My new bling!

My wonderful, amazing, caring, giving husband gave me the best valentines day present ever. He gave me diamonds! I almost fell out of my chair. I am so excited and so proud of my new ring. I took it in today to get it sized and sautered together. They said it would take 2 weeks! TWO WEEKS! Don't they know that is forever in woman time? Seriously, they should speed that up. I really wanted to have it back before grandma's birthday dinner so I could show it off to all my family! Oh, well. I guess you will all see it sooner or later. It is exactly the ring I always wanted too. Well, except he added a little more to it. The main ring is 1 1/2 carats and there are two 1/3 carat diamond bands that go around it. One on top and the other on bottom. I took a picture off the jewelry website. It's almost exactly my ring. It's just missing the diamond band on top. I've never been so excited in my life! It is super sparkley. I love it!!!!

Well that was scary

Yesterday (Wednesday) Chris woke up about 5 am with bad stomach pains. He laid around awhile and went to work. He left work after an hour. He called me at 10:30 am and asked me to take him to the hospital. My husband does not ASK to go the hospital. The few times he's been I've forced him into it. When he tore all the ligaments in his hand it was 5 days before I convinced him to see a doctor. So I knew it had to be serious if he was asking to go. My boss wouldn't let me leave work. We were so busy. We were an hour behind schedule. My boss was already cranky about having to close one day last week for the ice storm adn then me missing an additional day for the weather. So I put Chris off. I thought maybe if he waited a little bit that he might feel better. He asked me several more times to come get him. We finally got our patients caught up enough to leave for lunch. I told him that it took me 20 minutes to get home and 20 to get back so I was going to run home and check on Chris. I finally convinced him that it was a serious issue and I needed to take care of my family. So I got home about 1:30. Chris looked horrible. So I took him to the ER. It took awhile to get back in a room and start running tests. After blood and urine tests and then drinking radio active dye stuff over an hour and half intervals he went back to cat scan. He had a bad appendix (sp?). So about 10 minutes after the cat scan they took him off to surgery. The surgery took less than an hour and they got it out before it ruptured. We spent the night there and they released him today shortly after lunch. I didn't realize how scared I was until it was all over! I figured he had a kidney stone or something. I have had 3 of those and his pain seemed pretty similar. But when they wheeled him off to surgery I got nervous. Luckily my father in law came up to keep me some company and watch Lost in the waiting room with me. Before he got there I was pacing around and calling/texting everyone I knew just to keep busy. Between Chris's knee surgery and thumb surgery and Caden's surgery and my 3 kidney stones and 2 c-sections we have had the "opportunity" to tour many hospitals. LOL. This was by far the nicest hospital I've ever been to! It felt like we were at a spa or resort more than a hospital. We were at Moore Medical Center. The building isn't very old. The staff was all super nice and very thorough. The care was quick and efficient. The surgeon was really nice and very informative. When they got him into a room they explained that there is a full menu and for a meal you should dial 3000 and tell them what you would like to eat. Basically room service. The menu was incredible. Usually at the hospital 15% of what you get on your tray is worth eating. They offered steak, hot wings, chicken fried steak, quesadillas, burritos, rueben sandwiches....all kinds of stuff. Chris was on a restricted diet though. I sampled some of his lunch and it was awesome. He had grilled chicked and green beans and a baked potato. The menu and the food reminded me of eating at coaches. LOL. It was probably the best grilled chicked I've ever tasted. Other than the pesky surgery part it was actually a really nice experience. I can't say much about my roll out bed that I slept on though. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure I will return to that hospital for any future medical emergencies. I was really impressed. When he was released they asked him if he'd like a wheelchair or if he wanted to walk. He opted to walk. So they gave us our paperwork and that was it. We didn't have to be escorted downstairs and out of the building or anything. I have to give them an A+. I'm sure that their bill will reflect the phenomenal treatment we got but what can you do? I'm horrified to see the bills start rolling in.

Anyway, the crisis was averted and the whole thing went smoothly. They removed his appendix laproscopically so the recovery should be fairly simple. He has 2 small insicions on his belly and one on the belly button. We go in for a follow up visit with the surgeon next week. He should be able to return to work middle of next week.

