Happy Birthday Matheson!!!

After about 60 photos and an olive bribe, I finally got a decent one of him!  We love you and are so proud of you even though you don't like your birthday.

United Scare

United Scare: A six hour flight

Last November, we were graced with the opportunity to fly to Miami to visit our long lost family. 

Therefore, we were subject to enduring a six hour flight across the country.  Here is the account:

Eating is difficult on an airplane. Packing a bag of food for two grownups and two small children that will last for a twelve hour day takes some great skill. Especially since most of the food that is convenient for toddlers will signal to the authorities that you might be a very unsavory character,and you will be subject to stern looking people scrutinizing your applesauce or yogurt and you might miss your flight, which does not offer any food items that are either edible or affordable to the common person. 

However, en route, its always a blessing to see that cart come down the aisle, even if the only options are syrup drinks or coffee. It is really nice to be able to sit for a good thirty minutes (because for some reason we are ALWAYS in the back of the plane) and daydream about weather you will get cranberry juice or stale coffee. 

Apparently, flight attendants can enjoy distributing drinks to alleviate boredom. Just about every time I looked up for six straight hours, I saw that cart coming down the aisle once again.  

Consequentially, every thirty minutes the entire airplane got up to use the lavatory at once. Being at the back of the plane made this scenario very interesting.  

Like clockwork, every thirty minutes the ladies would come down the aisle and offer us more drinks, then thirty minutes later the entire population of the airplane was waiting for the restroom. I got to witness two Jewish men waiting in line become friends. They pointed at their Jewish hats: "Oh, you are a Jew too?"  One of them said.  "Oh yes I am!" he responded with a smile on his face.

Instantaneous friendship. 

In the midst of the chaos of anxious people waiting uncomfortably and the joy of a new found friendship, I often find my mind wondering back to the life I once knew. My husband, my children. They were now lost behind a sea of strangers waiting for the restroom. Every once in a while I would see them from a distance and when an opportunity arose, I would reach my hand out across the way and take my husband's hand, so I knew my family still existed.

At one point, things calmed down, at least for a short while, in regards to people waiting for the potty, because the worst turbulence I ever experience began. The WARNING DO NOT GET UP signs came on. I gripped my seat, waiting to meet my maker. 

Somehow, however, the giant WARNINGS and the airplane earthquake did not stop the flight attendants from giving everyone more drinks. Here they came fumbling down the aisle once again with their soda pop and coffee. 

The passengers didn't take the warning seriously either.  I guess they drank too much.  Too much juice and water that is, and they could not sit down even for a warning sign because their bladders were too full.

To make things even more interesting, a flight attendant handed my three and five year old a very full glass of juice with NO lid on it.  I thanked her and asked her if she would like to manage my children while they dumped and enjoyed this treat. Okay so I didn't ask her that but I wanted to. 

Eventually the drinks ended, everyone went to their seats, and the flight descended.   

And I don't know what else to say. 

Mmmmmm

Am I making anyone hungry?  I hope so.  This lettuce came from our garden.  The steak came from a farmer named Steve who supplies us with cow every year. The carrots came from Winco.  The food potatoes came from Costco.  The combination of food brings me back to my childhood. The combination of food, that is. not the combination of where the food came from. This meal reminds me of endless summer days SWATTING mosquitoes, being sweaty and not caring, eating fake colored popsicles, and just being a kid.  I love steak and potatoes more than almost anything, thanks to my mama who inspired me to  cook. 

Our chicks, they grow so fast

Our Chicks, a week and a half old

Our chicks hit puberty, two weeks later

A little get away

I am no stranger to physical pain.

That's why when I had an obnoxious pain in my back I ignored it. My life is filled to the brim with random aches and pains. The next day, however, I was told to go to the hospital, immediately. They were assuming I had an infection which needed IV antibiotics. 

I got so excited.  I packed a little bag of stuff.  A fun book to read, my cell phone, some cozy pajamas and sour candy, as I was still two weeks before Lovely Little Lena Mae was born, so I was sure to bring the sour candy.  

I made a quick phone call and a family friend came to my house to take care of the boys, and I was on my way to the hospital.  I arrived safely and fell into the arms of a manly and handsome man and began to embark on a wonderfully romantic adventure. 

Arm in arm, we went to the front desk together and checked in.  A nice lady handed me some papers to fill out, and we were swiftly escorted to the Mother Baby unit, where we were taken to a small room with no windows, and an awful bed. I was asked a lot of questions which at the time seemed very irrelevant, and a baby monitor was strapped around my belly to be sure little lovely Lena was safe. 

Surely this day was turning out much different than expected. Instead of sitting in our yard under a shady tree thinking about what to prepare for supper I was watching nature on TV and squeezing Isaiah's arm off.  

Soon, the nurse stopped asking me questions, and began to try to insert an IV into my arm.  "Good luck nurse", I said in my head. I have small veins and so I knew I was to sit there for a very long time as I was stabbed over and over, and that I would have bruises all over my arm the next day. Finally, the IV was inserted  and the struggle was over.  However, as I was laying there I suddenly was in unbearable pain.  I cried out for some pain killers, and after what seemed like an eternity I was finally given some. 

About forty minutes later,  Isaiah was wheeling me down the hospital hallway, which for some reason seemed to be very funny. I asked him to spin me around in circles and he did so. That was funny too.  I don't know why everything was just suddenly so funny. 

He walked me down the hall and we opened the door to my hospital room for the night. When the door opened, I was greeted by a window that filled the whole wall and flooded the room with light. I had never seen anything so beautiful. 

As for the handsome man, he wheeled me over to the guest bed and helped me sit on it. There, hand in hand, we watched the sun set together over the Sacred Heart Parking lot, through the big window that you can not open because here at SHMC it is believed that the outside air is toxic.  

Pretty soon, Isaiah had to leave.  I was sad but very happy at the same time.  The things of my frantic and busy life were not around me. No one was going to ask me for help for anything. It was just me and my new smart phone,  and my sour candy.  Oh and of course a nurse who would constantly come in the room and ask if I needed anything. Every time she came and asked I gave her a resounding "YES" because I loved being served, not because they had anything to offer me that I actually wanted beside really amazing ice that was fun to chew on.  So I ate a lot of ice that night. 

In the morning I was given breakfast in bed.  Sure it was a horrible fake breakfast, but it was served to me in my bed. And I was feeling better and better.  By ten I no longer had to be walked to the bathroom.  By noon I was remembering my family.  By one I was actually missing them a bunch, and I was realizing it was the pain killers that were causing me to be amused at any of the options on the television. 

Soon, I was released to go home. I was feeling much better and Isaiah was so happy to have me back.  I was able to look at my home with new eyes as my boys kissed and hugged me.  

So, how is that for a 6,400 dollar get away for the night? 

Some flowers

Hello. Some say flower pictures are cliche.  But you know what?  Who can deny their beauty?  This week a dear friend dropped by and cheered me up with these.  I am recalling our friendship and how it has "blossomed" out of some similar sufferings. Thankful today for these flowers from her. 

What you do in South Florida