Home Again

Our two week adventure has come to a close.  We had an absolutely incredible time, but we are both very glad to be home.  Jet Lag is still haunting us so this will be short.  I loved every minute of it.  Jeff was awesome.  It is amazing to think that we were together 24/7 for the last 14 days and I still cherish him and wish we had more time to be together.  How thankful I am that he is by best friend!!
What is so ironic about that is that we are so different in so many ways.  One example of this:  Every day when we would be out and about I would exclaim, "I just love being in foreign countries, I love everything about it!!"  Jeff mentioned, "I'm having a good time, but I like being in the United States!!"  He was such a good sport about everything on this trip, even if it wouldn't of been his first choice for a vacation.  He certainly spoils me.
The best thing I will have to admit about coming home is sleeping in our own bed with our own pillows.   Another nice surprise that waited for me when I got home were Mother's Day cards made by each of our grandkids.  They were priceless.
We took some great pictures that I will post soon.  My watch is still set for France time and it says it is 4:15 a.m.  No wonder I'm tired!!

Our Adventure Begins!!

In less than 12 hours, Jeff and I will be on a plane to Europe!!  I didn't really think I would see the day when Jeff would agree to take me.  He has never had a great desire or really any desire to go.  Lesson learned----Never Say Never.

Tonight I'm so tired trying to get everything ready to be gone for two weeks that I'm wondering if it is worth it.  I'm sure when we walk off the plane and experience old country living, all will be forgotten and we will have an awesome time.  A new adventure awaits.  Let it begin.  

Congratulations Jessi

Yesterday in church Jessi was presented her Young Womanhood Recognition Award.  The Bishop asked her before if she would share one of her favorite projects.  It was fun to reminisce with her over the past few years and the projects she was able to accomplish.  She spoke about how she enjoyed going to all 13 temples in Utah and reading the Book of Mormon with her dad's ward which ended with a temple day and Sis. Elaine Dalton came to speak.This is a marvelous program and I'm so glad that she finished it.  She will definitely be a better person because of the things she chose to do and to study.   She is awesome!!

Women's Conference

Amy, Jessi and I were able to attend BYU Women's Conference last week.  I realize that many people shy away from it because crowds and crowds of women are everywhere.  You wait in line to get into classes, to eat, to go the restrooms, to get a drink of water.  One lady mentioned it reminded her of Woodstock??  Even with all the people and problems I LOVE it.  I have gone every year for close to 30 years, minus the years I had a nursing baby.  I have seen it grow from a few thousand to over twenty thousand and I yearn for the easy days of not many people, but then I realize how awesome it is that so many women care enough and are searching for truth and righteousness in the world today.  They will all go home infused with the spirit and instill that love of truth into their families.  It is incredible.   What an honor it was to share it with Amy and Jessi.  We are indoctrinating Jessi a little young, but she claims she enjoyed it.  One of the class presenters, certainly the best ones we heard, were our dear friends the McKays.  Wow is all I can say.  They are both amazing and incredibly inspiring, faithful and also humorous.  It was worth attending just to hear them speak.

The three of us brainstormed about having all the Crosland Women attend together sometime soon.  What a great tradition that could become.  

Dr. Rodier's Regime

Since Jessi had been sick for so many months without much relief we decided to take a different approach other than what I refer to as the "Band Aid Approach",  which is what I call the GI doctor's suggestion about taking Imodium AD and Benefiber to see if it would help her stomach problems since nothing else he had done had worked.
A dear friend had recommended a Dr. Rodier who in his own terminology specializes in "GUT" problems.  He is located about an hour drive from our home and is a practicing General Practitioner (MD) but has a totally different approach to medicine.  He studies and studies medical journal articles, nutrition  and seems to be up to date on most everything.  He is radical and intense!!!
Besides treating Jessi with more antibiotics, he has given her prescriptions for parasites and yeast.  She has had IV vitamins and antioxidants, bi-weekly injections of vitamins, oral supplements and probiotics galore.  He recommends, no he advocates like absolutely necessary, an extreme diet.  Here is the basic plan:
Week 1:  Lean meat, eggs, raw nuts, and vegetables sans potatoes.  (Remember she is a teen ager who does not eat meat, eggs and vegetables besides potatoes).  She can drink almond milk.
Week 2:   Add in a different fruit each day.  (Now there is something she likes to eat)
Week 3:  Add in legumes which includes peanuts because they are not a nut I guess.  (Yes!!  Peanut Butter, but what to put it on?)
Week 4:  Whole grains!!  (She can finally have bread and cereal, just not that fluffy white kind)

