Christmas footsteps

I am now a resident of Lewisburg, West Virginia. A West Virginian. I have one more trip back west just to load up the moving truck.  I can see how so many authors would find this area an easy place to write. It is quiet and with such beautiful scenery at every season. As if on cue for Christmas we are now dosed with a generous topping of white to highlight the decorations that were just waiting for the right effect to top it all off.

It is Sunday, but David is “on call”. For those of you who are not in the medical field, that means if there is anyone who shows up at the hospital day or night needing a Neurologist, his phone will ring and then most likely he will have to climb out of his nice warm bed, go out into the frozen night to see this patient. Seizures and strokes are like babies, they usually come in the night.

Today he got a call to go see a little 7 year old girl who had a seizure. As he left our nice quiet Sunday afternoon behind I didn’t mind at all for my loss of having my husband taken from me for a while. I like spending our quiet time together. We don’t get a lot of it these days, but as I kissed him goodbye and watched him go I couldn’t help but be so grateful that he was going to be able to take care of this little girl. I remembered my own feelings as a parent of my own little girl about that same age when she suffered her first seizure and how helpless and afraid I felt. I wanted to tell the parents of this little girl that they had a great doctor who would be helping their daughter and to tell them that everything was going to be ok.

With only a week before Christmas they were probably busy with gifts and Santa wishes yesterday. Their biggest worry was most likely how to get her to clean up her room.  Today all of that was put second as they sat in the hospital waiting while the ER doctor phoned my husband for his special expertise. This year their Christmas wish list would be only for a healthy daughter. Christmas takes on a different view when you are married to someone who takes care of the sick. I am proud of him for his unwavering compassion, his diligence in seeking out the solutions to complex medical problems, for his willingness to give up his comfort and time off to take care of the most fragile patients without complaint.

This holiday I have been trying to find some sort of service to provide in remembrance of my Savior who was my greatest gift. I had been thinking of the scripture in Matt 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Without family or friends around me this year at Christmas I wanted to focus on giving of my service to show my thankfulness for the gift of my Savior. I guess in my own way I can give some of this service as I support and allow my husband to be the healers’ hands of seven year old little girls and all those others that he is needed for. The savior was a healer too. I am lucky to have been blessed with a husband who wants to follow in those footsteps. Each of us are truly the Lord's hands here on earth.

Maw and Paw go to West Virginia

Tomorrow is officially our 1 week anniversary of Maw and Paw Roberts in our new little house in West Virginia. The house is quite small which I knew it would be. I love that it is small. I love that it still has some of the character of being probably almost 100 years old.

The old hardwood floors have many stories to tell with each little nick and paint splatter and the old crystal glass doorknobs still have a skeleton key lock.

We brought very little with us and almost no furniture except for a bed. It still feels like camping, but with a house. We went almost four days without hot water. Cold showers really are cold.  

We are more than a week since we left Woodland Hills and it's time to do laundry so without a washer or dryer yet my duty was to set out today and somehow wash and dry the dirty undies. Using my handy dandy phone navigator and after also inquiring with a new local friend as to where the closest laundromat was I was instructed to a location not far away. Of course it was on a one-way street and so after the first two passes not finding the business I slowed way down for the third pass. Obviously the laudromat was as extinct as the dinosaur. Ok.....so there must be another one. Plug into the navigator once again and follow it's directions to the next location which actually has a sign on the building, but empty insides and a "For Rent" sign in the window. Now the trusty navigator has no other options to send me to other than across the street from the "For Rent" sign and is obviously a Dry Cleaners and not a laundromat.

Back to the house with the dirty undies and back to our urban campout. David being a handy hubby, rigged up clothes line for me in the basement while I handwashed a weeks worth of undies in the 1920's era bathtub. They are now stretched out hanging to dry on a maze of line that wraps in three different directions. Our Maw and Paw suite is now complete!

My one solace has been the addition of cable TV which was installed 2 days ago. It has helped me to connect with the world and feel as if life is semi-normal again. That is, until Paw wants to watch tv. Then for some reason any option of watching a show that both Maw and Paw would enjoy seems to be excessively optomistic on my part. Some things don't change even 2000 miles away. Sigh*

Moving "Boxes"

We have a trailer. We got it mostly so we could tote around our ATV 4 wheeler. It's been a great trailer but to haul anything else was pretty difficult because the sides were only about 1 foot high. Great if you just have a 4 wheeler but not so good for hauling "stuff". 

He decided he need a "box".

David has been working really hard with our buddy Carlos and now we have a full "box" trailer ready to haul a bunch of "stuff" to West Virginia. He is really proud of his work. I am too! It is an awesome new "box"! 

Good job Sweet Hubby!! 

Enumclaw, Girls and a Sweet Hubby

I took a trip to Seattle (technically Enumclaw, but no one knows where that is when I say it) last week to visit my family. I had planned for this trip to be a “David and Shelli” trip but as the day to leave got closer and closer my sweet hubby with his duty minded responsibility troll kept popping up. In the end he realized that he just couldn’t keep ignoring that darned troll and knew that he would have to stay behind. Dang-it!! So I did what I usually do in these situations when I find myself alone and in need of a buddy, I called my next best friends, my two daughters. Being the awesome, full of fun and ready to jump at a chance for an adventure on a days notice, we all jumped in the car including our newest girl chum Kenley.

What we didn’t do was tell the woman who taught me how to have wonderful girl dates with daughters. We decided that it would be much more fun to surprise Grandma with a visit from her new little great-grandchild. And…it was.

