Another Blessing

Update from my previous post on Avram:
 He didn't tear his ACL!
He has a serious contusion and fluid on his knee but...

1. With some rest
2. Physical therapy
3. and a little time

He will heal and be able to play football and basketball this year!

Greatest blessing

After such a depressing post earlier this week I’m thrilled about entering this post. Briggs has been at EFY this week.  We send out kids there without friends and we have seen such amazing results.  

Before o took Briggs to EFY I told Adam we have to figure out a way to help Briggs have a good attitude because he is my child that gets home sick the easiest and I knew when I dropped him off it would be extremely emotional.  Adam talked to Briggs and offered him a couple hours of video games each week if he had a positive attitude and didn’t give me a hard time about going.  Briggs is a addict when it comes to video games so he immediately perked up and I didn’t struggle at all dropping him off. 

Surprisingly, we didn’t hear from Briggs all week. I sent him a text on Wednesday saying, “I hope you are having a good time.”  Adam went him a text Thursday saying, “he loved and missed him.” 

We were really happy he wasn’t calling because we figured no news meant good news. 

Thursday night about 10:50 pm we got a call from Briggs.  I almost didn’t recognize his voice.  He was so happy!  He could talk fast enough.  He just kept going on and on about all the things he has learned and how amazing the spirit has been.  He said he has never felt the spirit so strong.  He was telling us scriptures he had learned, videos he had seen, and things he had done.  

I can’t begin to express the joy I felt hearing him talk about a meeting he had just gone to and he learned how much the Lord lived loved him.  

This was by far one of the greatest moments of parenting when you hear the testimony of your child. 

Broken Dreams

As you know Adam and I both played sports growing up and after years of encouraging our children to play we gave up and realized all we care about is that our kids are happy and productive and achieving their own goals.  All of our kids have the coordination and abilities to be great athletes but none of them had the drive or desire.
Adam and I have immersed ourselves into dinosaurs, theater, ballroom, gymnastics, karate, etc.  we love watching our kids find success in the things they love.  A couple of years ago the coach at Avrams jr high talked him into playing basketball, honestly just because he needed someone tall on the team.  This was at an autistic school so being on this team just meant you tried to catch the ball, throw it toward the hoop and wanted to have fun.  It was painful going to the games because we just cheered if a basket was made we cheered as if a championship was won.  Avram played the game simply because his friends played but he was always on the verge of quitting because he really didn’t love it.
Adam had learned not to get too excited or to give him any pointers in basketball because that would just discourage Avram so we just sat back and watched and accepted that this would be the extent of sports.
About 1 1/2 years ago something clicked with Avram and he took his autistic brain and honed in on basketball and football.  He begged me to play football last year and I broke down and let him play.
The desire had hit, physically Avram already possessed natural talent and things took off.  It was so fun watching Avram play football!  Once football season ended, Avram was now at a regular jr high, he made the basketball team.  Durning basketball season avram began seeing his team mates succeed from some coaching from Adam and he came to Adam and asked for help.  This was like a dream come true and Adam and Avram began to work together in basketball.  In the past year Avram has improved so quickly that he is out playing many of the boys that have been playing comp basketball for years.
We sent Avram to the WX basket ball camp this month and the coaches couldn’t believe the kid that had just walked on their court.  It was obvious he needed some fine tuning but it was like finding a gold mine. They talked him into going to a week long camp in St George this week.
In the mean time Avram began working out with the football team.  The football coaches we ecstatic to see Avram.  They knew about him from last year and were so excited to get him on the team. The coaches couldn’t say enough good about him and they began threatening the seniors that this 10th grade was going to take their spot.
Adam took Avram to his basketball camp down in St George with the intentions to drop him off watch a couple games and come home the next day. Adam couldn’t leave once he started watching and he was living the dream he had always imagined with his kids.

I started getting texts like this:



When Adam and I would talk it was hard to not get too excited.  I guess one game Avram took an elbow to the face and got a pretty bad bloody nose but overall things seemed to get better each game.  I was so jealous I couldn’t be there to watch the games.  This was like a dream come true!

Adam sent me a few clips each game but it was never enough.  Last night at the end of Avrams 3rd game that day Adam sent me this clip:


My heart sank...

Adam and Avram are leaving the camp 3 days early.  We have an appointment set up with an orthopedic surgeon later today and signs are pointing toward an ACL tear.  

I don’t have more to say until I find out more...

Don't slow down

I can not believe we are almost done with the school year.
Briggs had one final ballroom competition.

We also had the ballroom end of the year banquet.  Adam and I made smoked pork for everyone for the banquet.

Ila had her final school performance.  And they show off the kids art.

Legacy puts together a special breakfast for the 9th graders and they have all the parents bring in a poster to be hung in the lunch room/gym.

For Memorial Day weekend we drove up to Island Park Idaho.  We have bought a lot and we are planning to build a rental cabin on it.  We wanted to see if the weather was good enough to start work.  We probably won't finish the cabin this year so we are just trying to get the exterior done before the snow comes.
While we were camping we did some fishing, shooting and we went to Yellow Stone.

This is our lot

This is Yellow Stone ...



There were a lot of animals and tons of baby animals.

The trip was a little cold and wet but it was still fun.  Unfortunately when we were packing up to go home Briggs was using a power tool and slipped and hit himself in the chin.  On the way home we had to stop by the Rexburg Insta care for some stitches.

Get a Job

An interesting opportunity came up this past month.  Jake told me about an online job through BYU pathway.  It was a great part time job and I would be doing something I really enjoy and believe in while also serving others.  I went back and forth on the job until finally I decided I would apply.  I had a couple of interviews and had started the process to getting hired.  Ideally one would look at my life and think of course I could pick up a part time job while my kids were in school.  Ila will be going into 4th grade this coming year.  I would even have summers off.  My callings in church are youth Sunday school teacher and Im on the RS activity committee.  Even as I type this it is almost baffling why I can't work out my schedule to pick a 20 hours of work.
I started thinking about the kinds of things I have been involved in this past year:
Both my boys receiving their Eagle Scout award


Countless hours sewing costumes, making food and attending performances for ballroom.

The food I have prepared and served for the kids.  More importantly the relationships built with my kids peers while I fed them.






The school projects/ reports I have helped with.
(This is the model Ila and I used for her diorama)

The homework assignments I have done with my kids.  The communication and involvement I have had with my kids teachers

And the play that I helped with by feeding kids, running concessions and most importantly helping Briggs prepare to get this part and perform it.


I know all these things are above and beyond what I "have" to do as a mother but this is the only time I will be able to do these things.  So I turned down the job and decided to keep my focus on my kids.  
I haven't mentioned the summer lawn jobs I get to help my boys with each week (5 hrs of time) and the summer school classes I will be doing with my boys.