The ugly blue vest...

As a testament that its all in "perspective", my dad is actually considering a career change.

See, yesterday in the midst of my 'under-water' experience in the basement, my dad would grumble something and my mom would burst out in hysterical fits of the giggles. Not knowing what was so funny about dad's complaints, or occassional cursings of me...and being a bit still in the middle of a pity party and not seeing alot of humor myself...I didn't even question what could be making mom laugh. Today she felt my emotional stability was enough such that I could know the truth.

After calling my dad yesterday morning bright and early, and quite simply stating, "Dad, I left the hose on all night. My basement is flooded. Can you bring in shop vacs and help?", this is what happened there....

Dad, having just been woken up from a good night's sleep...said "Denise, I think its time we get job's at Walmart. Not because we need the money. But I understand it now. We need a job  there so we have an excuse to be busy from our kids' lives." :) Well, until I see his purdy little blue vest, I'm still calling him. And, just for the record, I can work my problems around his shift work.

I think what really bothers me is that I am a fairly non-dramatic person. I HATE when things are off schedule and un-routine. And my life has been non-stop drama and disaster lately. And I'm not complaining. I'm incredibly grateful. Because as stressed as I've been...I have a bit of perspective. I realize that these things are small bumps along the path. Annoying. Frustrating. Tear-inducing. Stupid. Yes.

But they could and might..get worse. Its okay. We do hard things. My mom's always told me I'm her comfort child...I've never been naughty(I didn't say stubborn or pig-headed...just naughty :) and I've never caused trouble intentionally...and I generally like peaceful things. Today she confided in me that last night after her and dad left my house and had gotten settled at home that dad said, "what is wrong with Julie? Her life is one catastrophe after another lately!"

Can you believe he thinks that handing out smiley face stickers and checking receipts is going to change that? Well, by all means then dad, take one for the team!!!! Go. Team. Walmart.

A rainbow...

I almost forgot to write down one of my favorite moments of the week! Now that this week is finally wrapping up, and I am convinced that we're gonna survive it...I HAVE to record a brief moment of sunshine in my otherwise perfectly wild and a bit stressful week!

Wednesday morning I was headed to physical therapy for my back and my dad had agreed to watch Lady Lu for the hour. I dropped her off an my dad's and this was the morning after the big tumble. She was running a fever, had had a long night and was fussy. When she goes to chill with Papa usually its all grins and giggles. So...wasn't really expecting this. I lugged her upstairs to dad's office and handed over my package of cute whininess...and then was booking it downstairs to head out the door. Jerry(my 38 year old brother with down syndrome-who happens to be the funniest kid I know) had just drug his lazy bum out of bed and was standing at the bottom of the stairs rubbing his still very sleepy eyes. "Hey Ugly", he said to me. Its his little pet name for me. "Hey Chubs," I responded, very lovingly. He asked where I was headed and I said I was going to phsyical therapy. He got this wicked smirk and turned his chin up a bit and said, "I knew you needed therapy."

What do you say? I was entirely unprepared for his zing. I laughed the entire way to therapy...and some after! I love that kid. He is such a rainbow in our lives!!!

Nate just doesn't react well...

He doesn't. Or maybe its me. Either way, this was NOT the lazy Saturday morning I was giddy with anticipation for.

Landri has been pretty fussy for days after falling off the stage at the gym and hurting her hip/pelvis. She stumbled out of bed about 6:15 and stood there crying, waiting for me to come get her just like she has done the last 3 mornings. I was trying to get her to settle down in my bed so I could go on with my plan....to be wickedly lazy....ALL morning long....when the nagging thought hit me, 'I didn't shut the hose off yesterday from my flowerbed.' See, I'm kinda bad about watering my flowers so I was giving them a little flood-age to compensate for a few days drought. Turns out...it was alot of flood-age. Alot.

