MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015!

Merry Christmas!

 

My children were so excited to spend Christmas with their cousins. They loved every minute of it. My older sister Michelle, who has six children, said, "This is going to be the last year we do Christmas together, it is just too hard to load up all the presents and come out." I would have to agree. However, I am pretty sure we said that last time we did this. You never know there could be another Craven Family Christmas in the future.

 

The girls got snow clothes and a sled. Sierra got Legos. Madison got a doll house from German and Little Critters. James got a Strider bike. Ashton got two vintage fisher price twos. They all got several books. I went overboard with books this year. I bought several. By the time James opened his third book he yelled, "I not want that one!" His cousins were opening toys. Poor kid. He got a bike, which isn't the greatest winter toy. All his cousins got remote control cars, even his girl cousins. He was green all Christmas day. 

 

It was comical. Apparently, I need pointers for shopping for a boy for Christmas.

 

Nate hung out all day and took the kids on rides back and forth up the road on the sled pulled behind my grandparents four-wheeler, until his fingers went numb.

 

My favorite gift was from my sister Jennifer, she did these handmade pictures for everyone. They are pictured in the last picture. It is hand embroidered and says, "God is at the helm, never doubt it." -Gordon B. Hinckley and has fabric cutouts like a ship. I love it to pieces.

 

My parents made all of us teepees.I would absolutely love them the best, but they don't work in my house. It was comical trying to set it up. You can't find a spread wide enough where the floor is flat enough to set it up. Yes, my floors are that crooked, but I love them.

 

CHRISTMAS EVE

I went home for Christmas with my babies. Nate followed in his truck. I got sick as I was about to leave the house. I don't know what hit me. I thought it was mastitis as I was wrapping presents and loading the car. I had dealt with a week of sick children, who seemed to be on the mend except runny noses. I pulled into my parents house and I was shaking so bad I had to snuggle into a blanket and sit on the couch. The little ones put together the nativity. They were so cute. Michelle's kids did such a beautiful job singing. it was such a beautiful way to usher in the Christmas festivities. I didn't take many pictures of Christmas. I was so sick and so were all my babies; James, Ashton, and Madison. It all fills like a blur really but I was really grateful to be with my family and Nate. We were all there, all my siblings, and if I could have fit one more thing in my car I would have brought my photography equipment, so I could have captured all their beautiful families. Next year.



 

 

SICK GIRL

 

She is sick and when she get's sick momma gets scared. Always.

It was the pneumonia scary of 2013 that always is brought to mind whenever she is sick.

She woke up in the middle of the night on Monday and said she couldn't walk and her brain hurt. She was trembling. I pulled her into bed by me and she wouldn't stop shaking. She had a temperature. She kept saying her legs hurt. I tried waking Nate but he wouldn't budge. I called my mom, what else could I do? She said I should probably take her to ER. It was snowing and cold out and I didn't want her to go out in the cold. Dad suggested I put her in a warm bath and give her lots of liquids. She acted herself in the tub. She was floating and seemed fine She drank a lot and then puked. At that point I thought she had the illness that everyone else has. I got her warm and rubbed her legs in peppermint oil. She said that made her feel better. Then I heated her a blanket in the dryer and wrapped her in it. She was soon asleep. I cuddled next to her on the couch and slept till morning. She has ran a temperature since and I guess today is the second full day with this illness. James ran a temperature today. Ashton puked as I was putting him to bed. It is going to be a long week. I am supposed to be making the food for Nate's party. I think I might be swaddling sick babies upstairs and thankfully, so thankfully, my sister's are coming to help rescue me. They will be downstairs cooking.  I am not worried we will make it through. Feeling blessed to have such a supportive loving family.

 



SUNDAY MORNING

 Well, Sunday's seem to come by more and more quickly. Today was the first day in our new ward. I have to say I clung to the people I knew and didn't say hi to anyone I didn't. This seems to be a trend with me lately. I will try harder next week. I did find out the Librarian at Loma Elementary is also the Relief Society President (Relief Society is the women's organization of the LDS church.) I found out that one of the ladies whose son is in Madison's grade is also the first counselor in the Relief Society. We had an interesting Relief Society. We had appetizers and listened to women read part of a book. I think it was by and LDS author, it was about why the author would want to be the cow at Jesus's birth, or a Wiseman, or so forth. It was different, but I was hungry. We will see what next Sunday brings.

 

The Bishop is a fly fisherman. He was talking to one of the ladies next to me about his grandson's binky, which says, "Let's go fishing." I thought Nate would like him, we will see.

 

I want to be better at visiting teaching. I want to be better at fellowshipping. I want to be better at knowing the people in my ward. Here is to a fresh start and a new adventure.

 

FRUITA 3RD WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

 Yesterday evening was our ward Christmas party. (Click here to learn what a ward is.)

