Life is beautiful...

I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! I know that's not a new idea I'm sharing, but I have to say it again. Listening to President Monson conclude this morning's session with a reminder of the importance of not just feeling gratitude, but expressing it was probably why I decided to jump on here between sessions. I need to say how grateful I am for the wonderful things in my life...

I have an awesome husband. He works so hard and sacrifices much to make a living that allows our family to have a sweet home in an amazing location. The picture above was taken out my back door a couple evenings ago. This beauty is literally right outside my door. And Glenn has volunteered to spend MANY HOURS each week commuting so our family can enjoy this. He is awesomel!

I have 4 spectacular kids. Drew and Zac are both attending community college right now. They're totally the youngest in their classes (since Drew should be a HS Senior and Zac a Junior), but both are academically at the top of their classes. As much as I appreciate that, I'm even happier to know they're both a great example to their classmates. And they, along with Matt, willingly get up before 6AM 5 days a week to attend Seminary. Because of the effort my boys put into developing their talents, our home is filled with music... I love hearing them playing the piano, keyboard or guitar (the drums are ok, too, it's just not the same). As I sit here typing, Matt's working on some of his drawing on the computer. I'm always impressed at his creations and especially appreciate the times he asks Sarah what she wants him to draw... he is so considerate of her. Sarah is our ray of sunshine. She can be a bit on the sassy side sometimes, but is quick to give hugs and tell us she loves us. She even asked Drew to marry her this last week. [Don't worry, we're explaining why that can't happen.] Being the mom to these 4 exceptional individuals has enriched my life beyond measure.

Glenn, the kids and I are all healthy... an immeasurable blessing. We live in a land of unparalleled freedom, thanks to the sacrifices of family friends and people we don't even know. I live in a time of technological wonders and benefit daily from their application in my life. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ reminding me always of how much I have to be grateful for and what's truly important.

Life is beautiful and I am grateful.

We can rebuild him...better...stronger...faster?

Ok ...that reference may have meant nothing to anyone younger than me (see here to get it), but Matthew's x-ray totally made me think of Steve Austin (NOT the wrestler/ actor-- follow the link above if you are confused). For those who can't tell from the picture, Matthew's now sporting an assortment of 3 plates and 9 screws in his left leg. And while I know it won't cost us anywhere near Six Million Dollars, it isn't going to be cheap.<sigh>

The great news is that after over 4 hours of surgery and a hospital stay of almost 3 days, Matthew was able to return home with all the hardware in place to help his tibia and fibula heal. The not so good news is he was still in a fair amount of pain for another week or more. It's only been the last few days (and we're now almost 4 weeks post-op) that he's really seeming to be pain-free most of the time and having an easier time getting around on his own. He's still on crutches... which are far more glamorous than the walker he was stuck with for the first week and a half.

At his 10 day post-surgical visit, the doctor removed the temp cast/ hard splint (ie plaster that didn't go all the way around his leg) and told him to pick his cast color. Being a unique sort of fellow, Matthew chose the rare option of day-glo orange. It looks great, as you can see. We've all had a lot of fun writing our pithy advice on the cast. Some of his RC friends even sent their remarks via text for Zac to write in proxy. He still has some empty space, so feel free to send your words to me for adding to the "leg of fame."

We hope in another week or so to be out of the cast, but for now Matthew still needs to have his leg elevated when he's not moving around to be comfortable Happily, he can make it in and out of the bathroom on his own and has even started making/getting some of his own food again. He is doing so much better, which makes his mother's heart sing!

But does he really look faster? That'll have to come later, I guess.

Just don't say, "Give me a break."

Yeah, the picture's not really for the faint of heart or those with weak stomachs. So, sorry if that's you. But I thought the x-ray would kind of put everything in perspective...

It's been a kind of stressful last couple weeks at the Farr house.

We went under contract on a sweet little beach cottage March 29th... very exciting right? Did I mention it's only a half mile from the beach in Oceanside? It is small, but cute as a button. And if you love the vintage thing, this 1955 charmer has it in spades. What it also has is some problems. Not too surprising in an older home, but they were the kind of thing that required repairs before the bank would loan on the property. So we took a deep breath and said, ok-- slight delay, we can deal.

We would have liked life to ease up on the other usual stressors (job, church callings, parenting), and may have thought or even said, "Give me a break." Not a good idea, apparently. Those usual things kept coming at us, and then we got the call...

Matthew and Zachary went to the park with friends last Thursday evening. I remember thinking 7:30 was kind of late to go play on a school night, but since we're moving soon I hate for them to miss time with friends. It wasn't 20 minutes later that Zac called to say, "Matthew broke his leg." My initial reaction was disbelief, then Glenn and I dashed to the car to get him. A rather frantic drive to the closest ER (with a skateboard splint immobilizing the break) was followed by a LONG night/day in the hospital that ended with us being told surgery wouldn't happen 'till Monday at the soonest. Since this was an out-of-network hospital (you know the headache and wallet-drain that means), we opted to go home and see a doctor somewhere else.

Monday we saw a great doc at Cedars-Sinai, who scheduled surgery for Friday (tomorrow) morning. The interim has meant waiting on Matthew hand and foot (haha- NOT) while he lays on the couch. The break's too painful for even walking on crutches. It's been a long, tiring week, but the end is in sight. Tomorrow we'll head for Beverly Hills around 4 AM and he should have a cast in place before lunchtime. We'll return home Saturday morning.

Since work on the new house is done and we should be closing this next week, returning home will mean a whirlwind of final packing duties. And it, too, will be exhausting. But in a couple weeks, we'll be settling in to our new home, with ocean breezes wafting through the windows. And Matthew will be hobbling to the bathroom (and everywhere else) more or less on his own. Life will be assuming the familiar (though slightly altered) shape of normalcy.

And I will be far more careful about saying (or even thinking) "Give me a break."