Nate went out and shut if off, then headed downstairs to check things out. When I heard, "what the hell Julie!"...I kinda guessed I was perhaps in trouble! I shocked even myself when I saw the basement. We're talking easily 3 inches of standing water, everywhere. So Nate headed upstairs to shower, because he was going to work. I grabbed the shop vac and went to work. This is a little difficult considering my back gives me grief! I don't know when Nate left. I do, however, remember the very hacked off expression he was making the one time I glanced over my shoulder at him. He was standing there in his work clothes with his arms folded. I 'kindly' told him he could go to work now...and he could do it silently.  I worked a while before my parents arrived with their shop vacs and went to work. Bishop brought Oli and their vac and we had a crew of workers. Bishop also got the big commercial grade carpet cleaner from the church and I can't even guess how much water we've pulled out of my carpets. The storage rooms were easy peasy. Lots of water, but no damage. Halelujah for food storage in buckets and on shelfs!

Let me just say how incredibly grateful I am for my parents. Dad said next time I "planned" this I could count him out. They seriously worked their heinies off....and picked up my slack because they were stressing over my back. The. best. parents. ever.

Had I even the smallest sense of humor this morning I would have snapped pictures of Landri, who followed me downstairs the first time. She immediately went back upstairs and fetched her swimming suit. She was psyched! She's missed the swimming pool so bad! When she tired of playing alone, she got her barbies to join in her fun. Seriously....there was THAT much water! She splashed and giggled for about 30 minutes before her legs were numb.

My parents worked prettty much constantly for about 8 hours. They have now left me with the rented rug doctor vacume...and the strict admonition they will NOT be accepting sleep-over guests tonight. Not even if they bring their own swimming suits????

Pretty flowers are so overrated.

Not quite the reaction I expected...

Kenna is like my buddy. I tell her things she probably shouldn't "know" because she's like a vault. She'd never tell a secret. She's a very black and white kinda person. Things ARE one way or they're not. If her library book says the word 'hell', she comes to discuss it with me to see if she should continue reading it. I like to tease her she's my little molly mormon goody two-shoes. AND I WOULDN'T WANT HER ANY OTHER WAY!
This being said, she's also a snoop. She loves to 'find' out the details of things that are happening! So...she typically is in the know for who's getting what...and who's done what...and so on. Well, it just so happened that she knew too many details of Santa's list for this year. She'd seen EVERYTHING the big man was bringing Landri. And...because I'm exhausted at the idea of trying to come up with equally perfect/inexpensive presents to exchage these for...I copped out.
I started my conversation with, "Kenna, we need to have a conversation about Christmas." Panic immediately filled her big grey eyes and she got kinda watery and said(because like I said, I tell her more than she should know) "We're not having Christmas this year?" I busted out laughing. Come on. Money hardly grows on trees but we're not going without too much...
Me: Kenna. Seriously. Think about it. Who brings you the presents?
Kenna: (again, same panic face!) What? Santa isn't even coming?
Me: Kenna, who IS Santa?
Now, I realize that I could/should have let this fantasy play out as long as it could. But, she IS 11. I don't think her childhood will be too adversely affected by this revelation.
Kenna's eyes got HUGE. Which, if you know my Kenna...they already are! But then she kinda scowled at me and said, "YOU write my letters?" Yep. "YOU EAT THE COOKIES!" Yep. And, I chew up  the carrots and spit them on the lawn like a reindeer would. At that she was a little grossed out.
I think she was more disappointed when she realized what this really meant: "Oh, I guess I won't ask Santa for a cell phone this year!"
There are some very enjoyable parts of this life. Kenna is defintely one of them!!!

Bull ring....