So I'm glad that grandma's birthday dinner is being postponed for a little bit. I wouldn't want to miss it. I talked to grandma on her birthday and the kids sang her the bday song. She told me that everyone in the whole family had called her except for Thom. She said that even Dalton called her that morning. I think she was most excited about hearing from him. She was surprised and very happy about it. She said that Dalton was going to come visit after his sea trip and that we were going to throw him a party. I think I'm most surprised that he told her he'd like to have a party! Dalton used to come stay with my parents and I for a week or 2 in the summers. Poor guy had to put up with me. I followed him around and Dad tried to over educate him on math and computers. He must have been miserable. I don't remember how many years are between us but he was in high school when I was in elementary. I think. Anyhow, he never seemed like he would be that into a big family party but I'm glad that he has accepted. I'm excited to see him! See, good things happen to families that stick together. :)

That's most of the update from our house. Since the first of the year I've had a horrible sinus/cold. Macy had a virus. Caden had some rare form of strep that doesn't show up on regular strep tests and causes vomitting. Then there was an ice storm that almost destroyed me. I slid into a median and nearly hit a pole. Then Chris had his emergency. I sure hope that things calm down soon!

My new favorite recipe

I have a new favorite recipe. The ingredients sound random but it is SOOOOOO good. It only takes about 15 minutes to make. I just thought I would share in case anyone feels adventurous!

Corn Casserole

2 tbsp butter
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
Melt these in a lg skillet

2 16 oz shoe peg corn; drained
1 sm can green chilies
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk

Mix all above on stove and heat for 5-10 minutes
Put in casserole dish and cover with cheese
Bake at 350 until cheese melts
Then, stuff your face and enjoy your creation. :)

Give someone a hug

I found out today that one of my friends husband passed away unexpectedly this morning. Out of nowhere he had a massive heart attack and died. He was my age. It just reminds me how unexpected life can be and that it's a gift to not take for granted. It just makes me want to give everyone a hug. So, if you are reading this....I am mentally hugging you right now. Thank you for being my friend or family member. I am truly blessed. I love you all!

Frankly....

Here is how Christmas is going down this year.......uneventfully. LOL. I seem to have been really busy in the last few weeks although I can not recall anything I've actually done. Mostly hanging christmas lights and putting up christmas decorations. I would still do it all the same even if I lived here alone and no one was coming over. I just like Christmas decorations. Besides, I'm bad at decorating and Christmas makes it very easy.

This coming weekend appears to be the busiest weekend of my life. In one weekend I have the pleasure of juggling a school program, sami's bday, a visit with my out of town (momentarily in town) girlfriend, a company christmas party, and Sanders Christmas. I truly began my Christmas shopping today. I left work at 5, went to the bank, picked up Chris and got to my first store by 6:30. By 10:30 I managed to spend my entire paycheck. I did manage to accomplish alot. I was able to get every present for all my Sanders family except one, and most of my children's gifts. I have a little more time to get Chris's family all shopped for. So I thought I'd get the immediate need done first.

Needless to say...I am not freaking out and scrubbing my baseboards and washing the walls and magic erasering every bit of grout and all the garbage that no one really cares about but me. I'm just banking on the fact we haven't lived here long enough to accumulate enough dirt for it to really matter. As long as I get the children's room (seriously, to prevent injury) clean then you are all obligated to not notice the unmopped floor or dusty fireplace or whatever. I just don't feel that motivated and shopping seems more interesting to me. I am in charge of the "secret" gift this year. I'm having trouble finding just the right thing. I thought I had it then I realized although a nice gift it would be guessed by at least the 3rd person. I'm going to keep thinking on this one. Last year Shirley bought the can opener from the tv commercials. I don't know how I guessed it but I'm glad I did. I love that thing! I have to be careful though because caden likes to go in the kitchen and open cans just because he can operate it himself. LOL.

OK, enough for now....but please come to christmas in your sweat pants, eat too much, open presents, and ignore the purple spot on my dining room wall that I will someday get around to. Just not today!

Christmas lists

I have to share with you my families Christmas lists. I laughed insanely at Chris and Macy. I have to mention that Chris's list was handwritten and he managed to fill 2 pages. He has very small handwriting too! The kids listed off to me what they wanted to put in their letters to Santa. Feel free to laugh at my family. I did. :)

