Caterpillar

Auntie Lisa and Uncle Craig bought John this Caterpillar dump truck for his birthday next month.

True to Lisa's nature, she couldn't wait that long and she gave it to him today.  Hahaha!

 It didn't take too long for him to figure out all the noise buttons.

Ignition, dump bed emptying, and the horn.

 Ahhh, figured out he can sit on it and steer.

Doesn't know he can use his feet to push it yet...

Pile those big lego blocks in there, buddy.

This Little Piggy...

....went wee, wee, wee all the way home!

John and Papa Duff had a good time playing.

Church was good.  We came home and Bob, Gwen, and Keifer came over and so did Kristin. Also Janae and Zac. We bbq'd some burgers and had all the usuals with that.  Also some seafood pasta salad and baked beans.  It was so good to see everyone and celebrate Nats birthday yet again.  Cardiac Arrest Cake this time around.  We got the kitchen all cleaned up and then headed out for the drive home.  We got here around 11:30pm.  Thankful for a safe drive.  Not too eventful, not many cars on the road probably because it was Halloween.

Trunk Or Treat

Trunk or Treat. 

Granite Reef Ward in Phoenix, AZ.  Such a nice ward.  We had good 'ole Halloween fare:  hot dogs with all the trimmings, chips, vege trays, homemade rootbeer, sno-cones, cotton candy, and a decorate your own cupcake booth.

 Mom, just get me some dinner and then let me run around...

 Duff and Robert were  stylin' the same:  BYU football fans with their blue raspberry sno-cones.

 Opa and Oma.

 John's first Halloween.

Our cute little skeleton, courtesy of Aunt Janae and Uncle Zac.

 This little guy doesn't just walk, he runs. All over.  Look at that happy face.

 Auntie Lisa feeding him his first sno-cone:  cherry.

This little boy loves any kind of ice things.

 First cupcake.

He grabbed it and before Natalie could even put frosting on it he bit right into the middle.

 He is teething again, and took a face plant in the parking lot and got a scrap on his forehead.

 With Oma Sigie.

 Trick or treating bag.  He wasn't into it very much at first, but then caught on that people were putting 'things' in his bag and the rest of the time he had to keep dipping in and feeling all the goodies.  He would pull them out and show us.  Cute.

Our blondie is all tuckered out.

Nice warm bath, clean new Halloween jammies, softie, bottle, and cuddling with Auntie Christine.

Night, night.

"S" Is Also For:

Scrumptious birthday breakfast at Chompies with just the gals.

 Eggs, country-fried steak, homemade potato browns, veges, toast, juice, bacon, onions, and Brenda the manager, made sure Nats got a flourless brownie with her birthday song.

Then off to JCPenney's where Oma wanted to get Opa some socks, and the rest of us ended up shopping for the baby.  Too fun, and we exceeded the 15 minute time alottment we gave Oma by another 15 minutes.

Kirkland Home Store was next.  So many things!  I bought a cute pillow for the gift exchange at our neighborhood Christmas party.  And because I liked it soooo much, I bought one for myself too.

 "Happy Birthday to You" with a Oreo Ice Cream Cake--her request.  Lisa didn't have birthday candles, so we improvised.

"S" is also for Spooky Town.  A Halloween village made by Lemax that she has been wanting to start for her family.

And "S" is also for sister--Christine--who flew in after school for another surprise.  The girls have been missing each other.  Robert took Natalie out for a dinner date and when they arrived at Lisa and Craig's for cake and ice cream and presents, there was Chrissy.

"S" is also for:  set of papers from the state of Arizona telling Robert that everything is in order and his character and fitness applications are processed and he can get sworn in now and function fully as an attorney instead of a paralegal.

Whew.  What a day.

"S" is for:

We left early this morning to drive to Phoenix.  Natalie's birthday is tomorrow and we haven't been able to celebrate with her for about 10 years because she has been in school and always in the middle of mid-terms, papers, and college life.  It is also Johnny's first Trunk or Treat/Halloween, and we want to be there.  It's obviously more for us than him--he is after all just 11 months.  But still.  It's a grandma/papa thing!

Later this afternoon, Duff texted Natalie at work:

D--What are the plans for dinner?
N--????
D--What are we doing for dinner tonight?
N--Dad, I think you are texting the wrong child.

