WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!

I can't believe that it has been so long since I have blogged. I look at Jerianne's and know that I need to do better. But in my defense it has been hard to share this computer since Richard works on it all day and sometimes in the night!

I have finally finished my projects for Christmas. It has taken me almost an entire month and I seriously am not kidding. I had no idea when I started that it would take so long but I am very pleased with the finished product and hope that my children and grandchildren will be also. I know at the very onset it won't be the favorite gift, but maybe it is the one that will keep on giving :)

By the way, this batch was one of three trips that I made to the laminators! I made someone's Christmas bonus a little easier to give:)

Thanksgiving this year was ................................I can't find the right word. Richard and I did enjoy one another's company, but we do that MOST days. Since no one was with us for the first time in 33 years, oh my, we spent it alone! So, I roasted a "TURKEY" hot dog over my gas oven to celebrate! No one can outdo that. It was sad, but on a happier note Jacqui was coming in that evening to stay for a few days and that is what we looked forward to. We celebrated the next day with all of the trimmings and that made up for what was not my idea of turkey day. I called home and all of the Upchurch's were having a great time and I could hardly control my tears. Thank heavens for a heart full of memories of wonderful times spent together.

SEND DONATIONS......I LOOK LIKE A HOMELESS PERSON!

Seeing the Hand of the Lord In My LIfe

After listening to President Eyring's talk during conference, I know that his remarks were for me. I know how important it is to see the Lord's blessings each day in my life and hopefully this blog will help me do just that. I have been thinking alot about the miracles in my life and I have so many that I need to acknowledge them. Jerianne just celebrated her birthday last month and whenever I look at her I KNOW she is a miracle. Not just because she is beautiful, talented, accomplished, smart as the very dickens, and so thoughtful, but because she truly was a miracle for me. I got pregnant one month after I got married and was finishing my degree at BYU. Richard graduated and we went to Idaho for a visit when I was about 5 months pregnant. I was standing by the tv in his folks house and I just instantaneously started bleeding profusely. I was terrified. They put me on bed rest and I saw two different doctors in Idaho Falls. (Keep in mind we had no insurance and really no home at the time.) Richard's dad would give me cayenne pepper capsules every day..........IN hopes of it stopping the bleeding..............:) (He is another one of my heroes.) They gave me B-12 shots and when I had stopped bleeding for a few days they told me to get on the plane and go home to KC. Well I did that and as we started flying over Pocatello I just started bleeding again. I was all alone, no one to help me, terrified and so afraid for my baby. I had to get off the plane in SLC and it just so happens that my brohter (another heroe) had called his girlfriend Debbie ( another heroe) to go to the airport "just in case." I was trying to get to the first aid station when I saw Debbie and Diane (my dearest cousin) and they could see I was in trouble. They pulled up their car and set me in the front seat meanwhile, someone had gone to a group of missionaries in the airport ready to depart for their missions. They pulled two out to the car and they gave me a blessing. I know it had to have been the first one for one of the elders because his hands were shaking so badly he could hardly keep them on my head. They then took me to a hospital in SLC and I was seen by two different doctors there. No one knew at that time what was wrong. I had lost so much blood that I was severly anemic. I looked like paste but felt oh so much worse. They then took me to Grandma Pete's house (another heroe, how many times have I said that in the last two blogs?) and there I stayed until my angel of a mother flew out from KC to be with me. Richard's parents also drove down from Idaho Falls to help. I was in so much trouble by that time and Grandma Pete had her two home teachers who had to be in their 80's at the time, come and give me a blessing and then "carry" me out to the car and drove me to LDS hopsital in SLC. There I was examined by two more doctors and one happened to be named Upchurch, which you never hear. They did an Isotope X-Ray, ( which is what is supposed to have damaged Jerianne's teeth as they were budding,) and couldn't find the root of my problem. They told me to get on the plane and fly to KC to the doctors there. We tried to get them to let me lay down on the plane but they wouldn't do that unless they had an ambulance waiting at each airport we flew over and so we just went with faith and nothing else. My brother ( you are right, heroe) was waiting for me as we got off the plane, wheelchair and all, and went straight to the hospital in KC. (Richard was driving out to KC while all of this was happening!) They did an ultrasound and finally realized that I had had an abruptive placenta previa. ( The placenta had torn and was covering the cervix, bleeding continuously.) They put me on complete bedrest and so the rest of the pregnancy went. Bleeding, rest, bleeding , rest etc. It was actually so very frightening not knowing what was really happening and worrying about the baby. So they sent me to St. Luke's for an amnniocentesis (sp) which was only done at that point, one place in the city. I was so sore from bleeding that I could hardly stand up straight. I laid on the table and the jerky dr. brought out the equipment to do the test and the needle was almost 6 inches long. I was terrified and they were pushing on my stomach and I was crying. He told me that if I didn't stop crying he would walk out of the room and leave me on the table! What a jerk! When it was over I had literally given up. I remember telling my mom that I would honestly rather die than go through any thing else. That night they called and said that they had found the babies fluid in the test and that I was to come to the hospital immediately. So my dear father (my heroe) carried me out to the car and away we went. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and found no heartbeat.............(The machine turned out to be broken...... after another meltdown.) So during the night they discovered that the test had broken my water and surgery was the next morning. I woke up from that with the doctor literally on top of me pushing and pushing my stomach which had just been cut open.......They had brought a pediatrician into surgery because they were so afraid for Jerianne. There were blood clots the size of fists all around her and they were in awe that she was okay! (Miracles do happen) My dad was the first one to see her and he rode down in the elevator with her to the nursery. So you can see why Jerianne is such a miracle to me. One of many to come but one that is imprinted in my heart and mind. And look how amazing she is! I had another previa with Jacqui and that is a story for another time.....I will try to write about the hand on the Lord in my life now with more frequency. He has been there for me so much, I am humbly grateful!

ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE

Some of the things that I wanted to put down in my journal are important to me and for my family some day, I hope. I was back in KC a few months back and my dad pulled out a journal that my Grandmother Malone, who I adored, had kept for a year. As I read through it she just came to life for me, I could picture her and hear her, and it just filled my heart with love for her all over again. She was such a positive person, and nothing and I mean nothing, ever got her down. She had such a hard life, her mother died when she was 4, and she was basically raised by an older sister who was nothing like her. She was pregnant 10 times and out of those pregnancies she had three children who lived. One still birth, some miscarriages, and three children that died because of Hemophilia. I never remember her without a smile on her face and so happy, always happy. I don't know how she did it. She had no worldly goods at all and joined the church when she was in her 70's and lost all of her friends because of it. She worked as a nurse at the hospital which she loved, she was always "on call." She loved flowers, community work. She was in charge of the Cancer Drive in Liberal and I would go and sit with her some days in her office. The rest of the time I was going door to door with my Grandmother Upchurch (who is another heroe, role model and friend) and she would let me collect the money and write out receipts with her. I must have been 6,7,8, and so on.

Whenever she mentioned my name in her journal it just brought tears to my eyes and was so important to me. So that is the reason I haved decided to blog. I want my grandchildren to "know" me and hopefully they will think of me with just a little of the admiration, love, and respect I have for my grandmothers.

THANK HEAVENS FOR MY TEACHING DEGREE!

I know that it has been a while since I last put down any thoughts on my page. Plenty of reasons, about 20 of them to start with. I have been coloring for the last two weeks and I really mean almost continually. I am making folders for my grandchildren for Christmas to take to church and to use for Family Home Evenings. I majored in "EARLY" Childhood Education for a reason. I could do the math and I can really color! So I just need to get them all laminated and then I will have one more cutting to do and then the bags to make and two presents down. So most of all I hope that one day my grandchildren know that I loved them enough to spend my time, and not necessarily talent,doing this,because I love them.............................................................

It seems as though in this stage of life that I should have a bazillion hours of free time, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The last four days have just worn me out! On Thursday it was our stake temple day and we were there from 7:45 in the AM until 5 in the evening. We worked in the cafeteria for first half of the day and I didn't even stop to get a drink! Boy that was an eye opener and made cooking for my family seem like a piece of cake.

All day Friday I cleaned house for a party that I was having for some friends on Saturday night. It has been really hard trying to make Denver feel like home. The ONLY people I know are from church and so I would like to feel more at home, hence the dinner party for 26 people:(
Friday night I set the tables and made everything look as pretty as possible. ( Which so reminds me of my Grandmother Malone. She loved to set the table although, she had absolutely no worldly goods. It really makes me happy when I can see where I have taken after some of my heroes like her.) Saturday I spent the day making homemade rolls ( like my mother, another of my heroes) and trying to take care of last minute details. Every single person came and it was wonderful. We laughed and talked and just got to know each other better. There were four couples there from Kansas. The Harris', Spears, Calls, and us. It was great having so much in common. I may wait awhile to do that again however! ")

Sunday I taught Primary, I have the 5 year olds and I really love them, although it is hard to miss out on Sunday School, we have such a great teacher. We had our Primary Program and it was so good. Then home to make supper for the family, a visiting teaching interview at the church at 6, and then home for two rousing games of Settler of Catan, which Jaimie and I are addicted to. So you see life seems to be full. For that I am grateful.