They say you always have one child just like yourself

Madison is "my" child. I have to say I am quit entertained by her intelligence and logic. She cracks us all up. It is very difficult to have an argument with her. And, she does not settle for "...because I said so." Her brain is in a different sphere. Here are some examples.
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MADI: Mom, I would like ice cream for breakfast.
ME: No, Madi. Ice cream is not good for your body.
MADI: It is too good for my body! My body loves it.
ME: Madi, you don't understand health and nutrition. You don't know what you're talking about.
MADI: (insulted) I do to understand! It is good. I know it's good. It has chocolate chips in it.
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ME: Hablo Espanol un pequita. Do you know what I said? I said I speak Spanish a little.
MADI: Don't talk like that. Spanish is a bad word.
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During our closing prayer, while the missionaries were over Madison walked into the room. In a LOUD whisper she said: What are they doing, Mom?
ME: They're praying.
MADI: Oh...for you? (As if I needed some prayers)
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This is in reference to her favorite movie, Land Before Time.
MADI: Mom, Cera's dad is very angry. He is always mad. I should teach him to be nice.
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MADI: Grandma, when are you going to take me on a hot date?
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I was trying to get Lane to watch Porter pee on the toilet. They were both standing there naked (getting ready to take a bath). I was explaining to Lane what Porter was doing. Then I put him on the toilet. I could see Madison watching us. She has always had a litte penis envy. She still doesn't understand why she doesn't have one. So I know her little mind was tick-tocking. When we were done she hopped up on the toilet and announced, "Oh yeah! Look what my vagina can do!" (Has anyone in the history of the world EVER said that?
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I know she has more. She says stuff every day that cracks me up.

Confessions of a Binky Addict

Porter has found some old binky's. My goodness, when we got him to "give up" the binky, we had to pry the binkies from his cold, dead hands to get him to quit. We got rid of all of them. Somehow he found some. Poor Lane never got to enjoy the bliss of a binky because Porter was, I mean IS, so addicted to them he would steal them. He has even taken them from other babies. Early signs of addiction tendencies. Oh no! Hope this is not a sign of future problems.

He "disappeared" for awhile and I could not find him in the house. I was calling his name and looking for him. I finally found him--curled up on the bathroom floor--with the binky he found.

This video clip is of me trying to get Porter to admit he has a problem. Because admitting you have a problem is the first step. It's funny.

Water Park

We have been talking about taking the kids to a water park all summer and of course, just never got around too it. It's still blazing hot in Vegas in September so I took them to a park less than 5 miles from our house. It was a perfect recommendation from my FIL, Wayne. Thanks! Brant was out of town helping with a car show. We had a good time. I would love to go there again.

New Blog Just for Ari

I am realizing there is such an important journey to document, that the entirety of it does not belong on my blog. I want to have a special blog for Ari. Please encourage and share the address with anyone who wants to keep up with her. And, please, remember to pray for her. I know the power of prayer works. She needs a whole of prayers if she is going to make it. The new address is: www.prayforari.blogspot.com

ARI: Thanks for the prayers

I have heard so many wonderful supportive thoughts from so many people. You certainly learn how far your web of life spans when there is a crisis. I am thankful to so many of our "Page" family who has sent me notes. I will forward them to Travis and Haley. Though the Page people have spread out across the globe, they are always so close and tight knit. Thank you to everyone. And please...don't stop praying. Miracles can happen. Also, please share this blog address with anyone you know who many know Travis and Haley and would like to join in praying on their behalf.

Ari: Comments from Donalyn

September 8, 2009 10:37 AM. From DONALYN (LANE) SHOCK: Liz, one of the first signs was the break out on her head back in May or June. Remember at the Family reunion? Haley took her to a Dr. and he said it was Cradle Cap and gave her medicine. But, it never cleared up. I think Haley took her in a secound time but you will need to double check that.
Anyway the doctors at Primary Children's Hospital said that would have been one of the first signs of this LCH. Travis told me last night that there are only about 50 cases of this in the US. It is so rare, that is why doctors miss it. When Travis and Haley can, I would like to see them put something together with all the symptoms. We can email the information around to everyone to help bring more awareness. Also, to help make the doctors more aware of it. If the doctors could have caught this earlier her case could be much better. It is just so new so they don't know.
Thanks for doing the blog so people can keep up on everything. Travis had me bring the kids up there so Him and Haley could come outside and see them. It was good for the kids to see them and be able to ask questions. They had a really good visit. I may have a few pictures that I can forward you.

Ari's Updates for Monday

Monday, September 7. 10:06 a.m. VICKI: This is what the swelling is from. FWD: (from Mom) Partly the steroids and her liver is enlarged.

Monday, September 7. 9:49 a.m. VICKI: Much better night. The drs. said she is stable. Mom said for the next few days there won't be much news unless she turns for the worse because they are doing a low grade chemo on her. It will take 2-3 days before they know if it's helping. At that point if it's not working then they have to do an aggressive high dose chemo. So hopefully no turns for the worse. I'm finding out why she is swollen. Mom hasn't text me back on that one. Oh and they can't give her tylenol anymore for the pain because her liver is too enlarged and struggling.

