still here...

...been sick
...been busy
...been exausted
...been poopy (in many ways)
...been active

...yes all of these things and more!
...i am gathering up all the photos and videos that i have taken...there are many!
...we will be back!!!

...a taste of what's to come...

birthday boy...

Get out your birthday hats,
blow up some balloons
and start singing some
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Yup, today is Ben's 32nd birthday!
He always says, "I am not getting old, just older!"

This man has my heart, he has my love, he has me!
This man is my best friend!
This man is the strongest most determined man I know!
This man desires nothing else but too be who God wants him to be!
This man is my hero!
This man has served his country well!
This man puts others before himself and always sees my needs!
This man is the man that I will always love!
This man will be healed!

I Got the Gift
It’s your birthday, but I’m the lucky lady
who got to be with you for another year.
It’s your birthday, and the older you get,
the more wonderful you become.
It’s your birthday, and I’m privileged to share the years with you.
It’s your birthday, and each year
I find the depth of my love for you growing.
It’s your birthday, and I look forward with joy
to each day we spend together.
It’s your birthday, and I wonder how I got along
for all the birthdays I didn’t know you.
It’s your birthday, and it’s amazing
how easy and enjoyable it is to be with you each day.
It’s your birthday, and no matter what fate has in store for us,
I know it will be a pleasure to spend life with you.
It’s your birthday, but I got the gift--
You in my life for another year.

Karl Fuchs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABES!

what a week...

In the last post that I wrote we were without power and I was updating if from my phone! Yes, my fingers were a lil sore after that post but I wanted to get something on to let people know we were ok and although there was crazy weather we were doing good. Well, I don't know if my fingers were sore from writing it or the fact that they were freezing from being out from under the covers!

I had told you we went to my brothers house Thursday so that we could be warm. We pretty much got home and went to bed so that we could be warm. I wrote the blog post, read by head lamp and watched as I could see my own breath in the air! It was coldy cold as Ben would say!

Just trying to stay warm...





Oh and at my brothers house we played some games. We played a new one that I don't remember what its called but it was good for Ben because it made him work on his fine motor skills. Pretty much you had to go around the table and put one of your rocks on the pile...goal is to not knock any down and if you do you have to take the rocks that fall down! It was fun and Ben did really well!







oh and remember how I told you that a branch hit the back of Ben's truck on the way back from my sisters house and that it didn't do any damage?? Well, I was wrong! I saw some damage the next day after all of the snow had fallen off. Praise Jesus it didn't hit closer to us or get Diesel in the back. Yes, we have a dent and some paint work coming...



When my lil brother went to test the roads the day after the big snow and ice storm and our power was out he delivered us some heat...



Just some of the craziness in our yard...











Diesel has been playing so hard in the snow the last few days that he has been sleeeeeeeeping alot...either that or he's going though a growth spurt...





Ben got some love from lil L who is loving people's faces right now...



I came home yesterday to Ben working on his vaccuming skills...first time eva!





Today Ben had a dental appointment. He was to have it last week but the snow kept us from it. We had to go to the dental clinic on post which was new to me but went really well. Ben hasn't been to the dentist since the accident and I don't remember when he was there before although I know he went. Ben did really well and got throught the whole thing just fine. The black glasses and why everyone has to wear them...no idea! Good news is Ben's teeth looked healthy and very lil plaque (no fair) so I guess me and the nurses did a good job caring for his teeth when he couldn't or when it was just with sponges. He does have 3 small cavities but they said that they could have been there pre accident but he just never had them taken care of. Bad news is that he has a part of his back tooth broken off which they thing was probably from the impact of hit but really not going to do anything about it. Other bad news...Ben's jaw is not good and may require jaw surgery, braces or a combo of both. He has always had a small overbite just from how his teeth are but it is huge now and he not only has an overbite but an open bite. When he bites down there is a huge gap. This for sure was not the case before the accident. Muscle weekness, intubation tubing, accident itself and so on has messed it up. He will get his fillings taken care of soon and then we will be referred to an ortho doc to see what they say...praying for no surgery but there are alot of positives to it as well. We shall see...






{yes, this is Ben biting down...bad}

Please pray because there are still alot of people here without power! My sister has been out since last Thursday and they are saying a few more days...she's even close to town! There are many others who are still patiently waiting! I can hear the wind howling now and am hoping that no one including us loses our power again!

Hopefully that is the last of our crazy weather and that tomorrow is in the 70's...a girl can hope right?!?!

right again...

So, I'm writing this from my phone because we're in the middle of an ice storm! We've mad the news big time! This time of the year it's usually the Midwest or east coast that gets all the attention but nope it's us north west folks!

