Michaela's Confirmation

Michaela was confirmed on May 19th, Pentecost Sunday.  This year has been filled with discernment and opportunities to practice her faith in many new areas.  She was filled with anxiety as she had to choose a Confirmation sponsor.  After prayer, a sponsor seemingly fell into her lap and has been a wonderful influence in this difficult teenage year!  I have a tendency to tell her to, "just figure things out" during difficulties with friends, where Darcy has solid advice, spiritual as well as tangible.
Thank you, Jesus, for a Godly woman's influence in my daughter's life.
Thank you, Holy Spirit , for entering Michaela's life in a new way and for her being open to You.

Michaela and Mrs. Kreamer

Our wonderful bishop ~

The new Confirmandi preparing for a picture with the Bishop

Grams, Gramps & Michaela

All the littles were ready to help with presents

Michaela, her godmother and her Confirmation sponsor ~

Welcome to the Church, Michaela!

Insight From a Mom

This was sent to me earlier this week. I have been reading and rereading it.  Whatever prompted me to ask if this person had felt overwhelmed is beyond me.  Maybe I needed some consolation that I wasn't completely abnormal! 


Dear Allison,

After you asked me this morning if I ever felt overwhelmed, many random thoughts went through my head.

(With humor)

Overwhelmed!?! 

4 babies in 3 years!  5 in 5 years!  3 in 18 mos! 

One delivered 3 weeks after moving to MT, building a house, building a business!

Cancer surgery, chemo and

surprise!  another pregnancy and baby.

a miscarriage.

and another baby 18+ years after the first, with 5 teenagers in the house!

Yes. I have been overwhelmed many times!  Only by the Grace of God have we survived and even thrived.

(A good sense of humor helps too, though there have been many tears as well.)

Few understand what it’s like to be up in the middle of the night with a nursing baby and teenagers.

The feeling of being stretched is an understatement.  The devil makes one feel inadequate because you are physically and emotionally exhausted.

God has a greater plan than mine, so I have to continually trust He will make good out of my mess if I offer it to Him.

I do know that a lot has to give, a lot has to change in order to maintain peace.  Nothing will ever be “forever” because a family isn’t stagnant.

It is always changing and the needs are too.  What the younger ones experience is totally different than the older ones.  And both can be good.

Even our “traditions” have changed and adapted.  Life moves on and the younger ones live life in an older crowd and sometimes in their shadows.  I am constantly learning to let go of my expectations of what my family should look like as a whole or what each should experience.

Father Eric once said (and at the time I didn’t appreciate it)  “Family is messy.”  But messy can be beautiful in the eyes of God, if it brings us closer to Him.

Humility and Charity....we need both to keep us on the path to heaven and kids have a way of bringing out the best and worst in us.

(Husbands too!!)

Then the grandchildren come before the nest is empty.....another season....Forever a mother.

And to think this all began with a hug!

I would do it over in a heartbeat.  So many graces.   I do love being a mother and am so thankful I am and was able to stay home with my kids, even when our finances were tight.

Father Stu Part 2

While walking into the nursing home to write with Father last week, I thought of the first time I came and visited him.  How difficult it was to face the reality of end-of-life care.  Those first times, all I could see was myself in the future confined to a wheelchair, a walker or lying in my room, forgotten.   I would beeline down the hall to his room, hastily meeting the eyes of the residents that searched my face with quiet desperation.  Fear of the future has been the worst part of having MS and here I had to confront it.  Slowly, Father helped me see the the beauty of having to depend on others.

As Father and I became better friends he has asked me to do things, basic care, that we take completely for granted.  To preface, I am am rather averse to bodily fluids, smells, sights, sounds....you name it.  Despite being the mother of many children, affection is a struggle for me.  Father has helped me stretch and grow in what my natural tendencies are. The first time he asked me to wash his face, "Just scrub it real good and get everything off my lips," I was afraid of hurting him and slightly repulsed.  But, I scrubbed, and scrubbed it well!  "You are obviously a Mom," he said.

Then, there was the time he had me clip his nails.
"Heaven help me," I thought, "What if one shoots off and hits me in the face?"
But, none did and he was happy with the end results.

There has been the eating episodes with him.  He has slowly lost the ability to even feed himself with a struggle.  So, I feed him.  I am terrified of his choking and dying right there in front of me...what kind of crime could I be charged with?  And heaven help me if he accidentally bit my finger.

