"Mahwedge is What Bwings Us Toogever Today"

from The Princess Bride

After reading to Nathan's kindergarten class, Hyrum and I were walking down the hallway to leave the school. As we passed the first grade class on their way to lunch Hyrum hollered out to our next door neighbor girl Paige, "I'm gonna marry you!" She grinned and waved.

* * * *

I'm now getting phone calls from moms of senior girls (and the bishop's wife) asking if Erika is really engaged. It's good of them to check the gossip before spreading the news but there's always an awkward pause when I confirm that indeed Bret and Erika are telling people they are getting married. I understand their concern, it's the same concern we have. She's just barely 18, she hasn't graduated yet . . . believe me I know. Though I did talk with her about the difficulty of getting married so young, (I was barely 19 when I got married, and just over 20 with my first baby) she is set in her mind and Erika will do things the way Erika wants to. There's no ring and no set date so I won't be overly worried about it until more details are determined. Until then I will just enjoy watching my daughter be so happy and calm. He seems to bring out the best in Erika.

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"Death Comes Unexpectedly"

from Pollyanna

We have had 4 funerals in 5 days. It has given me time for contemplation and an open heart for "mourning with those that mourn". It fills me with sorrow to watch those left behind as they struggle with the loneliness, the questions of how and why and the unexpected circumstances they are left with to move forward in life. One, a father and grandfather, a fellow electrician, the third electrician in a year. One, a young mother leaving behind a 2 week old baby. Another, an 89 year old friend in good shape who happened to choke on his food and left behind his wonderful wife who is losing her memory. The last a more joyous release from old age and a crippled body. All loved by their families and remembered for their best qualities.

At a time of Thanksgiving, these funerals have left me full of gratitude to have my husband and children and parents and sisters all with me. Also, a great appreciation for the knowledge that I have of eternal life and eternal families. And, more faith and hope. Yes, death comes unexpectedly but I have full expectations of eternal life with those that I love.

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"Medical Mayhem"

from my favorite Allstate commercials

It has been a medically challenging six weeks for me. It started with terrible sinus headaches which often led to migraines. Two full weeks of that. Then one night, while struggling to breathe through my mouth because my nose was so plugged up, I realized that my throat was beginning to close off. I knew I probably better get medical attention at this point. The diagnosis: tonsillpharyngitis. Otherwise known as the enlargement of the tonsils and pharynx due to an infection, which happened to be strep in my case. The doctor put me on some heavy antibiotics and steroids to which the pharmacist warned was probably going to "do a number on [my] system". Yeah, even with the additional probiotics that I was taking, it pretty much destroyed my digestive system and flared up a fantastic case of yeast to attempt a takeover. The yeast infection was so painful that I would put off peeing as long as possible...which led to a urinary tract infection. All because of a dumb sinus infection that got out of control.

As I sat motionless (in an attempt to not aggravate the inflamed, fiery yeast symptoms) I began to feel a little sorry for myself. And then I was made aware of another friend who is currently in the hospital after a major car accident and is undergoing multiple surgeries with many broken bones. As if that wasn't enough, her husband is also in the hospital having his own surgeries. It is estimated that it will take her a good 3 months before she will be able to walk again. Suddenly, the yeast and UTI didn't seem so bad, even with the lingering effects of the sinus infections and a sore throat that just will not clear. I'll take it. I won't even complain about it. As a matter of fact, I found myself praying less for myself and more and more for Karin and her family.

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Laughter Is the Best Medicine?

We had our "Thanksgiving" family home evening a week late. Part of our activity was taken from the December church magazines to write down 100 things from 10 different categories that we are thankful for. It was a good exercise for our family but not a wow moment, yet.

After we put the little boys to bed, Derek, Vivien, Justin and I started a game of Wackee Six. We laughed until our sides hurt. Derek was on a roll like he has never been before. He didn't just win, he beat us with a wider point range than we thought possible for one game. When we realized that Vivien got in one hand what my total score was, the laughter at my expense really got out of control. All in a good way as we guffawed in amazement at how pathetic it was. And from there, I don't know what in the heck they were laughing at but they couldn't stop. I grabbed Derek's ipod that was sitting on the couch and started recording it. I even ask in the video, "is it really possible to laugh yourself to death?" It got so bad that Derek sounded like he was gasping for air, which in fact, we realized later, he was. . . and we had it all in video.

When he finally stood up and looked like he was going to pass out I knew he was in trouble. He headed for the door, a sign that his airway was closing off - he knows from years of past experience that the cold air will help open his airway to help him breathe better. That didn't work. I pulled out the nebulizer to see if that old trick would help. As he lost feeling in his hands and his lips went blue we knew we better get him to the hospital. We could wait for an ambulance but since no GPS can find us and we didn't want to chance the extra time, we left. LeRoy put on his flashers, I sat behind Derek, rubbing his chest and encouraging him with things like "every bit of oxygen counts, you're doing great, stick with us buddy" while we flew from Hibbard to the hospital in record time, hitting every stop light green and with no traffic in front of us.

The emergency staff jumped into action as LeRoy stole a wheelchair from the entry without permission and wheeled Derek in yelling, "we need oxygen, ASAP, stat, pronto". They quickly got him in, his oxygen level extremely low. I was left at the front desk to fill out paperwork. When asked what happened I felt really dumb saying, "we were playing a game of Wackee Six". We were there for about an hour and a half. They got his oxygen back up, laughed at our story and soon we were waiting for discharge papers. While sitting there looking rather sheepish, Derek commented "I forgot to write down that I'm thankful for oxygen and breathing". I did not even plan that object lesson but that night we all, especially Derek, gained respectful gratitude for breathing.

Since we hadn't grabbed a cell phone as we ran out the door heading for the hospital the kids at home were starting to panic a bit. As soon as Derek walked in the door he was attacked with hugs from Erika and Vivien and Justin looked like he was fighting back tears. Vivien even yelled at him "don't EVER scare me like that again!" We were all so grateful to have Derek still with us.