THANKSGIVING, CHRISTMAS, TRADITIONS, AND TWO NEW BABIES - 2015

We had a lovely thanksgiving and Christmas holiday
season.  We went to Trey and Jenna's for Thanksgiving.
Like his Granddad, Trey is a marvelous cook.  The turkey
he cooked was one they raised on their farm, it was a
big one, weighing in at 30 pounds.  The butter, milk,
cream, and eggs that were used to prepare dinner, were
provided by their chickens and Betsey, their cow.  

Jenna was busy cooking vegies and delicious goodies
of many kinds.  Rhonda made the dressing and her
cranberry salad and some desserts.  Jenna's mother,
family members and guests brought their delicious
contributions to help make the dinner fabulous.  Jenna
was so sweet to make sure there were things I could eat
on my restricted diet.  For instance, she made me my 
very own mashed potatoes.

The children love to play on Trey and Jenna's farm.
They have lots of room, the freedom to run and play
and the animals that delight them.

Surrounded by the love and laughter of family and
friends, it truly was a day of Thanksgiving for the
many blessings George and I enjoy every day.

When I came home from the hospital, I was having
some challenges and George and I had to let a few
things go, like my Christmas letter.  George didn't make
cinnamon rolls this year, but with his help, I did get my
Christmas fudge made.  We didn't make as many flavors
as I have previously done but still a nice variety.  The
last few years, we have given our great grandchildren
their own gift of fudge and according to things they and
their parents have told us, it is one of their favorite gifts
to receive.  Brexton and Nixin have both told us that it
great that they can now eat as much of their own fudge
as they want and they don't have to share it as everyone
has their own.  We all miss Cote so much during the 
holidays but I think he knows that we love him a lot.
He loved the fudge.  We always have some for him
and when Rhonda delivers her and Steve's gift to him,
she also takes ours.

We all went to Steve and Rhonda's for our traditional
Christmas breakfast, to open gifts and watch the children
play.  There is so much for them to do there with lots of
room to run and play.  They love to climb on the stack
of hay bales and Papa has even made them a big pile
of dirt that they love to play in.  What child would not 
love playing in the dirt?  G-Mama and Papa have made
it a fun place for their grandchildren to play.  They love
G-Mama's horses and dogs.  Their five sons' families
have given them 16 grandchildren.  And George and
I are blessed to have beautiful and amazing great
grandchildren. 

Rhonda's Christmas breakfast is always wonderful and
very delicious.  It is also rich with tradition.  I can no
longer eat all of the traditional holiday foods, but there
is plenty of the good stuff I can eat.  I have to say that
I did miss the dressing, eggnog, and pies, but the diet I
am on has done wonders for my health, now if it would
only make me skinny, LOL!  Who needs all of the food
anyway, when I am surrounded by my amazing family?

The holidays were especially joyous the year with the
birth of two more great grandchildren.  Trey and Jenna
welcomed an adorable boy, Bradley Rex Colburn, on
October 1st, and Brinton and Allison welcomed a
beautiful girl, Harlow Jaylyn on December 7th.  Of 
course, they are perfect and absolutely wonderful.

We love our Christmas traditions.  It always amazes
me how excited the children are to observe them each
year.  Including my generation, it is now the fourth
generation to observe them.  The children can't wait
to make and decorate sugar cookies and build their
Gingerbread Houses.  Brexton and G-Mama have
started a tradition of Brexton making a train instead
of a house. 

George and I went to Brinton and Allison's to watch
Nixin, Presley, Montana and Harlee build and decorate
their houses and Brexton assemble and decorate his train.
I think part of the fun of this tradition is eating as much
of the candy as they use to decorate.  It is okay, though,
as G-Mama always brings a truck load of candies of all
kinds.

There was pizza to eat and two precious babies, Bradley
and Harlow, to love and snuggle.

We miss Paul and Joanne, Chris and Jeni, and Ethan
and Ryann  We would love to see Ethan and Ryann build
and decorate their houses.  It is wonderful that their proud
grandparents and Uncle Justin are there to join them in the
fun.  I love it that even our adult grandchildren who don't
have children yet, still observe this tradition, usually while
watching and helping the little ones.  I love it that even
though we are separated from some of our family by
distance, we are together in our hearts and the spirit of the
holidays.  We do always see Paul and Joanne and their
family sometime during the Christmas season.  They
came for New Year's this year and we celebrated another
Family Tradition of eating with them at the Golden
Corral Restaurant.  Ethan and Ryann love their Arizona
cousins.  They have been wanting to ride Aunt Rhonda's
horse.  So, with their cousins, they had a wonderful
time riding Santannah.  They didn't want to leave
Uncle Steve and Aunt's Rhonda's.  I think they will
make that a favorite thing to do when they come to
Arizona.    

Often Miranda has joined us to make her house and she
has introduced Ryan to the art of Gingerbread House
building.  They enjoy doing it together.

One dearly loved tradition George and I couldn't observe
with our family this year was Zoo lights.  Those who
went reported that they were more amazing than ever. 
We also didn't get to see the Temple lights this year.

