Sunday, September 27, 2015

Week of September 21 - 27, 2015

Highlights:

Spiritual
When I came home from Phoenix Children's Hospital on Sunday night, I shared my worry with Facebook. Now, I am rarely a fan of Facebook - too much "stuff" goes on, and I really only am on to talk to Allison and keep up on faraway acquaintances. However, I just asked for prayers for this little granddaughter. I truly stand all amazed at the outpouring of love and prayers, from close family and friends to people I only knew a little in high school. There is so much good in this often crummy world, and sometimes all it takes is a sick little baby for that good to just overpower any evil. My faith in the goodness of so many people has been renewed.

I also was thinking on Sunday night about Priesthood blessings and miracles. Annalee was not awake and definitely had something out of sorts. Nathan and Dad gave her a priesthood blessing, right after her spinal tap. They were looking for all sorts of infections and thought she would be in the hospital up to seven days. Two days later, she was home without a sign of anything. Now, I could say the hospital was wrong and grumble about healthcare. I did stop and (after kicking myself) fall on my knees and thank Heavenly Father for that healing miracle from that priesthood blessing as well as all the loving prayers that were offered. I then thought about all my other grandchild miracles: I was in the waiting room where the Wilkins sat with us, waiting on Adam's surgery when he was just a little infant. He was miraculously cured by the power of the Priesthood. Gracie had what was thought to be a growth in her lung, possibly cancer, that with blessings of the Priesthood was merely an aspirated sunflower seed. Josh was in the NICU when he was born, and it took days for him to get out. Blessings of the Priesthood made it possible for him to be home with his family with no lasting effects. Kelsie is a miracle, with mommy laboring for hours and then having to be delivered by emergency ceserean. And Amber talks of the day Kelsie's daddy died in the motorcycle accident, and how Kelsie, who was always needing holding when fussing, was at peace and content when Mommy was feeling lost. Heavenly Father blessed little Kelsie to be strong and help her mommy and angels were with her. After Kooper was born, the hospital tests just kept finding things wrong. We were all offering prayers for that sweet little boy and he was healed of whatever it was. Sammy was just a newborn when Mommy had to return to the hospital with hives. He was such a good boy, with Grammy having to feed him in a strange bottle and all. Allison may have itched like crazy, but she always had enough to feed that baby and keep him healthy and growing. Priesthood blessings helped her endure that horrible itching. She didn't complain once when I was there! Kaylee was blessed to have good health, and since she was breech, she had to be delivered c section, and she was blessed to have good health and be able to overcome any illness that she has faced. I didn't write it all on Facebook then, but I do recognize all my blessings and the blessings brought to our family. Miracles happen every single day!

This week, on Tuesday, we lost another beloved Apostle, Elder Richard G. Scott. He had been in failing health and it was not a surprise. He always spoke of his love for his wife, and it was so clear that he missed her so. When I saw the date of her death today, she has been gone 20 years. I could nearly imagine the joyful reunion of Elder Scott and his wife, never to be apart again.

Wednesday was truly a Latter-day Saint kind of day. I started my day at the 6 am temple session. I picked up my visiting teaching companion later and we went and had a great visit with one of our sisters. I got my visiting teaching letter off to the sister that only wants letters. That evening, Dee and I attended the 7:30 pm session at the temple. It was nice to know all four officiators in the session.

Visiting teaching was completed Friday for the month with a letter to a new sister on our list. I tried to email and call and she hasn't gotten back to me yet. They have a home in Flagstaff and I feel they are spending more time there right now.

I enjoyed listening to the Women's Conference Broadcast at home this evening. Dad was working outside and it was nice and quiet. Great talks, beautiful music.

