Big Changes!

        When we first moved to Canyon 5 1/2 years ago, our plan was to stay here until Brock got tenure, which would be at least 5 years.  At that point, we would decide if we liked it enough to stay longer, or if we were going to move somewhere else and find a different job.  It's no secret to anyone who knows us, that we had a pretty hard time adjusting to life in the Panhandle.  I won't go into the details of why, but suffice it to say that if it wasn't for the fact that Brock LOVED his job and we all LOVED our ward, we would have been out of here a long time ago!
        About 2 years ago though, things started to change, and we really grew to love our whole area.  We started to feel like this really could be where we would raise our family, except for one thing: the location of our home is in between Canyon and Amarillo, which means it is at least a 10 minute drive to get anywhere.  Usually, it's more like 20-30 minutes.  We split our time a lot between Canyon and Amarillo, though other than school, church, and work, just about everything else is in Amarillo.  Our doctors are there, we shop there, the kids do sports there, the gym I workout at is there, and Brock and I go on dates there.  Needless to say, we spend a LOT of time and gas money driving.  The other morning, I took the kids to school in Canyon, then drove to Amarillo to grab one thing from a store there, and then drove back home.  That's all I did, but it took me an hour and a half, most of that time being spent driving. While we have grown to love where we live, we decided a year ago that IF we for sure stayed in our area, we would at least move to Amarillo to be closer to the things that make up our life.
        A few months ago, Brock had the opportunity to apply for his dream job at BYU-Idaho.  His dad and grandpa both taught there, and Brock grew up wanting to follow in their footsteps.  However, the ag program at BYU-Idaho has changed DRASTICALLY since Brock was there as a student, and they are putting their focus on growing the horticulture program while scaling back considerably the agriculture side of it.  Brock was very concerned about these changes, but still felt the need to apply, just so he could for sure "weed" it out as an option (HAHA!  Great pun, if I do say so myself!).  As he went through the interview process, it quickly became apparent to Brock and I that he already had his dream job here at WT, and that he had no desire to work at BYU-Idaho at this point in his life.  This all happened in February, and at this point we came to the firm decision that we would stay in this area, but that we would eventually move to Amarillo.
        We would have moved to Amarillo right away, because I feel like the younger the kids are when we move, the easier it will be on them.  However, Brock has been serving as the Bishop of our Canyon ward, and in our church, everything is based on where you live.  Just like a school, you go to the church congregation assigned to your area.  If we moved to Amarillo right away, Brock would have been released and we didn't feel good about short-changing the Lord on this assignment.  Therefore, our plan was to move sometime next summer, because that would be around the time period when he would probably be released.  I began looking at houses off-and-on, just to get a feel for what was available.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much!  We needed something with 5 bedrooms and 2 living areas that was on the south side of Amarillo so Brock could still get to work easily.  This was about impossible to find in our price range!  If there were some available, they were in really bad condition and super old.  It was a little depressing, but we just trusted that when the time came in a year, we'd be able to find something.
        That was our plan, but you know what they say about plans!  All this flew out the window when this happened:

