Precious Moments Together

 
     It is hard to believe the summer is coming to an end. Recently, David and I got bikes and a bike seat for Clarissa.  It was actually a very belated birthday gift.  Clarissa loves to ride in her seat.  Riding the bikes together has become one of our favorite pastimes this summer.  Clarissa loves to go on a bike ride to different parks.  David calls it the "tour de parks."

We ran the Ability First 5K race in Provo again this year. This race has some profound significance in our lives.  We ran this race with some trepidation this year as this is the  race that we ran a  year ago that initially set off David's Addisonian Crisis where he almost died.   I think both of us were a little nervous to run the race thinking about what happened last year but we also felt incredibly grateful that David was alive and able to run the race. It could have been so much different.   The race is a reminder to us of where we were last year and how the Lord has blessed us so much.   Here is a link to the post I wrote last year about  our experience:   http://davidandjuliann.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

All of the cousins and their medals.  It is always so much fun!

   The Ogden Temple open house was a very special event for our family.  We love the temple and have waited eagerly for the completion of the remodeling.  When they announced the dates for the Open house of Ogden Temple we started telling Clarissa that she would be able to go inside the temple with us and be in Jesus's House. Each day she would say, "I want to go to the temple with you and daddy.  I am old enough to go into the temple now, right?"

     The day arrived for us to go to the open house.  We were getting ready to leave and Clarissa grabbed my hand and said," I need my temple things."  I was confused at what she meant.  I followed her to the bedroom and she grabbed her white headband and her white bow I had hanging up in her room.  These were her headband and white bow she wore when she was sealed to us after her adoption.  She wanted to wear them.  It melted my heart.  I had never really talked about the headband and bow but somehow she knew they were special and that they were associated with the temple.  So she wore her white headband and white bow around her wrist.  It was so cute.

     At the temple, she kept saying, "I can't find Jesus anywhere."  We continued through the tour of the temple and she kept saying, "I can't find Jesus anywhere."  After we exited the temple, we went outside into a reception tent.  Inside the tent there was a statue of Christ.  Upon seeing the statue, she immediately said, "I found my Jesus."  She ran up to Him and gave him a big hug.  She did not want to let go of Him.  It was a very tender and touching moment.

We love to see the temple!

Fun Family Moments

       I am sad because our camera broke.  It will still take pictures but the flash won't work so we really can't take pictures indoors. We were unable to get any good pictures of Clarissa and her birthday which makes me so sad.  I can't believe she is three years old already.  Time sure flies!  She is the joy of our lives and our greatest blessing! 

     We have made it a tradition to celebrate the day that Clarissa officially became a part of our family.  Clarissa get two special days a year.  Her birthday and "Gotcha Day."  This year for "Gotcha Day" David bought her a beautiful rose to show her how much she means to us.  It was so sweet.  Clarissa really loved the beautiful flower and it was such  a sweet gesture from David.  

Clarissa first official dental cleaning and visit to the dentist!

I am so grateful that our garden and fruit trees were so fruitful this year!  They produced so much that I felt like I was canning all summer long but I am so grateful for the harvest.

After 13 years of wear, our kitchen table and chairs needed some work so I decided to give them a makeover.  It was a large project, but I must admit they turned out really nice.  I painted and re-varnished the table and painted and re-upholstered the chairs. 

Before

 After

Summer Fun

The summer months always go by so fast.  It is so sad when it end.  Here are some of the highlights:

 

For our 13th anniversary we went on a train ride.  We rode the Heber Creeper in Provo Canyon.  It was a lot of fun.  We even survived the train being overtaken by bandits. 

 

 We enjoyed the day at the new aquarium in South Jordan.  Clarissa really liked the otters.  We had our picture taken in the mouth of this giant whales mouth.

Clarissa having fun with her cousins at the Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point

 

We went to a family reunion in Cache Valley and then afterwards we went to the County Fair.  Clarissa had so much fun watching the animals and also riding the pony.

 

Here we are planting the garden.  We are now starting to harvest what we planted.  There is nothing better than fresh vegetables from the garden! Yum!

 Fun Summer moments:

 David and Clarissa jamming it up!

 

Clarissa happened to get a whole bottle of shoe polish and decided she wanted to dance in it.  I guess if there was a bright side to the situation it would have to be that it happened in the bathroom on the tile instead of on the carpet. Needless to say it was a huge mess!

We went on a family vacation with David's family to Bear Lake.  We had so much fun!  We love being with the family!

Here we are about to go into the Minnetonka Caves.

 All of the cousins

 Tubing on Bear Lake

  

 Clarissa and Brockton are such good friends.  It is so fun that they share a birthday.

 Tony Grove near Bear Lake

WE WANT TO ADOPT AGAIN!

We are hoping to adopt again!  Here is our adoption profile:

 

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/28626584/photoAlbum.jsf

 

 

Faith to Move on

     It has been along time since I have had the desire or felt like I wanted to write about the last few months.  It has been a challenging few months for me both physically and emotionally.
     In February, it was determined that I would  need another surgery to remove fibroids from my uterus. The surgery was scheduled for two hours and it ended up taking almost six.  The doctor removed 28 fibroids.  The doctor, who has been practicing for over 25 years, said it was the most fibroids he has ever removed and he still didn't get them all.  I lost a lot of blood and required a blood transfusion.  I spent two nights in the hospital.   
     I came home a few days later hoping to feel better, but it seemed I kept getting worse.  I went in to see the doctor.  He did some tests and discovered that I was bleeding internally and that I would need an emergency hysterectomy to save my life. 
    I admit this was hard to hear. There were a lot of tears.  I had always hoped that by some miracle we would be blessed with getting pregnant.  I knew the chances were small but I also knew it could happen.  After all, I knew of many couples who had struggled with infertility for years and eventually were able to have children.  This, I hoped, would be us.
     Often, we hear of childless women in the scripture and that as a result of their faithfulness, are blessed to bare children. This was my hope.  There is an assumption that if we pray hard enough, fast, have priesthood blessings and faith that this miracle and blessing will happen. Well, hearing the news of having to have a hysterectomy was hard. Did that mean I did not have faith?  Did I not desire enough the blessing of children? Was something wrong with me that I couldn't bring this blessing about with enough faith?  It hurt!
     Amid the difficult second surgery and the complications that followed it,  there were very tender mercies where the Lord tenderly embraced me and helped me accept what needed to be done.  The Lord held me and helped me to stand when I didn't think I could.  Even though the miracle I wanted didn't happen, he gave me other miracles that gave me assurances that he was there and hadn't left me alone.  He knew what I felt.  He gave me increased faith to accept that this is God's plan for me even though it wasn't what I wanted.  He gave me faith to move forward.
    I wouldn't trade Clarissa or the way she came into our family for anything. This is one of the greatest blessings of my life.  While I mourn the loss of not being able to bare a child from my own body, I am forever grateful for adoption and the blessing it has brought into my life to have my own child and to be called, 'Mother.'