He let 15 minutes go by.

D--What's up for dinner?
N--????
D--SURPRISE.  We came out to surprise you for your birthday!

She was so excited.  Then Lisa and I called her.  She couldn't believe it.  When she came in the door from work, we were telling John that his mommy was here, and she started crying and said, "and my mommy's here!"  Hugs.

We went to Valle Luna for dinner with everyone.  The food was good, but the room they put us in was weird.  Tile floor only and very loud so John did not do well.  We took turns holding and walking him.  That's just what you do with babies.  Bathtime and Halloween jammies from Grandma.  Pictures to follow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATS!
Love You--

A Few Random Things...

Talked to Dr. Nicholls, the oral surgeon.  It was very reassuring to hear him say that this new orthodontist, Dr. Y, is one of the best.  That means a lot.  Because he knows her well, he is going to call her tomorrow and have her send him all Christine's evaluations, xrays, pictures, etc.  Then he will call us and we will set up a plan.  He still has surgical privileges here in socal even though he just moved to Utah to his practice there, so we can have the surgery here or there and she can convalesce at the cabin and still be able to go to her follow up appointments.

I did some more visiting teaching today.  I have a hard time getting back in 'a groove' once I get home after I leave mid-day like that.  So I've just piddled around.  Got some things done, but not what I wanted to.  Oh well.  Tomorrow is another day.  Does that ever happen to you?

Celtics play tonight and I have to say I'm a teensy bit excited!  A few butterflies.

Orthodontist @#!&%

I don't even know where to start.

We had a consultation with a new orthodontist.  Remember a couple of months ago we had another bad experience with our current one?  We've gone round and round trying to make a decision whether or not to stay with Dr. Z or finish with a new one.  It just isn't a good fit and when I called to cancel Christine's appointment, even the front office was sympathetic to us.  In trying to be reasonable about it, I kept thinking we are just the ones who fell through the cracks since she had two appointments with Dr. G. and then saw Dr. Z.  But now.......

Today we found out that the last 18 months really haven't done much of anything.  Christine has a skeletal issue with her jaw that needs to be corrected with surgery and then the braces.  WHAT????!!!! How did this escape the original orthodontist and then the doctor who bought his practice?  No wonder her bite isn't correcting.  No amount of the usually recommended rubberband wearing and wire tightening is going to fix it.

Dr.Z was continually rude to her each visit insisting she wasn't wearing her elastics just short of outright accusation and insinuating that she wasn't telling the truth, when in fact she was indeed wearing them and being honest about it.  Christine had more than the usual anxiety before each appointment and being the good mom that I am--haha--I kept telling her it wasn't that bad and to buck up--that she was being too sensitive.  Until he yelled at me at that last appointment and threatened to take the braces off if I didn't make her wear the elastics and I wouldn't like what I see.  (His exact words and he was pointing his finger in my face.)  I even asked if perhaps there might, just might, be another reason her treatment didn't seem to be doing what he kept insisting it should have been.  No.  It was all Christine's fault he told me.  In front of her, no less, laying back defenseless in the examination chair with tears in her eyes and her mouth wide open trying to tell me with her expression to just be quiet so we could get out of there.

Then a few days later, I got a registered return receipt required letter in the mail from him detailing all his reasons why her orthodonture wasn't working.  Including lots of big words I had to google and that is how I found out about the tongue thrust.  When I called the office to ask who they could recommend for a speech pathologist (who works with the tongue thrusts) they couldn't even give me one.  I said a frustrated, helpless prayer, opened the yellow pages of the phone book and started calling orthodontist offices to find help with a speech therapist.  I found one, called her.  She is FANTASTIC, and truly an answer to a prayer.  She was able to give us many recommendations for other orthondontists to get some second opinions.

Which brings us to today.  We also learned that she is not even banded correctly.  Dr. G.and, subsequently, Dr. Z. banded the 2nd to the last molars when for her situation, she needed to be banded all the way back and in the xrays and the pictures and the exam you can see that it is so.  Her back molars--upper and lower--are all crooked and not even with the rest of the teeth alignment.  Christine and I just sat there in shock.  She was fighting back tears (and not being very successful but giving it a valiant effort) and I was trying to focus on what to do next while trying to absorb everything.  Being a mom sometimes is really hard.  I was trying so hard to keep it all together and focus.  I think I did okay.  (Oh, and the tongue thrust is a result of the misalignment of her jaw and should correct itself by having the surgery!  Can I just tell you how much money that has cost?????!!! She will still need to continue with it though until the surgery though...)

