Happy Anniversary to Us!

We decided to have an anniversary adventure this year so we headed to Cali.

Our destination was Sacramento where we had some planned activities.
First up was the Crocker Museum.

We saw lots of great art but wasted too much time at the beginning looking at the more modern pieces.  It turns out they are my favorite.  I didn’t know that before we went.
Looking at art makes one hungry . . . where else would we go?

It was a great lunch, giving us enough energy to go shopping . . .

which wouldn’t have been as exciting if we had one closer to where we live.
And we drove home. . .

We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful area and not too far away from things we don’t have.
What better way to spend one’s anniversary . . . than with each other!

Who Could Stay Away?

After re-cooping a few days at home, I flew back to see how I could help out (no selfish motives here. . . HA!)

It was nice to see them settled in at home. . . so much better than being trapped in a hospital room!
Leah had mastered the whole sleeping all the time thing. . .

while occasionally eating and . . . well, you know!

I was able to help clean, stock the fridge and freezer with lots of meals and round out her wardrobe.  It’s nice to be able to figure out what the greater needs are.
Don’t you love tiny baby hands?  We do


The daughter of mine who refused to babysit has taken on the role of aunt quite seriously!

We were pretty excited on the occasions when she’d open her eyes. . . 
Paul drove out to fetch me, but I think it was really to meet his grandbaby. . . .

Allie made sure we knew that she would get to spend a lot more time with Leah than we would. . .

We would take turns holding her when we went out to eat. . . they looks good together, don’t they?
Since we happened to be there on a Sunday, Jennifer and Samuel arranged for Leah to be blessed. 

David was able to make it too.  The stars may never line up again for us all to be there for a baby blessing, so we felt very blessed ourselves.

Sadly, we could not stay forever. . . something about a job that pays for these type of trips.
But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t already scheming about our next encounter!

Healing and Blessings Continue

I had no idea what a challenge this surgery would be.  Not only did it HURT, but I was frustrated with the things I could not do on my own.
I was grateful for the things I could do.  I managed to master driving one handed, the hardest parts were turning the key to start the van and removing the key after turning it off.  That freedom was HUGE and kept me sane.
But my splint was still my constant companion. . .

Ugly swollen fingers . . .
I could not straighten my arm much less scratch my nose. 

It was hard to hold my arm up or let it hang down so I had to prop it up constantly.

I went to my first doctor’s appointment (after surgery) and he took the bandages off. . . what relief!  But then he put it right back on after admiring the stitches and removing a few pounds of cotton.

I was blessed by a wonderful friend (and visiting teacher) who came over and cleaned my kitchen (I was living with nothing but males  who don’t *see* dirt and messes the same way I do. . .)

A clean kitchen can really lift your spirits!
(Note I still could not take a shower because the stitches were still in.  Why did no one tell me about this horror?)
A several weeks after surgery, I was instructed to remove my splint a few times a day and *try* to straighten my arm. 

What do you mean that’s not straight?

And then my friend came back and cleaned my bathroom!!!!!  (tears of JOY!)

I was going a bit stir crazy and just wanted to go somewhere. . .anywhere.  How lucky are we to live so close to Tahoe?  So off we went. . .

That was the end of that hike. . . but I could totally see a tennis court in the distance. *sigh*
Another friend. . .another blessing!  Everyone deserves some sunshine a box

So many little things helped me endure this tough time.  I felt so guilty that so many people were doing nice things for me.  I didn’t HAVE to have the surgery (but I really wanted to be able to use my arm pain-free . . though at this time, I doubted it would ever be that way.)