Sunday was a great Fast and Testimony meeting. Our young men 16 and over serve as Priests in the Aaronic Priesthood, and we had Priest after Priest bearing testimony of their love for Jesus Christ, for their gratitude for trials, their trip last summer up Mount Whitney and the things they learned as they faced achieving hard things. We had a wonderful lesson in Sunday School from the Book of Hebrews and in Relief Society we had a lesson on a David A Bednar talk on turning to Christ to overcome fears. It was another great day. I hurried home to quickly eat and run out to stake choir practice, when Dad heard my phone beep with a message. Vegas Primary Program is October 11. So, I will be there instead of singing in the stake choir. Totally good trade off. And no choir practice!

I worked on indexing Revolutionary War records for Massachusetts. So far this year, I have indexed 5719 records.

I am read the October Ensign Magazine and truly loved the article on the Plan of Salvation by Elder Robert D. Hales. That is one I am going to print up and study again and again. The Plan of Salvation is something we often forget or fail to understand fully. . In the Book of Mormon, I am in Alma 8.

Dad's reading is as follows:  Book of Mormon - Mosiah 11;  Bible - Numbers 9.  continuing reading the Fourth Thousand Years. 

Family

The Wilkins Family
Adam went to an event at the Adventuredome on the Strip on Friday...and Allison had an "adventure" of her own when picking him up:

"Someday me trying to navigate the Strip on a Friday night to pick up Adam at the Adventuredome while Sam choked on water in the backseat, which made him throw up like crazy, which prompted Josh to throw up (in poor Sam's lap, because, well, he was already gross), and Grace to open her door to gag while we were driving WILL be funny. Tonight not so much."


The Ethan Rice Family
Kaylee started the week feeling poorly, and Wednesday, Cameo took the day off work and went to see their doctor. Double ear infections! Poor kid. She made it through the week, still with the cough but mommy said she didn't complain a bit about her ears! Word is that Kaylee had a good potty week and weekend. Let's hope Grammy doesn't mess it up!

The Doran Rice Family
On Tuesday night, when I texted Amber, I found out that Amber and Kelsie were down with a bad cold, and Doran had pain in his leg...and Kooper was enjoying every moment of freedom and having a great time. That boy is a regular eight o'clock to bed kinda guy...except for Tuesday! We remembered Doran and Charles on Friday.

Morgan
Morgan gave us a call on Friday with stomach troubles. He was concerned he might need a ride to the emergency room. We first got him some more mild food: rice, bananas, apples, Seven up, peppermint tea, ramen noodles, soda crackers, and graham crackers. That seemed to calm his stomach and he didn't call with any more complaints. Dad checked on him later, and he said the pain was still there, but the nausea was gone. He has a pretty nice room in his apartment: awesome television, red locker cabinet to hold dvds and video games, a nice desk for his computer, a chair and a sleeper sofa.

Kayty
Kayty had Monday off work. I checked her off and on...and finally told her good morning...after 3 pm. Rough life! She had a good day at work Tuesday and Wednesday. This is what she does on her days off...this was Thursday..
Work and attending a birthday party finished Kayty's week.

The Nathan Rice Family
Nathan and Jess stayed in the hospital with Annalee, day and night. Monday evening, Nate let us know she ate breastmilk all day, and that they removed her IV. What awesome news! We even got a little pic
Look at those beautiful eyes! This is my first time to see them. Every time I had seen her before, and the entire time in the Emergency Room and during the NICU exam, she was asleep. So wonderful to see her eyes!!! Nate shared a video of her Tuesday morning, wide awake and saying hi to us! I texted Tuesday evening to see how she was...and they were home! Doctor said there was no infection and they kicked her out! Such awesome news. It was wonderful news and even more wonderful to feel the strength of so many in prayer in her behalf. I had friends from other wards at church and from high school asking about her and praying for her. I am so thankful for all who are so good and kind and caring.

Thursday, Nate came by to grab something to work on his brakes. It was his last "day off" . Annalee seemed to not want him to lay down and rest the night before, since everytime he got her asleep, wrapped up, and put into bed, her eyes popped open. She likes her middle of the night daddy time. They purchased a really nice breast pump and Annalee has a great meal supply in the refrigerator already.