Ari's Update

For those of you who don't know, my brother Travis' daughter, Ari, has been diagnosed with LCH. She is currently in Primary Children's Hospital. They have so many people who care about them and are praying for them. I put the information on my blog so that those who would like, may read about how she is doing. Jaymi also summed up her history and condition really well...I won't try to recreate it. http://kingskourt.blogspot.com/

Her history as transmitted via text messages to the family. Most recent texts are posted first in the reading order:

Sunday, September 6. 11:01 a.m. VICKI: Bad night. She was moved to ICU. Her platelets are suppose to be 150. Hers are 8. She is having another blood transfusion. They did get the pick line in this morning. They are aggressively going to treat the LCH. They aren't waiting for anymore tests to come back. They said they are in emergency mode so they will start treatment without confirmations.

Saturday, September 5. 5:46 p.m. VICKI: The pick line was unsuccessful. They tried for over an hour, but her veins were too little. They couldn't get it in. They are going to try again in the morning so she's going back to getting poked every four hours. Mom said the poor thing falls asleep everytime right before they come in again.
Saturday, September 5. 1:21 p.m. VICKI: Ari is having a pick ?? placed at 3:00 I'm not familiar with it. But I guess they install a line in her that is like a tube that goes directly to her heart so when she has medication given to her she won't be poked everytime. My Mom said that her veins are so hard to find that it's been awful every time they have to give her medicien and right now that's every 4 hours. To have the pick installed is a surgery with general anesthesia, but it will be better for her.

Saturday, September 5. 9:58 a.m. VICKI: Drs. haven't said anything. but Ron was just reading about it. He said that he found a more medically based website (he kept reading words that I couldn't pronounce.) Anyway, it listed a spectrum of the cancer. The good end is a focal LCH where it has affected one area. That has an 80-90% survival. However multi-symptom (and the more symptoms you have the worse) is at the far end of the spectrum and it has a less than 50% survival rate because it gets into all of the organs and starts shutting them down. She has every single symptom...and she has the lesions on the brain, enlarged liver and spleen, and fluid in the lungs. My Mom said they asked one of the drs. last night what the chances of survival were and she wouldn't give them an answer.

Friday, September 4. 6:55 p.m. TRAVIS: http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/cancertype/childrenscancers/Typesofchildrenscancers/Langerhanscellhistiocytosis

Friday, September 4. 6:53 p.m. TRAVIS: If anyone wants to read up on what the doctors believe Ari has this site explains it the best. I will send it in the following text.

Friday, September 4, 2009 4:58 p.m.
VICKI (in Alaska): Well they have some answers. It's not leukemia it's actually worse. It's cancer and it's called LCH. They said it's really hard to explain it. The best thing they said to do is google LCH. She is scheduled for a cat scan tomorrow. They have to see where it has spread. It is treated with chemo but they didn't give any statistics.

Thursday, September 3, 2009 4:27 p.m. JAKE: Hey. We are breaking the fast now.

September 2, 2009 6:15 p.m.
HALEY: We are starting another fast for Ari. Her surgery is at 2:30 so we will end it at 5. Tell anyone you want. They think she has leukemia. Thanks.

Ari's Sedation prior to Pick Surgery

This is video of Ari getting her medication to be sedated before going into surgery. Haley is with her. We were able to watch her on Skype and my camera video taped my computer screen. The technology is pretty cool. I wish it was video of something different than this, but grateful to "be" there anyway.

And here's Lane...

He is such a happy kid...and a little mischievous. I am afraid he is going to be like Brant. He stuck and pair of suitcase keys into an outlet a couple of days ago and of course, threw the circuit. I was close enough to it that is sparked my arm. He loves his soft blankets. He STILL only has his front eight teeth. One is slowly coming through on his upper left side. He can say quite a few words: He says "Ma" for Mom and "Mam Mam" for Grandma. It sounds very close. Only a trained mother's ear would know the difference. He also can say on and off, outside, baba (bottle), and yea, that's about it. Not very verbal yet. He climbs like a monkey and can scale any cabinet. He can get on the kitchen counter from the floor--and the bathroom counter. Yesterday, he figured out how to climb into his height chair. He moved Isabella's walker (yes it has wheels) and climbed on it to get in the chair. And, he did this while Isabella was in the height chair.

Another accident streak for Madi

Madison, unfortunately, has my accident prone-ness. This black eye she is sporting is because she turned around too fast and ran into her own dresser. The other pink spots on her face are from getting into my permanent lipstick. It DOES NOT come off! It's horrible. It's like nail polish or something. Yesterday, she slipped on the patio and fell flat on the back of her head. She has a big goose egg. I'm sorry Madi, you get that from me.

