"Saying Goodbye"

the old song say, "is hard to do."  I am in that process now as the date of my ending work approaches.  My last day is officially May 9 although I will likely be back for a few days the following week to finish up paperwork.  I have about 90-100 files to check and discharge in addition to continuing to see clients over the next few weeks for their "good bye" sessions.  Of course, I have said good bye to many clients over the past almost three years, but usually not several in one week.  And that will only be worse in the next few weeks when almost every appointment is a last one.  Sweet kids and families who often have challenges beyond what can be fixed--they have taught me so much and I will miss being a part of their lives even as I know that this decision is the right one and at the right time for me--

My orchid continues to do well with its second round of blooms!  I actually added another little plant from one of my clients who had a good bye visit last week.  She was so exciting when I put it with my other plants for everyone to see.  I have been seeing her for two years, shortly after her removal from her biological parents at age 2 1/2 years old to a foster home back to visits with bio parents and then back to the foster home, and then to another foster home where she will be adopted with her sister sometime this summer.  That is a lot to share with a little person.

Best Buddies "This is Me" Fireside

I am sure this has happened to you.  You make a plan to do something nice and it seems doable and reasonable at the time you made the plan---but then during it--everything goes wrong and you wonder what you were thinking...and then in the end, it was amazing and worth all it took to make it happened!  Yep--that is how Tuesday night went for me.

I left work early to head down to Provo to take Jena and her friends, Megan, Sara, and Emily to the Best Buddy end of the year fireside entitled "This Is Me."

First problem was that it was rainy which led to some small crashes and BIG traffic delays.  What should have taken me around an hour took 1 1/2 hours...and that just got me to Panda Express in Provo...

where the next frustration occurred.  I had ordered dinner from Panda Express to celebrate the ending of the semester.  We had done this last year and Jena wanted to do it again.  I had ordered the food by phone and then had called when I got off the freeway to confirm I was still coming but delayed because of the weather.  They said everything was good.  However when I got there, they only had half the order ready--only one family feast instead of two...and one of the entrees I had ordered they no longer carried.  I choose a replacement and after waiting about 10 minutes more, I asked what the hold up was and they said that they were just starting to cook more of the entree--a few more minutes...which turned out to be about 10 more minutes....now I am about 40 minutes behind...

Luckily, the girls were all dressed and were excited for their Panda Express dinner which they ate in record time.

Then when we headed out to the car, it started pouring down rain and very dark.  The suggested parking was in a standard visitors parking across campus from the Tanner building where the event was being held.  The Tanner building was a new building (to me) but I decided to risk parking nearby which turned out to be a trick as spots were hard to find.  We finally parked about 7:10 (the event started at 7:00 with treats and then the program at 7:30.) walked into the building and started the search for the room.  Unfortunately we went the wrong way and circled the west side of the building, before we found someone  (a friend of Jena's we ran into during our search)who directed us to the Auditorium which was over a bridge way, through some doors, down the hallway and back into another area of  the atrium and into the auditorium.  I took off when everyone following behind...only to arrive missing one of the girls.  I made Jena and the others promise to sit tight while I returned back across the bridge way to find the missing girl.  After a quick search, I thought to call her and she was in a nearby bathroom.  She was not feeling well and had to make a quick dash to the bathroom without telling anyone. Whew...ran back to the other three girls and got them into the Auditorium...back and wait by the bathroom for girl #4 and finally by 7:35 we were in the auditorium watching a video of all of the fun activities Best Buddies did this past year.  And between the photos, the speeches, the thank yous, and the rest that went into the evening, it was a great event.

 And the last thing we did was stand and sing the song from The Greatest Showman "This is Me":

Now personally, I am not a huge fan of the movie, mostly because I read a short biography of P.T. Barnum prior to seeing the movie and I didn't agree with much of his approaches.  However, despite all of that, some of the music is quite moving.  I have put all of the words below, but the parts that hit me the most were these:

I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

And then--

I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

...This is me

Imagine being in a room where about half the people are those with outward and clear cognitive difficulties and the other half are amazing college students who volunteer their time to be friends and to advocate with them and a few parents sprinkled in the middle of it all--read those words and imagine the tears in the eyes of those parents and college students--that is what it was like and then some!  And I was so glad that I was there despite the rain, the mixed up order, the lack of parking, hard to find room, and the lost girl! 

Life can be like that--the storm before the clearing, the dark before the dawn--it happens on some days, so we know it can happen in all things.

After the event, the girls spent time getting their pictures taken with a variety of their college friends who were there.  Like with Show Choir, I am so amazed that college students would choose to use their limited free time to serve others.  How awesome is that! 

The whole set of lyrics--

I'm not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
'Cause we don't want your broken parts
I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one will love you as you are

But I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

Another round of bullets hits my skin
Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in
We are bursting through the barricades
And reach above the sun (we are warriors)
Yeah, that's what we'll become

Won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
Gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

...This is me

And I know that I deserve your love
There's nothing I'm not worthy of
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out
This is brave, this is proof
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me

Look out 'cause here I come (look out 'cause here I come)
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum (marching on, marching, marching on)
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

I'm gonna send a flood
Gonna drown them out
(...this is me)

Cross E Ranch Baby Animal Days

Jessica and Elessia invited us (Jena and I) to join them at the Cross E Ranch Baby Animal Days in north Salt Lake county.  The weather was beautiful and it was a fun afternoon watching the kids enjoy meeting the baby animals.  There was the usual collection of goats, pigs, chicks, bunnies, horses and some cattle.  It is a working cattle ranch which also does special events for the community including baby animal days.