Chris- This list is categorized by item and there is an approx price next to each item. I will give you the general idea because my fingers will fall off if I type the whole thing. They are also rated on a scale of 1-10,000 on his satisfaction with the gift. LOL.
Cash- Cash; Gift Cards- Jegs.com, Tacklewarehouse.com, Bass Pro, Academy, anywhere w/electronics; Sports- Fishing: Quantum PT or PT Tour Edition reels, split grib trigger casting rods (med heavy or heavy); Golf- balls, lob wedge, 56'-62', gift cards to public courses; Softball- Demarini OTC 28 oz slow pitch bat; Hunting- seriously too much stuff to type; Video Games- Call of Duty 5, Resistance 2, Madden--can be PS3 or Xbox 360; Personal- cologne, chi holder (yes my husband asked for a special holder for his flat iron); Collectables- autographed balls (baseball or football), Eagles, Yankees, OU or other legends acceptable; Motorcyles- Helmets: KBC Zombie, Oneal Crisis, AFX skull, Shift Agent Hi Life; Jerseys- I can't even decode this part of the list; Goggles; Movies- Blue Ray anything, Star wars trilogy, xfiles movie, action/scifi/army, superhero/horror, zombie........and that's only the first page

Sara- a bullhorn

Macy- a horse that wags its tail, a princess that sparkle glows, a flower that is pretty, a princess that smells the pretty flower, a picture w/a princess on it for my vanity, a princess w/pretty pink socks, a pink or red cabinet to match my princess's socks, a statue coat that sprinkles around like a princess. LOLOLOLOL!

Caden- Jungle fury power ranger, Indianana Jones toys, Power Rangers (not the toy, the real ranger), Ben 10 toys, superman, batman, spiderman, transformers, spongebob toys, Lego Batman video game for 360 or PS3, Spike the dinosaur, the huge green triceratops w/a leaf, star wars toys, xmen toys, Bakugan toys, cars, motorcyles and men that ride them.

There you have it. I sure hope Santa pulls thru for me because I don't know what half the stuff on Chris or Macy's list is. If you happen to have any of their names there should be some ideas. Happy hunting. LOL.

:)

I really appreciate my husband. He has really stepped up and taken care of his family in their time of need. I've had a difficult time dealing with my MIL's death. I feel a lot of regret for the relationship I didn't have with her. When I was younger I was irritated by a lot of things with her. I was too foolish and impatient to look past them. Then when we found out she was sick it explained a lot of her weird quirks. By the time I understood her well enough to really value her she was too sick to for me to do the things with her I'd always wanted to. I never got to take her shopping or go out for coffee or get to know her on a personal level. I feel very ashamed that I didn't appreciate her and take the time to build a relationship with her when I had the chance to. She had always wanted to have a daughter and I would have loved to been a "daughter" to her. There are a few times that I did get to spend one on one time with her and I will always cherish that. But it wasn't near enough. I have learned quite a lesson. I don't think that I will ever feel less ashamed for taking her for granted. Everyone I've ever known always thinks their in-laws are weird in some way or another, but I feel like I didn't really give her a chance. That wasn't fair. She was a very kind lady. Even when her alzheimers was very advanced she was never mean or hateful. She always had a gentleness about her. It's been hard to watch my husband lose his mother and my children lose their grandmother. I hope that as my kids get older I can help them remember what a lovely lady she was. It's always hard to lose someone when we know we didn't appreciate them enough or take the time to let them in. I should have been more patient with her. I said alot of things when she got sick about how she should be taken care of and how they should deal with her disease. In the end, her family did the right thing and gave her the care and love she deserved. I regret thinking that I knew what was best for her when I clearly did not.

I can't say enough how much I appreciate my husband. He has never tried to keep me from being close with my family or with his. I've had friends whose spouses get in the way with their relationship with their parents/siblings or inlaws. Chris has never told me how to interpret my experiences growing up with my parents and he has never done anything but encourage me to have a relationship with his parents and grandparents. A husband has such a huge influence over his wife. I'm glad that he has never taken advantage of that influence. It's easy for a husband to manipulate his wife's emotions towards other people. I've met plenty of women that don't like someone just because their husband doesn't like them. I think it's also easy to cause tension between someone and their parents because their spouse won't give them a chance. I'm glad that Chris has embraced my parents. I think it would be hard to maintain such a close relationship with my mom and dad if my husband wasn't willing to let them be a part of his life too. I'm very blessed. I can't explain how lucky and undeserving I feel to have such an amazing family, both the family I was born into and the family I married into. I married a really wonderful man who encourages me to appreciate my family and spend time with them. (Even when he gets a little jealous of my time with them sometimes.) :)

