Two weeks in and....

We are unpacked and settling in. The Sunday Chad is to come home we were relaxing on our couch and the girls wanted to do a makeover on me so I let them it took Atazia about an hour to put all the berets and hair things she has in my hair and Kristy helps somewhat she had a funner time doing her own hair..
Chad was home for a week for the first time since Oct. It was wonderful to have him with us as we enjoyed our new home (hate the driveway... at this time we still haven't found anyone to help us yet.) We still haven't been able to make it to church yet because we keep getting snowed in therefore we can't get the van out. But in a way it's nice to snuggle by the fire and watch movies with the family. I still haven't got the kids back into school yet mainly because I still want a break and I'm not ready for the first week back with all the fights of why do I have to read, I don't want to do spelling words, MATH! So I'm putting it off knowing full well I can't stop the inevitable....

Wednesday afternoon we got some terrible news that chads sister Shelly (shes the glue of the family the one that holds everyone else together) has been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer she is due for surgery that following Monday. We were devastated of all the people in I know she is the most kind, giving and loving person. She cuts our hair and dresses our kids! Shes the best aunt, and sister anyone could hope for and we love her dearly... Her surgery on the following Monday goes well she had 6" taken out of her large intestine and her left ovary was taken out because it was the size of a grapefruit... She is now recuperating however she does have to have chemo! Our hearts and prayers go out to her we love her very much!

On Saturday January 15th at about 4:50pm! The kids come running into the house screaming that Skunkie our little dog is being attacked.. I'm thinking ... ok guys quite with the drama whats really happening until... They usher chad and I outside and low and behold the neighbors two hound dogs are using skunk as a tug-of-war toy.. As soon as I see it I freak out and Chad takes off on the snowmobile gets there and has to fight off the dogs... At first Chad thinks he's to late but then he sees skunk blink and yells at me to get the van started I do and do a mad dash to get all the kids into the car turn off the stove ( I was making dinner) and get towels to keep skunkie warm and to try and stop all the bleeding. By the time chad gets to the van with skunkie we are all buckled in and ready Chad hands me skunk and I wrap him in the towels.. he isn't moving and barley breathing it's a 30 min drive to the vet but we make it there in 15 mins and when the vet sees him he can't believe he's made it this far they sedate him soon after and let us know that he'll have surgery in a couple of hours there's nothing more we can do for our baby so we all say a family prayer in the van that skunkie will be ok and then head home.. Its an understatement to say I was upset.. I was shaken and all I could see was those two dogs tearing skunkie apart, my throat is very sore from all the yelling I did and we all are very distraught and traumatized ... By 10:30pm the doctor calls and tells us that skunkie is out of surgery and they found that he had three puncture holes in his stomach and two in his wind pipe, blood in his lungs and he may be getting pneumonia.. I didn't sleep well that night and neither did the rest of us except Kristy who didn't really know whats going on other than skunkie is at the doctors.. Early Sunday morning Chad leaves for work and I wake up with an awful sore throat and a head ache and once again we're snowed in so I can't even go to church... At about 9 that morning I can't stand it any longer and call the vet and find out skunkie made it through the night but they found another tare across the top of his neck and a puncture hole under his back leg. But other than that they say he is doing pretty good he ate and perked up when he saw the dr.. But by that afternoon the doctor calls me again saying that skunkie has turned for the worse and that if we can to come see him because he may not make it through the night.. I break down crying we can't go because I can't get out of the stupid drive way and to make matters worse it's been so warm that day that the Garage is starting to fill with water and the food storage room is flooding too in fact I already had to throw some perishables away because they got wet, and I feel like crap but I try to ignore it. I feel like crawling into a hole and staying there a while, so i can cry myself out the last two weeks have been trying with moving and packing everything If i didn't have my brothers help I probably would be a bigger mess... But i don't instead I tell the kids what's going on and qwade starts falling apart but atazia goes into the living room and kneels down and in her 5yr old way she says we need to pray because Heavenly Father loves skunkie too. We do and it's simple and sweet it brings tears to my eyes.. Once again I'm shown that my kids do listen and are learning, I send my own little prayer of gratitude for this moment and thank my father in heaven for the lessons I'm learning.. Once again I didn't sleep that night I was just too worried about skunkie and by the next morning I feel just awful but I try to ignore it (it doesn't work very well) the vet called me at 8:30am and I thought for sure it was to tell me that skunkie passed away so I brace myself and answer the phone. The voice on the other end is so full of smiles (you can tell by the sound of the voice) the vet tells me that skunkie is doing so well in fact that we can bring him home that afternoon I say What are you serious and he laughs and says yeah that not only is he doing so well but he is even playing a bit. My heart sores and i hang up the phone and tell the kids they are all yelling Yahoos and then before we leave we say our family prayer and this time qwade is saying thank you at least 6 times it seems that's the only thing he can think to say but i feel that the lord is ok with that this time I smile to myself.. We head out and go pick up our baby We are happy and so is skunkie as soon as he sees me he wags his tail and tries to get out of the dr. arms he is happy...

As you can see those dogs tore him up pretty good it's a miracle that hes alive and doing so well.. However when we got home we had another problem waiting for us... The basement has started to leak and the carpet is all wet by the evening its about 10' long by 8' wide! This stinks!! Why does all this stuff have to happen all at once!! ERR when I see it I'm so overwhelmed I just sit on the stairs and cry I want my husband home.... After a few mins I stop feeling sorry for myself and make some phone calls and a couple of guys come over from our ward ( I found out who the bishop was and called him who inturn made some calls) and helped me clean it up and put a fan on it. It took a week to dry it up but luckily it's been cold enough again that nothing has melted.. (I'm so not looking forward to spring) By the end of the week after tanking up on Cayenne and Garlic I'm feeling much much better! Its Sunday again and this time we can go to church (we found someone who has a tractor and they dug us out so we could go) The ward is very very small about 60 families or so! But I like it and so do the kids.. The kids make friends right away and I learn a few names and get some phone numbers.. By the time I get home I'm not feeling so alone anymore in fact I feel happy and the spirit confirms we are on the right track... I smile to my self! Life is good and we are blessed...