I"ll Marry You Forever

Yesterday day morning I was talking to Jasper about how "Unlcle" Scott is getting married soon.

Jasper noted that he wanted to be married too. 

I asked him who he was going to marry.

He said, "You Mom.  I'm going to take you to the Temple and marry you forever."

When is Heavenly Father going to give us another baby?

Jasper's daily question is, "Mom, When is Heavenly Father going to give us another baby?"

Oh Jasper, I wish I knew.  I really wish I knew.

Jasper is always pleading for a brother or sister, and now he especially wants a baby.

While out Trick-or-Treating with Jasper,  Mike overheard someone say that they were surprised that the Davidson's live in such a big house and only have one kid.

They also noted that they had never heard of a Mormon family only having one child.

 Mike piped up and explained that we would love to fill our home with children.


 I know this person was just curious and was not trying to be judgmental in any way.  Because we are pretty open about our situation, I assume everyone knows that we haven't been able to have more children.  So for those of you who might also be wondering I will tell you our story.

We LOVE kids.  Love them!  We would LOVE to have more kids.  Lots more.  But we haven't been able to.  Yes, we have a good size home (6 bedrooms) and we would love to have those bedrooms overflowing with children.

But we don't.  And it hurts.  There are times when I have seriously contemplated moving because the empty bedrooms break my heart and sometimes it's too much to bear.  We bought our home when Jasper was one year old, with the plan to fill it up with children.
I recently read this quote by Courtney Kendrick that really hit home for me. "Adoption is not a scientific cure for infertility--and it's not an emotional cure either."  And yet we are considering adoption.  We are going to an "Adoption and Foster Care" fireside this Sunday.

This is not a road that I want to be going down.  But I am.  I feel like we should have more children in our family, and I have no idea how that is going to happen.  And so we're seriously examining all of our options.


When I got pregnant with Jasper five years ago, it never occurred to me that we wouldn't be able to have more children.  I've since had a tubal pregnancy that ended in emergency surgery in the middle of the night and a heartbreaking miscarriage, after seeing the tiny heartbeat.  And for the last year or so I haven't been able to get pregnant at all.

I've been to the fertility doctor.  I've had tests run.  Lots and lots and lots of tests.  I've seen my eggs sitting on my ovary -- looking just great.  I had 33 vials of blood drawn in one sitting.  I've had two HSG tests, where they run dye through your fallopian tubes.  Both times my tube that the baby came out of during my tubal pregnancy shows it's in perfect repair.


I've gone to two different alternative medicine specialists.  I've done accupressure and chiropractic treatments.  I have searched and prayed and hoped for an answer.  Something to explain what is going on.

Is this a trial that will end with a miraculous pregnancy?  Will I ever know why we haven't been able to have more children.  Do I give up?  Do I hang on?  What am I supposed to do?  How many tears must I cry before this heartache ends?

For those of you who are wondering...I am so happy for other people who can get pregnant and have babies.  I celebrate them every chance I get.  I love to host baby showers for my friends.  I am excited for them and rejoice with them.

This summer at swimming lessons I overheard two mom's talking about their friend who hasn't been able to have kids and how they always dread telling her that they are pregnant again and how they feel like they can't talk to her about their kids because it's too awkward.

That conversation made me so sad.  Is that how people feel about me?  I sure hope not.

Until we figure out what's in store for us I continue to try and help my friends out as much as possible with their kids.  Rejoicing in their children and loving them too.  And hoping for more of our own.

Halloween Party at Valley View Recreation Center

Oct. 30, 2011

Jasper and I went to the Halloween Party at Valley View Recreation Center for the first time this year. 

It was not only our first time attending their Halloween Party, but our first time ever to that Rec Center.

 
We went with our neighbors the Morton's -- Abigail, Porter, Bridger (Jasper's age) and Tate.  They had a little trick-or-treat walk in and out of the classrooms that were decorated really cute.

Jasper was THRILLED that they had a large blow up slide and bounce house obstacle course.  He's been begging for some time on them.

Opeation Send Christmas Cheer for Soldiers

 
I need your help to send Christmas gifts to the Army’s 478th HR Company who are three months into a one year deployment in Iraq.  In addition to being far away from friends and family this Christmas, they receive daily mortar and rocket attacks as they support the drawdown.

My friend Ray Griffin is the Staff Sergeant for this brave unit of 27 soldiers (3 females and 24 males) ranging in age from 19-50.   They are a Human Resources company that manages 15 smaller units and helps with Soldier administration.  Their unit has the difficult job of managing casualty reporting to the soldier’s families when attacks and injuries occur.