Fortunately the oral surgeon they referred us to is Dr. Nicholls and his former partner.  Yay.  A break there.  Dave has been our family friend for years and years.  We will call him first thing tomorrow.

By the time we got home, she cried so hard.  It was gut wrenching.  We thought we were on the downhill side of this and now we are looking at another 12-18 months.  And how does the surgery factor in with her playing lacrosse since practices have now started and the season is around the corner???

What do you think?  I have lots of kids who are attorneys now.  Maybe we should send a registered return receipt required letter to the doctor.  I would hope at the very least to be refunded and have the oral surgery bill paid for?????

Allergies

My allergies are acting up.  Growing up I never had any allergies.  They have developed as an adult.  I've never had the scratch test because they aren't severe enough to interfere in my everyday life, but I am getting less patient with them.  I was about to scratch my eyes out by the time I got home from church.  My ears and nose and throat were itchy too.  Thank you benadryl allergy tablets.  We had a break in the rain this afternoon and as soon as the sun came out, boom.  I started getting itchy.  Guess it's that time of year.

Our church meetings were good and we had roast chicken for dinner. 

(sing it) Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh Duh: BAT-MOLE!

Do you celebrate Mole Day?

I never have, until this year!  In Christine's chemisty class they are working on scientific properties.  The scientific property (equation) for 'mole' is:

6.02 X 10 to the 23rd power = mole

Chris had an assignment to make a 'mole'.  She decided to do Bat-Mole, a take on Batman.  The teacher sent home the pattern.  She enlarged it.  We spent the morning at Joanne's getting the supplies, and here is what we ended up with. 

I think we should get an A, don't you?

Some other ideas that students came up with:  Hannah Mole-tana (Hannah Montana), Ne-mole (Nemo), Holy Mole-y (Monk/Priest), Guaca-Moley (the dip), Spider-Mole (Spiderman), Mole-devort (Voldemort),etc.

Happy BDay Jenn-i-fer

Here is Jenn-i-fer and her family.  Today is her birthday.  Happy day, cousin!  The sun was shining and it was a warm fall socal day.  We had had some Santa Ana winds and the air was dry.  I remember it clearly!  Have a wonderful day!  Love You--

House Seasoning

I like to use this seasoning blend in a lot of my cooking.  I love these flavors together and use them all the time, but had never thought of mixing them together.  Paula Deen did just that and it is her House Seasoning.  You can buy her's or make your own--she is a recipe sharer too.  I like to use this with my Swiss Steak.

 1 cup kosher salt

1/4 cup garlic powder

1/4 cup black pepper (I like to use coarse ground black pepper)

Mix together and keep in an air tight container.  Will keep for 6 months.

 

And here it is.  Click on the picture to see all the individual seasonings together.  Take a deep breath in.  I'll bet you can just smell them right now!

I label a ziploc brand round container and keep it in my pantry.

Swiss Steak

Since I mentioned that I was going to be making Swiss Steak for dinner last week, I've had some requests for the recipe.  I am  happy to share!  It is amazingly  y-u-m-m-y and some great comfort food.  Here is the recipe from an earlier post.  I made it in my heavy le cruset pan, but last week I did it in the crock pot.  Here are the pictures illustrating the slow cooker method.  Both turn out really well.  I had a lot of errands to do and a very busy day last week, so the crockpot was my dinner lifesaver.  This time we served it over some jasmine rice, but we like mashed potatoes with it too.

While your meat is browning, clean and slice the onion and bell pepper and place 1/2 of it along with some chopped garlic in the bottom of the crockpot.

Don't forget to deglaze the pan.  All those bits left in it are bits of goodness.  Keep your pan hot, remove any excess oil, add about 1/2 cup water or beef broth and using a spatula or wooden spoon ease up all the bits of carmelized fond to add to the liquid for your recipe.  It is what adds so much of the fantastic flavor.  Using your rubber spatula make sure you get every single bit of it.  It is so g o o d.

