Award Time!

Yup, it's that time again. The random moment in time that I decide to give out an award to an an suspecting person who reads my blog. This award goes to Jessica!!! Yay! (applause) Right now she holds the record for most comments. If you have followed my blog you would know that Wendy won the last award.. I may need to come up with a variety of awards, because it's fun! I love comments!! I encourage all of you to leave comments! Even if I really don't know you, if you read my blog leave me a line! You don't have to be a blogger to get an award- Jessica isn't!

-S

Grandma Update...

Grandma wasn't feeling too well, so my aunt took her to the E.R. she is doing good. But she is dehydrated and she is short on blood- weird, I know. This is oddly like the event that led the doctors to her cancer in the first place. Anyway she is receiving blood transfusions and getting re-hydrated. They are keeping her over night for observation, we'll be off to see her soon. Still, such a trooper. I am glad to report that this is the first visit to the hospital that wasn't a scheduled appointment during her treatments. What a woman!


She probably won't like that I put this pic up, ... she was telling us not to take pics, but she is looks just fine.

-S

All done...

I am all done updating today, I know if some of you have been checking our blog often I have made like a million changes.. all done. I fixed my label cloud! yay! I changed the background,and font and put up too many posts for one day... haha well finished ...for today! :)

P.S.
If school budget allows I will have two, count 'um two jobs at Kennewick High. What you ask? A marching band tech and an accompanist. Yea my plan worked,they can't live without me. They (band director we'll call him "Baldy"- don't worry he likes it, and Choir director let's call him "Coach" - he does coach football) are working to make sure I will come back next semester and get paid!! yay!

Joe is doing good at work too. He enjoys his job. He is acclimating to the Kennewick heat very well. He does get wobbly but that's it! That is the only MS symptom he deals with right now. And I am working on getting him in to see the Chiropractor/Natural Path/ Nutritionalist I saw here. We feel so good about it, I hope for results just as good.

So cross your fingers for both of us! :)

-S

Just some pics I took

Of my pretty little cousin...(name withheld to protect the innocent and cute!)

For your viewing pleasure...

Mom's "pot" garden:
My Mother's Day flower


More Mother's Day flowers- from Mom


Val's Mother's Day flower.




Mom's "pot" garden used to be an arrangement of empty pots, now not so empty. I am so glad to have flowers!! :)

-S

My Working Man!

Just got his uniforms. And they professionally wash them for us- good deal if you ask me! Doesn't he look good? I think so!! ;)

-S

She's a trooper...

My Grandma, she has cancer and she is almost done with treatments! The doctors almost stopped them for a while because of the side effects, Grandma would have none of it. She is pushing through. Her last chemo is tomorrow and her last radiation treatment next wednesday. She is doing good considering. She is fed by a G-tube right now, because one of the side effects makes it hard for her to swallow and she can't taste anything either. Her neck is almost black, burned from radiation treatments, her lips chapped (she puts on this stuff that tastes nasty-works great, good thing she can't taste it) She can't wear her dentures either- could cause bad sores on her gums, so she doesn't go to church, she is really embarrassed, and she doesn't feel too well. There are a few other things I know I am forgetting, oh well. Grandma has done really well keeping a positive attitude through all this and she has a sense of humor about most things, her treatments included. And all this has kept us busy these last 5-6 weeks. I am proud that she is my Grandma and how well she has handled the treatments, and I am happy that I have been able to be here to help.

Another trooper is my aunt Mishawn, she (with her family ) live with Grandma to take care of her. Mishawn is uber- organized, she would say OCD, but it works for her and for us, she has made sure to get Grandma where she needs to be for all her appointments and treatments and she manages to do this while being a wife and a mother to three active girls. We (Mom, Val, Alisha and I) have been "on call" anytime she needs anything, whenever something needs to be done or help with the girls, anything. It's been great to be able to help out, I was feeling a bit useless in Idaho (for them) but this has kept me pretty busy and given me the oppertunity to get to know my aunt and cousins better, since I really hadn't had the chance before.

-S

**News Flash**

We are so totally impressed with our Washington caseworker(s) already. The minute they got our paperwork sent to them they were in contact with us, we talked to them again today and have an appointment: June 4th 8pm!! yup! And it's in town! Score! So happy, our new caseworker is more on top of things than our last one(s), they weren't bad at all, but a little scatter-brained for me. Hopefully things go as smoothly as they did for us in Idaho, fingers crossed. Once we know what we will need to do to get approved in Washington, we will print and distribute our adoption cards. We really want to be parents! So keep spreading the word. I am so impressed and humbled by how far spread the word is already and I am not shy about telling people here that we are hoping to adopt! It wasn't easy at first, but now it's just part of being us.

-S

USA Today, positive adoption article

This was a great article it is so good that there is some good press out there for adoption.

click here

Thanks to Mrs. R for the links!

-S

P.S.
Another good one, click here

Sometimes I feel like this...

but it's been a while!

-S

A direct line...

