Recent happenings

Another note from "E" (girl, 7 yrs. old)

P.S. I never knew that song anyway.  :)

*giggles!*

Her mother told me that after her field trip to the dairy farm,

 the first thing she said was "It smelled! Just like Shaylee told me it would!"

My students are wonderful!  

 My view from the parking lot after work one night. 

Sunrise at cable bridge, while on Clover Island.

We were volunteering for Girls on the Run.

One of Joseph's many Lincoln Log Creations,

this one was supposed to be taller than my mom, it was!

My favorite shoes of the moment, hooray for Kohl's Clearance!

Fact: I wore them yesterday, and Sunday and...

That's it for today,

busy busy week.

My last full week of work,

performance this saturday @KeHS graduation

+ lots of running around town picking up things 

like balloons, cakes, flowers and programs.

Sunday = Seminary Graduation

No news....

is good news, right? I wish that I had news, any real news. This week we are in survival mode. Tuesday might was the choral concert. Today was the large group choral festival @ chiawana high school. I was running from warmup to stage to critique all morning(7am- 12pm) Then home and off again to work. Tomorrow morning we will be heading to spokane for Joseph's neurology appointment. So basically I've made no commitments beyond work, it would be too much to think about. Thank goodness for my iPod with my schedule, it keeps me organized and sane! I'll take great notes at his appointment, the doctor will probably say it's time for an MRI (every other year as long as things stay stable). Which means paperwork with MSAA to help us pay for some or all of it. More updates coming. No real news... not yet anyway.

Oh how busy life can be...

in bullets

• I teach swimming lessons from 9-11:30 M-F (cardio oh yea!)
• I teach Piano lessons almost daily
• We have family in town
• Dustin is leaving for the MTC on Saturday.
• Dustin is being set apart (for his mission) tonight (Stake President is heading out of town)!
• Joseph has Braille classes every wednesday for 2 hours (only 1 more class left!! He's amazing!)
• Joseph usually has two computer classes a week with Brian from DSB, for an hour and a half
• We will go to our ward temple night on Friday
• My work party on Saturday

In itchy news, I have been sun rash/welt free for two whole days!! I have adjusted accordingly for my new allergy. We have determined that my allergy eruption (yes, they call it that) has something to do with the chemicals in the pool I use in conjunction with the sun. Thank goodness for the internet, I did lots of research on medical sites and after doing what was suggested, it couldn't be anything other than photosensitivity. And I didn't waste $100-ish for a doctor visit.

We are enjoying the things that are going on, but it will be nice next week when things slow down a tad...for a while at least.

Yet another update on Joseph

Sorry for the month-long absence, we've had a lot going on and very little time to write about it. In fact this should be the 1st of many updates.

Doctor

Joseph will see his neurologist on Tues (the 16th). He will have a physical therapy session first. During which they'll determine what kind of stick or cane will work well for him and get him started using a white cane. (and the normal physical therapy stuff).

White Cane

Why is Joseph goin to use a white cane? A white cane identifies his as legally blind, so it will or should make others aware that he can't see them. The cane will also help him find bumps, steps curbs etc, that he can't see, before he gets to them. He will learn his white cane skills without vision (using sleep shades and resisting the urge to look down) When he is good with a white cane he will be eligible for a guide dog.

OTC

The Department of Service for the Blind (DSB) has an Orientation Training Center (OTC) for those with vision loss ranging from visually impaired to totally blind. The OTC is in Seattle, we went there on Tues the 2nd. We had a guided tour of the facility and the apartments. We had a packet of info about the OTC before we came for the tour, but we had yet to make a decision about Joseph attending there. They have terms that are 5 weeks long with 1 to 2 week breaks, he would have to live in Seattle during term.

The OTC offers many classes: home EC, shop, computers, keyboarding, zoom text, jaws, orientation & mobility. braille etc, we saw all of the classrooms and met most of the teachers, who talked to us about their particular subject. It was a great facility and the tour was awesome. I was a silent follower for most part, and I left the decision about attending up to Joseph. He said that his mind says its wonderful, but it doesn't feel right. So he won't be attending there. He has opted to do the training at home.

