A Season of Sorrow

I have had some of my favorite scripture verses floating through my soul for over a week now. I have pondered them. I have read them to my family during family scripture study. But today, they truly applied. "A time to be born, and a time to die... a time to weep and a time to laugh... a time to mourn, a time to heal, a time to break down... a time to embrace..."

Oh how my soul sorrows tonight on behalf of my dear friend and her precious family. She gave birth to her baby last night by emergency c-section at 38 weeks along. We celebrated and cried together this morning with the belief that surely the worst had passed. Not so... They discovered this afternoon that their baby will not survive and tonight they begin the journey of letting go... Oh how my heart aches for them.

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

uhhh...

I need a distraction. I'm not sure if this is going to work. I was looking forward to better days. But now I've caught some junk and it's not good. But hey, I told myself I would let up on the complaining and get back to being overwhelmingly grateful. So we'll see...

This is definately a rambling post. You might want to... Just kidding my arms are too tired to type... Plus, Jakob's voice right in my ear is NOT helping me... Mama? Mama? What you doing? MAAMA!... Mama quick!

Alright, I'll try this later. Seeyall!

Question!

Is it legal to be THIS tired!??

Seriously! This question hits me in the face every day around 3:00. I know some of you can relate.

Sorry. I'm functioning. But only for the absolute necessities of life... YES, my Christmas tree is still set up in my living room. Wish me luck tomorrow as I try to tackle it and huck it over our balcony (Well, I guess Leif will actually do that part;)

Mama's Birthday - Thank you everyone!

Well, I feel extra Loved! There is no way I can reply to all of the phone calls, emails, Facebook wishes, and blog comments from friends and family who took a moment to wish me a Happy Birthday. You are all wonderful and I am really grateful for you.

I did have a great birthday! I wasn't feeling all that great. But that ended up being okay because my good friend kidnapped Jakob from me for the day. So it was just Caleb (who was sick and sleepy) and me. So I rested the whole day.

Leif surprised me with roses, a new skillet, a TY stuffed animal, and a new brush. He also made me a yummy German Chocolate cake. We didn't have any big plans. But our good friends (the Jensen's) ended up dropping by to visit. So we had a great visit along with cake and ice cream.

Thank you everyone for your love!

Final Recap of The Christmas Festivities

Oh My Goodness, Oh My Goodness, I am so far behind....

Hopefully this post will be interesting. If not, just chalk it up as a "For The Record!"

We'll start with the few days leading up to Christmas:

PRE-CHRISTMAS:We went to Erik's house (Leif's brother) and played in the deep snow with them. Erik brought his industrial snow blower out and blew all of the snow into a pile. The guys then dug out the middle and made a snow cave. So we had fun climbing in and out, taking pictures, and throwing snowballs. Stacy then made us an awesome meal with yummy goodies on the side. Hot cocoa being part of the days festivities as well, of course. It was a great day filled with fun memories.

We sold our camera. So I'm still working on gathering photos from everyone elses cameras.

Our advent candle scripture reading didn't go over as well as we had hoped. The kids are still too little and by the end of the day we were lucky to be cheerful enough to just read a verse of scripture before bed. So, hopefully it will go better next year.

We were blessed this year to receive a beautiful bedroom set from some friends for the boys. It is a bunk bed set made of sturdy hard wood with shelves, a desk, dresser drawers, and a toy chest. The boys were THRILLED and I was even more so. Jakob was heard saying, "It has everything I could possibly need!" Now he says, "I have a jungle gym right in my room!!" A true blessing.:)

CHRISTMAS EVE: We had a wonderful Christmas Eve gathering with some of Leif's family. The highlight for me was sitting around together and singing Christmas Carols. Leif's mom has stacks of vintage music books filled with great songs. It was a wonderful night filled with the Spirit of Christmas. Grandpa Baron also read a couple of stories to all of us. One of them was Glenn Beck's Christmas Sweater. The kids loved it and it was the perfect introduction to Caleb and Jakob's Christmas Eve gifts. My sister sent them each a beautifully handmade sweater and a hat (and gloves for Caleb). She even made Lady Bug a sweater. She is very talented and the room was filled with ooo's and ahhh's as we passed around the soft sweaters and then had the boys try them on. To close the night Leif read from the Bible Luke chapter 2 (Christ's birth). The spirit was strong as he read and Grandpa Dixon followed up the story by adding his testimony of Christ's birth with a reminder that it is Christ's life that we should celebrate throughout the year and try to emulate. A precious night, indeed!

CHRISTMAS: Christmas morning started out around 7:00. So, not too bad. The kids woke us up, we woke grandma and grandpa Baron up, then we went into the boys' room to wait until they came up. Leif and I told the boys stories of what it was like for us when we were little waiting on Christmas morning. Leif crawled up into the new bunk bed and played with the boys as I got things a bit more situated. Grandma and Grandpa arrived soon and the gift giving and opening began. No disappointments here! Jakob got his first remote control tank. Caleb got enough trucks to carry and army, and we're all enjoying our splurge (a Wii.)
After the gift exchange was finished we all gathered down to Grandma's where she made us her traditional (I don't know how to spell it!:) Ellboskeezers breakfast. It's a Scandinavian breakfast that her mother used to make for them when she was growing up. So the morning was filled with much giving and grateful hearts. The rest of the day was filled with music, food, and fun!

