Another surgery for Baby

Oh, Baby. I remember when she discovered there were TWO!

It’s been a long journey with Baby. He’s been through about five surgeries (if not more).

His nose is now completely missing, so we stuffed it with cotton balls, and now, he dons a BLUE nose.

Now, BabyONE has an alias: Babyblue.

Just straighten your knee! Small change; big result

Back in 2013, when Tot was 3 months old, I tore my achilles tendon. A full tear.

Since then, I have worked on developing my left calf muscle. Its size is significantly smaller than the right side. I would do leg lifts at the gym, all the calf machines, and whatever I could do to make it bigger. Has it happened? Vanity aside, (not being symmetrical), I still feel pretty weak on that side, and it is still much smaller.

Well, for 3 months, the back of my ankle has bothered me. I could see the remnants of my surgery as it started to work its way out (after 7 years). I made an appointment with Dr. Waslewski (my orthopedic surgeon) so he could look at it. He found the culprit, and he said that these would have never dissolved.


Two little wire sutures

While there, I asked him about developing my calf back as it just hasn’t returned to normal. He suggested returning to Troy at Physical Therapy for an evaluation.

I showed Troy what I have been doing (DAILY! for seven years), and he immediately said, “You’re knee is bent when you are doing these lifts. This means you have developed your lower calf and ankle but NOT the calf. Try straightening your knee.”

Holy cow. He also showed me some other tweaks on what I had been doing wrong.

This is so much like life. We go along doing what we’ve always done, thinking that we are doing the right thing. Then, an objective observer notes a teeny change that would help. If we listen, the difference is profound.

Here’s a quote from Dr. Louis Newman about the Jewish concept of teshuvah, or, repentance. Remember, a simple change must be a gradual process to take hold. ” Here’s what he said:

…think about this in terms of a 360 degree circle, if you’re headed in one direction and you turn only one degree or two degrees to the right or to the left, over a long period of time — it may be a very slight turn, but over an extended period of time, if you now walk in that direction, you’ll end up in an utterly different place than if you extend that line outward infinitely. ”

Now, I know that simply straightening my knee is not about repenting from doing something sinful. BUT, it is a great analogy for the small changes we can make in our lives to grow. I had been doing my physical recovery completely wrong for so long, that it became my “right.” This is how sin can be. We do something wrong for so long that it just becomes a habit.

What will I do now? I’ll engage in small practices daily. They won’t be long; 5 minutes of some new exercises with a “straight” leg. But, in time, I will see all the difference. May we all remember that engaging in small changes and creating new habits can literally help us thrive.

Morality in the 21st Century: What a treat!

Doug, Mama and I had the honor of attending this event.


Hosted by SBC, it was an interfaith dialogue on morality in today’s culture with Dennis Prager and Dr. Wayne Grudem.

Some questions it covered:
Is morality in peril in our 21st-century age of feelings?

Are truths still self-evident in today’s culture?

Does morality matter to the younger generations?

The world we live in right now boggles my mind. I find that more than ever, we need to fight for the values of our country AND for our Judeo-Christian beliefs. Where has it all gone?
God is and will always be the answer, and He continues to be on the throne NO MATTER WHAT. May we continue to live that way.

Thank you for such an amazing evening.

Happy Father’s Day: An awesome ending to our Sedona 2020!

We woke up to a beautiful golf course view and a reminder of our FATHER. We also celebrate Daddy today. Since we missed Coopy immensely, we headed home early. A big day awaits!
As we drove home, we listened to Jamie, our pastor. His sermon was still on Jonah and running FOR God! We are HIS ambassadors! Let’s act that way.

Arrived! Coopy, here we come.

Reunited and it feels so good!

Now we can focus on Daddy the rest of the day.
However, when we got home, Coopy seemed to have a bit of a boo boo on his foot. So we ended up having to fix his foot up with gauze and have him wear a cone so he wouldn’t mess with it.

Mom, NOT happy about this.

Ok, after getting quite focused, the dinner had to be prepared (Mama was coming over!) and the presents had to get ready!


Daddy looked relaxed and ready for the fun.

Are you excited, Daddy?

OH yes!

And Coopy? We are ready for you to relax too.

Mama arrived, and she had a little goody for Daddy to open.

But first, his card….fresh from her presses.

She worked so hard on this TRUE card!
What about this shirt? Doesn’t he look handsome?

She always has such good taste.

Now, Tot’s turn. She made him all kinds of goodies. First, the book:

A Me and Daddy book.

Me and Daddy fix stuff, launch rockets, build stuff and I LOVE HIM!

The hedgehog even says so!

Daddy, you are the best!

Now, my turn. I made him a book too! All homemade this year for our hero.

(It’s true: now he BUILDS (up), renews (us), serves (many), launches (many fun activities), and delivers (joy)!

Launching us into the future and soaring with…

Christ at the center.

We love you, HHH and Daddy.

We had a lovely chicken, potato and salad dinner. (Thanks to daddy for running to the store!).

Tatum entertained us with some songs after dinner.

Daddy, it’s all for you. You represent our Father in so many ways. Kind-hearted, provider, servant, and leader.

Sedona, Father’s Day, and Family. Perfect.

Day 3! Sedona 2020

Time for an Easy Breezy hike.