The weather man said there was going to be an ice storm and just like before with the 14 in of snow he was right! Durn it...I would have liked him to be wrong!

We lost our power about 8am and Ben and I ate some breakfast to the morning light. He did some homework reading as I went out and scraped the truck in case we went anywhere. I also shoveled the sidewalk, again, to make sure there was a clear path for Ben. Came inside to a warm Starbucks coffee my brother delivered and then cleaned up the house a bit.

Ben beat me by one point in the game Sorry but I think he cheated...I want to think he did but of course he didn't!

As I looked outside I saw branches down everywhere. The trees were loaded with ice! Beautiful bit you didn't want to be standing anywhere near them! Remember in the last post how I said when we were coming home yesterday and a tree branch hit the back of the truck?? I didnt think that it did any damage until I saw it today...hopefully insurance will cover OT with no deductible!

Later in the afternoon we went to my older brothers house. He pretty much lives the furthest out of town but they had power! We chilled, ate and played games.

We are now home in bed with piles of blankets! Is it normal to see your breath when youre in your bed?? Well Ben must be warm and fine because he's currently talkin in his sleep and he never does this! I have candles lit and will be using a head lamp soon to read a bit as I warm up!

If I could move the candles closer to keepe from seeing my breath I would! We thought about a hotel but they either didn't have power or they were full!

Checked the power company am they said parts of the city were to dangerous to work on so expect to be out of pourer for 3-4 days! If this is the case I might just have to pack our bags and fly to Hawaii!! Seriously! A few positives is that we have hot water, our power bill will be cheaper...ha, I'm a money pincher when it comes to heat, and I can wear comfy clothes and no make-up for many days!!!

I haven't figured out how to post photos from my phone to the blog so I will update those later!

Pray we don't have to wait 3-4 days for power! If that's the case we may turn into icicles and yall will have to come defrost us! I am praying we will wake up in the morning and the house will be warm!!

the weather man...

We usually get snow a few times a year but only a couple of inches when it comes. We had an early snow I think back in November which was more of a dusting.
So around these places when the weather man says snow I usually say, "uh, ok..." Don't know if I can ever trust the weather man because around here the weather is just always weird and you can never tell what's going to go on especially when it comes to rain and snow! So, yes we have a weather man and yes he is often wrong...but lately he has been right!

Well, they have been predicting snow for a few days! It started coming down on Monday and this is what we woke up to and stayed around for the day...

{four inches or so}


Thank goodness for Ben's trusty, beasty truck...it is amazingly solid and I always feel safe driving it! When you have gone through something that we have you have to have a solid car to drive. The mini is solid but man oh man do I feel super safe in that truck! We will probably never (ever) own a small car again...



Oh and I had some chicken marinading for a day so I had to grill it and the snow was not going to stop me...



Weather man was saying that late last night and into this morning was going to be the worst and that the city we are in was to be the "bulls eye!" oh man! Well, again he was right and we woke up to this...

{14 inches!!}


{he didn't know what to do...just stood there}


HOLY BATMAN SNOW!!

I got out the shovel and made a path on the sidewalk and then swept the snow off the truck and moved it (good ole 4-wheel drive) to the driveway! I wanted this just in case we needed to get out of the house quickly or if anything came up with Ben. One of my sisters called and said her and my other sister were going to have a snow day at their house. So, we had something to do. We were going to ride with my sister but then we decided to drive Ben's truck in case we needed to come back early or any other issues that came up! The roads were full of snow but it was really easy to drive in! Glad that I have had some experience driving and then last year in NJ really helped!
I found it funny because the weather man said, "if you have never driven in the snow, today is not the day to start!" Seriously he should have never said that because it invited all the crazies out!

I only got one photo at my sisters house and it happened to be right when all the kids came in for lunch...



We took Diesel to my sisters house too. They have a dog so I figured instead of him sitting at home he could play with the kids and the dog! He LOVED it! We got home about 4 and he pretty much slept the rest of the afternoon and just took a break to eat!

We left my sisters house and the roads were fine until we hit the freeway! Not only were there crazy drivers (so frightful) but the snow had started to break up and then freeze. It felt as if we were riding on huge rocks of all various sizes...the we would get blasted by the stupid semi drivers!
Once we got back on the roads again and off the freeway it was much better. Then I saw it coming...a massive tree branch was falling down right as we were going under it. I didn't swerve because I knew that would cause us to slip so I just kept driving. I let out a big EEEEEKKKKK! It hit the back of the truck and I was like whoooshhh but then I remembered Diesel was back there! I checked in my rear view mirror and saw that he was close to the back window and that he was ok! Poor guy probably made the snow in the back of the truck yellow!