How impressed I have been with this wonderful daughter of mine.  What a trooper.  I have hardly heard a complaint and we have gotten very creative with our meals and she has learned to like so many new things that she would not eat before, especially spinach!

The marvelous thing is--- It Is Working!!!!  She feels better and looks healthier than she has in months.  WOW, what a great feeling it is to see her have energy and life once again.  She might have to stay on a strict diet for quite some time, but when you get to Week 4, it is doable.  The one item she misses most is "Dairy".  Dr. Rodier wishes she would never go back to it, but I'm sure she will give it a try to see how it makes her feel.

How impressed I am with this Young Woman.  She has been much more patient than I know I would of been.  Fingers crossed that she will continue to improve.

Addiction or Insanity?

For years we have gone through therapy with Kevin.  Every time he is given a new counselor they tell us the definition of an addict.  It is "Some one who does the same thing over and over expecting different results". Then I was in another setting one day and the definition of insanity was given.  It was "Some one who does the same thing over and over expecting different results."
I've decided lately that our family has one of each.  Kevin is obviously the addict and I am the insane one.  I just keep doing the same thing over and over to help him but now I don't expect different results I only hope for different results.   I'm not sure that helps but I guess it makes me feel better.
I have just spent the last hour and a half jumping through hoops to satisfy the demands of the work center so Kevin could go to work this morning.  It is the never ending saga and my insanity continues.  I HOPE this time for different results.

The Best Mother (or Grandmother)

The pressure to be the very best mom or even the very best grandmother can at times be overwhelming.  Comparisons between children, families and parenting styles are easy to make, but obviously not always accurate.  The greatest knowledge we can instill within us is that we are the best moms for the children the Lord has given us.  It is amazing to me that the world has taken even simple life activities and expanded them into extravagant, embellished events that need so much time, money and effort spent on them that I fear it will take away from bringing the necessities into our homes such as prayer, scripture study, or even simple reading of books, playing games and cuddling with our children.  I read a post recently from the Power of Moms that explains my thoughts so much more eloquently.  Read it here.
I love to visit each of my married children's homes to see and feel the activities and spirit there.  They are all different in their parenting styles and that is good.  Different is good because each of the families are different and each have been blessed with different children who need the exact kind of mom that they have been given.
At times I have thought that one of my sons needed a different mom, maybe he was sent to the wrong family because I was beside myself not knowing what to do.  I strongly felt for so long that he would be better served by another mom besides me.  Then it was truly revealed to me that I was the mom, I was the best one for him and I needed to seek ways to help and serve him.  It was not a mistake he was sent to our home and I needed to step up and do the very best I could do because the Lord knew I would be the one to help him the most.  We all have our trials with motherhood, we all have days when we question not only our sanity but our ability to handle what we have been given.  I do know though that we are all the very best moms, in our very own way, to parent the children that we have been blessed to raise.

Road Trip

Jeff and I just returned from an 1150 mile road trip!!  We had recently bought a car from our son Ben in Oklahoma to give to our other son Kevin and we finally had a couple of days to go and get it.  We flew into Oklahoma City on Thursday afternoon, met Ben and Carrie and kids at Ted's, a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then quickly went swimming at the pool at our hotel.   Unfortunately by then it was almost time for bed.  We spent a few hours with them on Friday morning and then got in our 2000 Dodge Neon for the ride home.  It definitely wasn't a luxurious ride by any means, but we had a marvelous time.  I love road trips when it is just the two of us.  I have a captive audience, we have to talk because we have hours alone, and we live in an incredibly beautiful world and I would love to see every inch of it.  We arrived home safe and sound about 55 hours after we left.  I am married to an amazing husband who drove every mile of the way in his completely capable manner!!

