a little backwards.

Yesterday I went in for a 1:30 appointment at the Brommen Hospital to get an ultrasound of my abdomen.  I had been given instructions to eat a fat-free dinner and to fast for the 8 hours leading up to the appointment.  Because I'm nursing Aimee still, I like to eat and am not used to missing meals, I set an alarm to get up at 5:00 to drink a green drink and eat a rice cake.  Aimee beat the alarm and woke up around 4:30 to nurse.  I got her back and bed and decided that maybe I'd just go eat then instead of sleeping for a few minutes and getting woken up by my alarm.  Dad was awake at this point and said that he'd come down with me. (I just LOVE that man!)  I tend to be cold in the winter, especially at night or the early morning so I reached for my hoodie and slipped it on before heading downstairs.  As I put it on things were unusually dark.  I couldn't even tell where Dad was and bumped in to him, commenting on how pitch black it was!  Instantly I could see a lot more and Dad chuckled as he motioned to my hood, that my hoodie was on backwards and I'd inadvertently slipped my head in to the hood when I put it on and hadn't even realized it.  He'd notice the mistake and pulled it off of my face for me.  We laughed for several minutes at the silly mishap.  I can't believe I didn't notice!! Yay for comic relief :0)

As for the ultrasound, it took about a half hour, wasn't fun like my normal ultrasounds where I get to see the profile of a darling baby, didn't see much of anything for that matter.  The student tech and tech asked me to inhale and hold as they glided the wand around my belly, pushed and prodded, snapping digital pictures as they went.  At the end they told me I'd have my results in 3 business days.  It felt like I'd shown up for a very important exam, someone else took it for me without giving me any indication of how the test was going, letting me know that the results would be posted in a few days, then excusing me to go.  Apparently it's standard procedure but was a little bizarre.  So now we wait.  So far the blood tests (metabolic panel and food allergy panel) everything has come back clear....

Just got off the phone with the Bloomington Primary Care office, apparently my ultrasound looked fine too.  They are referring me to the Digestive Disease Consultants office.  It's great to know my organs look good, but it's so puzzling to have so many things look fine, but to not feel fine.  Hopefully we can get things figured out!

Let's be Kind when we Remind.

This morning at breakfast Elijah wasn't catching his cough.  Brie and Alex, you were nagging him and reminding him to catch his cough, but in a not-so-kind way.  (Unfortunately, you've seen me model such behavior too frequently.)  I had just been talking to Dad about how our thoughts can either bully us leaving us de-energized and with feelings of despair and hopelessness or invigorate, motivate and bring us hope.  I wanted to somehow convey this idea to you kids--this is what came to mind:

Imagine that someone has the hard job of laying brick to make a wall.  It's something that doesn't come naturally to them and the sun is beating down, making the task at hand even more burdensome.  You come along and see that the person laying bricks doesn't seem to be doing a very good job.  You have two choices.  You can come to them and demean them verbally for their {in your mind "poor"} efforts while kicking around their tools and knocking down the small wall that was once standing OR  you can come with kindness, a cool drink & a snack, helping to provide some extra energy and support.  You could acknowledge all that they've already done, and if you have skills & expertise to build a wall, you might even offer some tools or tips that would help the job along.  How different the outcome would be for each of these scenarios!  Which would help to get the wall built??

I admitted to you kids that I have often reminded with meanness and if you see me doing that, to please remind me to be kind.  I hope that together we can turn this behavior around and remember that we're on the same team!

Angels among us.

For the last few months I've been having frequent bouts of nausea and upset stomach (sometimes it will last for a few day at a time).  No, I'm not pregnant and am starting to get concerned about what is going on.  About 10 days ago I felt very much debilitated and spent a lot of the weekend in bed.  Last week was wonderful, I felt back to normal with lots of energy, hope and motivation.  Then last night after my birthday was done I started feeling nauseous again and am feeling pretty crummy today :0/  It seems like it's becoming more normal to feel this way so I'm trying to push through it this time.  Just now there was a knock at the door and there was Brother Cash with a small stack of Papa Murphy's pizza and salad for dinner tonight.  (He felt prompted to ask me on Sunday if I could come to (MTC) mutual tonight to share a few stories and my testimony of the Missionary Training Center and he brought dinner so I could focus on mutual.)  I mentioned that I'm not feeling well again today and that him bringing a meal was especially appreciated.  The Cashes are such amazing examples of being thoughtful and in tune with the spirit so they know how to best serve.  I want to be like them when I grow up (they're only 10 years older than us) :0).  They remind me that there are truly angels among us.

I {heart} Groundhog Day.

I

Groundhog Day.

Tomorrow we will see if Phil sees his shadow AND Rach & I turn 33.  I can't help but think back on our perfect pilgrimage to Punxsutawney last year.  It was once in a life time wonderful.  I wish she were here to celebrate or we were all there with her...but c'est la vie.  I'm grateful for my little Graden crew.  They're awesome and will undoubtedly make the day special.  I'm so grateful to be alive.  This last year has been such a blessed one.  I am thankful to be starting another year here on earth and hope to make the most of it!  One of my biggest dreams is to be the same person in public as in private.  (i.e. If someone at church were to say, "Sarah is so sweet" I would hope someday that my kids could say, "I know, it's so true!")  In any case, I want to be working towards that this year.  How grateful that the Holy Ghost will be my companion along the way.