The small things we take for granted, he often has to ask for assistance with.  "Please hold my hand to my face.  I just want to be able to scratch my own darn face!"  Imagine sitting there all day, unable to scratch an itch.  Or when he is unable to cough effectively, hanging over his sink, hoping to expel something from his chest as he coughs weakly.  "Just pound on my back."  And so I thump away.

How fortunate we are, our health is precious.  But there is a beauty in relying on others.  If we truly believe that we are the Body of Christ, shouldn't the arm (me) be willing to hold the hand (Father Stu) with love and dignity as though it is its own?   Shouldn't I want to kneel beside a lady in a wheelchair and shout out a story for her now that her hearing is nearly gone?  Shouldn't my children be exposed to beauty in life in all its stages?

Now, every time I walk into his care center, I am surrounded by the Face of God.  Not that I still don't feel  fear at the thought of a wheelchair in my future, but with the help of the entire Body it would be okay, maybe not pleasant, but another opportunity to grow.

Thank you, Father, for being part of my life!

Coming December 2013.....

I began this post weeks ago. I wanted to tell everyone about our new arrival, yet still desired to hold it close to our hearts, protecting he/she from the world, letting this be our hidden treasure.

And maybe I am afraid of what people will say.
"Holy cow, eight children! Don't you know what causes that?"
"Was this planned?"
"How do you do it? I could never have that many children!"

Shannon keeps reminding me, "We are not a target. We will be a beacon. We are a beacon."
I wish I shared his perspective as deeply.  I wish I could take comments and deflect them as he does, but they get my barbs up.
Really up.
He always has a calm, cool response that makes the commenter blush.  Heck, they make me blush when he relates the conversations to me!  Then, he will launch into a mini-sermon about the beauty of life.  This is not the guy I married...this is someone way better!

Anyhooo ~ just a bit of a catch-up from the last couple months.

3/28
We discovered #8 would be on the way right before Easter.  What a way to celebrate the gift of life our Lord gave to us on that first Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  I can't wait to hold a new baby right before Christmas. We'll be able to do a complete manger scene this year!

4/27
Shannon took the little boys and I out to dinner last night to celebrate.  While biking with Mom the next day she asked what we were celebrating.
I responded, "He said we were celebrating our new baby and some business meetings that went well."
She laughed, "Oh, that Shannon!"
And that was it.
I guess she'll have to wait to get the news in a more direct manner ~:o)

4/28
Ahhhh, nausea, I love you so.  Sounds sick, huh?  Well, whenever I feel the waves of nausea sweeping over me I tell myself it is a good sign.  The one pregnancy I didn't feel it didn't end up so well.
Thank you, Father, for this small sign that everything is going well when I cannot see it!
But the fatigue.
My daughters are going to begin wondering why Mom needs more naps than Grandma!  Shannon keeps emphasizing how poorly I have been sleeping.  Hopefully, I can hide behind that story for a while longer.

5/1
Shannon says he is going to begin having breakfast in bed.  He will keep a dozen eggs and some bacon  next to the bed and fry them on my back in the morning.
I'm that hot....and not in a good way!
I don't recall being quite this overheated in prior pregnancies.  Heaven help me come July.  I'll be found in some deep dark watering hole on some creek.  At least the kids will be happy.  They love swimming all day, every day.  We'll just bag dinner and eat Cheerios, milk, and fruit for the summer.

5/8
Today while on FB there was an announcement that the local pregnancy resource center needed pregnant women in their early pregnancies to use for ultrasound training.  Yay! That's me!  Shannon told the girls that they simply needed women to practice on to teach their volunteers about the machines so they had asked me to help out and told the girls they could go with me next Thursday.
Little white lies ~

5/14
We hiked Mt. Helena  today.  I have decided that I am going to feel cruddy sitting on the couch or hiking, biking, running, so I may as well get after it. I wore a Life is Good tee Shannon bought me that said, "Zero Tasking" on the front with a lady holding a glass of lemonade.  Every time I glanced down to see if my feet were making any progress while Nickles perched on my shoulders, my shirt was a cruel reminder that we had left our water in the car and this was certainly no afternoon in a lawn chair!
Zero Tasking???
I am expecting my eighth cherub, that is nowhere in my future.

Rest time ~

My legs hurt!

My tummy hurts.

My tooooooes hurt!
This was the 100 yards that he walked on his own.

It all came together for me about where Dom has been getting his info on the devil 

and why he thinks the devil lives in Helena.  

This cave is named The Devil's Kitchen...

that, coupled with watching too many Loony Tunes this spring,

I think I have most of his questions dialed...
or at least their origins!

