INSPIRING!!!!

My friend Harmony sent this to me. All I can say is WOW!!!!

I found myself in tears. Just amazed. Not just by the young man himself, but by his parents... specifically his father. It is 6 1/2 minutes long, but if you take the time... I think you'll be glad you did.

I found this hilarious!

I happen to love Ray Stevens. He has some funny funny songs. When my bro-in law directed me to this, I laughed so hard I just had to share. Enjoy!

it was the best of days, it was the worst of days...

Ok - not really, that's a bit overly dramatic - but I liked the sound of it. In truth, I did get some great news today and also had a weird, rather negative thing happen too.

The good news first. Aaron had "MAP testing" today. He went into it with a pretty good attitude, and I was absolutely thrilled when the teacher told me this after noon that he did GREAT! The kids do the testing 3 times a year, and the average increase each test for students is 3 points. Aaron had the largest increase of any student in his class.

Wanna take a wild guess how many points Aaron's reading score went UP????


Oh come on... guess....


26 points!!!!! ya - 26!!!!!!! (he said it was 29, so maybe I heard wrong, but I heard 26, so until I get the paper, I'm saying a 26 point increase. (of course, I HAD to ask where that put him as far as "grade level" and she said he has only about 4 points to go to be where he needs to be, and I am not clueless enough to think that we are out of the woods yet - I am all too aware that he still has serious challenges with reading comprehension, but those things not withstanding - I am so proud of him. maybe there IS light at the end of this tunnel! (and yes Jen, if you have some tricks and/or tips for me, I'd love them.)


now - the bad news. This morning I was actually working pretty steady - folding laundry, when trouble hit.

Caleb found a pair of scissors. He caught me totally off guard - Bryan too apparently, and he cut a nice slice right into the side of Bryan's ear. What a crazy mess! I called the nurse at the pediatricians office. I told her what happened, what the wound looked like, etc... and she said, "um, I've never heard of something like this happening, let me double check." Ya - me neither, but trust it to my children to break new ground...

Bryan now has 2 stitches in his ear. (I meant to take a picture of the ear, but life was a little crazy today, so maybe tomorrow...)

this is MY year!

OK - I think I am ready to unveil my theme (goals) for 2010.

Before I reveal the "plan" - here is bit of the reasoning behind it. I have really been struggling, for quite a while with feelings of depression and anxiety. I have not been happy with my life - in general, yet I knew "logically" there was no good reason to feel the way I've been feeling. I'm sure you all know how the cycle goes next. Because I have the "blah's" - that leads to not doing all the little things that make a big difference in life. (spiritual things like reading scriptures and saying prayers, and temporal things like cleaning the house and eating right.)

So - pretty much my goal for this year began as "get into shape" and "beat this depression." That doesn't have a very nice ring does it? Not really catchy enough to use as a daily mantra. I thought about it some more, and I came up with:

"healthy again in 2010." - better, it rhymes, but not quite all I wanted it to be.

I knew that it referred to physical, spiritual, and mental/emotional health, but I wanted the mantra to reflect that a little bit more....

So here is the final draft of my 2010 motto. (unless I decide to tweak it again at a later date)

Healthy & Happy once again
this is MY year - 2010
(catchy isn't it...)

The plan is 3 fold.

#1 - I am training to participate in a sprint distance triathlon, to be held in May. I'm all registered for it and paid my fees, so that will be my guideline and motivation for the physical aspect of this goal. (wouldn't be sad if I lost about 20 lbs here, but that isn't the GOAL - it would just be a BONUS!)

#2 - I will refocus on my spiritual health. I will read my scriptures daily, both individually and as a family. I will pray daily, both morning and night. (I shouldn't admit this out loud, but this has always been rather difficult for me. (except while on my mission. it was natural then...) I guess I never really developed the habit.)

#3 - I will regain my mental/emotional health. I will do this by getting a full and complete physical, eating well, take my vitamins, keeping a daily gratitude journal, AND going to both my regular midwife as well as to an alternative health center to get some testing done to identify any physical reason(s) for the depression. If there IS an identifiable reason, then I have no problem treating that cause. I just have issues with walking into an office, telling the dr you are depressed, then walking out with a prescription to mask the symptoms. If there is something wrong - I want to FIX what is wrong - not just cover it up!

So there you have it - my plan for the year. I am going to make it a good one. I have noticed a postive change already - just by saying my mantra for the past week (sort of trying it on for size...) and jotting down things that happened throughout the day that I was grateful for. The little things can and do make a difference.

PS - I have tried 5 times to re-size the text, (the part that outlines the 3 points of my plan - it is supposed to be normal size...) with no luck - what's up with that????