The Golden Foot

"

One day there wasn't a "Tard Cart" available so I pushed Jon in his wheel chair and he pushed the cart. It was quite the sight!

Jon broke his right foot in June while walking.  He went to the Dr and got a walking boot.  He didn't slow down though and kept working at Walmart unloading trucks.  He soon learned that walking boots are not really made for walking.  It wore a sore on his foot.  Being a diabetic this was not good. It became infected immediately.  He was hospitalized in July for 4 days.  Then for 6 weeks after that we returned to the hospital every day for an  IV infusion of antibiotics.  He also visited Wound Care at the hospital at least 2 times a week.  The infusions were kinda fun for us.  I was on summer break so I would go with him.  We read a lot of good books together as we sat and waited for the IV to do its job.  Jon also became a favorite patient, because he would come in and take his own vital signs and prep his infusions spot for them.  They even let me get the IV going a couple of times.  I wouldn't say it is something we would want to do again, but we did make some good memories.  Jon's foot still isn't completely healed.  The infection is gone, but there is still a bit of a sore.  He goes to Wound Care once a week and gets the sore treated and a new cast put on.  His favorite color of cast has been a neon green.  It almost glows in the dark.  He has a neon shirt and jacket that match it.  (Jon has a style of of his own.  Things that don't match or are taboo are okay for Jon because he is Jon and gets away with wearing whatever he feels like.)  The foot is still broken and there is a possible surgery in the future to help the tendons hold his foot the right way.  We bought a knee scooter to help Jon get around.  He has had a lot of fun with it. I won't be surprised if he continues to ride it even after his foot is healed.  He really wants to motorize it.  To me that is just another hospital visit waiting to happen!  The closest thing he is going to get are the motorized carts at Walmart.  We call them "Tard Carts."  I know it is really disrespectful, but now that Jon has ridden on them many times. I don't feel quite so bad.  Jon has really tried to make the most of this.  It has been hard for him to be down and out for so long.  In my next post I'll tell you about the blessing in the way of a job that we received.

Our Quest for Kids

Jon and I both want kids desperately.  We are not able to physically have kids of our own right now.  So, we have been pursuing the chance to have foster kids in our home.  This is a long process, but hope it is moving more quickly now.  We are supposed to be starting a class this week.  I'm not sure how it all works, but I'm hoping by the time the class is over, we will be ready to accept kids into our home.  We have tried to take this class various times, but something always happens.  I am wondering if it is Heavenly Father's way of making sure the timing is right, or if we are supposed to prove this is really what we want to do.  Anyway- we start a class this Wednesday.  The class is a month long and includes 27 hours of class time.  In our quest to become foster parents we have made a great friend.  She has been a foster parent for years and has adopted most of her children through the foster program.  One night in July I got a call from her.  She had found out about a grandma that had been raising two of her grandchildren. She had decided that she wanted to be grandma instead of mom.  She was looking for a couple in Idaho Falls who wanted to adopt her babies.  Our good friend hooked us up.  Everything went so well. We fell in love with little Joey and Serenity.  Joey was 3 and Serenity was 1. We spent a few blissful weeks with "our kids."  They started calling Jon dad.  We had a great relationship with their grandma.  Unfortunately, when it got down to the nuts and bolts their grandma didn't have he right kind of custody to be able to choose who she wanted to adopt them.  The state of Washington took them back, and they are now being adopted by, I hope, a loving couple in their own state.  My heart broke more than I had ever felt before.  Jon and I shed many tears and held each other many hours as we grieved the loss of "our kids."  Sometimes something will still remind of of those blissful times and we will look at each other with tears in our eyes and wonder why it didn't work out.  Through this experience I have learned many lessons:  1.  Jon is the most tender hearted man I know.  2. I can feel a small sliver of what the parents of the children we will foster are feeling. 3.  The Atonement comforts.  4. Priesthood blessings are a source of comfort.  5. Prayer gets you through tough times.  6.  Life does go on. 7. Even if you don't know if something is going to work out, you can still put your whole heart into it.  You may end up with a broken heart, but you won't have any regrets.

I'm Back!

So I haven't posted for almost a year now.  I stopped posting when I realized I was posting for the wrong reason.  I was posting in hopes to show everyone  that all was hunky and dory in my life, that I was now married, and we were living happily ever after.   Let's get real now!  Life is hard!  Happy ever after doesn't mean things don't go wrong (in fact sometimes it seems that more things go wrong than right)!  Now that its a year later, I look back and thank my Heavenly Father that everything in my life hasn't always been hunky and dory and that life has been hard.  I am who I am because of these hard times.  In the last year Jon and I have done a lot of adjusting and coming to understand each other better.  I have come to see more clearly what an incredible man I married.  In my next few posts I'll share some of this year's experiences and the lessons I've learned.