Now, we stayed on the Breezy trail or so we thought. We were on the roundabout way to see the Cathedral rock. Now, somewhere along our route, we ended up on the Templeton trail. I should say “trial” because with all these trails intersecting, we couldn’t tell what was what. What we did know was that they all led UP to this:

Ok, here we are on the Templeton!

No snakes this time…just lots of mountain bikers and new agers. Not quite sure what they are praying to. Ok…back to the beauty. Here are my sweeties.

Tot was enjoying the hike this time.

That stick did her well, but we were very happy to finish because it was H.O.T!

Woohoo! Time for coffee and treat!
We decided to head to TLEQUPAQUE shopping area. The architecture alone is worth the visit. Doug took many pics as it inspires him. I love this about my honey.

Speaking of the cross, there is a chapel inside too! We couldn’t get in, but you can see the building.

So refreshing to see this in Sedona.
The fountain is quite refreshing to see too!

Remember the bells at Doug’s past home?

Ok, so we found a cool used book store and record store. Probably spent about one hour in this small place. We ended up buying an Suessisms book. Tot enjoyed reading it while we chatted with the owner.

After enjoying the shopping, we found some shade and some hugs. I love my family..surrounded by HIS green foliage.

We tired ourselves out, and so it was the usual: Lunch, frosties and back to the room to regenerate for golf and swimming.

My honey hubby had some incredible shots today! He has been practicing in his sleep I guess because Phil Mickelson would be proud.

Later after dinner, Tot sang a few songs on the ROCK.

We took in the view and just reflected on our time.

A few kisses for my bumby.

The time we spend together is just that. TIME. Togetherness, Intimacy, Memories, and Experiences. It takes TIME> Man, sometimes, it can be hard to be 24/7 with each other, but It makes us more HOLY to be accountable in ALL circumstances. How we react to events, each other, life…. It’s all under a microscope when we have each other always. God is refining us with this, and for that, I’m SOOOO grateful.

Look at this view.

Sweetie, thank you for making this trip possible.

Now, let’s get some sleep and enjoy our SUNDAY! Father’s Day 2020!!!

Day 2 Sedona 2020: Bearizona!

We would drive to Williams and visit Bearizona on Friday.

They have a walk through and a drive through zoo. How fun to get to see some of God’s creation. Just amazing.

The walk-through portion began with porcupines. Just this little guy. He was trying to climb down from the rock.

Success! Very big pokey guy. Off to see the raccoons.

Badgers..

And the coveted EAGLE. I wish I could have seen him more clearly. Magnificent and Majestic.

Foxes were a bit scruffy.

Oh hello little gobbler.

And this chicken had iridescent feathers. Beautiful!

Bobcat.

And then the most creative and eye-popping bird.

These bears were just sleeping as the bear cubs played.

And then…my favorite little playful critters. Otters are so fun to watch; they love to show off and play.

We are ready to drive through after the gift shop of course.

As we entered the drive through, we notices some beautiful white rams.

And some bighorn sheep….but first a sleeping arctic wolf.

All of a sudden we see some roaming bears. JUST RIGHT THERE>

We will not be rolling down our window.

The white bison enjoyed our drive by just staring at us.

American bison are huge and beautiful.

It was time to exit and we had to wait for this bear to cross.

So long Bearizona. What an adventure!! So fun!

After lunch and frosties and swimming and playing and dinner and …… We plopped into bed at 9:30PM.

Day 2 down!

Sedona Summer 2020 HAA #5

Being locked up in the house for nearly three and a half months can make one a bit itchy. We were itching to get out of dodge or Scottsdale! Sedona promised to be a bit cooler, and we love visiting Poco Diablo since they have a golf course right on the grounds.

We left on Thursday morning with our car all packed up. Thank goodness we are able to bring food! (saves loads of money)

Ok, Coopy-head, to Boulder Creek you go.

And to the Sedona suite! How appropriate. Oh, sweet guy. We’ll miss you.

That face.

We scaddadle out of there because it was hard to say goodbye. Off to our hike.

When we arrived in Red Rock country, it was SOOOOO busy. Instead of Oak Creek, we headed to another shorter hike closer to our hotel. It still was wonderful.

Huckaby. I love the name. (Mike Huckabee is a strong conservative Christian who ran for Pres a few years back).

Family pic:

It was pretty darn toasty out. Like 95! So, we only walked about .5 mile to and .5 mile back. Enough to get a few exciting views

and a visit from a snake. Yes, as I headed down the mountain, I noticed a slithery sound. There he was right next to me, and guess what? He lunged right at me! Little did I know he had a little mouse in his mouth, and he wanted to protect his lunch so he flew to the other side. Wish he would have warned me. I screamed for a moment. Exciting now, then, frightening.

Tatum found a walking stick and felt quite tall.

Want a pic, Tot? We finished! Oh, dear. I just want to go get lunch.

Ok, we were all ready for some cool lunch and some goodie.

We enjoyed a nice Subway lunch and then we notice Wendy’s next door.

Honey (Dugg…Phonetically, the cashier got it. Aye), ordered 3 Junior frosties. Yes, they make teensy Tot size, but honestly, that was enough.

We arrived at the hotel and immediately played a few holes. We were all a bit rusty, but we had some fun. Even had some straight shots…all of us.

Wildflower for dinner on the deck. Oh, the best is sitting outside and enjoying this view.

Hi honeyXOXO

Tot… she always has her antennae up.

After a stroll and eyeing the flying bats around the course, we enjoyed a show from Tot.

Day one. Success!