Cody and Macey spent the night with us at the hotel.  Macey exclaimed the next morning at breakfast:
"I just love hotels."

 Oh how we miss these kids.  I wished they lived closer but they are doing so many good things with their lives.

                                                                        Our Purple Girls

 I promised Cody I would put a picture of him "Flipping a Wheelie" on his skateboard on my blog

 I had to include this pic because this is the only time that Mackayla let me hold her.  I don't think she realizes who it is that has her.

                                                                      Papa and his kids!

The wheat fields of Kansas.  They were beautiful and went on and on and on for miles upon miles

Stop, Drop and Hold On

This morning at 10:15 a.m. the entire state of Utah participated in "The Great Utah Shake Out" which was a trial drill for a large earthquake.  We are past due for a major earthquake and we need to prepare.  At 10:15 everyone was supposed to Stop Drop and Hold On.  I will have to confess that I just watched it on TV instead of actively participating, but it did make me stop and analyze our preparedness.  I gave the married kids very large and complete 72 hour kits for Christmas.  Unfortunately ours is not quite so complete.  I've made a good start on it and then like every thing else in my life, I didn't finish it.  I also want to make one for the cars and for Jeff's work.  I also have two 50 gallon water drums without water in them.  Not really prepared.  I guess those items are going to have to be on my priority to-do list now.  

I also pondered this morning about am I prepared emotionally and spiritually for the personal earthquakes that are bound to occur in my life?  They are rampant as we observe the world around us.  We know from revelation that the literal earthquakes as well as the symbolic ones are going to increase in number.  Obviously my spiritual preparation needs to be on the absolutely necessary to-do list.  It looks like I have lots to do.  Thanks "Great Utah Shake Out" for reminding me of my priorities.

You Reap What You Sow

Yesterday was our ward conference in our YSA ward and Jeff spoke on the Law of Harvest.  His message was amazing.  He had pondered and prayed about this for weeks and obviously the spirit was with him.  He talked about how we reap what we sow.  We will not reap anything different.  When we plant peas we get peas not corn.  We can't cram and plant in September hoping to have a harvest by the end of the week.  We need to prepare the soil(remove any impurities, toxins), plant, nourish, and then we can reap.  The most important element is the sun (Son) through out the process.  Amazing.

Through out his talk it kept coming to me that this was the same concept as I mentioned in my last post about giving up being a caterpillar to become a butterfly.  We can't become a butterfly without lots of giving up unproductive habits, nourishing good habits or planting new ones, and the Son always needs to be involved.

I began to reflect on where I was at when I heard this analogy of the butterfly.  I remember I had two small children and probably was pregnant with my third.  I attended an American Mothers Convention and was in a class taught by Elaine McKay.  I remembering her saying forcefully "You need to want to be a butterfly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."  I'm sure she said it much more eloquently but that is all I've got this morning.  Anyway----I knew immediately what I needed to change.  This sounds so silly now, but was so important to me then.  I watched two soap operas daily and I needed to stop.  They were overtaking my life.  The soap operas then were like the reality TV shows now, full of drama, back biting, promiscuousness and deceit.  I would plan my day around them, I would worry about the characters after the show.  It was sick.  I am proud to say that from that day forward I never watched them again.  It was so difficult at first, but I'm sure that Luke and Laura from General Hospital got along just fine without me and if they didn't I don't know because I didn't watch.  There- self confession-but I know I immediately became a much better person, not only because I had an extra hour in my day, but because I wasn't being dragged down by the smut I was involved in as I watched them.

Today I don't watch TV at all so I know that is not a habit I need to change, but I do know I need to start sowing some greater seeds than I am currently sowing because I do know what I want to reap.  Obviously some real deep contemplation and prayer needs to take place this week.  Just watch.  It is going to be amazing because one day I'm going to be an incredible butterfly!!