We laughed and chatted and ate our must have road trip food (corn nuts, twizzlers, and Mt. Dew). Kari played her ukulele much to the delight of Kenley who watched in fascination until she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and fell fast asleep. All in all it was a great bonding time. One that may be our last for a long time so it was even more sweet. I have two pretty incredible women that I call my daughters.

I knew also that this trip would be a great testing moment to see how sweet hubby manages on his own without me. When the big move to West Virginia comes he will be out there for most of the time without me as I will stay behind to get Evan finished up with school. I did try to make things as easy as possible for him. I filled the fridge and freezer with easy “man meals”, I had all his clothes washed and ready to wear, and had the kitchen put in order.

Periodically I would text him a message or a photo. The first part of the week I would get the usual sweet hubby messages in return. Then later on after I sent him a photo his reply was “Next time, can you be in the photo?” He misses me…. The next day was our trip back home. His text was “I’m anxious to be with my better half.” When I got home he had actually made the bed and cleaned up both the bedroom and the kitchen so I would have a nice welcome home. Sweet hubby never makes the bed. Sweet hubby missed me bad! I love that he missed me. I love the cute messages saying he missed me. I love that he cleaned up in anticipation of my return. I love him!!

This next year is going to be really hard to be apart for so long. I remember dating long distance and getting on the plane to fly back and forth from Salt Lake to Seattle. I remember crying big tears every time I had to be separated from him. I hope that May comes realllllly fast this year.

Kaia, Ivy and Kenley

We have three little girls that have woven their way into our hearts in a way that can only be experienced and not ever explained in words. Only another grandparent knows this feeling and all attempts to describe this phenomenon are left with futile words. These three little girls are named....

Kenley, and.....

....Kaia and Ivy. 

These three little people have the ability to turn an otherwise very composed and dignified physician into a clown faced, nonsensical noise maker. I have witnessed this transformation many times now and it never ceases to amaze me how instantly this happens.

 

One minute I have a husband and as soon as the door opens with one of these little people, all notion of my former spouse dissapears and is replaced by facial contortions and some sort of new high pitched language that includes lots of clicks, raspberry blowing and giggling. It is truly a site to be experienced!

 When my "grand-parentage" was in the pregnancy stage I had all sorts of people who told me how wonderful it was going to be and how much fun being a grandma was going to be. What no one ever told me was the awe that I would experience as I watched our own children transform from "kids" into parents themselves. I have seen my daughter spend every minute of her day ensuring that my granddaughter's every need is taken care of. I have watched her stress and worry about every little cry and work so hard to study and learn about how to care for this new little person.  I have seen her give up her make-up, her fun clothes, her sleep, and sometimes her sanity, and has completely given up herself selflessly to make sure my granddaughter is taken care of in the most ideal way that she can provide. I have seen a young father who would really have loved to have a son, fall madly in love with this little angel. The moment he comes home from work, his first words are "Can I hold her now?"   

I have seen a son who his whole world used to be snowboarding, music and whatever mischief he could find turn into caring for two little girls. His mystical transformation into a true man came when we watched his "shell shocked" face as he came to tell us that not only was there a suprise on the way but that surprise was actually going to be Two surprises. Most hints of his former self were replaced with a very responsible dad who worked hard for straight A's in college, worked a steady job, and stressed over feeding and nap schedules.

I want to warn any of you who have yet to experience these phenomenon. The side effects of becoming a grandparent exhibit themselves in watery eyes, runny noses, warm fuzzy heart, and a disregard for your own schedule if there is a mention of a visit by little people.

Marching Band

Evan loves band just about more than anything else in the world right now. He does Marching Band, Pep Band, Concert Band, Jazz Band, and Nebo Youth Philharmonic. In each of these he has played Tuba, Trumpet, Sousaphone, and Sax.  

Tonight was the "show the parents what we have done in camp all week" night.

They have worked 12 hours a day since Tuesday to learn 77 pages of music and also the choreography to step, slide, shimmy, and scoot along with their instruments into various formations on the field while not bumping into each other. 

Last year they marched to the music of the "Beatles". This year it was "Styx". There were several things that I thought were amazing about tonight. First was the dedication of these kids. Second the dedication of their teacher, Mike Larsen. Third is that the music of my youth is now their music and what they actually choose to listen to. It's very cool to me that a twenty-something teacher and a bunch of teenagers think our old music is fun enough to listen to that they actually want to use it for Marching Band. Going to Parent's Night is a whole bunch more fun listening to "Mr. Roboto" and "Come Sail Away".

The Fourth amazing thing is that we didn't get rained on. 

Then we ate Hot Dogs barbequed by the teacher 'cause he hasn't worked hard enough this week with dozens of kids to manage for all those hours this week on top of being a brand new dad with a newborn at home. Mr. Larsen I applaud you! You are awesome. 

Life continued....

So this is our “Broken Road”….and soon this road will take us to West Virginia. I know that David really doesn’t like country music and this move is going to test this out to the extreme. I always felt that this song told the story of David and I. Heavenly Father seems to always have the big picture in mind. He prepared each of us to have this special relationship and treasure it even more. I guess this is as good a name for our blog as any. Even though this broken road takes David and I  in a direction we never expected there is beauty, learning, friends, fun and adventure along our way.  

"Bless The Broken Road"

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

[Chorus:]
Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

[Chorus]

Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you. 

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Our blog is now started. More to come soon…..