Mission Call

My little brother,

Elder Dustin Shane Swanger,

has been called to serve,

in the

Tulsa Oklahoma

Spanish speaking mission!!

He reports to the MTC on Aug 4th.

Woo hoo.

Life Lessons

These are my beliefs & lessons that I've learned,

and will probably continue to learn my whole life long.

We are all here on earth to learn. Our loving Heavenly Father sent us to "this mortal probation [which] is a perfectly arranged test" (All These Things shall give thee Experience, Neal A. Maxwell). We are tested and tried and to prove ourselves and become as God is. We all have hard times- or trials, it's universal. Although the trials vary person to person. These trials are meant to help us learn, help us grow and become better people.

Trials are interesting. They affect us in different ways, and invoke different reactions. There are many common reactions to trials including trying to run away, look for an easy button and lastly face it and fight. I've learned that when you run away there's no where to hide. Your problems follow you, they don't disappear when you close your eyes. I've learned that there's usually no easy way out. "If it's not fair, it's not a true trial. Whit out irony, inexplicableness and injustice it may not stretch us sufficiently" (Maxwell). If we could just wave a wand and "abra cadabra" they all go away, we wouldn't learn anything. Then later we'd find that we were what needed to the fixing, and the trial the method.

"Life is a school of experience" (Maxwell). I am learning that trials all have lessons attached to them. We may not see them or we may choose to take the "woah is me" road and host a pity party. I am learning to trust my Heavenly Father. He knows best. He knows me. He knows exactly what I need and when I need it.

C.S. Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity:

Imagine yourself as a living house, God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of- throwing out a new wing here, putting in an extra floor there, running up the towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace."

Besides the painful remodeling with trials, I need to trust the Lord's timing. And it may take me a lifetime to learn, but I'll sure try. I've seen a few times in my life when things happened on the Lord's time table and not mine- and for reasons I wouldn't understand until later. For example the Lord prompted Joseph and I to start our family- instead of a family we've endured miscarriages & surgeries. But Doctor's wouldn't have known anything was wrong with me, reproductively. It's been almost two years since our 4th miscarriage we're still childless- then my husband lost his vision. It has been a blessing in disguise that we don't have kids while adjusting to our new life, I feel it would be so hard on us & definitely kids, if we had kids. I don't know where we'll be in a year, I don't know what we'll be doing. But I do know that things will work out, all will be well...

eventually.

*J&S*

Boo! ** update**

His mission call didn't come today!

**Update: His call left the office of the President, on the 14th!!**

We found this out because it was ward conference. And the bishop and stake president were apparently making faces at my brother, who then texted both of them. "no call yet" During the meeting!! The Stake President responded 1st with "I'll check" The Bishop responded later " Can't wait!" We got a call later that afternoon, letting us know the whereabouts of his call.

I still have absolutely no guess.

Which is funny.

And frustating to my brother,

so we've agreed that I will be trying to pull a Johnny Carson:

put his call up next to my head and make my guess then.

My Uncle is famous!

Sam Lincoln is Uncle Mick, That's awesome!! So funny!!

Saving our Garden!!

One Morning Val comes busting into the room.

"I need your cat,

there are hundreds of birds outside in the garden, eating it!"

"okay.."

Our silly cat sees the birds,

flattens herself into the grass (to be sneaky, I'm sure).

Then proceeds to do the slowest slow motion army crawl in the direction of the birds.

No help at all!

So we let Cookie outside to take care of the birds, instead she turns around and sits on the step and looks at us like "why did you kick me out"

So lets get the big dog, he'll get them for sure!

We send Tonka out.

He also sits on the step and looks at us through the door with a sad face...

Come on!

So Val and I grab the BB gun and air soft and shoot at the birds.

Problem solved.

Cookie Speckles & Tonka

Where in the World?...

Will this little Brother of mine go on a mission?

From Joseph & Shaylee

His papers are (finally) in. He should have his call by next Thursday.. Any guesses?

Back 2 Blogging

I am ready to get back into blogging. But while taking my frequent and long breaks I've had time to think about what I want for my blog.

What is this blog really going to be about?

What is my blog: a family blog, a personal blog, and education blog?? what?

