Sunday, April 26, 2015

JUST A FEW THINGS BEFORE APRIL'S OVER

Not much going on here. We celebrated Ashley Ridgeway's (Susan's daughter) 20th birthday this past week. Susan and the girls came up to help Grandpa with his paperwork and spent the afternoon.

Grandma's ankle is almost completely healed. She has gotten around on it really well the whole time. Thank goodness. We would have been in a pickle with both her and Grandpa not getting around well.

The kids have one more month of school left. Julie has a new job and has already received a promotion and two raises. She's a supervisor now and she's pretty excited. Don't ask me to explain what she does. It's not sales so she's happy!

Our daughter Sara is graduating with her MBA this weekend and she just finished her Masters of Accountancy also. We are very proud of her. Way to go Sara!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

ADOPTION IS ABOUT LOVE

Rob and I spent some time this morning talking to first graders about adoption. I had planned to go at the beginning of each year to Carly's classes (for the first few years) and do this but it turned out Kindergartners weren't at all curious. So, I had let it slide this year also. The first semester went by without any problem but as it turns out age 7 seems to be the magic age for curiosity. Lately Carly has come home sad, moody or upset at some of the questions her classmates have asked her. I don't blame them for being curious--I blame me for not being more on top of it.

We had such a great talk with them and helped them understand so much more than they knew. I think it will allow Carly to go back to being just another one of the kids.

At the end of the presentation, we gave them all a treat. We let them choose either a twinkie or a chocodile. Then I pointed out to them that those treats looked different on the outside but once you take a bite out of them you can see they are the exact same on the inside. I pointed out to them that it was the same with people -- just like them. It doesn't matter what color you are--what shade you. We are all the same on the inside. I also asked them if the threats were good and they all said they were yummy. I told them to remember that about each other. No matter what they look like on the outside, assume your friends are good on the inside.

It was a fun morning and hopefully they learned something and we made at least a tiny, positive dent in these little minds for how they will  treat each other in the future. :)

Monday, April 13, 2015

SO, THIS AMAZING THING IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD

Ever since we found out Jonathon had a severe peanut allergy I have felt fearful about him going to school. I worry enough about it when I have him and can keep a pretty stringent control on what he eats and gets into. The thought of him being in a setting where they serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and where other kids could randomly hand him something deadly really terrified me.

We've had an allergy doctor since he was tiny and he told me very early into it that medicine would one day solve this. Well, he was right. I just didn't know it would be him (our doctor) that would solve it.

Jonathon hadn't been in to see him for a little while and one day not long ago a friend who knew how scared I was about sending Jono to school sent me a news interview about a doctor making news about solving the peanut allergy. What surprised me was that is was our doctor being interviewed!  We made an appointment right away. We had to wait a little bit to get in to see the doctor because people are coming in from all over the country to see him. When Jono had his appointment, he had to have his blood taken so they could see his current peanut allergy level and it was still severely elevated. So he was a definite candidate.

Though not a happy one.


He got in the program but there's currently a 3-6 month waiting list to start it. Then it takes about 6 months to complete the treatment plan. From there he should be allergy free from peanuts! Dr. Jones has a couple of bulletin boards full of people--mostly children who have completed treatment and are allergy free--and not just from peanuts. He is doing this with several allergies: milk, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and eggs.

This is changing the world for some people. I hope it changes the world in a great way for my little boy! So excited my little guy will not have to live in fear of food his whole life! Yay!!

You gotta go watch the story below:

http://www.good4utah.com/story/d/story/free-food-allergy-treatment-seminars/17897/pM3nAEqMG06VJ-ao6cmtjw

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

GRANDMA'S NOT SO GREAT DAY

It turned out to be not so great a day for Grandma. She kinda/sorta tripped over the vacuum and nearly broke her ankle. We spent a little over an hour at the InstaCare and they did X-ray, Thankfully, it doesn't look broken but the doc said there was a lot of blood in it. She has almost a tennis ball sized knot on her ankle. It swelled up really fast when she did it. She has a bad sprain for sure. She is supposed to stay off of it for a few days and baby it. Guess we will see if that happens.

I told Carly as I was putting her to bed that she couldn't ask Grandma to do anything for her, including making her an egg for breakfast in the morning. She gasped and looked at me with a panicked look. I said, "Don't worry, I will make you an egg." She started to tear up and said, "But Mommy, your eggs aren't as good as Grandma's." (Thanks a lot kid!) I kept telling her I would try to do it like Grandma but she wasn't having any of it. I finally quieted her by suggesting I teach her to make her own egg and then she could be mad at herself if she didn't like it. That was an idea she liked!

Well, I will keep you posted on Grandma. Hopefully, she will heal quickly and be back on her feet soon. She has earned a rest but not like this!