Place your browned meat on top of your first layer of onion and peppers.

Add another layer of onion and peppers on top of the meat and your can of tomatoes.

You can use a can measure of water to pour on top with your deglazing juice or a can measure of beef broth.  Put the lid on and let it go!  6-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.  ***see tip below

And here it is.

Ohhh.  Lots of goodness.

***TIP:The average crock-pot's temperature setting is 200 F for low and 300 F for high, although models will vary. Most food can cook on low for 10 to 12 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours, although one can over cook a recipe, which I have done, myself!  So be sure you check it near the end of the least amount of time.

The Cast

I lost the starring part in Our Town

To Linda, a girl not half as good as me,

Who kept her eyes down

For the whole tryout, and even stuttered.

When the cast was posted

And the high school drama coach

Saw me reading it through my tears,

He put an arm around me and said,

“Now, look—things are not always as they appear.

This is not Broadway;

It’s an educational institution.

We’re here for two reasons—to put on a show,

And, more important, to help people grow.

Someday you’ll see.”

So Linda played Emily,

And she didn’t even stutter.

And I was Third Woman at the Wedding,

Watching and wondering how he knew

What she could really do

If she had the chance.

Since then I have guessed that God,

Being a whole lot smarter

Than my high school drama coach, might be offstage sometimes

With an arm around a questioning cast:

“Now, don’t try to outguess me.

Sometimes the first shall be last

And the last shall be first,

And I’ve got my own reasons.

I need some strong ones to star

And some strong ones to stand back.

And I’m going to put out front

Some you might not choose,

But you’ll see what they can really do

When they have the chance.

Mortality is an educational institution.

We’ve got to put on the show,

And, too, we’ve got to help people grow.”

As I walk through the scenes,

Watch the costumes move,

And listen to the lines

Of the powerful, the weak,

The rich, the poor,

I look at the leads with less awe than most,

And at the spear-carriers with more.

I have always loved this poem and keep it in my scriptures.  It helps me keep perspective.  It first came to my attention when one of my nieces tried out for cheerleader at her school and helped all her friends with their routines and they all made the team and she didn't.  Her grandpa sent it to her.  It was a comfort.

I made a copy and put it on Christine's bed this morning.  She is in need of some comfort and perspective.  Yesterday was a hard day for her in the middle of a hard week.  I don't know who felt worse: me or her, (except I didn't let her see me cry)

Oh, life's lessons!

Did You Know? (Lightening)

I always grew up thinking that thunder was the clouds banging together.  Did you?  Guess what I found out today:

When lightening strikes, it heats the air around the bolt to 36,000 degrees farenheit.  Now, the surface of the sun is about 11,000 degrees farenheit, so a lightening bolt is 3 times the temperature of the sun!  When the air is heated that quickly it expands and that is the BOOM that we call thunder.

Weather Conditions

I don't think many of us slept well last night.  There was a lot of thunder and lightening, which we don't get regularly with our rain storms and are not used to.  I happen to LOVE it. 

At 5:38 this morning though, I don't think there was any one who was left slumbering.  The lightening was so close you could hear it sizzle during it's strike and the thunder was so booming it was like a large kettle drum right next to your ears.  This lasted for about an hour.

Even I, who is not a morning person, was up and walking the halls where all the family was looking at each other and commenting about the storm.  When Christine's ride to seminary pulled up in the driveway in the pouring rain and she ran out to put her things in the trunk, a bolt lit up the sky like it was noon and scared the 'halibut fish' out of her.  She jumped a mile and got in that car, fast!

Darla was fitful and trembling.  I climbed back in bed and she dove under the covers as close to me as she could get shaking and shaking as we listened to the thunder move farther and farther away.  She was spooked the rest of the day and didn't let me out of her sight.  Even in the restroom, she was next to my feet right on the rug.  We had more thunder and lightening during the day--not as extreme--and each time she would jump.  Poor doggy.

I haven't been watching the news lately so I don't know where this storm is coming from, but I'm loving it!  It's been a week now.  Everything is so green and lush with a few trees beginning to turn.