Ray said that his company could use some extra love and support this Christmas from those of us who want to show how much we appreciate them. 

With your help we will send the 478th a Christmas to remember.  I’m asking individuals and families to donate $20 or to buy items for me to ship over.  I’m asking businesses to donate items for the soldiers.

Christmas Wish List for the Soldiers in 478th HR Company:      

• Gum
• Beef Jerky 
• Fruit Snacks
• Protein and Granola Bars 
• Candy and Candy Bars (Peanut M&M's are a favorite)
• Water flavoring powder packets (Propel, G2, Crystal Light, etc.)           
• Card games: Uno, Skip-Bo, Phase 10, Rook or Monopoly Deal 
• Deodorant body sprays  (It’s nice to smell good when all you smell is dirt and sand.)
• Blankets  (They sleep on cots, and sleeping bags get really confining after a while.)

Please mail or email me a photo of you or your family and a card, letter or drawing.  Include your address so the soldiers can respond to you.  I will be sending Sgt. Griffin all of the donations as they come in, and he will play Santa and share all of the goodies with his unit.  THANK YOU!

Angela Davidson     

Phone:  (702) 443-4254

Email:  SendChristmasCheer@gmail.com

Website:  www.davidson-law.net/ChristmasCheer

Address:  1151 Kingston Hills Court, Henderson, NV  89002 

If you want to send items directly to Iraq the address is:
SGT Griffin, Raymond
478th HR CO
APO AE 09330

R-4 Halloween Costume

 

We ran into this cute R-4 at the Valley View Recreation Center Halloween Party. His Dad made the costume.

Yes, I said his dad.  His mom said that her husband stayed up late a few nights getting this costume just right.

The hat is a Tupperware bowl spray painted silver and duct taped to his bike helmet.  The body is a laundry basket spray painted white.  The dad reinforced the holes for the head and arms with duct tape.  All of the red details are red duct tape.

And the little boy is a cutie!  Great costume!

Don't Mess With a Momma Horse

This is another guest post by Angela's hubby, cross-posted from his jeep blog.



I have to do one more horse story from our recent trip to Cold Creek. Last time I shared a somewhat truthful, and somewhat embellished, account of our encounter with a talented horse. This post is different in that it's firmly rooted in the unvarnished truth. As we were heading back down the Bonanza Camp Road, we encountered a little family of horses on the side of the road.


There was a mature female horse and three smaller horses who all looked quite young. Obviously we can't know that the mature female was the mother of one or any of the younger horses, but she seemed to be keeping an eye out for them. As we approached, the three younger horses kept eating, while the Momma kept a watchful eye on the jeep.


My wife was loving the horses and wanted to jump out of the jeep and get some good photos of these cute little horses.


The Momma did not like this too much. She had clearly had enough of us being around. She lowered her head and took a fairly aggressive stance against us.


My wife took the cue that it was time to get back in the jeep, and we decided to leave them alone after that. These aren't domestic animals after all, they are wild and you can expect that they won't act like somebody's pet. These are neat to see, but be careful.

Tonsil Free

We are on day 5 of recovery from Jasper's surgery.  The nurse said days 5 through 8 will be tough because the scab over Jasper's tonsils will begin to be very tight.  He keeps saying, "Mom, let's never get my tonsils out again.  Okay?"

We arrived at The Surgery Center clear across town at 8:30 AM.  Jasper was scheduled for surgery at 10:00 AM, and he actually went in at 10:30 AM.

Jasper's hospital gown had little tigers on it who were sleepy.  Jasper really nervous and would only sit on my lap, not the guerny.  Our nurse brought puppy out his own gown (the smallest size they have for babies) and some matching red socks.

Jasper was happy to help me dress puppy for surgery and place him on the gurney.


While we were waiting for surgery Jasper and I read a book he checked out of the library that he's been dying to read called "Bulldog's Big Day" by Kate McMullan.
I never want to read it at bed time because it is a really long book.  It turned out to be cuter than I thought it would be.  I placed the book on the gurney hoping that would make Jasper less anxious about getting in the gurney.

I gently placed Jasper on the gurney after the Versed medicine kicked in and he finally relaxed a bit.  That made it much easier on Jasper when the nurse wheeled him away at 10:30 AM.  Puppy went into surgery with Jasper and got his tonsils out too.

Papa C the puppy (a large bulldog stuffed animal my dad have Jasper) was with us all morning and also went into surgery underneath the gurney.