One of the things I fell in love with first about my husband were his sparkly GREEN eyes. If a person's eyes give anything away...if they are any indication of someone's energy and love of life...then Nate's eyes pretty much say it all! Well...those eyes I love so much are definitely not looking so hot right now. In fact, Nate's not looking so hot right now! :)
On Tuesday Nate spent his lunch hour playing hoops...co-ed hoops. And the females are of 2 varieties...young wanna-be WNBA'ers and those old enough to be my mom. Nate got head-butted by the latter.  I was working and I got a text from him saying he'd broke his nose. Supposing him to be overly dramatic I sent him back one asking if he was crying...and, honestly, I love to tease. So I offered a bit more sympathy, and a LOT of giggles as he walked into the office with a towel covered in blood, and an already swollen nose. He said that his nose was way off to the side and he wrenched it back...three times...and swore IN THE CHURCH! (gasp :) Bishop Michelson came in shortly after the straightening....and was chuckling. So we're just assuming he heard Nate's battle cry!
Nate's eyes were glossy and he had a wicked headache, and was HUGELY irritable that night. Needless to say, he was sent to bed early, like all naughty children.
I made him go to the doctor yesterday morning because the bottom of his nose kinda hooked to the left. They x-rayed it and, duh, it was broke. We found out today it is broke in TWO places. So, they referred us to the ENT for immediate attention. However the ENT couldn't see us any time soon, so we were referred to an oral surgeon, which didn't exactly line up to me. But...I know this particular office very well...so, I called over and made sure we weren't going to end up getting a root canal. After being reassured that the 'maxillofacial' part of the title meant they do this regularly, I began the disaster of calling my insurance company to make sure we were covered. Litterally....three hours later....I had very little information other than this provider was in network for dental procedures, but not for medical. When I was told that he HAD to have the procedure within one week, and that the sooner the better...I decided we were going to go whether insurance paid at all. 3 hours after  the procedure today we got confirmation they'd pay. Halelujah!!!
After an hour of examination today, they called me back to give me the choice: his airway was straight. We could leave it to heal or perform the surgery to straighten it. Nate was basically on his feet, thanking the doc on his way out! Ummmm, no. When he asked what I wanted him to do(I know very well what he wanted me to say) I said, 'sure Nate. I mean, I've let myself go. You might as well have a hook nose.' He still managed to miss my message. Or maybe he thinks I've really let myself go....Oh well. I decided on a more direct answer. Fix. His. Nose.
So here's the highlight: Nate is a light-weight with medicine. And he's a nervous wreck. And he's claustrophobic. When he was informed they'd be giving him his lights-out medicine intravenously, he was freaking out. So...laughing gas. Laughing gas is a beautiful thing. He breathed it in, and kept fidgeting with the mask because he said it was suffocating him...not even trying to suppress my laughing any more. After he inhaled the stuff for a couple minutes I asked if it was working, because I was semi-disappointed. He was just laying there with his eyes closed, insisting it wasn't. But the doc must have known that it was because he grabbed Nate's arm and flipped it over to get a look at the vein he'd be hunting for. He chuckled and made some comment about how ridiculously huge Nate's veins are....and for some reason, that was all it took. The flood gates broke. And my husband laughed for the next five  minutes. Laughed til he cried. Til I cried. It was a laugh I've never heard before. Five minutes of complete hysterical cackling. He'd kinda try to suck it up and tell himself to stop, so he'd swallow it and then, bwaahhahaaa!!!! bust out laughing again.
Seriously...its been a long week. For many reasons. And I've been begging for a change of heart. Believe me when I said it came in the form of something I never expected!
I asked the doc if this was a normal reaction, to which he chuckled and informed me that, no, this was not normal. This was the best he'd ever seen. This was the stuff commercials were made of. Oh, no kidding! I wish to heck I'd have known how fun it would be because I'd have picked up my ipad and recorded the whole thing!
His eyes are really starting to bruise now. He's semi-high on oxy-codone. And I'm still laughing. In MY opinion this was a really good day....

Like his little bull ring? Its very, very, ugh....disgusting. But I love this man!

Hutterite for a day...

Well, a few hours!

