Braces

Just after the New Year, Kari got braces. She was a trooper during the LONG 2 1/2 hour appointment. So was Grant, so they both got milkshakes. :)

Last photo without braces

 

 Along with the braces, Kari also got the Herbst appliance "installed." It's basically two hinges inside her mouth, and it's what her orthodontist uses in place of headgear. She sure has a lot of metal in her mouth!

She had just used these pink tablets that help to know when you've done a good job brushing, but we found out the pink stains the mouth for a while afterwards. Now we know.

Her mouth and the inside of her cheeks were pretty sore for the first week or so, but she hardly complained. She's a tough cookie! 

Joel is 9!

Today is Joel's 9th birthday. Our kids are growing up so fast! At nine-years-old, Joel loves playing and watching sports (specifically soccer, basketball, and football), loves his daddy's favorite teams (Oregon State, Seahawks, and the Blazers), and he enjoys sciency things. He whips through his math homework and loves to learn about things in nature. He's been very into the frog unit they've been working on at school. Last year, it was the Amazon rainforest. We become "experts" in these areas, too. :) He doesn't love to read, but we finally discovered a book series that captured his interest. They are historical fiction (makes sense, as he likes to learn, and he likes facts), a series called "I Survived." Each book centers around some kind of disaster in history. It was a major victory when he told us he actually wanted to keep reading one night and wanted to finish his book!

One of the things we've prayed for Joel is that he would become a young man of courage, and we've seen him growing in this area. He's learning to become more assertive. He is a wonderful big brother and very patient with his little brother who is constantly wanting to be with him and do what he does. He has his limits, though, we've seen, and that's a good thing. :-) Joel is pretty easy to get along with, most of the time, and has lots of friends. For his birthday, he invited a bunch of those friends to go play laser tag at the new arena here in Gresham. Some of us parents played with them, and it was SO MUCH FUN! I'd never played before, but now I see why they all love it. Our whole family was able to play, even Grant. We played for an hour and then had cupcakes afterwards. I think it will go down as one of Joel's favorite parties. The kids all had a GREAT time.

Later that same day, we had his family party--lots of family members there to celebrate our big 9 year-old. Rhubarb crisp was his dessert request. (It would have tasted better if I had remembered to put sugar on the rhubarb! Oh well. We had ice cream, and that helped.)

Monday morning was a his birthday breakfast with Grandpa. He got to go shooting afterwards, which he LOVED and was pretty good at, too!

 

Here's Dad's video. You can see for yourself what a good shot he is.

Joel's 9th Birthday - Breakfast+ with Grandpa from Cornerstone on Vimeo.


Joel's at school today, hopefully having a good day. We're going to make some snickerdoodles for an after-school birthday treat. They're one of his favorites. On with the birthday celebration!

New Year's

Our New Year's Eve consisted of a trip to Wunderland for Greg and the kids and a trip to Costco for me, and then we spent the evening, just the six of us, at home playing games. I taught Kari and Joel how to play Settlers. Greg played a couple rounds of Go Fish with Aubrey and Grant. We ended the night playing girls against boys Disney's Scene It, which we borrowed from Uncle Blake and Aunt Lindsay. We made up a rule that every time someone got an answer right, we all got to eat an M&M or chocolate coin from the candy bowl. The kids liked that rule a lot. In past years, we've celebrated New Year's East Coast time (9pm), but last night we didn't even make it until then. We drank our sparkling cider and celebrated the New Year at 8:15pm and sent the kids upstairs.

As 2014 came to a close, I found myself reflecting on the year and thought about how grateful I am for the ways in which God led me through it. Exactly one year ago, I found myself sinking into depression for the first time in my life and for no apparent reason. I didn't know what to do or what to say and didn't say much of anything for a few weeks. I just felt "blah." Then "blah" turned into sadness, darkness, and constant tears. I'm pretty sure Greg didn't know what to do with me. I didn't know what to do with myself! I eventually shared with some dear friends and talked with parents and family, and those were steps in the right direction. 
I have wonderful parents, a loving husband, forgiving and gracious kids, and amazing friends--all good gifts from God--and they helped me through that very difficult time. Flowers, cards and notes, Bible verses people shared with me, phone calls and texts, long hugs during teary times, and offers to help practically, in various ways, are all things I think about when I think of what encouraged me during that time. It was good for me to hear that others had gone through something similar and had come out of it ok, that things had gotten better. I wasn't sure I'd ever feel good again.
About a month into the "blahs," as I called it, I got in to see my doctor and found out, after getting some blood work done, that some of my "levels" were off. She gave me some supplements and medications and told me to come back in two months to recheck my blood work. I still don't know for sure what caused my depression or what made the most difference in the improvement of my emotional/mental state, but the things the doctor prescribed did seem to help, and slowly, very slowly it felt, I began to feel more like myself again. By summer, I was feeling much more stable and hopeful.  So much happened during those difficult winter and spring months, with the kids involved in all kinds of sports and activities, and during so much of it, I was just not happy. But I got through it. With God's help and by his grace, I came through it. It may happen again. I sure hope it doesn't, but it might, and if it does, I will be able to look back at God's faithfulness to me in this last year and see hope. God is good, even when life doesn't feel good, he is good, and he is faithful to all his promises. I clung to a lot of those promises during that tough time and still do.

Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

Psalm 3:3 "But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head."

John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

When I was really struggling, my dad wrote me a note and shared a favorite quote from missionary A.E. Glover's 1904 autobiography, A Thousand Miles of Miracles in China (a book I would like to read someday), explaining that Glover tells about miracles and God answering prayer, and then one time when depression overwhelmed him. He felt embarrassed and even guilty for his discouragement because God had truly blessed and favored him. Then Glover wrote in his journal:
Some may perhaps wonder why, after such signal deliverances and sustaining grace, faith did not rise superior to the new trial. I only record the fact that it was so. Seasons of darkness do not necessarily argue the failure of faith. Often the very reverse is true, for faith must be educated and its schooling has to be done in the valley of sorrow as well as on the hill of vision.

I'm fairly certain I've got more "schooling" ahead in my life, so I'll have to remember these words, but for now, I will be grateful for the break in the darkness and the time on the "hill of vision."

Happy New Year 2015!