Funny thing: My parents phone has talking caller ID. The best is when my mom calls from the seminary building, the phone says and I kid you not... "call from Jesus Christ". Yup, seems that we have a direct line! Ha ha, not really.

Pray Always.

-S

A "Rainbow" Family

This is something we would love! No, not to be "Bradgelina" but we are open to transracial adoption. And if we adopt a child of an ethnicity other than our own we have every intention of adopting again, we want a multi-racial family.
It would be a beautiful thing.

-J&S

Happy Birth Mother's Day

-S

26 Things to do in an ELEVATOR!

1) When there's only one other person in the elevator,
tap them on the shoulder and then pretend it wasn't
you.

2) Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock.
Smile, and go back for more.

3) Ask if you can push the button for other people,
but push the wrong ones.

4) Call the Psychic Hotline from your cell phone and
ask if they know what floor your on.

5) Hold the doors open and say your waiting for a
friend. After a while, let the doors close, and say,
"Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

6) Drop a pen and wait until someone goes to pick it
up, then scream, "That's mine!"

7) Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the
elevator.

8) Move your desk into the elevator and whenever
anyone gets on, ask if they have an appointment.

9) La y down the twister mat and ask people if they would
like to play.

10) Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets
on, ask them if they can hear ticking.

11) Pretend you are a flight attendant and review
emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.

12) Ask, "Did you feel that?"

13) Stand really close to someone, sniffing them
occasionally.

14) When the doors close, announce to the others,
"It's okay, don't panic, they open again!"

15) Swat at flies that don't exist.

16) walk around the elevator and ever once in a wile, poke a wall, and
say got ya

17) Call out, "Group Hug!"and then enforce it.

18) Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and
muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"

19) Crack open your briefcase or purse, and while
peering inside, ask, "Got enough air in there?"

20) Stand silently and motionless in the
corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

21) Stare at another passenger for a while, then
announce in horror, "Your one of THEM!" and back away
slowly.

22) Wear a puppet on your hand and use it to talk to
the other passengers.

23) Listen to the elevator walls with your
stethoscope.

24) Make explosion noises when anyone presses a
button.

25) Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while,
then announce, "I have new socks on".

26) Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and
announce to the other passengers, "This is MY personal
space!"

-S

Oh the craziness...

.*.*.*.*.*Our Life*.*.*.*.
We are doing well in Kennewick. Joseph has a job, no not with Lithia who we thought we were moving here for but with Toyota of Tri-Cities. Joe loves Toyotas, and so far loves his job. He was really nervous the first day but is adjusting well. I am the accompanist for a choir at Kennewick High, hopefully proving that they can't live with out me and will pay me to come back next school year...it's working so far I think. The choir teacher Mr Henderson doesn't like using students as accompanists.

Our transition to become legal Washingtonians was a heck of a roller coaster ride with lots of loops, and hoops and high speed the whole time... we had to register "Suzy" our car her tabs expired this month and that was a fun adventure and when we finally got someone at the bank in Rexburg to fax over the title, we showed up at the DOL and their computers had just crashed! Getting us licensed was fun too, they really gave us the run around. We have one of those DMV's that you see in the movies, you know the kind where you can spend hours just in line, waste a day... yup we wasted a couple days. Joe had to have my mom sign an affidavit proving that Joe is in fact a resident of the Swanger household, my residency was less difficult since I was in the Washington system before. We have a BIG problem here with illegal aliens, both of the Latin and the Russian kind, so proving residency and multiple forms of identification is muy importante. Luckily we had everything we needed, except my mom. She was with us the last and successful visit! So we are now Suzy, Shaylee, and Joseph, all Washington residents.

.*.*.*.*Medical Mania.*.*.*.*.*.
There are only about a million things going on medically in the family.
Grandma Swanger is fighting cancer and is now in her third week of treatment and starting to feel the side effects. So I have become the "pinch hitter" babysitter for Mishawn my aunt who is taking care of Grandma. That alone can keep one pretty busy there are a lot of appointments and long appointments. So Abrie and I are pals.
My little Sister Val has injured her hand, and has dealt with it for while and it had flared up again. We now have a diagnosis, a hairline tear in a tendon between her thumb and fore finger. One that PA to a hand surgeon has never seen injured before. 2 MRI's and a year or so after the initial injury she is getting her hand treated. After seeing the Physical therapist they decided that surgery isn't a good option but possibly splinting it and weekly physical therapy.
My cousin's family contains two people that had been diagnosed with a disease that causes blindness. And a missionary from our ward that was in Africa came home two months early with illness, turns out it was Mono. And of course the Swine flu scare. FYI WalMart was out of hand sanitizer. There are 2 cases locally but are not confirmed swine flu. But because of my exposure to teenagers with questionable hygiene habits I use hand sanitizer.

So those are the important updates... I will update later. I have had a lot of thoughts recently that are blog worthy. But after all the craziness of the last almost 3 weeks and our 3rd wedding anniversary tomorrow it'll be a couple of days. Sorry to those I haven't emailed back, I will email you.

-S

If you don't want the swine flu...

...then licking a pig isn't for you!