A wee one

Last Monday, August 11, 2014 at 10:01 in the morning a new little was born into our family.  Her name?  Morgan Mae Sikora.  Her game?  Getting us to love and squeeze on her 24/7..and it's working..her game plan is a good one!

I am so in love with that little!  She is the cutest, smallest bundle of joy!  I know that I am a bit partial, but really, she is perfect. It's true.

Jordan and Hannah are proving to be wonderful parents and they are so in love with her, too.  Imagine that.  They keep saying how they never thought they could love someone (besides each other) so much.  It's true.  I remember feeling the very same way when all of my babies were born.  And then the grands come and you love them just the same!  What a great circle of love!

So that is the good and exciting news on my home front!  Always such a wonderful feeling to welcome a new one to the family!

5 weeks until another little joins us!  Man, this is the life!

A man and his scooter

This man I call "Dad", his scooter, "trusty".  He has been without legs (not in the literal sense) for about 20 years or so.  A person might think that after that long your wheels become your legs and you adapt accordingly.  But not MY Dad.  He likes to challenge that scooter and his legs and my Moms patience!!!

2 days ago, while my Mom was gone to the doctor, he went outside to water the lawn (which is a no-no, being outside while Mom is gone...it's been a battle for years....).  As he was rolling along to get to the hose, he noticed one of their turtles moseying along and he swerved to miss him, and an overcorrection later, his trusty scooter dumped him out like a bag of rocks onto the hot, hard and non forgiving cement sidewalk.  Luckily ( if there is any luck to be had here) he was dumped face up and not face down!

All the while, my Mom is waiting at the doctors office feeling anxious and nervous because it is taking a lot longer than it should and normally does.  After about an hour, she finally gets called back into the room.  And waits.  And waits. She askes the nurse if anyone has walked out because it was taking too long.  The nurse assures her that she is next.  45 minutes later the doctor comes in to see my Mom.  20 minutes later they leave his office another 20 minutes later, they are home.

My Mom goes to look for my Dad and  sees my Dads trusty out in the backyard but does not see my Dad.  She peers out the kitchen window only to see him laying there, still.  She runs out the back door and yells to my niece to call 911.  

My Dad had been "dumped " for about 3  hours in the hot 100 degree sun, waiting, waiting and more waiting  for someone to get home to help.  He was barely responsive.

Heatstroke, bad sunburn, blisters and a badly bruised ankle were the first to rear their ugly heads.  Then came the fever, chills, lethargy, hallucinations.  Diagnosis:  Pnuemonia.  

Today he is responding to treatment, but I am not sure that he will be able to fully recover from his injuries.  My Dad is a great man who has had many a difficulty in his life. He has had many challenges to overcome, many battles to fight.  I know that his body is tired.  I know that he has put up a good fight.  If it is the Lord's will, I hope he can continue to fight, if it is not the Lord's will, I hope that we can find the courage to accept his will and continue to live a life Dad would be proud of.  I love you Dad!

Bones

Today I heard a great saying at it goes like this:

Everyone needs 3 bones to get through life, a backbone, a wishbone and a funny bone.  

Do you have all those bones covered?  (and I don't mean with skin...)

My life in 2 words: whirling derbish...

I wonder just exactly what I would give to go back to the days when I worried about dirty diapers and feeding schedules, changing sheets because someone was sick all night.  Up late rocking babies to sleep, singing lullabies and reading them stories.  Getting minions to school and karate and piano and basketball.  To the days of having our littles gathered around our knees at night to pray and to read scriptures and to feel of the spirit that was strong in our home.  Our lives were intact and they seemed almost perfect!

Those days are gone and with them the pure faith of children and the innocence of youth.

The best way to describe the past 2 years of my life is like this:  a whirling derbish that has left behind a mass of destruction.  There are pieces laying all over the landscape of my life that I am not sure will ever get put back together.  And even if they do, will they get put back together right?  It's a fear that I live with every.single.day.

Even though life seemed much more simple back then, and I wish that I didn't have to endure some things, the lessons that have accompanied the last couple of years have proven to be invaluable to me.  I have learned that true growth comes only through hard trials that make us work to understand who we really are, and what we are really willing to do to become like our Savior. And as the silversmith who works with his refining fire, he is not done until he can see his reflection in the silver. So it is with our Master, he is not finished with us until he can see his image in us.

The derbish continues to whirl but I will continue to hang on!  I'm stubborn like that!