I have a lovely family

Last night Sami and Tim came over and helped us put up our Christmas lights. It was so much fun to spend some time with Sami and her boyfriend. The kids just adore them. They are always kind to the kids and spend time playing with them. Caden and Macy haven't stopped talking about it! I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with Sami, just one on one, away from the rest of the family. She is a really beautiful girl and it seems like she has a good head on her shoulders. My goal has been to try to start spending more time with my cousins outside of family events and get to know them as people. I have had the pleasure of spending time with Brandee and now Sami. I'm exactly 12 years younger than Brandee and 12 older than Sami. It doesn't seem to matter though. I am really glad that the Sanders have started spending more time together other than just limiting our gatherings to holidays. I really enjoy seeing everyone for our dinners every now and then and getting together for birthdays. I love that all the aunts uncles and cousins come to the kids bday parties. It wouldn't be the same without all of you. I did not have the luxury of having any brothers or sisters. I always wanted them though. I understand why I don't have siblings and I'm okay with that. But I really can't imagine having a brother or sister and not keeping a close relationship with them. It's a horrible gift to waste. But it's been so nice to fill that void with spending time with some cousins. I'm so proud that our family has gotten so close. I'm sad for the cousins that aren't around anymore. If you are a MIA cousin my message to you is that you are really missing out. :)

On the topic of my christmas tree

I have always been a weirdo about symmetry. Pictures on the wall, furniture, decorations, knick knacks........all sorts of things have to be evenly spaced or it drives me crazy. It just irritates me until it's fixed. It's a stupid thing to be so concerned about, but, it's one of my many quirks and I just have to deal with it. My christmas tree especially falls under my symmetry weirdness. My tree is decorated with silver, gold, and deep red. I spend hours getting the garland spaced right and all the glass ball decorations strategically placed by color and space. This year was a little different. I was really concerned about my tree. While we were shopping for just the right house to buy a few months ago I specifically looked around to see if the house had just the right place to put my tree. LOL. Chris was concerned about house value and upgrades that could be made and the technical aspect of things. My concerns were having a great laundry room, evenly sized bedrooms for the kids, and a great place for my tree. Last year we didn't get to put our Christmas tree up due to space restrictions. So anyway, putting my tree up this year was really important to me. Last week was a weird week. Since the week was filled with Chris's mom passing away, squeezing in Thanksgiving and making funeral arrangements and things we really wanted to include our family. So Saturday Chris invited his grandparents and dad and brother over to help trim the tree. The kids really wanted to put the ornaments on. So I backed off (as much as I could) and let them hang the ornaments. My tree looks so silly! The kids are only 3 feet tall so most of the decorations are on the bottom 3 feet of the 7 foot tree. Ornaments are all clumped together and nowhere near evenly spaced. It is driving me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY! There are big clumps of several sliver ornaments in one spot and clumps of red and gold elsewhere. I tried to move around an ornament or two and they got on to me. I thought that maybe over a few days I could spread out some decorations but they have noticed every change and been extremely displeased with my behavior. So now I have an uneven tree. Chris told me to stop being psycho and that it's more important to have fun trimming the tree than to have a beautiful department store looking tree. I immensely disagree! ha ha. The one year I'm having my whole family over for Christmas my tree is all crazy looking. I'm doing my best to restrain myself. Why do I have to be such a weirdo? Oh well, it wouldn't be me if I wasn't a complete dork. LOL. So family, FYI my tree looks awfully crazy this year!

I love my family

I remember as a kid constantly wondering what my life would be like in the years to come. I imagined my husband, my children, my home, my job......I spent a lot of time daydreaming. One of the beautiful things about daydreaming is the day you wake up and realize that you are sitting exactly in the place in life you always daydreamed about. We were driving to the farm today and I had a brief moment of true clarity. It looked cold and miserable out the car window. It started to rain a little bit. Then I hear my children in the back seat singing christmas songs along with the radio and then Chris chimes in. The whole world stopped for just a minute and I realized that "THIS is my husband and THESE are my children." For a second I was a kid again and I felt like I was getting a glimpse of what my life would be like. Then I realized that this actually is my life and I don't have to daydream about it. I have the family I always wanted and I couldn't be more proud of all 3 of them. I am truly blessed to share my life with 3 amazing people. I couldn't have daydreamed up a better family. I am so thankful to have been giving such a blessing. :)

Friday

I regret that I will not be able to come to the Thanksgiving at Brandee's house. I was really looking forward to it and so were the kids. It appears that the services for my MIL will be sometime on Friday. The family is setting up official arrangments Tuesday morning, but we anticipate a Friday service. We have several out of state relatives that are best accomodated with that day. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let me know whose names we draw! Love you guys.
Sara

Please keep us in your prayers

My mother in law passed away tonight at 10:42. It was her birthday. Please keep my family in your prayers.