For the Nativity, Sierra and Madison played the role of angels and James played the role of toddler Jesus. He was so cute on stage. The only picture I got of him was the last one where he is walking away holding Mary's hand. I had a friend who wanted me to record the whole thing. I don't really know how to take pictures while recording. I need to look into that. The food was really good. It was fun to have Nate there.

 

As I walked out the door, and all the young women were calling, "Good bye, James!" I realized it was the last moment I would have like this with these people. These people who know us and know my children. They know our story. (Since we moved to Loma, we will be in a new ward starting tomorrow.) I can't believe we have spent five years in this ward. We have blessed two babies and baptized one child. I will miss all the lovely people I have associated with every week for the last five years. My heart is a little sad but a little excited. I always like fresh starts and this could be the last fresh start ever, because I tell Nate all the time I am going to die on this piece of property. I am never moving again. Unless my Heavenly Father calls me out to build Zion. :)

Merry Christmas!

MY BOY

James cracks me up. He loves to cook but knows he is not aloud to use a knife because he cuts his fingers off. This morning while I was upstairs cleaning he said, "Mom, I cut myself a piece of bread and I don't got bloods. No, mom."

 

 

Yesterday I was upset, not sure why, but nothing was going right. I was yelling. I will admit. James said in a sweet voice, "Calm down mom. Calm down a lot." It made me laugh.

 

 

This morning pointing to a picture of Nate and I when were first married he asked, "Where's me?" I said, "You were in heaven." He said, "I missed you while I was in heaben (heaven)." He has so many expressions that make my day.

 

 

Another that I love is when something bad happens he says, "That make me so, so sad."

 

 

Love this little boy.

A VERY SHORT WALK TURNED INTO A VERY LONG DAY

Well, I was having a beautiful morning and I thought if I took a walk it would make the time pass between the girls leaving for school and my baby napping. We would get outside and breath some fresh air. Ashton cried the first ten minutes of the walk and the last ten minutes he slept. I tried to transition him from the stroller to bed by nursing him, but he would not have it. He screamed and screamed. I don't know why I fight against the machine. It just makes us all miserable. I should have just sat on the floor and played with him and loved him. I just really wanted to have my house clean and I wanted to get my bathroom painted. He wouldn't let me do anything. I tried to get him to nap at noon and at two. He slept for maybe ten minutes. We finally all crashed at 3:30 after the girls got home. I mean we all crashed, Mom, Ashton and James. We woke up at 5:00. We were all happier.

 

No more morning walks. Ever.

 

Poor James really loved the walk though, until some diarrhea hit, but that it a whole other story you don't want to hear.

A LITTLE ADVENTURE

 Sierra came home and asked him if he wanted to go on a little adventure. He was so happy to get out of the house. Mom welcomed the much needed break. Sierra got him a backpack and let him wear her boots and took him to find rocks and a sword. He loved it. They really are two peas in a pod. I always say I had Sierra and James to bring Adventure in my life and Madison and Ashton to bring Peace into my life. I love both but I am sincerely glad when my two adventures go off together and I am left with peace.

CHRISTMAS TREE

The girls put up the Christmas tree last night. I used to take my time and really make it beautiful but James and Ashton just rearrange everything and make it look ridiculous a few hours later, so I will wait till they are grown to put some effort into it. In the mean time I just let Sierra and Madison decorate it together. Usually they are really good about it and have a lot of fun. Last night I was getting the baby boys to bed as they were decorating. I guess Madison wasn't doing it right so Sierra bite her on the hand. Yep, she did. When I kissed it better there was still saliva on it. Sierra had to go to bed and Madison got to decorate amid cries from the upstairs that it was all wrong. Then Madison got to watch a Christmas show and sleep on the couch.

 

My living room is put together and the kids room but the rest of the house is still a moving wreck. We will get there but at least Christmas can commence.

 

Can I tell you how much I love my little house? I can't, not in words.

BLOODY NOSE

My jubilation about the move and my beautiful house was cut short by bloody noses. Since we moved I have been having extremely bad bloody noses. They weren't getting better only worse. I woke up every night with one. Then I started having them through the day. They weren't a typical bloody nose. They wouldn't stop no matter what I did and they ran like a slow running faucet. When I plugged my nose it came out my mouth.

 

I was helping Sierra clean out the chicken coop and came into take a bath afterwards. I never made it to the tub. My nose started gushing. This time I thought I would bleed out before it stopped. I just gushed and gushed. I panicked and had Sierra call someone. She wasn't realizing how important it was for her to call someone. I finally yelled out. "I am going to die if you don't call someone." She finally got ahold of my friend Lilly and our neighbor up the street.

 

 Lilly came and took me to the ER. We tried urgent care but they said they really couldn't do anything. The PA at the ER cauterized both nostrils, it was still bleeding, so they inserted a Rhino Rocket. Yes, it was hilarious and embarrassing and hilarious. I didn't care as long as the bleeding would stop.