I am thankful for the fleas

My visiting teacher once shared an incredible story she read in a book about the Holocaust. It was about two sisters who ended up in a concentration camp. One sister was humble, grateful, and full of faith in God’s plan for her. The other sister, though, was more like the rest of us—struggling to be thankful in the face of their horrible situation. Somehow, they managed to smuggle a Bible into the camp, and it became their lifeline. They loved reading from it together.

One day, as they were reading, the humble sister came across a passage that said to give thanks to God in all circumstances. The other sister couldn’t believe it. She asked, “How can we possibly be thankful for this?” But the humble sister started listing all the things they could be thankful for. She said they could be grateful that they were together when so many families had been separated. They could be thankful that they had smuggled the Bible in and could share the word of God with the other women in the camp. She was even thankful for being surrounded by so many other women because it gave them a chance to bring hope to others.

The other sister, still doubtful, shot back, “And what about the fleas? Are we supposed to be thankful for them too?” Their bunkhouse was infested with fleas, and every night, they’d crawl into bed and feel tiny bites on their legs. It seemed impossible to see any good in that.

But the humble sister, without hesitation, said, “Yes, even for the fleas. They are part of God’s plan, too.”

Later, when they were released from the camp, they learned something incredible. Their bunkhouse had been the only one with such a terrible flea problem, and because of it, the soldiers refused to enter. The fleas had kept them safe from the verbal and physical abuse that other prisoners endured. As awful as they seemed at the time, the fleas turned out to be a blessing.

This story really stuck with me and humbled me as I thought about my own complaints and murmuring. Maybe the trials we face—no matter how unpleasant—are actually protections we can’t see in the moment. It reminded me that God knows what each of us needs and that we have to trust Him, even when it’s hard.

Now, whenever life feels overwhelming, I remind myself of that story. I remind myself to be thankful for the fleas.

St. George Quickie

I took the kids over to St. George for a quick trip. We stayed at Travis' house Monday night and then came back on Tuesday night. Vicki and her family, along with Mom, Jaymi, Krew, Jay and Ashley Shock, also came down from Mt. Pleasant. And, of course, Kim was already in St. George. My kids had a blast with their cousins. They always have so much fun seeing them.
When we were getting ready to leave, the yard was full of kids. Some little neighborhood boy wandered into the crowd. I don't know where his parents were. He must have been about 2 years old. No one seemed to notice him or mind that he was there. He was just another kid. Porter came running up to me yelling, "Mom, come see! Come See!" He drug me over to the boy and said, "Look!" I said, "Yes, Porter I see him. But, we need to get ready to go." Porter said, "Can we take him home with us?" I had to laugh. I said, "Porter, I don't think his Mom would like us to do that."

Dinosaur Tracks

We went to St. George last week to hang out with family. I had a few meetings to go to. Haley and I took our kids to the Dinosaur Musuem. I have to say it wasn't a great place for small children, but I think they had fun anyway. It's more of an older-kid thing. We took them to the little park afterwards. They had fun.

I have been super-busy. Waiting to hear back on a possible job with Paul Mitchell as an Admissions Leader. I have a second interview on Saturday.

Better to give than to receive

I have been reading Deepak Chopra's, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. The book is amazing. It is a small book, but I have been reading is slowly and sometimes reading chapters over again. The last chapter I read was on The Law of Giving. It explains how we must always be giving to others. That does not necessarily mean that we give things or money. It can be a prayer given on behalf of someone. It can be kind words or compassion. Each chapter I read I have been trying absorb into my life. This past week I have been trying to "give" something to everyone I come in contact with. It really changes your mindset.
I took the kids to Jack-in-the-Box on Saturday. While there, I noticed how hard the front counter person was working. She was also running drive-thru. I've actually had to do that before and it is not fun! I'm sure some of you have to. The most frustrating thing is that the people coming through drive-thru don't realize how hard you're working and they're frustrated because you're not moving fast enough.
A group of senior citizens came in--and contrary to the nice old lady/man image that they're supposed to have--I am of the opinion that old people are onry and cranky. Anyway, this group was no exception. They all only wanted coffee. And, of course, they were frustrated that she didn't already have enough coffee made for all of them. (Like she would know the local Senior Center was taking a field trip.) Despite their mood, she was friendly and courteous to each one. Oh, and did I mention she looked at least 6 months pregnant?
Anyway, I thought I am going to tell her what a great job she is doing. Then, I thought, it would be even better if I wrote her a note. She could show it to people and hang on to it. So I scribbled a small paragraph to her. I walked past the counter to see her nametag. I wrote her name of the front of the napkin and left it with the cashier. (A guy came in to run front counter while we were there.)
I can only imagine how happy my note must have made her. I am not singing praises to myself--don't get me wrong. It just made me feel really good to take the time to give to someone else. It took me off of the focus of my own problems and helped me to see that someone else was working harder than I was. I guess I bring this up today, because I want to share with everyone the opportunity to give to others. It is such a wonderful thing. I hope everyone will practice the Law of Giving more. Once you start doing it, it can be hard to stop. And, the best part is, I believe the giver gets more than the receiver. It is true that it is better to give than to receive.