Un happy Birthday

Today was a less than great day. November 23rd. My brother in law and mother in law's birthday. Regan turned 25 and Carol 61. Birthdays are supposed to be happy not ominous. I'm really getting weary of burying family and friends. My larger than life grandpa passed away in 1989. I was lucky enough to have 18 good years of steady calm in my family. Then 2007 rolled around and it's been one memorial after the other. It has definately been a trying time in life. Luckily I can look back on what life experience I have and recognize that it was in times of trial that I learned the most about my life. So maybe I can spin this whole thing and just try to hear whatever it is that God is trying to tell me right now.

We spent the whole day at my inlaws house. We had the pleasure of visiting with a very nice hospice nurse. It is the first time we have been there when a nurse came. It's been hard at times to get the information we've wanted from Chris's grandma or dad. It's not easy stuff to talk about. So the nice nurse sat us all down and explained how the next chunk of time would go. She said the things out loud that we all knew, but didn't want to say. She told us that basically my MIL has approx 2 weeks of life left in her. It could go quicker, but definately no longer than 3 weeks. At the rate of progression we've seen in the last 2 months I would be more likely to say sooner than later. She isn't exactly conscious, hasn't eaten in a week or drank any fluids in several days. Her body is shutting down and we all just have to watch.

Spending the last few days of my grandma's life with her was a shocking experience for me. I had never seen anyone go thru a dying process. Now, within the same year I'm watching someone else I love cross over to the next life. I don't like feeling familiar with the experience. My inlaws are very kind people. It's not easy to watch them go thru this. It's much harder for me than I had anticipated. Knowing that Carol would go thru everything she has with alzheimers I thought I would be better prepared. Clearly there is no way to prepare. I'm saddened for children. They have had to deal with a lot of reality so early in their lives. I grieve that they will lose a grandparent after such a short time together. I look forward to reminding them of nice memories with her though. I struggle to know how to help my spouse deal with the loss of a parent. I resent that I will miss out on a growing relationship with Carol. And I dread the week or two ahead and all the stress and pain it will bring. Please keep our family in your prayers. I'm sure to update you all on any changes.

My day

Two exciting things happened today.

1. I got a new coat. I'm overly excited about my new coat. I have this horrible habit of buying coats that I think are cute but end up being less than warm. Every year I say I'm going to finally buy a warm coat. I've been buying dressier coats for the last few years because I've always had jobs where I had to dress overly nice for work. I don't even have a casual coat. For the last year I've been wearing scrubs to work. I always feel silly in scrubs and a dress coat. Maybe I wouldn't if the coat was warm. LOL. So anyway, finally today I bought a casual coat that is WARM. I had a brainstorm to look for a coat at an outdoors store because surely they would have something warm enough. I am sooooo cold natured. I could sit on top of a furnace and still need a blanket. Anyhow, new coat and new gloves to match make Sara a happy girl.

2. We ended up with 4 tickets to the OU game this weekend. Seems like a few times every year (3 or 4) we end up with tickets. We just happen to know the right people I guess. It seems like we always end up with an odd number of tickets left over or someone we know already has decided they are coming with us (whether asked or not LOL.) Anyhow, I remembered that when Chris and I went to the first OU game this season Brandee asked how we got tickets and that she never is able to get ahold of any. Brandee and I have been saying forever that we will go do something together but it never quite works out with sitters. So...we had 2 tickets left and I asked Brandee and Chance to come along. I would never have guessed they would be so excited! It made my day. And I didn't know that Chance had never been to an OU game. I'm very excited to take them with us. It will be really nice to spend the day with family doing something fun. I'm going to take tons of pictures!

These days...