        Over the weekend, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited for our stake conference, which was an AMAZING experience.  While he was here, our stake president called 2 new counselors to be in his stake presidency, and one of those is Brock.  The stake presidency presides over 14 different congregations throughout the north part of the Texas panhandle and into New Mexico.  Among his many new responsibilities, this assignment also means that Brock will be released as the Bishop of the Canyon Ward.  While this assignment became official last weekend, we have known about it for a month now.  When this call was issued to Brock, we realized  that if the right situation presented itself, we could move much sooner than we had originally anticipated.
        Last week, during one of my non-serious house searches on the internet, a house suddenly showed up that met ALL of our requirements.  It was in the perfect location and was only a few years old.  I had looked for houses for a long time but had never seen this one, even though we found out it has been on the market for several months.  I requested a showing, mainly because I was curious about what it really looked like.  I wanted to see if we'd actually be able to buy a house that was big enough for us, but still in our price range.  My in-laws were here visiting for stake conference, so they went with me to check out the house.
        I walked into this house and absolutely fell in love with it!  There's plenty of room for us and there's LOTS of storage space (a necessity in my book, but so hard to find in houses these days).  It's at the end of a cul-de-sac, walking distance from parks and schools, close to all the stuff we do in Amarillo, and the drive time for Brock is about the same as it is from our house now.  It was PERFECT!
        While my in-laws and I we were looking at the house, Brock was at work turning in his promotion and tenure packet.  He's been here 5 years now, which means that he is up for tenure.  He had just turned everything in (I don't think the timing is a coincidence) when I called him and asked him to come look at the house.  He thought it was great too, and after a trip to the temple that night and a second visit to the house the next morning before Brock's meetings for stake conference, we decided to put an offer on the house, contingent upon us selling ours.
        Obviously, our house was not ready to be put on the market, so we spent the next several days working non-stop to get everything squared away.  Now this is what our house looks like this morning:

        It is crazy the way this is all happening, but I just can't help but feel that the Lord is orchestrating all of this.  There are just too many "coincidences" happening here, and I feel like the Lord just plopped this house in our laps!  There are still so many things up in the air (we're still negotiating with the seller, but feel good about how that's progressing, and obviously we have to sell our house), but I really feel like this is going to fall into place so nicely.  Only time will tell, but I am extremely hopeful that things will be resolved soon.
        Our only regret in all this, is that we are going to have to say goodbye to our dear Canyon Ward.  We love those people so much and have grown close to them as we have served alongside them.  They are humble, strong, salt-of-the-earth kind of people and they have been so good to us through the years.  I'm glad that we are only a couple of minutes away from them, and that we will see them at stake events, but it is still hard to think of telling them goodbye.
        At this point, we are just watching and waiting, while we try to keep our house clean enough to show (not an easy task with 5 kids).  Only time will tell where this will all end, but for now, we are happy to know that the Lord is guiding us, and seems to be leading us in a direction a little different than we had planned.  That is a good thing, because if having Flint taught me anything, it's that the Lord's plans are always better than ours!  We shall wait and see how everything unfolds!
         
         

Flint's 1st Birthday!!!

        Flint began his birthday celebration with a wonderful MRI check-up in Dallas.  Since he's older and isn't content to be bundled up, the MRI experience itself was a lot harder on him than the previous times.  I'm pretty sure that this process is going to get worse before it gets better, but once he's old enough to remember that it doesn't hurt him, hopefully it will be smooth sailing!  We met with Dr. Weprin, who only had good things to say about Flint's progress, and then he cleared us for yearly check-ups now, instead of every 6 months.  WOO-HOO!  We spent the rest of the day celebrating my sister, Katie's birthday, and then her mother-in-law, Gena, came and took some darling 1 year pictures of Flint.  I think she did an amazing job!

 

         If you look closely in the pictures, especially the one above, you'll be able to see one of my favorite things about Flint - his long tuft of hair that grows where his scar is.  He doesn't have much hair on the rest of his head, but growing out of his scar is a line of long hair!  The doctors have all commented on how strange that is, because usually, no hair ever grows in the scar tissue.  To me, this little tuft of hair is Flint's symbol of strength.  It's like he's saying, "You say I'm not going to grow hair in my scar? Well, not only am I going to grow hair there, but I'm going to grow it EXTRA long just to show you I can!"  I think it really kind of epitomizes him, so that tuft of hair isn't going anywhere for our little Samson!      
      We had a great, short visit in Dallas, and then flew home on Friday.  We had an amazing experience on the flight home!  One of the flight attendants had been watching Flint throughout the flight and started talking to me about how alert and happy he seemed to be.  I was able to tell her a little of his story and she was swept up in the details of all that has happened over the last year.  She asked how old he was and when I told her his birthday was the next day, she asked if she could take him to the front of the plane with her. I said yes, and the next thing I knew, she had carried him to the front of the plane and was telling his story over the loud-speaker to the whole plane.  She asked everyone to sing to him, and he just sat there in her arms while the whole plane erupted into a chorus of "Happy Birthday."  Even after all this, she still kept him at the front of the plane with her, and I was curious what was going on.  Finally, I saw that the other flight attendant was making him a crown to wear.  A few minutes later, Flint was returned to me looking like this:

 

         Isn't that the cutest thing ever?  I thought those flight attendants were so sweet to do that for him (and really for me, since he had no clue what was going on)!  The best part was that he kept the crown on the rest of the flight and all through the airport.  He never seemed bothered by it at all!  We got home in time for dinner, and then my parents arrived late that night, ready to celebrate with us.
        We spaced out Flint's celebration throughout the day, so he didn't get too tired and we could all enjoy the festivities.  He got a pancake breakfast and had lots of help opening presents.

                                              

                                              

                                              

      He was obsessed with the birthday cake his sister and brothers decorated for him, and he dove right in more than any of my other kids ever did. I love this series of pictures, as he goes from one hand, to both hands, to all the frosting eaten off the top of the cake.  He was one happy boy!

                                               

                                               

                                               

                                               

                                               

                                               

                                               

                                               

        My favorite part of the day though, was when we took brownies and a thank you card to the NICU at BSA.  This is the hospital where Flint was born and where he spent the first 6 weeks of his life, other than the week we were in Dallas.  We had planned to go earlier in the day, but our plans changed and we ended up going around 4:00.

We forgot to take a picture by the NICU, but got one in the front drive of the hospital

      As we pulled into the parking lot at the hospital, we noticed a life-flight helicopter coming in for a landing.  I made the comment, "Someone's life is about the change," and we continued into the hospital and up to the 3rd floor.
       There was quite a crowd in the waiting room of the 3rd floor, and then as we turned into the hallway where the NICU is, we saw a small cluster of people standing right outside the door to the NICU.  You can't just walk into the NICU.  There's a phone in the hall that you use to call inside, and then if you're already on their list of patients, they let you in.  Since we no longer had a patient inside, we explained that we were there to deliver a thank you gift, and wondered if they could send someone out to get it.
     While we waited for someone to come out, we heard the other people commenting about how, "They just landed.  They're bringing him up." I asked them if the life-flight was for someone in their family, and they said it was for their new grandson who had been born in Childress but was having problems with his platelet counts. We recognized the strain and fear in their faces, and we tried to reassure them.  Right about that time though, the door to the NICU opened and out came a couple of nurses and our favorite nurse practitioner.  In addition to the brownies, we had brought them some cards the kids had made, and a picture of Flint on the day he was born with a picture of Flint that had just been taken.  They remembered him and the drama with getting him to Dallas and back, and were so excited to see how well he was doing.  Flint turned on the charm and grinned all over the place at them and did his best to show his gratitude for the care they had given him.  They thanked us for coming and then they went back to work.
       This whole interaction was being watched carefully by the little gathering of people, waiting for their new grandson to arrive.  As the nurses left, we turned to this family and said we wished them well.  They told us it was perfect timing that we showed up when we did; that they needed to see that and feel some hope.  We just showed them Flint again and said that there were so many miracles that could happen with God, faith, and medical science.  It touched my heart that even in that small moment, Flint was able to bring a measure of peace and hope to a family who desperately needed it.  Seeing them waiting outside the NICU, with the strain on their faces, was just so close to home, especially given the fact that it was exactly one year after we were going through the same thing!
        It is impossible to sum up my feelings about celebrating Flint's first birthday!  He has come so far this year and taught me so much.  I have learned again and again that with God, all things are possible, if only I do not limit Him.
        I asked my brother to put together a music video of Flint's life, showing where he started and where he is today.  Actually, the video is already a little outdated, because Flint is now crawling (when he decides he wants to), but I think it's the most awesome video ever!  I'm so grateful for this happy little boy and the sweet spirit of joy that he shares with everyone he comes in contact with.  He is my little "tough as Flint" boy, and I am SO proud to be his mom!  Happy birthday Flint!