 

 I came home and laid down and after cleaning up a bit and getting my babies in bed and my nose started gushing again. I had blood coming out of my nose and my mouth and I was just bawling and bawling. I had done all humanly possible and nothing was helping. Nate called the PA that helped me in the ER, she said to go get Afrin. There was nothing more they could do for me I would have to go see a ENT on Monday. By the time Nate returned with the Afrin, my nose had stop bleeding. It started again in the middle of the night. I cried and yelled for Nate, I couldn't get the Afrin open to save my life. He took twenty minutes looking online before he could open it. It stopped long before that bottle got open. I slept in.

 

When I got up at noon. I broke down and told Nate I just couldn't keep going on like this. He asked me what was causing it. I said, "I think it is the pellet stove." Since it is our only heat source right now he said, "And what should we do about it?" I said, "I need a humidifier." He went to Walmart and bought the mother ship of humidifiers. I have been twenty-four hours bloody nose free. It feels like a miracle.

 

Last night as I was laying in bed I was thinking about all the miracles I have had over this really crazy problem.

 

Lilly was willing to take me to the ER. She helped lighten the mood and we laughed at how ridiculous the whole situation was.

 

Nate pulled into the driveway minutes after Lilly arrived, so I could leave the kids with him.

 

Kay randomly dropped off grape juice while I was at the ER. I had the thought that I really wished I had more grape juice. She couldn't have known I need some.

 

I ran a cheap humidifier in our room and when I woke up the carpet was soaking wet and my phone was in the puddle of water. I plunged it in rice in the middle of night. Around noon I plugged it in and it started right up, I haven't had a single problem with it.

 

I had this conversation in my mind on Sunday. I am really hungry. You really need to eat something. You have lost a lot of blood. I don't know what to eat, nothing sounds good. Make some egg and noodle soup. I did and it was so soul satisfying. I thought as I ate it and it warmed my body and soul that the Holy Ghost is a physician. He guided me.

 

My friend Jenn brought soup for dinner and my friend Nattalie asked if she could bring dinner on Monday night. Those simple acts of kindness lifted my spirit when I was struggling so much.

 

I felt impressed that I needed to open my bedroom windows. It helped stop the bleeding before we realized I needed a humidifier.

 

Nate took over and watched the kids while I rested.

 

Lastly, but most significantly, Madison made me a necklace. I thought it was sweet. I put it on. I wore it all day. Ashton never pulled at my Rhino Rocket, he just played with that colorful necklace with a massive shell. I was so glad not to have to fight him from trying to rip the Rhino Rocket out as he nursed. Such a simple act of kindness and it served a needed purpose, she could never have known. She must be in tune with the gentle whispering of the Spirit.

 

I am grateful for my parents and their prayers and fasting on my behalf yesterday I know these miracles were in large part due to their love.

 

I feel so blessed to have such beautiful people in my life, who are literally ministering angels. I felt surrounded by angels. Although, I am not grateful for the bloody noses I have had. I am grateful for the experiences and blessing surrounding my crazy situation.

MOM'S BED

My boys played on my bed one afternoon. James was excited that we finally got the internet up and working and mom was glad that he got to have a little quiet time. Daniel Tiger really is a blessing. Ashton just giggled and giggled. The light was so beautiful. I had to capture the minute.

BUBBLE BATH

These two love the bathtub. Dad had to have a bathtub with jets. He said if it was the only bathtub it had to be cool. It is. The kids filled it up and played and until bubbles were scaling the walls and mom was done.

FAVORITE SPACE

 My favorite space in the house is my children's bedroom. I love to be up there. It is so cute. It is such a happy place. I am grateful for Tamara and Chase and all they did to make it so beautiful and ready to move in. James and Ashton love to play with their mother on the floor and she is so happy to do it. My sister-in-law gave us this cute fish game and James loves to hook the fish with the fisher price fishing pole. He loves a go fishing! (In his words.)

GRANDMA and GIGGLES

 We were so glad that Grandma and Grandpa Craven and Grandpa McKnight sacrificed so much time to help us over the last few weeks to finish up a few things we needed to get done. Grandma and Grandpa Craven came last Wednesday and stayed a few days. My dad worked miracles getting the all my appliances installed and getting my hot water working. I felt so blessed. The day after they left I just walked around my house weeping and thanking my Father-in-Heaven. It really is the cutest little, crooked house. There is nothing better than having stewardship over something that belongs to you. Laundry, washing dishes, and picking up all felt a bit magical. It felt as though the angels of heaven were rejoicing with me. I have never felt such a beautiful spirit of gratitude.

HOME

We are finally home. Sierra said something that warmed my heart she said, "We were stuck between the Whitehead's house and the Amish Paradise and now we are just home. This is now just our home." What a sweet word and a what a sweet sentiment. They love the fact that the bus picks up right on the corner of our property line. They love riding the bus. I have tried to convince them that they should let me take them but right now the bus is a novelty. Right now that I am trying to get moved in and plan a Christmas party for Nate's work it is nice to have the extra time but I would like to take them, at least in the mornings. I loose another hour with them in the morning when they ride the bus to school. I don't like that.