We got this on on Saturday morning:
Saturday afternoon, they came by after Annalee's doctor's appointment. Doing well. Final PKU done. She is doing well and the new parents are too. They already have a system whereby both can work, both get some rest, and Annalee is well fed and cared for (though right now, her crb is not her favorite sleeping place; the laundry basket is!) Nate comes home from work, takes his headache medicine and heads to bed. He gets good sleep for awhile, and then he takes over feeding and sleeping out on the couch, and Jessica gets some rest. She lets you know when she is hungry...




 Of course, I feed her and snuggle her back to sleep and Papa holds her and gets all the credit for her happiness!

And Sunday night on Facebook
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Work
Dad thought his Monday would be pretty uneventful, but his schedule became filled with meeting after meeting. Tuesday he had more meetings, some training, a brief trip to the Deer Valley plant and more meetings.Thursday, he went out to work with engineers at the Sky Harbor repair and overhaul facility at Honeywell. He also filled in for other SDE's and got drawings pulled and delivered.

My work week was filled with the usual: dusting (I thought I would only have to dust on Monday, since torrential rains were predicted and rain doesn't make dust, but we got nearly nothing, so Monday, Wednesday and Friday it was), vacuuming, laundry, leather couch cleaning and conditioning, clearing and organizing the playroom cupboard,catching up the spreadsheet, visiting teaching appointments, grocery shopping, photo updating,scrubbing and cleaning out kitchen trash cans, brushing the pool, picking up trash, scrubbing a door jam or two, cleaning bathrooms,grocery shopping, and anything else I could possibly get done.

Dad's Truck
Dad tried to install the motor mount bracket, but it would not fit properly with the newly installed oil pan, so he is going to fabricate brackets, first from wood and then from angle iron. He cut the metal after the mock up from wood worked,

and he prepared to go to his friend, Joe, and get them welded. Rubber pads were ordered and a piece of angle iron will complete them. He then can install, get the motor mounts attached...and then return to the goal months ago of installing a new cam and getting the engine running.

Dad's Garden
Dad and I took advantage of a cool Monday evening and dug seven wheelbarrows full of extra dirt and he hauled it to other parts of the yard. This will be his tomato garden in January, and he adds peat moss and many other things to make the soil more nutrient filled, so some dirt had to go. I also got all the old plastic and buckets hauled off to the trash and the garden area looks pretty nice. The missionaries in the ward want to do some service, and we shared that they might want to come over and dig up the oval garden area so dad could prep that. Dad went down to Grandma's on Tuesday and got some manure for the gardens.He has also resumed daily coffee ground pick ups at the nearby Starbucks. Each bag goes right out to the garden.

Missionaries came by on Saturday to help dad dig...and then they got some of his awesome chicken sandwiches for lunch.



Our friend, Holly, brought buy buckets and buckets of chicken manure later. He is planting lettuce and other stuff in this garden.

Other highlights:
Cool, humid, but as always, nary any rain. Just a drop or two. Not even a puddle.

On Tuesday, my car hit 141414 on the mileage odometer...and I saw it.

Dad finished off a bottle of his favorite hot sauce. I bought a bunch online when Nate was still in Korea, and the first one is gone.
September 23: Autumnal Equinox. Best day in a long long time! We have survived another Summer, though the forecast for the next couple of weeks is all above normal and over 100. I guess that will work out for Kaylee next week, though. She can spend some pool time for the last week...with Papa that is. 

On Thursday night, I had such a good time! Janet Whiting is a sister in our ward that I have really wanted to get to know since our ward realigned. A couple of weeks ago, she shared on our Ward Facebook Page that she was having a weekly sewing/craft get together on Thursday nights. I decided to go and I had such an awesome time. It was only the two of us, but she shared her skills, her set up, and it really inspired me to get back into more sewing, on my weeks off, that is. She made this, with my minimal help
Saturday, while the Women's Conference Broadcast was on my computer, I started another Grammy Stocking. I set a goal for two done this year. I did one, for Annalee, so this one is started for who knows who, and who knows when.