 

Thirty minutes later Dr. O'Donnell, Jasper's ENT, came out to talk to Mike and I.  He said that Jasper's tonsils were really large and that he was glad he took them out.  Jasper's adenoids had not grown back since he removed them in January.  He cleaned all the wax out of Jasper's ears and placed new tubes in as well.  Hopefully that will be Jasper's last set of ear tubes.






















Jasper was a wreck coming out of anesthesia and not happy at all.  After crying for a while he fell asleep laying on me for an hour.
Jasper laid on me and drooled like I've never seen before.  When he woke up it was popsicle time and we watch a little bit of the movie that was playing, "A Shark's Tale." We finally left around 1:30 PM and were so glad to be on our way home.

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We are grateful to everyone who has called to check on Jasper and for the popsicles, ice cream and darling handmade cards and drawing from his friends.  THANK YOU!

"We Can Do Hard Things" -- Freebie

My sweet friend Heather is up to good things once again.

She is sharing a free download of her new mantra "We can do hard things."

Thank you Heather!

Click here to download this fun freebie in your choice of 15 colors.

I love her recent blog post about being called as Relief Society President in her ward.  It's titled, "Just minding my own business and BAAAMMM!" 

Heather just had her 5th baby and is feeling pretty busy just keeping up with her family.

She always has inspiring blog posts, and her blog is now public again.

The Letters in Butterfly

A few days ago I stepped away from my computer and when I  came back I found Jasper typing away on my computer.

I was working on a handout for my Sunbeam class that involved a picture of a butterfly.  When I came back into the kitchen Jasper said, "Mom, I typed some of the letters in butterfly."

He was proud of himself and having so much using the computer.

Surgery is not fun ...

(Hi, this is a guest post from Mike.)

Those of you who are friends with us on Facebook may have noticed pictures of Jasper's surgery in your news feed.

Poor little guy. He came out of surgery with less than what he went in with. I'm not sure what tonsils weigh, but Jasper is less than he was.

He was coughing in a barky sort-of-way, like he had croup. We could tell he was in pain, and drool was pouring out of his mouth because he couldn't bring himself to actually swallow it. Once we got him to get started on the first popsicle, it was off to the races though. I lost count after about a dozen.

Hopefully the area where his tonsils used to be will heal quickly. In the meantime, it'll be more popsicles, and more movies and lots of lounging around.

It wasn't all sad. Before the surgery, Jasper was quite nervous. He fought against getting the gown on, and he fought against even getting on the bed. The doctor gave him a 5ml of Versed to "take the edge off."

As the nurse tried to squirt it in his mouth, he spit up about half of it. I was worried it wouldn't be enough, but he slowly started to loosen up and climbed into the bed. I was glad he spit some of it out though when the nurse came by to take Jasper into surgery. He took one look at her and said "you have two heads!" I shudder to think what would have come out of his mouth if he had gotten the full dose!

Wait. Slow Down Please

Lately when I look at Jasper he looks so big to me.  He's growing up too fast and too soon for me.

Today my Sunbeam class were singing their hearts out during the practice for our upcoming Primary Program.  For part of the time I sat in front of them like a "stage mom", coaxing them to sing and smile big.  As I watched Jasper my eyes began to swell with tiny tears.  He is getting to big.  He looked so grown up to me in his oxford dress shirt and sweater vest. 

The dimple on his right cheek and his smile are getting bigger. He doesn't look like a toddler at all.  He is a little boy.  My heart was sad to think about how fast my time with him is flying by.

As a child I was always in a hurry to grow up and time seemed to move so slowly.  Why is it the complete opposite when you are a parent?

So scoop me up one more ice cream sundae with pineapple topping made of sand  I will pretend to eat your sensational creation while I pretend that my heart isn't breaking as I watch your grow up right before my eyes.

Tonsils Out Tomorrow for Jasper

Tomorrow is the day.  Jasper is getting his tonsils out.

He had his 2nd set of tubes and adenoids out January this year.

In January the night before surgery we had hot cocoa and candy canes. 

We should have done something fun like that tonight, but instead Jasper packed his doctor's bag that he wants to take with him.

We're going to be home eating popsicles this week.  Stop by and say hello if you're out on a walk or a bike ride enjoying this great weather.

"Meet Martha" Girls Night Out - Thursday, Oct. 13th at 7:00 PM

I'm having a party to welcome a new gal, Martha Birk, to town.  I'm hosting a Girl's Night Out in her honor.  We'll do foot soaks/scrubs (for those who want to) and sample a few delicious desserts.

Martha and her husband Adam and 2 girls (Marian, Age 4 1/2 and Emily, Age 3) just moved to Henderson a couple weeks ago.  Adam clerked for a year after BYU Law School and they moved here for him to start at the firm of Callister & Frizell. 