Flint from Derek Williams on Vimeo.

School Starts Again!

         As I mentioned in an earlier post, this has been a wonderful but CRAZY summer.  It has been non-stop and I am exhausted!  I usually have mixed feelings about my kids going back to school, but this year I have to admit that I was really SO excited about it.  I just haven't had even a moment of peace and quiet and I am WORN OUT!  Don't get me wrong, I still miss my kids like crazy and get a little teary when I think about how old they are getting.  However, I am really looking forward to having 4 kids in school for part of the day, with a little boy who still naps a lot.
        On Sunday we had our traditional back-to-school night.  Brock gave everybody priesthood blessings, and then we measured each of the kids.

        In the morning, everyone was ready with their favorite back-to-school outfit.  Everyone chose their own pose, and they each crack me up!

First day of school for Dr. Blaser (I made him take this picture)

Davis goes to intermediate school for 5th grade

Duke, the mighty 3rd grader

Gage starts Kindergarten

         Gage has been so excited for Kindergarten, and I was excited to have a kid who would let me walk him into his classroom again!  I will miss this boy, but he is SO ready for school!
         Trayson gets to start preschool this year.  He only goes 3 days a week in the mornings, but he is beyond excited (and I'll admit that I am too! Flint still takes a morning nap so that means for the first time in years, I will have 2 hours to myself, 3 days a week.  OOO, the possibilities are endless!)  The only hard part with me taking Trayson to school was when he said goodbye to Flint.  It dawned on me that those two have never really been separated!  They have a very close bond and it kind of broke my heart to see them say goodbye to each other.      

         I really will miss my kids, but right now I am so busy and worn out from summer that I am just looking forward to a few days when I can slow down and catch my breath!  It won't happen this week though, because I am about to catch a plane for Dallas.  Flint has his check-up with Dr. Weprin tomorrow, so we are hoping for good news.  I fly home Friday night a little before my parents arrive and then we're celebrating Flint's birthday this weekend!  Seriously, I can't believe it's been a year!  It will be so fun to celebrate together, and maybe in a few weeks I'll try to breathe again.  It's all worth it though!

August Vacation - Part 2 in Utah

        Our next stop after Idaho, was in Logan, UT.  Brock and I were married there, and my extended family pretty much all live there.  In other words, some of my most favorite people live there!  We couldn't stay long, and we were there at a really bad time, so we only got to see a few of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  It was still great to spend time with them though, and I'm so grateful to be blessed with a close extended family who loves and supports each other no matter what!
        I was really excited to be able to spend some time with my Aunt Charlotte, who showed me her treasure trove of family history.  She has closets full of pictures, documents, and record keeping on my family going back hundreds of years.  I have recently tried to get very involved with family history, but there is not much more work to be done on my family.  Seriously, my family lines on all sides go back hundreds and in some cases, thousands of years.  I've seen many of these people's names, dates, and information for a long time now, but it was neat to get to see actual pages of hand-written records that my ancestors kept.  Aunt Charlotte and my Uncle Dave are busy trying to find a way to preserve all these memories, so that our ancestors can become more than just a name on a computer screen.  They are scanning documents and pictures, and then creating a website where we can go to see all the images and information.  I am SO excited about this, because the more I learn about my ancestors, the more real they become to me and the more I love them.  I'm sure it will take her and her husband years and years to go through everything they have, but I am grateful they are willing to take the time to do it!
        I also saw this picture hanging at my aunt's home, with a bit of recent family history:

