when they were doing everything they should be doing, all of those things that make parents proud, that my heart would be ripped out and writhing on the floor because they leave.  Such a paradox–totally happy and totally sad, all at the same time.

Spanky wasn’t the only one to leave today.  Scuff and Sport left for trek.  They will only be gone for a few days, instead of months or years.  But how quiet the house is with only half of our children here.  It is an omen of things to come.  Quiet, quiet, quiet…….  Those older sisters would tell me the day would come when the house would be quiet and I would long for these days again–all the hustle and bustle of family.  I knew they were right and at the same time, I really didn’t believe it would ever happen.  Yet, every once in a while, here it is.  It will be right in my face as school begins and everyone is away for a few hours every day.

I love being a mother….love my job…..love my people.  I just hope I can give the younger ones the time and attention the older ones have had, especially since I miss them so much!

We will miss you Spanky!
We are proud of you!!  
Congratulations!
Love Mom and Dad!

Riddle #1:

YES!!  GLITTER TOES!!!  My favorite!  I’m hooked!  I love them more than I ever knew I would!!  Now that Linzy has moved away, I need a new glitter toe lady 🙂  I told Drew we would have to put money in the budget for them and he just gave me THAT look.

Riddle #2:

First a little explanation, the first photo on the last post under riddle #2 was a close up of the bathroom wallpaper in the master bathroom.  As you can see from the photo, it is orange and brown.  The cabinets were painted a deep orange rust color.  In the bathroom, it was so dark everything looked brown.  But when you got it into the light, it was obviously orange!  Nasty–and it was full of mold.  There is brown and pink tile in the bathroom that was going to be outrageous to replace.  Anyway, Spanky, Sport and I with some assistance from the little ones, changed it to look like this:

Yes, those are lighthouses on the shower curtains and dolphins on the toilet seat.  I didn’t take a picture, but there are also ‘nemo’ fish in the tub to keep you from slipping.

On this wall, Sport is going to paint a lighthouse mural.  He is a very talented artist and I thought this would be a great opportunity to help him explore on a larger surface.  He already has a rough pencil sketch with the lighthouse at the right, on a rocky shore with a turbulent ocean and skyline.  I can’t wait to see how it turns out.  (The master bedroom is the big boys’ room, so this is their bathroom.)   And I found this poster to go over the top of the vanity:

OK, Riddle #3:
Speedy and Sun were invited to a 50’s party, so I helped them figure out how they should dress.  I really wanted a poodle skirt for Sun, but didn’t get it together in time.  (Then come to find out, she didn’t want to wear a dress anyway, so I guess everything worked out for the best!)

What does THIS:                                                                      

Almost two weeks ago, we went to the beach with our friends and their dog and puppies!!  There were six puppies and seven kids, three adults at the beginning, two at the end.  It was such a fun day!!  It was a big day for Shorty.  He doesn’t like dogs and is usually very afraid of them.  BUT…..he actually picked up a puppy a couple of times and became very comfortable, even holding one in the car on the drive home.

Our friends have moved away!!  We will and do miss them dearly but we know they will bring sunshine wherever they go!!  We love you Friends!!  Thanks for the GREAT day!

He has an incredible ability to help the children with their doctrinal understanding.  It is never a question of time or energy.  If they have a question, he is there.  And almost always the answer is, ‘Let’s look in the scriptures,’ or ‘Let’s see what the prophets have said about that.’  I just happened to be sitting next to Speedy with the camera when I got this photo.  (Trying more to capture relationships in my photography.  What a fun challenge 🙂

Don’t you just feel like this some times?  Here Shorty and Smiley are waiting for Spanky’s and Scuff’s party guests to arrive……

They are taking SOOOOO long!

Sometimes I feel like this when I am waiting for an answer from the Lord, or when I am expecting a life change, any minute, or waiting for a new baby to arrive, even just growing up.  Some things just take time and we have to wait for the process to unfold.

Here are Scuff and Spanky sporting some of their gifts……love the hips Spanky….really?

Spanky has been waiting for that magical number…..18.  He was waiting to finish high school.  Now he is just waiting until he leaves for college….right around the corner.

Scuff has been waiting for a different magical number…..16.  Congratulations guys!

I’m sure the time will fly and pretty soon, the two in the first picture will be the ones posing like the second picture.  In the mean time, I get to watch the process.  No waiting here.  Just trying to enjoy the scenery before it all passes me by…….  Then I’ll get to watch the grand kids…..

So, the other day, the kids decided they wanted to play pirates!  Speedy dressed them all in ‘pirate’ attire.  They put the PVC marshmellow shooters together for weapons, and taped several toilet paper rolls together for eye glasses.  They made Sun swab the deck!!  And then Scuff decided to have a little fun, dressed himself, and went out hunting pirates.  I heard everything explode when Scuff found them in the garage and I was sure someone had died!!  Turns out, he just scared them all half to death!  Another sweet story for a big brother!