I got a lot done today.  Putting away all the new salsa and little things around the house that don't get put back where they belong and then accumulate all over.  It really makes me nuts.  It seems all the grocery stores meat tenderizers are broken.  All I want is some cubed steak for Swiss Steak tomorrow in my crockpot!  I'll check one more store in the morning....Josh stopped by after work and had dinner with us.  Mere is nannying in NoCal for two weeks.  It will give them a nice chunk of $$ to help pay their hospital bill.

What Happened When I Was Saying My Prayers

More rain today.  So lovely.  I got all the laundry done.  Made 24 more pints of salsa.  We go through a lot of it.  But hey, it has lots of healthy veges, right?  Christine had the first day of lacrosse tryouts.  Even though she already has a spot, everyone still has to try out.  She was nervous and I was too.  Mom's are like that.  I tried a new recipe for dinner:  Sweet and Sour Chicken.  It was quite good, and fast and easy.  Nice and warm and comforting on a day like this.

What I really want to write today is what happened to me last night while I was saying my prayers. Please be kind--I am human after all.

A friend of mine has a hard time being happy unless everything is her way or her perception of what is right.  She is an awesome gal, super talented, but very rigid.  That quality often serves her well but can also be her weakness.  Anyway--

Her family had some exciting news she wanted to share so she sent an email.  I quicky responded with all my love and best wishes and congratulations.  It truly was great news for them.  I was genuinely happy for them.  She sent back a LENGTHY email explaining all the reasons why they are wonderful and successful, etc.  It was comparable or worse than those gaggy Christmas letters people send out in their cards. (Sorry, I really don't care for those, but that is another post.)

I was irked, miffed, mad, angry, peeved, hurt, shocked, at a loss for words.  I totally was going to mention this in my prayers!  I was offended.

I like to pray at night after everyone else has gone to bed and the house is quiet and dark.  So I began.  The email reply was uppermost in my thoughts, but the 'little person in white' on my shoulder kept whispering:  count your blessings.  Yeah, I know the proper steps of prayer.  Thanks/gratitude first.  Okay.  Okay.  I am thankful for.....and I rattled off a few things.

The 'little person in red' on my other shoulder kept whispering:  okay you've been thankful now.  On to the email!  But the 'little person in white' whispered more urgently:  C'mon now Cindy.  You have more blessings than that!  Yes, yes I do.  Okay.  I am grateful for.......and more things came to my mind.

This repeated itself several times until all of a sudden right in the middle of my prayer, I realized that I wasn't even thinking about the awful email anymore.  I was so focused on blessings and my appreciation for the Lord's hand in the details of my life that my bitterness and feelings of offense melted away and I wasn't upset anymore.  As I knelt there just silently taking it all in and understanding what was happening I had another thing to give thanks for:  how acknowledging my blessings to God actually took the bad feelings away and replaced them with some compassion for my friend instead. 

Now, I am human after all, and the email reply still comes once in a while to my thoughts, and if I'm truthful, it still irks me a bit.  But, not like it had before and I am quicker to let go of it. 

Here I am at 54 and still learning all the time. (chuckle...)

Loved Today

Today was practically perfect in every way.  Not that it played itself out perfectly, but it felt perfect in my heart.  The weather was cold and rainy = cozy.  The Primary Children performed their program which was inspiring and uplifting:  I Know My Savior Lives.  I attended the Family History computer class again and cleaned up more of our current records.  Then Leigh gave a really good lesson in RS on the organization of the church.  This year the lessons are so basic.  I've thought about this a lot.  Why would the Lord want us to go back to such foundational doctrines?  My conclusion is to strengthen our testimonies because the world and life have all the signs prophesied that are coming true for the last days and we need to be strong no matter what.

We had tacos for dinner and Christine made a fantastic pound cake with an orange glaze.  Boy, this girl is getting very good in the kitchen!

Discovery

It has been cold and drizzly-rainy now for a couple of days.  I'm loving it.  Today we got the weekly marketing done, spiffed up the house, and Duff and I straightened up the south garage.  We all just seem to put things in there when we don't know what to do with them or when they don't seem to find their way to their 'place' or if they are waiting for a 'place'.  Haha.  It's the California version of a basement.