I've been blogging alot lately. I suppose I have a lot to say. Wow, shocking. Caden's 5th birthday was yesterday and the mid life crisis it has spun me into has not subsided. *Sigh*. Oh well, what can I do? I'm looking very forward to seeing my family and I'm excited to show you my new house! You know I must always add disclaimers when it comes to my home. And here is said disclaimer: Please remember that I have lived here for 6 weeks. I don't know where I put anything when I unpacked. I can't figure out where to hang things on the walls. And I have not yet learned all the nooks and cranies of my house that require special cleaning attention, etc. So you know...work in progress. BUT!!!!!I'm so excited about Christmas that I can hardly stand it. I have Christmas fever big time. I can't wait to put up the tree and put up the lights. I bet you $5 my tree will be put up before Thanksgiving this year. LOL. Most years it's lucky to get up before Christmas is over! I want a giant blow up snowman, or santa or globe or something for the front yard. I want red ribbons and stockings and a constant fire in the fireplace. Oh man. I can't remember the last time I was so amped up about the holidays. I think the root lies in having a new home. A home that is finally mine. I can finally do every ridiculous idea that comes to mind whether practical or not. No one can stop me!! ha ha ha!!! Therefore insanely extreme chrismtas decorations are neccessary! Don't Christmas trees smell wonderful? Mine is fake because I'm lazy and it's prelit, but nevertheless I'm stocking up on cinnamon and evergreen candles!

Just so you all know.......

I didn't post my "I miss my family" blog to any particular person. It was really just a way of me saying that I miss the old days and it isn't the same now. And it was me saying that since my mom's family makes me feel akward I can understand others in the same position. So I hope that I personally have not make anyone to feel akward or like an outsider. I've learned thru unfortunate experience that proximity should not determine your ranking in a family. So if you live far away like Phil's family does, or Meredith does, etc. you are still important and I miss sharing time with you. It really really hurts when things happen in my mom's family that are important and I don't feel included in sharing it with them (even when I'm actually there). Like at my grandma's funeral I knew that somewhere deep down those people still love the little girl I was when I WAS around. I don't blame them for not knowing how to hug me or say personal things, because I had indeed become a stranger. There are things that I do blame them for which are silliness and I should just get over because I do love them very much and it's useless to waste my time on hurt. But I'm not writing this to prescribe myself my own medicine. LOL. JK. I no longer hold on to any hurt or pain. It doesn't mean it's any less akward though. So in my rambling, I think my main point is that I don't want to be to any Sanders what I feel that maybe some of my mom's family is to me. So if I ticked you off or stepped in your toes or said something you don't like....I'm sorry. I don't hurt peoples feelings on purpose, so if I do so I'm unaware of it. Just tell me and I am big enough to make it right. Oh boy. I sure do like to open my mouth don't I? Blame my mother for being so quiet. I had to learn very early how to speak up and it's now an unfortunate habit I can not stop. LOL. JK.

Holidays Are Incomplete Without You

I was thinking about the holidays coming up and realized how different things are now. When I was a kid there were 7000 other people my age running around the house. I felt like I had more cousins than anyone else on the planet. Remember the stockings on Grandma's fireplace? She had a huge mantel and there was still barely room for all the stockings lined up oldest to youngest. Now my kids have 1 cousin to play with. Where did everyone go? Dalton left us. Christa, Tara, and Laura live far away (although Chara did recently join us again) Jason, DJ and Kari do their own thing most of the time. Meredith left us. That pretty much leaves me and Reba, then a ten year gap to Sami and Levi. What happened? I would never have guessed all those years sitting in mountains of presents and playing all kinds of made up games in grandma's doll room that everyone would disappear. Those are some of my happiest memories and I'm sad that we are not all still here or together to continue sharing them. I realize that everyone grows up and makes families of their own. I just can't imagine as a grown up with a family of my own, not including all the people that made my childhood so special. I'm sad for my children. They will never get to have the type of Christmas at grandma's that I had. They will truly miss out. It makes me sad to think about how much of our family has gone off their own way without even slightly including us in their lives or holidays. No matter how fun our Thanksgivings or Christmas's are now I will always feel like they are incomplete.

I haven't been to a holiday for my mom's family in over ten years. That is because I don't feel welcome or included. I certainly hope with my dad's family I haven't done anything to make someone feel like they aren't welcome or included. I suppose I could get out the family book and call my cousins to make sure they know they are missed and wanted at holidays. But I don't want to badger anyone. I suppose each has their own reason for which family to visit and which family to not. In the mean time I am thankful for those of us that do still come together and I'm happy that you will be part of my children's memories of young holidays.

