The Reason for the Season

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This is so beautiful. My friend Vickie sent it to me. What a wonderful way to start out a Sunday morning. Makes me feel very tender hearted. In part because memories of the Frog have been very close to me all week. I've heard from a ton of people who have seen his Christmas tree this past week.
Old friends and past ward family members have called off and on all week. You just don't realize how many lives you touch while schleping and slogging thru your own.

An Un-FROG-getable Christmas

I spent all of Monday with the Firth family and friends at the Southtown Expo Center setting up a Christmas Tree dedicated to MY Frog, aka Stephen. It turned out wonderfully!! I'm so grateful for all the efforts of the ward that went into making it so beautiful.

For awhile my house looked like I was going thru one of the plagues of Egypt. There were frogs.....literally everywhere!
The Relief Society sisters made clay frogs that were hung on the tree. The YW coloured and crowned the wooden frogs, tried to make a garland and tied up an entire bolt of ribbon into bows. The Primary Activity Day girls made rock frogs on lily pads that we 'floated' on the pond. I did the letters you see under the tree, bought everything that Ikea had that was Frog Prince stuff and turned shower curtain hooks into ornaments. I found some lovely Frog Prince cookie molds online and I highlighted them with help from Jenny. They were going to be out of clay then painted but the clay wouldn't dry so the actual molds were used and we did them right there at the Festival. All in all it was fabulous fun!! I have felt very close to my Frog as I've been working on all this.

Then yesterday I got an email from Steve's old companion, Elder Patrick Cavener who served in the Tampa Florida Mission with him. He had come across a few old photos of Stephen and sent them along. It was a wonderful Frog Kiss straight from Heaven.
Steve and Elder Cavener

He looks terribly young doesn't he? These were taken in 1978.

This one is my favourite! This is just how he looked when I met him just a few months later.

Oh how I miss him.

Graditude

After being up and down and in pain most of the night. I gave up and got up for the day. I skipped about reading some of my favourite blogs and checking out what is currently on sale on Craig's List. Then I decided to update my blog.
So here I am the day before Thanksgiving thinking about the things that I'm grateful for and some of the things that I'm not.
I guess alot of people would put their health at #1. That is so NOT me!! But I AM grateful for good Doctor's who listen to me as I listen to understand my body and how it reacts more.
I'm very grateful for ALL my families.
That's plural on purpose....thanks Eric.....
I'm grateful to be close to the Family I was born into, the Family I married into, the ward/neighbourhood Family I live with and most especially the Family of Friends that I've surrounded myself with.
The relationships I have built with my friends is extremely precious to me. How I love them all! They keep me sane, get me out of the house, encourage me to grow, let me lean on them, make sure I'm safe and make me laugh almost daily. They are my Heroes! We all make time to get together and have fun! Time flies when you are having Fun!
I'm grateful for my home. For the shelter it provides from wind, rain, heat and snow. For the precious memories of the Frog that took place here. For how warm,
cosy, and safe I feel within it's walls.
I'm so thankful for my girlgules...the YW...they challenge me to be better than I am. They never cease to amaze me! They accomplish so much when they are working together. They jump at opportunities to grow in ways that never even crossed my mind when I was their age. They jump, achieve then look round for the next opportunity. The ideas they come up with to entertain themselves, to provide service for others and live the Gospel principles boggle my mind at times.
I'm grateful for Lucy Belle. There are days I wouldn't get out of bed if it weren't for her. She loves to make new friends and go for walks. She knows when I'm talking about her to someone else. She has some really funny tricks. She's helping me be healthier, 22lbs have been lost since she became my roommate. I have learned I really need to be needed and she is 7 lbs of pure unconditional love.
Gotta stop for a bit and get something done.....

Not So Hot Shots

My new medicines didn't work too well after 2 months of taking it. I think all it really did was make me very nauseated. Good news for my waist bad for my body. So after yet another Dr visit now I'm on insulin shots every day. So NOT fun! and after almost aweek my sugars are still not coming down. Can you say discouraged?
I'm full of holes and have little bruises from the needles so stepping out of the shower is always quite colourful lately. The only good news is that I'm no longer pretty colours round my ribs......those bruises are almost gone.....still painful though. But Hey at least I can comb my hair.
Last weekend I went to a Scrapaway retreat with my friends we had alot of fun and it was so nice. Our Hostess Marcie does such a wonderful job and we ate and ate till we were quite stuffed. We had a few food snafu's but for the most part there was a sub for everything I couldn't eat. I got an awful lot done and feel really good about what I accomplished. J was able to come too and one day we went together and took some flowers to Baby M's grave. she worked on a few family photos that had him in them but handled it so much better than I did at my 1st retreat after the Frog passed away. I remember just bawling my eyes out a couple of times.
This Farmhouse was even better than the cabin was so I hope we can continue to go. She even had arranged for a massues (sp?) to come. My massage felt so good!!! i swear if ever I get rich I'm going to have one every day. Lucy licking my toes just doesn't compare to a full on backrub. I even got my temples rubbed and got rid of the headache that was nudging to get out. Lucy stayed at Blane's and tormented Berg if the stories are to be believed......$80.00 to kennel the little furball.....I don't think so! Parky just ignored her. They are huge compared to her but Berg was afraid of her Blane said.
These are some photos of Lucy with her friends, Jezzie and her pal Sarah from next door. She is getting bigger and bigger and if my scales are right she is now about 8lbs. I swear if I didn't have her I wouldn't get out of bed some days.

Singing is Like Praying........Twice!

I just got back from a Stake Fireside where the group Jericho Road were the featured speakers. It was really wonderful. We've been having some really choice speakers and they have all been exceptional but tonite was the best so far. Lynette came and brought Travis and his friend in from Grantsville, Karen and Kathy each brought their kids too so it was quite a group. Plus bonus both Travis and Eugenia were in the same building at the same time!
The second song they preformed was Every Single Tear. This is by far my favourite song I played it over and over those first few months after the Frog died. Still makes me cry.

Ouch!!!

This is the story of why you should not ever walk your dog after dark.

Which by the way I really like to do. After dark and dinner is over all the big mean dogs go inside for the night. That makes it way lots quieter on the walk. Little kids are inside too, brushing their teeth and whining that their friends get to stay up til 10pm why can't I? This makes Lucy calmer and a bit more focused on the purpose of the walk.

So there we were walking along minding our business when someone came out from a house and got into their car. Lucy took this as a signal to go nuts trying to get to the person to say Hi!. I got tangled in the leash and tripped.

I tripped HARD!! In my fall I managed to land with my chest right on top of the big Maglite flashlight I'd been carrying. It was excruciating! I literally had the breath knocked out of me.

There I lay dying and in pain and there was Miss Lucy Belle behind the car as they were backing out because I'd dropped the leash. I staggered to my feet and was able to stop her from getting hit. It took a few tries to get hold of the leash. then it was back over to the place I fell to get the flashlight. It of course survived whole and in one piece. The cell phone looked okay but hasn't worked since.

Some major bruises and at least 2 cracked ribs. Days of pain.....thank goodness for Lortab, ice packs and heating pads. I go walking in the morning now. If you go early enough no other dogs are out and you don't need a flashlight.