Sunday Lunar Eclipse/Blood Moon

I couldn't get any later ones. The camera is really picky and wants more light to focus. It was neat to see anyway.

Not so highlights:
Our monsoon is drawing to a close, and the Phoenix Airport received over five inches of rain this season from June 25 to September 25. Us??? Not so much. In fact, barely anything. We did manage to keep that pine tree out in the front yard watered and alive, and the date palm in the back yard got extra hose time and looks awesome!

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Week of September 14 - 20, 2015

Highlights:

Spiritual
This week, Dad attended an endowment session at the temple on Wednesday evening and had a very uplifting evening. It was his turn to lock up our ward building this week, so we went over every evening (last night it was near midnight) and checked every light to make sure they were off, and every door and window to make sure they were closed and locked.

I indexed a couple of different projects this week, including some Revolutionary War soldier records from Massachusets. They were very interesting, since it included enlistments, who their commanding officers were, etc. Some would enlist in one company for nine days, another for two months. It was really interesting to read about the Minutemen enlistments and the warnings that we given and where they were. So far this year, I have indexed 5570 names.

I completed my letter to one of my visiting teaching sisters. She only wants to receive a letter, and I did this earlier since there are General Conference sessions coming up. Dad completed his home teaching Sunday night before I picked him up and we went to the hospital for Annalee.

In scripture reading, I am in Mosiah 11.Dad's reading is as follows: Book of Mormon: Mosiah 3   Bible : Leviticus 27  and he continues to read The Fourth Thousand Years.


Family

The Wilkins Family
The Wilkins Family is always having a good time. They got all dressed up for Dress Like a Pirate Day, shared some "Arrrrrr"s and some "Aye, mateys!" and got three dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which they shared with folks at Deseret Industries.
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The Ethan Rice Family
Ethan had to work later for Home Depot, so he came here to get Kaylee Monday and take her to a later swimming lesson. Cameo said she started out fine, but then the teacher called Cam in, since Kaylee wanted to go potty. After a potty attempt, Kaylee didn't want to go back to her lesson without Daddy. Kaylee is still working on potty training. Ethan worked extra hours before and after work. Cam's work still is good and she didn't have to work too much extra this week. Kaylee started with a little cough during rest time on Monday that progressed to wheezing on Sunday, so Kaylee visited Phoenix Children's Hospital Urgent Care. Mom and Dad are still watching that ol' cough.

The Doran Rice Family
Amber has been such a great help to the family all week. She stayed in contact via texting with Jessica and with Mom on Sunday. We are so thankful for her help. She is always there!

Morgan
Morgan made a surprise visit on Monday evening. He and Kyle had a rare day off from moving and were combining a visit with a trip to Prescott for some fishing.


He let us use his computer and we watched "Cinderella". Oh, my goodness...I was a bucket of tears at the end. "Have courage and be kind". No better words. And, oh my goodness...that dress and those shoes!!! Thank you Morgan!

Kayty
Kayty's Monday was spent working and then after work, she prepped for a "Where's Waldo" singles family home evening.

She was eventually found and she had a good time with that. However, as singles activities go, poor planning meant that, once everyone was located, no one had anything planned  for what was to be next, so all left! Happens nearly every time! She had Tuesday off and spent it sleeping in, worked all week, and enjoyed Girls Night on Saturday night with some work friends.

The Nathan Rice Family
Nate came by on Tuesday afternoon after he was done with work. He and dad talked about various things. At that point, Annalee was totally comfortable, warm, no clothing, well fed...and inside Mommy's tummy.Nate called at 3:20 am Thursday morning that they were at the hospital. Jessica's water had broken an hour earlier when she got up to let Greta out. They spent a long day at the hospital laboring. We went for a visit that evening, just to see how all were doing. At 3:30 am Friday, I received a text that baby was crowning. I was up and praying for Jessica. At about 5:45 am I received a text: nine pounds four ounces (Nate weighed exactly that!) and this
What a beauty!!! and all that hair. Her weight: very Rice! Her hair: very Hudson!
We went and visited on Friday evening. Cameo joined us after Kaylee wanted to visit Grandma Liza and Wally.
The sweet nurse was trying to get Annalee to wake up and eat!