Today we got up early and headed to Cut Bank for Kolbe's first Junior High football game. It was SO fun! My Bo is getting to be so grown up. I have especially enjoyed the last few weeks with him, as he's been fun to laugh and tease with. Parts of this phase, the 'teenager', scare me to pieces, so its nice to enjoy it! Its amazing how much a year can do for a boy. He's grown SO much...and he was a different kid out there today! He had some AMAZING hits, and some good runs...and, one that was entirely in the wrong direction. But...Nate and I agreed that watching him in sports is going to be a fun ride. Not because he's going to be all-American. But, it is going to be enjoyable.
On the way home we decided to drop by our friend Sam Wipf's...our hutterite friend! This man has always been SO good to our family. And we thoroughly enjoy him and his sweet wife. So, he's been asking us to come and see the colony for  a while. We did this last year too...but today there was NO door closed to us. He love love loves the kids...especially Landri. So he scoops her up into his arms at every chance. Sometimes she squirms out and whines...and others she scrunches up her nose and gives a cheesey smile, letting him love on her! Its so cute! He walked us first to the turkey barn...eh, okay. Then we headed into the milking parlor. Holy batman! So amazingly hi-tech! There are six cows on both sides of the room, with an aisle down the middle. They all push in, then stand in their places while they are cleaned and prepared..then hooked to the electric pumps. The pumps monitor how much milk has been pumped by this cow, both for its earlier milking in the day and its current milking. The kids were totally fascinated, and we watched two sets be milked. The system automatically back-washes itself with disinfectant in between cows...Next we headed into the barns where the bigger calves were. They were about 4-5 months old...and I couldn't believe their similarity to a puppy! They loved attention...and were fighting to get their heads through the grates to be petted...and would lick your hands. Yuck...but fun! And so clean. I was amazed. Then we went to the barn where the baby calves were. One was just born in the middle of the night. Again...pretty much glorified puppies! Landri was a little more comfortable with this size of cow and walked right up to the stahl, only to have the excited calf pop its head right through for some attention and knock her end over end! Sooooo funny! We had a good laugh, and she hid back a bit...until she saw the next cute calf in the next stahl! From there we toured the machinist shops, which were slightly less interesting to the kids but incredible for Nate and I. So impressed with the cleanliness of everthing! We saw all of Sam's secret stashes of paint/laquer and supplies tucked in this closet and that throughout the colony. And every strange store room had a fridge, stocked with???? BEER! :) We saw the feed rooms, the fertilizer shop, and the cement shop. And because our children are truly spoiled...and live a life of leisure...Avery was giddy when she saw the large square pond off behind the pig barn, certain that was where they swim. Um. No. Sam cringed and carefully explained it was 'human....waste.' Ewwww. I don't think Aves figured out what he was talking about! The last stop, and I think favorite of the kids on the tour, was the pig barn. So stinky! But there were babies, 2 days old, nursing on their moms...and squealing! Man...it was noisy! So of course Eli leaned in to get a good look and the momma, being a bit protective, popped up her big ugly head and snorted at him! I think he had a heart attack! He jumped a good foot in the air! I was bent over laughing so hard...we didn't stay long in there, as Sam warned us the stench would quickly overtake our clothes and skin. It was a no brainer...I didn't want to smell like that! We stopped by Sam's home and visited with his two daughters and wife. His wife is the sweetest thing! She also loved the children, but couldn't get enough of Landri. She would take her face in her hands,  rub her cheeks over and over again...desperate to snuggle her. Lu wasn't entirely cooperative, though she did offer up one hug and many smiles and giggles for her.
As we loaded the vehicle with a HUGE box of pork steaks...and varied other pork cuts...as well as the huge box of produce he let us 'shop' out of their big refridgerated shop...we were touched and grateful that he was our friend. Not because he gives us things. That is a perk, sure. But he is a genuinely kind man. He inspected our tires, worried that they are in desperate need of replacement. He urged us to drive very slowly on the gravel...so as to make sure out tires were okay. He told us to love our little family...said we are blessed...and cautioned us about the trying times to come as our little ones grow.
It is amazing to me to see this 'people' as just people. They are no different than me. Sure, they speak a different language, wear distinguishing clothing...but they are often misconceived, misunderstood and judged for their lifestyle. And really, its their faith. And that is something I can understand. I think my faith is misconceived and misunderstood. I might blend in a little easier...but I envy the quietness and simpleness of their life. No way of life is without sorrow...children stray...and there are health issues and struggles that plague us the same.
It was seriously SUCH a fun day. I left feeling such an immense grattitude to my Heavenly Father for good people.
Nate unloaded all the goodies when we got home and as he passed me in the kitchen he said, "Sam worries about us." Huh? "Well, he worries about knowing we have a big family and knowing how expensive things are. He likes helping us." While we are in no means going without...or in need....I felt the love of my Heavenly Father today through this good man. And my children are all convinced they could easily adapt to Hutterite life.