Jessica wrote on Facebook:  "We had so much fun at baby animal festival at the Cross E Ranch. By the end the adults were exhausted and the kids were all filthy which I believe is the sign of a successful outing😂"That

Zander and goat

 I think that sums up taking your children on any successful outing--parents tired, kids dirty!

Liam meeting the goat

photo moment of the cute face of Liam meeting the goat..

Zander was fearless.  He loved the animals and running around in general.

 Jena was a bit more cautious in her approach to the animals.

The little burro 

Liam and the pig---NOT a baby piglet as you can see.

Liam was running up to go on the slides when I called to him to watch out for the mud at which time, he promptly turned to look at me and stepped right into it and right out of his shoe! Fortunately they had a hand washing unit so he could clean up before heading down the slides.

Aren't these amazing slides!  They had four all together, but I think this was Liam's favorite.

With Alex--Jena took the photo.

Zander was a little short to hike up the hill all of the way by himself.  That meant Jessica stood part way up and held his hand the rest of the way up the hill.....over and over and over again.  Zander loved the slides so much.  Here she is holding him because it was easier than always bending over to hold his hand.  What a good mom.  Now you know why she was tired...if the simple act of taking four little children to the ranch alone isn't enough to wear you out, climbing up and down a hill with a two year old will.

 Trying to get a long view of the hill with the slides on it....

Carter finally decided to take a nap in my arms....

While Alex was suppose to nap in the wagon...that didn't work well.

 Zander wasn't sure why no one would let him in with the calves.....

or the horses.

This is the mountains to the west of the ranch.  It is located just east of the runways of the Salt Lake Airport.  I tried to get a picture of the Salt Lake City skyline to the south east but it didn't turn out.  You could see the skyline in the distance if you knew where to look.

Through the barn door....

While on the hayride, we tried a selfie with no much luck---Alex, Liam and I.

Jena

Carter was not impressed with the hayride.

No hay, but a nice ride through the field and a little "tour guide" about the history of the ranch and the family that runs it.

Mountains to the east.  It is only about 5 minutes to I-215 but you feel you are totally out of the city.

Looking back at the ranch on our way home.

I would point out that here is my baby--in reference to baby animal days--but
Jena does not like that when I mention she is the baby of the family,
so I won't.😉

I love fences so didn't want to miss this one. It is around the parking lot.

 Some pictures Jessica posted.....

Alex and I

I am holding Alex and Jessica is holding Carter.
They would much rather look at each other
than a camera.

A great way to spend a Friday afternoon and fun people to spend it with.

Some People Think They Are Funny!

Because life is mortal and sickness is part of that, I ended up with a bladder infection last week and sent Gary and Jena to the store to pick up my medication.  They came back with the medication and also the above card.  Gary totally asserts that it was all Jena...Jena just laughs!!!  Not your typical get-well-soon card, but matches their sense of humors (how do you make that plural??).  Good to be loved and laugh when you don't feel well.

(Doing great now.  And just happy it wasn't a kidney stone which is what caused my last bladder infection!)

Grandchildren Updates

Your favorite post--an update on these cute nine grandchildren:

 Ava--

It has been a bit of a roller coaster for Tosha and Austen over the past week or so.  Austen took Ava in for her four- month check-up and the doctor immediately expressed concerns about the noises Ava made as she breathes.  Ava has been a very noisy baby since she was born.  Nurses commented on it in the hospital, Tosha and I talked about it, and other medical professionals had commented on it as well, but suddenly this doctor was worried.  He also commented that her rib cage was very small for her body which made her breathing to appear retracted.  Again, her retracted breathing had been a reason they had taken her to the ER one night because it looked like she was breathing so hard.  Even in follow-up appointments, no one seemed concerned.  That doctor immediately ordered a chest x-ray to be done that day and indicated, depending on the results, they may decided she needed to see a pulmonary specialist.

The x-ray was done but it was a Friday afternoon so they had to wait the whole weekend to get the results.  Finally Monday afternoon, they heard from the doctor that Miss Ava was missing the bottom set of floating ribs.  This is rare but should have no real impact on her growth and development. Whew....but on to the pulmonary specialist which was set for Wednesday.

On Wednesday, she was diagnosed with laryngomalacia--which is a malformation of the laryngeal which causes the sounds she makes. Again very rare and again something that she is likely to grow out of by the time she is 2 years old.  They will watch her carefully because sometimes a surgery might be needed, but she isn't having any complicating factors currently. We feel very blessed because we know that many parents and many children deal with big things. 

(Extra picture of her since we had a story about her as well.)

And all I can say is that Tosha is the perfect mom for this little girl.  She knows a bit about bones and bodies and medical stuff herself.

Tosha with friends after an "art party"

Niki sporting his new glasses----

Niki and Cooper helping Tosha shopping.....Cooper just turned two on Friday.

The other news for Tosha and Austen is that Austen is scheduled to be deployed on Tuesday for 6 months.  This will be a new experience for all of them.  Fortunately they are spending part of the summer in Utah with us.  So glad that Austen was here while they were figuring out medical stuff with Ava and getting Niki glasses.  Parenting can be like that, where it hits all at once.

Scarlett and James-- Scarlett will be going to Kindergarten in the fall as will Niki.

Liam with a bunny

Zander

Carter--not too happy at this 6-month photo shoot

Alex--

 And because it is fun to see twins together, Alex and Carter on the swing.

And Jessica figured out how to make photos of all nine of them fit for my wallpaper on my phone:

Aren't they adorable!