What voice is my blog going to take?

So while not writing on the blog I have come up with answers to these questions.

• This blog is first and foremost our family blog. A blog where our family and friends can come to get updates on our comings and goings. Our family is large and spread out and this is the most efficient and economical way for us to keep ya'll posted.
• It is a private blog, that way I can do things like post our phone numbers, and protect our privacy as we struggle through our life challenges.
• It is a personal blog as it contains our personal opinions. But not personal in a way that warrants a preface or disclaimer to excuse myself. Although if there are any questions, or anything you would like to discuss with us, you are welcome to leave a comment or email us. And if you are a meanie, I do reserve the right to delete. [ I have not as yet used this right-but I have edited myself ]
• This is an education blog, our little family has been through a whole *heck* of a lot. We've used our blog to share in the education we've received while dealing with Multiple Sclerosis, Multiple miscarriages, Infertility testing, Surgeries, Medications, Adoption and now Blindness. It will continue to be an educating blog as we learn and grow and discover things for ourselves, we are more than willing to share our knowledge and this is how.
• About my voice. The voice of the blog changes constantly, as we are ever changing. I want to be a voice of hope, courage, determination, clarity and truth (and other things). But this blog is in the voice of a sister/ brother, friend, neice/ nephew, daughter/son, cousin or whatever we are to you.

So things will hopefully continue on normally.

We welcome, encourage and appreciate your thoughts,

if you don't want to comment publicly, email us!

*JS*

Courtesy for the Blind

Totally just FYI.

There are many different websites with Courtesy/Etiquette for the blind

and I liked this one the most...

And no worries if you mess up,

I (Shaylee) have,

there is a large learning curve for vision loss for all involved.

(I made a couple additions, they are in blue)

1. I'm an ordinary person, just blind. You don't need to raise your voice or address me as if I were a child. Don't ask my spouse what I want—"Cream in the coffee?"—ask me.
2. I may use a long white cane or a guide dog to walk independently; or I may ask to take your arm. Let me decide, and please don't grab my arm; let me take yours. I'll keep a half-step behind to anticipate curbs and steps. It is also okay to tell me of upcoming hazards that I may not be aware of.
3. I want to know who's in the room with me. Speak when you enter. Introduce me to the others. Include children, and tell me if there's a cat or dog. And please let me know when you leave.
4. The door to a room or cabinet or to a car left partially open is a hazard to me. As well as other things that I could trip on such as shoes, bags, clothes etc.
5. At dinner I will not have trouble with ordinary table skills. But it is not impolite to make me aware of what utensils,condiments or food is in front of me.
6. Don't avoid words like "see." I use them, too. I'm always glad to see you.
7. I don't want pity. But don't talk about the "wonderful compensations" of blindness. My sense of smell, touch, or hearing did not improve when I became blind. I rely on them more and, therefore, may get more information through those senses than you do—that's all.
8. If I'm your houseguest, show me the bathroom, closet, dresser, window—the light switch, too. I like to know whether the lights are on.
9. I'll discuss blindness with you if you're curious, but it's an old story to me. I have as many other interests as you do.
10. Don't think of me as just a blind person. I'm just a person who happens to be blind.

I have messed up. I left the room with out telling Joseph and he couldn't find me. I have also entered a room without announcing my presence and scared him. I forget, it takes time to learn. And we are learning more everyday.

His Eyes

The question we get most often... so what can Joseph see?

It's hard to believe that there these beautiful baby blues

Don't see much.

These are part of his field of vision test:

(Left and Right Respectively)

The black parts are where he cannot see, it's not black or white,

he says it's just blurred beyond comprehension.

Besides the blurred spots, his eyes are constantly shaking.

This is called Nystagmus (click for more info)

Definition of Blindness from the National Federation for the Blind (NFB)

The federal statute defines blindness as follows:

[T]he term "blindness" means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered for purposes in this paragraph as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.

In a letter from his Ophthalmologist Dr Deitz :

"[Joseph] has bilateral optic atrophy,

resulting in the best corrected vision of 20/400 in either eye."

Most of the time when asked, I say he is blind,

only when pressed further I will elaborate

on what he can and cannot see.

I hope this answers the question.