The Lighthouse of the Lord

Recently some of our Utah family were here visiting. It was so nice to have them stay with us! I hope to eventually get some more details of their visit on here. One of the things we did while they were here was to visit the Cabrillo National Monument and Lighthouse. It was gorgeous, and a wonderful outing. I remembered the trip again today when I read this quote by President Monson. I have always loved lighthouses and lanterns because I associate them with the coast and the peace of the ocean, So I really appreciate the symbolism of his counsel.

“…Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It beckons through the storms of life. The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals readily recognized and never failing. I love the words found in Psalms: ‘The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; . . . I will call upon the Lord . . . so [I shall] be saved from mine enemies.’ The Lord loves us, my brothers and sisters, and will bless us as we call upon Him.” —Thomas S. Monson April 2010

Cast Buddies

So, let me just say up front- This is not a joke. Although I seem to laugh when I talk about it because the timing of it all seems so unbelievable. Poor Hunter broke his arm on Saturday! He was riding his scooter down the hill and got going so fast that he missed his turn onto the grass, flew out into the street and crashed. This time Rob took him to urgent care and got the x-rays. He has a large break in the big bone, and a smaller fracture in the little bone. The doctor compared the break to what you would get if you took a green tree branch and bent it until it snapped. Hunter has been brave through it all, and took just one day off of school.

On Wednesday I took Sabrina to get a follow up x-ray and she still needs another two weeks in her cast. Our hurdle to overcome now is getting her to walk on it. She is very hesitant, although she made some good progress when my friend who is a physical therapist came to visit and pushed her a bit. Now that Tonya’s gone and it’s just Mom and Dad, Sabrina is trying to avoid walking.

On Thursday I took Hunter to get his cast on, and it will be four weeks until his follow up appointment, and six weeks until he’s allowed to do regular PE activities. That means he’s out of PE for the rest of the school year. He was pretty excited about that.

We had friends from Orange County visiting when this happened and the rest of the weekend was great fun. We were able to catch up with our friends, play, hike the canyons by our house picking up trash, watch an impromptu performance of Cinderella where the step-sisters ran wild, Cinderella sang, and a three-year-old prince chucked Cinderella’s slipper at her and ran away. It was super cute.

Happy Birthday Me

Today is my birthday. The kids all wanted assignments for the day, so Hunter is making me a cake, Hannah is making a poster, Emma is making breakfast, and Sabrina is helping.

This is my kindergarten picture. I think it’s my favorite of all the school pictures. And I love the smocking on the dress. I wish I had more chances for smocking with my girls, but it seems scary to try, and I don’t see it much in the stores.

Oh My Siwash!

Hannah received this beautiful sweater from her talented Auntie Holly. Apparently, this style is called a “siwash.” Being a California girl, I’ve never heard of it, but she said it’s a Canadian thing. Hannah just LOVES it, and couldn’t wait to wear it to school to show her teacher and friends the cute puppies on the back. I let her wear it with strict instructions not to leave it on the floor or the playground, since she has been known to do both of those. I’m so glad that it’s still a little big, so Hannah can wear it for a long time. It is gorgeous and I’m totally in awe of Holly’s abilities. She also did a matching one for our cousin Estee. I just wish the girls lived closer, so we could get some pictures together! Thank you so much Holly!!

Hannah was happy to do a photo shoot for me:

Oh Deer!

On Thursday afternoon, the kids were all playing in the backyard after school. I heard Sabrina cry and didn’t think much of it because it seemed like an argument type of cry.  A couple minutes later Hannah came and told me I needed to see something outside. I walked outside to see Emma carrying Sabrina toward the door. Then after lots of questions from me I was told that the concrete statue of a deer (with antlers)  had fallen on Sabrina when she tried to climb onto it. I guess she wanted to ride on it’s back, and it fell over pinning her down at the shins. Emma had been able to move the deer off of Sabrina enough to pull her out from underneath it.