Since we were going through things, I had Duff get down all the empty boxes for our canning jars up above the cupboards so I could go through them.  Oh dear.  Surprise!  They were completely filled with empty quart jars.  WHAT?  Yep.  So I set up a card table and sorted through all of them by wide or regular mouth, Ball or Kerr and repacked them and labeled all the boxes with masking tape and a sharpie.  Not counting all the filled quarts that I just did in AZ, we have 13 dozen empty quart jars!  Duff was like, "Where did we get all these jars!?"  I reminded him when we were first married and living in my parents Orem house it was on 3/4 of an acre and had a huge orchard in the front and we canned our brains out during summer and fall.

There was a huge non-thorn raspberry patch.  Peach trees.  Apricot trees.  Grape vines.  Apple trees.  Cherry trees.  And around them all we grew the most amazing gardens.  It seemed like every week I was buying another box or two of jars.  We were poor young married college students with two babies and we lived on that orchard and garden.  And so we still have all those jars and they have gone with us during every move.

I have about an equal amount of each brand so I'm going to keep all the Ball jars here and take the Kerr jars to the cabin.  Now I know I don't need to buy bottles anymore there.  They are all in perfect condition.  They just need some new rings and seals.  I'm going to replace them with the new polished silver ones.  They look really nice!  Out with the gold.  The change in trends is always interesting.

Any suggestions on what else I should fill my newly discovered empty jars with?  Oak Glen apples are ready.  Maybe applesauce (we go through a lot of that). Does anyone have a good apple pie filling that can be bottled?

On another canning note:  During this early married time in my life, I used to do things a lot with my Auntie Dolene (Darlene).  We were just 13 years apart, and I was having my first babies while she was having her last.  We would get together each season and can.  She taught me a lot of tips and tricks standing at her kitchen sink.  We did pears and peaches and tomatoes and carrots and green beans. She made the best bread and butter pickles.  We laughed and talked and tried to solve the world's problems.  I loved to go to her basement into her fruit room.  It was cool and dark with wall to wall shelves from the floor to the ceiling full of her harvest preservation for the coming year.  No window; and I loved pulling the string to turn on the light and see everything in perfect order. Nothing was out of place in that room.  The summer of 1980 when Josh was born she and a neighbor did all my green beans and carrots since I had a nursing newborn.  I drove to her house ready to can with a toddler and baby and all their gear in tow and when I walked in she surprised me with filled bottles and packed boxes.  So we spent the day visiting instead.  I will never forget that.  We had roast chicken leftovers and two pieces of yellow cake with chocolate frosting for lunch that she had saved for us.  Good memory.

Parent's Day or Back To Seminary Morning! (haha)

This morning was Parent's Day at Seminary.  So dark and early we were up to get ready.  Oooo.  I'm not naturally a morning person, but did okay.  I was make-up'd and hair done too. 

Christine has a really wonderful teacher and assistant to help with scripture mastery.  We are so thankful for their sacrifice to prepare and teach so early every morning!  Where we live, it is a stake calling, not part of the church's paid CES program and the high school kids attend in the early morning hours before school, not during the day as in other areas as part of a time release agreement with the schools.

She meets this year in the primary room with the large chairs set up in a U shape.  I liked it.  There is a good feeling in her classroom.  They are studying the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History.

The teacher asked for a volunteer to help conduct.  I thought he meant the lead the song.  But it was to conduct the class/lesson, one part of which was to lead the opening song.  They have these cool rhymes for the reference and clue for the scripture mastery scriptures!  They were really fun.  I think I just might use those too!

I looked around the room and it was fun to see my friends there so dark and early too supporting their high school sophomores.  We're all in this together.

What a great way to start the day!

Am I The Last To Know?

How come I never knew about Rubino's?  Mike knew.  Duff knew.  Adrianne knew.  But now I do, and I have to say it is just about the best pizza I have ever eaten!  Fresh sauce, fresh dough made every day.  They make your pizza when you order it.  I ordered it over the phone, but they didn't make it until I got there to pick it up.  It was still totally hot and fresh by the time we got it home.  Amazing.

Our ward was having a fund raiser there.  Every so often the local restaurants will give back a percentage of your order to our youth program.  This week was at Rubino's. 

Christine drove me to pick it up.  I hardly do any driving these days.  She takes every opportunity to get behind 'the wheel'.  We pulled in and parked right next to the J. Taylors.  They were dining in and then on their way to their back to school night.  It was fun to visit while we waited for our order.