All in all we have had an eventful last few days! Ben has continued to have therapy all but today so for him it has been good. Ben gets bored easily when we don't do alot so having those therapies are great and just that we could go to my sisters house today to get out of the house is great! We do alot of things outside the house but on days like today I thought that we would not be going anywhere!

It was Ben's and my first snow adventure with walking with a walker in the snow! Ha, quite the show! Ben actually did really well and the snow packing under his feet really helped. He misses it so much! The fact that he cannot walk on his own just frustrates him so much! He will not give up on the ability to walk on his own and I won't either! I pray that when the snow comes next year that Ben will be sledding, snow boarding, driving and doing the things he loves when it comes to the winter months!

the open ocean...

"In all things it is better to HOPE than to despair..."

I was reading to Ben and myself over lunch the other day out of our Streams in the Desert devotional and came across the below. It wasn't the first part of the devotional that caught my attention but then end...

"A noted scientist, observing that the early sailors believed the coral-building animals instinctively built up the great reefs of the Atoll Islands in order to protect themselves in the inner waterway, has disproved his belief. He has shown these orgainisms can only live and thrive facing the open ocean in the highly oxygenated foam of the combative waves. It is commonly thought that the protected and easy life is the best way to live. Yet the lives of all the noblest and stongest people prove exactly the opposite and that the endurances of hardship is the making of the person. It is the factor that distinguises between merely existing and living a vigerous life. Hardship builds character."

There have been times, actually many, many times, where I have wanted to crawl into the reefs of the ocean and allow the water to just cover me and keep me protected from life and whatever else came our way. It is easy in there. There is protection from rough waters, from people, disappointments, and it would be easier to let the crashing waters pass over us and know that in those areas of reef that things would just be ok. As I read this though I realized that this was not the place where we are to live our lives. Ben and I are to face towards the ocean and grab life by the horns and hold on to the reef...Jesus. No, I am not going to go look for hardships, disappointments, failures and so on but I can at least fight against them when they come our way instead of hide from them.
It states that "the endurances of hardship is the making of a person." No, I don't want hardships, I don't need hardships, I don't want any more...we have enough already! No more hardships please. None of us like them but it seems like they do make a person and it does build character if you decide to deal with them and handle them correctly. You can see in peoples lives those that decide to face their hardships and those who simply give up. I don't want to give up. Ben doesn't want to give up. I pray that through all of this that God will continue to build character in my life, that I learn from all of these hardships that have been placed before me. I pray that I handle them right, that I handle them nobly and in those times that I am the woman of God that He has made me to be. The same goes for Ben too...man that guy is full of so much character, I don't know if he could get an ounce more!
Ok, that was my lesson for the week! May you glean from it too...love me some Streams in the Desert...so real for our lives!

On to some fun photos from our last weekish...

This past Friday one of Ben's therapist had to call sick so Ben and I just chilled in the morning and then we got to cleaning and doing some light therapy. Ben has been talking about "taking some weight off my shoulders" and so I had him start by mopping the floors! He did a really good job! He said next time he wants to try it standing up...we shall see. After mopping came lunch and then we did some stetching and ball work! Yes, we do have to give him a good neck stretch and yes, I am using my feet. Ben has such thick muscles that I have to use alot of my body just to get him a good stretch! Please also excuse the plaid PJ pants (they are Bens) and striped socks...it was a day off! A nap was in order for Ben after it all...












It's basketball season for my lil bro (who is finally playing again after a broken hand) and my two lil nephews...




Playing crib when my aunt and uncle were in town...Ben was the official peg mover...




It called for snow this weeked and tonight we got some and I think there is more to come. I have a love hate relationship with snow...




and we got some sunshine this week which brought with it a beautiful sunset...



i finally cleaned the fridge this week and found some good things to eat...




It has been cold, and so I have been of course drinking coffee of all kinds...




and a short video of Ben having his walker out in front of him and he has to walk to it. His therapist is just guiding him from behind and not doing much! Go God, go God!!



Just wanted to give you a few huge accomplishments from Ben this week too while he was at the gym...
Elliptical...15 min!
Sitting bike...32 min!
drum roll please....he leg pressed 200 pounds! 200!!! Like photo below...

ok and I ran Capital lake 3 times around only stopping to get my ear buds from the truck! That's 4.8 miles outside in 30 degree temps! I felt good after!
Big pats on the back for both Ben and I this week!

and I leave you with this...