Dad was totally intrigued by the isolette cart. He thought it would make an excellent tool box.

She had some low glucose challenges, but she got to come home Saturday...
Nate invited us over on Saturday night for a visit...and Grammy got to hold her for a loooong time. Yes, I was truly a baby hog! I have earned my title over the years!





Sunday, we received a text in church that Annalee was too sleepy to eat and wouldn't stay awake to eat much. They talked to their doctor and ended up back at the hospital. She was admitted to Phoenix Children's Hospital NICU. We went to see Nate and Jess, and they were doing a spinal tap at that time, as well as running blood tests. She had a urinary tract infection that had her on antibiotics already, and they were trying to determine why that is happening as well as what else is causing the sleep. Dad and Nate were able to give her a priesthood blessing in between procedures. I am so thankful for the blessing of the priesthood and that man can act in God's name here on earth. I know she is in the hollow of His hand and He is watching over her. 


Work
Dad's week began on Monday with typical Boss A meetings, though he is not clear who his Boss A is. We will just declare the Boss of the former Boss A to be his present Boss A. He spent a lot of time making not so fancy spreadsheets (I tell him women add more colors to theirs. His are rather to the point and boring!) He shared observations and may have some buy in on solutions.

For Kaylee, it was pumpkin week. You know me and pumpkins...I wish nearly every week was pumpkin week!
She painted a pumpkin

Tried pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins (she liked a bite or two) and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (not a fan).

Helped me put carrot sticks in the box that I had cut, and made her own peanut butter and honey sandwich

Put together shape puzzles

Played with pumpkin playdough

ate pumpkin pancakes

made a pumpkin seed collage

blinged a pumpkin














made a pasta pumpkin

watercolored
















made pumpkin pie




ate whipped cream off pumpkin pie

and swam, played outdoors in the sandbox, ran around the lower courtyard, and went to Storytime at the library where we heard stories about Bats and learned that bats sleep upside down, fly around at night and eat bugs.

Dad's truck
He got the new oil pan gasket glued on and ready to attempt installation. He got the old motor mount removed and the new oil pan installed. It is hard work all by himself. I go out to check on him every little bit, to make sure nothing has fallen on him.

Dad's garden:
Tuesday, Kayty helped us...and we put carrot seeds on huge pieces of tissue paper with flour and water paste. A friend does this: folds a grid pattern and glues the seeds on. Keeps them well space.

It's just tedious work, not hard work. He had worked earlier to get the garden beds ready for planting. Carrots and Garlic were planted on Tuesday evening.

Friday evening, he got his snow peas planted.

He still sprays the grapevines to try to get rid of nasty whiteflies. 


Other highlights:
We ran to Costco Monday night to get some bird seed/chicken food. I enjoyed looking at all the cool Christmas toys that are filling the store, and even got some remote controlled, battery operated puck lites for under my kitchen cabinets. I LOVE them!!

Dad surprised me, thanks to Kayty's help, with two one pound boxes of Sees candy: one box of each of my favorites. One piece each Sunday is all I will allow myself, but I have many wonderful Sundays ahead!!!


Again, my greatest highlight is the power of the priesthood here on earth, and that family can have that blessing in their lives. I am so thankful for kind sisters in law that share their experiences to comfort. I am thankful for doctors and nurses and medicine. I am thankful for prayer, for my heart has been full of prayers many many times, and I am sure the only way I will sleep tonight is with prayer. I was walking through the waiting room on the way out of Phoenix Childrens Hospital, and I was brought back, over twelve years, to a time we sat and waited while tiny Adam was in surgery to repair something that once took lives. Adam growing up to be such a strong and brilliant and wonderful young man gave me hope and strength. Heavenly Father is a God of miracles and they happen every single day.