** update (since I originally wrote this)**

Joseph's mobility counselor came over yesterday and he now has a white cane and has started training with it. We should be receiving our braille books here soon and possibly participating in a class via telephone through the OTC. And that is an exciting/scary thing because braille is supposed to be pretty darn hard to learn. - side note Steffi, (mobility counselor) has said that she was very impressed with Joe's ability to learn A,B &C in braille one day when he was introduced to it. She was equally impressed with his rhythm with a white cane, he won't struggle as much as some she has worked with... I may be an entirely different case!

P.S. His white cane is named Ernie, rightly so since his trekking pole is Albert...

It went down like this... (short story style)

(This is the true story, thanks for your comments, and as you read you will notice that I incorporated all of them into my little story, look for them)

It was a chilly morning and in the slight breeze fog hung thick. As we departed for our journey that day we knew we would arrive our destination with time to spare, we had plenty of time and we had everything we would need. Little did we know the events that would unfold on our way. The trip started out well enough, my handsome companion Joseph and I were alone, and enjoying our time together. Julius (our car) kept us warm, comfortable and entertained us by playing lovely tunes, a soundtrack for our jaunt to Spokane (my birthplace). We were heading to see a magic man, called a neurologist, who looks at brains.

Remember the fog? Fog is a funny fellow, he loves to play tricks on us poor mortals, you know. He would tease, and leave for moments just to return to us full and thick the next. His best trick though is to persuade you to think you are moving slow when in fact if you aren't careful you could accidentally engage warp speed and miss your destination completely, or leave the planet entirely. Luckily, that was not the case with us, however we were traveling much faster than that of the posted speed limit signs. (And in the right direction, we didn't get lost.) I looked down, and discovered my error, but it was too late, curse you fog!

Without my knowledge a police officer had clocked me doing 81 in a 70. He turned on his spinning red, white, and blue lights, signaling me to pull over to the side of the road. I did so. This short, round, kind faced man approached my window and checked my papers (you know insurance, registration, license). He left and went back to his squad car. I was upset, can you blame me, really? The magic man only waits so long and if we were late he may not see us. The officer noticed my distress.... I must stop to explain that there was no crying, wailing or gnashing of teeth present from myself. However the officer was so moved at my demeanor that he called another officer to join us.

The man that came was a tall, and slender man with a very large hat. He approached my window much like the round man, and he asked if I would exit the vehicle and speak to him. I did. He was so very sweet, I was led to stand beside him out behind our car, on the side of a cold and long highway. Things then unexpectedly took a serious turn that held me in complete surprise, apparently my emotional response to the first officer alarmed him so much that it must have seemed necessary for this conversation (or something very close) to take place :

"I wanted to talk to you and make sure that you are doing okay, I was informed that you were pretty upset when you were pulled over. Are you doing okay?"
"Yes, I am fine."
"Are things going alright? Are you in a fight or something? Does your husband ever hurt you?"
Shock and bewilderment hit me, full force. And must have read on my face as I responded,
"What? No. Never. My husband is wonderful and wouldn't ever do anything to hurt me.
"Well we just wanted to check and make sure you didn't need help or anything."
"Thank you I appreciate it, I was just upset about being pulled over."
"So, where are you guys headed?"
"We are headed to see a nuerologist in Spokane."
"A nuerologist huh, so why are you seeing a nuerologist in Spokane?"
"My husband has MS and has had a recently had a flare up and he needs to see this nuerologist, who specializes in treating MS"
"Wow, MS that must be upsetting for you"
"Yes. sir."
"And that must be pretty tough to deal with."
"Yes, yes it really is."
"Now that we know what is going on, you are free to wait inside your vehicle." "Thank you, Officer."

