Wow!

It's been way too long since I blogged. I guess that's what happens when you go on "vacation" every month this summer. It's been so exhausting but it's been fun too. We went home (a 5-1/2 hour drive...if we don't stop...but we do because we have 2 kids in the car that need to go to the bathroom every 20 miles and one that needs a diaper change every so often. But I wouldn't trade them for the world. I can't wait for school to start again and we can have some type of a routine. I think things will slow down a little after school starts...of course that's what I said about summer vacation too, then I found out I was VERY wrong.

Nothing too much is going on here (a good thing in our house). I am, however, typing this blog on my brand new computer. (I'd like to give a shout out to tax returns yeah!) I'm pretty excited. Now after Jon gets home (and straight to the computer after dinner), I can still work on my Stampin' Up! stuff, so I'm pretty pumped right now that we are both on the computer, one of the kids are in bed, one is watching Lightning McQueen and the other is sitting very nicely on my lap. I love it.

Karate

Topher had his first Karate practice tonight. He had so much fun. And I think he did really well. I was laughing because they were teaching him the horse stance and some blocks and how to bow. When Sifu Jim came over to see how well he was doing he asked him to do the horse stance. Chris did it and Sifu Jim said "Wow, even your Daddy didn't do that good on his horse stance." ;) And when they were warming up they were sitting on the floor with their legs spread apart and Sifu Tony told them to grab their left leg. Topher grabbed his left leg and the kid next to him was grabbing his right leg. Topher turns to the kid (who was about 11 years old) and says "Hey, he said LEFT...that's your right." I thought it was funny. But he did well and had a ton of fun.

Teacher Easel Card

Sorry to those of you that are followers of my other blog (www.stampin123.blogspot.com), I know I have this on there too. But I just so much loved this one that I wanted to share. Cassandra asked me to create a teacher appreciation gift. Then as I was talking to others, they seemed to have the same problem...they just didn't know what to get for the teachers this year. Here's one of my ideas (this one was my favorite and I just had so much fun making it). And thank you Mary for getting me hooked on Stampin' Up! I will love you forever for that. ;) And thank you Heidi for letting me borrow your punch for this.

If you would like to make one feel free to go to my website www.karenegeland.stampinup.net to see how. Go to the "About Me" tab - click on "My Stampin' Blog" and go to the Teacher Easel Card for Step-by-Step directions.

Great Day!

I had such a great day yesterday. Mike (Jon's boss) let him have the day off yesterday because he heard I was having a hard time so he let Jon take the day off (and didn't even make him use his vacation time). It's amazing how much Jon can get done in one day. Plus when Dad is home...the boys just behave SO much better. We got the 2 worst rooms in the house almost completely clean in ONE day. We still have boxes we haven't unpacked from the move from over a year ago...it makes me wonder, if we haven't needed it in a year...what is so important in those boxes that we felt we just couldn't do without? Except for the 4 1/2 hours we wasted going to my Dr. (1-1/2 hours up, 1-1/2 hours back and a stop for dinner) it was a good day. We tried to keep them in their routine the best we could...but it just didn't work. Poor Justin was the only one that was really thrown off the worst. I was so glad Jon helped so much around the house. Not that it's normally in that great of shape...but the house was REALLY bad because the week before I (obviously) didn't feel like cleaning, or doing laundry or dishes or anything really. So he helped get the house put back together. He's really the greatest guy I could have ever hoped to marry. I love that he takes such good care of me.

On the lighter side of the Egeland's

Sorry, I know this is the 3rd time I've posted today. I just had to blog a few things. Yesterday it rained (I love the rain). After the boys came inside the house, Topher wanted to come back out because he was thirsty. (He wanted to drink from the rain puddles in our yard). I told him and Ethan that that water was dirty water and it was gross. Later that day a puppy wandered into our yard. The boys were waiting at the window waiting for Jon to come home. Then Ethan starts yelling "Mom, open the window! I need to talk to the puppy!" So I did. Ethan: "PUPPY! STOP DRINKING THAT WATER! IT'S YUCKY!!!" He was worried for the puppy who was drinking out of the puddles in the gutter. :)

And something that Topher said when I was trying to explain to the boys about the miscarriage. The boys patted my stomach and told the baby good-night. I told them that the baby wasn't in my tummy anymore because she had to go back and live with Heavenly Father.

Topher: "Oh," with a sad look on his face "the baby's gone?"

Me: "Yes, honey the baby's gone."

Topher: "The baby had to go live with Heavenly Father?"

Me: "Yes."

Topher: (With his face lightening a little) "Oh...the baby just had to go home?"

And a child shall lead them huh? I love my family.

And my FAVORITE "from the mouth of babes" this week. Ethan and Topher like shutting each other in the hall closet. (Don't ask, they think it's funny). So Ethan shuts Topher in the closet. After a few seconds Topher knocks from inside the closet. Ethan looks at the closet and says "Who is it?" I laughed so hard over that.

Darci Garrett

I don't know if you still read my blog on occasion Darci, but I just wanted to tell you to thank Kaitlyn for something she said years ago (I'm glad I wrote it down) when she was bearing her testimony when you guys were going to be moving away. She said

"I know that wherever we go; in order to be happy, we have to have faith that God sent us there for a reason."

I know she meant that in the physical sense...but I really needed that today in a deeper sense. It really helped. I miss you guys, and thank Heavenly Father that I got the chance to know you and your family.

Surviving

I finally had my first morning of peace since Thursday. It’s been rough around this house, but we are all surviving. I think a lot of it has to do with today is our sealing anniversary (we’ve been sealed as an eternal family for 3 years today)…it still hurts, but it’s my first glimps of hope. Raegan promised me it gets easier…right now that seems so far in the future, but I hang on to that hope.

I am so grateful for a wonderful Husband who understands when, seemingly, for no reason I just burst into tears. He’s been there for me every step of this difficult process. I don’t know what I’d do without. I think I would have gone insane by now; there are days when I was certain I was going to go insane anyway. Especially Mother’s Day, I think that was the hardest day I’ve had in my entire life.

I am also VERY grateful for people not feeling the need to give me cliché advice. I am glad that the only comfort people feel the need to give me is a hug and a “I’m so sorry”…they seem to understand that that’s all I want to hear right now. There was one Sister from my ward that asked how the appointment went (we were in the store, so I was really trying to hold it together, I hate crying in public). I told her that we lost the baby. She hugged me and told me she was so sorry and asked if there was anything she could do. I told her there really wasn’t anything anyone could do. She asked if I needed her to take the kids at any time; I told her that I had had plenty of offers for that, so I know if I need someone to take the kids I can just call. She said “I will call you later in the week to see what you need.” I love our ward. Because it’s not just one of those “Sorry, do you need anything?” and inside they are hoping that you say no, or even where they mean it, but then nothing comes of it. It’s really comforting just to know that they really do mean it and that they are willing to go out of their way to make sure that My Family and I are all alright.

Thanks to everyone who’s had me and my family in their thoughts and prayers. I’ve really felt the prayers of all of you.