Prayer Request

I would like to ask a very special request of my family. If you have a few extra minutes in the days and weeks ahead I would like to ask that you say a special prayer from my mother in law. As you all know, she has alzheimers. In the last two months, especially in the last 3 weeks she has had a severe decline. The doctor started her on home health care 3 weeks ago. A nurse and physical therapist has been coming out to check on her and help take care of her. Yesterday the home health nurse reccommended that they switch her over to hospice. I'm a bit confused by the situation. Having worked for a home health care/hospice company for 6 months and having had my grandma on hospice, it was my understanding that hospice is used near the end of someone's life. It is at the point which they say, "We can not do anything else to help except make this person comfortable while they remain with us." I think her doctor is not a good doctor at all. His communication skills with the family have been less than stellar. We are not sure exactly what to expect from this point. Earlier this week my MIL was in the hospital. They thought she might have had a stroke so they took her to the ER. She was admitted. Turns out she was severely dehydrated, had a bad kidney infection and partial kidney failure. THey got her patched up and sent her home after a few days. As if the rapid decline over the last few weeks wasn't bad enough, going to the hospital has seemed to impact her greatly. She has taken an even worse turn since returning from the hospital. I realize that her mental state is not going to improve. That is just the nature of the disease. However, she is refusing to eat or drink, talking gibberish and having an over all horrible time. She essentially has no quality of life left. The nurse said to be prepared for anything. We are not sure if this just means her alzheimers is progressing severely adn that she will undoubtedly be worse, or if they are telling us she might pass away. It's all confusing and the doctor has been no help. Chris is not particularly close with is mom, but the way I see it...Your mom is your mom. Regardless of your feelings toward your mom you can't help but have some type of feelings about a situation like this. So please if you don't mind, keep Carol in your prayers. And it wouldn't hurt to ask for a little guidance for the rest of our family too. :) Thanks guys. I love you!
Sara

October Pictures

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Some of them are from Halloween. We went trick or treating at the zoo with another family that has a 5 year old girl and a 7 year old girl. It was alot of fun. The rest of the pictures are from last weekend when we were at the farm. We spent Sunday and Monday there. We fished most of the time we were there. Just by looking at the pictures you would think that I took several pics of the same fish. BUT, there is actually one picture for each fish we caught. It was sooo much fun to watch the kids have such a successful fishing trip. Caden caught 9, Macy 5, Chris 4 and I came in last with 2. I can't believe the kids caught so many! They are awfully proud of themselves. Miss Macy actually took her fish off the hook on her own and held them by the mouth with her thumb. Her favorite part was throwing them back in the water. Although I'm not sure the fish enjoyed their flight. They did it all on their own too. Casting, reeling, hooking, the whole bit! It was great. I hope you enjoy the pictures! Love yall!

ramblings

Sometimes I think the grim reaper just picks a spot to hang out in for awhile and makes a good sweep through. I find that to be irritating. No one I knew passed away for about 10 years. Then all of a sudden I have to attend a funeral every time I turn around. Our friend died in a horrible accident summer of 06. Chris's grandpa died in Jan of 07. Then our best friend died under suspicious circumstances in May of 07. Then aunt Alice. Then my grandma. Then aunt Hattie. And now Chris's grandma passed away this week. What an ordeal. There is a certain amount of stress associated with the passing of his grandma that is a little unusual. At least for us. Technically she is Chris's step grandma, but it's the only one he's ever known. So really it's just a technicality. Anyway, there is a huge family farm that grandpa owned (recieved from his original wife). After Elmer passed, of course the farm remained because granny was still there. Now granny is gone and there is all sorts of hoop-lah about who gets what and whatever. It's stressful. This has been an issue for a long time but it's one of those things that someone has to deal with now and it's not really clear who. I'm quite afraid if one of the stepchildren (and there is a sneaky one!) gets ahold of the rights and takes it from Chris's mother who is the rightful heir...I'm afraid Chris will go postal and break someone's head open. For me, where my grandma Irene lived, outside of Dale is the one place in the world I feel closer to God than anywhere else. For Chris, it is the farm. Ugh. Really I would just like for there to be a calmness of life restored! I'm getting paranoid. Now everytime a grandparent gets a cold or has a bad day I'm convinced they are going to next! What a horrible way to think. I was going to go downtown this Saturday and do the charity walk to benefit alzheimers. I don't know if you have ever done a walk downtown but they are great. It's always nice to see the number of people that are out supporting a cause. But don't let the word walk fool you. I had 60 year old granny's kickin my butt last time I did a walk. Just think of aggressive mall walkers. I don't see why we can't slow down. Anyway, we will be leaving for Stroud for a few days and until then Chris is out of town on a work trip. I've rambled enough for this post. Until next time!