Shortly after this conversation, and after rejoining my loving, albeit worried husband in the car, the round officer approached my window. He took pity on us in our situation, and gave me a ticket for going 75+, thus reducing the fine by $50. (And just so you know, I have already paid my ticket,my first real ticket -that wasn't totally bogus! Seeing as how I obviously earned it.) We continued on our way at a much slower pace, as you can imagine. That little stop cost us 30 minutes,and $93. If it weren't for a handy cell phone, we wouldn't have bean able to call the office of the magic man, and let them know we were going to be late.

Following all of this, we did indeed make it to see the neurologist, and had a productive appointment with him. You should know that Spokane is a busy place, with many one way streets, but for a talented driver like myself and no immediate need for crazy turns, donuts or swirly maneuvers, we found our destination, and also a cute Italian restaurant in which to dine and toast our birthday. Then off to DQ where we got caught up eating ice cream, because it is the best treat in the whole world.

-S

(comments please on my awesome story!)

After a long absence...

...it's time to explain. Coming from the notion "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." My blog went silent. I didn't really have much to say that would be uplifting to you readers. While I don't mind blogging about most aspects of our life, it's during the hard times, times when we are struggling that I choose not to spend my time on the blog. Now I don't want the blog to be full of fluff, I'd rather keep it real. And in keeping it real, life is hard. And lately we've been having a hard time. Joseph has MS, this fact isn't new to the blog or to people who know us. But MS is hard. Hard on Joseph BIG TIME. Hard on me to know how to help him, and hard to watch. It's hard to be a poor young couple dealing with MS, medical bills from infertility, and Adoption Paperwork.

Having a husband with MS is hard. MS is an expensive disease.

The MRI's = $$$

Neurology Visits = $$

Treatments = $$

Blood work =$

A Husband who is healthy and happy =

worth more than all the $$$$$ in the world.

We are extremely blessed to find Dr Cooke (special thanks to Gma W and Sheila) He has opened doors for us we may not have been able to find ourselves. Dr Cooke is a member of the MS Society which helps him keep up with the latest in treatments and such, as well as keeping him in contact with other neurologists that specialize in MS. He helped us find MSAA, who sent Joe his cooling system, who is paying for his MRI on Tues (and spine MRI next year). He showed us how to get Joe's (future) medication for little or no cost (hopefully happening really quickly after his MRI on Tues.) MS is still really hard, but Dr. Cooke has already been a HUGE blessing to us, and we are so lucky he is only 2 hours away!!

So what has kept us away? Paperwork! Yup. Basically we were swimming in mud grasping at straws to get out. Lots of paperwork, lots of things to make sure you have done perfectly, lots to communicate to insurance, lots of frustrating phone calls to the Imaging place (who refused to talk to me, and would never call when Joe was home to talk to them!!- stupid HIPPA. We took care of that) 5 or more phone calls to the Clinic to make them understand that the Imaging center needed a new MRI order BEFORE we could make Joe's appointment because the original was 30 days old (yes, the paperwork took that long) and we'd need a new one. All while making sure that we could schedule his Physical therapy for the same day and not conflict. As you see this all finally came together. We go to Spokane on Tues. We are going to try to have a date or something afterwards, because Physical Therapy and MRI's aren't really fun. But Totally necessary.

So after being so tired my eye twitches, a month of paperwork, late night talks, the flu (Joe) extra cuddles, mucho phone calls, playing phone tag, a few tears and chocolate. Things are looking up. Hopefully things will move faster.

-S

Oh you poor neglected blog,

I'm so sorry. It must have slipped my mind, you wanted my attention, you needed me to update you. I failed so miserably, please let me explain.

• I started work. Two jobs in fact. I am a paid accompanist at my Alma Mater. By definition "performer paid to play", I'm a professional. Woah. Ya, that is cool. I love it & I love working with Mr. H or Coach (lol) I starting teaching Piano Lessons at the Tri- City Acamedy of Ballet and Music. I only have 4 students, my boss tells me to be patient he'll fill my schedule, but I am happy to start out small.
• I broke my tooth. My #3 molar (I learned that at the dentist, it's one of the main chewing molars) I was walking in Costco, and a huge chunk came out. Luckily my family's dentist excepted me as an emergency patient. I almost lost it in the office when he told me I needed a crown and that my tooth is basically falling apart (due to a failing filling- not rotten though, phew) I have a temporary now, permanent coming in a couple weeks.
• The same day my tooth broke I got my 1st ticket. Yup, true story. I figured that I was pulled over for a missing mirror (another story another time, but it's gone and he can't ticket me for it) so he decided to ticket me for running a red light. It was green!! The ticket was for $124. NOT cool. I had a passenger though, and she is willing to be a witness when I go to court and contest it. Because $124 is a lot of money to pay for something I honestly didn't do!