        Because you probably can't read the tiny writing on the blue piece of paper, I will explain what it says.  This is a picture of my Grandma and Grandpa Lehman.  You might be able to tell that my grandma's face appears smudged.  This picture hung in my Grandma and Grandpa's house, and every morning and every night since Grandma died, Grandpa would kiss her picture and say "Good morning, doll," or "Good-night, doll."  Those smudges are the kiss marks my grandpa left behind when he died.  It's a sweet and visible reminder of the great love my grandparents shared. 
        Before we left Logan, we had to make two other visits.  First of all, we went to the Logan Temple, where Brock and I were married.  (The reason temples and family history work are so important to me is explained here.)  It is always a sacred experience to go to the temple, but this time was even more so.  After seeing so much of my family history at my aunt's home, I was even more touched when Brock and I were able to do a session at the temple where most of my family was sealed.  It was also very touching to me, because there was a father attending the session who was pushing his young adult son in a wheelchair.  I kept looking at the boy, thinking how that could so easily have been Flint.  Watching this father and son, and thinking of my own sweet boy, I was suddenly overcome by the thought that I would have been totally fine to push my Flint around in a wheelchair and take care of him his whole life, if that had been required of us.  Never before had I thought of that, but in that moment, it was very clear to me that if that had been our path, I would have loved the privilege of taking care of this precious son of God.
        It was wonderful to be in the temple, and I'm so grateful to my Aunt Cynthia and cousin Kelli for taking care of the kids so we could go.  We went and picked the kids up, then drove back up to the temple to get a few pictures.

It's such a beautiful place, and the kids enjoyed walking around, hearing stories about our dating life and wedding day.  The other place we had to visit, was the cemetery.  This cemetery is special to our family, because my aunt and uncle, all four grandparents, and a nephew are buried here.

My nephew Zach is buried right by my Grandpa Buss and Grandma Meg

    

It's also a special cemetery to us, because Flint is NOT buried here.  When I was pregnant and we knew there was a possibility that Flint could die, Brock and I decided that he would be buried near his cousin Zach, if he didn't make it.  It was a sacred, overwhelming feeling to stand at that spot with our relatively healthy, very much ALIVE son, and know that this picture could have looked SO different! We are truly blessed!
        After we left Logan, we went back to my brother's house in Layton, and the kids got some more cousin time there, even though I hardly took any pictures, once again!  We got to go to the Davis County Fair, which was pretty darn good, especially for being FREE!  We saw a cool elephant show and bear show, plus the kids got to go in a petting zoo and ride on ponies.

        Another highlight of our stay here, was that we got to go to the Ogden Temple open house.  The temple had been recently remodeled, and so we were excited to take our kids on a tour.  The Spirit was so strong there, and I loved watching my kids reverently taking it all in.  It was beautiful on all levels!

        After lots more cousin playtime, we finally packed the van up and started for home.  "Starting for home," in this situation, really meant "drive home after taking a day to explore Salt Lake City and another day to explore Provo."  We left Derek and Julie's house on Friday morning the 15th, and planned to slowly make our way to Provo by that evening.  We took the kids to some of my favorite places!  We went to Temple Square and saw the Salt Lake Temple.

We took a tour of the conference center, where the kids especially liked the organ inside, and the gardens on the roof.  After seeing the conference room where conference is broadcast from, Duke was absolutely determined to come watch conference there someday.  He was really touched!

I know this is a horrible picture, but it's the best one the sister missionary could get!

         One of my favorite parts of the day, happened when we went up to the roof of the conference center so we could look at the gardens.  Gage did what any smart 6 year old would do and got his head stuck between the bars.  Here's Brock and the sister missionary trying to get him out.  HAHAHA!  It was pretty awesome!

         We also went to the Visitor's Center and the Church History Museum, where there's a great section for kids to explore and play with.

        Once we were done with the Temple Square area, we took tours of Welfare Square and the Humanitarian Center.  I am way too tired right now to explain what these two amazing facilities are, but if you go to those links, you will be able to read all about them.  I had never been to either of these facilities before this trip, and I am so grateful we went and took the kids.  Their eyes were opened to what others have to deal with and how good we really have it.  It was a very touching place to be, to see the projects they do around the world such as neonatal resuscitation, free wheelchairs, immunizations, vision help, clean water, and agricultural training.  They provide these free to anyone with the need, regardless of religion.  This is where you see Christ's gospel in action!

