Our Family: February 2021

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Reflection on 2021

For the first time in a year, I am finally caught up with my blog. So much has happened. So much has changed.

Dad went to the hospital
Covid restrictions began
Jacob's school switched to remote for the rest of the year and in the fall, we opted for online school. Partially because of Covid, partially because of the move (didn't want to have to drive him to school by the Hesses), and partially because of being concerned about having a baby
Dad passed away
All the boys and their families came out for the funeral and to say good bye to Dad
From March 3rd until about the end of April, we had at least one or more of my siblings in town because of this
We decided to buy a house with Mom
We found a house
We packed and cleaned up Mom's house of 33 years
We moved into our new house
We closed out Dad's storage unit (and ours!)
I told one of my schools I wouldn't teach face to face for them anymore after a prompting to do so and then was offered to teach online for them
I got another school to teach for (for a total of 5: BYUI, Colorado Community Colleges Online, Community Collage of Aurora, Johnson and Wales, and now Bryan College)
Went on a weekend trip to Wyoming for my cousin Cheresten's funeral who passed from mixing of medications. She has five children
Several of my brothers and their families came for Thanksgiving and then again for Christmas. Between the two holidays, everyone came out. We even did a sibling/spouse escape room group date night
We got to see some of Spencer's siblings at Thanksgiving and Christmas, too
Scott and Sandra decided to move, so we spent two weeks packing and cleaning to list their house
Between July and January, I got pregnant (planned) twice and miscarried twice
Mom had foot surgery (hammer toe) which left her on short term disability for 2 weeks.

I know this isn't covering everything. I feel overwhelmed. Our house feels packed full of stuff and I'd like to clean it out, but don't have enough energy to do it all. If it weren't for Jacob and Spencer, nothing would have been cleaned or cooked the whole time I was pregnant. Jacob was so great. If he did a job, practiced piano, and did homework, he could earn video game time. So the whole time I was sick and pregnant with the second miscarriage, he faithfully moped, swept, vacuumed, dusted, and cleaned bathrooms. I am so grateful for that little boy's willingness to work. And Spencer cooked (and still does).

We have only been to church in person once since Dad passed away. We have held it at home and Spencer has blessed the Sacrament. I am also grateful for the church and organizing primary songs and lessons for each week/month. My kids are learning doctrine and songs because we have implemented these things each week.

Spencer has completed a year of school work. Lots and lots of math: Calculus 3, Linear Algebra, and differential equations, along with lots of other classes. He's been very successful in his program and I am grateful for his hard work and progress.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by how much has changed, what has been lost, what has been gained. I'm trying to treasure the small things and making the 5-10 minutes before bed with each child special and targeted toward building their testimony and faith and our relationship by reading a scripture, saying prayer, maybe a song, and listening to them. I hope it helps.

February 2021

Scott and Sandra are listing their house to sell at the beginning of March. Tara, Julie, and Sarah all came out to pack.

The kids got to play with Serenity and Nickolia for a few days and loved it. They even got to play in the snow, which their Arizona cousins loved.

Got a cute picture with Julie before she left, but between Julie leaving and Sarah leaving, it got crazy and the kids didn't get to go over to the packed and cleaned house any more. I failed to get a picture with Sarah :(

The girls decided that the love to match. So sometimes they ask for pictures. Sometimes they want to wear matching PJs or just match in general. It's fun :)

January 2021

Cousin Henry got ordained as a deacon and every one of Spencer's siblings and families (and grandparent and great grandparents) got to attend virtually. It was an amazing and spiritually uplifting experience. A few weeks later, cousin Serinity got baptized and we got to listen to the talks and hear her baptism. I am so grateful for the technology!

Here is Jacob doing a catapult experiment for his technology class. His favorite part was eating the marshmallows.

A sample of Jacob's school work. He spends 3 hours Tuesday-Friday online in zoom class meetings and then 15-20 minutes after completing some work on his own.

Here is a picture Marie drew and was especially proud of.

Grandma King had toe surgery and had a knee scooter. The kids liked playing with it.

Grandma King's basement in the works of being finished. This is the water lines in the bathroom

These are some corner lights Spencer made for the master retreat. This is not the finished produce, but he did a great job adding some lighting (none was there before) so he can work on is project and school work.

Here are Jacob and Marie doing his P.E. homework. Making a video of them volleying. I don't know where the ball was in the photo.

Another picture Marie made that she was proud of. And the 15 sleds that spencer got at Walmart for $0.50 each.

And this is a picture of what's going on with me. I miscarried again on about January 16th, again, the baby measured only 6.5 weeks but I was about 11 weeks along. This is the follow up appointment making sure the miscarriage was complete and they found something like a fibroid or a cyst. After I miscarried, I bled for about a week, and then on and off for about a month (day or two on, then off for a day and then on again). Now, a month later, it seems like I'm having a period, but it has lasted a week. So there is some unknown going on. I was waiting for the period to go back in for the second ultra sound the doctor requested (after my next period), and I have been waiting for this period to end, but now, I guess I just need to get back in to figure out why I have been bleeding for over a month. Nothing heavy (expect for the first week of the miscarriage), but discouraging.

Two miscarriages in 6 months was not what I imagined. I feel better than when I was pregnant, but I don't feel as great as I did before the pregnancies. I feel confused about all of this, uncertain about what will happen next, and unsure what we want to do next in terms of trying to have more or if that is even possible. Today in our live stream of church, the bishop spoke about Zion's camp and how they went on a hard journey to do nothing, but from that journey, most of the apostles and all the seventy were found. From that they learned how to be the leaders the church needed. I just keep thinking that this is similar. I went through months of being sick and unsure about what was going to happen. I still don't, but there is something that I can learn from this, if even it's a better understanding of other's and their family choices.