5/15
This morning I am going to try to walk/run off this ill feeling.  Maybe if I go fast enough I can leave it in the dust!  Maybe I can even find some energy under a rock so I don't nap all day.  It's pretty bad when your husband returns in the evening and you have bedhead.
I keep telling myself pregnancy is only 9 months and billions of women have done this, so I'd better offer it up and look forward to the end result, while enjoying nurturing a small creation within me.
And I have given enough friends this advice so I'd better walk the talk.

5/16
We had the ultrasound this afternoon.  The older girls knew, or so they claimed.  Annika was surprised, however.  The techs kept referring to the baby as "him."  I'd hear Annika under her breath correct them, "Her."  Annika called Daddy afterwards and told him, then asked later if I thought Daddy had blown the secret yet.
It's amazing to see a little baby twisting and turning and waving its arms.  To think that this is a common gestational age for babies to be aborted makes my heart sink.  This little "mass of cells" is so perfectly arranged, how could we fool ourselves that it is okay to kill him or her?  Truly, we are all simply a mass of cells but a mass of cells that is so intricately arranged that only a Creator could have knitted us together so perfectly.

The beauty of life, its perfection, blows me away.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Uncle Steve, we were thinking of you when we came up with an in-utero baby name for our latest edition!

Introducing "Shazzam Bell."

Mother's Day

Several years ago we went on a little canoe trip for Mother's Day. Mom and I enjoyed it so much we asked if we could do it again this year.  It was glorious.  Windless day. Warm.  Snowy mountain peaks in the distance.  Birds singing. Perfect in every way.

One of Uncle Joey's friends joined us and made the day a riotous good time for the older kids.  They weren't in the water for 15 minutes before they were drenched, much to my dismay.  We were planning on going to a brunch following and it just wouldn't be appropriate to stagger in, dripping water.   They had enough time to dry off afterward and, other than some slightly dirty clothes, were none the worse for the wear.

Uncle Ben & Nickles

I told Joshie, "No frogs."

As soon as he begins looking for creatures it becomes a mission

and he ends up chasing them through muddy swamps.

But, how can you help it when they are right there in the water and his eyes just happen to spot them?

Divvying up the canoes ~

This canoe looks like it is going to have too much fun,

look at their suspicious faces....

Then, there is the precious canoe

with precious Halle and Annika too.

Nickles insisted on rowing most of the way,

of course that's when he wasn't looking for fish.

What an innocent group...

Then, things got wild.

the next time I saw them they were drenched.

", whistle why they work...."

Drying off  in the sunshine ~

The Family ~

Mom was feeling empty-lapped without a baby, so Ben accommodated ~

He kinda looks like a baby.

My five-year-old needed something to do, so I gave him the camera ~

They make the best photographers!

Mom's smile and Annika ~

New green grass sprouting through last year's old grass ~

Uncle Ben trying to intimidate someone ~

Daddy taking a nap ~

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy 8th Birthday Annika

The birthday season begins!

Happy Birthday Annika.  What a delight you are to our family.  You are typically excited to do anything with anyone.  You love your older sisters and being doted upon by them, but you are always up for what the boys are doing.  A bit of a competitive streak runs through you!  You are always excited to go to work with Daddy,if only for the donuts he is sure to buy.  And a good book on the couch with Mom is right up your alley any day of the week.

I love you, my big 8-year-old!

Reading the treasure map from your brothers ~

Found the first clue ~

On to the second ~

What could they possibly have in mind at the pond??

The treasure has been found...

but not before a curious rock chuck got into it!

What could Auntie Margaret have sent?

Sweets???

And now for a humongous breath of air for ALL these candles!

Fire Season

Fire fighting is a spectator sport in our family.  Today when a fire started a couple miles from our home, Mom called to say that they were dipping water from their pond. Michaela was already down there. In a moment of excitement, she and Grandma ran down to the pond to get a super close look as the heli's swept down to fill their buckets.  Talk about up close and personal, the chopper was about 75 feet away as they scooped water up!  Grandma is so brave!
I was not so much fun and the rest of us stayed up at Mom's house to watch the excitement.

Nickles wasn't feeling too good, but this was exciting!

Michaela has changed her mind, her latest career interest is 

becoming a helicopter pilot.

Oh dear ~

"Mom, wouldn't it be fun to ride in the bucket!"

Fishin' Montana style!

There goes Dad's water and maybe some of his fish!

The biggest sky ever!

Spring has SPRUNG!

It is finally here, not to say that there won't be more (God forbid) snow, but for the most part the seasons have changed!

Yay! 

The bad part is the kids think we should be swimming in the pond now....brrrr.  We'll try to hold off on that for a bit longer.