Sorting clothes to be taken during disaster relief

                           Anytime you're in the area, you can go by and help make a quilt.  They especially like donations of already made quilts to share with people in need.

Some of their main projects

 

        Davis just learned to crochet, and asked the missionaries if they ever needed donations of crocheted items.  It was her lucky day, because the sister in charge gave Davis a hug bag of yarn, some knitting needles, and told Davis what she could work on that would help them.  I thought it was so sweet wanted to contribute her talents in whatever way she could.  She's completed two scarfs since then and is still going strong!
        Once we finished our tours here, we drove up to the Salt Lake City Cemetery, where many of the prophets and apostles are buried.  We found a few of their gravesites, and the kids were especially excited to find this one:

 They still hear us talk a lot about President Hinckley, so I think they were pretty excited to get to see where he and his wife are buried.  I didn't take pictures of every single one we found, but here's a sampling:

This one's hard to see, but it's Heber J. Grant

        Anyway, it was a fun thing to do, even though by this time we were hot and tired and ready to be done.  Of all the days on our trip, this day was my favorite.  The kids were awesome, and even though much of what we did that day was very adult and probably boring to them, they stayed respectful and listened with their ears and their hearts.  As we talked about what we experienced that day, they each commented in their own way about the peace, excitement, or joy they felt at certain places that day.  I doubt they will remember the details of what we did in Salt Lake, but I know that their spirits were touched and they were able to grow closer to their Savior because of what we experienced together that day. 
        That night we stayed at a hotel in Provo, and then we got up early the next morning for a few more hours of site-seeing. Brock and I met when we were in our final year at BYU (again, sometime I'll share our whole story here), so it was fun to show the kids around a little bit of campus.  Brock and I were in the same ward when our ward held a talent show at the Varsity. We had been on two dates when this talent show occurred, and I was singing in it with my roommates.  Come to find out, Brock was singing too, but he needed an accompanist.  It just so happens this music major was able to help him out!  After the talent show, members of our ward were hanging out in the foyer talking.  Brock and I were both trying to act like we weren't looking for each other, and somehow we both just HAPPENED to time it perfectly that we left to go to our cars at exactly the same time!  He walked me to my car, then I drove him to his and went home.  As I pulled into my parking lot though, I realized he was right behind me.  We both got out of our cars and proceeded to have a long talk in the parking lot (with lots of girls from my apartment complex looking on from their windows).  That little talk ended with us telling each other we were going to get married.  What-the-WHAT?!!!  I hated those kinds of stories...until it happened to me.  Trust me though, there's a LOT of preliminary stuff that happened before that night in the parking lot.  Anyway, we had to get a picture at the Varsity, and I loved the Spiderman/ Maleficent comparison.  HA!

                                       My apartment complex where the big talk took place on Monday, November 5, 2001. 

 Mine was the very top floor on the right.

We took the kids to the bookstore and then to some of our favorite buildings on campus.  The kids especially loved the Eyring Science Building, and of course Duke had to get a picture with the rocks!

 After a fun morning exploring BYU, Flint started to go from looking like this:

 To looking like this:

And with that, our Utah vacation was over.  We loaded the kids back in the van, stopped at JDawgs for a hot dog lunch and Stan's for a milk shake, and then we hit the road.  It was great to reminisce about so many important parts of our lives, but by this point we were ready to get home.  We spent the rest of the day driving, and got back home around 3:00 am Sunday morning.  Brock got about 3 hours of sleep before getting up for his Bishopric meeting, and I got about 3 hours of sleep before getting up to get myself and the kids ready for church.
            This vacation was all totally worth it though!  We had the perfect mix of time with family, site-seeing, relaxing, testimony building, and reminiscing, and we all came home so grateful for the experiences we shared together.  YAY for summer vacations!
           And now - bring on the school year!