After holding Sabrina on my lap for a while, I went to go look at the fallen deer. I wondered if it had broken and how heavy it was. Nothing on it had broken and I could not move it at all!  The thing is solid; I’m guessing at least 200 pounds. Emma must have had a real adrenaline rush to have moved it at all. I came right back inside and Sabrina was still sitting very quiet and still with sort of a blank look on her face. I knew she had really been hurt because she seemed to just be in shock. I called Rob and he gave me the answer I was hoping for. He came right home. I then took Sabrina to the Urgent Care center, and Rob went with the other kids to Open House at the elementary school.

The doctors decided we should definitely take an x-ray. Sabrina was really nervous and did not want anything to do with the doctors or the big x-ray machine.  But she was a tough girl and didn’t fight it. She was just quiet and sad. When the results came back there was one bit of good news- only one of her legs had been effected. However, the left tibia was fractured in five places! So the nurses put a splint on it, and called the children’s hospital orthopedics to tell them that I would be calling to come in. By now it had been over 3 hours since we arrived, so Sabrina was very ready to come home and sleep.

That night Sabrina slept in our bed with us, and shortly after midnight Hannah came in crying saying she was worried about Sabrina’s leg. I told her she would be okay, but Hannah still climbed into bed with us too. I made up a little bed on the floor, and moved Hannah onto it twice during the night, but she kept waking up and wanting to be right there with Sabrina. It was very touching to see her concern for her little sister, but also heart wrenching to see her get so upset about it.

The next morning I called the children’s hospital and was told I couldn’t get in for a cast until Tuesday. I told them that the doctor at Urgent Care was very clear that she needed to be in a cast that day (Friday). After being transferred twice, I found an orthopedic nurse who had compassion and common sense and she found us an appointment for 10:00. Rob and I brought her to the hospital and the doctor there was nice and helpful. He looked at the x-rays and said that Sabrina could do a below the knee cast since the fractures were not spiral and the bone could take the movement. I was relieved because having a full leg cast would be really hard for her.

before the cast

prepping the leg

setting and wrapping the cast

the finished cast

Sabrina will wear her cast for 4-6 weeks. The doctor said if an adult had this same injury, it would be 4-6 months in a cast- Another example of how miraculous a growing body is! She cannot bear any weight on it for the first two weeks, but they gave her a little boot that she will use when she can walk with it. She chose light blue because she and Hannah love Silvermist and the other water fairies.

We celebrated being done with the doctors by going to get lunch and a happy meal. Sabrina would only let us get it for her if she could wait to eat it at home. Once we got home and she had her lunch she really perked up and has done very well since. I think this first week with be tough, but luckily it is our Spring break and we can stay home and the other kids will be here too to help entertain her. The toughest thing for me is when she says, “I’m sad because I want to be normal.” I keep telling her that she will be, and every day will get a little better.

Do Good & Be Good

That’s it. My Sunday thought is:

Do Good & Be Good.

An Historical Family Trip

The Mormon Battalion Museum in San Diego was upgraded and recently reopened. We made a family outing out of the opening day. It was very crowded, so we didn’t see much of the museum itself, we’ll have to go back another time and take a better look, but there were a lot of activities that we did enjoy. As a little background here are some passages from the article linked above:

About 500 men enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, and about 80 women and children traveled with them. They began their journey in the sweltering heat of Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 20 July 1846, leaving their loved ones behind. The battalion completed one of the longest infantry marches in American history—about 2,000 miles (3,220 km) through what are now seven states and into Mexico…

[In the museum]“They will find out about the major contributions by the pioneer Latter-day Saints in the settling of the West. They were instrumental in building part of the transportation corridor from San Diego to Salt Lake City where Interstate 15 now runs. In 1847 San Diego’s first courthouse was built by members of the Mormon Battalion from bricks they had fired.”

I showed Emma all I know about panning for gold. We did find a few gold specks!

I forget what this game is called, but Hunter could keep this thing going for hours if he wanted to.

The girls all made pioneer baby dolls that were authentic to how they would have been made by the pioneers.

We were all given some biscuit dough to wrap around a spool of wood on the end of a stick. Then we held it over the coals for a while to bake.

Sabrina thought they were pretty good! Too bad we found out after we ate them that there was also hand churned butter and homemade jam to put on them. Oh well.

Hannah took a turn at washing some laundry with a bucket and washboard.

The extra pioneer activities were part of the reopening and are not offered on a regular day, so it was a special treat to experience some history!