Craig was flying home from India to Bentonville for 
Christmas.  He made a stop here for several days,  It
was nice to share some of the Christmas season with
him.  Miranda and Ryan were going to drive to
Bentonville for Christmas.  Miranda was having
severe abdominal pain and the day they were to leave,
she was admitted to the hospital with a burst appendix. 
She was septic and full of infection.  They had to
remove a part of her intestine. They were sad that
they couldn't go but if they had left and it had
happened while they were in the middle of nowhere,
the doctors say she could have died.  It has been a
long road of recovery for her but she gets better
every day.  When it happened, Craig,  Tracy, Josh,
and Chasity were planning to drive here the day
after Christmas.  Since Miranda and Ryan are in
their new house, Craig was going to pull a U-Haul
and bring Miranda's things.  They also wanted to
check up on Miranda and I.  They weren't able to
make the trip as tornados and blizzards had hit
Texas and New Mexico hard and many roads and
freeways were closed.  We were all sad but we
will see them all at our family reunion here in July.

Before Craig left India, he had given me his
flight schedule.  It made me laugh.

He said, "This is how I will be commuting to work.
It makes my head swim, but he has been doing it for
so many years, it is old hat to him.

This is his commute:
Mumbai - London - Chicago - Phoenix - Dallas -
Bentonville - Dallas - London - Mumbai 

It doesn't always include Phoenix, only if he  is
stopping to see us.  

All of this family fun and family traditions were a
wonderful way to end the year 2015 and welcome
the New Year, 2016.




  

FINALLY, A DIAGNOSIS.

Our Christmas was different this year. It certainly didn't
follow the plan we had chosen.  December started out great.
For the last three years, I had not felt good for the holidays   
and so I hadn't done much decorating.  This year I felt good
enough to get into the mood to get out our decorations. 
On December 1st, we decorated more than we had for those
three years.  It was fun.

Then, on December 7th, I went into the hospital.  It was a
very scary time.  It all happened in the middle of the night.
This episode was different in several ways from previous 
ones.  I lost my ability to speak and thought it had not
happened to me before this time.  However my family told
me that when I had a stroke in April, I had been unable to
speak.  I don't remember anything about that.  Perhaps that
is why I was so frightened this time.

Compared to that stroke, this was considered a mini stroke.  
It was a blessing it happened.  For decades, I have been in
and out of the hospital with the doctors attempting to 
to determine if I was having a TIA, stroke, or a MS
exacerbation, symptoms for all of them are similar.  My
brain shows so much activity from years of episodes, it
is it difficult to determine what is new activity and
what is old. The margin of time of time after an episode 
to run tests is short.  They would run many tests and we
and our insurance would spend thousands of dollars and I
have usually been sent home without a diagnosis.  This time
they did a test they hadn't done before, I don't understand
why.  It  showed I have an atrial septal defect (ADS) 
which is a hole between the two upper chambers of the
heart.  When a baby is born with this condition, the hole
usually is very small and will close during infancy or
or early childhood.  In rare cases (I always knew I was
rare LOL!), an adult can have an undetected atrial septal
defect for decades.  In May, I will be eighty five and they
had never found it.  I can't believe I have been living with
this for such a long time and I find it hard to believe I
am that old.  I have been blessed.

After I was released from the hospital, I had a follow up
appointment with my cardiologist.  He had reviewed all my 
records since I had been seeing him.  Like me, he could not
believe he, and other doctors, had never detected this.  He
told me it could be fixed and when I told him of my fear and
concerns about having it fixed at my age and with other
medical problems, he said he wanted a second opinion
and I needed one, also.  He referred me to a colleague of his
who is very renowned for closing an atrial septal defect in
adults.  His name is Dr. Alfonse Ambrosia.  Rhonda went to
the appointment with me.  We both immediately liked him.
He took the time to explain everything to us. the procedure,
and the risks.  He said in the over 200 of these procedures
he has done, he has not had a patient experience any
problems other what is normal post- op.  He thinks I will
greatly benefit from having it done and should have a better
and safer quality of life.  Rhonda and I left with both of us
having trust and confidence in him and a feeling of peace
in making the decision to have it done.  George agrees.

I will have the first step done on April 1st and I feel very
good about my decision.  I will have a Transesophageal
Echo.  It will tell Dr. Ambrosia exactly where the hole is
and how large it is.  He will then know how to proceed to
 the next step.  If you read my blog, say a prayer for me.
 I will let you know when it is all done.

HALLELUJAH!

Good morning to family and friends.

I am writing this to those of you who have followed
my blog, "Growing UP Ina".

It  has been three years since my last post.  We  purchased
a new computer for me, it was linked to George's computer
and was registered to him.  I lost many of my files and
"Growing Up Ina" became George's blog.  I was not
allowed to post on it.  We could never find a way to
correct the problem.

I don't know what I did morning, but after three years of
complete frustration, I am on my blog and it is letting it
me to type this.
 
This little blip is to see if it will let me post.  If so, I will be
doing some writing again. I can't possibly catch up with
three years of lost time.  I will try to fill in some of the
blank spots.  What I do post will probably not be in
chronological order.  I am going to attempt to post this
and see what happens.  Then I will know if I will be doing
any future posting.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.