Amundsen House of Chaos

Let's face it, when you have a kid who survived a stroke, life is always going to be a little chaotic.

Friday, August 22, 2008

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Counting my blessings #2




Oops I"m already behind on counting my blessings every week! Figures I'm behind in everything else in my life why wouldn't I be on a blog? Anyway this week I am thankful for my husband. I'm thankful that he is the type of guy who would rather be home than hanging out with the guys at work. He told the sister missionaries this week that coming home to us is the best part of his day and that he appreciates the work I put into making our house a home. What can I say, I try! =) I love that he takes an interest in each of our kids and likes to read them stories and play with them. I am thankful that he is trying to take us to the temple and even though it's been a long process I know he will get through it when he is ready. Here is a picture of him reading to Jahnna and Colby last night after he got home from work. I love it!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!DISCLAIMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wrote this like 3 weeks ago and can't get the stupid camera to link to the computer so I will post the picture at a later date. Today makes a week since John quit chewing Copenhagen! This is the longest he's gone in 6 years. I am so proud of him. Please keep him in your prayers in his efforts to quit and take us to the temple!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

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Counting my blessings #1

So I am totally stealing this from Christine Fisher! But I really liked that she was naming her blessings every week and since this will forever be a huge week in our lives I thought I'd start today instead of waiting till the new year. This week I am thankful for challenges. Every minute of every day and night of the last year has been a challenge. One that I have not felt up for in the least bit. I am thankful that Colby chose to stay with us last year and that he has survived his first year as a stroke survivor. He has challenged me in every aspect of my life. From my physical strength to my emotional strength to my spiritual strength. I have prayed, pleaded demanded and begged for answers, solutions, and miracles. None have been particularly forthcoming in the AH HA that's my answer or solution or miracle so its a constant struggle to recognize them in my life. Through it all the still small whisper of my Heavenly Father has guided me through the last year and I have come to love a new quote that I read daily. So here it is

"My God, I have never thanked you for my thorns. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant." Praise Him for the roses; thank him for the thorns.

Author Unknown

That's why every thanksgiving I will now have a bouquet of flowerless rose stems to remind me of how thankful I am for the challenges that have brought me closer to God, have strengthened my testimony and have made me realize how much the atonement applies to every aspect of our lives. I know that Jesus felt my pain in Gethsemane and I am so grateful for his redeeming qualities in my life.

So sorry if that was a little to churchy for those of you who aren't Mormon but that is what I am most grateful for this week as I start a year of recognizing my blessings instead of counting all the bad that has happened.

I just realized I should probably include the story behind the quote so here it is.

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her Birkenstocks as she pushed against a November gust and the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like spring breeze. Then in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole her ease. During this Thanksgiving week she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren't enough, her husband's company threatened a transfer. Then her sister, whose holiday visit she coveted, called saying she could not come. What's worse, Sandra's friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder. Thanksgiving? Thankful for what? She wondered. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an air bag that saved her life but took that of her child? "Good afternoon, may I help you?" The shop clerk's approach startled her. "I....I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra. "For Thanksgiving? Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving "Special?" asked the shop clerk. "I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?" "Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the shop clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you." Then the door's small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, "Hi, Barbara...let me get your order."She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses; Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped: there were no flowers."Want this in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed."Yes, please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again," she said as she gently tapped her chest. "Uh," stammered Sandra, "that lady just left with, uh....she just left with no flowers!" "Right, said the clerk, "I cut off the flowers. That's the Special. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet." "Oh, come on, you can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!" exclaimed Sandra. "Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling much like you feel today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery." "That same year I had lost my husband," continued the clerk, "and for the first time in my life, had just spent the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel.""So what did you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for good things in life and never to ask Him why those good things happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask! It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of life, but it took thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God." Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement...twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems," laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator. "Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?" "No...I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from "thorny" times, and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special."I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life," Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too...fresh." "Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns." Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out."I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute." "Thank you. What do I owe you?" Sarah asked."Nothing; nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first." It read: "My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the life I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant." Praise Him for your roses, thank him for your thorns. --- Author Unknown ---

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

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The awakening petition

We are asking everyone to please go sign this petition http://www.petitiononline.com/angel777/petition.html It is called the awakening petition and it is for hyperbarics and trying to get it medicare and medicaid approved so that insurances will finally start covering it! If you can pass the link on to family and friends it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

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1 yr and 6 yr anniversaries

So Sunday was our 6th anniversary. Kind of crazy because it seems like we've been together forever. We've done a lot of things in 6 years. 3 kids, 5 moves, 3 states, back surgery, 3 other surgeries, Colby's surgery and stroke, working at a gun store and teaching highschool when we first got married to a supply seargant and daycare provider to a recruiter and a stay at home mom, lots of camping and fishing, several road trips to california and arizona, a mobilization, supply school recruiting school, many many tatoos and the list goes on. This week also marks Colby's 1 year stroke survival. After almot 4 months in the hospital he came home and was stalling. Now after 54 hyperbaric treatments he is starting to progress again. Looking back over our life together we have so much to be grateful for. Anyway I felt the need to mark the occasion so that's a pretty short post for 6 years together!