Ballpark Pizza has always been my favorite, but now I know it has some serious competittion!

(Chris had speech this afternoon.  She is making good progress.  She doesn't have any speech problems which is a miracle because of her bi-lateral tongue thrust.  The orthodontist discovered it as the main reason her braces are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.  Now that we know, it is easy to tell.  Even the speech therapist said it is amazing that she doesn't have any speech or chewing problems.  But that tongue swallows the wrong way and pushes her front teeth out and her back teeth sideways.  Who knew?  We found a GREAT speech therapist right here in RSM.  The exercises are really interesting and really work!  They are actually very simple and kind of fun.  I just marvel each week when she goes how cool this is, and what a great thing it is that there are people who understand this and have it as their job!  Duff's sister, Jan, has her master's in speech pathology.  If we lived close, we would have had her be the therapist.  We can already see a difference in her teeth.  Yay!)

Tradition Passed On

Friday, Christine and I stopped at Josh and Meredith's on our way home from school pick up.

Patti was there and Mere's cousin, Erin.  JT saw us pull into the drive-way and bolted out the front door to greet us  You could smell 'it' from the street:  Taco Sauce!

Meredith and Josh have had some taco parties and everyone loves this sauce.  But be careful:  it is NOT a salsa.  It is HOT.  This is an old family recipe that I can't give out until my mama 'goes', because she is very protective of it.  (Which is totally not me, because I am a 'recipe sharer', but that is another post for another day.)  Patti and Erin loved it so much that they wanted some for their own pantries and Meredith was a great teacher.  We like to freeze our sauce, but Patti wanted to bottle hers and it turned out fine.  (My sis, Sue, has always bottled hers too.  It is a good idea if you don't have freezer space.)

And now the taco sauce tradition is passed on again for more to love and enjoy and add to their own families.  You did good, Merzy!

We had a good visit with everyone, and Christine was in heaven playing with Erin's baby.  Meredith has their place all decked out for Halloween and it looks and feels amazing.  She has worked hard at getting all those bins and boxes unpacked and put away from the move, especially since she has 2 jobs!  But their place is warm and has a good feeling.

Chilean Miners Rescued!

On August 4 of this year, the San Jose Mine in Copiapo,Chile collapsed.  For 17 days no one knew if the miners were dead or alive until an 8 inch hole with a prob from the top made it down to them and they sent up a note letting rescue workers know that all 33 of them were alive and well.  Amazing!  It was first thought that they would not be able to reach the miners for a rescue until Christmas time, but with help from all over the world and their own resourcefullness all 33 men made it out alive.  Last night they sent down a rescue worker and a medic and some paramedics to get the men ready and help them strap into pressure stockings. a vitals sensor to go around their abdomens and sunglasses to protect their eyes. Also a drink provided by NASA to prevent nausea and vomiting on their way up the 2400 feet (1/2 mile) in the missle like looking capsule.  It was 21 inches wide.  Some of the men had to lose 22 pounds in order to fit into it.

These are just a few pictures to record briefly what happened.  I think this is quite a historical event and I was alive during it.  I have been glued to the tv all last night and today.  I found myself emotional when each man came up.  I was a little surprised at that, because I thought it might get a little boring.  Not one bit!  Each time that capsule came up with one of the miners I was cheering along with those on the scene.

Some of my thoughts:  33 lives brought together for 69-70 days underground.  Each with their own strengths and weaknesses.  For one, it was his third time to be be in a mine collapse.  I think it was providence that he was among them.  They would have needed his optimism and experience of being rescued to keep them hopeful.  They each brought something to the experience to help the other.  They had to work together to survive.  They worked to ration their emergency food, get organized. One wrote poetry for them to capture their feelings.  A couple had therapy/counseling skills and helped the men battle depression and hopelessness.  Some were in charge of communication; the food; sanitation.  The last one up was the man who took over the leadership role.  He seems to be beloved among them all.  How does one summon that kind of strength?  I think I would have gone crazy.  He rationed the lights and created daytime and nighttime so there would be some kind of schedule and time management.  Another was in charge of exercising so they could stay fit.  Pretty incredible.  There is no question in my mind that God was watching over them and all those who participated in any way in the rescue.

I just wanted to be sure and write this down.