But I still have it good.

What a rough winter it has been thus far.  DH has been trying his hardest to work.  And it's not every week. Which is desperately what we need.  And then....
1.  The jeep involuntarily hit some guard rail again.  Two accidents less than a year apart = $2000 deductible.
2.  New studded tires (live and learn, yes?) = $704.
3.  100,000 mile maintenance = Who knows?  Best guess = $1500.
4.  The torque converter decided to go kaput two days after new tires and body repair = $750.

But I don't have much to complain about.  It's only money as they say.  I just wish I could find some of it to pay for the parts we have yet to purchase to get the jeep running again.  But this gives me a chance to show myself patient and faithful.  And that lesson = PRICELESS.

But to save some money, perhaps I should move closer to work and ride a bicycle.  I wonder how much studded snow tires cost for a mountain bike?

Family Love

I made it to my niece's wedding in Mesa.  And she was so excited to have me there.  I guess I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotion as the day progressed to her wedding ceremony and then her becoming a wife.  I will never forget the overwhelming emotion of joy and tears as I watched her be walked out and down the aisle by her mother (her father could not make it from Colorado).  My big sister was giving her baby away as wife.  It was, as I said before, overwhelming.  I don't know how she did it.  I couldn't have.  She's still my baby who went from this....

To this....

To this...

Where does the time go?  

Congratulations Sammy!  I wish you and Lorin the best of everything!

One Way Ticket

I just realized I haven't shared the best news of all.  Mister is home for good.  That's right.  We booked a one way ticket home and he's here to stay.  I picked him up at the airport on Saturday afternoon.  There is not much more to be said except..YAY!  It's about time!

Sunshine and Love - Ode to Sammyantha

"We all grow better in sunshine and love."

For the past nineteen years, nearly twenty, I've been in love with a little girl and watched her grow.  My firstborn niece.  My little Sammyantha.  Only she's not so little anymore.

In two weeks, she'll become a wife and then one day possibly a mother of her own children.  It is a struggle for me to figure out where all those years went.  That little baby girl who threw her bottle into the Spokane River and sent her Auntie in after it.  Or whenever "Wink" by Neal McCoy came on would dance up and down uncontrollably from the first opening beat in her little diapered tushie.  The same little girl who asked for her favorite Reba song, Till You Love Me, by so sweetly asking "Want Sunlight Moonlight!" Or the same little girl that when I asked her which shoes we should buy her to match her new dress wanted the "black ones that make noise!" She was and is nothing less than a most special and charming little baby girl.

But when I turned away for but a moment, somehow, that beautiful little baby I held in my arms all those tender years grew.  The little girl who I tucked into my bed to sleep or held in my arms on the bus against my chest as she breathed ever so sweetly in and out calmly trusting me as she slept.  Oh how I long for those days one more time.

My little Sammy is all grown up.  And I for one wish she wasn't because I haven't been as much a part of her life the last ten years as I was the first ten - not even close. But I hope she knows how much I love her and think of her every day even if I don't always say it and even if I live thousands of miles away.

But the best part of it all is I will get to tell her in person in a couple of weeks.  This Auntie has herself a wedding to attend.  I can't wait to hold her in my arms just one more time before the man that stole her heart holds her forever as his wife.

Is this how my mom felt when I got married all those years ago?  It has to be.  I'm not even this little girl's mommy and it is killing me.  Forgive me if I cry.  Forgive me if she is still that little baby girl in my eyes.

I love being ME

I sat wondering just now what makes me so special to write a blog?  What goes on in my life that doesn't happen a million times over in everyone else's life?  Why do you need to read about it happening to yet someone else when you are already living it?

Then I realized something:  I am not just like everyone else.  My life is not just the same.  I am not just another life wandering around on Planet Earth.

I am me.  I am me.  I am a miracle and I am special.  I am beautiful and I am loved by Jehovah God, who created me.  He knows me as myself.  As the individual person I am.  He knows my heart, my thoughts, my desires and goals.  He knew me, and LOVED me, even before I was born.

Just by being born I am a miracle.  I had a  1:2500 shot of even being born.  The other 2,499 girls who had my birth defect never made it to birth.  They were never born.  But that wasn't me.  I was the one who made it.  Me.  And then there was the miracle of surviving being run over by a car on the freeway at 2 1/2 years old when I tumbled out and fell underneath.  Yes, indeed, being alive is a miracle.  Every day I wake up able is a miracle.  I need not look further for other miracles.

I love being ME.

Six Thousand Two Hundred Eleven Days (aka Happy Anniversary)

It was 6211 days (or 17 years) ago on Sunday September 30 that I became the life partner of my very best friend and champion.  It has become my most precious and cherished friendship.  We are partners in every sense of the word - in love, in laughter, in pain and in sorrow.

We have been through so very much together that it is truly impossible recall the trials and tribulations in this or any forum.  It is also impossible to enumerate or put into words the sheer joy it has been to be my husband's girl companion; his wife.  I continue to daily be amazed by how much I can love another human being as much as I do cherish my husband.  It continues to amaze me that with each passing obstacle we only get stronger as a married couple and best friends.

I thank Jehovah for sending me such a tender heart and amazing human being with which to share my life.  It has been my honor having been invited to share this life with you, my dearest husband.  Thank you for these wonderful days we have spent as husband and wife.  I cherish each and every moment of our walk together.  I love you today more than I ever have.

Happy anniversary, my love.  Happy anniversary.  My heart is and will forever be yours.

My title is safe!

Clutz.  Yep that's what I am.  And continue to be.  And my title of utmost clutz is safe for a long while after this one.

This is the girl who the Wii Fit asked "Do you trip when you walk?"..... Ouch!  Insulting but funny.

And then I decided I'd better eat my avocado before it was no good.  Fast forward to three hours and four stitches later (it could have taken four more but doc said it'd be truly unnecessary) , I finished the other half when I got back from the ER.  Funny thing though.  They came in and identified me by name and offered me a Percocet.  For a cut finger.  Yikes!  Obviously I didn't need one and declined.  It was discovered that due to their new software, the other ER doc put the medicine in for the wrong patient.  Scary stuff hospitals are!  Good thing they ask you before you take those pills.

So while I heal, I'm thinking perhaps I should not be allowed to handle any sharp objects or go on any walks anytime soon.  I don't know that the pocketbook can afford me to.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.  Winter is approaching and we haven't even gotten to the first day of Fall according to the calendar yet.  But it is definitely coming.  Who knows what it'll bring.  Cold and snow for sure - but in what amounts and for how long remains a mystery.

Take care of each other.  Talk to you soon.