Natalie is recovering

Natalie got home yesterday and is doing great. She is anxious to feel good and help out again. She is great to read to Isaac and Simeon. Her surgery went well and now she is on crutches for 3 weeks with no weight bearing allowed. Mark and Kyle, she is being nice to her brothers and they are helping her too.

Dane claims this is the best way to enjoy this chair. Our poor chairs won't last much longer. We will need to find a better way to enjoy our reading.

Natalie had surgery today and all went fine. They removed the plate and screws in her heel and shaved off some of the bone that was somewhat of a point that she was having to walk on. They did leave some wiring in the heel because it was imbeded in the bone and shouldn't cause any problem. It is out patient surgery and she will come home tomorrow. We are very grateful that all is well. I talked to her on the phone (Milt took her up) and she sounded just fine. We will be glad to be on the healing end of this.

Good News, I am cleaning. It feels great.

This is for the Grandparents, enjoy!

Another great Sunday. One of the sisters bearing her testimony seemed to think that was the time to thank everyone individually for the gifts they had brought at Christmas time. Although it did seem a bit much, it did get me thinking that I have a lot to be greatful for. Today we started our turn of church at 9am. Peter blessed the sacrament while Dane passed it as a deacon for the first time. Debbie went to nursery legally for the first time and she loves it. She was screaming coming down the stairs but was instantly happy when she went into nursery.

Simeon started primary and is a very cute sunbeam. He and Isaac got new CTR rings today and Simeon said CTR means

be nice. He is wearing Dad's snake skin boots. They always get the attention.

The last big treat was The greatest dad in the world got to come home for 2 hours in the middle of a Sunday and eat with us.

And really that is just the start of being greatful for many blessings. I love testimony meetings. I love family time on Sunday. I'm excited to study the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith this year. I have a goal to magnify my calling and do my visiting teaching. I am lucky to have sistsers I enjoy and am learning to love.

We received permission to send the oxygen back--Debbie has received her clean bill of health (the rest of the bills will come soon enough). We are so greatful. It has been a week since we started this whole thing. Last Friday as I tried to teach Lauri and Bridget about blogging, I never dreamed I would be that night in the hospital. They had offered to come help clean in return for a blogging lesson. I realized I should have taken them up on it when on Sunday as they were all here for Natalie's homecoming, Bridget was trying to dust my frames with her finger. The dust was so thick that she was not successful. Maybe she should have just left happy comments written in the dust. As a result I had high hopes of doing some big cleaning this past week. Once again the week has flown by and I have done very little toward that goal--but Natalie did clean out the pantry in a big way. You can walk in, see everything and not worry about what might be hiding on the floor or behind that stash. I had bought some cookies for a family party a couple of months ago (actually for the wedding) that she found. Peter was amazed he hadn't found them before that. I asked Emily as she commented on how nice it was if it makes her want to spend more time in the pantry or just clean more of the house so that it is all nice. She voted for just hanging out in the pantry. No wonder nothing gets done with that kind of motivating help. I am sure that we will move forward but in the mean time I am tempted to just put away all the pictures and forget the dusting. (It was those basement dwellers who are suppose to clean up down there, who didn't! How embarassing.) I guess I better just remember all the good things they are doing and keep praying for miracles.

Debbie update

Debbie is improving regularly. She went to the doctor yesterday and we are now on 1/8 liter of oxygen just at night. She is active, cheerful and we are once more grateful for health and wellness and these wonderfully created bodies that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. Natalie also had a doctor appointment yesterday and will be having her plate and screws in her heal removed next Tuesday. We are hopeful that this will help her with walking. She really is a miracle herself in all the healing that has taken place and how very complete she is. It is too bad that we forget so quickly how blessed and watched over we are and start asking for more. Seeing the doctor and remembering how far Natalie has come was humbling to me and has renewed in me my desire to express gratitude and count my blessings. The Lord has never given us more than we can handle but has provided for us steps that allow us to grow closer to him and to one another as we are challenged.

As I have been reading He Did Deliver Me From Bondage I have received insight and comfort from her explanation of opposition and the constant need for such. We have the example of changing seasons, of ocean waves and tides, of the heartbeat measured on a cardiogram. We need those ups and downs--the straight line is the last thing any of us would want to see. "We as mortals are finite and limited in our viewpoint. We need to pull back and take the perspective of God. He watches the seeming devastation, for instance, of great forest fires, knowing that from the clearing away of the old will come a whole new wave of life. He watches all these changes and knows that they are simply a part of the constancy of eternal progress and life."

And one more quote to bring me comfort "Tests of our faith are priceless opportunities to discover how deeply the Master cares about the welfare of our souls to help us endure to the end." Elder Robert D Hales. I am so grateful for the obvious visual example as I drive through Nephi canyon. The evidence of great forest fires that burned there just this summer are disappearing quickly as nature is renewed and stregthened. The Lord has a plan and is ever watchful. I feel His love in my life. I thank him for my life, my family, my blessings, and even those learning opportunities that remind me of my constant dependence on him. I am nothing without him but with him, I can do, survive, accomplish all that he would have me do. I love my Savior Jesus Christ.