Last week we had Martha and her family over for dinner and Family Home Evening.  Read about it and see photos of her family here.  Martha's older sister and I served as counselors at Academy for Girls together.  Martha's parents and my parents were friends 40 years ago when both of our parents lived in CA.

I want to have this "Meet Martha" party before her 3rd baby girl arrives at the end of October and she has less of a chance to get out and meet people.

I moved here when I was 7 months pregnant, and I will never forget how everyone rallied around me and made me feel welcome.  Martha and her family are renting a house in Green Valley for 1 year, and I'm already trying to convince them to move to our neighborhood when their lease is up. :)

I hope you can come visit, get to know Martha and have a fun night out.  This isn't a baby shower, just a fun night where we welcome Martha to our little corner of the world.

Please RSVP by Saturday, October 8th.

Fly Home Soon

Tonight I went to my first deployment farewell dinner.  Jeremy Fortier is leaving in a few days and Kelly arranged for a surprise party for him at a restaurant near her house, Leticia's Mexican Cocina.

We almost didn't go, because Leticia's is a 45 minutes away and we have company coming tomorrow and I really needed to stay home and clean the house. 

I'm so glad that we went and were able to celebrate Jeremy. Mike and I were the only non-Military personnel there, so he kept introducing us as "the civilians."

Since Jeremy's missions are top secret I don't think I'm supposed to say much about where he's going or what he will be doing.  The good (great) news is that he is going to a safe place, so need to fear.  He will be home in four months.

J-A-S-P-E-R

Sept. 19, 2011

This week at preschool Jasper's class is learning about their name.

One of Jasper's homework assignments was to spread pudding or whipped cream on a cookie sheet and then write his name in it.  Needless to say he LOVED this assignment.

Chocolate pudding painting has been a popular past time this last month at home and in my Sunbeam class at church.

His other assignment was to go through a page of a magazine and circle the letters that are in his first name, and/or cut out the letters in his first name.

Last week homework included writing Jasper's name with a highlighter and having him trace over the letters with a pencil.  This is one of our new favorite activities.

We also were assigned to put the names of everyone in our family on a slip of paper.  Jasper pulled the papers out and tried to recognize whose name it was.  Since we only have three people in our immediate family we included Grammy Michelle, Papa Cary, Great Aunt Shauna and Jasper's adopted Grandma Sharon.

Below are the books Jasper's class is reading.  We reserved them at the Library, so we haven't read them yet.

Yoko Writes her Name by Rosemary Wells

Our Tree Named Steve by Alan Zweibel

A, My Name is Alice by Jane E. Bayer

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

My Name is Not Isabella by Jennifer Fosberry


The Name Quilt by Phyllis Root

Preparing for General Conference - Family Home Evening

Here's a chart of the Prophet and Twelve Apostles we are used for Family Home Evening (FHE) tonight.
It is taken from the May 2011 Ensign.  If you want it in a PDF format, email me or leave a comment and I will email it to you.

The Birk family joined us for dinner and FHE.  Martha and Adam just moved to Green Valley 2 weeks ago with their cute girls Marian (Mini) and Emily (Emmy).  Martha is pregnant with their 3rd girl, due on Halloween.  Adam is an attorney too.


Martha's parents were friends with my parents when they all lived in California 40 years ago.  I used to be pen pals with Martha's older sister Lindsay growing up.  Another of Martha's sisters, Carrie, and I worked at Academy for Girls together and keep in touch.


Carrie told me that Martha was moving to Henderson and I was so excited to have another Boyer girl in town.



For our Family Home Evening lesson we used the Conference Squares game found on The Friend website.  They have fun printable activities and on-line games as well.

We colored the Conference Squares to play a little bingo.  We used chocolate chips for bingo pieces and the kids loved that.

We brought our little IKEA Igloo tent down from the playroom for our lesson.  We also bring it down from the family room for Jasper sit in to watch General Conference.  The kids LOVED the tent.

We talked about tents and how they protect us from storms and other things.  We talked about how the counsel of the Prophets and Apostles can protect us.

We talked about how King Benjamin's people pitched their tents towards the Temple.

 Mosiah 2:5-6:
 5 And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.

6 And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them.

We sang "Praise to the Man" for the opening song, and Jasper and Minnie begged to sing it again for the closing song.  So we obliged.

I grabbed a stack of Halloween books off a side table for the kids to press on while they were coloring, and the moment that Jasper spied "Room on the Broom" he was pleading for me to read it to him.  After FHE I sat at the kitchen table with the kids and read the story while they ate their snack (No Bake Cookies).