POST CHRISTMAS - NEW YEARS: Leading up to Christmas we didn't know how I would be feeling as the pregnancy progressed. So we didn't make any plans for traveling. As it turned out I have been blessed with strength this pregnancy and we were able to travel. So we loaded up and headed North. We stayed for several days and visited with Leif's sister and my parents and brother. The fun memories mostly revolve around food since that is what I was required to do in order to stay well, EAT. And eat we did. It was fun. We enjoyed a birthday party at Leatherby's (a local favorite Ice Cream Parlor.) Jakob and Grandpa Hunt made memories as the shared a gigantic Mud Pie from Red Robin's. We enjoyed the diving show at the Mayan restaurant, and many more yummy treats, including a delicious soup made by Grandma Hunt. My Mom and Dad talked us in to seeing Avatar on the big screen while we had the chance. It really was amazing!

I can't really say that we welcomed in the New Year. By that day I was feeling pretty pregnant and it was time to come home. We watched the Jazz game and had pizza delivered on New Years Eve. Then we were woke up by fireworks at midnight. So hopefully this upcoming year will be as easygoing as our celebration was welcoming it in.

BACK TO REALITY: So here we are the holiday season's come and gone. And we're back to reality. Sunday night we were talking about the fact that Leif was going back to work the next day. Jakob looked at me seriously and said, "we really need to do home school, Mama!" I was grateful that he recognized it's absence and I didn't have to fight him the next day to get back into the swing of things. In fact we've taken a step forward and he is working on his reading along with other things. He's doing well. I took a Dick and Jane early reader and rewrote it to be geared more toward Jakob. It's really helped!!

The Wii has also been a great addition to our world. We have never been so active as a family. Sad, but true. Whatever works, huh? I've found that I feel better when I'm up and moving. So I try to do something on the Wii Fit Plus every day. Today I did my Yoga routine and earned First Place in the Hula Hoop!:) Jakob LOVES the island bike ride and the obstacle course. Leif loves it all!

It sounds like Caleb may get the back seat in our world. But that's not actually the case. He's right along side us with whatever we're doing. He runs with Jakob or stretches with me. He reads his books while Jakob does his school work. And then, there are the times that he's in Time Out. That's after he tries to push me over as I'm pretending to be a tree in Yoga. Or he's pulled Jakob's feet off of the board and covered it with his body instead. Or, he's decided to rip the pages out of the library book. So, Caleb is just as involved in our everyday good and bad as Jakob, Leif, and I. In fact, he's rivaling Jakob in making sure he's the center of it all.

When it comes to the new little addition. We are all very excited and Jakob is extra sweet at times because he recognizes what is happening and he's very excited for another baby. He'll come put his head on my tummy and try to listen to the baby. And if I tell him I need a bit of extra strength, he knows that means I need a hug. And then there are the times that I have to remind him that I do NOT have the patience or the energy for his attitude, he takes that as a cue to shape up or go to bed! The latest warning has been, "Do NOT wake me up during nap! Or No Wii!" I haven't heard him once today!;)

Leif is working hard as usual. He's back to work at the school and I know they really appreciate his good work and his good influence. He has signed up for 12 credits online this semester. He's actually going to earn his Bachelors Degree in Public Administration within the year. Then he will move into nursing. So things are looking good and secure. So that is comforting. I am truly grateful for my good husband.

Well, I turn 31 tomorrow. Last year Leif surprised me with a beautiful camera. This year, we sold the camera (paid some bills) and I ordered some nice shoes and clothes. No surprises that I know of:) and I'm perfectly content! Truly Happy!

Alive and Well

I warned you that I would be taking a break from blogging lately. But goodness, it's been a long time. Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out how I'm going to fit everything that I've missed into one post.... Not sure. But it's not going to be too long. Because my energy only lasts so long.

Some of you are probably curious to find out how I'm doing and how I'm feeling during this first trimester of pregnancy. Well, today I'm functioning, but struggling a bit. Yesterday was about the same. But there haven't been very many of these "bad" days up to this point. Can you believe that!? I am well. Not perfect. But, well. I went in to the dr around 6 Weeks along and I was starting to "feel" pregnant. He gave me some Zofran immediately and I've been able to take two a day since then and it's made life possible. It's more of a blessing then I can describe. We are very grateful!!

With me feeling stronger then we had anticipated we've been able to enjoy a lot more together as a family. We've gone up to Leif's brother's family and playing in the snow. We had a great Christmas. Then we actually loaded up and drove North to visit my family and Leif's sister and her family. We've had a nice time together. But it's time to come home. Leif's with the kids saying goodbye to Larissa and I'm here resting. Preparing my soul for the six hour drive. In fact, the thought makes me need a nap. I'm going to go lay down... I'll write more details as the days go by.

Thank you everyone for sending us cards and updates. I'm sorry that I don't do that. I guess there is a time and season for everything... Love you all though!