So dear sweet neglected blog, I hope you understand, I didn't mean to let you go so long. Do forgive me, won't you? I know your readers will, won't you?

-S

A Quick little update...

* Thanks so much for the comments and well wishes I appreciate it so much, it's been tough, but it's nice to know how to get the help we need when we need it.

*Our cousin Luke is in the hospital, please send prayers his way too!

*Joe is doing much better, he is frustrated with his vision, it's better but not best... His turn around with the steroid treatment was pretty phenomenal to see. He is walking really well, and doing good all around with little to no side effects from the steroids, just sore from the infusions. He is on a wean down dose of steroids for the next 10 days. He has a follow up appointment with the eye doctor and we're still working on the Neurologist we want to see. I may just have to get really pushy!

*Suzy is gone. We traded her in while she was running and still worth something. We are now the proud owners of a 2005 Kia Rio his name is Julius. He is orange, a pretty red-orange.

*We both have talks on Sunday. No assigned topic, trying to think about what I need to speak on...but life is keeping me pretty darn busy.

*Thanks again for all the comments and visits to the blog, I will try to update more. :)

-S

Crazy Busy, What I've been up to...

I'll write it in list form, keep it simple you know.

*helping my mom with seminary graduation, she's basically in charge. So I hauled things around, spell checked as we printed out the diplomas,and put together the program and the list goes on...

* helping with Gma becomes full time some days. She was in the hospital almost three days when I last blogged about it. She is doing okay. She is done with treatment wahoo! But she has been really sick after.. weirdness. We expected that she would get sick during treatment not after. Anyway she had another trip to the ER this week and turns out things were okay.

* Fill in babysitter I have really gotten to know my little cousins, they are so funny. I have gone to their house so my uncle for work and get all the girls off to school. Joe was there too and he did the breakfast part ("take 3 bites then you can put your bowl away, hey!,that bite didn't count do you want to make it 5?") and I did hair.

* Ballet Mom Fill in: I have taken Abrie to ballet a couple of times now and I took the girls for their pictures which included lots of hairspray, gel, bobby pins, hairnets and time to make thee perfect ballet bun- very serious stuff here. I was also in charge of doing makeup- yes, it went quite smoothly for a 7 & 5 year old. They loved it! We did have some drama about the tights and how they should fit *ahem* where certain parts go... story for another post. so so funny.

* Lots of babysitting 5 year old girls. These cousins get along so well and entertain eachother, so it makes it easy to watch them. Abrie is hilarious on her own, but get her and Naomi together awesome. N doesn't talk to everyone... I experienced this for the first 10 or so minutes together... until we decided to have hot dogs together... now we're good.. I'm fun , or so she says.

Well thats all I can think of... things are getting slower which is okay, but I am looking for more to do. It's funny when you are so busy that you can't remember if you ate.

-S

No one is invisible...

Just when I thought it was nice that we hide out in the primary and love our calling, even if it wear's us out.. we have a Sunday like this one...

November 30th:
I get two phone calls before church, the important one was that we were going to have two classess in primary today...we ended up with twelve , yes twelve kids in our class. Impressed?? I am, we survived and the primary presidency was shocked.

Before Sacrament meeting the bishop (FINALLY) gives us his recommendation for adoption and then announces that they will be released next week, so good thing that we have an extra bishop recommendation letter and we will be one of the first appointments with the new bishopbric...

We go and sign up for tithing settlement and the bishopbric asks us to say the prayers in sacrament meeting.. cool.. better that talks!!
After Sacrament meeting I got stopped twice.. once by my visiting teacher who informed me that she was bringing us cake on our birthday, she says it's not good to make your own cake. Then a guy stopped me and turns out he is the guy that called me and asked me to be a merit badge counselor for life saving... apparently word is out... I know how to save lives.. lol

When I arrived in primary I ended up playing the piano (apparently a lot of people went out of town and didn't get subs or even call the primary presidency to let them know!) so Joe was left with two full rows of kids ages 5-7 but they were good. I kept checking, I was nervous.

Class with twelve kids went surprisingly well... some how our kids acted better being with the younger class than on their own.. weird! But much appreciated.

Moral of the story, if you think you are invisible you are NOT and you may be destined for a day like ours. It was fun but I am glad that that is not an everyday experience. :)

-S

The sum of a full week

I didn't work all week- I took time off because I had a nasty cold (not one that would be good to share with the elderly) I am glad I didn't work, I had a lot of homework, I spent a lot of time at home all wrapped up working on homework.

Wednesday: I finally got my approval for my major so I could put in my graduation application
Thursday: I turned in my GRADUATION Application, it is stamped and filed- so much better than just filled out and waiting. Now on to Joe's, and yes, we have all the paperwork, now we just have to do it!
Gma Johnson (Robison) called she and Bill were in town and we were lucky enough to have the time to go and visit with Gma and Bill. We were there when Shelly and Malerie shoed up and it was great to reconnect with them (or for Joe to connect with for the first time). We had so much fun spending time with family we see so little of.
Friday: we had a temple date with friends, they called us up and invited us to go and do a sealing session with them, I hadn't done that before and was totally up for it. Our group was a wonderful and friendly group and our sealing was funny and informative, he spoke really fast too, so we got through a lot of names. While doing those sealings I couldn't help but think that someday we'd be in a sealing room with our children, becoming an eternal family, and it was a real blessing to do that for those families. I want to go back soon and do that again.
Saturday: It snowed!! That means that in Rexburg we have had a grand total of three months this year without snow.. yes it did snow in June! (July- September = snow free) I can't wait to move! Don't misunderstand I do love the snow, but not Rexburg snow.
We had another date, we tried to invite our neighbors over for scones, they were having a date and wanted to borrow our movie, so we compromised and we joined them with our movie and scones. It was a lot of fun!
We are so thankful for our friends!




Today is the beginning of another week, another week closer to graduation, another week closer to completing paperwork, another week closer to Joe graduating, another week closer to moving on after college life.

Primary!!

When we moved into our current ward, we got callings the day we showed up. We got called to teach in Primary. We teach the CTR7 class it is so much fun! They are constantly teaching us new things and every week is so exciting.
from L-R Cameron, Cody, Adam, William (a visitor) Elliana, Katie & Macey (Cody, Adam and Elliana are triplets)

Been a while...

Well things have been a little busy since I wrote last, we went to the temple open house - Amazing!! And we were ushers for the open house the same night (Dec. 29th) We were set and excited for the dedication that was supposed to be tomorrow, but President Hinckley's passing changed that. I know a lot of people are sad that Pres. Hinckley won't be the one to dedicate our new temple but I think that it is exciting to know that our temple in Rexburg Idaho is going to be the first one that the new prophet dedicates... How cool is that?? I am sad that Pres. Hinckley is no longer with us but I am happy for him and know that he and his dear wife are together again. And it is comforting to know that the church doesn't fall apart when the prophet dies that there is a plan for everything and the church will still be true even with a different prophet at the head of it.

Joe and I are in school and doing our best to stay ahead and get done quickly. If I am not mistaken I may be able to graduate in July.. we'll see! I have also started working, I work at Homestead an assisted living home and it has been a lot of fun. It is amazing what you can learn from your elders.. even a 98-yr old scottish woman that swears when you take her to the bathroom!

We are still serving in primary in our ward and that is an adventure every week we are there. Those kids are amazing (and tiring). I have found that answers to prayers come from some of the most unexpected places: kids and old people.. they are so close to our Heavenly Father and somehow they know just what you need.